2-14-2019

Good Morning All,

     Psalm 95:6; “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker!”

    Why do you go to church?  Do you go because your parents make you (even if you’re over 50)?  Do you go because it is a good place to kill some time before the ballgame starts?  Or perhaps before the stores open?  Or perhaps to wait until the restaurants open?  Maybe you see it as a way to catch up with friends and neighbors, maybe you come when you are in trouble and you “want” something from God.  Perhaps you come to sing the hymns and to listen to what God has to say.

    There are lots of reasons to come to church, to go into the house of the Lord.  Some of those reasons are pretty good reasons and some of those reasons, well; the Spirit can always work on us where the Word is preached.  But there is a reason we join assemble together.  We do so because God calls us to do so.

    God calls us together, through His Holy Spirit, to have a conversation with us.  God calls us together to talk to us.  That is why we tend to call our services “Divine Services” and not worship services.  Most others don’t see this as we do; but we see this as an act of God.  This is God acting on our behalf and for our good.  When we think of worship, we tend to see it as what we do for God.  Now we do respond to God’s grace with praise and thanksgiving but even that is led by the Spirit who prays for us in a way that we cannot understand.

     God speaks to his people and tells them to remember.  We are to remember our crucified and risen Savior.  We are to remember how gracious and loving God is in creating and sustaining his creation.  We are to remember how God called us out of sin and darkness to be his people by Baptism through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  And God reminds us that we are witnesses to his mercy, to his love and to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

    God speaks to us as His holy people, his chosen nation, his royal priests.  We are not these things because of our actions but because of Christ and his atonement on the cross where He was substituted for us and took our punishment on his back.  We are this one body who lives every day as a living, breathing manifestation of this remembrance.  We are God’s children, blessed by him, loved by him, protected by Him.  We live toward the reign of God inaugurated in Jesus Christ.

     Yet even as we look at what God has done, we focus on what is to be.  Every service we pray “come, Lord Jesus” return to us and reign over us in your glorified presence when death is conquered completely and we can live once again with you in the new Eden.  

    God calls us, refreshes us, and renews our body and soul.  We are fed with his precious body and blood and thus join with him in the Passover from death to life and receive from him the promise of eternal life.  God calls us to this and more.

Dear Father in heaven, you call us to be your own and to guard us, guide us and protect us from all the arrows that devil has.  Keep is, dear Lord, wrapped safely in your arms.  Hide us in the shadow of your wings and bring us safely home to be with you.  This we ask in the precious name of Jesus, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

2-13-2019

Good Morning All,

          Proverbs 3:5-6; “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths smooth”

    Who do you trust?  Of the people in your life, who do you trust?  When astronaut Scott Carpenter was asked about his first take-off into space aboard the Mercury rocket and what his thoughts were; his response was, “I thought,’ why did they always have to take the low bidder?’”  As the rocket shook so did his trust.  Every day we drive down the road; we trust that the other driver who is coming at us will stay on his side of the road.  Every day that we turn on the light switch; we trust that the electricity is still flowing.  Every day we eat some food; we trust that it is safe for us to do so.

     Yet every day, that driver is paying more attention to some electronic device and not to the road.  Every day, with the draw on the electrical grid; we wonder if this is the day it breaks.  Every day, scientists try to find more reasons that most of what we eat is actually killing us.  As we watch the news, with all the 24-hour news stations and with the internet and its speed, with the blurring of the line between reporter and commentator, journalist and talking head; you wonder if you can trust the information that we receive is factual.  Who do you trust?

    Most of us would say that we trust God.  But that leads to the question, who is your God?  Martin Luther defined a god as this: “A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need.  To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him with your whole heart… That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.”  Where do you look for ultimate security?  Is it your spouse or your parents?  Is it your wealth?  Is it your intellect?  Is it the government?  If, in time of need or time of thanks, you look to one of these first rather than God; those others are your god. 

     As soon as we look to anything or anyone for our ultimate comfort and security; they will fail us.  These other things, all other things, will fail because they are of human design and limited by human capacity.  The passengers of the Titanic, who trusted that the ship was unsinkable, learned the cold, hard way.  God continually invites us to trust in Him and Him alone.  Every other earthly prop will give way but God will hold us forever.  Paul wrote, “nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  The devil will try but he will not succeed and when we trust in the Lord, truly trust in Him and His promise; we are truly helped and our heart will exult and we can sing His praises forevermore.

 Gracious and loving Father, in you alone do we have any security or hope.  While others make promises they cannot keep, You alone are true.  Forgive us when we are weak and fail to trust totally in you.  Keep us in your arms and strengthen our walk with You.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

2-12-2019

Good Morning All,

  Psalm 142:6; “Pay attention to my cry for help because I am very weak.  Rescue me from those who pursue me because they are too strong for me.”

    Do you remember the Fugitive?  Dr. Kimball was found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit while being hauled to his execution he escaped and was chased through the rest of the TV series.  He was pursued by the police who would usually come in one side of town while he left out the other.  Do you remember The Incredible Hulk?  Dr. Banner was chased because of an experiment which changed him into the hulk and they wanted to find out why and how.  Do you remember Airwolf?  A super helicopter is hidden in a hollowed-out cave in the Valley of the Gods to hide it from some government agencies which want to use it for some less than good things. 

    All these shows, and some others, involve someone being chased or pursued.  We are often fascinated with the pursuit of someone; whether it is a television series or the real-life pursuit of someone like the Unibomber, Son of Sam, the Zodiac killer or Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden.  We like to watch someone else being chased but what about when we are being pursued?  We are often being pursued.  It is usually something of our own doing.

     We are often pursued by past sins which we do not let go off or maybe by past sins which we have not really repented of.  When we don’t let go of the past sins, when we think that they are just too much or too horrible to confess; the devil uses them to hound or pursue us with guilt and shame.  We are also pursued by the guilt and shame we feel for sins which we do not completely repent of.  Remember the story of the tax collector who, when he repented, paid back four times what he extorted when he collected taxes?  Sometimes that should be us. Sometimes we are pursued by the guilt and shame of a sin against our neighbor that we don’t fully come clean to.  Perhaps we confess to God but not to our neighbor.  Maybe we said some unkind things about someone else; perhaps we heard some unkind things said and we didn’t speak up.  Maybe something happened and we let someone else take the blame for our mistakes.  These are things which will pursue us.  Sins, that go unconfessed, always pursue us.

    Fortunately, God, through his mercy because of Christ’s atonement, forgives our sins.  Now all we have to do is let this comforting fact lead us to finish our confession or repentance to remove the guilt.  It takes courage; to admit to our shortcomings but God’s love and forgiveness should give us the courage to take that step.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  And if they are against us, so what?  God is for us, offering us His forgiveness and the promise of eternal life; we find refuge in Him from all our pursuers.

  God of mercy, give us strength to combat all our pursuers as we find refuge in you.  Comfort us and sustain us in Your peace.  Defend all who suffer from fear and despair.  Give them your Spirit of peace.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray.  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret           

2-11-2019

Good Morning All,

Psalm 32:11; “Be glad and find joy in the Lord, you righteous people.  Sing with joy, all whose motives are decent.”

     We are all too often a nation of gloom and doomers.  We are, as Spiro Agnew once put it, “nattering nabobs of negativity” and yet of all the people in the world; we should be the most joyous.  The Lord has done great things for us.  We live a life that the overwhelming majority of the world cannot even begin to fathom and yet we complain.  God’s blessings have been poured out upon us and we barely even recognize it.  Many in our country have come to believe that they are in some way, shape or form entitled to the blessings of God.  They believe that somewhere back in their ancestry, their forefathers and foremothers had so much faith that they built up blessings which God owes to them today.  So, with that mentality, they are never happy; they never see the greatness of God’s blessings.  They never see the wonder of what God does for us every day and in every way.

     They fail to see the wonder of God’s grace; the empty tomb, the body and blood in the bread and the wine.  They fail to see the comfort God gives them through their family and through their church.  They fail to see the beauty which he shows us in the flower and the field, the rushing stream and the still lake.  They are convinced that God is holding out on them and that he owes them something more. 

     Yet the Lord has done great things for us.  We get up every morning secure in the knowledge of our salvation, knowing that the God of love is present in our lives, knowing that we are God’s redeemed, baptized children.  The devil cannot harm us.  We should be filled with laughter we should be filled with shouts of joy.  We should sound like every elementary school after a Halloween party, loaded with joy and sugar-powered laughter.  Of all the people in the world, Christians should be the happiest.  We know how the story ends and it ends with us in heaven.  How much greater joy is there?  It truly does not get any better than this anywhere here on earth.

    God’s grace fills our lives even when we don’t think so; God is blessing us with all that we need to support this body and life.  We should be worshipping Him and giving Him praise for all the blessing we have received but it seems that Spiro Agnew was right.  Too often, in too many ways we are “nattering nabobs of negativity”.  So, as we go forth, let’s ask God to help us see the blessings and grace that we have received and to have our mouth filled with laughter and our tongues shout for joy.

 Dearest Jesus, your mercies are new to us every day.  Yet we fail to see them.  Lead us to share the joy of your salvation to engage other with laughter and fellowship, with love and grace which flows from you through us to all whom we meet.  Bless us Lord and keep us on your path of righteousness.  Use us in service to your kingdom.  In your precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

2-9-2019

 Good Morning All,

        1 Timothy 2:1; “First of all, I encourage you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people”

     We, as God’s redeemed children, have access to the greatest source of power that the world cannot even fathom.  We have the power of prayer.  Prayer is one of the gifts that God gives to his Church; the “royal priesthood”.  Prayer, as a gift from God, comes with three elements to it.  It comes at God’s command.  It comes with His promise and it comes with His blessing. 

    God commands us to pray.  God knows that we need to be in constant contact with Him.  God knows that the devil, even though defeated, will continually poke and prod at us.  The devil will always whisper in our ears to try and cause doubt.  Prayer keeps us connected to God.  That is why we are to pray constantly; we are to be constantly connected to God.  

    Yet this command is not because God needs our prayers; this command comes because we need to pray.  We need prayer.  It is half of the “holy conversation” that we have with God.  God speaks to us as we read His Holy Scriptures and He reveals to us the truths we need to know.  We read of His love for us, His desire for us and the fact that we need not fear for He alone is God.  Our response, our speaking back to God, revealing our fears, our joys and our offers of thanks is prayer.   

   With this command comes a promise.  God promises to answer our prayers!!  The Creator of the universe takes the time to listen to us.  God the Father inclines his ear to us.  He leans down to listen closely to what we say; like a loving grandparent leans in close to hear every word of a grandchild.  We have that promise.

   With the promise to hear our prayers comes the blessing of answering our prayers.  These prayers are answered when we pray according to God’s will.  We are to pray to advance God’s will.  When we pray like that, God answers.  When we pray to move God’s will forward, when God’s house on earth, the church, is truly a house of prayer; heaven moves with all its potent plans as God’s people are clothed with the triumphant victory wardrobe and the world sees results.  Prayer is at the heart of the sanctified life with power to change the world.  The Word of God; in the hearts of men (and women) changes lives and that cannot be stopped.  We express this change through prayer.

    So, we pray; we pray for all the saints now and to come.  Just as the saints that went before us prayed for us; we need to pray for those who are to come as well.  Pray and see what happens.  Set up a prayer group and agree to pray at the same time every day and share your prayers; the thanksgivings, the intercessions and the supplications.  Prayer is our greatest source of power and we rarely use it.

Lord Jesus, just as your disciples asked you to teach them to pray; we ask that you teach us.  And yet as they fell asleep and were unable to pray; we too fall asleep.  Forgive us our frailties and our weaknesses.  Empower us to go forward praying for our needs and the needs of all the saints that Your Holy Will shall advance.  In Your holy and powerful name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

2-9-2019

Good Morning All,

            Hosea 14:5; “I will be like dew to the people of Israel.  They will blossom like flowers.  They will be firmly rooted like cedars from Lebanon.”

     Have you ever tried to pull or dig a bush out of the ground?  It always seems to be an easy proposition.  The thing may look dead; it hasn’t produced even a bud let alone a flower or fruit for years yet, when you try to pull it up, it will tear up half the lawn and then the roots will start to come back year after year.  While you or I thought the plant was completely dead; it wasn’t.  It may simply have been dormant or waiting out an infestation or a drought of some type.  It had a store of food and it was rooted deep and it was rooted firmly. 

    Scriptures tells us we are to be the same way when it comes to our faith.  We are to be like a tree planted by the waters with roots down deep trusting in God’s grace and mercy to see us though.  God’s Word and sacraments nourish us and sustain us.  Even in our lives; when we feel that we are in the greatest of droughts; God gives us the faith to pull through.  It is still a drought; it still gives us pain but God sees us through.  When we are rooted deep in the Lord, we will survive.  The roots which we have because of faith will hold us secure.  The world may cause parts of us to be damaged but we will survive.  Our faith is established and because of it we can live a life of thanksgiving.

     Too often we see each day as a lifetime.  What occurs in one day, we see as forever; yet it is only one day just a fraction of our life and an infinitesimal part of our eternal existence.  God looks at you and sees a child that he loves for eternity.  God laid the foundation of the earth after He prepared heaven for you.  We should give thanks for this and all of God’s blessings on us.  Most we take for granted; we don’t see them as gifts to be thankful for but as something we deserve.  God’s grace leads us on.  He keeps us rooted by faith in the living waters which flow from his mercy and nourishes us with his grace.

    I have been told that the mass of the tree root is greater than the mass of the part of the tree that is above ground.  This is why those massive trees can withstand droughts, winds, snowstorms or any of a myriad of events.  The roots run deep and strong.  We are rooted in Christ, by faith, so we can live the life that God gives to us.  A life that may have its challenges and its pains but a life that is rooted in the promise of life eternal with Him in heaven.

    Christ then nourishes this tree with his Word and with his Spirit.  His Word comforts us and proclaims to us the great promises which God speaks to his people through this Word.  His Spirit is there to help us to remember these promises and to place our hope in them.  He causes us to be fed, comforted and rooted firmly in His grace so we may remain strong until He returns.

     Father of all good gifts, we know that your will is done with or without us; yet you have given us the blessings of prayer.  We ask you to send your Spirit of comfort to those who are in pain and to those who are lost.  Keep us firmly rooted in Your Word always trusting in your promise.  All this we boldly ask in the Name of Jesus, Our Lord,  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

2-8-2019

Good Morning All,

        Psalm 57:1; “Have pity on me, O God. Have pity on me, because my soul takes refuge in you.  I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until destructive storms pass by.”

    We have been having some troublesome weather in our part of paradise.  A lot of wind, a lot of cold and more than enough snow to cause schools to be delayed or cancelled and weather advisories to issued.  The interstates are closed to travel and we call around to find out if enough people can get out to have a Bible Study.  It is vital at these times to have in your car enough blankets and warm clothing in case your car stalls.  It might be the only thing to protect you in a storm.

    God offers us a similar safety but played for higher stakes.  Here the Psalmist asks God for pity because he takes refuge in the shadow of God’s wings.  We can think in terms of a hen who covers her chicks with her wings to protect them from harm.  Yet God takes it beyond just shelter; he brings us into his family and declares us to be sons and treats as such.  We not only get shelter; we get it in his tent.  We receive the lavish gifts of a father to his son.  We lounge at his table.  If you think of this in terms of a middle Eastern king, we would eat dates, fresh roasted lamb or the fatted calf, leeks, pomegranates, cucumbers, fresh bread and the finest wines.  We would sleep on luxurious silk sheets and drink a mixture of milk and honey.  All with God’s love to invite us and encourage us and with His power to protect us from the devil’s harm.

    The unbeliever has no clue at the grace that God provides for us as long as we dwell in his shelter and abide in his shadow.  We only get in trouble when we leave the tent and go off on our own thinking we can stand up to the devil and the world.  We soon find out we are no match for these evil forces.  We are only safe when we dwell in the shelter of the Most High.  We are only protected while we abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  Here we have safety; here we have contentment; here we find peace from the raging storm.  What a wonder gift!  What a wonderful promise!  We are to view this lavish meal (whatever yours is!!!) as just a small, microscopic hint to feast we will share in heaven.  Take the most elaborate meal you have ever seen or experienced, it isn’t even close.  We get what the unbeliever can’t even dream of.  Dwell safe in the shelter of the Most High, hide in his shadow and enjoy his meal and the time that you spend with Him through our prayers and praise. 

 God of all Power, you speak and the world trembles and shakes.  Forgive us our sins.  Strengthen us so that we are ready for your hospitality; we are ready to dine with you.  As you nourish us with your heavenly meal; use our strength to serve in your kingdom.  Through Jesus’ precious Name we pray, Amen

God’s Peace

Pastor Bret