9-7-2019

Good Morning All,

        Ecclesiastes 4:4; “Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind"

    When I was in high school, there was a country song by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson titled “Luckenbach, Texas”.  It was a song that a man was singing to his wife. He was telling her that they were “so busy keeping up with the Jones, a four car garage and we’re still building on maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love.”  This is a common theme among songs that can be popular; yet we don’t often live this way.

    While our music seeks a simpler, easier paced life, our existence seems driven to more and more.  We seem driven to want more, buy more, demand more and then be farther in debt.  We seem to always look at our neighbors and think that they really have it made; why can’t I have that?

    I recently visited with a lady who experienced this first hand.  She was in her early fifties.  She grew up on a farm but went to school in the “big town” up the road.  Her friends were “townies” and always had the newest clothes, all had jobs for their spending money, always went to the movies and ate a lot of fast food.  She rarely got new clothes, made most of them, worked in the farm for her dad so had to ask for any money, went to a few movies and seldom ate at McDonald’s.  She always felt her friends had it better than she did so she sulked a lot and felt sorry for herself.  She skipped her class reunion until her 25^th when her husband made her go. 

    She was surprised when she started talking to her friends.  They were all jealous of her when they grew up.  She had a horse, no nosey neighbors, she didn’t have to work; she had real home cooked meals and her own room.  When she talked with me, it was bittersweet.  On the one hand, she learned that while our experiences may be different, in many ways they are the same.  Yet she also saw that for the first 40-45 years of her life she was mad at what she didn’t have instead of happy for what she did.  This she was changing and was enjoying what she had and that was a loving husband, wonderful children, fantastic friends and a grandchild on the way.

    This is what our verse is telling us.  We can rot with envy and jealousy or we can see God’s gifts to us and enjoy the life we have right now.  God’s Spirit gives us peace; peace with God and peace with ourselves.  The devil tries to disrupt this and when he does; pain surely follows.  God gives us the gift of a tranquil heart; a heart at peace.  Trust in God our Father to take care of you and enjoy the simple gifts of life.  Enjoy the love of your family and friends, the stars at night, the sounds of nature when you can and especially enjoy the grace that God bestows on us.

Dear Father, you give us more than we need yet we demand more.  Help us to enjoy the blessings which you bestow on us with the joy that you desire us to have.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-6-2019

      Good Morning All,

        Psalm 30:3; “O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.”

    I have had the pleasure of knowing a couple of guys who enjoy restoring old wooden tables, chairs and dressers.  They get real giddy when they go to flea markets or old estate sales.  I doubt if they have ever paid more than $10 for anything.  The drawers are broken or missing from the dressers; the tables are wobbly and maybe have a piece missing.  Anything they buy looks like garbage.  I would imagine the people who are selling this stuff have to hold their breath until these two are gone so they don’t break out laughing at the two “rubes” who paid good money for kindling.

    The truly amazing thing is what the projects look like after they finish them.  They look magnificent.  The truly amazing part is how they can incorporate and actually highlight the stains and the cracks that give these old pieces their character.  When we look at them, I marvel at their skill but I also wonder about the stories that those old pieces would tell.  Cut marks and burn marks abound.  Was that the height of a child at age 5?  Was the burn mark left when a sudden announcement, good or ill, was made?  How many Thanksgivings and Christmas meals did a family share around them?  They all have stories but the change in the chairs and tables is remarkable.  They have a new lease on life.  They are ready to start over as pieces of art, masterpieces even.

    This is what Jesus does to us.  He reclaims us from the junk piles and flea markets of the world.  We are broken, warped and may even have some pieces missing.  Yet Jesus fixes us all up.  He cleans away all the years of scratches and dents and cut marks and makes us whole.  Those marks may still be seen but they do not define who we are.  We are new creations made so by the blood of Jesus and declared so by God the Father.  The old is all gone and we are new again.  Redeemed by Jesus and freed by his atoning sacrifice.  Just like those two wood workers who scour the sales, God seeks you out and no matter what condition you are in, or think you are in, you are never too far gone for Christ to redeem you and shape you into a new creation.  There is no amount of damage to you that Jesus cannot fix.  No matter what sins you feel you carry; Jesus makes you a new creation.  His mercy will heal you and remove all the nicks and scratches and his grace will replace all the damage done to your heart and soul.  There is nothing he cannot do and his love for you knows no bounds.  Trust in his mercy and surrender to his love.

   Dearest Father, in your mercy you sent Jesus to redeem us and to make us new creations. Give us the joy of your eternal grace and keep us safe on our journey home.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-5-2019

      Good Morning All,

       Psalm 51:17; “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

    Have you ever shopped at a discounted discount store?  They have all the “seconds” or the damaged goods.  You can buy some of them real cheap if you want to.  It is amazing how cheap these can be.  They are so cheap that people often pass right by them, afraid that there must be something wrong with them. 

    These goods, especially the canned goods, are often dented.  Sometimes the label is missing.  Some of the boxed goods are broken open and taped up to be somewhat presentable.  The store knows that the only way to sell these items is to put a huge discount on them.  Even then most just bet tossed out; they are just not shelf worthy anymore.

    All of us at one point in time have felt the pain of being damaged goods.  Maybe you made some bad decisions when you were younger and have been viewed as “damaged goods” ever since.  Maybe the pink slip from your last employer left a dent in you, especially since you are on the top side of 45 now.  Perhaps looking at your spouse has left and now you are all dinged up.  Perhaps a loved one died way too early in life.  All these things can take a toll on a body and a spirit.

    The truly good news is that God has great compassion on us.  All you have to do is read the Gospels and see time and time again where Jesus had compassion on the lame, the blind, the sick and dying.  Jesus looks past the dings and the dents and sees the heart that is broken and the spirit that is crushed.  He seeks to comfort you with his mercy.  He reaches to you and to me with all the love that we need and he gently lifts us up in his arms and brings us to his loving bosom and holds us close; safe in his arms.

    The world will ding us pretty good, tell us we are worthless and then throw us away as damaged goods but God continually retrieves us from the damaged goods shelf and restores us to his family keeping us safe from the true pain that devil will try to cause.  God reaches out to the brokenhearted and the crushed spirits and gives them hope; and gives them life.  This is the promise of Jesus; to bring healing into the broken world; to lift up the damaged and the brokenhearted and give them hope.  He has promised to never turn away from the brokenhearted.  He has promised compassion to the wounded spirit.  So, when you are dinged by the world, turn to Jesus and offer your cries of pain to him and he will hear you and will give you hope and peace.

Dear Father, we are all dented and dinged by the sin of the world and our own failings.  Give us your precious grace to cover us and your mercy to save us.  Be with those who are especially hurting at this time.  Heal the brokenhearted and mend the wounded spirit.  Protect us from the sorrows of this world.  Let us find peace in your name.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-4-2019

 Good Morning All,

Matthew 7:7; “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

    “Listen, do you want to know a secret?”  That is the opening line of a Beatle’s song.  It is also the source of many of our thoughts and desires, especially secrets about us.  Do you ever wonder about your future?  Do you ever wonder about times in your life when you made a major decision and wonder how your life would have been different?  What if the line would have been busy when you first tried to call your future spouse for the first time?  What if your job interviews would have been in a different order?  What if the rain would have come a little earlier or a little less of it?  What if you would have trusted your instincts and bought the land your neighbor tried to sell you a longtime ago?

    What about all the prayers that you thought went unanswered or at least not answered as you wanted?  What about the times when you prayed for something and someone else got it?  Did you pray to get a job that went to a friend?  Did you pray for a child only to watch all your friends having children?  We sit and sometimes think God just doesn’t listen or care.  Yet he clearly tells us something different.  He promises to tell us great and mysterious things.

   The thing is that we need to listen to what God is telling us.  Too often, our prayers are more a shopping list or a “honey-do” list.  We go to God with this logic, “These are what I need and want you to do; preferably right now!” Or we come to God with the attitude “well, I’ve tried everything else; I guess I’ll ask God.”  Neither of these are a very faithful or faith-based way to pray.  God calls us to come to him in faith and he will answer.  We pray according to his will and trust that his will is the best for us.  Sometimes what we want is not what is best for us.  Sometimes what God has in store for us is greater than anything we could even imagine.  God answers our prayers and always acts in our best interest.

    With this certainty, we can come before him and boldly ask for what we need and even what we want; we know that God’s answer will be what is best for us.  We can and should seek His truth in order that we may be a just and loving people.  This trust in God’s faithful answer will show us things which we do not know and cannot even imagine.  God answers our prayers because He loves us and He has promised to do so and He is faithful to His promise.

 Dearest Father, too often we look at the prayers that we want answered that we miss all the ones that you have answered.  Forgive us for missing the love and health of family and friends, the beauty of creation, and the wondrous gift of our salvation.  You answer all our prayers and give us peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-3-2019

Good Morning All,

     Psalm 85:2-3; “You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin.  You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.”

    When my nephews were young and needed some discipline, they would have to sit on “the bad chair”.  Nobody wanted to sit on the bad chair.  It sat in the corner of the kitchen and didn’t look any different than any other chair.  If you moved it to the table it was ok but as long as it sat in the corner, it was “the bad chair.”  The first time I encountered “the bad chair” was quite by accident.  We were visiting them and we were gathered around the kitchen and I went and sat on the “bad chair;” I didn’t know any better.  I just got sat down when my little nephew’s eyes got huge and he shouted, “Uncle Bret’s sitting on the bad chair!!”  I thought the chair was broken so I jumped up, not sure of what I had done; everyone else laughed.  The power of sitting on that chair was firmly ensconced in that young boy’s mind.  Nobody ever wanted to sit on that chair.

    This was just the place for a rambunctious child to sit and think about what he had done and why it was wrong.  After the set amount of time, he was allowed to go back to playing again.  Sometimes, mom or dad was pretty angry when someone was placed on the chair but as the time went by the anger faded and all was well again as love for the child was remembered and treasured. 

    This is what God is telling us here.  We call it many things; mistakes, over rambunctious, errors in judgment, slip ups, whatever; the truth is we sin.  We violate God’s law and go against His holy will.  We do this even as we profess to know better.  So, we sit on the “bad chair.”  The thing about the “bad chair” is that we always miss out on the good things.  For the child placed there by their parent, the fun of playtime or even a special treat goes by as he sits and misses out on the enjoyment of life.  The same is true for us.  When we sit in sin, in apostasy, we miss out on God’s blessings; not because God withholds them, we just missing out on being spiritually connected to God.  When we are on the “bad chair,” we see the sad side of life and fail to see God’s blessings because sin has clouded our eyes and vision. 

   Yet God continually heals us.  Through the mercy we have in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, God renews us, restores us and heals our ruptured soul of sin.  God heals us with his love and because of his love, He is not angry with us.  He restores us to His holy family and gives us the hope of salvation and comfort in this life through His Spirit.  You are healed because you are loved.

Dearest Father, your mercies are new to us each day and they roll over us like a river.  We praise you for your healing touch and for bringing us into your wonderful kingdom.  We pray that all may know this peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-2-2019

Good Morning All,
     Psalm 86:6; “Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace.”

    Have you ever played the game “20 Questions”?  Someone thinks of something and then the other player has to guess it by asking questions?  It can be a challenge, especially if you don’t ask the right question.  When you watch the old Perry Mason shows, we see how carefully he would word his questions to lead the witness to give the right answer.  Even when someone asks me a question, I’ll often ask them, “Why do you want to know?”  The goal of this question is to get to the question behind the question.   Why are you asking this question?

   Sometimes when we pray; we don’t get what we pray for.  This can lead to a frustrating situation.  We often cry to God and ask, “Why?”  This is the wrong question.  We should ask the question, “What?”  What do you want for me Lord?  This is what we should ask; we should ask for direction not an explanation.  We do this by first trusting God to do what is best for us.  No matter what else happens in our life; we are always a redeemed child of God, blessed by him and carried by his promises.  Nothing can or will change it.  So, as we face prayers that seem to be unanswered, we need to remember that our desires do not form us but God’s mercy forms us.  We may need to let go of one desire as God may have a different one in store.

    We need to ask God for guidance and support; then we need to turn to our brothers and sisters in Christ and listen to them for their comfort, their wisdom and their direction.  God uses Christians to speak his Word to us.  Then we may need to step back a little and see what else God is telling us.  Sometimes our focus is so narrow that we miss all God’s beauty around us.

    We then need to look at God’s gifts and see the new dreams that he has in store for us.  It may be time for a change in your life; perhaps major perhaps not so major but we know that, through faith, God is guiding us along.  He has promised that all things work for the good of those whom he loves.

    Look forward to what God is promising.  He promises us plans that will make us prosper.  He has plans that will give us eternal life.  He has a love for you to give you what we need and what is best for us.  Trust God to hear your prayer and answer you.  He has promised to never abandon you but to always be with you.  This is his promise to you; that he will comfort you in all your pain and give you peace to trust in his wonderful mercy.  His love for you endures forever.

Dearest Jesus, we come to you in prayer and often ask “why?”  Give us the wisdom and faith to ask “what?” what can I do to serve you.  Lead us to see that you are always in control and that our future with you has already been determined.  Give us eyes of faith to see beyond today and to see the glory of your tomorrow.  In your precious name we pray, amen. 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-1-2019

Good Morning All,

1 John 3:18; “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

    In the late 60’s, there was a song by Judy Collins entitled “Both Sides Now.”  This is a ballad about a person growing up and how at first you see everything through rose colored glasses, but as you get older, you see things a little more clearly.  There is a portion of the song that is rather poignant and very telling.

      “I've looked at love from both sides now from give and take, and still somehow.

                       It's love's illusions I recall I really don't know love at all.”

    This is really a very accurate description of the relationship that we have with God.  It is also why we struggle sometimes.  We really have not looked at love from God’s side.  We have always looked at love from our sides.  We see love as conditional.  We all have a point where we would say to another person; “I can’t love you anymore.”  It might take a whole lot but we all have that point.  We tend to think that since we are this way then God must be the same way.

    We really need to look at love from God’s side.  The apostle John tells us all about the love of God; it was made manifest in Jesus.  God sent his only Son into the world to die, to die a horrific death, for people who do not deserve this kind of love.  This love is beyond our understanding.  Even though we don’t understand or comprehend it, we have it.  This is what is so great about God’s love for you; you don’t have to understand it; you only need to enjoy it.  Take it to heart with the faith that God gives to you.  You are truly loved by God; there are no strings, no conditions, absolutely no need to earn it.  God loves you beyond anything you can ever imagine. 

   It is hard for our limited ability; but God’s love for us is beyond anything and everything that we can ever comprehend.  Yet God desires us to have this type of love for or fellow man.  God desires that we place the needs of our neighbor higher than our own needs.  He does this because our needs are already satisfied by Him.  This world and the devil like to try and make it an illusion but God’s love is real and for you.  There is no earning this love but this love will sustain us and carry us and comfort us in all needs and trials.  God is love; this is His nature.  His desire is to show His wondrous love to us and that we show it to others.  Enjoy it as His gift to you and share it with those around you.

Dearest Father, your love for us is beyond our understanding.  Give us the faith to trust what we do not know or understand.  Help us to rely in this love and give us the courage to respond to others with this same love.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret