Good Morning All,
Esther 9:28a; “that these days should be remembered and kept
throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these
days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the
commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.”
One family’s New Year’s Eve tradition was
to gather around the fireplace with the year’s calendar, the one marked with
all the schedules and activities. They would tear off January and recall the
events of that month—the family gatherings, the parties, the odd happenings.
There were laughs and a lot of “remember that?” Then January would be committed
to the flames.
This
was done 11 more times until December was in the fire. But not all the memories
were happy ones. The family members also recalled times of anger,
misunderstanding, quarreling, hurt, and pain that they had caused each other.
At times they would remind each other of the forgiveness of Christ and speak a
word of forgiveness to each other. They
remembered their past year, the good and the bad and the highs and the
lows. They remembered the events and
they remembered God and what he did.
Our verse comes from the
story of Esther where a man named Haman tries to have all the Jews killed. His attempt is thwarted by Mordecai and
Esther. This is celebrated on the feast
of Purim which occurs usually in the month of March. The celebration includes the sharing of food,
donations to the poor, a celebration and a re-reading of the story of
Esther. This is done to remember what
God did for the Jews at this time and how he kept them safe.
This is important for all of us to do; we
need to remember what God has done for us and what he is doing for us and then
look to what God promises us. God has
sustained us and protected us from the onslaught of the devil and the
world. We survived with God’s grace and
blessings. He continues to sustain and
protect us from the wickedness that the devil intends for us. God will protect us from the harm and pain
that the devil tries to use to draw us away from God. God wraps his loving arms around us and
defends us with his mighty power.
All these point to what God has promised to
do for us. He has promised to continue
to protect and, when the fullness of our time is right, to complete our
salvation and give to us the eternal glory that waits for us with Jesus. We are already going on that path; we are
already saved and participate in the joy.
This is why God protects and sustains us for we are his redeemed
children. He doesn’t save us for
something later on; He saves you right now so that we can live with hope. So, remember what God has done for you; it is
the down payment on life eternal.
Gracious Father, in you we
have hope. Guard us by your loving
arms. Keep us strong and secure in our
faith that we may always remember what great blessings you have given to us and
that you continue to place in our life.
Keep us safe until we reach our eternal home with you. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Isaiah 21:12;
“The watchman says: “Morning
comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”
Miss Stella, as she was known to
everyone, had resided in the nursing home for over 25 years. She moved in shortly after her husband had
passed away. She had already outlived all
her siblings, her husband’s siblings, and two of her children. She had outlived all of those who were in her
confirmation class and most of her contemporaries. For many people in her situation, they would
question their pastor as to why God was leaving them here; did he forget me? Why won’t he take me home? I have been alone long enough. But not Miss Stella; she was on the other end
of the spectrum.
Whenever her pastor or anyone would visit,
she would tell them, “God can’t take me yet; I still have too many people to
pray for” and pray she did. She prayed
for dozens of people every day. Many
were the same, but a few changed depending on the situation of their life. She prayed for her children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren. She prayed for
her pastor and those in her nursing facility who were ill or having a difficult
time and those on her church prayer list.
One thing anybody who knew Miss Stella; at some point in time, she
prayed for you. Most of her family and
friends found that one simple fact very comforting.
In her own way, Miss Stella was a watchman. Watchman were essential in the times of the
Old Testament as they would look out from the city towers and look for trouble
coming from far off. They would also
watch out for the people of the city telling them what was coming and helping
them make decisions about travel or trade.
Scriptures, especially Isaiah, has the watchman praying for the
people. Even though Miss Stella was
frail and at times had a difficult time holding a fork; her hands were always
strong enough to fold in prayer. She knew
that God was listening so day in and day out she prayed for the people on her
list asking God to come into their lives and assure them of his healing touch.
Somewhere in your life, you have a
watchman. Someone is praying for
you. It may be a grandparent or parent,
a spouse or just a friend but somewhere you have a watchman. This is such a comforting fact that I hope it
moves you to become a watchman for someone else. Look around you and seek out those who you
can pray for. It is not hard; there are
so many to choose from. Yet commit
yourself to pray for people that you know.
It can be your pastor or your church officers, it can be your
grandchildren or your neighbors, it can be those kids down the street that
never seem to have enough. No matter how
weak our hands may ever be; they are always strong enough to pray.
Father, lead me to pray for my family and friends. Lead me to be a watchman. Guide my intercessions that I may commit to
praying for the welfare of these people.
Guide me that I may see the wonderful opportunity that I have to pray
for those around me. In the precious
name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
Good Morning All,
Psalm 103:12;
“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
Little Timmy was a rambunctious young
man. He seemed to be able to cause grief
for his mother most of the day. He was
often more curious than anything but that still led to broken flowerpots, or
spilled milk or broken windows or electronics which were no longer in working
order. He kept his parents on their toes
at all times. Yet today, he was especially
active even for Timmy.
After an exhausting day, Mother decides
that it is best if Timmy goes to bed before anything else can go wrong. She gave him his bath and then they went to
his room for his one book and then Timmy saying his prayers. Timmy was exceptionally quiet during his book
time. When it came time for his prayers;
he seemed restless. His mother asked
what was wrong. He asked his mother if
he could pray by himself. Sensing
something was wrong she asked, “Bobby, is there anything you want to tell me?”
“No, Mommy, you would just scold me. If I tell God, he will forgive me and then
forget about it.”
Maybe you have had days like little
Timmy. Maybe, you didn’t start out to
sin but by the end of the day, there were a couple whoppers. They may have even been bad enough to hurt,
to have really hurt. You may even feel
that if you admit to them; God will turn away from you. So, we try and hide them away. We think we
can hide them in the back of our mind and in our psyche. We think if we push them down enough that
they will go away, but they always remain around to bug us and to remind us of
our weaknesses and our failures.
The thing we need to remember is that
little Timmy was right. When you tell
God, he will forgive and forget; in fact, he forgave even before you told
him. He forgave them when Jesus died on
the cross at Calvary. The sin you commit
is forgiven. God has released you from
the consequences of that sin by placing the cost on Jesus. His freedom is complete. Your sins are gone, as far as the east is
from the west. He keeps no record of
them so you shouldn’t either. You should
let those sins that burden your heart and soul go. You should free yourself from the pain and
guilt that the devil likes to use to keep you down. God has freed you; trust in his grace to let
you enjoy that freedom. Take hold of
this freedom from the slavery of sin and live the life that God has designed
for you to live, as his dear children.
Merciful Father, your loves pours over us every day. Your grace supplies all that I need. Move us by your loving kindness to hold onto
your gift of forgiveness. Give us the
strength and courage to throw off the devil.
Hold us in your loving arms and keep us safe. Keep us secure in your eye. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
Good
Morning All,
2 Corinthians 9:7; “Each one must give as he has
decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
God loves a cheerful giver; makes you
want to grab your wallet and run sometimes, doesn’t it. That is ok, you can feel that way. For far too often this verse is used to
“encourage” a bigger check in the offering plate. This verse sometimes gets used because when
people see the offering plate coming and they look in their wallet and they see
a $20 bill, a $5 bill and a $1bill, they at least go past the single. It is no wonder this verse causes us to
clench up when we hear it or read it; it strikes us with guilt and usually that
is the intent.
I am not suggesting that you abandon the
financial support of your church. It
costs a lot of money to operate a church, especially if you have an ongoing
mission commitment either locally or nationally. So be as generous as you can, however; that
is between you and God. This verse speaks
to much more than just the monetary side of the church; it applies to how you
live your Christian faith in the world around you.
We know that God has given us everything
and has given it to us beyond our need and even beyond our wants. He has poured upon us his loving kindness far
above what we deserve. He has generously
given us his grace. He has restored us
to the full standing within his family by redeeming us from sin. We are all then co-heirs with Christ. We are blessed with the gifts of the
Spirit. We have a lot to be cheerful
about but are we cheerful when we share and use these gifts or are we stingy?
The Apostle Paul lists those gifts as love,
peace, joy, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness; elsewhere he writes
of humility, compassion, bearing one another’s burdens. God gives you these; are you stingy in giving
of these gifts to those around you? Are
you grumpy and demanding? Do you look
the other way when you see someone in need?
Are we cheerful, generous believers or are we stingy with God’s gifts?
God gives us these gifts so that we might
be blessed and that we might be a blessing to others. He desires that we use these gifts to offer
healing and comfort in a world that is broken and in pain. He gives us these gifts so that we might
relieve the suffering of the world and to be a bright spot in the lives of so
many around us. It might be your spouse
or neighbor or someone who works in the store where you shop. It might be the single parent across the
street or the lonely elderly person who sits next to you in church. There are many people who need you to be a
cheerful giver; go and be one today.
Gracious and loving Father
give me the will to do your will and to be a cheerful giver. Lead us to those who are suffering and in pain. Lead us to shine brightly in this dark
world. Lead us to those who are missing
the joy of life. Guide us by your grace
to bring healing. In the precious name
of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Daniel 9:9; “To the Lord
our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him”
There
was once a class of school children who loved to go outside and have recess.
Their teacher was very generous. If the class had been good and finished their
work, the teacher would let them go outside for a few extra minutes. Usually
the class was very good. They always finished their homework, always tried to
be good and always looked forward to their reward. But one day the class was a bit
unruly. Paper airplanes were flying. Hair was being pulled. Talking was
nonstop, and homework was simply not getting done.
Suddenly, the teacher called everyone to
attention and said, “Time to go out.” Suddenly the students’ eyes fixed on
their teacher, their mouths dropped a bit, and almost in unison said, “But why?
We don’t deserve to go out. We’ve been terrible. We haven’t listened. We
haven’t finished our homework. We don’t deserve to go out.” “I know,” said the
teacher, “but I want to show you that sometimes in this world things are given
to you even when you don’t deserve them. Sometimes things are given to us especially
when we haven’t earned them.” And with that, the students slowly stood up and
walked outside, still a bit confused and unsure about the new world they had
just stepped into. For the first time, some of these students experienced what
grace, what a gift, truly was. They were given something that wasn’t earned or
deserved.
This is the story of our life. If we received what we deserved, we would
die. We would suffer horribly for all
that we have done. We never really
behave well enough to deserve any blessings.
We are always misbehaving, even worse than the children in the
story. Ours are not childhood inappropriateness;
ours are acts of anger, hatred, selfishness and greed. Our actions destroy life.
Yet, incredibly, God has chosen to forgive
you. His love for you surpasses all
else. He made a way for our salvation. All of our punishment was poured out upon
Jesus; because of this, when God looks at us, he only sees the righteousness of
Jesus. Because of this, he pours his
love out upon us. We receive the good
things which we do not deserve; we receive the wonderful blessings of
salvation, the comfort of today, the healing of now, the restoration which we
seek and need. We receive, undeserved as
they are; all these gifts and more from God because of his love, because of his
nature. God blesses us every day even
though we do not deserve it.
Father of all mercy, in you
we have eternal hope. We go through life
never deserving the wonderful gifts ad blessings which you pour out upon
us. We give you thanks for these and all
the love that you graciously give us.
Move us to share this love with those around us. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
1 Thessalonians 4:9; “Now
concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you
yourselves have been taught by God to love one another”
One of the “standby” plots
in Christmas movies is the unwelcome, unwanted rude Christmas guest. Normally this is some distant relative of your
spouse and you mistakenly invited them for Christmas, but you were just being
nice and didn’t expect them to say yes.
Soon all sorts of havoc reigns and the movie ends with someone’s house
on fire.
It is somewhat ironic that the one thing
most people claim to seek for Christmas, family around them, can be a great
source of angst and worry. We wonder if
we have anything in common; we wonder if our tastes are even close. So, we fret about getting along; maybe we
fret all year long. Yet God wants us to
live as his dear children and to love one another; here are a couple of ideas.
First and foremost, pray for one
another. Take the time to honestly and
earnestly pray for those whom you love.
Ask God to bless them and to give them the peace the need to live
healthy and contented lives. Another
thing to try is to focus on engaging in small acts of kindness for one
another. Open the door, offer to get a
cup of coffee, give a complement. These
small and simple acts can show another that you value them, first as a human
but also as someone of importance in your life.
It is when we begin to get stingy with these small acts that we can tend
to drift apart.
Another tool to use is to always pay
attention to your “inner voice.” If your
inner voice, your conscience, God’s Spirit active in your heart and mind, tells
you that you would not like experiencing the event that is occurring; then
chances are the other person won’t enjoy them either. This is part of God’s Spirit getting you to
remember the “do unto others as you would have them do to you” scenario. If you would not enjoy being treated the way
you treat others; they don’t either.
Another way is to try and help your loved
one feel secure. If our actions make the
other person feel less secure in the relationship, be it a marriage, family
setting or church family; the other person will often withdraw as a defense
mechanism to avoid being hurt. One way
to address this is to express how much you value the other person’s worth in
your life. Express to them how much they
make your life better and that you would feel less fulfilled without them in
your life.
One last way is to open yourself up and be
vulnerable. Opening yourself up to
express your true feelings and experience the love and joy, the pain and sorrow
of a relationship can make it easier for others to do so as well. Above all, know that God’s will for us is to
live in healthy relationships ad he gives us his Spirit to make them work.
Father, give to me the
wisdom to love my brothers and sisters as you love me. Open my eyes and my heart to the need for
love in this broken world. Open my
spirit to giving this love without question.
In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning
All,
Isaiah 35:8; “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean
shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools,
they shall not go astray.”
I am not the world’s greatest
bowlers. I can keep it in my lane but
only because the gutters stop the bowling ball from going into the other
lanes. I seldom get more than 75 or
so. I am not much of a bowler, but I did
see a way to improve my score; there are blow up bumpers that they place in the
gutters. When you roll the ball, if it
heads to the gutter; it bounces back into the alley and eventually must knock
some pins down. I figure I could double
my score if I bowled like that. Maybe
next time I bowl, I will.
There are times when it would be nice to
have “bumpers” in life. Maybe you are
having a rough day and you snap at your spouse or children. You regret it but it is out there. It would be nice to bounce back into the
regular lane. Maybe you did something
years ago and it just continues to fester.
Perhaps you lived a life where you didn’t make the best choices; you
want to get back, at times you think you are back but every once in a while, the
thoughts creep back and put us in the gutter.
It would be nice to avoid this.
If only we had a bumper to put us back on track.
As Christians, we do have a bumper. God has made the “Way of Holiness”. He did this through the death and
resurrection of Jesus. This cleared the
path to God; it gave us the way to go.
God placed us on this path through the gift of Baptism. At that time, he gave us the bumpers that we
would need for life. No matter what we
did or do; God mercy keeps us on the path; he keeps us on the Way. His grace brings us back. Even when we, foolishly, try to go a
different trail; God keeps calling us back to the right trail. Our sins are forgiven, and God gives to us
the desire to follow and to do his will.
So now our desire is to stay on this
path. Our desire is to stay on the Way
of Holiness. We don’t seek to hurt or
destroy. We seek to love and to honor
God with our life. We do not have to let
the past pull us back into the gutter.
God looks at us and at our future.
His desire is that we are all brought to salvation, to life eternal with
him. We only need to trust in this great
promise; we only need to know that God has placed us on the Way of Holiness and
that it is his desire to keep us there.
Trust that God only looks to your future. He looks to it with love and gives you hope
to see his grace.
Wonderful
Father, as we wait for Jesus to return, keep us safe, keep us holy. Purify us by your mercy. Lead us to love only you. Help us to leave the past behind us. Keep us from falling into the pain and sorrow
that the devil wants us to live. Lift us
up and put us back on the Way. Be with
those who feel as though they are off the path and cannot return. Give them the peace to know that your love
conquers all. In the precious name of Jesus,
we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
