Good Morning All,
Luke 11:3; “Give us each day
our daily bread”
Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987) is most known for
his painting of “pop art” in the 1960s. He is known for paintings of Marilyn
Monroe, Muhammad Ali, dollar bills, and many other iconic images. The
Campbell’s Soup Can is one of those iconic images. For a movement of art that
appeared to be anything, but art, Warhol and pop art has remained
influential. It caused quite a stir in
the art world. Many questioned how
something so mundane and “pedestrian” could be considered art.
Yet this picture went on to be very
famous. This
unassuming painting of a Campbell’s Soup Can blurs the line of art and the
world. Warhol painted many soup cans from Tomato to Onion to a scene of 100
Campbell’s cans. Warhol’s Campbell’s
Soup Can is one of the greatest and most famous pieces of art in the history of
modern pop art.
“Lord,
teach us to pray,” the disciples ask. It is such a simple request and Jesus
offers simplicity in his answer. The prayer he gives to his disciples is
unassuming and straightforward. There is no question that this is a
prayer indeed. But how did the disciples not know how to pray? Before we hear
Jesus’ answer to the disciples, we might listen and hear overtones of other
prayers. We could overhear disciples praying like the Pharisees, we could
consider the temple rituals of the Sadducees, or even the total ignorance of
the pagan world may come to mind. In contrast to these people and these
prayers, Jesus offers a simple act of prayer; we call it The Lord’s Prayer.
This
prayer is near and dear to the Christian community. Yet at times it seems too
simple to be a real act of prayer. Praying for daily bread might seem trite to
some. Particularly in a world where our basic needs are typically met.
Praying short petitions seems rote and disingenuous in contrast to long prayers
and meditations of the heart. This prayer, however, calls us into a world where
the simple has beauty, and where the mundane has divine significance. Jesus
leaves little to wonder, but much to appreciate when he teaches his disciples
about prayer.
A simple soup can. It reminds
us not just to pray for our own daily food from the gracious hand of our
heavenly Father but to recognize the fullness of the kingdom of God. We pray
these words because God promises to hear our prayers. But we also live these
words. Our lives become this prayer in action as Jesus calls us into a
sacrificial love for neighbor that is simple and unassuming. Drive around the city. Watch as this
prayer reminds you that giving to the poor and needy is part of the kingdom. Dismissing
the simple things, or even not asking for them in prayer, is like dismissing
Warhol’s simple artwork. There is more to the kingdom of God. For this reason,
Jesus teaches us to pray, and by praying to seek his kingdom, this simple and
unassuming kingdom present in our world.
Gracious God lead us to always pray for our needs and
for the needs of others. Lead us to see
your love in all our life. Guide us to
see that nothing is too small for your care and love. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
Good Morning All,
John 3:17; “For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world
might be saved through him.”
Most Christians are familiar
with the 10 Commandments and how they speak of how we are to act or interact
with each other, with our own body, even with respect to how we view and act
toward God. Many see these as a list of
duties to perform and that, somehow, if and when we are able, God will see the
way we keep these commands and reward us greatly. We often hear these folks speak of their
struggles and how God “convicts” them of their sin. Others see the commandments and then amend
the statements so that keeping them is easier.
If we re-interpret them so that they are in tune with modern ways, well then,
I can keep them better. Some think the
commands are just suggestions or guidelines and not much more.
Scriptures reveals why we
have the 10 Commandments. God gave us
the law so we would know that we were sinners (Romans 3:20). We can look at the law and clearly see one
very stark and bold truth; I have failed to keep them, and I continue to fail
to keep them. There is no way that I can
possibly keep them well enough so that God is impressed; I can’t even keep them,
so my neighbor is impressed. I
definitely need someone to keep them for me or else I am sunk.
God could have come into
this world to condemn the world, but He didn’t. He came to free this
world from a law that we could never keep. We are free, not because of
anything we have done or attempted to do and certainly not because we’ve
changed the law to make it easier. We are released only because of what
God has decided to do for us through the Word that became flesh, Jesus
Christ. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God speaks a new Word to
you. He speaks forgiveness to you. He speaks mercy to you. He
tells you that you are free, that He loves you, that He really does forgive
what you have done in your life. He forgives and releases you even if you
have trouble releasing and forgiving yourself.
God chose to love you. God chose to forgive you. We can hold onto this great truth. I cannot keep the law; the 10 Commandments
glare with my failures. Yet the empty
cross and the empty tomb show me God’s love has triumphed over my
failures. Because of his love, I cling
to him for my salvation and go out and try to live the loving, serving life
that God has laid out for me. My goal is
to love others just as I am loved by God.
I will never achieve this level, but every step helps bring healing into
this world.
Father, your love for me is
overwhelming. Your love overcomes all my
failures and you lift me up to be your child.
Strengthen my desire to serve you.
Guide me on the path so that I may share the love that you give to me
with others. Lead me in joyful
celebration of your incredible mercy. In
the precious name of Jesus, our Risen Savior, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
John 3:17; “For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world
might be saved through him.”
Most Christians are familiar
with the 10 Commandments and how they speak of how we are to act or interact
with each other, with our own body, even with respect to how we view and act
toward God. Many see these as a list of
duties to perform and that, somehow, if and when we are able, God will see the
way we keep these commands and reward us greatly. We often hear these folks speak of their
struggles and how God “convicts” them of their sin. Others see the commandments and then amend
the statements so that keeping them is easier.
If we re-interpret them so that they are in tune with modern ways, well;
then, I can keep them better. Some think
the commands are just suggestions or guidelines and not much more.
Scriptures reveals why we
have the 10 Commandments. God gave us
the law so we would know that we were sinners (Romans 3:20). We can look at the law and clearly see one
very stark and bold truth; I have failed to keep them, and I continue to fail
to keep them. There is no way that I can
possibly keep them well enough so that God is impressed; I can’t even keep them,
so my neighbor is impressed. I
definitely need someone to keep them for me or else I am sunk.
God could have come into
this world to condemn the world, but He didn’t. He came to free this
world from a law that we could never keep. We are free, not because of
anything we have done or attempted to do and certainly not because we’ve
changed the law to make it easier. We are released only because of what
God has decided to do for us through the Word that became flesh, Jesus
Christ. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God speaks a new Word to
you. He speaks forgiveness to you. He speaks mercy to you. He
tells you that you are free, that He loves you, that He really does forgive
what you have done in your life. He forgives and releases you even if you
have trouble releasing and forgiving yourself.
God chose to love you. God chose to forgive you. We can hold onto this great truth. I cannot keep the law; the 10 Commandments
glare with my failures. Yet the empty
cross and the empty tomb show me God’s love has triumphed over my
failures. Because of his love, I cling
to him for my salvation and go out and try to live the loving, serving life
that God has laid out for me. My goal is
to love others just as I am loved by God.
I will never achieve this level, but every step helps bring healing into
this world.
Father, your love for me is
overwhelming. Your love overcomes all my
failures and you lift me up to be your child.
Strengthen my desire to serve you.
Guide me on the path so that I may share the love that you give to me
with others. Lead me in joyful
celebration of your incredible mercy. In
the precious name of Jesus, our Risen Savior, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Genesis 12:2; “And I will
make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so
that you will be a blessing.”
2020; you know what that means! The politicians are in Iowa and the race for
president of the United States is under way (still continuing?) again. The media talking heads are picking the front
runners, the way out of the running guys, the ones that need to fine tune their
message. So, we will hear the people who
run for president make a lot of promises.
They will promise to reduce your taxes, increase government spending on
things that are important to you. They
will change the laws so that your views are considered, and you will have great
prosperity. There will many promises
made and usually very few, if any, are kept.
In our verse, we see part of the promise
that God made to Abraham. We call it the
Abrahamic covenant. It is THE
promise. God promised Abraham that he
would have many descendants, he would be a great nation and that through him
all the world would be blessed. This was
made to Abraham by God and is unconditional and unbreakable. Unlike the promises of politicians, this one
means every word.
It is the promise that, because of Jesus,
is our promise. Because of Jesus’
sacrifice for us, we are now the heirs, the heirs to this great promise; we are
the heirs to this great undeserved, unbreakable covenant. We are a great nation. This is what Peter was talking about when he
said, “once you were not a people but now you are God’s people (1 Peter
2:10). We are God’s chosen people. We have his blessings and his grace poured
out upon us. He took us, a lost bunch of
lonely, destroyed sinners and made us his chosen, holy people. He made us into a great nation. We are a nation where we are freely forgiven
by God and given the inheritance of life everlasting and the certainty of this
eternal life with God in the perfected creation.
We are blessed in that we have this promise
to love out right now. We have God’s
promise to love us, to listen to us, to protect us. We are his people and we are blessed by him right
now with his love showered upon us.
We are his people and we are to continue
the work which Jesus started. When Jesus
came into this world, he brought healing; he brought about the reconciliation
of man to God. He began the process of
restoring the broken and the wounded, making them whole again. We are to be a blessing to the world by
bringing about healing and restoring the lost and the broken, the hurt and
suffering. We are to bring God’s Word of
healing to the lives and struggles of those around us. We are his people and we are to be a blessing
to those around us.
Father of all joy and peace,
in you we have hope. Through your love
we have the blessings of this life which you so luxuriously shower upon
us. We are your people; guide us by your
Spirit to bring about hope and healing.
Lead us to be the blessing in this world that you desire us to be. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning
All,
Luke 18:13; “But the tax
collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but
beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
When you preach a sermon,
you include and incorporate two parts of church doctrine; the Law and the
Gospel. We use the law to show the fact
that we are sinners and in need of a Savior.
We use the Gospel to offer the comfort that God gives to us because of
Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension.
The goal is to afflict the comfortable and give comfort to the
afflicted. The goal is to make the
person who feels he has no sin; thus, no need for a Savior to realize that he
definitely needs to be redeemed and saved from sin. The person who feels totally weighed down and
despondent because of their sin; they need the Gospel. They need to know that God has forgiven them.
The interesting thing is that when one
thinks he has no sin; it can be tough to get them to see they truly are
sinners. Many will simply think, “I am
not that bad” or “I am not as bad as the other guy” or “It isn’t a sin anymore;
it is different now”. It can take a lot
to convince someone of their sin; the world and the devil will tell them that
everything is fine and dandy. We preach
and preach; we witness and witness but sometimes they just don’t listen.
The ones that you really aim for are those
who are afflicted. Like our verse, this
person feels the entire weight of the law on their shoulders. These are the people who will tell you that
the reason they don’t go to church is because they are beyond help. They may speak in a joking manner but you can
see it in their eyes and you can hear it in their voice; you can even hear it
in their breathing, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” The sad thing is that the devil is telling
them the exact opposite of what he tells the proud sinner. To the one who feels the weight on his back
the devil tells them how bad they are; how hopeless life is; how no one will
ever want them around when the full story comes out. The devil adds guilt and misery with a dose
of pain and sorrow.
There are many parts of the job of being a
pastor that are really amazing to experience but for me the absolute best part
is when you can look into the eye and tell them these simple words, “In the
stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ; I forgive you all of your
sins.” There are no better words to
speak; there is no greater truth to share.
God is merciful; God is loving; God has heard your cry of pain even
before you sighed that first sigh or cried that first tear. God forgives your sins and in doing so has
given you the power to tell the devil to go away and leave me alone. The devil cannot harm you; he cannot control
you. You are God’s beloved and redeemed
child and you are safe.
There is no sin too bad, too horrible, too
heinous that God does not forgive. God
frees you from the past so that you will have a glorious future. God is merciful to me, a sinner.
Father, your mercies are new
every day. Renew in me the knowledge of
your grace and favor. Keep safe from the
devil’s lies ad free me from the guilt of sin.
Help those who are especially burdened at this time. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Ephesians 2:14; “For he
himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh
the dividing wall of hostility”
For many people, working with or spending
time with someone who is different than you are is difficult. We see it when immigrants try to settle into
a neighborhood. Our first reaction is
often “there goes the neighborhood.” In
the sporting news this past week, there has been a lot of talk about a
professional basketball player who was fined for criticizing a referee. The referee is one of the very few women to
referee professional basketball. They
are trying to decide if it is a sexist comment, a racist comment or if it is
just a ballplayer complaining about a foul that was called.
We look for lots of ways to place people
into categories. We use age, sex, skin
color, wealth, height, weight, level of education, national origin, and
religion, just to name a few. We can
pigeonhole and divide a whole roomful of people into a whole lot of groups,
sub- groups and sub-sub-groups. We can
have balding, overweight, myopic, left handers in this corner. We can have poor, skinny, old men who worship
trees in that corner. We tend to look
for the differences that we can use to divide and separate us. Even if we have nothing in our history that
causes us to think we are right.
But God has intervened in Christ. He has reconciled us to Himself, breaking
down “the dividing wall of hostility.”
He has opened the path to rapprochement.
He has taught us and shows us the beauty of atonement of being
“at-one-ment” with God. God is at one
with us because of Christ. Our
alienation is removed. We are at one
with our heavenly Father, we are united with God. This is what Jesus brought about by his death
and resurrection; we have unity with God.
We are one with God through faith in Christ. We are no longer separated; the division is
healed. We are reconciled. Our God, Immanuel, comes to be with us, to
dwell with us, to make his home with us and in us.
Now that we are reconciled with God, the
path is clear for us to be reconciled with one another. Paul points this out in the next verse after
ours, in verse 15 Paul writes, “His purpose was to create in Himself one man
out of the two (Jew and Gentile), thus making peace. There is no distinction in God’s eye, we are
all the same. Through faith in Christ,
we are one.
So those differences should be celebrated as
part of the joy of diversity. They are
ways to bring new thoughts and ideas to old problems. We are reconciled to God so we can be
reconciled to one another. We are free
to see our diversity not as a source of division but rather as a source of
delight.
Heavenly Father, you
reconciled us to you so that we would have the path to reconcile with one
another. Give us the strength to heal
the wounds between our brothers. Help us
to provide the balm to the wounds that exist.
Guide us by your Spirit to bring about hope in this broken world. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
Good Morning All,
Luke 24: 5-6a; “And as they
were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why
do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
While the battle of Waterloo was fought
between Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington in 1815, the people of England
waited for news of the outcome. Messages were sent by means of flag signals.
One of the stations was the tower of the Winchester Cathedral. Late in the day,
a signal was flashed from the tower that spelled out “Wellington defeated . .
.” and then a thick fog covered the tower so that nothing else was seen. The
message spread throughout the city that Wellington had lost the battle. There
was gloom and despair. Suddenly the cloud of fog lifted, and the remainder of
the message could be read—” Wellington defeated the enemy!” Sorrow immediately
turned to joy, defeat to victory, despair to rejoicing.
What a difference the whole message
gives. When you stop halfway through it,
we see only sorrow and pain. The same is
true of our faith life. Too often, we
stop at half of the message. Too often
we focus on “Jesus died.” We see it all
over, “Jesus died for you.” That is our
message. We use it to comfort those who
are hurting. We tell them that Jesus
died for you and then we wonder why they don’t get a lot of comfort from that
fact; Jesus died for you. Perhaps it is
a sense of guilt. We spend a lot of time
looking at the suffering, the pain and the death of Jesus. It is hard to be a joyful Christian when you
focus on “Jesus died.”
But just like the story of Wellington,
don’t stop in the middle. Use the whole
message. “Jesus died and rose for you.” Yes, it is true that Jesus died but that was
only the beginning of the event in which death, the devil and sin was
defeated. Jesus died; his body ceased to
function, but it knew no decay or corruption; it was waiting for the final
step. It was waiting for Christ to rise
victorious. In his victory over death,
he gives us victory as well. Our enemies
of sin, death and the devil are defeated as well. We have the victory; we have begun the
healing. We have God’s incredible love
giving us all that we need.
The devil and sin will continue to snarl
and attack. They will continue to cause
us guilt and pain, but they will not be victorious. We know that we are more than
conquerors! We have God’s promise of
life eternal. We have his promise of
comfort. We have his promise for reconciliation,
and we can use this to reach out to our brothers and sisters. God gives us the chance to heal the splits
and chasms that exist between our neighbors and us. It is his total message of good news; “Jesus
died and rose again” that gives us the victory.
Father, we give you thanks
for the victory that we have through Jesus.
We give you thanks that we can live a life full of joy because of your
great love and mercy. Guide us to share
this message with those around us especially those who are in most need of your
freeing message of grace. Lead us to be
shining lights in this world. In the
precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
