11-23-2020

 Good Morning All, 

      1 Samuel 22:2; “And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them.”

     As I have told you before, I am a fan of movies.  The other day I was watching one of the Robin Hood movies and I tried to figure out how many different versions that I had seen.  There is the “real” one with Errol Flynn.  There was one with Sean Connery, one with Kevin Costner, and one with Russell Crowe, Disney made two, one animated and one with real actors and my favorite; “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.”  These are the ones I thought of, there are probably others. 

    The basic premise was that a group of people were suffering under a great injustice and eventually, a nobleman who lost his estate became their leader.  They “robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.”  Eventually they are vindicated when the proper king returns, and all is right with the world.  A wonderful little tale and like many wonderful little tales; it would seem that it has its origin in the Bible.  The biblical story is based on David.  He, essentially, became an outlaw as King Saul tried to kill him and kill anyone who helped David.  Thus, men who had been beaten or punished by the king turned to David and he became their leader, their commander.

    In many ways, these two stories, similar as they are, are somewhat representative of our relationship with Jesus.  You and I, as sinners, live under the rule of a cruel ruler, the devil.  The devil wants you to live in distress.  He wants you to suffer the pain of sorrow and sadness.  He wants you to feel the worry of paying the bills tomorrow or facing the doctor, alone, or trying to deal with the uncertainty of life.  He wants you in debt, so you have more to worry about.  He tempts us with tantalizing gadgets and things; that everyone else seems to have and we just “need” in order to live.  Yet above all, the devil wants you to be bitter in soul.  He wants you to go through life feeling passed over, forgotten, unlovable, leave-able; someone not worth worrying about or worth wanting.

   Into this life, Jesus comes to claim those whom the devil attacks.  He is there to comfort you in your distress.  He is there to give you hope beyond debt and above all; he is there to relieve the bitterness in your soul.  He is there to take the bitterness of loneliness, and despondency and to restore you to someone whom He completely loves.  He will never forget you, never find you unlovable, he will never leave you.  You are always someone whom Jesus finds worthy of wanting.  He wants you to be loved by Him and to live with him in eternal paradise.  He will show you the way to live in harmony with God.  He has shown us the path to eternal life.  His love for us endures forever, especially for the distressed, the indebted and those who are bitter in soul.

Gracious Lord, you came to bring us out of distress and to sweeten our bitter souls.  Continue to strengthen our faith and to lead us to that life which you give us, one to prosper us.  Be with those who feel the bitterness of life.  Show them your mercy.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-22-2020

 Good Morning All, 

       Genesis 18:32; “Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

     “If you change your mind, I’m the first in line; honey I’m still free; take a chance on me.”  Alright, I admit it, I know songs by ABBA, not a proud moment but a moment anyway.  We like the idea of change.  We like it when others change for us.  “Change the channel, please, my show is on now.”  “Let’s change seats so I can see better.”  “Instead of going out for supper, let’s cook a pizza.”  We like it when people change their mind, alter their actions, or plans to fit our desires, but what about God?  Can we change his mind?

     Our text is part of the story of Abraham praying to God that he spares the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham starts out by asking God if he would spare the city if there were 50 righteous people, then 45, then 40 all the way down to 10.  At each request, God tells him that he will not destroy the city if there were that many righteous.  In the end, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.  Yet how do we match the idea that God is perfect and immutable (changeless) and then he changes his mind?  If God does not change, why pray?  Why ask God for something if it is already decided?

    The most important part about prayer is that while it does not change God; it completely changes you.  In our story, Abraham knew, without a doubt, that these two cities did not even have 10 righteous people in them.  When you and I pray, God uses prayer to change us.  For most of us, praying helps us to identify our fears and worries.  Once we identify what we are afraid of or what we are worrying about; it tends to “shrink the problem.”  The devil loves it when we live in nebulous fear when we are just afraid.  Yet, if we put a name to that fear, such as, I am afraid of losing my job, God, through the Spirit, will send you comfort.  It might be in the form of helping you realize that there are other jobs or opportunities for you.  It might be from other friends or family members.  God works in many ways, but he works.

    The most important part of prayer is that we come to God and lay our fears, our worries, and our burdens at his feet.  Then we trust God to keep his promise to provide for us.  If we do this right from the start, we will begin to have comfort right from the start.  If we trust from the start, then even if our prayers are not answered in the fashion that we thought was best, we know that God will make all things work for good for those whom are called according to his purpose.  So, we pray, and God heals us; in his way and in his time, but he does heal us.

Father, we come before your throne of mercy seeking your blessings upon the families of the land.  Many families are under attack.  We pray for reconciliation; we pray for peace within our own lives, within the lives of those whom we love, and within the lives of all those who are hurting.  Send your Spirit of peace to your people.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

11-21-2020

     Good Morning All, 

       1 Peter 2:10; “Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

     Do you remember the movie “The Bad News Bears”?  It was a movie from the mid 1970’s about a grizzled old man who turns a group of misfits little league baseball players into a real team.  It was made up of castoffs from other teams and a girl (unheard of in the 70’s).  Coach Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) takes a bunch of misfits and brings them to within one run of winning the championship.  Much of the movie is spent on the turning of these misfits into a baseball team and the tactics that he uses.  He makes them a team when at first, they were not a team.

    In some ways we can see ourselves in this movie.  We are the misfits.  We are the ones who have been cast off as miserable losers.  We are not a team; we could never be a team.  We could not hold the bat correctly or throw the ball properly or even know which way to run.  No one would want us on their team.

    This is how the devil uses our situations to drive us to despair.  He wants us to be losers.  He wants us to be lost and depressed.  He wants us to think that we have no team, no hope, and no future.  He wants us to see ourselves as completely alone and cut off from everyone, especially cut off from God.

     “But God had seen my wretched state.” God knew that we would never succeed on our own.  God knows we can never achieve this by our own skill, knowledge, or wealth.  So, God made us part of his team.  Through Jesus, he made us his people.  We receive mercy and God makes us his people.  By being his people, we are thus protected from danger and we are given the tools to survive in this world.  We are no longer alone but we are part of God’s team.  It is here where we find the comfort and consolation of being one of God’s redeemed children.

    This is how God works; he takes all those nobodies; those pathetic losers that no one wants on their team and makes them winners.  We are never left out again.  We are never alone again.  God is with us all the time.  He uses his creation to feed us, clothe us and to provide for us.  He uses his creation connected with his Word to provide for our spiritual needs.  Through his grace he provides for us, his people.  He does this out of love for you.  He wants you on his team.  He puts you on his team and through this you are made a winner.  You are given eternal life with him.  You are his people.

Father of all wonders, your mercies roll over us like a river.  They are new to us each day.  You make us your people and in doing so you renew us and make us new creations.  Be with those who feel left off of the team.  Be with those who feel that no team would want them.  By your grace bring them home to live in peace and harmony with you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-20-2020

 Good Morning All, 

        John 10: 27; “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”.

         So, the poll question for today is how do you define church?  Some would say that it is the place where we gather to worship.  Some would say it is the people who go to this place to worship.  Some claim that the church is what’s left if the building burns down.  A structured Lutheran definition is that this is where the Gospel is rightly proclaimed, and the Sacraments are properly administered.  These are all good answers and there are probably many more.  Yet Luther had another way of saying it.

    Martin Luther was a prolific writer.  At one time, almost 25% of all printed material was written by Martin Luther.  He was a man who took advantage of the current cutting-edge technology (the printing press) and used it to his advantage.  So, his writings had to appeal to the theologian but also to the laity who read his writing.  So, in doing so, Luther would use phrases or terminology that would resonate with the reader.  It still does today almost 500 years later.  So in one of his writings, Luther wrote this “God be praised, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is: holy believers and ‘the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.’”

     You are the sheep that hear the voice of the shepherd.  Shepherds had to be very patient with their sheep.  They would speak to them in calming tones.  Sheep could not be driven, they had to be led. So, the shepherd would go ahead and call them to follow him.  He would call each by name and they would follow him.  If a flock were so big that it had more than one shepherd; each shepherd would call his sheep out and they would separate from the other sheep and follow him.  The shepherd would call the sheep and then lead them to the lush green pastures.  He would call them to the still waters for them to drink.  The goal of the shepherd was to have calm and contented sheep.  They grew the best and were the least amount of trouble.

    This is what Jesus wants for us here on this earth.  He desires that we live a contented life.  He provides for us all that we need.  He wants us to hear his voice and we do this by gathering around his Word and Sacrament.  We do this best as being in the flock.  Flock as in plural not singular.  We are a part of the larger body and we receive the blessings of being in this larger flock.  It is in the flock (the Church) where we receive “the mutual conversation and the consolation that brothers and sisters offer each other” (more Luther).  So, the church, the place where we hear the Shepherd’s voice is felt and expressed by as little as one or two brothers or sisters in Christ offering us hope, comfort, peace, reconciliation or whatever we need.  That is how God reaches us, through the creation that he made.  It is for us and to be used to provide for our needs.  God calls you by name and leads you to safety.  Are you listening?

Savior of all, lead us to hear your voice. Help us to find comfort and hope in your gentle word.  Be with those who do not hear.  Be with those who struggle with listening to you who have the world drown out your voice.  Guide them by your Spirit to come home to your loving arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-19-2020

 Good Morning All, 

       Psalm 1:2; “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

        “Why do you make us learn this?”  Why do we have to memorize this?” “My mom says I need to practice my music lesson before I do my confirmation lesson.”  “You expect me to read the Bible every day; I don’t have time!” The list goes on.  It is always interesting teaching 12- and 13-year-olds confirmation.  They always seem to go to more work to get out of work then actually doing the work. Yet they ask a fairly good question, in your busy life, why take time for reading the Bible?

    Scriptures tells us to spend time in the study of the Bible.  In the verse that follows this one we are told that this man is like a tree that is planted by streams of water.  The image is that of a tree that never withers and is always healthy and always produces great fruit.  So, is that how you would view your life?  Do not worry, I do not think I would consider my life like that either.  Yet the groundwork is laid.  This can be our goal.

    Jesus told his disciples that the “Spirit would remind us of all that Jesus said.”  It does this by causing us to see the Bible as providing us with guidance, direction and the words of help and encouragement that we need.  Yet through study, both in depth study and devotional time, we will have those words come to mind at the time when we have need of them.  By focusing on God’s Word, when trouble strikes, they will be the first words that come to mind and that will give us comfort and hope.

    “Nothing is so powerfully effective against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all the evil thoughts as to occupy one’s self with God’s Word.  Without a doubt, you will offer up no more powerful incense or savor against the devil than to occupy yourself with God’s commandments and words.”  This is how we understand this teaching.  Only God’s Word s powerful enough to withstand the assaults of the devil. 

    So, God gives to us the power we need to withstand the devil’s attacks, but we need to utilize them.  He gives us the tools to live our life in contentment until Christ returns but we need to use them.  He gives us his Word which gives us the comfort, his body and blood to nourish our spirit, prayer to speak from our heart to our Father.  He gives us the Holy Spirit to keep us in the faith and to make us part of His holy family.  These wondrous gifts await us, but we must use them and take advantage of them.  We are saved now, and we have access to all the power we need but we must access.  We must use God’s gifts to the fullest.

Father of all mercies, you give us the tools to withstand the devil’s onslaught.  Lead us to use them fully.  Lead us to trust in your Spirit to guard and protect us.  That he may keep us in the true faith.  Be with those who are being attacked by the devil at this time.  Keep them safe and give them the sure victory.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

11-18-2020

 Good Morning All, 

      Acts 2:42; “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

     In the olden days of VCR’s, we used to watch them movies and every so often, push the pause button or even run it backwards.  When you did this, run it backwards, you could watch the guy fall on his horse instead of off his horse.  If you could push the pause button at just the right moment, you could see the water just start to touch the top of the head of the unsuspecting victim.  If you were watching a mystery, you could pause the movie and look to see if there were any clues sitting there that you might miss otherwise.

   Of course, the greatest use of this slowing down, pausing and then backing up is in watching sports today.  They take close plays, ones that at real and normal speed are almost impossible to see exactly what happened.  So, they slow it way down, they zoom in on the play, they run it backwards slowly to see exactly what happened.  They study it and look at it until they almost have it memorized.

    We scrutinize old VHS tapes and controversial sporting events, yet our Bible often just gathers dust on the shelf.  We put it up there just in case, some time, we might want to look something up that we “know” is right, but we heard it differently.  We use it to store the family documents in, maybe a pressed flower from a loved one’s funeral; that is about all that we have it for.  It is just there.

    Yet God gives us this book for a very special reason.  This is how he chooses to talk to us.  This is how he reveals himself to us.  As we read it, we see his nature unfold before us as his desire to love us and for us to love him is revealed over and over.  We see that God is by nature loving but can be provoked to anger but only for a short time.  We read about how, no matter how many times we fall short of his will; he keeps bringing us back and restoring us to our place in his kingdom.

    So, by reading God’s Word and listening to what he is saying to us, we can find comfort; we can find hope.  This is where God shows us his desire to save us and to make us his people and what that means to us.  Many try to accomplish this by guessing or postulating or simply making it up.  Yet God shows us what his plan for us is.  His plan is to prosper us by his grace and to give us comfort and hope as we face this life’s challenges and to give us the true peace that the world cannot give.  We get this through the prayerful study of God’s Word.  We get this by listening to what He speaks to us.

Wonderful and loving Father, in your mercy you took the time to record for us your message of salvation and to give it to us.  Guide us by your Spirit to love reading and studying it.  Teach us to savor the message of salvation which you speak to us.  Help us to share this message with those around us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

11-17-2020

     Good Morning All, 

      1 Peter 4:8; “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

      Do you remember the Beatles song “All You need is Love”?  It was written, primarily by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon and McCartney.  It was first sung during the first ever live global link broadcast.  It was transmitted over satellite.  It was written specifically so that the message could be understood in any language.  Many criticized the simplistic view of life.  The rejoinder was “You need a whole lot more than love!”  That is true but at the same time love is the most important element.

    Love is that which we freely give.  It does not demand that the other person change rather it accepts the person for who he is.  Love thus becomes the basis for all our relational events.  We can trust someone because we love them.  We commit to someone because we love them.  Love is acceptance at its greatest level.  Love is what God does to you.

    God shows his love for us by the fact that while we were sinners, while we were his enemies; He died for us.  In the process, he returned us back to our humanity.  Until Christ came to earth, to live, to preach, to die and to rise again; love was dying in the world.  Pagan teachings taught that love or mercy was something to be avoided.  The pagan gods only wanted to be fed and honored; there was no mention of loving others.  Yet this is exactly what Christ brought to us; he brought us love. 

    He returned us to our original created purpose and that is to love.  We are to love God, love each other and love God’s creation.  This was why we were created, yet sin takes us away from this.  Sin causes us to look inward in a selfish and self-centered method.  We are egoists with our only concern about what is in it for us.  Yet when Christ calls us into his kingdom, he restores our original humanity, our original purpose, the purpose for which we were created.  This is what God’s love does for us; it frees us to be the true us.

    Through this love which we share with those around us, we are able to live in his kingdom just as we were designed to.  We see each other as a fellow redeemed child of God; someone whom God has accepted and someone we should accept as well.  We may have to have those things which hurt our relationship with God pointed out, but we do so in love.  So, we look at each other for what we truly are; we are God’s children. 

    So, God wants us to love each other and he gives us the desire to do so.  It is sin that holds us back and keeps us from truly doing this.  It is usually the fear that causes us to stand off and not show the love that we should. It is fear is that holds us back.  Yet God gives us the power to defeat that fear and to respond to his love with love, a desire to have compassion and mercy on our neighbors just like Christ had on us.

Gracious Father, teach us to love as you loved us.  Guide us by your Spirit to forgive as you have forgiven us.  Help us to show mercy as you have shown mercy.  Keep us in your loving arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret