6-14-2021

 Good Morning All!

         James 1: 19-:20; “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.”

    I was listening to the radio the other day and it was playing “American Pie” by Don McLean.  If you are under 70 or so you probably remember it well.  It took forever to play.  The DJ’s used to call it the bathroom song because they could start playing it, go down the hall to the bathroom and come back before the song was over.  It was also known for the meaning of all the lines and the verses, who did this refer to or what is that a reference to.  There is one line about “my hands were clenched in fists of rage.”   This line refers to the anger and violence which occurred in the 60’s and early 70’s with all the riots and the anti-war protests.  It was a time when it seemed anger was the way to move forward.

   It sounds like it is that time again.  You sure hear a lot of anger when you listen to the news or any political review.  The painful reality looks like we do not talk with each other, we do not even talk at each other; we talk around each other.  What is painful is that we seem to take this attitude into all our life.  Do we really have meaningful conversations with each other anymore?  Do we really listen to each other or are we too busy trying to think of a rebuttal (not reply) for what the other says?  Do we really converse with our co-workers, employers/employees, friends, spouses, children/parents?

   Make a “fist of rage”.  What does it look like?  First, it is closed, tightly closed; like our willingness to listen and to love the other person.  It is shut to any words that someone else can say to us.  We don’t WANT to hear it.  We can but we do not want to.  Notice how it is turned in.  We turn all our attention inward; we focus on our real or imagined pain, indignation, and self-righteous arrogance.  When our hands are tightly closed, the only thing we can hold onto is our self.  Try to hold someone else’s hand and make a fist; you cannot do it.  When our hands are clenched in fists of rage, either literally or figuratively, our sinful nature focuses selfishly inward causing us to dream up all sorts of real or imagined hurts that we are suffering, and someone must pay for the pain we feel.  This ties into another line in the song “I saw Satan laughing with delight.”  The devil wins when we are angry because it does not produce the righteousness that God requires.

    Remember what Jesus told his disciples (you and me), “Love one another” “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.  There is no place for anger in our lives; it does us no good.  Listen to what is said.  This takes not only our ears but our eyes as well.  How does he look when he says this, what tone does he use, is it from pain that he speaks?  Choose your words carefully.  Wait until he is done speaking, let it sink in for a minute or so, then respond.  Try to speak in a calm and quiet tone.  This is one of the devil’s best temptation to cause us to get angry and then to stumble into sin because of a careless word or thought.  Seek God’s help in controlling your anger, especially if you are in the right and the desire to defeat the other is great.  Use a gentle answer to turn away wrath. Anger only produces sin not the righteousness which God requires.

Father in heaven, all too often my fists are clenched in rage; forgive me that I am slow to listen and to forgive as you have forgiven me.  Strengthen me and give me the courage to open my hands to those around me and hold them as dearly as you hold me.  All this we ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

6-13-2021

 

Good Morning All!

         John 8: 31-32; “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

    If you have been watching or reading the news, you have heard of the new phenomenon of something called “alternative facts.”  It would appear that the phrase “alternative facts” has different meanings dependent upon who uses it.  To some it means that there are more than one set of facts or truths about a situation.  To others it means lies and distortions.  Whatever the phrase means, it might very well be our new future.

    Many of us grew up at a time when we held to absolutes and truths.  There were specific facts which led to specific conclusions.  An example of a truth that many of us held was that the good of the whole was greater than the good of the individual.  Think of John Kennedy and his “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  This was held up as the standard by what we lived by.  There may have been differences in the best way to achieve that truth but there was only that truth to aim for.

    The next generation grew up and lived with the idea that there was no single truth.  You could find many truths which we just as equal and valid.  We saw the rise of the phrases “competing studies” or “socio-economic biases” or “competing facts”.  We still held to truth but that truth could be crafted by our selective use of facts.  We would search for or create facts to back up our truth.  We might accept someone else’s facts as valid for them but not for us or we might reject them completely out of hand.

    Now, we seem to be entering an era when truth is whatever you declare it to be.  You do not need any sort of facts; you only need the desire to accept what you think or believe is true or at least true enough.  That is all you need to trust “alternative facts” or “alternative truths”.

    No matter how they try, the world and the devil will never change the great truth of our life; Jesus died to pay for your sins and that by believing in Him you will have life.  This is the truth that has been since the foundation of the earth.  It was God’s plan from before the beginning of time to redeem us from our sin and to give us life and salvation.  We may hear “alternatives” to this great truth but they are not alternatives but mere lies by the devil to deceive us.  We must always hold to the truth; Jesus died that you may live.

    This truth is the basis for all our hope.  Because Jesus died for us we now can face this world knowing the, despite every lie that it tells us, we have victory over it.  We have eternal life and God’s promise of always being there for us.  Jesus died and now lives so that we may be children of God, living in his grace, comforted by His Spirit, nourished by Jesus’ body and blood in the sacrament, and certain of what is ahead of us.  Ahead of us waits our eternal salvation.

Gracious Father, your Word is truth and in you we have all truth.  Keep us mindful of our redemption and preservation through Jesus.  Keep us in your loving arms.  Guard us from all deceptions and lies.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

6-12-2021

 Good Morning All!

        Hebrews 12:2; “We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith. He saw the joy ahead of him, so he endured death on the cross and ignored the disgrace it brought him. Now he holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne.”

    A few years ago, we attended the National Youth Gathering in San Antonio, Texas.  We went to a “Six Flags” amusement park.  There were some impressive rides there.  One of them was a swing seat that they strapped you in and then pulled down on four bungee cords and then let go.  You shot straight up and at the top you were 30-35 feet in the air with nothing around you.  One girl did that.  Many wanted to try the roller coaster.  It had some steep drops and sharp turns.  The first bunch got on and I waited with the next bunch.  This group was a little nervous about the ride.  So, I shared with them my secret for riding a roller coaster.  I told them, “Don’t sit in the front car but about three or four back from the front.  Then don”t look around, just stare at the car in front of you.  You won’t go anywhere that the car ahead of you goes and it won’t move compared to you.”  Part of the reason it is hard to ride a roller coaster is because our vision is shaken and thrown about and things become a blur and affect our sense of balance and stability, by focusing on the car ahead, you reduce this effect.

    This is the same effect that the devil and world want to have on you.  They want you looking all around and at the dizzying colors, shapes, blurring images, hearing a cacophony of strange and unintelligible sounds.  This will confuse you, make you sick, make you uncomfortable and cause you to doubt.  So, Scriptures offers us this wonder guidance, “We must focus on Jesus!”

    Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus because he has endured death and overcame it so that you would have life.  It is in your possession.  It is yours to keep and to remind you of the greatness that is yours.  When Christ returns and the fullness of time is complete, we will have eternity to spend with Jesus in the perfected creation.  That is our hope; that is our future.  But the devil does not want you to focus on the eternal bliss that awaits us.  He will do everything he can to distract, confuse, blur and. ultimately, make you lose sight of Jesus.  Then he can torment you in many a varied fashion.

    So, we try and stay focused.  We try to keep our eyes fixed straight ahead and look to Him in all situations and all circumstances.  Sometimes the devil wins and draws our attention away, but Jesus is always calling us back to focus on Him and Him alone.  Jesus is our hope and our defender.  He is the source, the very reason for our faith and by clinging to Him and Him alone, we can enjoy the comfort of His great promise.  Focus on Jesus and do not suffer from the distractions the devil throws at you.  Remain firm in Jesus’ loving arms.

Father of all mercies, keep me ever focused on Jesus.  Keep me secure in the certain knowledge of Your grace and mercy.  Send Your spirit of hope and comfort to those who are being tormented by the devil and keep them in Your loving embrace.  In the precious name of Jesus, our Risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-11-2021

 Good Morning All!

        Joel 2:21; “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!”

    “Fear not!!”  Does that sound familiar?  That phrase gets used a lot in the Bible.  God tells his people repeatedly that they do not need to fear; that He is with them and will protect them.  He comes to them in peace; to offer them his grace.

     “Be afraid, be very, very afraid!!”  We hear that a lot today.  Men use fear to drive people in a direction that the fear mongers want you to go.  If you listen to the Republicans, the day that a Democrat gets elected you will see the hammer and sickle over the White House, UN troops on every corner and we will all be communists.  If you listen to the Democrats, the day a Republican gets elected you will see the re-establishment of the Jim Crow laws, we will go back to the Cold War, we will do away with the Voter’s Rights Act and equality will go the way of the way of the 8-track tape.  Isn’t it funny how God offers us hope and man only offers us fear?

     The book of Joel is a short book, only three chapters.  We do not know much about Joel, but he plays a big role later on.  When the fist Pentecost occurs, the disciples quote Joel about the coming of the Spirit.  The other is that Joel uses the phrase “the day of the Lord” to refer to God’s final judgment of man or the end of times.  Peter, Paul, and the other epistle writers use this phrase to describe Jesus’ return as in 2 Peter 3:10 “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

     Joel speaks of three instances of “the day of the Lord”.  The first is the immediate plague of locust and a drought.  The second is the imminent threat of invasion and the third is the ultimate final day of the Lord.  You may or may not face locust and drought; at times, this spring it felt like it.  We usually do not fear too many invaders in this country; the last one on the mainland of the United States was the British Army during the War of 1812.  The first two references to “the day of the Lord”, we probably do not worry about too much.  However, eventually, we will face the final judgment day; we will face the day when Jesus returns as judge and king.

     The good news is that we do not have to worry about that one either.  In fact, we should look forward to that day!  We should look forward to the day when Christ returns and death, the final enemy, is totally destroyed.  We should look forward to the day when we live in Jesus’ holy presence and see him face to face.  We don’t have to fear that day; we should be glad and rejoice!”  The Lord truly has done great things.  We are covered by Christ’s righteousness; we have nothing to fear when Christ returns.  We will join Him in the sky as He returns to claim us as His own. 

    The really amazing thing is that we can look at our life and see three “day of the Lord” that are truly wonderful for us.  We have our birth, our re-birth (Baptism) and the day when we go to live with Christ for eternity.  All three days God blesses us and sustains us, giving us life and a hope to cling to until the final day of the Lord.  Oh, the great things He has done!!

Gracious Father, your mercies are new every day for great things you do for us.  Give us the courage to “fear not”, to live our life with the certainty of our salvation and to go forth with the bold confidence in the hope which you have given to us.  Guard us and protect us until that day shall come when we are united with you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen. 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

6-10-2021

 Good Morning All!

        John 14:28; ““I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

    I remember watching a documentary show a few years ago about the USS Indianapolis.  This was an amazing story.  The USS Indianapolis was the ship which delivered the enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb.  Its mission was very secret.  As it was returning, it was sunk by a Japanese submarine.  The return of the ship back to port was either overlooked or not listed but the men from the ship were in the water for three and a half days before they were spotted by a plane.  There were almost 1200 men on the ship when it sunk only about three hundred survived to be rescued.  Dehydration, salt poisoning and sharks got most of the rest.  There is some debate as to how many the sharks actually killed or if they were just taking the bodies of those sailors who had died but either way it was a horrific event.

    They interviewed one of the survivors during the show.  He stated that the worst part of the whole experience was not the three and a half days wait.  It was the waiting for your turn to be rescued.  Some were pulled out by plane, and some were rescued by boat.  All the time the sharks were circling and still claiming victims.  He said that was the loneliest he had ever felt.  He said it felt like a pit in his stomach that just got bigger.  For a while, he probably felt like and abandoned orphan.

     Our verse is part of the portion of John which many call “the upper room discourse”.  This is when Jesus talks to his disciples on the night that he was betrayed.  He was comforting the disciples by telling them that they would not be orphans but that He would ask the Father to send the “Comforter”, the Holy Spirit, to take care of them.  Jesus comes to us through the Holy Spirit; we are not orphans.

    Most of us will never experience what the survivors of the USS Indianapolis did.  Yet in many ways, we do.  The devil does everything in his power to separate you from God’s love; the devil is trying to make you an orphan all alone with no one to turn to.  He wants to torment you and use your pain for his entertainment.  The devil delights in human suffering.  So, whether it is an illness or surgery that takes longer to recover from than we planned on or whether it is a relationship in our family that seems to be more pain than joy.  It may be the pain of job uncertainty, harvest uncertainty or the stresses of changes at school.  It may just be the worry of getting older but not always feeling like it is better.  We all face lots of times when the devil seeks to torpedo us and send in the sharks. 

    Yet through it all, we are never alone; we always have the companionship of the Holy Spirit.  The actual Greek is Paraclete. We do not have a real good word to translate to it.  It roughly means “the one who travels alongside”.  We use Helper, Advocate, and my favorite Comforter as ways to describe this title or action.  The Spirit is our Comforter because he reminds us of all that Jesus said.  The Spirit brings us to faith and then supplies, strengthens, renews, and refreshes that faith.  Jesus promised to never leave us as orphans, and we never are.  So, the next time the devil whispers to you, tell him to take a hike for you have the Holy Spirit to guard and protect you.

Dear Father in heaven, we give you thanks for the adoption as sons and for not leaving us as orphans who must find their own way.  Father we find all our comfort and hope in you; keep us this day from all sin and hold us close to your heart as a loving father cradles his dear child.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret              

6-9-2021

 Good Morning All!

          Proverbs 16:18; “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

    There once was a small prairie pond which was the home to a frog and two geese.  As often happens, a drought hit the land and the pond began to dry up.  The geese were ready to leave but the frog asked them to stay because he was afraid.  They told him they would look for another pond but when they returned, they told him the next pond was over 20 miles away.  The frog fretted for he did not know what to do.  Each day the pond got smaller, and it would soon dry up.  As the geese were preparing to leave, the frog had an idea, an idea that would save him.  He told the geese to find a stick and each of them would hold an end in their mouth, he would bite the stick in the middle and hold on until they reached the next pond.  The geese found the perfect size stick and the frog closed his mouth around it and off they flew to the next pond.  As they soared higher and higher, the frog saw all the land and was impressed with his idea.  They flew over a farmer, who upon seeing this sight, scratched his head and asked,” I wonder who thought of that?”  To which the frog opened his mouth and replied,” I did” as he fell to the ground with a splat.

    Pride goes before destruction and usually with an open mouth as well.  I have been amused at the number of criminals who brag about their thievery on social media like Face Book.  Or students who complain about school being boring or not understanding the teacher on Face Book during school hours.  Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.  We see it happen all the time.  Groups work well until someone compliments it and then the individuals want credit.

    The writer of this proverb (probably Solomon) knew full well the danger of a haughty spirit.  It is the kind of spirit that believes it knows better than God.  It can tell God how to deal with certain people, certain situations and solve all problems for God.  Then the shear folly of this falls full into his lap and he is left going splat.  The attempt to tell a joke at someone else’s expense while the other person is there.  Gossip spread that, while really juicy and easy to hear, is completely wrong and hurtful to another.  Bragging about our successes while others know the real events.  All these things make us look small to others but more importantly reflect poorly on how we see the gifts which God has given to us.

     We all love to take credit for good things, that really is human nature just like we like to be where the fun is and seen by many as fun and exciting.  But the devil like to take that and turn us away from God’s love to self-love where we see our self as the center of attention and the most important.  We fail to see that Christ is the center of it all.  The love which we receive from him and through him gives us the wisdom and knowledge and the blessings of this life.  All things we should be thankful for not bragging about.  Our boast should be for what Christ does for his people and how we are thankful to be one.

Dear Father, far too often we are busy boasting and not praising you, we are claiming our successes as our own and our failures are your will.  Forgive us that we are slow to give all honor and glory to your holy name.  Strengthen and preserve us as your people bringing us into a more perfect walk with you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

6-8-2021

 Good Morning All!

          Luke 11:2; “And He said to them, “When you pray, say:”

   This is the start to Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer.  The disciples had watched John the Baptist teach his disciples to pray.  They had watched Jesus pray.  They wanted to learn how to pray with the same efficacy as Jesus did.  They wanted that same closeness to the Father.  So, they asked Jesus to teach them, and he taught them the Lord’s Prayer.

   We often view this as a simple prayer, one which is a good start but one which we feel we can improve on.  The truth is this is how we should pray.  We should pray this simple prayer just as if we are little children because that is what we are, God’s little children.

     Think of how little children talk.  They are just getting some command of the language.  They ask and ask questions.  They talk almost incessantly.  They are never afraid to ask for what they need and want.  Sometimes they hear,” no” but that does not stop them from asking next time.  This is how we should be constantly, confidently talking to God.

    Prayer is nothing else than the lifting up of heart or mind to God.  Just like that little child runs to his or her parents or grandparents, lifting up their arms, saying pick me up and listen to me; we can come to our heavenly Father in the same fashion.  God promises to hear our prayers, bending his ear toward us to listen.  God listens closely to our weeping and pleading but also to our laughter and joy all of which we should share with our Father who art in heaven.

    Perhaps the greatest wonder is that none of this listening by God to us is dependent upon us.  Think of your child or grandchild when they were very young.  As they were learning to walk; if they fell and bumped their head; you did not wait until they properly articulated what happened and what they needed.  Chances are you were there comforting them before the first tear fell.  How much more so does our heavenly father respond to our cries and our pains.

   We do not disdain a child whose cry of pain or fear may be incoherent or broken or hysterical and neither does God.  God hears us not because of who we are but because of who he is.  God is our loving father who hears our prayers even before we pray them yet encourages us to pray so that we may be drawn closer to him. 

    Just as that small child is confident that their parent will hear them so too our confidence grows for as we pray in Jesus’ name, we can be sure that the Father listens to and hears our prayers just as surely as when Jesus himself prays.  This is where our helpless soul looks to our gracious friend and brother, Jesus.  So, when you pray; pray like this with all the boldness and confidence of a child, with childlike faith trusting in the promise of God to hear and to answer our prayers.

Dear Father in heaven, we give you thanks for the gift of prayer.  Forgive us when we are slow to rely on you and fail to use this great gift too infrequently.  Lead us to have faith like a child trusting in the certainty of you good grace and blessings upon us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret