7-21-2024

Good Morning All,

        Psalm 103:12; “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

    As I was typing this (or is it word processing it?) I got about 1/3 of the way through and didn’t like the way it was going.  This was mostly because it wasn’t going anywhere.  So, I pushed the left click button and highlighted the portion and then hit delete; “Poof” it was gone.  There was a time when you would have pulled the paper out of the platen, crumpled it up and tossed it in the waste basket, pulled out a new sheet of paper and twisted it in and started over.

    Now if it was only a mistake or two, you could use your “correcto-ribbon” if you had a Smith Corona Electric typewriter.  Otherwise, you had to break out the white out.  Now we only backspace to get rid of an extra letter or two.  If we still used white out, I would have to buy it by the gallon.  But nothing beats the backspace or delete button to rid yourself of those pesky typing mistakes or even the entire rambling paragraph.

    There have been other times when I wish I could have had a delete button in my life.  Maybe, just maybe, some of those dumb, hurtful things I said or did could have been erased before they had a chance to hurt the feelings of others.  Maybe I could have backspaced a couple of times when I had my mouth engaged but my brain in neutral.  Deleting a couple of painful actions would be nice as well but we don’t get to do that do we?  While we can’t always delete past mistakes we make with people; God makes it possible for us to delete our mistakes with Him.

    Because of Jesus, our sins are forgiven, forever deleted from God’s memory.  He does this out of love for us.  He does this to bring us back into the loving, family relationship which he wants to have with us.  He does this because we need to be holy in order to be in his presence.  By declaring us holy and paying for our sins himself, our sins are removed.  The barrier of sin is removed, and we are once again His beloved children.

    But if God hadn’t forgiven us, we would still be in our broken relationship.  We need to see the importance of this.  If we do not forgive, then our relationships continue to be broken.  Remembering others’ sins, real or imagined, only causes us pain.  As long as we hold onto the sins of others who commit them against us in our hearts and minds, we will never know peace.  Until we hit the delete button and erase those sins, those memories of pain, so that we only have a blank screen, we will suffer the consequences of having unforgiven sins in our lives.  By holding the sins of others in our heart, we tend to view our sins as unforgiven and being retained by God.

    Yet God does forgive our sins and he desires that we forgive others as well.  To delete the sins of others frees us to experience the complete freedom of God’s forgiveness.  So, delete away, God has.

Father, you remove our sins and bring us back into your grace and favor.  Lead us to forgive others as well.  Lead us to see that in this way, we heal ourselves even more than we help to heal others.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

7-20-2024

Good Morning All,

        Matthew 2:2; “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

     In 1980, the R&B group known as The Manhattans had a song entitled “Shining Star”.  It was a love song about how the singer saw his girlfriend as the shining star in his life.  It seems like there are people in our lives who provide us with that spark or light that we crave so much.  We look to them for examples of how things are done properly.  We look to them for inspiration, and we look to them for direction and answers.  We look to them for guidance.

    For many young athletes, this person may be a coach or an older player on the team.  It might be a teacher or a mentor from the church.  It might be a co-worker that is our light; it might be a neighbor or a friend.  Most of us have someone that we look to for inspiration; to be a light to our life.  This seems to be human nature.

    It is that human nature that makes being a light so important.  The Magi saw a star that told them that something amazing had happened.  Their understanding of the prophecy told them that “the King of the Jews was born.”  This must have unnerved Herod, the sitting king, when he was asked, where is the King of the Jews?  Yet the Magi had seen the star and went on looking just as the Spirit had guided them to do.

    Later, Jesus told his disciples to let your light shine that the world will see your good works and give glory to God the Father.  Then he told them about being a city on a hill.  Then he told about the foolishness of putting a lamp under a basket.  Jesus is big on light, isn’t he?  This is because he is the light of the world, and he gives us the path to follow and the light to see it.  As he was speaking to the disciples after his resurrection, he told them, in essence, “while I am gone, you are the light now.”

    So that is where we are, we are the light in the world.  We are the ones who are to be that light on a hill showing the world God’s love.  You are to let your light shine so that the glory of the Father may be seen.  How do we do this?  Jesus gives us many examples both by word and deed.  He tells us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison.  This is the continuation of God’s call to His people in the Old Testament.  “Take care of the orphan, the widow and the alien in your land.”  He showed us his love by healing the sick, raising the dead and, ultimately, dying for us to remove our sins.

    So be the star in the night, be the light in the dark world.  Jesus empowers us to be this light.  Show God’s love to those around you, especially your family and your friends; they may need it the most.  Epiphany is about revealing the truth to the world.  Make this the year that you reveal the truth about Jesus to someone.

Father, help my light to shine so that others will see your love, your mercy and your glory.  Make me shine brightly.  Guide me to those who are in the greatest need of your loving hand and grant them your peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-19-2024

Good Morning All,

              1 Timothy 2:1; “First of all, I encourage you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people.”

     Probably the greatest gift that God’s gives to his people is the gift of prayer.  I think this because no matter who you are, whether you are 8 or 88, you can pray.  God hears all prayers, whether you are the richest person or the poorest person, the most educated or the least educated, it doesn’t matter God hears you.  You can pray for someone in your house or someone who is half a world away.  It can be your bestest friend or someone whom you have never met.  The wonderful thing about prayer is that it is between you and God; the people that you pray for are the beneficiaries of your prayers.  Prayer is about the ongoing dialog with God; it is the life sustaining rhythm of God speaking to us and we are speaking to God.  So how should we pray?

   One way that I learned to pray as a child was called the “hand prayer;” some call it the “five finger prayer.”  The thumb is the closest to your heart, so you first pray for those closest to you, like your family, friends, co-workers, etc.  We pray for their safety and health and that God would keep them in faith.

    The next finger is the “pointer” finger.  Here we pray for those who point the way for us.  Here we pray for teachers, preachers, missionaries.  This is also where we pray for the right and proper use of God’s Word and the expansion of the Church.

    The next finger is the tallest.  Here we pray for our leaders, the president, governor, judges, and legislators.  We would also add community leaders, police, firemen and our armed forces people.

    The next finger, the ring finger, is the weakest of the fingers on your hand.  So here we pray for the weakest ones.  We pray for the sick, the homeless, those who have suffered a great loss like the death of a family member or those who had a disaster like a hurricane or tornado.  We pray for little children who are abandoned or abused.  We pray for broken families and the pain that is there.

    The last finger is the pinkie finger.  It is the smallest, so this is where we pray for our own needs and wants.  It is the last and the least because we are to put others ahead of ourselves.

    This is a simple way to pray.  You can teach it to your kids and grandkids.  It is not fancy but that is the point.  God doesn’t want fancy; he wants you, just as you are, to come to him in prayer.  He wants you to pray for others as part of the ongoing holy conversation that he wants us to engage in.  So, if you need a guide to prayer, this is one way but whatever way you choose, choose to pray.

Father of all tender mercy, you call us to pray for others.  Too often we are lax and fail to pray for others.  Lead us to see the greatness of the gift of prayer.  Lead us to use it often as bring the cries of others before you and into our minds.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-18-2024

Good Morning All,

          Matthew 11: 4-5; “And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them”.

    When our boys were little, we would play a game with them.  We called it “I Spy.”  We would start with the phrase, “I spy with my little eyes” and then go on to describe an object in the room.  We might look at the picture on the wall and say, “I spy with my little eyes something square, with colors of blue and red and green.  I spy with my little eyes something high up and looking down on me.”  Hopefully, they would figure out what we were talking about and point it out to us.

    The essential part is to give good clues.  You try and make them somewhat age specific.  You try so that they are not too easy or too hard.  The clues should provide the answer that you are looking for.  As the boys got older, we tried to make the clues a little harder.  Sometimes we did too good a job.  Sometimes they would be distracted by the television or a handheld game and forget some of the earlier clues.  Then they would get flustered and miss the object that was being spied on.

    Our verse for today is about a man who missed some of the clues.  John the Baptist was in prison and waiting for Herod to kill him.  He had been out and preached the repentance that the Holy Spirit directed him to do.  His was a ministry of about six months and he possibly baptized many thousands of people.  He even identified Jesus as the Messiah, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  Yet sitting in prison waiting for your execution can make you miss some of the clues.  He wondered if Jesus was really the one they were waiting for.  He sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus that very question.  What Jesus gave in response are the clues that John had forgotten for the moment.  When he heard this, he was renewed.

    If John the Baptist can miss the clues, you know you and I can.  If John can question while under duress, you and I will also.  But just like John, Jesus keeps reminding us of the clues of his love for us.  He reviews the words of redemption, the words of consolation and the words of hope.  We have his Spirit, grace, blessings, gifts, and mercy.  The clues are there even if we get distracted or confused.  God’s grace is revealed to us through the Scriptures.  Sometimes the devil will use whatever means he has to confuse us; sometimes it works.  But God keeps coming to us, showing us his love and grace, and bringing us back into his loving arms. 

    We may fall short once in a while, but God’s love is always there.  We may miss it because of the distractions that we have but God’s love is still there.   God’s love is always there.

Father of grace, we give you thanks for the blessings of today.  Father we often overlook your love and mercy and fail to see the truth of your grace.  Strengthen us to see your mercy alive in our lives and active in our days.  Help those who are especially missing the signs of your love.  Let them spy on your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

7-17-2024

Good Morning All,

              Hebrews 4:15; “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

    I always used to hold to the theory that anyone who was going to teach or coach had to do so in the class that they had the most difficulty.  If, when the teacher was a student, and had trouble with English but had no trouble with math, he should teach English and not math.   The reason for this is because if a teacher does not struggle with a class, he may have difficulty in relating to a student who has trouble with the class.

   I came up with this theory while I was in college.  We had an instructor who was teaching Intro to Math.  It was the most basic of basic math.  Some of the students struggled even with this.  The real problem was that the instructor had taught at the Naval Nuclear Propulsion School the fall before.  His math skills were so far above the students who struggled that he simply could not teach them.  He could not relate to their struggles with math.

    That is part of what our verse is talking about.  Jesus is our high priest.  He came to earth and lived as a man, not a king or a prince or a wealthy landowner but as a man who had to work for a living.  He was a man who was subject to the laws and was even subject to the harassment of the Roman soldiers.  But more than this, he was subject to the frailties of man.  He knew what it was like to have a customer yell at him for some imagined error.  He knew of the pain of hitting your thumb.  He knew about people and their cruel comments.  He knew about being hungry and tired and aching after a hard day’s work.  He knew the temptations of life in a sinful world.  He understands what it means to be human.

    So, when we are tempted, or when the life we lead just gets extremely difficult; Jesus understands and will empathize with us.  He knows the struggles.  He knows the emotionally draining effect of one crisis piling upon another.  Even if they are simple or mundane, he understands.  He understands the parents who started the evening with one screaming child but soon escalated into three.  He understands the struggles you have with a boss or a co-worker.  He understands the battles you have with some addiction like alcohol, drugs, or porn.  He understands how hard it can be when you have a roving eye.  He knows what and where temptation can hide and the rise to show its ugly face.

    So, when we face temptation, we can turn to him in prayer, and he will empathize and give us the courage and strength to stand up to the devil and his lies.  He will offer us a way out.  He will show us how to withstand but we must act with faith, and we must trust and with prayer seek his help.  He will help; he has promised to care for us.

Father of mercy, we need you every hour.  We need your guidance and support.  We need your Spirit to keep us from temptation.  Give us the strength to withstand the tempter’s power.  Be with those who are especially feeling the devil’s assaults.  Keep them strong.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

7-16-2024

Good Morning All,

          Genesis 3: 19a; “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground.”

     We all know what sweat is.  Perspiration is what happens when it is warm or humid and the moisture forms on the body.  Sweat is the result of exertion.  It means that somewhere along the line, it was hard, arduous work.  It was a labor that caused us to groan as we did it and ache when we were done.  Part of that ache was knowing that tomorrow it would happen again.  It was the price we paid.

    When God first placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, work wasn’t really work.  Tending was more of watching and enjoying.  He didn’t have weeds to pull or thorns to fight.  There was no need for Roundup or 2, 4D.  He didn’t need a hoe or a tiller to clean up the weedy spots.  What he ate was all around him; plentiful, tasty, and fresh.  He had it all, literally; until sin stepped in.

    From that point on human existence was changed.  Cracks began to form, problems arose.  When man sinned, creation also paid the price.  Weeds, thorns, droughts, storms and the like appeared.  All of a sudden, eating became a job.  Finding food took work, often extensive work.  It took time as well sometimes meaning food was lacking for a day or two.  It became a lot of work just to eat and survive.  The painful part was that often that sweat, that aching labor would go for naught.  The painstaking planting was destroyed by animals or weather or other people who were stronger and took it away.  Life got tough in a hurry and stayed that way.

    Yet God had a plan from the beginning.  It was to send his Son into the world to sweat for you.  There is a certain symmetry when we read in Luke that as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “His sweat became like great drops of blood.”  Jesus did all the hard labor for our salvation.  Jesus did the painstakingly agonizing work of our salvation.  He received the lashes that carried the life blood from his body.  He carried the cross, laboring under its weight until he could carry it no more.  He hung on the cross with the weight of the sins of the world on his shoulders making the labor excruciating.  He died as he could sweat no more as there was nothing left to give.

   Yet in his mercy, he paid that price so you wouldn’t have to.  Through his grace, he gives the victory won, the price paid, the promised mercy delivered so that you might be healed.  He did this so the rip in the relationship with God might be healed.  He poured all the sweat that goes into making a relationship work in so that we might be restored before God.  Through his love, his sweat, we are made whole again.

Father of grace, our life is difficult and hard because of our own sin.  Yet you wonderfully restore us through the love that is Jesus.  Give us the wisdom to trust in your love and in your love alone.  Be with those who are struggling with the battles of life.  As they sweat and struggle send them your Spirit of comfort and hope.  Give to them the certainty of your love.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

7-15-2024

Good Morning All,

             Psalm 119:11; “I have stored up your word in my heart; that I might not sin against you.”

     I watched a show on television the other night.  It was about survivalists.  Survivalists are people who expect some sort of calamity that will lead to a breakdown of the government and society.  The survivalists have homes or camps or compounds somewhere away from heavily populated areas where they have stored up non-perishable food and water and guns and ammo.  The survivalists are prepared to stay in these homes for years.  The television show was about “survivalist experts” who rated and ranked the ideas of the participants.  I watched this show and mused about the concern of these survivalists.

    Then I thought back to my youth when almost every community had a “civil defense center” where canned food and water and Geiger counters were stored.  This was in case there was a nuclear attack, and you needed a safe place to hide.  There were also pamphlets about what to do in case of an attack.  Farmers were supposed to wait about six months and the scrape the top two inches of soil, which would have been contaminated, off and then begin to farm again.  No one ever said what to do with all that dirt.

    So, we prepare ourselves for disasters; maybe not to this level but we do prepare.  Most people who drive in real winter conditions have some form of survival gear in their vehicle.  They may have blankets, water, canned soup in their vehicle in case they get stuck in inclement weather.  Most of us have flashlights or candles in case the electricity goes out.  We need to prepare for some potential disasters in our faith life as well.  There will be times in our life when we will be vulnerable to the devil’s attacks, and we need to be prepared for them.

    The best way to prepare for the devil’s lies is to always have God’s truth at hand.  We can do this by reading, studying, and meditating on God’s Word.  We can do this by prayer.  By the careful reading of God’s Word, we will store up God’s Word in our heart.  God’s Words become the first thing that comes to mind when the devil’s assaults come, and they will come.  They will come at the worst time for you.  They will come when you are grieving a death, suffering a setback at work, when a relationship is going through a rough time, when health questions arise; they will come.  The devil will try to weasel his way into your life, whispering into your ear any lie he can think of trying to cause doubt.  All it takes is doubt, like he gave to Eve, “Did God really say?” 

   By storing up God’s Word in our heart, it becomes the first thing we think of in our head. So, when the devil challenges we have God’s truth to come to the forefront.  We will remember, “Cast all your anxieties on him for he cares for you”; or “When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I” or “So do not fear for I am with you do not be dismayed for I am your God.”  Trust God.

Father give me the certainty of your Word and the confidence to trust it when the attacks occur.  Be with those who are in battle at this time.  Guard them with your Spirit and bring to mind all your promises.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret