7-7-2025

Good Morning All,

   Colossians 1:12; “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

        Do you ever read the ads for car dealerships?  Do you ever notice the great prices they have for “qualified buyers”?  Have you ever read what it takes to be a “qualified buyer”?  Usually, the buyer has to have enough money to have no need of financing a car!  The same can be said for some home refinancing offers. 

      The same can be said of applying for a job.  You have to be “qualified candidate.”  In other words, you have to have more skills than they need and be willing to be paid far less than you are worth to get the job.  Yet you have to be “qualified” or else don’t even apply!  Life is packed full of you needing to be “qualified;” you have to “qualify,” by getting good grades, to pass form one grade to the next.  You have to “qualify” to get into college.  You may even have to “qualify” to go on date with someone.  You have to qualify for much in life.  You even have to qualify to get into heaven.

    Yikes!! How can I qualify to get into heaven?  I can’t even qualify for a car loan; how can I possibly qualify to get into heaven?  I can look at my life and see that my “qualifications” are a little weak.  I haven’t murdered anyone but there have been a few people who got the “if looks could kill” stare.  I have never lied in court but have enjoyed a gossip session or two.  I have, a time or two, wished that I had what my neighbor has.  I try to honor my parents but make sure they know “just how much I am giving up” to be with them.  I have never cheated on my wife but there are many pretty women in this world.  I have, on occasion, used proper “hog loading” language a time or two.  There are a lot of times when I think God should have asked my opinion on the way certain events turned out.  I am pretty sure my qualifications are not just weak but downright pitiful.

    Fortunately, God does not save the qualified; he qualifies those who he saves.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God qualifies us for a share of the inheritance, heaven.  God makes us worthy of heaven by his grace.  We get heaven because of what Jesus has done.  We are brought into God’s family by Baptism; made heirs to the heavenly kingdom.  We are qualified, not by our actions or self-professed righteousness, but by God’s incredible mercy showered down on us.  So, we give thanks to God, for he truly qualifies us for his heavenly kingdom through his grace.

Gracious Father, through your love we are qualified to be heirs of heaven.  Give us the joy of knowing that our salvation depends on you alone.  Your grace is sufficient for us.  Bring us the comfort of living our life in confidence of your mercy and grace.  Bring us to share with others the wonders of this joy.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

 

7-6-2025

Good Morning All,

         Exodus 20:8; “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

  “MOM, DO I HAVE TO GO TO CHURCH?”  Has that question ever been asked in your house?  Some of the liveliest discussions in Confirmation Class usually occur when someone asks, “How often do I have to go to church?”  It gets pretty interesting when a few say you should go all the time.  Some say you have to go when there is communion.  Some say you have to go at least twice a month.  When they finally all have their say, they look to me for THE answer with each one expecting to have the right answer.  I tell them this, “You do not have to go to church in order to be saved.”  If you ever want to make a group of 12-14 yr. olds be quiet; tell them that!

    Of course, we don’t leave it there.  This question opens up a whole bunch of interesting issues.  Do you have to go to church? No! But why don’t you want to?  Worship service or time is a gift from God.  It is not something that I have to do.  It’s not an example of “Ok God, I am here like you told me I had to.” It is also not a way to earn extra credit “Hey God, look; I went to all the work of being here, score me a few bonus points please.”  That is how many people view going to church but that is not how God views it.

     Worship is not about what you do for God but about what God does for you.  It is in the worship service that we hear God’s Word of forgiveness spoken to us through the absolution, the readings, and the sermon and through the sacraments.  God comes to you with his invitation to rest from the cares of the world, to rest from the attacks of the devil, to lay down the burden of your sin and to rest in his holy comfort.  That is part of what this commandment means.  Keep the Sabbath (we use Sunday) holy; that is separate from the rest of the days.  Use it to recharge and refresh your spirit and your soul.  Use to re-energize your life.  Use it to throw off the pain of last week and start anew.  Rest in God’s holy favor.

    Use it and then remember it.  Throughout the week remember what you heard.  Remember that your sins are forgiven. Remember that you are a redeemed child of God loved and cherished by the Creator of the universe.  Remember what God has done, is doing and will do for you; remember the Sabbath.  We not only remember it by honoring it; we remember it as we use it throughout our week.  It is a gift from God not a requirement for us to keep.  It is a chance to rest and refresh.  It is a chance to be comforted by God through his Word and through his people.  It is the time to hear God’s most precious message given directly to us.  Remember the Sabbath Day; keep it holy.

Dearest Father, too often we try to go and go and go.  We think we have no time or desire for your holy rest or to hear your precious Word.  Forgive us for this.  Move us to appreciate and enjoy the time when you gather us together to hear your wondrous message of grace and peace.  We thank you for what you have done for us in the past, for what you are doing for us now and what you will do for us tomorrow.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-5-2025

Good Morning All,

         Jeremiah 23:23-24; “I am a God who is near.  I am also a God who is far away,” declares the Lord. “No one can hide so that I can’t see him,” declares the Lord.  “I fill heaven and earth!” declares the Lord.”

   When the phone rings in our house, the question shouted out often is, “are you near that to get it?”  Yes, no, sort of, not really; are all acceptable answers.  It is amazing how this distance changes when you have expectations for the call.  When one of the boys plans to call home, Sandy is usually always near to answer it.  When it is election time and we are getting the election year phone call, she is usually not near.  When it is something or someone we want to talk to, we are near.  When we don’t, we try to be far.  The thing is we can’t be both. 

    In our verses for today, God tells us he is both near and far.  There are a couple of ways to read this.  First, God is near.  He is near you all the time.  Through the Holy Spirit he speaks to you, reminding you of what he said, encouraging you to have faith.  God is near to you when you fear or when you cry out.  I was visiting with a lady who told me about her husband having some surgery.  She commented on how calm he was going into surgery.  He told her that it was all in the Lord’s hands.  He knew what it meant to have God near.

    Sometimes we aren’t too sure we want God near.  There are times when we don’t want God to see what we are seeing, to hear what we are hearing or to know what we are thinking.  We often try to hide from God.  Adam tried it and failed and when we try it, we fail.  God is always near even when we don’t want him there.  He is there calling us back to him.

    Sometimes we really feel that God is far away.  We call to him, we cry to him, we pray in earnest to him and we just don’t seem to hear from him.  We cry that he is far away.  The problem with this is that He isn’t far away; we are usually looking the wrong way.  We too often pray for selfish reasons for selfish things.  When we don’t hear the answer we want, we assume that God is distant from us and not listening.  It is at these times that instead of speaking to God, we should be listening to God.

    There are times when we are glad that God is far away.  When you are far away, you see the bigger picture.  God always sees the bigger picture.  We only see a small part of what our life entails.  God sees it all and knows it all.  When he is far away, he sees and knows what is best for us.  When He is near, his comforting touch will give us peace and give us hope.  Pray to the God who is near to hear and pray to the God who is far so that you may have confidence in your life.

Dearest Father, you are so near to us that we know our salvation is certain and our comfort and hope is true.  Guard us from feeling far from you so that we may always know the peace that you give.  Help us to bring others to know that you are near to them and that they will have comfort and peace in you as well.  Be especially near to those who are in pain both of body and spirit.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-4-2025

Good Morning All,

     Ephesians 2:8; “God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God.”

  This is kind of directed to those avid sports fans out there.  You know who you are.  You dress up in the team colors.  You sit in the same chair to watch the game because “they always win when I sit in this chair wearing my old team jersey.” When you watch a football game and in the closing seconds of the game, needing a field goal to win the game; do you cross your legs and cross your fingers?  Do you, as a fan, do everything you can, from the comfort of your living room, do everything you can possibly do to influence the outcome of the game?  Do you? 

    No, no, you don’t.  Nothing you do in your living room impacts the game one iota.  Very little you do at the game in person impacts the game.  When the athletes are focused on the game, they tend to be able to ignore the distractions around them.  So, the next time the team you cheer for wins a game and you think it is because of your lucky socks; I am sorry to tell you; you have nothing to do with it.

    The same is true for our salvation.  You had nothing to do with it.  You didn’t seek out God, you didn’t figure it out, you didn’t “find Jesus” (He was never lost); you didn’t come to your senses, you did nothing at all.  You were a lost and condemned soul with absolutely no chance whatsoever of ever getting to heaven.  Fortunately for you and me, God saves us as a wonderful, precious gift.  He gives us salvation.  It is a gift and a gift, by the very definition of the word, cannot be earned.  God saves us as an act of unmitigated love.  There is no comparable event in our world.  God’s love for you is above and beyond anything that exists.  The salvation which God gives to you is priceless and you get it given to you.

    The really great thing about the fact that you have nothing to do with your salvation is that with it all being dependent upon God; we know it will get done right the first time.  We cannot forget to sign one of the papers, or lose the registration, or forget the appointment, or be on the phone or get lost on the way to the signing, or even just have a copy of your birth certificate instead of a certified original.  We don’t need to bring anything.  God takes care of it all and it does impress him that you always sit in the fourth pew on the pulpit side; you don’t get to heaven that way.  It doesn’t matter how much you put in the collection plate; you don’t get to heaven that way.  Of course, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to church for thirty years or you haven’t put a dime in the collection plate; God still saves you.  Our “greatness” doesn’t impress and our weaknesses do not eliminate; God saves us out of love and not because of what you do or do not do.  He also doesn’t exclude you either.  God’s grace is for everyone to claim by faith.  God even gives us the faith to cling to him and his promises; so, hold on tight receive that gift of salvation and trust in it forever.

Dearest Father, your gift to us is all we need. Give us the sense of peace and comfort that we have when we trust you for all our needs.  Be with those who are most troubled by the cares of this world and give them your grace to see the truth and to cling to it.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen!

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-3-2025

Good Morning All,

  Matthew 7: 13-14;” Enter through the narrow gate because the gate and road that lead to destruction are wide. Many enter through the wide gate.  But the narrow gate and the road that lead to life are full of trouble. Only a few people find the narrow gate.”

     I admit that I am not a great world traveler.  On the occasions when we would travel, it was sometimes interesting.  Usually, I can navigate most rural areas with little need for a map.  As long as you don’t count the night, we had to turn a bus load of ball players around in a soybean field, I haven’t been lost at all.  Now driving in the city is a different ballgame.  I get a little tense and then begin to second guess my decisions.

    It is at this time that all the passengers decide to offer their very valued opinion.  When our trips were pre-GPS days, we were never quite sure of where we would end up or how to get to our original planned destination.  We are better now with the GPS, at least we know we are lost a lot sooner and it isn’t so bad if you turn the volume down.

    It is always helpful to have your destination planned out when you are going to travel.  It is helpful to have the route planned out so that you know where you are going.  This is true of our faith life as well.  We need guidance and direction.  Most of all we need to stay on the correct path and not take any detours or think we know a quicker path.

      This is what our verses are telling us.  There is only one path to heaven and that is through faith in Jesus and in his sacrifice on the cross to pay for our sins.  The path to heaven is only through Jesus.  This is a very narrow gate indeed.  There is no other path.  It doesn’t matter how “good” you think you are, or how much money you donate to any cause, how many “good thoughts” you sent out; salvation comes only through Jesus.  So, the door is very narrow and the path is rough.

    Once you become a redeemed child of God, you become a target for the world.  The path that we travel on will be fraught with challenges.  All you have to do is watch the news and see how your faith will be attacked; how you will be attacked.  The devil will seduce you with all that he can muster.  The devil’s goal is to get you off of the narrow path and onto the wide path.  He doesn’t worry about those on the wide path; he already has them.  The devil’s focus is on those who are on the narrow path. 

    These attacks can only be withstood through faith in Jesus; trusting in his mercy and holding onto the promise of salvation.  We can’t fight it alone but God has promised to give us the safety and security to withstand the devil’s attacks.  We only need to trust in His Word and His promise.  Faith and faith alone will keep you on the narrow path.

Dearest Jesus, the path we are on is narrow and filled with danger.  Give us the strength and courage to remain on your path.  Guide us by your Spirit to hold us close to you.  Be with those who are especially challenged by the devil and his attacks.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-2-2025

Good Morning All,

  Psalm 84:5; “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”

     There is something about traveling that seems to split people into two groups.  The first group is the “get there” group and the second group is the “see there” group.  The first group see the travel as the means to the end.  The goal is to travel from point “A” to point “B” and that is it.  These people look for the shortest route, the quickest route, or the most expedited route for their travel.  For them, the journey is about the destination.

     The second group tends to travel at a less stressed pace.  While the first group will take the interstate or an airplane, the second group will take more secondary roads and stop more frequently. This group tends to stop often at the little roadside parks or monuments or the little mom and pop cafes in the smaller towns.  For these people, getting there is half of the fun.

    I have to admit I am a “group A” who wants to be a “group B.”  When I travel, it is usually for the express purpose of getting somewhere.  There is a meeting or event that I need to be at so the travel simply accomplishes this task.  Yet every so often, I like just to go and see “what’s what.”  Sometimes I like to travel just to see what is out there.

      In our faith life, we can be in either group.  We can be a “group A” person.  With heaven in our sights, we can focus on this and travel down the path without a nod to the left or right.  We can do this by going to church diligently, studying our Bible, praying and being faithful to the sacraments.  We can live this life, enjoy this life, and enter into heaven when God calls us home. Or we can be a “group B” person.  We have eternal life; that’s promised.  We have the journey ahead of us, laid out by God, for us to live.  So, live it!  Enjoy the path that God gives you.  See the people along the way and then interact with them.  When the youth were at the national gathering, it was fun to watch them interact with kids from around the nation.  For a while, they have new friends.  You should as well.  God gives to us the opportunity to enjoy life as he wants us to live. 

     Enjoy the trip.  Enjoy the time that God gives you and enjoy the journey that He guides you on.  This is part of God’s blessing for your life.  God wants you to enjoy life.  The devil and the world will try to make it uncomfortable or somewhat painful but we have God’s assurance that he is with us, protecting us from all the devil hurls at us.  You only have a short time here; enjoy it.  Enjoy your family, enjoy your friends, enjoy the wonders of God’s creation, enjoy the gifts that the Spirit brings into your life, reach out and touch the life of another person whom God has placed into your life.  Enjoy the pilgrimage; keep your strength in God.  Hold fast to the faith and never let go.  Through God’s grace, we have the blessings of this life to enjoy, whatever that means, God’s grace is there for his redeemed children.

Precious Lord, give us peace in our lives.  Give us the peace to see the blessings which you bestow upon us.  Show us the joyful moments and help us to see them as one of your gifts.  Be with those who feel no joy, heal their hearts with the assurance of your love.  In your wonderful name we pray.  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-1-2025

Good Morning All,

        Joshua 1:9; “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  

    I Have been blessed to meet some very interesting people. One young lady was named Karen.  She was 14 yrs. old and she had Down’s syndrome.  I had a little trouble understanding her, fifty years on the farm didn’t help, and she was quiet.  She had an incredible amount of courage and faith.  She very calmly told of her faith, of the certainty that God had redeemed her. 

    One of the speakers at the gathering told the kids to see themselves as God’s child, before you see anything else, see that.  Don’t see the names and the labels that the world lays on you; see that you are God’s redeemed child.  This young lady did.  She readily acknowledged that she was different from most people but she knew God loved her and that was all that mattered.  I was completely enthralled by this young gal. She had reasons to be bitter; I am sure that she had endured more than her share of cruelty.  Yet she was very certain of her faith and held onto it with all she had.

    It is that kind of courage and strength that always humbles me.  She was very comfortable with who she was.  This came about because of her faith.  I don’t know if she ever asked God why she was the way she was; I would guess her parents had at one time or another.  Yet she was one of the most courageous individuals that I have ever encountered.  Her faith made her courageous.

   Often times, when we think of courage we think of the soldier who battles to protect and save his wounded comrades.  We think of the fireman who risks his life to save others.  These people are courageous but so is this young girl.  I suspect that for most of us real courage is just facing each day as it comes.  The struggles of everyday life can be overwhelming at times.  There are many times when we know we cannot handle the battles; fortunately, God gives us the courage to do battle.

     God has promised to be with us through all of our struggles, battles, and fears.  He gives us the faith we need to face life with courage.  His grace is freely given to us and above all, he has given his Son Jesus, in order that we may be called “a redeemed child of God.”  That, above everything else, is how we should see ourselves.  When we are harried or hard pressed, we need to remember, we are a redeemed child of God.  Sometimes life will throw a lot at us and we will stagger under the weight but always remember you are a redeemed child of God; washed in the blood of the Lamb and claimed as God’s own.  So be strong and courageous, the Lord will be with you.

Dear Father, your mercies are new to us every day.  Give us the courage to face this world and all its pain and struggles and give us that due sense of safety in your arms.  Protect us from all that the devil fires at us.  Especially give your Spirit to those who are in desperate need of your comfort.  Move us to reach out to them with your loving kindness.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret