8-7-2025

Good Morning All,

    2 Corinthians 1:20; “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

    “Yes!”  There is probably no more exciting or sought after word in the English language.  Most of the greatest events in our lives revolve around “yes” When you asked that special someone out for that first date; when you asked her to marry you, these times were punctuated by “yes.”  Even other, lesser events are surrounded by “yes.” Did you get the job?  Did you get the house?  Did you win the game?  Did you pass the test?  Did you get into the school you wanted?  Will you be home this weekend?  It all makes us happy when the answer is yes.

    We spend most of our life looking forward to hearing “yes” from our loved ones.  It is funny that one of the first phrases our children learn is “no-no.”  Yet we say no in order to protect them.  We tell them “no” to touching a hot stove.  We tell them “no” to playing with sharp objects.  We tell them “no” because we love them and want them to stay safe.  That is the same reason God told Adam and Eve “no” when eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God knew that eating that fruit would only bring pain to Adam but Adam didn’t trust God and Adam have visions of being equal to or greater than God.  So, with that Adam turned from God and lost his perfect world and went into a world where only pain and anguish existed.

    Our only hope is God.  God looked at us, sinful, wretched being and said “Yes.”  “Yes” I love you; “Yes” I want you; “Yes” I will save you and redeem you to be my own.  In Jesus, we see all of God’s “yesses” for us.  We see his love, his comfort, his compassion for us.  We see all of God’s everlasting kindness for us in Jesus.  So, we hear “Yes” from God.  But what about those times when we can’t hear a “yes”?

    There are many times when we think that we don’t hear a “yes” from God.  Whether it is a marriage that breaks, or a family that crumbles, a job that disappears, health that fails or even death of a loved one; it can be hard to hear God’s “Yes.”  The thing is, God still tells us “Yes” we just don’t want to hear it.  It is usually our sinful nature or the sinful nature of the world that causes us the pain.  Sometimes, it can’t be fixed in this world.  So, we cry and ask why? we really need to trust in God because he has shown us his “yes;” we see it in the empty cross and the open tomb.  God’s “Yes” to us is shown by his grace for us, by the comfort that he sends to us.  It may take a time or two for it to take hold but he keeps sending it to us.  We continue to receive grace upon grace.  So, when we don’t hear God’s “Yes;” we need to turn off the other noise and listen closely.  God speaks his “Yes” to us and gives us peace for today and hope for tomorrow. 

Dearest Father, you shout “Yes” to us through your Son Jesus.  Give us the strength and the faith to trust your “Yes” even when sin causes us to miss it.  Speak it loudly to those who need it most.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

8-6-2025

Good Morning All,

     Matthew 10:30; “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.”

   So how well do you know the people closest to you?  Do you know their eye color, birthdate, favorite color, favorite meal, their dream vacation?  There is a lot to know about people if you think about it and what happens when what you thought you know changes?  Some people can be totally afraid of a thunderstorm only to become accustomed to it later on.  Some people can be convinced that they hate broccoli until they try it and then it changes.  There was a time when I liked a certain food.  Once, after I ate it, I became sick and was convinced that the food made me sick; I don’t eat that food anymore.  I changed so how would you know what I liked?

     The true test of knowing someone is when you respond even when you are not asked.  If you ask a friend, “What’s wrong?” and they respond, “nothing.” But you hug them anyway; that is knowing them.  When someone just shows up and starts to help or just sits and listens; that is truly knowing someone.  Because in the ultimate sense “to know me is to love me.”  That is how the old song goes and it is true.  For those we know best we know because we love them.  That is why and how we know them by the love that we share.

    Our heavenly Father truly knows us.  Our verse speaks of God as knowing how many hairs we have on our head.  This may sound like something spectacular but it goes much deeper than some form of generic knowledge.  The reason that God knows this isn’t just because he is all knowing; rather it is because he is all loving.  He knows this because he loves us.  The greatness of God is shown, not by his power but by his love; a love that allowed Jesus to die upon the cross for you.  So thus, God knows you.

     As God knows about you, what color your eyes are or how many hairs you have; he knows the content of you.  He knows your fears, he knows your pains, he knows your needs before you do.  He comes to you with his love to comfort you, to offer you hope.  God knows you because he loves you.  It is an understanding love; it is an all-encompassing comprehension of the struggles in your life and hope ad knowledge that through it all; God’s incredible love is there for us.

    God knows how many hairs you have, not for inventory, but for the loving nature that brings you back into his family.  None of us are so bruised or damaged that God does not want you back; he always has and always will.  Trust in God’s mercy to see you through.

  Dear Father, you know me.  You know my fears, you know my pain, you know my joys and sorrows.  Give me the strength to stand up as I the face of life’s struggles and keep me secure in the knowledge that you are with me.  You are there to comfort and console, to guide and to counsel.  Keep me safe.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

8-5-2025

Good Morning All,

       John 15:13; “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

    A while back, I had an interesting discussion with my sons.  Now that they are grown up you can actually have a discussion.  We turned to one of our favorite topics and that is baseball.  We began to argue/debate the value of the sacrifice bunt in baseball.  One thought it was still a good play; one thought it was a waste of a batter.  One thought that it all depended on the situation; that was my vote too.  I told them of a game that I umpired where the team sacrificed their number 3 batter and then the other team walked the number 4 batter.  Now most coaches have the number 3 and 4 batters be their best hitters so it seemed a little drastic to give up that much hitting.  That is one form of sacrifice.

    Another form is what they tell the common folk to do when something happens like an oil embargo or a natural disaster that disrupts things.  We all have to pull together and sacrifice a little for the good of all.  We each give up a little so the overall whole benefits.  So, the theory goes. 

    Another form of sacrifice is when one does something heroic and dies saving others.  This is what most people think of when they think of sacrifice.  This is what most people think of when they hear this verse read.  It is used at funerals for servicemen almost universally.  That is why so many people think this verse doesn’t apply to them.  Most people don’t plan on dying for someone else.  This verse actually means much more.

    This verse also speaks to submitting to one another.  To lay down your life means to lay aside the selfish desires out of love for someone else.  We lay down our life for our children when we make sure they have proper clothes or braces rather than going on that European vacation.  We lay down our life when we watch our children play baseball rather than go play golf.  These are some of the easier ways of laying your life down; most people do this without a second thought.

    Yet Jesus calls us to more.  He calls us to sacrifice our lives, our own selfish wants, and desires, in order to help others, even if those others hate us.  Now that is a challenge.  Yet that is what we are to do.  We do this because the material things of this world are always secondary to the needs of our fellow man.  God gives us the gifts and wants us to share them with those around us.  Jesus laid down his life for us and now wants us to lay down ours for others.

Dear Father, we struggle to lay down our lives.  We are often tempted to keep and hold onto the things of this world.  Give us the strength to reach out to our brothers and give them the comfort and the hope which they so desperately need.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

8-4-2025

Good Morning All,

        Romans 8:26;” Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

     Have you ever been in a situation where you had no idea what to do or where to go?  One time I looked out our window at saw a reddish glow.  It was about sundown.  I got into my pickup and drove toward the glow.  It ended up that I had to stop and then climbed over a couple of fences to see it.  A neighbor was burning out a junk hole and it was slowly dying.  As I turned to go back to the pickup, I realized it was no longer dusk, it was dark.  It was cloudy so there were no moon or stars.  I was so intent on the glow that I didn’t pay that close attention to how I got there and now couldn’t figure out how to get back.  I was completely lost.  I only saw one yard light so I headed for it.  It was about a two-and-a-half-mile walk.  It was dark.  I ran into fences, I tripped into holes, I tripped over weeds; I had no clue where I was or where I was going until I walked up to the door and realized where I was.  For a while, I was completely and totally lost.

     There are times when we can know where we are and still feel that way.  It might be in the waiting room as a loved one is in surgery.  It might be when a loved one leaves in an angry fashion and doesn’t come back.  It might be when your child is ill and the doctors have no answers.  At times like this, we can feel lost and unsure of what to think or say.  Yet there are even tougher times as well.  What do you pray when a member of your family, who has struggled with life and health for a long time, goes into the hospital?  Do you pray that he comes back to your home or do you pray that God would heal him and take him to heaven?  How do we pray when our understanding sees one thing but our faith sees something else?  What do we pray when we don’t see a clear path to pray for?

    There are many times in our lives when we don’t know how to pray.  Do we pray that God strengthens a relationship or pray to let it die before it gets to serious?  How do we pray when we have no idea what to say?  These are examples of what the Holy Spirit does for us.  He prays for us.  So, when you don’t know what to pray, we really only need to pray for help.  We can pray, “Father, help!”  We don’t need a page long liturgical statement; we only need “Father, help!”  God knows our needs, our worries, our struggles and how we fit into his will.  We need to trust God’s love and the grace he has for our life.

Dear Father, there are so many times when we feel intimidated when we pray.  There are so many times we don’t know what to say.  So, Father, we say help!  Help our unbelief, our slowness to trust, our inability to love our neighbor.  Father help us to be your children.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

8-3-2025

Good Morning All,

        Matthew 14:29-30; “He said, “Come.” So, Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

    “Pay attention” “Keep focused on what you are doing” We hear that often.  When kids first start playing sports that involve a ball, the first thing you tell them is to always watch the ball.  Every so often one or two get plunked because they are looking at the concession stand or the swing set; they either learn or quit.  You have to keep focused on what is going on or else trouble occurs. 

    We hear it especially now as many areas are or have placed restrictions on texting while driving.  Even if you are only going 30 miles per hour, you are travelling at a rate of 44 feet per second.  A quick glance down, even for 3 or 4 seconds, means you travel about 150 feet.  That’s a long way.  It is important to keep your eye on the road as you drive; anything can appear in 150 feet.

    It is also true in our faith life; pay attention.  Peter walked on water until he looked at the wind and the waves.  He looked from the Savior and all of a sudden, the things around him looked insurmountable.  The same is true for us.  When you or I look at the struggles of this world, they can look insurmountable to us.  In many ways they are.  You and I cannot do battle with the devil by ourselves and win.  Just as Peter could not walk on the water by himself, neither can you nor I fight the devil alone.  When we do, the devil will always attempt to deceive us and he is the best at it.

    The devil will tell you that you are all alone, there is no one who cares, there is no one who wants to care, there is no one who wants to help.  These are the wind and the waves that the devil throws at us.  It is about doubt and that is the devil’s best weapon.  Introduce a little doubt, it only takes a seed, and then we begin to see the waves and the wind and we stop looking at Jesus.  That is what faith truly is; it is looking at Jesus as the source of strength in our life.  Jesus is stronger than any wave we face. 

    “Focus your eyes upon Jesus” is how the writer of Hebrews puts it.  Keep your heart, your soul, and all you have focused upon Jesus.  It isn’t a lot of rhetoric or guess work, it is trusting in God to keep his promises just like he always has.  Faith is not a feeling; it is trusting in an objective truth which we have seen.  God has revealed the truth to us through his Word.  Trust in it and we will be saved; the waves and the wind will not win.

Dearest Jesus, when the wind and the waves attack, give us the courage to look to you as our source of strength.  Lead us according to your will that we may conquer the fears and keep our heart focused on you.  In Your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

8-2-2025

Good Morning All,

    Proverbs 27:19; “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.”  

    I think one of the most amazing sights that I have ever witnessed is the sight of a crystal-clear mountain lake.  The one that, when it is perfectly calm, could serve as a mirror.  Sometimes the reflection is so precise that it looks like an inverted landscape.  With no ripple of water, you can see the most intricate detail of the trees and the rocks.  The water looks like glass.  It is so smooth that you cannot even imagine anything any smoother.  If a deer walks by on the shore, you can watch its reflection move as well.  I sometimes wonder if a clear mountain lake was the first mirror that people ever used.

    We often hear about our heart in Scriptures.  The ironic thing is that while the world will tell you to “trust your heart” or “follow your heart;” Scriptures doesn’t.  In the Bible we hear about the heart being the source of “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Matt.15:19)” The reason for this is that we view the heart as the source of our “feelings” or our desires.  Feelings and desires are not a good source for our source of direction in our life.  This is especially true when we realize that our sinful nature makes our feelings untrustworthy.

    This is why Scriptures speak of a new creation or a new heart.  The old sinful heart must be cleansed, by Baptism, and then inhabited by the Holy Spirit.  This is part of the “create in me a clean heart; O, God” taking the heart and removing the sinful nature, making it clean again.  With this pure heart we can live a full life for god.

    But it doesn’t take long for the sinful nature to raise its ugly head; jealousy, anger, lust, and slander are just a few emotions or feelings which once again lead us down the path of destruction.  Then once again God forgives us and cleanses us from unrighteousness.  This process occurs and re-occurs throughout our life.  This is why it is important that we don’t rely on our “feelings” when it comes to faith.  Faith is a certainty; it is knowledge and not emotion.  It is the definitive assurance of our salvation because of God’s intervention into our lives.  There is no guess work; there is no “feeling” to trust; we have the certain guarantee of our salvation written in the blood of Jesus. 

   So, as we go through life, we need to look into our heart and measure our desires.  Are they ones of malice and lust or are they ones of peace, gentleness, and true love?  While these don’t measure our faith, they do reflect our nature and our desire.  Our desire is to cling to God through faith.  That is what it means to be saved.  True faith causes a desire to change.  It may be difficult and we may fall once and a while but we desire to change and to live according to God’s will.  That is the reflection we want to see.

Gracious Lord, too often when we look at our heart we see our sinful desires.  Forgive us and give us the strength to grow in our faith that we may trust in you alone.  Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me.  In Your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

8-1-2025

Good Morning All,

1 Peter 3:12a; “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer”.

    The pressure is on.  Have you ever watched an athlete perform under pressure?  Maybe the field goal kicker when his team is behind by 2 points with: 02 seconds left in the game?  Or how about the guy/gal trying to make two free throws with the same: 02 seconds?  Everybody is watching; everybody sees.  If you have never been in a situation like this, there is no way to explain the pressure that you feel.  You can feel every hair on your arm begin to rise; you hear every drop of sweat fall to the floor; you feel each heartbeat in your temple.  It is an adrenalin rush like nothing else. 

    One thing that is for sure is that we all feel some sort of pressure in our life.  It might be because of some job-related issues.  It may be because it isn’t raining enough.  It may be that you are approaching retirement and you don’t know what you will do.  It may be the coldness in a family relationship or it may be health related.  We all face some sort of pressure in our life; it takes away our sleep, it takes away our comfort; it takes away our contentment. 

    Pressure is a two-edged sword.  On the one hand it sharpens your awareness of your surroundings.  To the athlete, this means to focus on his training and practice.  On the other hand, it can cause people to cave under the weight of the event.  Sweaty palms and shallow breathing can kick in.  This is always the balance for the athlete and for us as well.

    When you begin to experience this pressure or stress in your life, you can become aware of what you are experiencing.  Sleeplessness, restlessness, depressed or any other negative emotion should trigger your awareness.  Yet instead of focusing on your own skill or talent; we need to look to God.  God is watching and fully aware of what we are experiencing.  He knows that we will cave to the pressure if left on our own.  God’s eyes are watching us all the time and he listens to our prayers.  When we experience these stresses or pressure. We need to turn to our rock and that is Jesus.

    We will always battle stress; that is part and parcel to a broken, sin-filled world.  But we don’t have to battle it all alone.  God offers to comfort us.  He uses His Word and His sacraments and he uses His church.  He uses his church to be the flesh and blood touch for us as we go through the troubles and travails of life.  We will face them just not alone.  We really don’t have to battle the weight of fear or loneliness or sadness or worry by our self; Jesus has already won those battles and offers us his grace and comfort fort this life.

Gracious Lord, as we battle with the stress of everyday life; we do not face it alone.  Give us the wisdom to see our struggles and to trust in you to give us the strength to stand up in your grace.  We ask that you especially see those who are struggling mightily and feel as though they are going to cave.  Bless them with your Spirit of peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret