1-7-2026

Good Morning All,

        1 Timothy 2:6; “who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

     $18.5 trillion.  That is what the aggregate consumer debt in the United States was at the end of 2025.  That is $18,500,000,000,000.00; yikes!!!  That is a lot of money.  Personally, I think that number is a little low.  I think almost all Americans owe more money than they actually admit to.  They may have some hidden debt that they conveniently forgot.  They may be buying a TV from a rent to own store.  They may be repaying for a car repair.  They may be making payments on a lay-away purchase.  They may be paying a little bit a month to their neighbor for a boat or something that nobody knows about.  I may be cynical but I would guess we owe more than we really admit to owing. 

     Then if you add in the federal national debt which is $38.514 trillion ($38,514,009,184,232.72 as of 12/31/2025).  Then if you add in any state or local debt that is owed; we are truly a nation of debtors.  We really do have to sing with the 7 dwarfs, “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work we go!”  As you look at that number, can we ever really ever pay all that off?  How??  That is for smarter minds than mine; I just try to keep my payments current.

    Yet, just think, what if someone, somewhere, somehow came in and paid off all that debt?  How would you respond?  Just think, your house is paid for, your car, your student loan, your credit card bill, any little hidden bills you have, all of your taxes, even your share of the national debt was all paid off; what would that be like?  While we ponder that we would probably think that we really have no clue what that would mean to us, yet we have, and do, experience that event in our life every day.

    God sent Jesus to pay off your debt of sin.  The debt of sin which we owed would make these numbers look tiny.  Yet it is paid, in full, so that you may be called the “sons of God.”  By being “sons of God” we have all the rights and privileges that go with that.  We are heirs to the kingdom (eternal life), we can go to the Father (prayer), we have the love of the family (the holy church and the consolation from the brothers and sisters in Christ), we have the authority to do the family business (expand the kingdom of God).  All this because Jesus paid off your debt.

    So, live your life debt-free.  Celebrate that you are no longer indebted but in fact are credited with righteousness.  Live as if you have all you need for, we truly do have everything that we need.  Live the life that is a crucial part of God’s family business.  Seek out your neighbor and offer them God’s grace.  Share with them God’s love.  Your debt is gone so spend your life in fellowship with God and his family.

Wonderful Lord, you give us the incredible gift of eternal life.  You bring us into your family and give us the greatness of your grace.  Guard us from those things which may cause us to move from you.  Protect us from the barbs of the devil.  Be with those who still carry the burden of debt.  Free them so that they may love as you have loved them.  In Jesus, precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret         

1-6-2026

Good Morning All,

              Psalm 107:9; “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”

       One day, a number of years ago, my then 2 ½ year old told his grandmother, “I’s hungry, do you have sumpy eat?”  So, my mother found him a cookie and off he went.  He was hungry so he found something to eat.  Now, had he not found something to eat, he would have been a little grumpy.  He would have been irritable and moody.  But as long as he was fed, he was fine.

    Most of us are like that, we tend to have hunger pains once in a while.  Yet as humans sometimes our hunger is more than physical.  While our physical hunger may be met by food or drink, we may also have intellectual hunger which is only sated by information and knowledge.  We may have emotional hunger which really only gets met by experiencing love.  We also experience a spiritual hunger which really can only be fed by God.

    We might go looking elsewhere, but like filling up on Twinkies and ho-hos will not truly satisfy us physically; so, to the many false teachings and world views will always leave us empty.  We need the good nutrition for our souls; we need God’s words of forgiveness and we need his grace to comfort us.  We need to remember that the bread and the wine which gives us his body and blood are still the original comfort foods.

    Just like our physical hunger needs to be fed every day, so does our spiritual hunger need to be fed every day.  We need to be fed by His Word every day.  We need to spend time in His Word hearing the richness of his great love and the wonders of his mercy.  We need the comfort of his forgiveness and the tenderness of his grace.  We need to share in this feeding with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as we grow together.  It is through this feeding that we grow and the church grows as well, being fed the proper diet for our souls.

    So, we must eat every day and not miss a meal because if we do, we can become weak and cranky.  We can become discontented with what God has given us.  Just like physical hunger can make us weak and susceptible to disease or illness and to gorging ourselves on unhealthy foods.  We can also be susceptible to the temptation which the devil will throw at us.  We can be so weak that we will seek our comfort and our hope elsewhere and find it woefully lacking when our need arises.  We are only truly nourished by God’s grace.  We are only fed by His Word.  Everything else is just so much junk food. 

    So, take time every single day to be in God’s Word.  Relish it, savor it, enjoy the wonderful, good news of salvation which it gives to you.  Let God strengthen you with his spirit of love and hope.  Taste and see that the Lord id good.

Father in heaven, you feed us with your Word and you sustain us with your grace.  Strengthen us that we may withstand the devil’s arrows and draw closer to you.  Be with those who feed on the “junk food” which this world calls nourishment.  Help those who hunger to be fed by your satisfying Word that they may know the hope of eternity with you.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

1-5-2026

     Good Morning All,

              Romans 12:10; “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

      Do you remember the song “Why can’t we be Friends?”  It came out in the mid-1970’s.  It was about 3¾ minutes long and repeated the line “Why can’t we be friends?” 47 times.  Not a lot of lines to learn.  Ironically, it was sung by a group called “War.”  Yet it asked a basic question, why can’t we be friends?  Why is it difficult to get along?  It seems that it is easier to stir up hatred and dissension than it is to foster peace and harmony, but why is this?

    First and foremost, it is our sinful nature at work.  Sin wants only hatred and dissension to abound.  In doing so, it can sow the seeds of despair and try to cause us to doubt God’s love for us.  Yet God completely and thoroughly empowers us to do battle with the devil in this arena.  He calls us, as his children, to love one another in a brotherly fashion.  Yet sometimes this can be very difficult to do, our sinful nature pushes us to distrust others.  Yet God wants us to love.  So here are some ideas to think about and pray about as we ask God to strengthen our attempt to be his loving children.

    One of the first things we need to overcome is the belief that we are so different from each other.  We tend to focus on the visual and try to see how we are different; yet we are far more alike than we are different.  We all want our children and our grandchildren to succeed in life.  We all worry about our health and the health of our loved ones.  We all mourn the death of those we love.  We are far more the same than we are different and if we focus on that truth, honoring and loving one another will be easier.

    Another obstacle for us is often fear.  We tend to fear what we do not know.  Ask anyone how they felt the first night they slept in their new home and heard the creaks and the moans.  It can be the same with our neighbor.  Until we work out the “creaks and groans” of our relationship it can be tough.  Yet that is the crux of being friends, it is usually not a difference of opinion that separates people, it is usually a lack of understanding and fear keeps us from trying to understand one another.

    The greatest obstacle is our own selfishness.  We are willing to see two sides to a story unless one of the sides is mine then the other doesn’t matter.  So here is our greatest task, to ask God to give us a willing heart and a patient spirit.  Then we need to practice what we pray for.  We need to attempt to understand and to see others for who they are, God’s beloved creatures.  We are all to be children of the heavenly Father.  So, seek to love one another with brotherly affection.

Father of love, guide us to be brothers one to another.  Lead us by your Spirit to seek reconciliation and relationships and not anger and distrust.  We ask that you heal those who are wounded and are in broken relationships.  We especially pray for those families which are broken.  Send your healing Spirit.  In the name of Jesus, our risen Savior. Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

1-4-2026

Good Morning All,

           Ephesians 1:18; “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”

I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny day. It's gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshiny day.

 

     Do you remember that song?  It was from the early 1970’s.  It was a song that was in contrast to some of the “darker” songs that focused on pain and broken relationships.  This was one of the lighter and more optimistic songs of the time.

     So, can you see clearly?  Too often most of us would say “no.”  The problem is that we focus on using our physical eyes.  Our physical eyes are part of our sinful body and are corrupted by sin.  We can only see what our eyes look at, we can only comprehend what our mind interprets through our foggy vision.  So how do we see clearly now?  We see with the eyes of our heart; we see by faith.

    God gives us the eyes of faith which can help us see clearly.  God’s grace gives us the forgiveness of sins and the promise of life everlasting.  That is what Easter does for us.  By Jesus walking out of the tomb, our vision is a whole lot clearer now.  We can see our future clearly.  We are God’s redeemed children and we have in store for us an eternal existence with him.  We know how our life story ends.

    God gives us a very clear view; we see it in the risen Christ.  We know the obstacles that the devil and our sinful nature will throw at us.  We will experience some fits of doubt, fear, loss of trust, hopelessness among a few.  The devil will try all sorts of tricks but they are just that; they are tricks and tricks are not reality.  Our reality is clear to see; our reality is our salvation through Christ.

    We may, because of a sinful and broken world, experiences some sadness.  We may suffer from divorce or a loss of health.  Our job may disappear or our family may be torn apart.  This is always the result of sin.  Sin still causes pain and suffering in this world but we know that sin does not control us nor does it control our lives or our future.  Our lives and our future are in God’s loving hands.  His promise is to never abandon us, and to forgive our sins and to give us eternal life.

    We can see clearly what his promises mean to us.  The control of our life and our future is in God’s loving hands; we can see clearly now and we can see it all with the eyes of faith which God so graciously gives to us.

Father, help to me to stay focused on your great mercy.  Guide us by your Spirit to trust our eyes of faith as we see your great love for us.  Help us to focus on your tender mercy.  Be with those whose vision is clouded by the cares of this world.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

1-3-2025

Good Morning All,

           Psalm 46:1; “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

      I was a watcher of “Star Trek,” the real one with Kirk, Spock, and Scotty.  It was really quite an amusing show to watch.  One thing that always amused me was that, at the start of the show, it was usually Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and then some flunky that landed on the new planet.  It never failed, the flunky never survived.  Something always killed him.  Then Kirk and the rest would spend most of the rest of the show trying to get back to the ship.  They were always met with problems but eventually they made it to the ship and were safe.  All they wanted to do was to get to the ship to be safe.  Why didn’t they just stay there?

     We actually spend a lot of time doing the same thing.  We spend a lot of time trying to get back to our ship where we are safe.  We are often blindsided by life.  Many times, it seems to be going well.  We feel healthy, our job is going smoothly, the family is “happy happy” and then, out of nowhere, BOOM!! It hits us hard.  In the blink of an eye, things change.  That ever so routine doctor’s visit turns up something not so routine.  Maybe we wake in the middle of the night with a pain in our chest that seems like someone is crushing us.  It could be anything but all at once, life changes.  It might be your job; it might be something with a family member; it could be any of a number of things; but it hits us hard.  All we want to do is get to safety, all we want to do is to get back to the ship.

    That is what the psalmist is telling us in this verse.  Our ship, the place where we are safe, is in God’s grace.  It is an immediate place of safety, like a shelter in a storm.  It gives us hope when we turn to it in faith.  The thing to remember about finding shelter in a storm, you are still wet when you go inside; you will still feel cold and maybe a shiver or two.  Yet soon the warmth will begin and the wetness will go away.  This is much the same way that our faith works.  There is still a little residue of the pain but soon God’s warming mercy begins to cover us and soon we are resting in the comfort of his loving arms.

    What we then see is that this refuge is really a fortress.  It is a place where we will always have safety; it is a place where we will always find refuge.  It will always be our shelter.  It is the place where we can be to heal from the wounds we experience in life.  It is the place where we can be nourished back to full strength.  It is the place where we can find true and wholesome rest.  When the battles and struggles of this sinful world wage against us, God is our only refuge.  It is his mercy alone that saves us.

Wondrous Father, in you alone do we have safe haven.  In you alone are we secure from the attacks of the devil.  Guide us by your Spirit to the safety of your loving arms.  Be with those who are under attack and in need of refuge.  Be with the families that are being assaulted.  Be with those who are physically, emotionally, and spiritually attacked.  Guard them with your holy arm.  Bring them to refuge in you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-2-2026

Good Morning All,

   Luke 24:13; “That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.”

     This is part of one of those stories that will always intrigue us.  This is part of the story that occurs on the first Easter Sunday.  Two of Jesus’ followers, one named Cleopas, were walking to a small village called Emmaus.  It is about 6 or 7 miles from Jerusalem; we just aren’t sure which way.  This is a story that we can see in our mind’s eye so easily.

    Cleopas and his friend were followers of Jesus.  They even thought, no they believed, that Jesus was the Messiah.  Yet, they had just witnessed his execution by the Romans.  It was horrible.  They had watched as some had taken down the broken body and buried him.  They hid over the Sabbath, afraid that the Jewish council would come after them next.  On Sunday, they headed to Emmaus.  It could have been home or it could have been on the way home or just a plan to leave Jerusalem.

     As they walked, they talked about the events of the past week, especially the women.  They claimed that they had seen him, alive!!  Soon they were joined by a stranger.  He hadn’t heard anything about Jesus or the crucifixion.  Where was he hiding?  Didn’t he see the darkness or feel the earth tremble?   They told him their story; then this stranger told them his story about how everything that had happened needed to occur.  They invited this stranger to have dinner with them.  When they did, their eyes were opened and they saw that it was Jesus with them.

    How many times are we “walking to Emmaus”?  How many times have we had our expectations, our hopes, our dreams shattered before us?  It doesn’t take long for us to start wandering down the road to Emmaus; dejected, lonely, frightened, and sad.  As we walk wondering what happened, we do not walk alone.  We may not recognize him; we may not see him but he is there.  Jesus walks with us even as we walk to Emmaus.  All the time he speaks to us through his Word.  He tells us that he loves us, that we are forgiven; that what is behind us is behind us, we don’t need to bring it along with us anymore.  We can leave the pain of the past in the past.  Jesus reveals to us his incredible love.

    We will have those times when we walk to Emmaus.  Just know that you do not walk alone.  Listen for God’s comfort.  It may come from a family member or a friend or a member of your church but God will speak to you and comfort you.  Trust in his everlasting mercy.  Our walk may be long and arduous but we never walk alone or for long.  The pain and the sadness are only temporary.  God’s grace will always be there for us.  So, as you walk, listen to our Savior’s gentle voice.

Gracious Lord, on our walks to Emmaus, filled with doubt and sorrow; go with us.  Speak to our broken hearts with your tender love.  Gently lift us up and heal our pain.  Guide us as we travel down this path of life.  Keep us mindful that as you travel with us, you protect us from the devil’s assaults.  Be with those who are lost in their travel and bring them safely home.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-1-2026

 Good Morning All,

          Matthew 10:38; “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

          We see it more and more.  Just about any business has it.  All the celebrities have it.  Even those who have blogs or write op-ed pieces seem to have it.   They all want you to follow them.  We follow on Facebook, on “X”, on Pinterest or Instagram. “Follow us!!”  This is usually to get you to buy more from their store or to buy more of their albums or go to their movies or buy whatever they are selling.  The more followers they have; the more successful they are.  “Just follow us on Facebook!”  It is so easy. All we do is click a button and just like that we are followers.

    Jesus started his ministry by calling his disciples.  He told them to “follow me.”  Then he told others this but some of them chose not to follow.  This might have been because of indifference or a failure to truly hear what Jesus was saying or it could have been that their sinfulness was so deeply entrenched that their hearts were just too hard to listen.  Yet Jesus called them, just like he called his disciples and just like he calls you and me.

    It is always kind of interesting when we read where Jesus tells us that he brings division or he brings a sword.  We always think of Jesus as a peaceful and uniting person but the opposite is very true.  Some people hear his call and some people don’t.  Often those who don’t hear the call are angry at those who do.  They will deride, attack and belittle those who believe.  Now if that someone is a person you barely know, you can handle it.  Yet what happens if it is your spouse or your child, a sibling or your best friend?  That can be more painful.  This is where the division can really be hard; it can be a great cross to bear.

    So how do we handle this?  It can be really hard.  First, you keep praying.  Secondly, you don’t argue.  Even if they belittle and attack you, you turn the other cheek.  It really isn’t easy, is it?  You keep showing them the love that God has shown you; but do not give up!  It may be a long and burdensome task but it is worth it.  You keep following Jesus because that is the only way you will ever have peace.

    Remember that Jesus is always with you.  The battle seems hard because the devil keeps trying to lead you astray.  Keep holding onto God’s grace.  Remember his ways are far above our ways.  We keep trusting in Jesus and his promises.  Jesus lived, died, rose again and ascended into heaven for you; he is not going to stop now.  So, we continue forward, often bearing a cross that seems too heavy.  Yet when we focus on Jesus and the salvation that awaits us, the burden will be lighter.

Heavenly Father, in your wondrous mercy we have life.  Yet there are times when the burden seems great and we struggle under the weight.  Keep us mindful that the burden is only heavy when we assume the weight rather than trusting in your grace to lead us safely home. Be with the families where there is conflict.  Heal their wounds and renew their love for one another.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret