7-30-2015

 Good Morning All!!

      Luke 6:37-38; “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

     There is an old story about a pastor and one of his visits with one of his parishioners.  It seemed that there was a lady who made the best apple pie in the area.  She always won at pie competition and it got to where they would ask her to not compete otherwise no one else even tried.  One day, this lady invited the pastor over to her house for some pie.  This was a little strange as she had never invited him over before.  So filled with curiosity and desiring a piece of pie he visited her.

     As she served him a piece of her wonderful pie she began, “There is something I think you should know about…”  “Boy this is great pie!” he interrupted.  Only a little phased, she offered a thank you and waited a minute before she tried again.  “I think you should know about…” she again offered.  “How many contests have you won with this pie recipe?” as he again interrupted her.   Now somewhat perturbed, she cleared her throat and began again, “I really think you should know about…”  He held his hand up to stop her.  He then asked her if she was going to tell him about some great sin that someone else had committed.  She responded with a yes.

    He then told her that before she should tell what someone else had done; she needed to tell him something that she had done.  He added the comment, “you know I’ve lived here for twenty years and you have some very well informed neighbors.”  She sat and stared at him for a moment so he continued while looking into her eye, “so you are ready and willing to confess what someone else has done but not what you have done?”  She looked away and thought for a moment and then replied, “I have won four blue ribbons at the state fair.”

   It is so easy to be that lady.  It is so easy to look out and see what everyone else is doing wrong.  I think it is because we never allow ourself to rationalize or to self-justify the action that occurs.  When I gossip, I have a good reason.  When I commit some other sin, it is just a little one, no one was really hurt, everyone does them and after all, no one is perfect; but that other guy, none of those “self-truths” apply. 

   Our verses for today warn us about judging others.  It is very dangerous and sinful as it does not heal but continues to shred our relationship with each other and with our God.  Judging others often only causes troubles because we never know the complete truth.  So pray for those in pain; pray for forgiveness and for God’s will to go forth but avoid judging; it causes more pain.

Father of all mercy, forgive me when I judge.  Move me by your Spirit to always speak in love.  Make our corrections about love and seeking your will.  Move us to heal and not to destroy.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-29-2015

     Good Morning All!!

       Gal. 4:5; “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

      I am afraid this devotion may suffer from a generational divide.  My apologies to the younger set, please talk to your parents and grandparents about this.

    Do you remember trading stamps?  Probably the most traded were S&H Green Stamps.  You would get these stamps when you purchased some items, especially gasoline.  Gasoline cost 25 cents a gallon at a full service gas station and then you got stamps with your purchase; ah the good ole days.  But you would collect the stamps in a book, I like to lick the stamps and then paste them in the book, and then save these books until you had enough stamps saved up.  Then you would look in a catalog and then redeem them for something in the catalog.  It might be a toaster, or a set of dishes, or a pool table.  Now a pool table would take hundreds, if not thousands, of books to redeem to get this item.  Most people would just get the cheaper items.  It was easier and these items were still useful but I always wondered about how someone could have enough stamps to get a pool table.

     It was really quite a crazy concept, really.  We paid too much for the goods and services we received and in return got our own money back in the form of stamps which we used to buy overpriced goods.  Who could really calculate how much stuff cost with this type of barter system?  But that was the beauty of the scheme; we were oblivious to the facts and just enjoyed redeeming our stamps even though we were paying with what was ours in the first place for stuff that was overpriced.  But we redeemed those stamps; essentially, we bought back what was already ours.

    That is why they called it redeeming the stamps.  That is what “redeem” means.  It means to buy what is already yours.  You pay twice for what you have once to start and then later on again.  This is the heart of what God did to us.  He bought us back, even though we were already his.  God created us, sustained us and put us in this creation of his to live.  By any measure that would mean ownership.  Yet we were lost to our sin ad we owed a debt of that sin to the Law to which we were now slaves.

     But God bought us back, redeemed us, with the atoning sacrifice of Jesus who took our place and paid our debt.  So now we have the adoption of sons.  Not of children but of sons.  It was the son who was given the inheritance of what the Father possessed.  So we now are all “sons of God” male or female, Greek or Jew slave or freeman none of that matters because we are all “sons of God” because of the redemption that we receive through Jesus’ sacrifice for us.  We have been adopted back into God’s family as his sons.

 Dear Father, we praise you for the gift of our redemption which Christ earned and then gave to us in your divine mercy.  Keep us in the faith that we may always receive the blessings of being sons of your heavenly family.  All this we ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-28-2015

 Good Morning All!!

          Genesis 3:6; “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

     Oh to have a bite of that fruit!  It was so inviting; it was so tantalizing.  It probably hung on the low branch so it was easy to pick.  There was something about it that made Eve stop and look and think.  “I really want a bite of that fruit.”  She did and Adam did and the rest is, as they say, history.  Sin is here.

     Many people often question why God put the tree of knowledge in the garden in the first place.  It was a special tree that he placed in the garden; nothing really extraordinary about it.  It is kind of funny; we blame God, the serpent, the tree or any other thing we can try but the truth is Eve was tempted and gave in and Adam joined right in.  She went against God’s will, against his plan for her life; so she suffered because of it. 

    God has a plan or a design for our life.  It is built around his Word and leads us to a life that is in harmony and contentment.  Yet sin in the world, sin in our life leads us away.  We may start with great intentions but soon that low hanging fruit tantalizes, tempts and ultimately draws into the web of sin.  In the Bible, the fruit is never named.  In our life, the fruit has many names.  Personal leisure time, increased profitability, children’s opportunities, increased networking, social involvement; to name a few.  At first, they may even look like a good idea.  We need time of leisure and rest.  We want our children to have rich childhood experiences.  There is nothing inherently wrong with greater profitability or having a social conscience but we can over pursue and soon be well off of God’s design.

     You hear it all the time.  People will constantly tell me, “they are too busy for church.”  There is always something to get in the way; there is always some low hanging fruit to grab and miss time of worship, time of devotion or time of prayer.  We are just too busy.  Now what we are busy at may not be all that evil.  I remember a young mother telling me that her family would be missing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day worship services because they were just too busy over the holidays; there were too many things planned so church would go to the back burner.  Yet do we ever question why?

    The devil points to the low hanging fruit and we grab it not realizing that in doing so, we are adrift and that drift is away from God and just like Eve, we don’t clearly remember God’s Word.  God’s promise is a little foggy; well it has been awhile but “I’ve been a little busy” and our faith weakens and our confidence sags just a little and that little bit can lead to sin.  Remember, God’s voice is often quiet and we need to listen closely.  We need to place God first.  In that way, we follow his will.

Father, too often I am too busy for your Word and your service.  Forgive me as I fall.  Pick me up and place me back on the path of serving you.  Keep me close to you and give me the strength to avoid the temptations of this world.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-27-2015

Good Morning All!!

          Esther 4:16b; “Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

      “You’ve got to know when to hold’em; know when to fold’em.” At least that is what Kenny Rogers told us in “The Gambler” and to many people; life is a gamble.  They often view life and a roll of the dice or of taking chances.  Some call it karma, some call it luck, and some call it fate.  This last one is a good name because most people have a very fatalistic view of their life.  This type of view tends to lead to a somber and somewhat sad life.  It leads to a life with little, if any hope.

    Our verse is from the Book of Esther which is the story of a brave Jewish girl.  About the time that the exiles had left Babylon and went back to Jerusalem, some stayed in Babylon and other Persian cities.  Through a twist, Esther becomes queen.  She is told of a plot to kill all of the Jews that are still living in the Persian kingdom.  In order to prevent this she must speak to and convince the king to stop it.  Yet the king only allows those whom he has summoned to speak to him.  It was unlawful to just go in and speak to the king.  Esther knew that the previous queen had disobeyed the king and she ended up banished, so what to do?  She could obey the law and then she and all of her countrymen would die.  She seems to take this almost fatalistic view that life is a roll of the dice; if I win, I win and if I lose, I lose.  Yet what we see here is actually a great statement of faith.

    Esther isn’t viewing life in a fatal style rather she is viewing it from the knowledge that God is in control.  No matter what happens; God knows the path it will go and has promised to prosper us.  This is a promise we can hold onto with all we have.  God will prosper us, either in this life on earth or in this life in eternal paradise.  This is his promise so that as his people, we can be bold in our lives.  We can live without fear.

    So we can either live in the dark and somber life of fatalism or we can live in the bright and hopeful world of confidence in God’s great promise of salvation and hope.  We can go forward knowing that God is always with us and will always keep us safe.  This can free up all sorts of opportunities for us.  We can speak to that co-worker who always seems sad.  We can speak up for the kid that is always being bullied.  We can reach out to those around who are hurting.  We can forgive; even forgive ourself, because we know that God has a plan and a promise for us.  That plan is to prosper us and the promise is salvation and his eternal presence in our life.  So whether we live or we die, we live and die to Christ and have his eternal promise forever.

Father of mercy, lead me boldly in the paths of your righteousness.  Lead me to walk with confidence in the greatness of your merciful promise to me.  Deliver me from sadness and doubt.  Lead me to be your light in this dark world.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-26-2015

Good Morning All!!

     Matthew 11:28; “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

     One of the more frequent themes of music is the plight of the working man.  Tennessee Ernie Ford sang of “Sixteen Ton.” John Fogerty sang of the “Fortunate Son.” Merle Haggard had a number of songs about the working man.  All these, and others, tell of working hard, barely hanging on, and other people living off of our work; about a system that is stacked against us so that we can’t get ahead.  The plight of the man who carries a heavy burden in life, who is boned tired every night and often wakes up exhausted the next day still stiff and sore from the day before.  We often see the image of a man carrying a heavy pack on his back, all hunched over, stumbling; from the weight he bears.

    That is the image that Jesus wants us to have when we read this verse.  All those who labor and are heavy laden; all you who work hard every day, all of you who are totally exhausted from the demands of the day; come to me and I will give you rest.  The thing we want to remember is that this isn’t about physical labor; it is about spiritual labor.  It is about confessing our sins.

     When Jesus first spoke these words to his disciples, they were living under the law as interpreted by the Scribes and the Pharisees.  This led to a very work oriented path for forgiveness. Under the Pharisees, if you were a sinner, you had to make financial restitution, you had to pay for a “proper” sacrifice at the temple, and then you had to keep the law or repeat this procedure.  Well, as you can envision, the cost of a “proper” sacrifice was high and available only from the Pharisees.  This made them rich and feared for the cost was very arbitrary.  To the right people the cost was low; to the wrong people the cost was extremely high.  Often, the hardworking man barely made enough to live on; the burden of paying for this sacrifice was too much.  So to the man who tried to be faithful to the teaching of his church, he was left with little hope.  He was trying to keep the law as the Scribes and Pharisees interpreted it.  When it was time to do a sacrifice to atone (or pay) for those sins, he had to buy the “proper” sacrificial animal from the Pharisees.  You can see how this is a losing proposition. 

     The devil tries to convince you of this same tactic.  The guilt that we feel after we sin is the devil trying to goad us into carrying that sin with us all the time.  He is weighing us down with the burden of paying for it.  He is placing the weight of that sin squarely on our back.  He wants you to carry it so he can use that sin to try and separate you from God.  He wants you to struggle and battle all day long, get no rest at night and then tomorrow he will add some more guilt, some more weight to that pack on your back.

    To this Jesus tells us come; come if you are heavy with burden, heavy with the weight of the guilt of sin, and Jesus will give you rest.  That is what confession of sins is about.  We are not telling God anything he doesn’t know when we confess our sins.  The confession of sins is about freeing yourself from the guilt of sin.  We take these sins and say, “Father, these are burdening me down please take them from me.” This is about having the burden taken from us, by Jesus, so that we may have true rest.

Dear Father in heaven, you call us through your Son to unload our burden and to receive from you your holy rest.  We are often too slow to hear these words of comfort and we carry the burdens of guilt that rob us of your grace.  Give us strength to come to you and receive rest.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret