1-26-2016

  Good Morning All!!   

      Mark 16:15; “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” 

     This is the Mark’s version of the “Great Commission”.  It is part of the direction and encouragement that Jesus gave to his disciples.  But did you ever think about what this means?  What does it mean to proclaim the Gospel?

     To many of us it is when the preacher stands up in front of the church and delivers the sermon.  This is, hopefully, an accurate event.  We certainly hope that the gospel is preached in the sermon.  But this is just a small portion of the Gospel.  We also include the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as ways that the Gospel is preached.  We also see the Gospel preached when we receive the forgiveness of sins in the absolution. 

     These are accurate examples of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, the good news about the promise of God to forgive our sins.  We receive the comfort and everything that provides comfort- everything that offers the favor and grace of God to those who have transgressed the law- is the Gospel.  Yet there is one thing about this that is missing.  For most of us, we see this “mission of the church” as the other guy’s job.  We usually hire a pastor to do this work.  We give money to missions so that someone else can go “do missions”.  We like to think that we are being supportive and doing our part by being the people behind the people preaching the Gospel.  We like to think that we do everything we can to support those on the front lines.  The problem with this is; there are only front lines!!

     We are all on the front lines of preaching the Gospel.  There is still another way which we preach the Gospel and that is through the mutual conversations and consolations that we share with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and with those others we come into contact with.  Jesus tells us that wherever two or three of you are gathered together there he is in the midst of them; not on the edges or the periphery but in the middle.  We all preach the Gospel every time we offer comfort to our friends and neighbors, near and far, and share with them the hope- the hope that the promise of God gives to us.  When we offer the comfort of God’s grace and mercy to others; we are preaching the Gospel.

    We don’t need to set aside time to share the Gospel with those we meet; we do it every time we talk to them, listen to them, offer them a shoulder, offer them a cold glass of water or something to eat when they are hungry.  We proclaim the Gospel in ways that we often don’t even realize showing love and kindness to all around.  So go and live your life proclaiming God’s love and mercy to all you meet.

Dear Father in heaven, your mercies are new to us every day and continue to overwhelm us with the depth of your love.  Give us the courage to preach the Gospel to the whole world that it too may know your love and mercy.  Protect us from all harm and danger and move us, who are able, to provide aid and comfort in your name.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-25-2016

        Good Morning All!!   

     Exodus 18:23; “If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

    South Dakota has some of the most beautiful lands in the world.  The lushness of some, the starkness of some, the grandeur of some cannot be denied.  Some of the prettiest land to see is in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  A trip through Spearfish Canyon is worth it anytime you can, especially in the fall when the colors are changing.  My wife and I like to go through and toward the north end is a small turnoff where there is a picnic area next to Spearfish Creek.  It is so incredibly quiet and peaceful there.  You can hear the stream, sometimes the birds; you can watch a couple of squirrels that are looking for free lunch; it is a refreshing rest area.  We have taken our lunch there before; we have taken a thermos of coffee and sat.  It is beautiful.

   I can find a lot of peace in the Black Hills.  I don’t get there as often as I would like but when I can get there I take advantage of the quiet and peacefulness of the surrounding.  The problem for me is that I live in the eastern side of South Dakota and the Black Hills are in the western side of South Dakota.  In order to get there, I have to cross the Missouri River and I have to go over one of the bridges to do this.  I am not a big fan of bridges; they are one of my phobias but I know that if I want to enjoy the beauty and the peacefulness of the Black Hills; I have to cross the bridge.

   In our life journey, we all seek and desire peace.  We want that place where we can just sit and rest in the comfort of God’s arms.  Yet many times it is difficult; maybe you have never experienced that peace.  One thing is needful; you have to cross the bridge and that bridge is the bridge of forgiveness.  You have to forgive those people in your life who have sinned against you.  You will never have peace if you harbor the anger, the hurt, the sadness and pain in your heart that occurs when you do not forgive.  It can be truly said that the road to peace passes over the bridge of forgiveness. 

    God has forgiven you through Jesus.  This enables and empowers us to forgive.  Yet forgiveness is a choice.  You can hold onto the anger and the hurt but you will forfeit the peace that God offers to us; you will forfeit the comforting rest that peace gives us.  We have peace with God because He forgives us; we will only have peace with each other when we forgive each other.  We need to forgive each hurtful word or action; it only hurts us when we hold onto the pain.  Take the journey to God’s peace for you; it starts where you are right now, goes through the bridge of forgiveness and leads to a place of peace.

Father of all mercy, lead us to forgive.  Lead us by your Spirit to know your peace.  Guide us to understand that healing comes though forgiveness.  Guide us to understand that the peace that we have with you is found in forgiveness from you.  Guide us to see that peace with our fellow man is found in forgiveness with each other.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

1-24-2016

Good Morning All!!   

    Psalm 103:12; “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us."

    When my wife and I were early in our marriage we lived in a trailer on the same farm as my parents.  It was your typical “starter trailer home”; it had thin walls and not the greatest windows.  One warm summer night, we started to smell something and that something smelled horrid.  It was pungent; skunky pungent.  In the morning, the smell was still there.  We looked out the window and about 10 feet from the back door was a dead skunk; a very dead, ripe, stinky skunk.  It was very unpleasant to be near the skunk so we wouldn’t use the back door.  We wouldn’t use the area and it was very disgusting.  In order to fix the situation, I had to scoop up the dead skunk with a shovel and haul it far, far, FAR away.  I even had to scoop up some of the dirt.  We poured some perfumy, good smelling stuff on the ground so it didn’t smell bad anymore.

    Getting rid of the stinky skunk wasn’t real pleasant; but if we would have left it there, we would have never used our back door or that entire section of our yard.  We had to get rid of the stench in order to take our backyard back to our usage.  Sin is just like that; sin is a stinky, smelly thing.

    Our sin sits before God like a stinky, dead skunk.  That stinky skunk kept God away from us.  We were too repugnant to be in God’s presence.  This smell would never go away on its own; the only way for the smell to go is for the sin to go.  This is what God did; he removed your stinky sin from you, as far as the east is from the west. In order that you can stand before God and not be repugnant, God removed the sin by having the blood of Jesus remove it and replace the stink of sin with the sweet aroma of His righteousness.  That is how we are able to have a relationship with God, he removes the barrier, the awful stench; that prevented it.

    God tells us that we must do the same with those around us.  If we want a relationship with others, we must be willing to get rid of the stench.  When we allow sins that others commit against us to remain, they only serve to foul the area and make it unusable.  The stench keeps us apart.  It gets in the way because it keeps reminding us of the pain we once had.  It is better to forgive and get rid of the smelly problem.  By letting go of the sin that others did to us, by forgiving them, we get rid of the dead skunk.  Sin only separates us from relationships, both from God and others.  The only way to heal these relationships is to remove the sin.  God did this for us by having Jesus bear our sins and take them far, far, FAR away.  This frees us to see that this is the best way to deal with the stench; send it far, far, FAR away.

    Gracious Lord, you have removed our sins and the stench they cause in order to return us to your presence.  By this gift, you free us from the bandage of sin; you free us to forgive others and restore them to a loving relationship with us. Show all the peace that is theirs through your gracious act.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace

Pastor Bret

1-23-2016

Good Morning All!!   

         Matthew 19:21; “Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

     When I was first dating my wife, I tried to impress her parents by making supper one night.  I made spaghetti, garlic bread and a vegetable.  I had hoped that it would be perfect; it was close but it was only “ect.”  The spaghetti didn’t have enough sauce, the garlic bread was definitely garlic and the vegetable was pretty much mush.  I tried, failed, but tried.  Yet I really wanted it to be perfect. 

    Most of us have times in life when we hope it is perfect.  Most people want their wedding to be perfect.  Most want the birth of their child to be perfect.  We want the perfect house, perfect car, perfect job; we want a perfect life.  The rich young man wanted the perfect life; what he got was not what he expected.

    This man went to Jesus and asked him what he needed to have eternal life.  He thought he had it all.  He was sure he was keeping the Law.  He would go through them in his head and heart and probably actually tried to keep them.  Yet, much like my spaghetti, he knew something was missing; something was just not quite right.  Now as we read this story, some think that the young man was just trying to make himself feel good but it is possible that this young man was sincere.  He wanted to be perfect, a word that is more precisely read as complete.  His life was good, even real good by some people’s measure, but not complete.  Something was missing in his life.

    So the young man goes to Jesus and asks, “What do I need to do?”  Jesus looks at him and says sell what you have, give it to the poor and follow me.  The young man went away sad because he was rich.  Did you ever wonder why?  Did he love his possessions or was it that he saw his possessions as part of his strive to perfection; were his possessions supposed to make him complete?  So what about our life, do we love our possessions or do we see them as part of what it takes to be perfect?  Yet all the stuff is life leaves us incomplete and empty.

    It is interesting to see that the word used here for “perfect” is the same word Jesus uses when he dies on the cross, “it is finished.”  That word is teleios; it means perfect, complete, finished; sort of like drawing a circle and coming back to where you started.  This is what life in Christ gives us; we have the wholeness of his grace and mercy.  Yet we find it, not in stuff but in the complete sacrifice which Jesus offered for us.  We find our totality of being in God’s mercy and grace.  Everything else, if we cling to them, will leave us empty and incomplete.  We find our completeness in Jesus.

Gracious Lord Jesus, in you we have our perfection; in you we have the completion of our being.  The brokenness of sin is filled by your grace.  Heal us so that we may see our true happiness is in you alone.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret