8-28-2017

Good Morning All,

                       1 Peter 2:24; “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

    It all started at a tree.  Trees on the high plains of South Dakota are rare.  If they are here, someone put them here.  Away from the creeks, streams and rivers, there are very few indigenous trees; the probability is that someone planted the tree.  Sort of like how God planted the trees in the Garden of Eden.  “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. (Gen. 2:9)  So the trees began to produce food and beauty and shelter and a peacefulness that only exists in a garden.

   Yet we know the rest.  A serpent, the devil actually, whispered and deceived Adam and Eve and soon death, sorrow, pain, sadness and all the troubles of the world showed up and the trees that once gave only food, shelter and beauty now gave spears, arrows and ways to provide death.  Wars are fought over the territory that trees now occupy and trees are often used as shields or walls to protect or hide behind to fight.  The value of trees has shifted.

    Soon empires and rulers began to use trees in despicable ways by using them as instruments of hideous deaths.  Some would impale their victims running a spike through the lower bowel region and exiting through the collarbone region.  The goal was to miss all vital internal organs so death would be slow and painful.  Some empires and rulers preferred to hang their victims from a cross shaped tree and let them slowly die of asphyxiation.  The crueler ones would use nails to add to the pain and the suffering.  Trees had come from things of beauty and of nurturing to things of death and terror.

    It was this kind of tree that Jesus used to win the victory.  On the cross, he crushed the head of the serpent that poisoned the first tree of life.  Now Jesus has made this second tree the new tree of life for us.  With his blood we are cleansed.  With his blood we are redeemed.  So as we look at this tree we should not be consumed by guilt.  We should not respond out of guilt thinking that we somehow owe God and can repay him.  Rather, we should look at the cross and see God’s unimaginable love and his unfathomable mercy.  Rather than guilt we should feel thankful, joyfully, exuberantly thankful.  We should experience a rebirth of desire, desire to serve God.

    For God invites us by his love to come into his kingdom and to serve him with love.  He calls upon us to see the beauty of this once hideous tree.  He calls us to cling to this cross so that we might always know of his mercy.

Father, we give you thanks for the redemption which you have so freely given to us because of what Jesus has done for us upon the cross.  Lead us to see the cross with hearts filled with thanksgiving and joy.  Let us see the cross as your great gift to us.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

8-27-2017

Good Morning All,

                      Hebrews 10:23; “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

     “The situation is hopeless.”  There is probably no more painful message than this.  Whether it is a light situation like a basketball game where the one team is behind by 10 points with 25 seconds to play or a serious situation that involves life and death; this message brings about discomfort and pain.  Sometimes, this message comes late like when the firefighters were climbing the stairs in the World Trade Center after the 9/11terrorist attacks.  When they were told to get out that the situation was hopeless; it was already too late.  A few years ago, we came upon an accident.  We began to perform CPR until the ambulance showed up.  It was apparent that the man was dead but the deputy refused to quit giving CPR.  The situation was hopeless but he refused to accept it.

     There are times when we face events that seem hopeless.  A car accident, where the vehicle sinks into some water and after a few minutes of being submerged; the situation is hopeless and those on shore watch, worry, fear then despair.  When you watch someone who has cancer and they begin to fade away, first losing a lot of weight, then the color of their skin goes ashen, they can’t get around very well and soon they are bedridden; the situation is hopeless.  We usually don’t see situations as hopeless unless death is involved.  If we suffer estrangement from a friend or a loved one, we figure, eventually, we’ll fix it but when that someone dies, the situation is hopeless.  Hope is about life; hopelessness is about the end of life.

    Once sin entered the world so did death and so did hopelessness.  Once the enormity of the cost of their sin began to sink in; Adam and Eve experienced hopelessness.  Their perfect world was no more.  They knew pain, sorrow, suffering and hopelessness.  So God gave them hope, hope for life.  He told them that he would send one to destroy the devil and death.  This One would redeem them and give them life.  It was the same promise that God made to his people throughout the Old Testament.  It was a promise that held out hope.  It held out hope that death and the devil would never be the final victor.  It was a promise that said those who believed and trusted in that promise would live forever.

    That promise was kept on a hill called Calvary.   It was there that Jesus defeated the devil and death.  It was there that the promise was completed and we only have to wait for the final few ticks of the clock to run out and the victory is completely ours.  Death no longer has hold of us; it is but a door for us.  No matter what life throws at us, it can never take away the victory that Christ gives us.  We will always have hope; we will always have life.  This is the promise that God has made and kept to us.  We always have hope.

Father, in you there is life. You give us hope.  Guide us to always rely on your delivered promise.  Teach us to always hope in you.  Be with those who feel they have no hope.  Open the darkness so the light of your truth may enter.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

8-26-2017

Good Morning All,

                  Exodus 15:11; “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

     So are you in awe?  A few days ago, we experienced a lunar eclipse and the nation was in awe.  People from all over the country flew or drove to a spot where they could see the eclipse in its totality and they sat and watched in awe.  I listened to NPR as they interviewed people.  One man began to cry and sob to the point where he could not speak; “It is so awesome, I am overwhelmed.”  For a couple of hours, we were a people in awe of the amazing feat of God’s physical law.

     Today, there is a different awe.  A large hurricane is heading for Texas, the most powerful one since 1961.  People and driving to get out of the way.  They are currently predicting that places may get between 20-25 inches of rain with some spots hitting 40 inches of rain.  They are predicting a storm surge of sea water at 9-13 feet over ground level.  One mayor of a city under mandatory evacuation order said that he was suggesting that folks who plan on staying write their name and social security number on their arm with a permanent marker.  As of this writing, it has not made shore yet but we are in awe of the size, power and volume.  We wonder what tomorrow will bring especially with thoughts of Hurricane Katrina in our memories.

    We live in a time when awe is not something we experience very often.  We accept most changes as mundane and expected.  But every so often, the nation is awed by events that are beyond our scope and beyond our power.  We cannot make the moon cause darkness in our land; we cannot make or stop a massive storm in our land.  We can’t do it but God can.

    Our verse is from a section of Scriptures called “Moses’ Song.”  It was sung by the Israelites after they had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and watched as the mighty Egyptian army drown as the sea returned.  The Israelites witnessed two events that left them in awe.  They remained in awe while they sang, danced and celebrated the wonder of God freeing them from the bondage of slavery that they endured in Egypt.  We should be in awe of Jesus freeing us from the bondage of sin.

    In two awe-inspiring events, death on cross and then the resurrection, we are given new life and new hope.  God is an awesome God who displays his love for us by redeeming us with His own blood that we might be saved.  This is something that you and I can never accomplish by ourselves.  It is truly awesome what God does for us.  We thank Him and praise Him for the awesome love He gives us.

Heavenly Father, we sit in awe at your love and compassion.  You looked upon your people and had mercy on them and with awe you brought them back into your holy family.  We ask that you continue this awesome love and protect your children from the attacks of the devil, this world, and sin.  Keep us under your holy wing that we may be safe.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret