6-19-2022

 Good Morning!    

           Romans 8:31; “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

    They used to call them “ringers.”  The term was derived from horseshoe pitchers who rarely missed.  Every time they tossed a horseshoe, it was expected to be a ringer.  The term developed into meaning someone who could not be beaten.  So, if you go to the local pickup basketball game at the “Y” on a Saturday morning and bring in your cousin Steph Curry; he might be a “ringer.”  If you go to the company softball game and bring along Byron Buxton; he would probably be a “ringer.”

    It can come in handy to have a “ringer” on your team.  Having a ringer can tip the balance between winning and losing.  It can actually tip the balance so that the game isn’t even close.  A ringer will do that; he can so change the course and outcome of the game that sometimes your opponent will not even compete. 

    That is what we have in our relationship with God.  God is our “ringer.” With God fighting for us, who can possibly stand against us?  That is the question that Paul asks leaving out the obvious answer, no one can stand up against God.  You can’t, I can’t, and the devil can’t.  Hopefully, you and I don’t want to stand against God.  But the devil, he’ll try to stand up to God.  He loses every time, but he still tries.  Ultimately the devil knows he cannot stand up to God, but he tries with an act of false bravado.  The devil does this so that he can try and convince you that he can stand up to God; that somehow, he is God’s equal.  He isn’t even close.

    The only way the devil can win is to try and convince you to play the game without God on your side.  The devil will play you in a little “one on one” and you will lose.  That is the only way the devil can win.  He will whisper in your ear all sorts of lies.  They might attack you when you are weak.  He will tell you that you are worthless, no one cares for you, all the trouble in your life you deserve it.  He will try and cause you to worry and fret over little things and try to draw you away from God.

    He might try and butter you up telling you how wonderful you are, how fantastic you are, how you don’t need God.  See, there is no end to the lies he will tell you; playing off whatever emotion that you are feeling, he will go after it with a vengeance.  Yet the devil will never win as long as you trust in God and his promises.  God is for you, who can be against you?  God’s love and grace have been poured out upon you, who can top that?  God sent his Son to pay the price for our sin to redeem you, does it get any better?  God is for you; that is all that matters.

Gracious Father, as we face the trials of this life, we do not face them alone.  You are always with us and are always protecting us.  You are our champion.  With you we have certain victory. Give us the certainty of this truth.  Guard us with your Word and protect us with your arm.  Be with those who are battling at this time and feel like they are losing.  Give them the confidence to hold onto your promise forever.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

 

6-18-2022

Good Morning!    

              Romans 8:1; “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

  I still like to watch the old Perry Mason shows.  We get them on MeTV and on FETV channels.  I always wondered why the prosecuting attorney didn’t just give up every time he saw Perry Mason on the other side.  Just save yourself the grief and give up, you are going to lose Mr. Burger.  Perry Mason’s clients face no condemnation in their trials.

   We have no condemnation of our sins before God.  He has placed them all upon the back of Jesus.  Through our Baptism, those sins remain in the tomb, left there as we became new creations.  So, we have God’s promise to a wonderful life, so why is it so often that we don’t feel wonderful?  Why do we feel sad or lost or guilty so often?  We have no condemnation so why do we struggle so?

     We struggle, not with condemnation, but with self-condemnation.  It hisses in our ears and weighs on our shoulder.  It pulls us down with its insidious attacks.  You are unworthy.  You are not as good as they think you are.  You are a poor husband (or wife).  You are a poor son (or daughter).  You are a bad parent.  Those are just for starters.  Our own guilt drives us, and self-condemnation drives our guilt.  We have no condemnation from God, but we often fail to accept it.  We let the devil whisper to us that we are unworthy, and the self-condemnation begins.  It often ends with a poor night’s sleep, gloomy outlooks, sadness and an empty hole in our heart and soul.  The devil is very good at this.

    He launches these negative and destructive thoughts and feelings in order to make us weak and to separate us from God.  Just like the hyena tries to separate the weaker gazelle from the herd, the devil seeks his prey.  He is very good at this as it is his only real weapon against us.  Guilt and doubt are all he has to attack you with.  So how do we face this attack and fight back?

    First and foremost, we do not fight him alone.  If we do, we will lose.  We need to make sure that we are “in the herd,” that we are close to God.  This is why God gave us his Spirit to keep us close.  He gives us the tools to fight the devil by staying close to our Heavenly Father.  He gives us his Word to hear his words of forgiveness.  He gives us his body and blood in the bread and the wine so that we can taste and savor his forgiveness.  He gives us prayer to speak to him with our worries and fears.  He gives us his Spirit to comfort us, and he gives us our fellow redeemed brothers and sister to give us consolation.

   When we stay close to God, by using the tools he gives us, it is more difficult for the devil to win.  He will still attack, and we will still have bouts of self-condemnation, but these bouts do not have to control our lives.  God’s grace will pull us through; we need to trust this.

Gracious Lord, when I forget your love, remind me that because of the cross and because you are my Savior, I am not condemned. Help me keep my eyes and thoughts on you. And to accept Your Word as truth so my confidence stays strong in you. In Jesus' precious name, amen.      

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-17-2022

 Good Morning!    

      Genesis 3:9; “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

    When you were a child, did you ever play games like “Marco Polo” or “Hide and Seek”?

They are fun little games for children especially if you have a handful and different ages.  Marco Polo is a game that works well in a swimming pool if you have a bunch of swimmers.  This helps to limit how far the players can get away from the player who is doing the hunting or seeking.  Kid games often involve looking for or seeking after someone or something.

    This is partly true because we spend a lot of time looking or seeking for someone or something.  Most look for a spouse, look for a job, look for a better price for what we sell, looking for a better price for what we buy; we spend a lot of time looking.  We also spending a lot of time looking for happiness, success, enjoyment, maybe even peace and quiet.  One of the problems is that we often look for these in the wrong places.  We look for them in other people, in ourselves, in poor relationships, in drugs and alcohol, in phony man-made ideas and notions.

     The thing is that as we look in all the wrong places and as we do this, we turn our back to God.  We go looking in the wrong places, we find the wrong answers and we go from seeking to not finding.   Once we have been burned a time or two, we find ourselves confused and we stop looking.  We have the blindfold on, we see nothing.  There is no hope left for us as we are completely lost, hiding from God perhaps without even knowing it.  We are lost but we are being sought out.

    God seeks us out all the time.  He uses the preaching of his Gospel to call out to you, “Where are you?”  He reaches for us with his Spirit renewing in our hearts and in our souls the cry of “Come home.”  He constantly is calling us back to him; to be renewed and restored.  Even as we continue to stumble and sin; he picks us up and calls for us to “come back home.”  His call is one of forgiveness and one of hope.

    The devil and the world will try to lead us away; to get us to hide from God, to turn from him.  At times we will succumb; at times, the trials of this life will beat us down, but God continues to call to us “Where are you?”  “I come to bring you hope, I come to bring you life.”  “I come to bring you peace and comfort.”  He calls us continually, renewing his desire to return us to his home. 

     God calls to us to come home and be safe, to come home and live in his gracious kingdom.  His call to us through the Gospel is one of redemption, one of reconciliation.  It is this call that gives us the certainty of our salvation.

Gracious Father, we spend much of our time trying to hide from you.  We spend our time running from you.  Yet you continually call us back by your grace.  Give us the confidence to trust in your promise of hope.  Call loudly to those who are especially hurting and may not see your gracious hand in their life.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-16-2022

 Good Morning!    
           Psalm 145:18; “The Lord is near to everyone who prays to him, to every faithful person who prays to him.”

    I remember watching Sesame Street with my sons many years ago.  I used to like the part where the two monsters taught the concept of near and far.  There was some catchy music, and the monsters would show up near to the camera or far from the camera.  Sometimes the monster would be right in front of the camera saying “near” fairly loudly then soon he would be far away from the camera, and you would barely hear “far.” 

    They learned the concept of near and far.  The problem with learning this concept is that as soon we understand near and far; many things seem to be far.  We seem to be far from our friends or far from being done or far from getting enough rest or far from being satisfied.  It seems like near is more about nearly lost, nearly broke, nearly empty or near exhaustion.  All too often, this is how we feel.  When we feel this way, it gives the devil a platform.  He stands near to us and whispers in our ear how far away God is.  In our sinful state, we listen.  In our time of being lost or wandering, we feel that God is far, far away.  We still see him as God, but he is the great God who is far above the world far away from us.

    This is because our sinful nature doesn’t want to see God as being near; our sinful nature does not desire to have a loving relationship with God.  It only seeks to hold God in contempt.  As we do this we move far from God or so we think.

    But God is always near to us.  He is always calling to us.  He always wants to be in a loving relationship with us.  Even when we look at our world, at our life and we think God is far away; we may even be angry or hurt that God doesn’t care but he does, always has always will.  So how do we stop feeling so far from God?  How do we fix it?

    God gives us the tools to deal with this life.  One of the tools is prayer.  Prayer is a great gift of God to us.  It is half of that “holy conversation” that God engages in with us.  It is our part of the conversation.  God speaks to us through his Word, and we speak back through prayer.  This conversation, this relationship is built up for us by God’s grace.  Prayer is never a “what” it is always a “who.”  Prayer is about talking with God and staying in close contact with Him.  The amazing thing is not that God gets nearer to us but that we recognize his presence in our lives, and we rely on that nearness to give us hope to give us strength.  Our continuance in our prayer life, connected with our listening to God speak to us through His Word will keep us near to God and we will experience his love, his mercy, and his grace.  He is always near and with prayer; we will realize it.

Father of all mercies, your mercies are new to us each day and roll over us like a river.  Keep us aware of your nearness and the love which you have for us.  Guard us by your Spirit.  We especially ask that you send your Spirit with your Word to those who feel that you are so far away.  Comfort them with the assurance that you are near.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-15-2022

Good Morning!    
       Galatians 3:11; “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

     One of my favorite movie series is the “Indiana Jones” series.  I really liked “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”  In it, Indiana and his father are trying to find the Holy Grail.  When he finally comes to the cave that it was secreted in, he has three tasks to accomplish in order to recover the grail.  The first is about being penitent before God, the second is knowing the name of God.  The final task was to take a “step of faith” which appears to be an attempt to cross a distance of many feet, too far to jump.  As he looks down, he sees nothing but the deep of the abyss.  He must get to the room with the grail or else his father will die.  In a scene with some pretty good acting, you can see the anguish of fear and doubt on his face as he takes that step of faith.  As he steps out, he lands on a bridge that looks like the abyss below.  The pathway was there but he didn’t see it at first; he had to walk by faith to cross the abyss to the grail.

    That last task, the step of faith, really applies to us in real life as well.  We stand at the edge of the abyss and God invites us to come to him; in order to do so, we must take a step of faith.  And it is a step of faith.  Almost everything we learn in this world will tell us that to take that step is a mistake.  “If you can’t see it, you can’t believe it;” this is what the world will tell you.  So, we live a life alone.  You cannot see love, or trust, or compassion or any other emotion that we experience. 

    So, we don’t love, not really anyway, we manipulate and use others to accomplish our own goals and dreams.  We don’t trust because we know everyone is like us, willing to lie and cheat to get what we want.  We have no compassion unless we can get something out of it in the end.  This life is filled with sadness, hopelessness, and shame.

    Yet God still loves us and sent his Son to die for us.  He did this to show us that the path we can’t see really is there.  He did this to provide that path. He does this so we have somewhere to go when the pain and sadness of this life is just too much to bear.  God gives us the path and we walk it by faith.  He gives us the desire to believe that the path is the right one.  He gives us the faith to see what true love, true trust and true compassion is. 

     There will be many times when we will have to walk in that faith.  There will be troubles, but we can rest assured that we will live by faith, trusting in God’s grace to pull us through.  It is his love that keeps us going and gives us hope.  We take that step, but we know that the bridge is there, and God goes with us every step of the way.

Gracious Lord, all we have is faith.  This is what gets us through and moves us forward.  Be with us as we walk through this life on the path that you give us.  Be with those who are especially struggling with life today.  Give them the certainty of your grace and bring them through their trials strengthening their faith as they go.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

6-14-2022

Good Morning!    
              Romans 5:8; “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

     Love is probably the most sought-after condition in the world.  There have probably been more songs, more books, more movies about love than any other single topic.  There is undying love, unrequited love, supposedly eternal love, unselfish love and also greedy love, self-centered love because after all; “all you need is love!”  So, we want love.

    The problem is that we don’t really know true love in this world.  We may speak of love in many contexts, but most people only love when they are loved in return.  We seem to have this idea of reciprocity.  I will love you if you love me.  It seems to get ingrained in us when we are children.  If a group of other children exclude us, we are given the advice that “if they don’t like you then don’t like them.”  They’ll learn how much they are missing someday.”  Early on this kernel of reciprocity begins to work in us.  Even as we get older, we define our friends as the ones we can count on when we truly need something or someone.  We call out to those who can help.  We need to get something from them.

    Yet almost everyone has a point where they cannot or will not love someone else.  The spouse who is unfaithful or the friend who always takes and never gives.  There is the one who says something unkind about you behind your back or even the child who engages in a completely reprehensible act can cause people to stop loving.  I know many will claim that they will hate the act but love the person.  I hope we never have to find out if that is possible, but it does seem very, very difficult.

     That is why God’s love is so amazing and almost completely incomprehensible.  I understand loving someone who loves me, but God loved us when we were his complete enemies.  We were in a state of total hatred toward God; yet he sent his Son to die for us.  Can you ever comprehend sending your son to willingly die for someone who hates you?  The sheer magnitude of this is overwhelming.  That is what God does for us, His love completely overwhelms us.  It inundates us; it overpowers us; it covers us with a grandeur beyond compare but above all God’s love saves us from our own wretched self.

    This truth of God’s love carries us even when we don’t know it or feel even when we feel abandoned, God’s love sustains us.  At the hour of our greatest weakness, His amazing love will always sustain us.  His grace will float us above all the pain of our trials.  He truly loves us; he shows us this by the fact that his incredible love for us goes back beyond our understanding.  While we were sinners; he died for us.

Wondrous God, the depth of your love is beyond us.  We flourish in it; we relish the taste of your mercy.  Guard us as we travel the path that you have laid out for us.  As the path seems hard and arduous give us that true peace that we have from you through your love.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-13-2022

 Good Morning!    

        2 Corinthians 5:20; “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

    P.O.A.  This stands for power of attorney.  It has to do with giving someone else the ability to make legal decisions for you. It can also mean making medical decisions for you. It can make businesses easier to run as different people can be given the “power” to sign certain documents. It can also be done as having someone negotiate a contract for you so that you get a better deal or if you are not able to be present physically at the site.

    In our verse for today, we see where Jesus gives us his power of attorney.  We are given the authority by him to do his bidding.  He gives us the power to do his work.  He did this as he was speaking to his disciples after the resurrection and as he was ascending into heaven.  He breathed on the disciples and told them that the sins they forgive are forgiven and the sins the refuse to forgive are unforgiven.  Remember, the power to forgive sins was one of those things that the Pharisees used to accuse Jesus of blasphemy.  Yet Jesus, freely and decisively, gives this power to his Church. 

    Paul tells us that we are ambassadors.  The ambassador is given the authority to speak and act for the king.  Yet we can only say what the King tells sus to say. We convey the message from the king, we do not make it up as we go. Elsewhere, Paul calls us stewards.  Stewards were the trusted managers who ran the farm while the owner was away.  All these phrases express the same sentiment, God has empowered us to do his work until he returns.  He has entrusted us with the Gospel and the proclamation of his grace.  He has also entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation, of bringing the lost to back to God. 

   He has also entrusted us with the ministry of healing.  This is one we often miss.  How often do we look at an event and wonder “why God doesn’t do something?” The answer is that he has; he has entrusted the action to us.  When we see suffering, God empowers us to bring comfort. When we see hunger; God empowers us to bring nourishment.  We are to be the incarnation of Christ to this world.  Through us, the world sees God.  How we act and react reveals God to a world that so desperately needs him.  So, the next time you ask, “why doesn’t God do something?”  He is by prodding your conscience.  He has given you the power and the authority to act on his behalf.  He has authorized you to represent him.  He gives us the power and the will to respond; so, do you?

Gracious Father, too often we fail as to be your ambassadors in this world.  Because of this people suffer and fail to hear your tender words of forgiveness and love.  Forgive us and embolden us to go forward in your name that we might bring reconciliation to the broken souls of this world.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret