Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Have you ever thought about the reputation of God? I mean the word God gets used in all sorts of contexts that can be argued whether they are really speaking about the one and only true God. But even more than that, think about all the ways people talk about God. Hopefully you have heard God be called gracious, loving, and merciful. However, you might have also heard Him called angry, mean, spiteful, even hateful or evil. We learn God's attributes as all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. Now just imagine if you took a poll of every person in the world on what they thought about God, what would those statistics look like? If you organized the stats into a pie chart, how many slices would there be and which would be the biggest slice? A lot of different people have a lot of different views of God. What would your answer be? If you had to to answer the question, "How would you describe God in one sentence?" How would you answer?
I think my first instinct might be to use the adjective gracious or loving. I might try to sneak a little language of the creeds in there and include that My God, the one and only true Triune God, is a loving and gracious God. However, look at how the psalmist from Psalm 68 speaks about God. Our God is a God of salvation. This is most certainly a correct way to answer the question, but is it one that would jump into your mind? Now I am not trying to say that this is the best possible answer or anything like that. I am simply trying to point out one more way God's Word shows us how He is as our God. The Bible is the revealed knowledge of God which reveals to us who our God is, how He works in our lives, and what His will is for our lives. So the psalmist's claim that our God is a God of salvation is just one more way of showing us who our God is. He is truly a God of salvation. Look at the extent He is willing to go to in order to give us our salvation. He forgives Adam and Eve when they sin for the first time, He remains with His people and frees them from slavery in Egypt, He guides them through the wilderness, He rescues them from countless enemies during the judges and kings reign, and sends His one and only Son to redeem all of us. The entire story of the Old Testament is leading up and pointing towards God offering salvation to His people. The four Gospels are obviously pointing to God's salvation for mankind with Jesus as the main character of all four. The life, death, and resurrection of His Son was purely for our salvation. And now during the life of the church, we are constantly reminded of the salvation we have in Christ as a free gift from God. The promise of eternal life which is our Easter hope is the completion of the salvation God has already given us. The entire narrative of God and His people is about salvation, and since He has done all the work for us, He truly is a God of salvation. So there is nothing wrong with saying God is a gracious, loving, or merciful God. But He shows us His grace, mercy, and love in the free gift of salvation He offers to all who believe in His Son Jesus. So maybe the psalmist's answer of our God is a God of salvation does rank up there among the best answers, I'll let you rank them yourselves. But be reassured, our God is most certainly a God of salvation as He offers salvation freely through His Son to you! In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Happy Sunday
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Worship went well this morning. I did liturgy and Pastor Ludwig preached an awesome sermon on Deuteronomy 4. It was a good sermon on why the law is still a good thing. This is actually a topic I have been studying up on quite a bit lately so I was glad to hear his point of view on it. I appreciate his down to earth approach on things and I think the people appreciate it too.
The world today does anything to try to explain or diminish the law. Even Christians try to make the law not important. The truth is that the law is still a wonderful thing given to us from God. Don't believe me? Try reading Psalm 119 and see what it saws about God's law, statues, commandments, etc. Now it is true, we live by the Gospel of Jesus Christ but even Jesus says he did not come to get rid of the law. We still live according to God's will which is given to us in His law. An the real issue is that when we try to void the law, we actually change the Gospel message. When we try to say the law doesn't matter because Christians are just as sinful as non-believers, we are denying that salvation has actually changed us into saints. When we try to say the law only applies to non-Christians because believers are already saved by the Gospel, we deny the fact that we as Christians are still sinners. It is the sinner and saint paradox that is a mystery to us and yet does not give us permission to change the Word of God. As children of God who are sinners and yet are saved saints all at the same time, the Law applies to us to teach us how to live according to God's will, and the Gospel most certainly applies to us because it is through the forgiveness of sins in Christ's name that we have eternal life.
Hope you have a great Sunday and as you hear the Word of our Lord be reminded that we as His children, who live according to His will, only have life in His name. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
The world today does anything to try to explain or diminish the law. Even Christians try to make the law not important. The truth is that the law is still a wonderful thing given to us from God. Don't believe me? Try reading Psalm 119 and see what it saws about God's law, statues, commandments, etc. Now it is true, we live by the Gospel of Jesus Christ but even Jesus says he did not come to get rid of the law. We still live according to God's will which is given to us in His law. An the real issue is that when we try to void the law, we actually change the Gospel message. When we try to say the law doesn't matter because Christians are just as sinful as non-believers, we are denying that salvation has actually changed us into saints. When we try to say the law only applies to non-Christians because believers are already saved by the Gospel, we deny the fact that we as Christians are still sinners. It is the sinner and saint paradox that is a mystery to us and yet does not give us permission to change the Word of God. As children of God who are sinners and yet are saved saints all at the same time, the Law applies to us to teach us how to live according to God's will, and the Gospel most certainly applies to us because it is through the forgiveness of sins in Christ's name that we have eternal life.
Hope you have a great Sunday and as you hear the Word of our Lord be reminded that we as His children, who live according to His will, only have life in His name. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Grass getting rained on?
Greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning's devotion included Psalm 72. In this psalm there was a line that has stuck with me all day. The line is verse 6: "May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass." This line sticks with me for two reasons. The first is because it made me think back to one time I was a young child and I heard the pastor of my home church compare us to the grass. I went home that night and wrote a "sermon" on what it would be like if we as people really were grass. It was quite comical and even included a cow pie if I remember correctly. However, the second reason this line has stuck with me all day is because it is a beautiful metaphor for how faith really works. We really are like grass in the sense that we can do nothing to earn or gain our justification. Grass does nothing to earn the rain. The only thing grass can do is what it was designed to do, grow! So the grass just does what it was made to do and it grows. It is completely dependent on other to provide for it. The grass needs the rain, but all it can do is wait for the rain to come. We like grass need God's grace and forgiveness to live eternally and yet there is nothing we can do to earn or gain God's grace. We like the grass must do what we were created to do and wait for God to send His grace on us. And do you notice something else? It says the mown grass. Why is this important? Because I think we all know that when it rains on freshly cut grass, it is ready more now that ever to start growing. It has been trimmed and watered and the conditions are just right for growing. So it is with us and being cut down. When the law shows us our sins and the fact that we deserve nothing but eternal condemnation and then God showers us with His grace and forgiveness, never is there a more prime time for us to grow. We have been cut down by the law and our sin, but we have been watered by the Gospel and we are now ready to do what God has created us to do, grow in our faith. So this simple line reminds me that as I daily confess my sins to God in prayer, I have been mown. The old sinful nature is cut down. And at the very same time God showers His grace, love, and mercy of Jesus Christ and His salvation down upon me and gives me the strength to grow. So let us all pray that God may be like rain on the mown grass and know that the Law and Gospel of Jesus Christ are always working in our lives to help us grow in our faith and do exactly what God has created us to do, and all of this happens without any effort or merit of our own. What a gracious and loving God we have to shower us with His gifts so that we can grow in Him, Amen.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
First Sermon at Peace in Christ
Greetings to you in the name of Jesus. I am not sure if you are all aware of this but most of my sermons will be put up as an audio file on the church's website. The website is: http://www.piclutheran.org/ Then under the "Learn" tab is a link to the sermon files. I say most of them because they may not all be up there. They try to get all of them up, but sometimes they don't record or other things happen. So my second sermon is actually up on the website and my third one should be put up soon. However, my first one did not record properly so it will not be up there. So I will post the manuscript on here for you. Keep in mind my manuscripts are not word for word what I actually end up preaching, but it gives you the idea for the sermon anyway. Actually the last two sermons, I have not even really written out manuscripts since I do not preach them anyway. So luckily they recorded and will be on the website. So for your reading, here is the manuscript for my first sermon as an ordained pastor. Hope you enjoy!
Text – 1 Kings 19:1-8
Focus Text: verse 7
Theme: Journey is too great for you
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elijah – what an incredible man. Elijah is just one of those men of the Bible that really is an example of men among boys. Think of all of the amazing things Elijah did in his ministry. Elijah was the one who prayed and made it stop raining for three years. Elijah is the one who challenged the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and after he wins the challenge by proving his God is real, he slaughters 450 prophets of Baal. Elijah is the one who will eventually be taken to heaven in a chariot of fire while Elisha, his predecessor, watches. Elijah is the man. In fact, Elijah is even mentioned several times in the New Testament. When Jesus is asking His disciples who people say He is, Elijah is one of the answers. And of course, when Jesus cries out from the cross one of the seven times, the religious leaders think he is calling out for Elijah and watch to see if Elijah will actually come. If you have ever had the opportunity to be a part of a legitimate Seder dinner, the dinner Jewish people still celebrate on the night of the Passover, it always ends with the youngest child at the table going to the front door of the house to see if Elijah has come. And when Elijah is not at the front door, they say, hopefully next year He will come. They are waiting each year for Elijah to come back for them. Elijah is a major figure not only in the Old Testament, but throughout the entire Biblical narrative. Elijah is the man. Personally when I compare myself to Elijah, I feel pretty worthless.
This morning Elijah is the main character of our reading from 1 Kings Chapter 19. This narrative comes right after the Mt. Carmel scene where God used Elijah to prove He is the one and only true God and that Baal is nothing but a worthless idol. Elijah not only wins the challenge but does indeed slaughter, massacre 450 men, 450 prophets of the false god Baal. Now King Ahab tells his evil wife Jezebel what Elijah has done. Jezebel who is always causing trouble for the prophets of the Lord, tells Elijah she is going to kill him since he killed the prophets of Baal. So Elijah flees for his life. Now this is not the first time Elijah flees for his life, nor is it the first time God directly intervenes to provide for Elijah as he is fleeing. Every time Elijah flees for his own safety, God always provides the food and water he needs. God has used ravens and widows to provide for Elijah. However, this time he sends the angel of the Lord to bring Elijah food and water. Elijah wakes up to bread and water and the angel of the Lord telling him to arise and eat. Then the second time Elijah wakes up to bread and water and the angel of the Lord speaking to him is what I really want to focus in on today. I want to focus in on this specific detail of the story because what the angel of the Lord says to Elijah the second time really struck me as interesting.
The angel of the Lord not only says, arise and eat this time, he also says, “for the journey is too great for you.” This is Elijah we’re talking about, the men among boys, the prophet of prophets. The journey is too great for him on his own, so God directly intervenes, sends His angel, feeds Elijah, and gives him the strength to make it to Horeb. And yet when we look at verse 4 of this very same passage, we see Elijah giving up, asking God to take his life. Elijah, compares himself his fathers, basically saying, “I am no better than anyone else who has lived, I am no better than any other sinner.” Elijah, the major figure in the Old Testament, feels worthless, like he has done nothing right and is asking God to just take him away. Now, I am no Elijah, but I have felt this way before. I have felt so worthless, so helpless, like no matter what I do it is not right anyway so I might as well give up. Have you felt this way? Have you ever felt helpless, hopeless, worthless, and just wanted to give up? Have you ever been at such a low point that you actually asked God to take your life away and just end it all?
I imagine most of us have. But whether you have experienced this or not, look at what God does and says to Elijah in that very moment. When Elijah is at his lowest, God directly intervenes and comes to him through the angel of the Lord. He feeds Elijah, gives him water to drink, not just once, but twice. And this is when God speaking through His angel tells Elijah, Arise and eat for the journey is too great for you. God knows what Elijah is thinking, He knows what Elijah is going through and He knows the journey is too great for Elijah to do this on his own.
Now you could take this extremely literally and say the forty miles to Horeb is too great for Elijah, but I believe God is speaking even more broadly and saying, I know this journey through life is too great for you. And I believe God says this to all of us in our times of doubt, our low moments. All those times where we too, just like Elijah fleeing for his life felt helpless, hopeless, and worthless. In our struggles, our failures, our low points, God comes directly intervening for us too and tells us, The journey is too great for you.
We live in a sinful, stressful, depressing world that constantly seems to be trying to break us. Watch five minutes of any news channel and you immediately are reminded of how sick, twisted, and corrupt our world is. Random shootings and acts of senseless violence, more laws making direct sin against God legal in our country, Planned Parenthood not only killing babies, but now chopping them up to make money off of them. And with all of the evil and corruption that is constantly happening all around us, it becomes too real for us when it begins to affect our lives. When life seems to be stacked against us and everything is falling apart right around us. These are the moments when we really feel like Elijah here. This is when the journey of life is too great for us. Because you see it’s not that the journey through life is impossible, but to remain faithful through that journey is the difficult part. There are a lot of atheists that make a great life for themselves. In fact sometimes it seems like the unfaithful, the ones who have nothing to do with church or God are the only ones who don’t have struggles in this life. But when God says the journey is too great for you, He means the journey of remaining faithful to Him in the struggles of life is too great for you. To face trials, temptation, hardships, and struggles and still through them all fear, love, and trust in God above all things is the part that is too great for us.
When life throws its darkest, toughest moments at us – this is when we feel helpless, hopeless, and worthless like Elijah. This is when we ask God to just end it, take us away, make the pain, the loneliness, the suffering end. When your husband or wife is diagnosed with cancer and you watch him or her go through the suffering of chemo knowing there is nothing you can do to help him or her. When a teenager is killed or dies un-expectantly and you can’t understand why so much of his or her life will never happen now. When you lose a child at birth and can barely bear the pain of holding your precious child that you will not get to watch grow up. When these dark, horrible, tragic, unexplainable, terrifying effects of sin, death, and evil rear their ugly face in your life, the journey of a faithful life becomes too great for us and we just want it to end rather than continuing to feel the pain, the doubts, the helplessness, and the hopelessness. The journey is too great for us and we give up.
However, God knows the journey is too great for us. Just as He heard Elijah’s prayer of doubt, prayer of despair, He hears our prayers. He hears our moans, our shouts of anger, our sighs of disbelief, our prayers of despair. And just as He took direct action, directly intervening in his life, feeding him to give him the strength to arise, to eat, and to continue on his way, God comes to us in those dark, suffering moments. He feeds us, gives us the strength to arise, to eat, and to continue on our journey of faith through this life. Last Sunday Pastor Ludwig gave us a great sermon on Jesus as the bread of life that is far better than any earthly bread. This morning’s Gospel lesson was again on John 6 and Jesus as the bread of life. God comes to us when we are weak, struggling, doubting, and gives us our bread of life, His very own Son Jesus Christ and tells us arise and eat. When we are weak and want to quit, God comes to us and gives us the strength of His Son, the bread of life. He knew this journey through life would be too great for us, He knew we could not make it faithfully to the end if we had only ourselves to depend on. This is why He directly intervened by sending His Son to be born in this world, make it faithfully through His journey in this life, only to be killed on the cross and rise again to new life. Jesus has conquered sin, life, and evil and now offers us His strength to remain in the faith He gives to us, and to forgive us for all those times we are too weak to remain faithful. God directed intervened to send His Son to be the Savior of the world, to be the bread of life so that now in all those times of weakness, struggles, trials and temptations, in the moments of helplessness and hopelessness, God who knows the struggles we are going through, God who knows the journey is too great for us gives us His strength in His Son, who is the bread of life. God directly intervenes in your life, telling you to arise and eat and gives you the strength you need to continue on your journey.
He comes to you in His word as you hear the Holy Scriptures read aloud here at church or when you read your Bible at home. He comes to you through the gift of your baptism which is still constantly working in you as the Holy Spirit lives in you and works to continually make you holy. He comes to you in the words of absolution that as they are spoken over you, your sins are truly forgiven and you are given a fresh clean slate and renewed faith to continue on in your journey. He comes to you through brothers and sisters in Christ who encourage you in your faith, who help bear the burden as they cry with you when you cry and empathize with your pain. And He comes to you in His very own body and blood, assuring you your sins are forgiven, renewing your faith that He really is with you, and giving you the strength you need for the next part of the journey. God loves you so very much and wants nothing other than to see you make it through this journey of life in the faith He has given you, that He continues to come to you over and over again, giving you the strength you need, giving you the Bread of Life, His Son, our Lord Jesus, because He knows life is difficult and that the journey is too great for you, so He gives you the strength you need, He gives you the assurance that He is with you, and He gives you the ability to make it to the end of the journey where He will be to welcome you into His loving arms. The journey would be too great for you if you were alone. But you are not alone because God loves you and is with you. Let Him come to you in His gifts of His Word, His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace and His love. Come receive His strength through the Bread of life, Jesus’ body and blood. And then continue on your journey of life knowing God is with you at all times, he loves you and gives you His strength to remain faithful until the end. In Jesus name, Amen.
Text – 1 Kings 19:1-8
Focus Text: verse 7
Theme: Journey is too great for you
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elijah – what an incredible man. Elijah is just one of those men of the Bible that really is an example of men among boys. Think of all of the amazing things Elijah did in his ministry. Elijah was the one who prayed and made it stop raining for three years. Elijah is the one who challenged the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and after he wins the challenge by proving his God is real, he slaughters 450 prophets of Baal. Elijah is the one who will eventually be taken to heaven in a chariot of fire while Elisha, his predecessor, watches. Elijah is the man. In fact, Elijah is even mentioned several times in the New Testament. When Jesus is asking His disciples who people say He is, Elijah is one of the answers. And of course, when Jesus cries out from the cross one of the seven times, the religious leaders think he is calling out for Elijah and watch to see if Elijah will actually come. If you have ever had the opportunity to be a part of a legitimate Seder dinner, the dinner Jewish people still celebrate on the night of the Passover, it always ends with the youngest child at the table going to the front door of the house to see if Elijah has come. And when Elijah is not at the front door, they say, hopefully next year He will come. They are waiting each year for Elijah to come back for them. Elijah is a major figure not only in the Old Testament, but throughout the entire Biblical narrative. Elijah is the man. Personally when I compare myself to Elijah, I feel pretty worthless.
This morning Elijah is the main character of our reading from 1 Kings Chapter 19. This narrative comes right after the Mt. Carmel scene where God used Elijah to prove He is the one and only true God and that Baal is nothing but a worthless idol. Elijah not only wins the challenge but does indeed slaughter, massacre 450 men, 450 prophets of the false god Baal. Now King Ahab tells his evil wife Jezebel what Elijah has done. Jezebel who is always causing trouble for the prophets of the Lord, tells Elijah she is going to kill him since he killed the prophets of Baal. So Elijah flees for his life. Now this is not the first time Elijah flees for his life, nor is it the first time God directly intervenes to provide for Elijah as he is fleeing. Every time Elijah flees for his own safety, God always provides the food and water he needs. God has used ravens and widows to provide for Elijah. However, this time he sends the angel of the Lord to bring Elijah food and water. Elijah wakes up to bread and water and the angel of the Lord telling him to arise and eat. Then the second time Elijah wakes up to bread and water and the angel of the Lord speaking to him is what I really want to focus in on today. I want to focus in on this specific detail of the story because what the angel of the Lord says to Elijah the second time really struck me as interesting.
The angel of the Lord not only says, arise and eat this time, he also says, “for the journey is too great for you.” This is Elijah we’re talking about, the men among boys, the prophet of prophets. The journey is too great for him on his own, so God directly intervenes, sends His angel, feeds Elijah, and gives him the strength to make it to Horeb. And yet when we look at verse 4 of this very same passage, we see Elijah giving up, asking God to take his life. Elijah, compares himself his fathers, basically saying, “I am no better than anyone else who has lived, I am no better than any other sinner.” Elijah, the major figure in the Old Testament, feels worthless, like he has done nothing right and is asking God to just take him away. Now, I am no Elijah, but I have felt this way before. I have felt so worthless, so helpless, like no matter what I do it is not right anyway so I might as well give up. Have you felt this way? Have you ever felt helpless, hopeless, worthless, and just wanted to give up? Have you ever been at such a low point that you actually asked God to take your life away and just end it all?
I imagine most of us have. But whether you have experienced this or not, look at what God does and says to Elijah in that very moment. When Elijah is at his lowest, God directly intervenes and comes to him through the angel of the Lord. He feeds Elijah, gives him water to drink, not just once, but twice. And this is when God speaking through His angel tells Elijah, Arise and eat for the journey is too great for you. God knows what Elijah is thinking, He knows what Elijah is going through and He knows the journey is too great for Elijah to do this on his own.
Now you could take this extremely literally and say the forty miles to Horeb is too great for Elijah, but I believe God is speaking even more broadly and saying, I know this journey through life is too great for you. And I believe God says this to all of us in our times of doubt, our low moments. All those times where we too, just like Elijah fleeing for his life felt helpless, hopeless, and worthless. In our struggles, our failures, our low points, God comes directly intervening for us too and tells us, The journey is too great for you.
We live in a sinful, stressful, depressing world that constantly seems to be trying to break us. Watch five minutes of any news channel and you immediately are reminded of how sick, twisted, and corrupt our world is. Random shootings and acts of senseless violence, more laws making direct sin against God legal in our country, Planned Parenthood not only killing babies, but now chopping them up to make money off of them. And with all of the evil and corruption that is constantly happening all around us, it becomes too real for us when it begins to affect our lives. When life seems to be stacked against us and everything is falling apart right around us. These are the moments when we really feel like Elijah here. This is when the journey of life is too great for us. Because you see it’s not that the journey through life is impossible, but to remain faithful through that journey is the difficult part. There are a lot of atheists that make a great life for themselves. In fact sometimes it seems like the unfaithful, the ones who have nothing to do with church or God are the only ones who don’t have struggles in this life. But when God says the journey is too great for you, He means the journey of remaining faithful to Him in the struggles of life is too great for you. To face trials, temptation, hardships, and struggles and still through them all fear, love, and trust in God above all things is the part that is too great for us.
When life throws its darkest, toughest moments at us – this is when we feel helpless, hopeless, and worthless like Elijah. This is when we ask God to just end it, take us away, make the pain, the loneliness, the suffering end. When your husband or wife is diagnosed with cancer and you watch him or her go through the suffering of chemo knowing there is nothing you can do to help him or her. When a teenager is killed or dies un-expectantly and you can’t understand why so much of his or her life will never happen now. When you lose a child at birth and can barely bear the pain of holding your precious child that you will not get to watch grow up. When these dark, horrible, tragic, unexplainable, terrifying effects of sin, death, and evil rear their ugly face in your life, the journey of a faithful life becomes too great for us and we just want it to end rather than continuing to feel the pain, the doubts, the helplessness, and the hopelessness. The journey is too great for us and we give up.
However, God knows the journey is too great for us. Just as He heard Elijah’s prayer of doubt, prayer of despair, He hears our prayers. He hears our moans, our shouts of anger, our sighs of disbelief, our prayers of despair. And just as He took direct action, directly intervening in his life, feeding him to give him the strength to arise, to eat, and to continue on his way, God comes to us in those dark, suffering moments. He feeds us, gives us the strength to arise, to eat, and to continue on our journey of faith through this life. Last Sunday Pastor Ludwig gave us a great sermon on Jesus as the bread of life that is far better than any earthly bread. This morning’s Gospel lesson was again on John 6 and Jesus as the bread of life. God comes to us when we are weak, struggling, doubting, and gives us our bread of life, His very own Son Jesus Christ and tells us arise and eat. When we are weak and want to quit, God comes to us and gives us the strength of His Son, the bread of life. He knew this journey through life would be too great for us, He knew we could not make it faithfully to the end if we had only ourselves to depend on. This is why He directly intervened by sending His Son to be born in this world, make it faithfully through His journey in this life, only to be killed on the cross and rise again to new life. Jesus has conquered sin, life, and evil and now offers us His strength to remain in the faith He gives to us, and to forgive us for all those times we are too weak to remain faithful. God directed intervened to send His Son to be the Savior of the world, to be the bread of life so that now in all those times of weakness, struggles, trials and temptations, in the moments of helplessness and hopelessness, God who knows the struggles we are going through, God who knows the journey is too great for us gives us His strength in His Son, who is the bread of life. God directly intervenes in your life, telling you to arise and eat and gives you the strength you need to continue on your journey.
He comes to you in His word as you hear the Holy Scriptures read aloud here at church or when you read your Bible at home. He comes to you through the gift of your baptism which is still constantly working in you as the Holy Spirit lives in you and works to continually make you holy. He comes to you in the words of absolution that as they are spoken over you, your sins are truly forgiven and you are given a fresh clean slate and renewed faith to continue on in your journey. He comes to you through brothers and sisters in Christ who encourage you in your faith, who help bear the burden as they cry with you when you cry and empathize with your pain. And He comes to you in His very own body and blood, assuring you your sins are forgiven, renewing your faith that He really is with you, and giving you the strength you need for the next part of the journey. God loves you so very much and wants nothing other than to see you make it through this journey of life in the faith He has given you, that He continues to come to you over and over again, giving you the strength you need, giving you the Bread of Life, His Son, our Lord Jesus, because He knows life is difficult and that the journey is too great for you, so He gives you the strength you need, He gives you the assurance that He is with you, and He gives you the ability to make it to the end of the journey where He will be to welcome you into His loving arms. The journey would be too great for you if you were alone. But you are not alone because God loves you and is with you. Let Him come to you in His gifts of His Word, His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace and His love. Come receive His strength through the Bread of life, Jesus’ body and blood. And then continue on your journey of life knowing God is with you at all times, he loves you and gives you His strength to remain faithful until the end. In Jesus name, Amen.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
You talking to me?
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus who loves you all so dearly. Have you ever had that moment that you are reading your usual devotion and yet it seems like God is speaking specifically to you individually? You realize there could not have been a better text or message that day then what you just read, because it fit perfectly with whatever you may be going through in yo life at the moment. This happens quite a bit to me but it definitely happened this morning. I opened my devotion and read the Psalm and I almost laughed out loud. I just stopped and said to myself, "I hear you loud and clear Lord." I knew God could see I had been letting my mind wander on something and He decided it was enough and threw this text right at me in my face to make sure I couldn't miss it. Now, I imagine there are probably some theologians out there who might try to say that it is wrong of me to assume God put that text in there just for me. However, I am a firm believer God is always at work in our lives and He works in mysterious ways, so I am not convinced that these moments aren't God's hand at work directly in our lives and Him reassuring us of His promises and love.
The Psalm this morning was Psalm 32 (one of the penitential psalms) which I have preached on before. As I read it that sermon theme came rushing back to my mind and I knew t was exactly what I needed to hear. And after reading the Psalm, I stopped reading without finishing the rest of the devotion and went to prayer. If God is speaking directly to me in that moment, I wanted to make sure I talked back and thanked Him for the grace and mercy He continues to show me each and every day. So not only are daily devotions a great way to keep yourself in God's Word and your mind on heavenly things instead of earthly things, but it is one more opportunity for our loving, protecting, and always watching Father to speak directly to us and remind us that we are His and nothing will ever change that. Praise be to God who not only gives us His Word in the Scriptures, but gave us His revealed Word in the flesh and blood of His very own Son Jesus Christ who showed us exactly how much our Father loves us and is always at work in our lives.
The Psalm this morning was Psalm 32 (one of the penitential psalms) which I have preached on before. As I read it that sermon theme came rushing back to my mind and I knew t was exactly what I needed to hear. And after reading the Psalm, I stopped reading without finishing the rest of the devotion and went to prayer. If God is speaking directly to me in that moment, I wanted to make sure I talked back and thanked Him for the grace and mercy He continues to show me each and every day. So not only are daily devotions a great way to keep yourself in God's Word and your mind on heavenly things instead of earthly things, but it is one more opportunity for our loving, protecting, and always watching Father to speak directly to us and remind us that we are His and nothing will ever change that. Praise be to God who not only gives us His Word in the Scriptures, but gave us His revealed Word in the flesh and blood of His very own Son Jesus Christ who showed us exactly how much our Father loves us and is always at work in our lives.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Bold enough to look.
Greetings to you in Christ Jesus. This morning's devotion included Psalm 27. Verses 1, 7 and 8 got me thinking. Verse one starts with, "The LORD is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" Now while these are words of comfort reminding us that because we have God we really do not have to fear anything in this life. Except God. All of the commandment explanations start with we should fear and love God... So we have a God who we should fear and love, but then because we do fear and love Him we don't have to fear anything. This is one of those places where our faith is so rich and complex that at times we could almost be tempted to say different passages are contradicting each other. But then as I read verses 7 and 8 I was immediately reminded of Moses. In Exodus 3 with the story of the burning bush, Moses falls on his face to not look at the bush because he is scared to look at God. He does fear the Lord. However, in Exodus 33, we find Moses asking to see the full glory of God. God agrees and lets Moses see His backside but God will not let Moses see His face. We see Moses going from being to terrified to even look at a bush to later being bold enough to ask to see God's face. What changed? Moses knew God much better and was in a relationship with Him by chapter 33.
So in Psalm 27, in verses 7 and 8 it speaks about our heart seeking to see the face of God. We like Moses should fear the Lord knowing He is the Lord Almighty. This is why Luther includes fear and love God in all the commandments because as we are learning His ways from the fundamentals of the Small Catechism, we should fear Him out of respect for Him as our God. However, once we have learned the fundamentals and moved on to a deep, personal relationship with our God, we can begin to be more bold like Moses and let our heart seek to see the face of God. This is not to say we have become worthy to see God's face, but merely that we love Him so much and we are so completely committed to our relationship with Him, we want to be in His presence standing right before Him seeking to see His face.
So you should fear and love the Lord in all you do, and then as your relationship with Him grows and your fear and love for Him will give you the desire for that relationship to always be growing and your heart truly can seek to see the face of God. The best news, is that God let us see His glory by sending His Son and some day we will all see the face of God when Christ comes again. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
So in Psalm 27, in verses 7 and 8 it speaks about our heart seeking to see the face of God. We like Moses should fear the Lord knowing He is the Lord Almighty. This is why Luther includes fear and love God in all the commandments because as we are learning His ways from the fundamentals of the Small Catechism, we should fear Him out of respect for Him as our God. However, once we have learned the fundamentals and moved on to a deep, personal relationship with our God, we can begin to be more bold like Moses and let our heart seek to see the face of God. This is not to say we have become worthy to see God's face, but merely that we love Him so much and we are so completely committed to our relationship with Him, we want to be in His presence standing right before Him seeking to see His face.
So you should fear and love the Lord in all you do, and then as your relationship with Him grows and your fear and love for Him will give you the desire for that relationship to always be growing and your heart truly can seek to see the face of God. The best news, is that God let us see His glory by sending His Son and some day we will all see the face of God when Christ comes again. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
All of God's Word working together!
Blessings to you in Jesus Christ. Have you ever noticed when you are doing your devotions and then go to Bible study, or hear the sermon that Sunday, how so much of God's Word seems to be saying the same thing. I mean obviously all of God's Word is saying the same thing because it all points to Christ as our Lord and Savior. But what I mean is like one specific theme out of all the countless metaphors, themes, or ideas the Bible uses to talk about Jesus. This has happened to me lately, everything is pointing very specifically to the selfless love of Christ.
I was writing and preparing the sermon for this morning and the theme was Christ's selfless love. I used Ephesians 5 as the text and focused on Christ's selfless love rather than our selfish sinful nature pushing away the ideas of submitting and loving selflessly. But then as I went to the PALS meeting we had a Bible Study on love. We looked at ten passages and all of them kept coming back to the theme of Christ's selfless love. Then in my morning devotions, I notice the same theme of Christ's selfless love for us. I guess I am rambling because I appreciate when you start to notice a specific theme and then you see it come out of the wood work. Once you notice it, it's like you can't miss it. I truly appreciate that about the richness of God's Word and how it all works together to show us Christ and yet can reveal new things to us all the time. I hope as you spend time in the Word you may begin to notice Christ's selfless love and be reminded of the perfect, selfless loving Lord He is. In the name of Christ, Amen.
I was writing and preparing the sermon for this morning and the theme was Christ's selfless love. I used Ephesians 5 as the text and focused on Christ's selfless love rather than our selfish sinful nature pushing away the ideas of submitting and loving selflessly. But then as I went to the PALS meeting we had a Bible Study on love. We looked at ten passages and all of them kept coming back to the theme of Christ's selfless love. Then in my morning devotions, I notice the same theme of Christ's selfless love for us. I guess I am rambling because I appreciate when you start to notice a specific theme and then you see it come out of the wood work. Once you notice it, it's like you can't miss it. I truly appreciate that about the richness of God's Word and how it all works together to show us Christ and yet can reveal new things to us all the time. I hope as you spend time in the Word you may begin to notice Christ's selfless love and be reminded of the perfect, selfless loving Lord He is. In the name of Christ, Amen.
Lutheran Island Camp
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well I went to the doctor the other day and my fractured bones in my wrist are healing well. I go back in four weeks to change out the cast and have it X-Ray'd again to see how much longer I will have to have it on. I also passed my driver's license test and got my car titled and registered in Minnesota so I am officially a Minnesota resident. It was weird to put Minnesota plates on Sady (my car), but yet I've been told cops don't watch you near as closely for speeding when you have in-state plates.
I spent Friday night at Lutheran Island Camp in Henning, MN. We had our first PALS meeting. PALS is Post-Seminary Applied Learning and Support. It is for all pastors hat are 1 to 3 years out of the seminary. So all the new guys form our district got together to meet each other and spend an evening and morning together in Bible Study, fellowship, and casuistry. It was fun to see some of the guys I knew at the seminary second and fourth years. The island is awesome and will be such a fun place to have district and PALS meetings in the future when I am not wearing a cast.
Well I just wanted to touch base and pray for blessings for all of you as I continue to be blessed and enjoy the start of my ministry. Lord's blessings on your Sunday morning worship!
I spent Friday night at Lutheran Island Camp in Henning, MN. We had our first PALS meeting. PALS is Post-Seminary Applied Learning and Support. It is for all pastors hat are 1 to 3 years out of the seminary. So all the new guys form our district got together to meet each other and spend an evening and morning together in Bible Study, fellowship, and casuistry. It was fun to see some of the guys I knew at the seminary second and fourth years. The island is awesome and will be such a fun place to have district and PALS meetings in the future when I am not wearing a cast.
Well I just wanted to touch base and pray for blessings for all of you as I continue to be blessed and enjoy the start of my ministry. Lord's blessings on your Sunday morning worship!
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Coffee, Classic Music, and Chilly Weather
Greetings to you in he name of Lord Jesus Christ. This morning it is a perfect 57 degrees outside. I love waking up to the chilly breeze blowing through my window and across my bed. It makes the warmth of my comforter that much better. The only hard part is getting out of bed. And now as I sit in my office with a delicious cup of dark coffee, windows open letting the cool fresh air in, and the classical music of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart and others playing in the background, it is the perfect atmosphere to sit and ponder on this weeks sermon. I feel so old and mature having my own office and actually enjoying classical music that once found boring. My sermon for this week is on Ephesians 5 -Wives submit and Husbands die- text. I am excited to see how it turns out. All of my sermons should be posted on our church website one of these days so you can listen to them on there. I have kind of gone away from writing full manuscripts, so I am glad we record my sermons so you can still enjoy them.
This morning's devotion continued with the story of David and Bathsheba. It was the portion of the story where Nathan confronts David with the parable of the rich man stealing the poor man's sheep. What a genius way to call someone out on their sin. However, the devotion also paired it with Psalm 51 which is perfect since David wrote Psalm 51 as he was reflecting on his sin with Bathsheba. So we have the text of 2 Samuel showing us David being confronted and called out for his sin. We see him mourn the child until it died. And then we get David's thoughts, feelings, and conflicting emotions from the Psalm. What a perfect way to read the story and see the struggle of sin we all go through. None of us like to be confronted with our sins and truth be told we really don't even like to confess them. However, along with the self-loathing and despairing emotions of David's confession, we also get the beautiful words of forgiveness and how wonderful our Lord is to have mercy on us. That is the precious beauty of our Lord's mercy and forgiveness. When we feel our worst, when we realize we have sinned against God Himself and feel as worthless as the worst person alive, He picks us up, He gives us our comfort and hope. He creates a clean heart in us and restores a right soul within us. He doesn't casts us from His presence, but draws us ever closer. He doesn't take His Holy Spirit from us, but instead revives us through His Spirit. He restores the joy of His salvation to us and lifts us up with His free Spirit. Thanks be to God He has had mercy on us and through His SOn Jesus Christ does forgive us. Amen.
This morning's devotion continued with the story of David and Bathsheba. It was the portion of the story where Nathan confronts David with the parable of the rich man stealing the poor man's sheep. What a genius way to call someone out on their sin. However, the devotion also paired it with Psalm 51 which is perfect since David wrote Psalm 51 as he was reflecting on his sin with Bathsheba. So we have the text of 2 Samuel showing us David being confronted and called out for his sin. We see him mourn the child until it died. And then we get David's thoughts, feelings, and conflicting emotions from the Psalm. What a perfect way to read the story and see the struggle of sin we all go through. None of us like to be confronted with our sins and truth be told we really don't even like to confess them. However, along with the self-loathing and despairing emotions of David's confession, we also get the beautiful words of forgiveness and how wonderful our Lord is to have mercy on us. That is the precious beauty of our Lord's mercy and forgiveness. When we feel our worst, when we realize we have sinned against God Himself and feel as worthless as the worst person alive, He picks us up, He gives us our comfort and hope. He creates a clean heart in us and restores a right soul within us. He doesn't casts us from His presence, but draws us ever closer. He doesn't take His Holy Spirit from us, but instead revives us through His Spirit. He restores the joy of His salvation to us and lifts us up with His free Spirit. Thanks be to God He has had mercy on us and through His SOn Jesus Christ does forgive us. Amen.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Uriah, a better man than the King.
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. This morning's devotion was the classic tale of David and Bathsheba. Every time I re-read this story, my mind goes back to Hebrew class at Seward with Dr. Meehl. We know how the story goes. King David sleeps with Bathsheba because she is beautiful and simply because he wants to. Then when she comes up pregnant, King David scrambles to try to cover his own mistake. He has Uriah brought home from the battlefield and David's hope is that he will sleep with his wife and then nobody will ever be the wiser that the kid really belongs to David not Uriah. However, as Dr. Meehl pointed out to us, Uriah is a better man than David. Uriah will not go sleep with his wife because his fellow men are not allowed to come home and sleep with their wives. Uriah, even though he is given the opportunity, will not treat himself to any special treatment while the rest of his brothers in arms sleep in the mud on the battle field. So of course then we know King David has him killed and brings Bathsheba into his home as his own wife.
Uriah, who did the right thing and would not consider himself as better or more important than the least of his army, gets killed for doing the right thing. King David, who not only stayed behind as the armies went out to do battle, but slept with another man's wife because as King he regarded himself as more important than his soldiers. In retrospect, if King David would have considered himself the same as his soldiers, he would have been out in the tents on the battlefield with his men and none of this would have ever happened. If he would have considered Uriah, one of his own soldiers, as more important than himself, he would not have slept with his wife. But King David let his authority go to his head and led him into sin and an innocent man who was actually a more moral man than David is killed because of it.
When we look at Jesus as the one who would establish King David's throne forever, we can be sure He never let the authority go to His head. Jesus never once regarded Himself as more important than anyone, and in fact came to serve and wash the feet of those who by the world's standards were much lower than Him. He never let His pride or authority lead Him astray like David did. And yet, an innocent man is still killed. However, unlike David who had an innocent man killed to cover his sin, Jesus allows Himself, an innocent man, to be killed to cover the sins of all mankind. Jesus was willing to go to the cross to pay for the sins of David, the sins of all human kings, and actually the sins of all humans. Uriah may have been a better man than David and paid the price for it, but Jesus was an even better man than Uriah and He paid the ultimate price for us all. Thanks be to God that in the name of His Son, the innocent King, we all find forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life. Amen.
Uriah, who did the right thing and would not consider himself as better or more important than the least of his army, gets killed for doing the right thing. King David, who not only stayed behind as the armies went out to do battle, but slept with another man's wife because as King he regarded himself as more important than his soldiers. In retrospect, if King David would have considered himself the same as his soldiers, he would have been out in the tents on the battlefield with his men and none of this would have ever happened. If he would have considered Uriah, one of his own soldiers, as more important than himself, he would not have slept with his wife. But King David let his authority go to his head and led him into sin and an innocent man who was actually a more moral man than David is killed because of it.
When we look at Jesus as the one who would establish King David's throne forever, we can be sure He never let the authority go to His head. Jesus never once regarded Himself as more important than anyone, and in fact came to serve and wash the feet of those who by the world's standards were much lower than Him. He never let His pride or authority lead Him astray like David did. And yet, an innocent man is still killed. However, unlike David who had an innocent man killed to cover his sin, Jesus allows Himself, an innocent man, to be killed to cover the sins of all mankind. Jesus was willing to go to the cross to pay for the sins of David, the sins of all human kings, and actually the sins of all humans. Uriah may have been a better man than David and paid the price for it, but Jesus was an even better man than Uriah and He paid the ultimate price for us all. Thanks be to God that in the name of His Son, the innocent King, we all find forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life. Amen.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Appreciating your own handy work!
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. This devotion goes out to all those who like to do handy kind of stuff. The people who like to be creative or have creative hobbies. It can be anything from wood-working or carpentry to painting or sculpting to gardening to sowing or knitting. No matter what type of handy work it is, I want to talk about those items you have made, created, decorated, assembled, or grown with you own two hands. So as you read this think about that type of hobby or activity you enjoy doing or have done in your past. Got it in mind? Great!
For me I love to do wood-working and carpentry type of work. Over the years I have helped several friends or families fix up or remodel a home. It is fun, challenging work to first deconstruct what was already there, make a huge mess, and then begin the hard work of putting all the new materials up just perfect so it looks perfect when you are done. With each step of dry wall, mud and tape, primer, paint, trim, etc. it begins to look more and more like a house again and when you are finished and have cleaned up for the last time and you stand back and look at the finished product, it seems impossible that such a nicely finished looking wall or room were dusty 2x4 studded walls just a short while ago. However, it goes even further than that. Now ever time I walk into peoples homes and look around, I don't simply look at what color the walls are or what decorations they have up, I observe the different lay-outs, the different styles of walls, trim, etc. I notice the little things that only someone who has done that type of work before truly understands. I notice corners that would be extremely difficult to try to mud and have them come out just right. I notice the detailed work of cutting angled corners of trim and having them line up perfectly tight. (No please don't be scared to invite me to your house because you think I am looking for every little flaw and imperfection. Trust me - I am still fine tuning my own skills and hate looking at jobs I did because I see all my own mistakes,) I am not judging the work, I just have a different appreciate for the labor and effort it took to make your house look the way it does because I have done that type of work myself.
So now think about that project or hobby you have in your mind, if it's gardening, don't you pay special attention to other people's gardens? If it is quilting, don't you appreciate an extremely delicately hand-stitched quilt? If it is painting, don't you examine a painting up close looking for brushstrokes, color mixture, shading, etc.? I am willing to bet you do because you know the process, the labor, and the pain staking care it takes to do that type of work or craft. It means more to you and you have a better understanding of it than someone who has never even attempted that type of effort before. The same as anyone who has never actually done dry-wall work probably never even thinks to look for seams or corners to see how well the mudding and taping job was done. It doesn't mean anything to them, because they don't understand the process or have the memory of doing it themselves.
You take pride in that project, craft, or hobby you have done. because you did it. You made it. You created it. You put the time and effort into making it what it is /and you better than anyone else understands why it works or looks the way it does. This morning's devotion was from Psalm 94 verse 9: "He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?" God is also a creator, an artist, and an inventor. He invented us and created us from scratch. He formed us and made us exactly the way we are. So wouldn't he better than anyone understand us and know exactly how we work? Yes! However, even more than that - God is not an artist who paints a picture and puts it in some back room only to be looked at once in awhile. He is not an inventor who puts his creation on some shelf to get dusty. He is a creator who appreciates his work each and every day. He who gave us ears so that we could hear - listens to us every time we pray. He who gave us eyes so that we can see- stares at us constantly. God is so proud of his handiwork and loves it so much he never lets it out of His sight. He who formed us, knows how we work and is constantly there for us listening to us, watching over us, and loving us every second of every day. Talk about a full time hobby! But thanks be to Him who does love us enough to always hear us, always watch over us and continually love us all the more! In Jesus name, Amen.
For me I love to do wood-working and carpentry type of work. Over the years I have helped several friends or families fix up or remodel a home. It is fun, challenging work to first deconstruct what was already there, make a huge mess, and then begin the hard work of putting all the new materials up just perfect so it looks perfect when you are done. With each step of dry wall, mud and tape, primer, paint, trim, etc. it begins to look more and more like a house again and when you are finished and have cleaned up for the last time and you stand back and look at the finished product, it seems impossible that such a nicely finished looking wall or room were dusty 2x4 studded walls just a short while ago. However, it goes even further than that. Now ever time I walk into peoples homes and look around, I don't simply look at what color the walls are or what decorations they have up, I observe the different lay-outs, the different styles of walls, trim, etc. I notice the little things that only someone who has done that type of work before truly understands. I notice corners that would be extremely difficult to try to mud and have them come out just right. I notice the detailed work of cutting angled corners of trim and having them line up perfectly tight. (No please don't be scared to invite me to your house because you think I am looking for every little flaw and imperfection. Trust me - I am still fine tuning my own skills and hate looking at jobs I did because I see all my own mistakes,) I am not judging the work, I just have a different appreciate for the labor and effort it took to make your house look the way it does because I have done that type of work myself.
So now think about that project or hobby you have in your mind, if it's gardening, don't you pay special attention to other people's gardens? If it is quilting, don't you appreciate an extremely delicately hand-stitched quilt? If it is painting, don't you examine a painting up close looking for brushstrokes, color mixture, shading, etc.? I am willing to bet you do because you know the process, the labor, and the pain staking care it takes to do that type of work or craft. It means more to you and you have a better understanding of it than someone who has never even attempted that type of effort before. The same as anyone who has never actually done dry-wall work probably never even thinks to look for seams or corners to see how well the mudding and taping job was done. It doesn't mean anything to them, because they don't understand the process or have the memory of doing it themselves.
You take pride in that project, craft, or hobby you have done. because you did it. You made it. You created it. You put the time and effort into making it what it is /and you better than anyone else understands why it works or looks the way it does. This morning's devotion was from Psalm 94 verse 9: "He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?" God is also a creator, an artist, and an inventor. He invented us and created us from scratch. He formed us and made us exactly the way we are. So wouldn't he better than anyone understand us and know exactly how we work? Yes! However, even more than that - God is not an artist who paints a picture and puts it in some back room only to be looked at once in awhile. He is not an inventor who puts his creation on some shelf to get dusty. He is a creator who appreciates his work each and every day. He who gave us ears so that we could hear - listens to us every time we pray. He who gave us eyes so that we can see- stares at us constantly. God is so proud of his handiwork and loves it so much he never lets it out of His sight. He who formed us, knows how we work and is constantly there for us listening to us, watching over us, and loving us every second of every day. Talk about a full time hobby! But thanks be to Him who does love us enough to always hear us, always watch over us and continually love us all the more! In Jesus name, Amen.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Don't be a fool!
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. I love how you can have read something in the Bible three or four other times, but then you read it again and you realize you never knew that verse or passage even existed. I obviously love the Psalms and have read the whole Psalter several times, but Psalm 92 struck me as brand new today as I read it. This is why Luther said he could read the Bible all day every day for the rest of his life and still never know everything that is in it.
Psalm 92 verses 6-7 are a concept I have tried to explain to people before and it would have been nice to be able to pull this quote out of Scripture as I did so. I have tried to explain how when you look around our world and see non-Christians, they seem to be the ones who are excelling, the ones with nice mansions, boats, cars, and cars galore. This is because the Devil wants them to have everything they have ever wanted so that they never have to feel dependent on God. He doesn't want them to struggle so that they see no advantage in faith, religion, the church, or God. So when these verses from Psalm 92 state, "The stupid man cannot know, the fool cannot understand this; that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever." Basically the psalmist is saying you are an idiot if you would rather have the pleasures of this world over the eternal paradise the faithful will receive. So while it may be tempting to cheat on your taxes, lie about the price of something in a store, or to steal a few things every now and then, don't be the fool. While faith seems like a struggle at times and all the people who don't go to church seem so much happier at times, don't be the stupid man. Being an heir in the kingdom of God with His name placed on you, His faith in your heart, and His good order in place in your life is worth so much more than any amount of toys or vehicles, or any size of house. Eternal life in the name of our Risen Lord Jesus is worth more than all the money and material goods this world can ever offer. Remain faithful, give thanks for all of the blessings, salvation, and eternal life you have because of Jesus' love, grace, and mercy, and don't let the devil's evil tricks make you the fool. Amen.
Psalm 92 verses 6-7 are a concept I have tried to explain to people before and it would have been nice to be able to pull this quote out of Scripture as I did so. I have tried to explain how when you look around our world and see non-Christians, they seem to be the ones who are excelling, the ones with nice mansions, boats, cars, and cars galore. This is because the Devil wants them to have everything they have ever wanted so that they never have to feel dependent on God. He doesn't want them to struggle so that they see no advantage in faith, religion, the church, or God. So when these verses from Psalm 92 state, "The stupid man cannot know, the fool cannot understand this; that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever." Basically the psalmist is saying you are an idiot if you would rather have the pleasures of this world over the eternal paradise the faithful will receive. So while it may be tempting to cheat on your taxes, lie about the price of something in a store, or to steal a few things every now and then, don't be the fool. While faith seems like a struggle at times and all the people who don't go to church seem so much happier at times, don't be the stupid man. Being an heir in the kingdom of God with His name placed on you, His faith in your heart, and His good order in place in your life is worth so much more than any amount of toys or vehicles, or any size of house. Eternal life in the name of our Risen Lord Jesus is worth more than all the money and material goods this world can ever offer. Remain faithful, give thanks for all of the blessings, salvation, and eternal life you have because of Jesus' love, grace, and mercy, and don't let the devil's evil tricks make you the fool. Amen.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Joy of presence?
Greetings in Christ. I may slow down in my blog posts as soon as I got started again. Last night, playing softball I fell on my right wrist and fractured two bones. Now it is extremely difficult and time consuming to type one handed and left handed at that. So I ask kindly for your prayers for rapid healing and your patience with my posts over the next few weeks. This is not how I envisioned my first several weeks of ministry but life happens.
This morning's devotion was on Psalm 21 and there was a line that caught my attention. Verse 6 includes "you make him glad with the joy of your presence" as it is listing all the gifts and blessings God has given to the king. It made me wonder, are we glad with the joy of God's presence? I mean it is probably just instinct to answer yes, of course we are glad God's is with us. But really stop and think about it. Do you really want God present in your life 100% of the time. It truly is a great thing God is there when we need Him and it is a joyous thing that we can go to Him any time in prayer. But the fact that God is always right there, always watching us, and constantly aware of what we are doing or not doing... does that make us glad with joy?
There are definitely times where we fail temptations or even worse actually enjoy our acts of sins where we probably wish God wasn't there. There are times we wish God wasn't watching us. knowing our every thought and action. But at the same time it is a joyful thing that God loves us enough to always be with us. Even when He knows all of our secrets, our failings, and our sins, He still loves us enough to forgive us and continue to be with us. God never gives up on us and that is a good thing, no it is a great thing. So let God's presence in your life not scare you or worry you, but rather let it make you glad. Praise him for the joy of His presence in your life. Be glad in the name of Jesus. Amen.
This morning's devotion was on Psalm 21 and there was a line that caught my attention. Verse 6 includes "you make him glad with the joy of your presence" as it is listing all the gifts and blessings God has given to the king. It made me wonder, are we glad with the joy of God's presence? I mean it is probably just instinct to answer yes, of course we are glad God's is with us. But really stop and think about it. Do you really want God present in your life 100% of the time. It truly is a great thing God is there when we need Him and it is a joyous thing that we can go to Him any time in prayer. But the fact that God is always right there, always watching us, and constantly aware of what we are doing or not doing... does that make us glad with joy?
There are definitely times where we fail temptations or even worse actually enjoy our acts of sins where we probably wish God wasn't there. There are times we wish God wasn't watching us. knowing our every thought and action. But at the same time it is a joyful thing that God loves us enough to always be with us. Even when He knows all of our secrets, our failings, and our sins, He still loves us enough to forgive us and continue to be with us. God never gives up on us and that is a good thing, no it is a great thing. So let God's presence in your life not scare you or worry you, but rather let it make you glad. Praise him for the joy of His presence in your life. Be glad in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)