Psalm 115

Psalm 115:4-7 “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.”

     It’s almost Christmas!!! Crazy how fast it came upon us again another year. Hopefully, you remember what Christmas is all about. It’s not the gifts, the tree and decorations, the food, or even the family. Christmas is all about that baby boy in the manger who was born for you and for me. As I was reading Psalm 115, it immediately drew my attention to this very point. As you read through the verse listed above, listen to how they speak directly to Christmas.
     The psalmist is speaking about idols and talking about how worthless they are. They are made of silver and gold. Sure, they may be in the image of a man and have legs, arms, and a face. However, the gold ears are not able to hear your voice, the gold eyes are not able to look at you and see you, the silver arms and legs can’t move. What good is a statue that can’t hear you, can’t see you, and can’t move or do anything at all. It truly is worthless, so why would you want that for your god? I mean a god is supposed to be in absolute control of all things. How can a statue that can’t move in control of anything?
      As you are thinking about how idols can’t do any of those things, it also turns our focus to the fact that our God is not like those idols. And Christmas points us directly to that truth. That baby boy in the manger, he had eyes that could see Joseph and Mary’s smiling faces. Eyes that could see the shepherd’s leaning over the manger amazed at what they saw. That baby boy had ears that could hear Mary’s soft voice comforting him. Ears that could hear the cattle moaning, the donkeys braying, and the sheep bleating. That baby boy had arms that swing and move as Mary tried to keep him swaddled. He had legs that could kick and stretch full length for the first time being outside the womb. That baby boy had a mouth to coo and squeak like happy babies do. He had a nose that could smell both the good smells of Mary and Joseph and the bad smells of the animals.
     Then especially as that baby boy grew up, we see those arms and legs in action. He not only travels miles from town to town walking on his feet, he even walks on water. His hands not only felt the water of the Jordan river and the wood of fishing boats, but they touched people as he healed them and forgave them. His eyes saw the unfaithful actions of the Pharisees, but they also saw the tears of grieving people, the loyalty of friends, the desperation for the people to be near him. His ears heard many ridiculous questions trying to trap him, but they also heard the pleas for mercy from crippled and scared people. His nose smelt the smell of dead fish, but also smelt the beautiful smells of anointing oils running down his face.
     That baby boy in the manger, who grew up to be a man, had real eyes… and real ears… and a real nose… and real hands… and real feet. Just like mine and just like yours. This was no worthless idol that had no power to move. This was the Son of God, born in the flesh of man, who had the power to walk and touch, but also had the power to conquer and control. That baby boy in the manger is the living evidence that our God see us, hears us, speaks to us, reaches out to touch us, and walks to be near us. We do not have a worthless idol for our god. We have the one and only God, almighty and truly in control of all things. And He was born as a man to show us He is real, He is in control of all things, and He is our God in whom we have all hope, joy, love, and trust.
     The final thought I had was an idol of gold or silver could be dropped or hit with a hammer and it would break. That worthless idol has no power to put itself back together again. It by its own power could ever be healed or fixed. It was created by man and would have to be fixed by man. However, that baby boy, the living God, was broken and even killed on the cross. But since he was not created by man, it wasn’t up to man to fix him. Since he is the Son of the Almighty God, he was able to fix himself as e rose from the dead on Easter morning. Even after his resurrection, he still had his eyes to see the disciples scared for their lives. He had ears to hear them call him Lord. He had real hands and feet marked with the nail holes.

Advent Encouragement

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Psalm 122:1

     Happy Advent Season! Advent is Latin for “coming”, and it is the season we prepare ourselves for the coming of our King on Christmas morning! Now I know this is the busiest of busy times of the year. Most likely you just got done traveling for or hosting Thanksgiving with family. Now it’s a mad dash to find all the presents on sale. Get them wrapped. Get the tree up. Get the house decorated. Then it’s only a few weeks until all the Christmas parties and family get togethers start taking over every weekend. You are busy, I get it.
      However, we are busy here at church as well. We have our cookie sale this Saturday, Wednesday nights are now busy with dinners and an extra worship service each week, we are hosting a Christmas party on the 16th, we have the preschool Christmas program on the 18th, the Sunday school Christmas program on the 21st, and then comes the big day we all have been preparing for with three worship services on Christmas Eve and one more on Christmas Day. Normally we do not have a Christmas morning service here at Peace in Christ, but because Christmas falls on a Sunday this year we are still having the late service. There are so many opportunities to come worship, eat, serve, and gather at church in the next 25 days!!!  Hopefully every church is this busy and active during this season!  My question for you is will you have the same attitude as King David in Psalm 122?
     David starts this whole psalm by admitting he was glad when the people said they wanted to go to the house of the Lord. So, when it comes to four or five extra worship services, four dinners, a cookie sale, and two Christmas programs, all on top of your regular Saturday/Sunday morning services during this season of Advent, are you going to get tired of all this extra “church stuff”, or are you going to be glad to come to the house of the Lord again and again? I hope you are glad! I hope you see each one of these “extras” as a chance to truly prepare yourself for the celebration of your King, the one and only begotten Son of God, being born in the flesh. God literally became just like you, in order to save you! If the good news that Christ is born, the Word of God has become incarnate in the flesh, doesn’t make you glad, I don’t know what will. If coming to the house of the Lord to hear you have salvation and eternal life in your Savior and King Jesus Christ doesn’t make you glad, again I don’t know what will. If you are too busy with the hustle and bustle of all the holiday requirements to come spend time in the house of your Lord who was born for you, I think you are missing the whole point of this entire season!
     I know you are busy, and I know you have a hundred and one things to get done by yesterday. However, there is also a reason we have extra opportunities to come to the house of the Lord during this busy season. We all need those extra opportunities to come just be in the presence of our God, to forget about all those things “we have to do” for a few moments, and to set aside all that stress and focus on preparing ourselves for the real reason for the season. Instead of grumbling that we have to go church one more time, I pray this Advent season you can be like David and genuinely be glad that you get to go to the house of your Lord one more time. I pray we can all gather together with happy hearts and rejoice in the fact that our King is born! Our King has won our salvation and eternal life through His death and resurrection. And our King is coming back to end all sin, suffering, and death! So, from a pastor, I lovingly encourage us all together, “Let us go to the house of the Lord to hear His good news as often as possible during this busy season!” – and hopefully you are glad to hear this!

Happy Thanksgiving

   Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ.  Happy Thanksgiving.  I preach tonight at our Thanksgiving Eve service at 6:30.  Then drive six and a half hours to mom and dads.  The whole family is going to be there.  All of us getting together is happening less and less now that we are all working adults living in Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, and Minnesota.  So I am very excited to see the boys and Ava.  Oh, and the rest of the family too!  It is a short trip for me driving down tonight and coming back Friday night, but worth it to see the family.
    We have been getting lots of snow here.  We were spoiled with such a long, nice fall almost all the way through November.  But now that winter is here, it is coming at full speed.  I love the snow and have thoroughly enjoyed tracking the deer movement through the fresh snow in my yard.  However, this is the first Minnesota winter where I actually have to shovel snow.  Last year, I had a heated garage and the plowing was always done for me at the apartment.  I have had to shovel the drive way twice this year and it is a decently long driveway.  However, it is also a good workout to shovel it.  The chickens don't like the snow very much; although, they are getting better about going outside even in the cold.  They finally laid their first two eggs!  Now I just have to get them trained to lay the eggs in the nesting boxes instead of on the ground.  Silly chickens.
     Well, as Thanksgiving is tomorrow and my birthday is Friday, I most certainly have an abundance of things to be thankful for.  I never dreamed that as I turned 28, I would own 17.5 acres of woods with a house, garage, and chickens, my own tractor, a car and a truck, and be blesses with lots of other material possessions.  I am so thankful for the career I have as an ordained minister at an amazing congregation with an awesome staff to work with.  I am so thankful that I am alive and healthy after some of the craziness of this year.  I will take a wicked scar on my arm being the worst thing left from a week in the hospital, nothing to show for falling off a roof, and making it safely through another hunting season.  God has blessed me every day for 28 years, and I am so content with where my life is, that the next two days will be a time of reflection and giving thanks to God.
    I pray you are just as content with your life, and can see how abundantly God has blessed you no matter where your life is at as well. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Psalm 67

      Praise the Lord the election is over. Someone had to win, someone had to lose, and now we move forward. However, for some reason unknown to me, there is still so much hatred, anger, and division lingering. Fingers are being pointed, blame is being dealt out abundantly, and nothing has even actually happened yet. Maybe it is my laissez faire attitude, but I don’t think who our president is worth all the fuss that I have not been able to avoid.
     One of the most frustrating arguments I have seen way too many times is that equality is being thrown out the window. So many people honestly thought the candidate who lost (I refuse to mention names) was going to bring equality for all people (meaning mostly LBGT, immigrants, women, etc.). And now that the other candidate won (you know who), that equality is never going to happen. Now I could rant and rave for about thirty-six to two thousand pages on why I agree or disagree with that whole ball of wax. Instead I want to just turn to the Psalm.
      Psalm 67 verse 4 says: “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity.” I wish every citizen of our country would hear those first nine words about being glad and singing for joy. I wish we could stand together as one people and be glad about everything that is still good in our country thanks to the blessings God continues to shower upon us, but I won’t hold my breath either. The psalmist tells us exactly why we can be glad and why we can sing for joy – because there is only one God and He will judge everyone with equity. He judges all people the same way. See right there it is – equality for all – exactly what everyone wants and is so strongly opinionated about. Except, I have a feeling all of those upset people disgruntled by the lack of equality for everyone in our country, are probably the very ones who do not want God’s equity. God’s equality is not about everybody getting to do everything you have ever wanted no matter what life style you choose. God’s equality is not about mankind deciding citizen’s rights. God’s equity in His judgment, where all mankind truly is equal, is about your faith. Are you part of His kingdom through faith in His Son or are you part of the kingdom of darkness through your rejection? Are you living according to His Word as a result of your faith or are you living a life of sin to spite God and His ways? This is the judgement that will come to all people, perfect equity, perfect equality, alleluia!!! And so we, the people of God, can be glad and sing for joy because we know we will be judged as faithful – not because of what we have done but because of what Jesus Christ has done for us and through us! However, anyone actively rejecting the faith of Jesus Christ probably would not be glad or sing for joy as they will find out His judgment of equity means wrath and condemnation for all non-believers. Equality for all. Equal eternal life for all believers, equal eternal death for all non-believers. That is God’s equality, that is God’s equity. So we as the people of God can be glad, we can sing for joy. Because we know God’s equity for us is only possible through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be glad and sing for joy because you as a believer are saved in Jesus Christ. And share God’s equality with all those angry upset people, so that Lord willing more can be brought into the Gospel of Jesus Christ and come to know God’s equity rather than the world’s equality.

Psalm 36

      I am not too arrogant to admit that there have been times in my life when I strayed quite far from a Christian life style. The temptation of temporal pleasures caused me to not only sin, but dive in head first into the downward spiral of a sinful lifestyle. The more I partook of that certain sin of that time, the more I wanted to keep doing it. So, when David starts this verse with “transgression speaks to the wicked, deep in his heart,” sadly enough I know exactly what he is talking to. Transgression has a way to spark a fire in the heart of a sinner that can cause him or her to want nothing more than to fuel that fire. And as one feeds that fire with an immoral lifestyle, he or she is actually foolishness enough to think they are getting away with it. Because they can keep it hidden from family, friends, and people, they think their iniquity cannot be found out. Either that or they are so enthralled with their iniquity, they really believe no one would blame them for it even if they did find out. And while you are desperate for more of your sinful passion, there is absolutely no fear of God in your thoughts. This is a pattern that is extremely hard to break. And for those who have never known the steadfast love of the Lord, it can be almost impossible to get out of the grasp of this soul-consuming transgression. And there are so many vices, sins, and passions that transgression can use to pull you into its trap.
      Fortunately enough for me, I have known the steadfast love of the Lord. Even while I was running fiercely away from it, I always knew it was there. And in fact, it is the steadfast love of the Lord that is the only thing that can overcome and defeat transgression. Listen to how David compares this transgression that takes over, controls, and dominate to the steadfast love of God. Transgression has the power to overtake the wicked, fill his heart, and cause him to react; however, the steadfast love of the Lord doesn’t just have the potential to fill, it does fill. And not just the heart of a few men, but all of creation. Extending to the heavens, like mountains reaching the clouds, His love fills every part of creation, both man and beast. Instead of lying in bed plotting trouble, the children who know this love, feast on the abundance of His house. They see the light and receive from the fountain of life. Instead of lurking in the darkness desperate to get their next fix to feed something they can’t control, the upright leap in the light, happily receiving their fill of what is generously given to them. The steadfast love of the Lord not only trumps transgression, it is the refuge from it. The upright who have escaped transgression’s death grip find their refuge in the Lord. And as David prays in verse 11, once one is safe in the steadfast love of the Lord, they never want to go back to their old wicked ways. They never want that arrogance to come back over them again. They never want those temptations to drive them away from the presence of the Lord again.
      Even Christians find themselves being drawn into transgression's webs, and you may have dark spots on your record of life. However, the steadfast love of the Lord is always bigger. The steadfast love that Jesus Christ won for you you by dying on the cross erases all those dark stains. His love will always trump transgressions bests efforts. Transgression has power, but it is limited. God is all-powerful that can rescue anyone from even the tightest clutches of evil. Christ has overcome the darkness so that you can always be in the light. Your heart has evil tendencies, but Christ died to claim your heart as His own and fill it with His steadfast love. If you are caught in that downward spiral of transgression right now, call on the Lord and beg Him for His steadfast love to come rescue you, bring you back into the light, and be your refuge. If you have been in that spiral before but still feel ashamed of those previous acts of evil and arrogance, trust in the steadfast love of the Lord. His forgiveness is REAL! Which means those sins are not only forgiven, they are completely gone. Quit dwelling on your tainted record and start feasting on His abundance! If you are in the refuge of His wings, feasting on His abundance, living in His love, still continue to pray this psalm. Let this psalm be a reminder that transgression is a real enemy, but also a reminder that it is a defeated enemy. Pray that you may not be swept back into those old sinful habits, but rather remain and abide in the steadfast love of our Lord! Amen.

Psalm 42

       My soul thirsts for God! In this psalm, the psalmist is speaking of thirsting for God. Then the psalmist gives us the context. He isn’t so blessed and so happy with life, that he has been too busy to make time for God and that is why he thirsts. No, it isn’t that life is so good that he is missing God. His food night and day are tears. Others looking in see how awful his life is and the only thing they can ask is where is your God. His life is so miserable, so terrible, as he cries day and night, and it seems like God has forsaken him altogether, that this distance from and lack of God is driving his thirst. Life has hit rock bottom and he knows what is missing is his relationship with God.
      Now the part that really got me as I read this psalm again, was verse 4. I have read this psalm many times, and normally my mind goes to deer hunting right away. However, this time as I focused on this content of why his soul thirsts, verse 4 stuck out. I want you to think about one of those times in your life, where you truly thought you were at rock bottom, tears were your food, and it seemed like God was nowhere to be found. Or even if you knew God was there with you, you felt like you had no real connection to Him. Ok, now in that moment, did you reminisce on past times when your faith seemed so much stronger, when your relationship with God seemed so much more vibrant? As you are wallowing in sadness, loneliness, and despair, your mind wandered back to a childhood memory of a full church on Christmas Eve with everyone singing those favorite Christmas hymns so loud you had chills. Or you remembered your favorite Easer when the lilies seemed extra white somehow, the alleluias rang louder, and the joy of thinking about Christ rising from the dead was overwhelming. Or maybe you remembered just an average Sunday morning service where the people singing, the sermon hitting a cord with you, and the overall worship just left such a memorable impression you can’t forget it. Looking back at those joyous, ecstatic, heartwarming memories of your faith life then, can make you ask yourself the same thing the psalmist asks in verse 5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?”
       In the moment of your sadness, your loneliness, and your despair, those memories of unforgettable worship services of the past can make you question if you really believe any more. The stark contrast between these two moments in your life can cause you to doubt your faith is even still alive within you. However, remembering those worship services can also lift your spirit. It can remind you that you do believe and you do have a faith that has burned in your soul before, so why are you so doom and gloom now soul? It can put things in perspective for you, and as you remember how strong your faith was back then, can strengthen your faith to not doubt, but trust. You can end up telling yourself in full confidence, “Hope in God.” Hey, that’s what the psalmist does. He is in utter distraught, he remembers the times he used to praise the Lord in full joy, and he realizes, why am I so down and blue. I wasn’t praising an idol, I wasn’t praising a worthless item, I was pouring out my soul to the God of my salvation. And even though life is in a rough place right now, I don’t need to doubt. God hasn’t given up on me. He isn’t far from me. Stop doubting, stop pouting, and hope in God. For I will again praise God because he will carry me through this rough patch. Even if my earthly life were to end because of this hardship, I will praise Him again because He is my salvation. I am saved in Him, He is my God, and I will hope in Him as I know I will praise Him always.
      So, when you find yourself in those tough times, and you remember the glorious past of your rich and thriving faith life, don’t let it cause you to doubt. Instead, let it remind you to hope in God. Let it be your reminder that you will praise God again because no matter what happens He is your salvation. When your soul thirsts, and you remember how you used to pour your soul out to Him, let your reviving drink that replenishes your soul be your hope and trust in God. For He is your salvation. His Son’s death and resurrection is your salvation. Praise be to Him. Amen.

Psalm 65

Psalm 65 – Due to Him
      When you have to pay dues for something, you want to know exactly what you are paying for. None of us would be very happy with getting a bill in the mail for an amount that we owe without any explanation of what it is for or why we owe it. In fact, for most of us, the phone call would happen very quickly if we did receive a bill without any explanation.
      Well in Psalm 65, the psalmist tells us that praise is due to God. This is what we as His people owe Him. Our praise. However, the psalmist doesn’t just hand us this bill without any explanation. No, actually he uses the next 12 verses to very clearly lay out exactly why God is due our praise.
      Forgiveness, dwelling in His presence, the goodness of His house and holiness of His temple, righteousness, hope, creation, joy, water, provisions, and care, and this is just the very quick cliff’s note version of what the psalmist is telling us. For everything God has done for us, everything He continues to do for us, and just because of who He is as our God and the creator of our universe, He is most definitely due our praise.
       We were actually just discussing this in our Bible study on prayer the other night, that Luther writes in several places that our praise is the ONLY thing we can give God. He owns every physical thing already, we can’t do good works without Him, so there is nothing at all that we can actually give to God other than our praises. And as the psalmist reminds us in this psalm, God is absolutely, positively, most definitely due our praises. He created the world we live in, He gave His people the promise of a Savior to atone for their sin, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to be that Savior who died on the cross for the sin of the world, and He called you and me into that salvation giving us our eternal life in Him. We owe Him more than we can ever imagine. He is due our praises. So, take some time today to give God a few of the million praises He is due. Praise Father, Son, and Spirit, one God now and forever, Amen!

Psalm 97 - Light Show!

Best Light show around!
      In college I had a friend who did the light shows for all of the drama department shows. He could do some amazing things with just lights. Then you go to professional concerts and see the cool things they do with their light shows. And sadly enough, I’ve lived in Minnesota long enough now to comfortably use the Vikings as an example. In the Vikings new stadium, when they scored the first official touchdown in the new place, they turned off all the lights and had purple and yellow LED’s flashing on the roof. It was quite impressive and I was only watching it on TV.
      Light shows can fascinate us. However, the coolest light shows are still those of the universe. From shooting stars, to the northern lights, to lightning storms, our universe has some pretty epic light shows itself. Have you ever seen one of those really bad storms in the middle of the night? One where the lightning is so constant and so bright, it seems like it is day light out even in the pitch black of the storm. Living in the woods of the northland, I can tell you it is dark at night. Even when there is moon light, the trees block so much of it, it is still pitch black out on a clear night. On a cloudy night, good luck seeing your hand in front of your face. (Truthfully I love this part of my property). So image how dark it can be with thick, black thunderheads rolling in overhead. And yet, somehow the amount of lightning strikes can make you think it is high noon in a western movie where the sun is so bright you can see the single bead of sweat rolling down their cheeks of the two cowboys squinting their eyes at each other. While this can be terrifying because those storms normally come with winds and damage, it is impressive none the less to see that kind of “light show” right in front of you.
       Now listen to verse 4 of Psalm 97. This psalm is so interesting because it is describing the reign of God and it is terrifying and awe-inspiring all at once. Verse 4 in particular, talks about the lightnings of God lighting up the world. And you know, it is brighter and more impressive than even the fiercest storm anyone has ever witnessed in this world. That intense storm you thought of during the previous paragraph doesn’t even begin to compare to how bright the world is as non-stop lightning strikes go out from the presence of God to bring His light into the darkness of this world. The very next line even says, the earth sees and trembles. It’s the feeling of being so scared you couldn’t possibly look if you wanted to, and yet being so intrigued you can’t take your eyes off of it.
      Even though we haven’t seen this amazing light show of the lightnings of God lighting up the whole world, we have seen the most impressive light show God has to offer. Instead of lightning bolts, this terrifying and awe-inspiring light show consisted of a baby born in the manger with a star shining bright above. It consisted of a bloody man being hoisted high up on a hill for all to see even as the sky grew black. It consisted of a sunrise revealing folded clothes in a tomb. The light show of the world that should make us so scared we couldn’t look even if we wanted to and yet at the same time so intrigued we can’t take our eyes off of it, isn’t a storm or lightning or a star or the sun, but rather the Son as he was born in the flesh only to be killed on the cross. It is the Son as He stood alive outside His own tomb and as He ascended into Heaven. This light of the world as He calls Himself, truly is the reign of God. And it is just as terrifying and awe-inspiring as anything we could ever experience. It is terrifying because the wrath of God for our sin was so serious it covered the light of the world in darkness. It caused the Father to be so angry He couldn’t even look at the light of the world as He hung on the cross darkened by our sin. And yet it is so awe-inspiring because it is the forgiveness of those sins and He is the light that the darkness could not overcome. He is the light of the world as He reveals God’s love and salvation to all of creation. He is the reign of God as He sits on His throne, living and active, in control of all darkness. He is the most impressive light show we will ever see as His life, death, and resurrection is what allows us to see our eternal life right in front of us.
       So lightning is still awesome. I hope to still see more northern lights living up here. However, the greatest light show that terrifies me and yet I hope I never take my eyes off of is Jesus Christ, the light of the world and the very reign of God that the earth sees and trembles. Rejoice in the Lord, and give thanks to His holy name! Amen.

Psalm 134 - Come whenever you can to bless the Lord

Psalm 134:1

“Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord.”

If you aren’t aware of my process for these psalm devotions, I read a psalm and the first thing that jumps out at me or really hits me it what I ramble on about for about 700 words and hope it’s actually worth reading through a second time. As I read Psalm 134, the thing that hit me was the phrase “who stand by night in the house of the Lord”. It struck me as odd. Who stands in the hose of the Lord at night? Night is a time for sleeping, laying down, at the very least sitting and relaxing. So who stands at night? And especially in the house of the Lord? So I took another sip of coffee to help my brain really turn on for this morning, and tried to think what this phrase could possibly mean. Then it didn’t take very long to realize this actually makes a ton of sense.

Why would you go to the house of the Lord, for the Israelites returning from the exile (since this is a psalm of accent), the house of the Lord would be the temple. For us, the house of the Lord would be church. Now for the Israelites, I believe they would go to the house of the Lord at night for two reasons. {Disclaimer this is just my own thoughts – no actual proof}. One, because when you live in an extremely hot climate, night time was the cool time of the day to gather together indoors. Two, because you work all day so then you head to the temple during the evening after work. This is when it struck me and I really felt quite silly. I spend several evenings a week at church into the late hours of the night. Why? Because that’s when people are free from work and other responsibilities. We have Bible studies, small groups, council and other board meetings, and even worship services (advent and Lent) in the evening. People come to the church at night because they have been at work all day and evenings work best to gather at the house of the Lord. I see this every week, and yet it took me far too long to realize this phrase of standing in the house of the Lord by night isn’t that strange at all.

So who is the psalmist talking to in this psalm? You! And me! And everyone who is going through real life. Pretty much anyone who isn’t a monk who hides in seclusion, praying seven times a day and reading scripture non-stop. In my mind, this psalmist is speaking directly to the average Joe, the basic believer who has a real life, who has to work for a living, who has a family and kids, who understands time is limited and goes by quickly, and yet still makes time to come stand in the house of God by night. The people who have a million things going on in their life, but still dedicate an hour or more to come to church other than Sunday morning. For all the busy parents who get their kids fed and in bed and then one of them slips out to make the evening Bible study or meeting. For all the hard working people who come straight from work to make our supper and Advent services. For all the young adults working two jobs but still make praise band practice once a week. The psalmist is calling all believers, to come! Come, bless the Lord. Even if you have to do it in the wee hours of the night, still come lift up your hands to the holy place. Find that time, no matter when it is, to come gather together as His people and bless His name. And as you do so, may the Lord bless you! I could be wrong with all of this, but to me this psalm makes perfect sense as I live and see Christians striving to give time to God, no matter when that time might be. And like the psalmist, I pray that God may bless them as they do so.

Psalm 64 - God the Pulling Guard

As I first read this psalm, particularly verse 3, I noticed a word play that I wondered if it was an intentional pun. When David talks about the wicked “whetting” their tongue, is of course the idea of using a whetting stone to sharpen their tongue like a sword. However, it also made me think of a phrase we used to say in football, “Lick/Wet your chops”. So this is why I wondered if this was an intentional pun of whetting you tongue or wetting your tongue.

In football, we mostly used this phrase for pulling guards. In our eight-man formation, on certain plays our offensive end would leave the defensive end unblocked. Now a defensive end’s whole job is to get across the line, into the backfield, and disrupt the play as much as possible (while still containing the outside for you football-savvy people). Most plays his job is hindered by the offensive end blocking him. However, on these certain plays when he is left unblocked, he can freely come across the line and has a perfectly clear line of sight at the backfield. This is where our coach would say, “he’s just wetting his chops” thinking about the big play he is about to make. Basically, that end is so excited for the free chance to light somebody up, he starts salivating thinking about it. However, little does he know, this is intentional and that the pulling guard is headed straight down the line for him. The pulling guard coming down the line, is usually unseen by the defensive end who is giving his full attention to the backfield. So the guard gets a free shot at full speed to take that end off his feet and completely out of the play.

This is why this psalm and word pun made me think of this right away. David is talking about how the wicked are getting everything ready for the attack, they are laying traps and have everything ready just like that defensive end thinks everything is set up perfect for him to make the big tackle for a loss. However, David talks about God shooting the enemy with arrows suddenly, much like the pulling guard taking that end out of the play without the end even knowing what happened. This probably makes much more sense if you have played football and know what this really looks like in real life.

Regardless though, we all can understand the point. Our enemies watch us, they get their tongues good and sharp ready to tear us down, belittle us, attack us, and lay traps for us to fall into. But we aren’t as defenseless as we seem. The backfield isn’t threatened by that charging defensive end because they know what he doesn’t, that they are protected by that pulling guard. We aren’t threatened by the wicked looking to attack us, because we aren’t as defenseless as we seem. We know that the wicked doesn’t, that the “pulling guard” of our God is headed straight at them, shooting them with arrows, wounding them suddenly, taking them out of the play altogether. We have the protection of the one true God of the whole universe. And unlike a human lineman who sometimes forgets to pull, or is too slow on his execution to get to the end, God never misses, He never fails, He is always there to protect us from the attack of the wicked. Then once God has protected us from our enemies, all of mankind will fear our protector. They will use their “sharp” tongues to spread the word of how we were saved by God instead of for future attacks.

And what will we do? We will use our sharp tongues to rejoice in the Lord. We can take refuge in Him, trust Him, and know we are perfectly safe in Him. With that kind of confidence in our protector, we can truly rejoice and exult!!

Ecclesiastes 3

Ecclesiastes 3:9-10 "What gain has the worker from his toil?  I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with."

      Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I know it has been quite a while since I have posted on here.  Life just seems to fly by.  Between owning a house, work, and helping people with their projects, I have been on the go non-stop lately.  I am trying to get all the projects around my place done before the snow flies.  I got a small shed moved and my wood stacked inside, yard cleaned up from summer stuff, chicken coop fixed up for winter, and garage semi organized.  However, I still need to cut down a giant tree in my front yard, insulate and sheet the garage, then really organize the garage, get my tractor going and moved home, and clean the pine needles out of the yard again.  Plus I am trying to get out to the bow stand whenever life lets me.  I have been out a few times and have even seen some deer, but haven't gotten any shots yet.
    Work is going good, but is definitely busy.  I have my same two small group Bible studies from last year started back up again, am teaching new member classes, started a men's Bible study, am helping with college ministry, planning monthly events for my young adult group, on top of preaching, helping with youth, etc.  I love how active our church is and how there is stuff going on all the time, but it definitely takes time to keep up.
     Then lately I have been trying to help a few friends accomplish their projects as well.  I went with my friend Jeff to finish siding his shack out in the woods.  This last weekend I helped a family from church shingle their house.  I stripped the whole thing Friday and then we spent Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and Monday afternoon laying the new shingles. We finally got it done last night.  Everyone was giving me a hard time because I did fall off the roof while working.  For those of you who don't know, I have a history of falling off roofs and ladders.  I landed on my rear end (softest landing I could hope for), bounced, and got right back up.  I have small bruise on my cheek but other than that have not had any pain or side effects.  My angels were definitely with me.  My senior pastor told me one more strike of getting hurt or going to the hospital and I am done.  Had kind of a rough streak here lately.  However, other than stiff and sore legs just from the physical demands of roofing, I feel great and am ready for the next job.  Speaking of next job, we have to redo one of the sheds at church, but that will all be done from the ground.
     It is easy to get so busy with life that we forget why we are even doing it or the point of it all.  In Ecclesiastes the question is what does the laborer gain from his labor?  It is easy to question is all of the work worth it?  However, the very next line is talking about the work God has given to us.  God gives us all work to do.  Now we can't lose sight of the big picture of our salvation or family or other truly important things, but working hard to accomplish what needs to be done is necessary too.  So work hard, be productive, cross off those projects from yours or friends' to-do lists, but don't forget to make time every day for your relationship with God, your relationship with family, and your sabbath rest for both the rest of your mind and body.  I hope that makes sense!  God bless you all.

Healthy and Thankful

    Greetings to you in the name of Jesus who is Lord of all.  Most of you probably heard through the grape vine about my past few weeks.  August 20th through the 27th was by far the worst week of my life.  It all started with slight stomach pains that I thought was just a 24-hour stomach bug.  Friday I had stomach all day long, but was still able to do some manual labor with my day off.  Then Friday night I couldn't sleep as the stomach pain moved from my whole stomach to just the lower right hand side.  Saturday morning when I woke up, it hurt to get up or sit down, but not that bad if I would just sit there.  After a phone call to mom, she convinced me to go get it checked out.  I unloaded a bunch of junk out of my back seat, drove myself to the hospital, walked in and told them I was having some stomach pains that I wanted to get checked out.  The doctor at first did not think it was my appendix, but he ordered some lab tests.  After those results came back with signs of inflammation, he ordered a scan.  This is where a bad week went worse.  As they injected the contrast die into my IV in my right arm for the scan, something happened with the IV that instead of going into my vein, the die ended up under the fascia in my muscle compartments.  It didn't hurt at first, but my forearm swelled up and got extremely tight.  After a while it really began to hurt and ended up being more painful than the appendix ever was.  They put a new IV in my left arm, the die went right that time, and they did the scan.  It was not very long after that they knew for sure it was my appendix and were scheduling me for surgery.  By the time they got me to pre-op my arm was in so much pain I couldn't think of anything else.
     As I woke up from surgery, (which is not a fun experience to come to after being put under), they told me my appendix had ruptured.  Most people's rupture from the bottom, but since I don't do anything normal, mine ruptured from the top and they actually had to slice off a thin slice of my colon to make sure they got it all.  This is also when I found out they had operated on my arm while I was already under.  There was a wound vac on my arm, and the suction of the vac was so strong, even though my arm was still over twice the normal size, it was caved-in in several places.  So I had a hose running from my right arm to the wound vac, I had several IV lines running out of my left arm to machines, my abdomen muscles were still very tender, so getting up to do anything was a very long, slow process.  I won't go into the rest of the gory details for the rest of the week, other than to let you know it took all week for my digestive system to finally start working again.  For a week, I couldn't eat, sleep for more than an hour at a time, or do anything without being miserable.
     However, for as much as I would love to complain about this experience, the Good Lord was with me through the whole thing.  Mom came up and was a life-saver taking care of me all week.  The medical staff and nurses were amazing for the most part, and the love and support from family, friends, church members, and others was truly humbling.  God used that week to remind me how many amazing people I have in my life that love me and genuinely care about me.
     Now I am back to work and feeling pretty good again.  The family was up here this weekend and we have an awesome time out on the lake, brewery hopping, and playing tourists.  Now it is time to get back into full speed ahead here at church as all of our Bible studies, classes, confirmation, pre-school, and the like start back up again.  I really do enjoy the busyness of it all and am so thankful to be at a busy thriving church with so much going on.  God is good all the time and all the time God is good!  I hope you are feeling as blessed as I am as you evaluate how much God is directly at work in your life every day.  Blessings to you all.

Chicken Life

     Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.  Boy how has the time gone by so fast this summer??!!  I am still saying May when I say the date, so apparently I completely missed June and July as we are now into AUGUST!  Oh well, it has been a great summer even though it has been busy.  I got to go to New Orleans with 40 youth and 9 other adults for the National Youth Gathering.  It was such a fun trip.  Besides the awesome experience the Gathering is itself, and even besides getting to experience it in such a large group, it was awesome because I got to see so many classmates and friends.  I talked to several other pastors my age who all said the same thing.  "My youth group thinks I am the most popular person in the LCMS because I know EVERYBODY!"  We would be walking down the streets of New Orleans, or through the convention center, or even in the airport, and upon running into an old friend, exchanging hugs, and the quick catch-up, the kids would stare at us like we really were the most popular people.  My favorite story of that area was when we were hoofing it as fast as we could down the sidewalk to get to our next scheduled thing on time, and out of a crowd popped my classmate Shea who is one of the most ripped guys I know.  He literally picked me up and quite frankly slightly scared me until I realized it was him.  The kids about had a heart attack seeing some buff guy jump out and attack me.  The whole trip really was so amazing.
     Then we came back (by a 23 hour bus ride from Atlanta instead of our scheduled flight - long story that ended up being a positive thing) just in time for VBS the next week.  That was another fun week of 120 kids running around the church, our sanctuary being completely decorated like a cave for our Cave Quest theme, and watching the leaders do an amazing job like they always do.  With our penny wars, (a fun game you should ask me about), we told the kids for each $100 they raised, an adult leader would take a pie in the face.  Then we told them that if they raised $500, another guy and myself would drink a stinky shake.  They had two hundred and some dollars on Thursday so Eric and I thought we were pretty safe.  Come Friday, the total was $503.47.  They let the kids vote what to put in our stinky shake.  We started with a raspberry smoothie mix for the base but then added jalapenos, sardines, hot sauce, mayo, pickles and pickle juice, cayenne pepper, and wasabi.  They blended it all together and he and I chugged it down.  One of those crazy things you have to do in the ministry.
     So now the last week has been playing catch up on all my things around the house before we get swamped with the school year.  We have already started planning for Bible studies, confirmation, and the like.  I will have two small group Bible Studies Sunday and Wednesday nights, New member classes on Sunday mornings, starting a new young men's group, College ministry on a weekly basis, social events once a month, and then all the normal pastoral stuff.  It will be an extremely busy fall but I am really excited to get back into the full swing of the regular church year.
     I did get some fishing in this last Friday.  I didn't catch anything besides a sunburn, but it was a beautiful day to be out on the lake.  Then Saturday morning I went golfing with a friend. Sunday afternoon and Monday evening I worked my rear end off getting a bunch of stuff crossed off my to-do list.  I am trying to get my garage ready to insulate and sheet this fall for this winter.  I got the chicken fence all done and they love being outside.  I finally had to mow again now that the rain has slowed down and the grass isn't growing as fast it was.  Last night I ripped the old chimney out of my garage and sorted the good bricks from the bad ones.
      Last night, as I dumped all the bricks into a pile outside of my garage, and then went through them to separate them, I was covered in soot, sweat, bug spray, and just filthy dirty.  I was tired and still had a lot of work to get done and a lot to get cleaned up before dark.  I looked over and saw the chickens sitting there watching me work.  I started thinking, "wouldn't that be the life? Just get to sit there and watch the guy who feeds you do all the work so all you have to do is run around, play, rest, and eat."  However, I no more than thought that before my theologian brain kicked in.  It told me, "Actually Kevin, (yes I talk to myself and yes I know that's one of many signs I am actually crazy), those chickens may have "the life" as they sit and watch you work, but it's really no life at all."  They still have a relationship with their creator as God still watches over them too; however, they have no awareness of the relationship with Him.  They live for maybe a couple years at most and then that is it for them.  We on the other hand, even though it is still under the curse of sin and we have to work hard, and get tired and dirty, do have the life.  We have eternal life, in a relationship with our Creator, our Provider, our Redeemer, and our Lord.  Wee not only get average of 80 years of life here, but we get all of eternity to have a life with our Lord and Savior.  Then I had to laugh that my simple moment of jealousy of a bunch of chickens, was just one more reminder that I am so thankful for the life I have in Christ.  Thanks be to Him, even the simple things are reminders of His grace and the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ.

Psalm 68

     Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I hope you all had a happy 4th!  Mom and dad, JoAnna, Steven, and Ava came up to visit me.  Even though it was a very quick trip for them, it was so nice to see them again.  They enjoyed getting to see the new house too.  We spent Sunday afternoon on the lake at my friends' house.  It was just a very nice weekend and the weather was absolutely perfect.  

     We had an awesome service Sunday morning with all the battle and patriotic hymns.  We even had our cello and trumpet player come in to add to the music.  

     Here a devotion on Psalm 68 I wrote a couple months ago, but my daily devotion was this psalm again so it reminded me.  I do not believe I have posted it on here before, but I apologize if I have and this is a repeat.  Blessings to you all! 

Psalm 68:2 

“As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!” 

        I do not know if this was the psalmist’s intention when he wrote this verse or not, but what I noticed about this verse is that there are two metaphors both centered around the same thing. Both smoke and wax are fleeing from the fire. Now this is certainly not the only time God is compared to fire in the Bible. The wrath of God is compared to an unquenchable fire many times, and most often it is talked about burning the chaff that does not belong with the harvest. Here however, the fire is not consuming the particular details in the metaphors, but rather it is chasing them away. Think about how many times you have seen a thick cloud of smoke rising in the sky. Coming from a small town, that sight was a major deal. When you see smoke rising in the distance, you can bet most folks are dropping what they were doing to either jump in the car and go find the fire or are picking up the phone to find out who knows what about the fire. Smoke rises on its own or is blown away by the wind. It never just sits and hangs around the fire though. Smoke is always being driven away from fire.
      Same is true about wax. As soon as wax gets anywhere near a flame, it heats up, melts, and then either runs or drips. This is one of the biggest details we spent the most time discussing about our Christmas Eve services. There is always a wax mess in the pews or on the floor to clean up the next day because of all the candles. Wax runs and drips away from the heat of the flame. Smoke is rising and being blown away, wax is running or dripping away; both are getting away from the fire and the heat of the flame. Both of these metaphors for the wicked fleeing from God easily grab our attention towards the smoke and the wax. What about the focus of the flame or fire though? Fire is a good thing, flames giving heat has been necessary for the entire time creation has been around.
       Fire not only gives heat for warmth, it cooks food, it refines metals, it recycles whole forests, and overall is a good thing. It provides light in the dark and can be a defense against animals and enemies. So the fire and the flame in these metaphors are good things, just not for the smoke or the wax. It makes me think of 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The fire and the flame are a heat source, light source, food source, and defense source for those who depend on it. It is only for the smoke and the wax that the flame and the fire cause them to flee away. So yes, the wicked are the wax and the smoke, fleeing from God in every direction. The wicked rebel against God and try to get as far away from Him as they possibly can. However, for those of us who are righteous in Jesus’ salvation and redemption, we are drawn towards the fire. We are drawn towards the light of the world that the darkness cannot overcome, towards the heat of the flame that keeps us warm, towards the sure defense of the flame’s protection. This is exactly what verse three goes on to say too. “But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!” So while the smoke and the wax are fleeing in every direction because to them the heat of the flame and the fire is the end of them, those of us who are the righteous because Christ has died for us, redeeming us in His blood, are being drawn to the light. The wicked flee like the smoke and the wax, but you and I who are saved are drawn to the never-ending light and warmth of that loving, gracious fire and flame who is our God, the one and only Triune, Almighty God.  Amen. 

Psalm 22

Psalm 22:17 “I can count all my bones, they stare and gloat over me”
      One of my favorite games to play with young children is “How many ribs do you have?”. This is a game of my own invention. I “count” their ribs by gently pressing my finger along their rib cages solely for the purpose that it an extremely ticklish spot for them. I have yet to play the game with any niece, nephew, or friend’s child who did not end up giggling and laughing so hard they can barely breathe. It makes me laugh because there is hardly a better sound than a child’s laughter. It is just a fun and silly game that always leaves everyone laughing.
      However, in Psalm 22 as David writes about counting his bones, it is not quite the same joyous, silly game. David feels completely surrounded by his enemies. He is tired, hungry, and probably sore from running and hiding in caves. He can count his bones from the weariness and soreness each individual bone causes him in his current situation. Then as you hear Jesus quote Psalm 22 from the cross these words get even further away from a silly game. As Jesus quotes verse 1 of Psalm 22 from the cross, it is most commonly understood that He is referring to the entire psalm. So as you see Jesus referencing these words of David, Jesus means that he is so beaten, so dehydrated, so famished, and so exhausted that He can (most likely literally) count all His bones as they sorely press against His tender, bleeding, and bruised flesh. The nails pressing again his wrist bones, most likely cutting off circulation to his fingers and hands; his own weight causing his elbows and shoulders to feel like the tendons are going to rip off the bones; his ribs trying to keep the weight of his tired, sagging body from crushing his lungs; his spine trying to hold him as upright as possible; his neck bones struggling to hold up his own head; his skull pounding from the pressure points of the thorns and the previous blows; his legs, already too sore to carry his own cross up the hill, now using every ounce of strength he has left, pushing up off the nail through his feet to still stand up. Our suffering, dying Savior can count his bones from the excruciating pain each one is causing Him upon that cross. This is not a silly game. He is not laughing as He counts His bones.
       And yet, His pain is our gain. His counting those bones just before His death, is our joy that gives us the freedom to laugh at silly games in this life. As Scripture says:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

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

      We can still play silly games, we can still thoroughly enjoy the beautiful sound of a child’s laughter, but we have these joys of life only because our Lord and Savior was willing to experience such horrible pain, such horrific torture, and such a miserable death so that He could grant you His righteousness and eternal life. He counted His bones in the pain of that cross, so that He could count Your bones as redeemed. Praise be to Christ, that we can laugh, play, and rejoice in the fact that we are forgiven, we are counted as righteous because of Him, and have eternal life in His name. Amen.

Psalm 116

    Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus Christ.  I just got back from an amazing vacation.  It was a lot of time in the car with almost 2,000 miles, but it was also kind of fun to be on a long road trip again.  It had been quite a while since I had a true road trip.  I made a big circle down through Iowa to Kansas City, over to Cheney, Kansas, up to Omaha, back over to Iowa, and then headed north to home again.  I got to see lots of people and spend some good quality time with family and friends.  The Lord blessed me with smooth sailing the whole way and even gave me some hot sunny weather to enjoy.
    Now I am back home, back to work, and starting my chicken farm.  I brought 45 baby chicks home with me from Iowa.  My goal is to get down to about 20 to 25 egg laying hens by leaving the other 20 to 25 for meat.  It has been fun and gives me some minor chores to do every day.
    I need to get back to writing more psalms devotions, but here is one I wrote a while ago.

Psalm 116:6
“The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.”

       These words may be some of the most comforting words I have ever read. Why you ask? Because I am one of the simplest people you will ever meet. I am a simple minded, country boy, from small town Iowa. My seminary buddies used to get so mad at me because I always said, “I’m just a big, dumb brute.” Perfect example, after saying that line a hundred times, I still had to Google how to properly spell brute. Now, I do not deny God has blessed me in many ways, and if He had not blessed me with the intelligence He did, I certainly would not be where I am today. And yet, when you look past the fact that school always came easy for me, I really do think I am a very simple person. It doesn’t take much to impress me. I am easy going, happy-go-lucky, and don’t really expect much out of life. Another example, I used to love “running” a stop sign for eight hours straight when I worked road construction. I could entertain myself so easily, it was almost scary. One time I distinctly remember making myself laugh out loud as I was talking to myself. Maybe that is more crazy than simple, but you get the point. I am not fancy, I am not classy, and I do not think I am too proud. If anything, maybe I am too proud of the fact that I am a simple kind of man. It means Lynyrd was singing about me (I hope you get that reference).
      Here, our psalm for today says God preserves the simple. Simple kind of people do not worry about what other people think about them, they do not get all worked up about everything going exactly right, they do not expect that they deserve more than what the world is actually going to hand them. Simple people go with the flow, are happy with almost any situation, and are just happy living life. These are the people God preserves. Why? Because they don’t let their high-class society distract them from their faith. They do not expect to be served by everyone else around them, but rather would graciously help their neighbor in need. They are more worried with what God thinks about them, than what their friends or neighbors do. They are more than willing to admit they need help and depend on God.
      This verse continues with the fact that when God brought me low, he saved me. By destroying my own self-ego, my own self-image, God allows me to see what or better yet, who is really important. By realizing that everything doesn’t revolve around my desires and demands, I can see what the world really does revolve around. And it’s not the sun, but rather the Son. This whole world is about being the creature of God you are. You are entirely dependent on Him for everything. You are dependent on Him for food, shelter, house, family, and physical blessings. Even more important though, you are dependent on Him for your forgiveness of sins, salvation and your eternal life in His Son Jesus Christ. He sent His Son to serve, not to be served. Christ came to die as a ransom for many, not to demand high-class, center of attention, perfection. We are brought low in remembering that we are sinners who deserve eternal death. However, once He brings us low in this confession, then He saves us through the free gift of grace and mercy in His Son’s death and resurrection and gives us eternal life.
      So it is OK to be simple. In fact, God wants us to be simple. He wants us to remember we are sinners and are only saved because of what He has done for us through His Son. He wants us to serve those around us, instead of demanding to be served. He wants us to find the joy of serving Him and living in His mercy each and every day. So for a simple kind of man like me, it is comforting to know, God preserves the simple. When life tries to bring me down, part of those low times is knowing I can turn to God and am reminded I am only saved by Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Be not far from me!

    Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus.  Well I am officially living in my house.  I love it.  I mean it is a lot of work and I get overwhelmed with all the things I either need to do or want to do to it, but I am still content.  I have been mostly working on the yard now that I am pretty much all settled in inside.  It truly is a blessing from the Good Lord and I most certainly feel blessed when I call it home! 

Here is my newsletter article for June: 

Psalm 35:22 “You have seen, O Lord; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!”
     In the words of this Psalm, we hear David crying out to God, “Be not far from me!” How often have you cried out those very words yourself? During times where life seems to be crumbling around you, and in your mind God has distanced Himself from you, this plea for His presence is very comforting. During those dark, scary, sad, or tragic moments, we want nothing more than our all-powerful God to wrap His loving arms around us and hold us tightly. We want Him to be right there with us, just as a scared child wants to be close to his or her mommy and daddy.
      However, I wonder how often God has wanted to say these words to us. When life is getting us down, we want God to be right there with us. So we cry out to Him to be near to us and not only does He hear us, but He does come near. He comforts us with His presence. Yet, when life is going good and everything seems to be working out just fine, how quickly do you stop wanting God to be right there with you? Are you like the toddler who once comforted by his parents’ loving embrace, jumps out of their lap and runs away to play forgetting all about mom and dad being there at all?
      As our Heavenly Father watches us jump out of His embrace and run away to go play now that life is all better again, I wonder if His plea is for us to not be far from Him. That we would know we are dependent upon Him even during the good times. That our prayer would be for Him to be near us, even when life is great. That we would cling to Him every day no matter how life is going.
     This came to my mind because now that the weather is nice and I have been spending much more time outdoors, working in the yard, cleaning the garage, etc. I have noticed my own devotional and prayer life slowing down. It is so easy to get busy with the fun things of summer, golfing, fishing, boating, camping, etc. During these fun, busy months of summer it is also very easy to be far from God ourselves. As you get busy, it is easy to put off your daily devotions, your evening prayers, or even going to church. And it happens without us even really noticing. This is when I can picture God, watching us go about our busy lives without Him, wanting to cry out to us, “Be not far from me!”
     I pray you do get to enjoy these summer months and that your life is going very well right now. However, I will also pray for all of you, that even as life goes well and is so busy, you do not let yourself be far from God. Our loving Father is there with you every day; He has answered your plea for Him to not be far from you. Our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is with you every day. He has made Himself present in your life through His living and active Word, through the forgiveness of His Son, Jesus Christ, through His Spirit keeping you in your baptismal identity, and through the gift of prayer. He is not far from you as He is with you always. How will you answer His plea for you to not be far from Him?
      God’s blessings be with you all.

Psalm 101

    Greetings to you in the name of our praiseworthy Lord.  Well, even though I was supposed to be a home owner today, our closing got pushed back until Monday.  So Monday, I will be a home owner and hopefully next week I will post some pictures of the new place.
    It is supposed to be 85 here tomorrow.  That is very untypical for Duluth, but I will use the warm weather on my day off to get some more golf in as well as add to my sunburn/tan.  Our schedules at church have slowed down, which is nice to have a little more free time as well as some time to work ahead on other projects.
    I took quite a break from writing my Psalm devotions, but today I got back at it again.  Here is one from Psalm 101.  Have a great weekend!

Psalm 101:3 “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”
      Growing up in our house, my siblings and I heard Philippians 4:8 quoted a lot by our mother. Any time she saw us watching some movie or TV show she didn’t approve of, she would quote this famous verse to us. St. Paul says in this verse, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
      Now this is good advice that St. Paul gives us and I understand why our mother tried to drill this deep into our thick skulls. And as we see from our Psalm for today, even David agrees. Actually, since David lived long before St. Paul, I suppose you would have to say St. Paul agreed with David. David’s one line from Psalm 101 is basically the same principal as Philippians 4. I will not set my eyes on anything that is worthless, and by doing so I will think of honorable and pure things. Good life advice for all of us who want to live a life of integrity, who want to use our lives as a living sacrifice for God.
      However, this is much easier said than done. In our world today, it is almost impossible to not set our eyes on worthless things. Facebook is a great way to keep up with old friends, see pictures of your cousins’ kids, and hear all about people’s good news. However, it is also absolutely full of un-honorable, un-praiseworthy things too. Between all of the political ads bashing opposite candidates, the memes making fun of people and situations that really are not a joking matter, and the anger-fueled arguments in the comment sections, Facebook quickly becomes something worthless. TV shows and movies are a great way to wind down at the end of the day and enjoy some entertainment, but almost every show or movie now includes something that is not commendable. When I watch re-runs of older TV shows, (like “Home Improvement” for example) you remember what clean, good family-moral TV shows used to be like. It is extremely hard to find any show that is entirely pure and excellent anymore. Even commercials, ads, and billboards have become more indecent and inappropriate. So in today’s world, it is very hard to not set our eyes on anything worthless, when we are completely surrounded by such things and images.
      So what are we as Christians to do? We still strive to listen to the words of David and St. Paul. We still strive to keep our eyes on things of worth rather than worthless things. We still strive to think about honorable, pure, and praiseworthy things. Because when we keep our eyes on these type of things, we keep our minds on pure and excellent things. Our eyes can lead us to sin in thought probably easier than anything else. We see a racy picture or image; our mind is filled with lust. We see a meme pointing fun at a very serious issue; our mind laughs at something we should be disturbed by. We look at hateful words attacking complete strangers; our mind is filled with anger that people are so mean or judgment that people are so “ignorant” according to our standards. Our eyes lead us to sin, take sin too lightly, or become immune to the sinfulness of our world altogether as we look at these worthless things.
      So, let us confess our sins of the past, admit that looking at worthless things does cause to think this way, and then strive to live in integrity by making the effort to not look at worthless things. Instead, let us look to the Word of God. Let us look to the praiseworthy things of family and friends. Let us look at all the blessings God has put in our lives each and every day. This way, when we keep our eyes on these beautiful things, we will also keep our minds on the one who gives us all honorable, excellent, and praiseworthy things. Look to Jesus, think of Jesus, and live a God-pleasing life. In Jesus name, Amen.

            

The Perfect Storm

    Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The other night I watched The Perfect Storm for the first time.  I don't watch hardly any live TV anymore; however, I do still watch way too much Netflix.  The thing I love about Netflix is it gives me the chance to watch older classic movies that I didn't watch when they first came out.  I can remember all the buzz of a certain movie when it came out, but I wasn't going to spend the money to go to the movie theater to see it.  Then by the time it was released, I would have forgotten about it.  So now, as I see those titles pop up on Netflix, I try to watch them to see what I "missed out" on at the time.  The Perfect Storm was one of those movies that I remember hearing a lot about but had never seen it.  So the other night when I saw it one Netflix, I watched it.  It was a pretty good movie and actually quite impressive filming of the giant waves.
    So as I was reading Psalm 93 today, those images of giant waves throwing around the boats and even the giant ships like toys came flooding back to my mind (pun intended).  Especially after living in Duluth and seeing how big those giant ships really are, those images are even more real.  And yet, listen to the good news that psalm 93 is telling us.

"The floods have lifted up, O Lord, 

 the floods have lifted up their voice; 

the floods lift up their roaring.  

Mightier than the thunders of many waters,

mightier than the waves of the sea, 

the Lord on high is mighty!"  

    As I think about those giant, crashing waves, thrashing those boats and ships around so easily, it is  pretty good picture of the floods lifting up their voice and roaring.  I know it was a movie and just special effects, but it was trying to capture what really happens to those ships during a real hurricane.  Those waves have a lot of power behind them.  The movie is dedicated to the thousands (I don't remember the exact number) of men and women who have lost their life out at sea.  Most of those lives where taken by the power of the waves, the roaring of the waters, and the floods of the storms raising their voices.  It is a scary threat to all those who work on the sea and even more for their families praying they make it home safely.  This is the dark force, or the mighty part of the world that this Psalmist chose to contrast with the power and might of God.  Those powerful waves, the constant threat of death in those waters are compared to the one and only God and Lord.  

    Even mightier than these roaring waters, stronger than the most powerful wave, is the one and only God of the universe.  He is mightier than the waves of the sea.  Even the giant wave at the end of The Perfect Storm that is so tall it stands the boat straight up and down before it comes crashing down on them and causing the boat to sink (spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie).  Even mightier than the tsunami that cased so much damage in Thailand years ago, is our God.  This psalmist chose one of the most powerful forces of our earth - water - and says even it cannot begin to compare with the mightiness of our God.  This is good news and a great reminder for us that our God is bigger than the world.  He is stronger than anything that can harm us; even the roaring waters of the fiercest storm.  He is the creator of all and He is in control of all things.  And since He is every lasting, we can put out trust in Him and His decrees.  Thanks be to the one and only God who is ALL-powerful and ALL-mighty!   

Call Day!

    Greetings in Christ.  Today is Call Day at the Seminary.  An exciting time for all my friends who will be receiving either their vicarage placement or their first call.  It is hard to believe it has been a year already since I received my first call.  I remember it being a very long day, trying not to be anxious, and just waiting, wanting to sleep but also wanting to see family and friends.  However, as soon as they called my name, all of that anxiety was gone.  All of the waiting was worth it as my emotions turned to pure joy.  I remember thinking I won as I got the call I was really hoping to get.  And a year later, I still feel like I won call day.  I got the best first call I could have ever dreamed of.  The Lord blessed me and sent me to an amazing place, a wonderful church, and a great new home.  I thank Him almost every day for bringing me here.
    Tonight I will watch and see where all my fellow brothers are being sent.  It is not only exciting to watch where my friends will be pastors, but also just to see more laborers being sent out into the harvest field of ministry.
    Psalm 113 - "Praise the Lord!  Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!"
     Let us all together praise the name of our Lord as we rejoice for another class of servants entering the ministry.  Let us together praise the name of the Lord for all the amazing things He does every day.  Praise the Lord!

1946 John Deere Model B

    Greetings to you in the name of our Risen Lord.  I think spring is finally here!! I mean I am told snow is still possible well into May, but it looks like for now we have officially turned the corner.  The nice weather has me excited for a few reasons.  One, I am just itching to get out on the golf course.  Hopefully this Friday I can go get the first round of the season in.  Two, because it allowed me to get my tractor out of the shed and finally get it running.  I will say more about this below.  Three, because as we get nearer to closing on the house in just two weeks from tomorrow, I am excited to start the endless project of tree trimming, yard work, and cleaning up the place.  It is really not that bad as is, but of course my standards are too high for even myself, so I will be busy.  Four, because we are going to be tackling some major projects around the church in the next two weeks.  We are going to be doing some demolition work in the fellowship hall this Saturday so we can get all the patching done before we re-paint the whole place the following Saturday.  Then, that next Saturday (same day as paint day) we are also going to be doing a bunch of brush and tree removal to get the space ready for our parking lot addition.  I am excited to be working side by side with church members as we accomplish these projects.
     So see spring is just a great time of the year, and this spring will be a remember-able one.  As I said, I was finally able to get my tractor going.  Pastor Ludwig and I came upon a very generous from his end deal, and I am now allowed to call it mine. :)  It is a 1946 John Deere (Slant Dash, Styled) Model B.  I will post some pictures when I get her all cleaned up.  We had to pull it out of the shed because it wouldn't start.  Then we figured out the first problem was that we weren't getting any spark.  So I had to tear into it and follow every wire to make sure it was going to the right place. (I fortunately found a free online parts manual that laid out the whole wiring diagram or else I wouldn't know where the right place was.)  So then, once I got all those hooked up right, I had power to the right places. Then with a $0.36 part from Napa (which the guy kindly gave me for free), I had spark to both spark plugs.  So now that the spark issue was taken care of, it still wouldn't start.  So I spent the next hour siphoning and draining all the old fuel out of the tank.  With new fuel in the tank, and the spark plugs working, she started!  It was a beautiful sound!  Now I have to finish fixing the hydraulics so I can lift the bucket/  Then I will be able to drive it up on the trailer and haul it to storage at a friends house for two weeks until I can take it home!  That is a beautiful sentence.  The Lord is good and has blessed me abundantly.  Most of all, it has been a fun project and I am learning every step of the way.  Once it is in my garage at home, I will really work on taking it apart, cleaning it up, new wires, new cheap parts, etc.  I will use it for several years to push snow and do landscaping around the house before I finally have the money to completely restore it and have it for a show tractor.
     I hope the warm spring weather brings joy to you as well.  Hopefully you have one outdoor hobby that allows you to get out and enjoy the amazing creation God has giving to us.  Spring tidings and God's blessings to you all!

Psalm 134

Psalm 134:2

“Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!” 

            I am going to confess a personal character flaw about myself.  I know it’s a flaw, I know it’s stupid, but I just cannot seem to help it.  Whenever I am in a worship setting and I see someone raising their hands as they sing along with the music, it drives me absolutely nuts!  Now maybe this is because of my very traditional, conservative background that pretty much implied there were to be no emotions as part of the worship service.  The church I grew up in, which I love and am not faulting, but they said the words with reverence, they sang with a gentleness, and there was not much if any smiling, clapping, or raising hands.  So when I go to more contemporary style worship services, which I do enjoy, with more upbeat music, and much more emotions as people are clapping, swaying back and forth with the music, and yes the dreaded hand raising, it seems simply disrespectful to me.  It gets under my skin, it distracts me, and all of a sudden, I am no longer worshiping because I am so focused on that person holding their hand up.  My ego, pride, or arrogance, whichever or possibly all three working together, try to convince me that they are only raising their hands so other people will look at them and think they are “better” worshipers than everyone else.   As you can probably tell, this truly is a pet peeve of mine. 
            So it is with full conviction and shame that I read these words of Psalm 134.  I am burdened down to my core, as I realize God’s Word itself tells us to raise our hands to the holy place as we bless Him.  Now does this mean this Sunday, you will see me with my hands raised high during one of the hymns? Probably not!  What it does mean is that I realize raising your hand is a perfectly fine way to worship God.  What it means is that I need to get over my own flaws and judgments, and not let that style of worship distract me from worshiping God myself.  Rather than using all of my energy to try to guess why they think it is necessary to raise their hand, I should use that energy to realize I too am supposed to be praising God.  Instead of being filled with hate and anger when I see someone raising their hands during a song, I should be reminded that we are all there to worship and praise the same God.  I should be encouraged to be excited, to smile, to sing louder, and to genuinely give God my heart-filled thanks and praise for the good news of the Gospel in His Son Jesus Christ. 
            For you maybe it is not someone raising their hands.  Maybe for you it is the crying kid in the back that you wish the parents would take out.  Maybe for you it is the teenage kids snickering at each other’s doodles. Whatever it is that the Devil uses to distract you from genuinely worshiping God, let me use this psalm and remind you to stop worrying about everyone else, and focus on yourself faithfully praising God.  Stop letting your own personal likes or dislikes influence you to judge others around you.  Most likely, the other people who are “distracting” you with their worship habits are much more genuine in their praise then you are at the moment.  God tells us to use instruments of all kinds to praise Him.  Here God tells us to raise our hands as we bless Him.  He doesn’t care near as much about how we worship Him as He does that we are genuine and faithful in our worship.  Think about it!  He sent His Son to DIE for YOU!  He raised His Son from the DEAD to be YOUR living King!  He FORGIVES YOU of YOUR sins.  He gives you SALVATION and ETERNAL LIFE freely through Jesus Christ.  This is the good news you are hearing, this is the reason you are thanking, praising, and worshiping Him. It’s OK to show emotion, it’s OK to dance, clap, and celebrate that good news.  And yes, His Word even tells us it is OK to hold your hands up high when blessing Him.  The point is to bless the Lord, for He is good!  

Good Friday Blessings!!

                                                

    Good Friday Blessings to you all!  I pray you may hear the sad but life-given news of our Lord's death this evening.  The picture above is what our sanctuary looks like right now with the red glow of the cross in the midst of the darkness reminding us what today is all about.

    Here is my sermon from last night.  My first Maundy Thursday as a pastor is in the books and this is the sermon I got to preach.  The theme is "The Blood of the Covenant".

      You know as Christians, we are truly kind of a weird people. And as Lutherans we may be the weirdest of all. This is Maundy Thursday, the special day in the church year, part of Holy week, when we remember the Last supper. Jesus is in the upper room with His disciples and this is when He institutes Holy Communion. This day is celebrated as the remembrance of the first time Jesus told us that as we gather together and eat bread and drink wine, truly what we are doing is eating His body and drinking His blood. Now that probably doesn’t sound that strange to you because we have heard this so much as Christians, that it is perfectly normal to talk about eating the body of and drinking the blood of Christ. But I want you to stop for a moment and realize how strange that would sound if you were not used to this Christian teaching.
      In fact, this very kind of talk is what led the Romans to believe the early Christians in the ancient church were cannibals. Non-Christian Romans soldiers in Jerusalem would hear about this new group of people calling themselves Christians, and heard rumors that they were gathering together to eat flesh and drink blood, and they honestly thought this was a new cult of cannibals sacrificing children to eat flesh and drink blood. And while it may sound ridiculous to us, you have to admit this is one of the strangest teachings of our beliefs. Especially when you consider quite a few Christian denominations don’t even agree with us on this point. Baptists, Methodists, and many others think we are crazy to believe we are truly eating Jesus body and drinking His blood. They practice the sacrament as symbol only. Even the Catholics, who believe they are eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ, don’t agree with us that it is still bread and wine at the very same time as it the body and blood of our Lord. So you see, Christians are strange enough, talking about eating human flesh and drinking human blood, but us Lutherans, we are the odd ducks of an already weird religion. We believe, teach, and confess that as we eat the bread and drink the wine of this sacred meal, we truly and certainly are also eating the body of Jesus we are drinking the blood of Christ.
     Now we could examine closely both of these elements, the bread/body and the wine/blood, but tonight I want to focus in on the second one. Tonight I want to look at the wine, but even more importantly the blood of Christ that we confess we are drinking in this sacrament.
     So as we look at the wine which truly is the blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper of communion, the very meal we will partake of this evening, listen to the words Jesus used to institute this part of the meal. Our focus text for tonight, from Matthew 26 Jesus takes the cup, gives thanks and says, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” This is my blood of the covenant. This statement begs two questions. First what is the covenant? And Second, why does this covenant need blood?
     Ok, so the first question, what is the covenant Jesus is talking about. In the Old Testament, God makes four major covenants with His people. Tonight, very quickly I promise we will look at three out of the four. The first one is the covenant with Noah to never flood the world again, this is the one we are not going to look at.
     Then the second one comes in Genesis 12, God comes to Abraham and makes a covenant with him God promises Abraham that he will be the father of uncountable offspring, he will be the blessing to all nations, his offspring will inherit the land of promise flowing with milk and honey, and that that group of people will always be God’s people, and God will always be the God of that people.  This covenant will be reaffirmed through Isaac, and Jacob.
     The third covenant comes on Mt Sinai. This was our first reading for tonight from Exodus. Moses who has been in the presence of God up on Mt. Sinai, comes own and stands before the whole nation of Israel. He reads to them all the words that God had told to him while He was with Him. And all the people agree to the covenant as they say, “We will be obedient”.
     The fourth covenant is when God promises to establish the throne of David forever.
     So when Jesus says, this cup is my blood of the covenant, which covenant is He referring to? Is He referring to any of these four at all? In Luke and 1 Corinthians, it is recorded as Jesus saying, this is my blood of the NEW covenant. Maybe this is a completely new covenant that doesn’t tie back to any of the four. Well this is a new covenant in its own way, because it is the fulfillment of three of the covenants. Excluding the covenant with Noah, Jesus has come to make a new covenant that includes the other three.
    The covenant to Abraham, the covenant on Mt. Sinai, and the covenant to David are all being fulfilled in one new covenant through Jesus Christ and what He is about to do in the next couple days.
    The covenant of Abraham is fulfilled because now the mighty nation of God’s people will not be determined by being the offspring of Abraham, but rather the offspring of Abraham will be determined by being God’s people who believe Jesus is the Son of God. So you and I who believe Jesus is the true Son of God are now the offspring of Abraham and we are part of that original covenant, that we are blessed through the promise given to Abraham, we are and always will be God’s people and He will always be our God and we will inherit His kingdom.
    The covenant of Mt Sinai is fulfilled in Jesus because as sinners, both the Israelites and us failed to be obedient to all the ways of the Lord. So Jesus came and lived a perfect life for us, doing what we could not, and in His death pays the price for all those times we failed to keep God’s Word perfectly. Jesus has fulfilled this covenant for us in His perfect life, and His sacrificial death.
     And the covenant given to David is fulfilled in Jesus, because Jesus does establish the throne of David once and for all and Jesus will reign as the King of Israel, He is our King now and forever more.
     So what covenant is Jesus talking about? It is the new covenant that He makes with us, His people as He fulfills the three covenants of the Old Testament. This is the beautiful new covenant Jesus makes with us. We are His people, and He is our God forever and ever. We will inherit His Kingdom as we are the righteous forgiven children of the one true King. Salvation is ours as He forgives us of all our sins. Eternal life is ours as He promises to bring us into His kingdom on that final day. This is the awesome, amazing covenant we have in Jesus!
     Now to answer the second question. Why does the covenant require blood? For two reasons. One because covenants were sealed with blood to show how seriously they were to be taken, and two because God especially has always used blood to seal His covenants. In the ancient days of the Old Testament, if two people were to make a covenant together, instead of shaking hands, or signing a contract, they would each cut an animal in half, lay them side by side with the halves pulled apart from each other, and then both parties would walk through the blood as they walked between the split animals. Now you may think this sounds extremely grotesque. However, you have to remember their culture and daily life was very different from ours. They were very used to dealing with blood. Now most of us in our daily lives don’t deal with blood. With the exception of medial professions and butchers, hardly any of us deal with blood on a regular basis. It simply is not part of our daily life.
     The people of the Old Testament were very used to blood. Between slaughtering their livestock for meat, any war they fought was a very brutal savage style of fighting with swords and seeing the blood, and then later on the sacrifices at the temple, dealing with blood was a very common thing. In fact did you know the word blood is use 382 times in the Bible? And of those 382 times, it is used 291 times in the Old Testament, leaving only 91 times in the New Testament. Literally 3/4 of the times blood is talked about, it is in the Old Testament.
     So they were used to blood, and killing animals, and dealing with all of that stuff in their daily life.  So by each of them killing an animal for the covenant, this was kind of like each of them paying a down payment to show they were serious, and then as they walked through the blood, the bottom of their garments would be stained with the blood. This was to show that if either party brought the covenant, they owed blood to repay the other person. This is how serious covenants were. It cost you one of your animals, and you signed it with the stain of blood to show you would not break it. So blood was an essential part of any covenant.
     And this is true every time God makes a covenant. With the covenant with Abraham, God includes this tradition of cutting animals in half. Abraham falls asleep and as he is asleep, God shows Him the animals being cut in half, and then God is the one who walks through the blood. This is significant because God is the only one held accountable to uphold the covenant. Abraham is not held responsible with blood, only God is the one who is held accountable with blood to keep the covenant. 
    Then as we saw in our text from Exodus 24 this evening, we see that as the people say, We will be obedient, Moses throws the blood of animals onto the people. Can you imagine that. What if tonight I were to sprinkle the blood of some dead animals onto you to signify the covenant God has made with you? Well don’t worry, I won’t because I don’t have to.
    This new covenant that Jesus makes with us on that very first Maundy Thursday is sealed not with the blood of bulls or rams or any other animal. Instead, it is sealed with His very own blood that He will pour out on the cross. As He will be nailed to that cross, the grotesqueness of real blood, His blood is poured out through the nail holes in his hands and feet, through the thorn wounds in his head, through the whip wounds in His back. Through the spear hole in His side. His very own blood is poured out as He seals this new covenant for us in His death.
    And instead of walking through this blood, instead of being sprinkled with this blood, to show we are part of the covenant, instead we drink it! Every time we come to this rail, we drink the very true blood of our King, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed that blood for us in His death on the cross. So that now, every time we drink this blood, we are reaffirming the covenant, that we are His people and He is our God. We are reaffirming that He lived the perfect life we never could, but that through His death we are forgiven and made righteous. We are reaffirming that He is our King and that we will inherit the eternal life of His kingdom. This is the covenant He has made with us and this is what He sealed with His blood on the cross. And we may be a strange people, but it is such a powerful and wonderful gift, that we get to drink His blood and reaffirm that awesome covenant that is ours because of what Jesus has done for us.
    So tonight as you come forward and you eat the body and you drink the blood, know that this is the true body and blood of our Lord and King who died for you, who poured out His blood to seal the new covenant for you, and think about what this new covenant, as you drink the blood of your king, means for you!
    Because truly this cup you are about to drink, is the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for you to seal the one eternal covenant which guarantees your salvation and eternal life. We may be strange according to the world, but according to God, we are His people who have salvation and eternal life in the name of His Son Jesus. Amen.

    Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.