Christ the King Sermon!

     Greetings to you in the name of our King, Christ Jesus!  I had a great weekend.  Thursday night we had a blast at the Lock-In playing laser tag and dart ball.  We were done by 12:30 because the students were tired and had class the next day.  So that was good because I needed sleep.  However, by the time I got everything picked-up and the church locked up it was 1, and then it took me until 2 A.M. to fall asleep.  So when the alarm went off at 5:30, it felt like I had just fell asleep.  I and three students drove down to Sioux Falls to take one of them to the air port.  The other two and I got breakfast and came back.  Then I had to get ready for the funeral that went really well.  Luckily, I was pretty wide awake for the service and really didn't hit the tired wall until after the committal.
     I did get a nap before I went to the high school play.  They did the music man, and both the male and female lead are members of our church.  There were several other members from our church who were in the play too, and they all did an amazing job.  I was thoroughly impressed by the talent level in both the acting and the singing.  Then after the play JoAnna and Steven came to visit for the weekend.
      We stayed up pretty late Friday night talking and playing ping pong.  So we slept in Saturday morning, before I showed them the church, a quick tour of the town, and then some antique shopping.  We had a great day together.  Then Saturday night we went to a birthday party for one of the elders at the church.  He is turning 30 so he is a pretty young elder.  Then I had to work on my sermon.
       Sunday morning I preached both services and Mom, Dad, JoAnna, and Steven were at the second service.  Luckily for not putting as much time as normal into learning my sermon, both times it went pretty well.  Then we all went out for a nice lunch together.  It was a fun day to celebrate a little early my birthday and just to spend the time together.  Now it is a short week until I preach Thursday morning and then head home.

Here is my sermon from yesterday, hope you enjoy:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Text: Malachi 3:17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.”

        In Old Testament times, kings had a common practice of gardening. They would have their palaces, and then behind their palaces would be giant court yards. They would fill these courtyards with grand, gorgeous gardens. These gardens were the king’s prized possession. The gardens were so important to them for two reasons. First, these gardens were a representation of their kingdom. See when a king would conquer a new area or people, he would have some of the trees, crops, and plants that grew in that area brought back from that area and transplanted to the gardens in his court yard. When a king would have visitors or guests of honor, he would take them out onto the balcony of his palace and be able to overlook these gardens. He could quickly show off how big and diverse his kingdom was by the representation of the gardens all together elegantly laid out. Second, it was a way of reminding the conquered people that this new king controlled them and could have the fruits of their land any time he wanted. He could demand a share of their crop just as easy as he could walk out to his garden and pick it off of the tree or plant growing in his own court yard. These gardens would have care tenders who took care of them and would even dig hand dug canals to give each type of plant just the right amount of water. The king wanted to make sure the gardens were always flourishing, producing abundantly, and looked as beautiful as possible. It truly was the king’s prize possession that he would take great pride in.
       Now we live in a country where we do not have a king and a palace. We do not have that one king who is over all of us deciding every detail of everyday life. We have a government and president, and as good or bad as you may personally feel about our government and its policies, it is still far different than having a king. So today is Christ the King Sunday! But does that really mean anything for us who have never lived under a king? It should because Christ is still our King, and He reigns over us because He has come and conquered us. Our victorious king has come to our land and has conquered all other kings, authorities, and powers through His death and resurrection. Now some people might think of a king coming in and conquering as a bad thing. This stems from the tradition of human experience that when human kings would conquer a people, they would generally treat them poorly, making them almost slaves under high demands of taxes, exports, or other cruel ways of making them dependant on the king. However, Christ is not just any human king who has come to conquer and then rule with a dictative force. He was born as a human in order to become the victorious king; nonetheless, He is still 100% God and His conquering is a good thing, in fact it is the best thing.
        Even here in America in 2013, people are still held captive to kings, and evil kings at that! Three evil kings continue to reign in our world: King Sin, King Death, and King Satan. King Sin has his kingdom covering the entirety of creation. There is no mountain, no depths of the sea where you can hide or be free from sin and his rule. We were all born into his kingdom through original sin, being sinners from birth. From zygote to the corpse in the casket we are held captive to sin. King Sin has us in his grasp, never letting go. Even the most faithful people you could think of are still sinners living under King Sin. We as the people can never overcome this king and live captive to his reign.
        We are also captives to King Death. We live our entire lives knowing at any moment King Death could strike and we would be gone from this world forever. He is constantly prowling at our door, watching us at all times. He lurks around the corner causing most people to live in constant fear of his reign. King Death respects no one. Age, race, gender, size, build, health, nothing matters to King Death. Sooner or later he comes to every person and takes what he thinks is, our life. He demands the highest payment from us, and we as the people can never overcome his demands and live in constant fear of his power.
       Finally, the King who sits on the throne above King Sin and King Death, King Satan himself holds us as slaves to his kingdom. King Satan is the one who works the hardest, following us around just waiting for us to make one mistake, one slip. He is like a lion waiting to devour us. He whispers words of temptation softly into our ears. He is creative and sly, knowing what we want what we shouldn’t and he tells us we can have it. King Satan is a deceiving king, making us think we are free under his reign, that we can do whatever we want and have whatever we desire. He is the tricky king who gives us just enough to lure us in and then snatches everything out from underneath us. He shows us false promises and fake beauty only to drop us into a pit of darkness and despair. He is always scheming, planning, devising ways to make us think he is a good leader, when he only has our worst interest in mind. We being captive to King Sin and fearing the reign of King Death are slaves to King Satan.
       These are the three kings we live under, captive to in slavery with no freedoms or powers of our own. We cannot choose to ever get out from under their reign, we cannot defeat them or overpower them, and we on our own can do nothing but serve them in a life of misery and shame.
        Nevertheless, God Almighty, who created us, saw that we were living captive to these three kings. He being a jealous God, could not stand the idea of His creation living captive to another king, let along three evil kings. So He took action! He knew we could not free ourselves, we could do nothing about the reign of these three kings, but He could! So He sent His one and only Son, the One He wanted to be the King of Israel, the King of His creation. So Jesus, who was obedient to the Father, left His throne in Heaven and was born in the flesh into this world. He entered the world as a baby and the three evil Kings began every trick, scheme, and tactic they could think of to kill this new King. These three knew exactly who this king was and what He was capable of. They tried to kill Him, they tried to tempt Him, and they tried to convert Him over to their side. However, King Jesus is a loyal, faithful king who would not fall into their traps. He did eventually die, but not by their doing. No, Christ laid down His own life sacrificing Himself for us, for the all people living captive to these Kings. For a short while it looked as though these evil kings had won, and they would reign forever. But three days later, Christ walked victoriously out of the grave, announcing His defeat of the other three kings once and for all. He defeated them, and won our freedom from under their reign. Now Christ is the true King, King of all creation, King of all power and authority, King of Kings having dominion over the three evil kings.
       However, He did not kill them, ban them from the earth, or lock them away. No, He left to sit on His throne once again in Heaven and reign over all from there. He is in complete control, and yet the three evil kings continue to exist in this world. They continue to prowl, trying to take as many of us away from Christ’s kingdom as they can. However, we know that even though these three kings still exist, we are not captive to them, they have no power over us, and they cannot harm us, because we are Christ’s people. He has conquered us and we belong to Him and are under His reign. He does not hold us captive though, He makes us free to be His people, He gives us everything we need and asks for nothing back from us, He is the holy and righteous King who protects us, serves us, and loves us. This is the King who came to redeem us with His own life, and now gives us everything we need and more. He even gives us His righteousness, salvation, and eternal life to live under His reign. Christ is no ordinary king, but truly is the King of Kings being perfectly righteous and holy. Praise be to this King who has conquered us giving us our salvation!
        Then in our text today, we see our King’s prized possession, what He takes the greatest pride in. “They, the ones who fear the Lord, shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession!” We are His treasured possession. How amazing is that. A bunch of dirty, rotten sinners who were captive to the three evil kings are His treasured possession! We see a beautiful image of this in Psalm 92. Psalm 92 verse 12 reads, “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.” The Hebrew word for planted is actually transplanted. You see, when Christ came to earth, died and rose again to conquer the grasp of the evil kings, to be our victorious king, He did it all for us, His prized possessions. He is our king, and He will transplant us from this evil corrupt world, into the gardens of His court yard. He gives us life, causing us to flourish forever. This is supported by Psalm 1 where we see the righteous as a tree planted by the stream of water, living water, producing its fruit in season, with leaves that do not wither, and prospering in all that it does. We are the righteous because of Christ who is our King and has conquered us. At our Baptism, He claimed us as His own, marking our heads and our hearts with His name in the water by the power of the Word. He is our King who gives us the streams of living water making us trees that flourish, not withering but prospering. One day we will be transplanted from this sinful world into the gardens of His court yard, because we are His prized and treasured possession. We are the ones He wants to show off and show that we are claimed by Him, in His control at all times. We are the treasured possession He takes the greatest pride in and he proved it by laying down His life for us!

In the name of our King Jesus Christ, Amen.

Psalm 7

     Greeting in Christ Jesus.  The next two months are going to be extremely crazy and busy!  I have to write two sermons this week since I preach both Sunday and then Thanksgiving morning.  I have a Lock-In with the college students at church Thursday night.  It should be a blast, we rented Laser Tag equipment and plan to play that for several hours as well as board games, cards, and other games.  However, then first thing Friday morning I am taking one of the college students down to the air port in Sioux Falls.  Then when I get back we have a funeral at 11 that morning.  He was an awesome guy who I got to know pretty well over the past few months.  However, he was on hospice and in quite a bit of pain and suffering for the last month.  So I will help with the funeral and hopefully not be too tired.  Then I preach Sunday and preach again on Thanksgiving next week.  I plan to go home right after church on Thursday and see the WHOLE family.  Even Tim is flying up from Florida.  Everybody start praying for the coldest weather possible to welcome him back up north :)!!! Then the first week in December we have our LSF Advent Meal for another fundraiser for our mission trip.  That Thursday and Friday I am going hunting with some guys about two hours away from Brookings.  I have to be back Saturday for an all day Disaster Relief Training Session for our mission trip.  I preach the 8th.  Then on the 9th I go to Omaha because I fly out for Arizona on the 10th to go see Erin for a couple of days.  I get back on the 14th, and our Children's Christmas service in the afternoon of the 15th after normal church services that morning.  I preach the 18th for the Advent service.  Then I preach one of the two services Christmas Eve and turn around and preach again Christmas morning.  I plan to go home right after church on Christmas and stay until Saturday.  Then the first week of January we leave for Colorado for our mission trip!  Like I said crazy busy.
     However, it will be great opportunities preaching that much and trying to keep up with everything else.  It is going to make the month of December fly by though which means basically my vicarage is half over come January.  I am not the happiest about this because I know the second half is going to go just as fast as the first half!  I am not going to be ready to leave next July.  I wonder if I could just become a permanent vicar!
     Here is my devotion on Psalm 7.  I will also be posting all of my sermon manuscripts over the next several weeks so you all can read those.  Psalm 7:

Psalm 7

     In verses 1 and 2, King David asks the Lord to protect him from all his enemies.  He uses the image of a lion tearing apart his “soul”.  The Hebrew word for soul here is “nephesh”.  This word very regularly gets translated as “soul”, but that is not really an accurate translation.  Your “nephesh” is really your body, your personality, your talents, your traits, everything that makes you you.  Everything physical, emotional, psychological, etc. about you that makes you individually you is your “nephesh”.  So David is not specifically worried about his “soul” as in his spiritual self, but really about his being.  He doesn’t want these “lions” to tear apart his body, spirit, mind, or anything that is included in his nephesh. He is asking for his Lord’s protection, but I find it funny how he adds the end of verse two.  When David says, “rendering it to pieces, with none to deliver”, it makes me think of Humpty Dumpty.  David is worried that the “lion” will tear everything about him apart so none of it can be delivered.  If they tear apart his body, his soul could still be saved, or if they tear apart his mind, his body could still be saved.  In David’s mind though they are going to completely annihilate him so there is absolutely nothing left for the Lord to deliver.  Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and all of the king’s men and the king’s horses could not put Humpty back together again.  It is almost as if David is saying God is like the king’s men and horses who could not put him back together again.  As if these enemies, the “lions” are going to render him to so many pieces, even the Almighty All-powerful God could not deliver his pieces.  And yet I do not believe this is what David actually believes at all.  In my opinion, David is exaggerating the situation to show how much he fears his enemies.  He is like a teenage girl who turns something bad into the worst case scenario possible for the drama effect.  He is adding the drama that his enemies want to render him into so many pieces that none can be saved, not even by the most powerful God, in order to show how much his enemies hate him and want to hurt him.  However, David does trust in the Lord for his protection, asking God to be his refuge.  He asks God to save and deliver him, because he knows his only defense is from the one true Almighty God.  Then he ends this psalm with a praise of thanksgiving to his God who does save and deliver him.  We too might find ourselves adding drama and exaggeration to situations we find ourselves in, claiming that “not even God can help us with this one”.  However, we always know God is the Most High, and He can do anything.  More importantly we know that if He sent His one and only Son to save and deliver us from our sins, why would He now let the “lions” of our lives tear us apart.  He has saved us and delivered us from the biggest lion of all, and now that we are His children, He is not going to let be eaten by the smaller “lions”.  He has saved us from sin, He will save and deliver us from all eternal harm.  And if you ever do find yourself in a situation where you have become Humpty Dumpty and nobody, not even all of the king’s men and horses can put you back together, know that the God Almighty can.  

Psalm 6

    Greetings in the name of our Lord!  Last night was a lot of fun.  First, our IM dodge ball team had two games.  We lost both but had a blast and definitely lost with style.  Then the college students and I went to church to take on the men's club in dart ball.  For those of you who don't know, dart ball is where you throw metal tipped darts at a cork board that has a baseball diamond on it.  It is very intense and heckling is the most important part of the game.  I think I held up my end with the heckling, but not the throwing.  Fun was had by all though nonetheless.
      Here is my devotion on Psalm 6:



Psalm 6 verse 5
     Christians, especially Lutherans, are kind of stuck in a tough position. I am confident in my salvation and eternal life. I am living my eternal life right now, I do not have to die to get it. When I was baptized I was killed, quite literally. This is not just a symbolic death or metaphorical death; I actually died the same death Christ died on the cross. I got my punishment for sin, because the wage of all sin is death and I have died that death. And now I live in Christ because if I died His death I now live His life. Romans chapter 6 explains this very thing. I am living my eternal life and am living for Christ by the grace of Christ. The only life or death situation I can ever face is whether I turn away from my faith or not. The only way I lose this eternal life is to deny God or reject the faith He has given me. A gun in my face, a car wreck, cancer, none of these things are life or death situations as long as one remains in his or her faith, because they already have their eternal life. We should not be scared to die because we know of the life we already have that will be there when “death” does come to us.
       However, just because we are not scared of death, does not mean we should wish for it to come or want to die. This is what King David is talking about in verse 5. “For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” If we die, yes we will still have eternal life on the other side, with peaceful rest in heaven in the presence of our Lord, and we will be part of the ultimate goal, that final day when Christ comes again and raises the dead and we are reunited with our physical bodies ready to enter the new creation of the new heavens and new earth. Nonetheless, if we die, we are no longer here on this earth to do the work of our Father, to be the agent through whom He works His Gospel. While we live here we are His servants meant to be witnesses to our faith, spreading the Gospel with as many people as possible so that as many people as possible can be part of the chosen elect and enter into the new creation of that final day with us. This is why we are on this earth, this is our purpose of living a Christian life. One of my favorite quotes goes like this, “God does not have a mission for His church as much as He has a church for His mission.” God wants all to be saved. The fields are ripe and ready for harvest and we are the laborers who are sent out to collect the yield. We are called workers and called servants as Christians who are meant to use our life to further the spread of the Gospel.
       So yes, we should not be scared to die because we know of the joyous salvation and gracious gift of life we have that will bring us to our Lord, but we should also value and cherish every moment we have on this earth as a gift. We should view every day as a chance to continue to serve the Lord, to work for Him in order to try to bring as many people as possible to the good news of His saving name. Thank the Lord that through His Son’s death and resurrection we have our salvation, graciously being made dead to sin and alive to Christ, but also thank Him for choosing you to be a part of the elect, for giving you the faith to believe in Him and receive this gracious gift of eternal life. Then thank Him for the time you have on this earth to be His faithful servant and remember you are part of the church who is part of the mission of bringing salvation and eternal life to every people, nation, tribe, and language. All Praise be to His name that will hopefully one day be heard by all peoples everywhere.

Psalm 5

    Greetings to you all in the name of Christ Jesus!  Well I know you are all wondering first and foremost about how the squirrel tasted.  It was delicious!  I am definitely going to shoot some more and cook them up.  It was a quick, easy, and best of all very good meal.
     It was a good weekend.  We had three adults get confirmed yesterday, so that is always exciting.  One of them was a college student, so I was especially proud of her.  She had a reception with her family and friends and invited pastor and I over too.  It was a fun celebration.
     Then I spent several hours windrowing all the leaves in my yard with the riding mower, and then raking the windrows into piles.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, so I just left the piles in my yard.  I woke up this morning to a fresh layer of snow covering everything, including the piles.  Problem solved!  If this snow melts which I think it is suppose to I will have to clean them up quick before we get more snow.
     Here is my continuing psalm devotions with the one for Psalm 5.

Psalm 5 verse 3

     I do not know about you but I am not a morning person.  I would sleep in until ten every morning if I could.  I would much rather stay up late at night than get up early in the morning.  When I do force myself out o bed at the very latest minute possible, I rush to get showered, dressed, and ready for the day in about a fourth of the time it should actually take me.  I get to work still tired and about half awake.  A couple of the mornings when I have gotten up early to go for a walk, do some chores around the house, or things like that, I am much more awake and ready to go for the day.  It starts my day off much better and the rest of the day just seems easier.  You would think I would be smart enough to figure this out, go to bed earlier and start my day off this way every day. 

     I find it a pain to get up an hour early and get laundry started or empty the dish washer.  Imagine how much work David did in the morning when he says in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.  He would get up, slaughter an animal, prepare it just right, and do all the work of a whole burnt offering to the Lord.  This probably took him a couple hours at least.  Now, maybe he really did not do this every day, but it is the principle of the idea.  He spends his first time awake doing something for the Lord.  Just like our tithing is suppose to be the first fruits, the first portion of our pay check that automatically goes to the Lord no matter what financial situation we are in.  Our time should be offered no different than our money.  We should spend the first fruits of our time with God.  We should wake up every morning and start our day off with our first time in the Word and prayer.  Portals of prayer or any other little devotion is a great way to do this.  We may not butcher and prepare a whole animal for sacrifice but we can still make sure we start every day with an offering of our time to the Lord.  We want God to hear our voice in the morning as we make an offering to Him and watch how He is active in our life every day. 

            So even I who am not a morning person, am striving to wake up each morning with enough time to read a short devotion or passage from Scripture, and say a prayer of thanksgiving for the safe sleep and for His guidance through the rest of the day.  This is my “sacrifice” of sleep, but it truly is my offering to Him who already gives me everything. 

Psalm 4

     Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus.  WE GOT SNOW!  We got just under an inch of snow, but it was the perfect day of gentle snow fall.  I had to go sit in the deer stand last night, and I am so glad I did.  It was the most beautiful evening ever, sitting in the trees covered in snow with more snow slowly falling.  It wasn't windy, really wasn't cold, and just a perfect night.  I didn't see any deer, but I did shoot a squirrel with my bow.  I got him right in the head so none of the meat was even ruined.  He will get cooked up today, and this will be my first time ever trying squirrel.  The guy who I hunt with, his son is youth rifle hunting right now.  He got his second doe last night, so now he is done until actual rifle season.  I helped them skin and butcher it, and they gave me the heart because they don't eat it.  So that will also get cooked up in the next day or two.  I have some good eating ahead of me!
     My sleep study was last night here in Brookings.  It was pretty much the same thing as last time, except a lot nicer facility.  It took me a long time to fall asleep and I didn't sleep the best, but did get some sleep.  The technician told me that when she had the settings real low early in the evening, I had a couple "event" (times when I quit breathing).  However, when she turned them up then later, I did not have any more.  She did say I moved my legs a lot.  I will find out the official results and suggestions of future changes in about two weeks.  The biggest thing that would help is to just lose a bunch of weight, so I have started working out and being more intentional about what I eat.
      I am in the office for a little bit this morning before I go scrap all the ice off of the side walks, but here is my next Psalm Devotion.  Psalm 4:

Psalm 4 verse 1

I love how this Psalm starts out. In verse one King David is almost angry with God for not hearing His cries of help. He thinks God is not hearing his prayer. He admits that this God is the God of his righteousness and that this God does give him relief from his distress. He admits God gives him relief and yet still cries out, “Answer me God; hear my prayer!” King David has obviously spent some time on his knees pleading for God to give him help. We just saw in Psalm 3 where David feels as if everyone is against him, even his own son. He feels helpless and lost. He is crying out begging God to help him.

The reason I love this is because it shows David it praying in the first place. He would not be crying out for God to answer his prayer and hear his plea if he wasn’t already praying. I think far too often we are not as faithful as King David was. We are still quick to call out these words of complaint and bewilderment, “Why won’t you help me God, why do you not hear me?” And yet, when we find ourselves asking this question we must stop and ask ourselves have we really been spending that much time in prayer. Have we really been sending up that many prayers for God to hear? I know this is a constant battle in my own life. I get myself in a mess and I feel too dirty or too sinful to pray to God. How can I a sinner come to God and ask for anything, let alone ask for help and guidance? Luther says this is the time we need to pray the most. When we feel “worthy” to come to God in prayer we are not genuine or sincere and are boasting before God. However, when we feel unworthy, unfit, and just plain helpless, this is the best time to come to God in prayer. This is when we will throw all our troubles on Him and trust that He is the only one who can help us. This is truly the only time we get ourselves out of the way and let God do everything. This is when we need to spend more time than ever in prayer. Then after we have actually sent up a prayer for Him to hear, we can be like David and cry out, “Answer me Lord!” Not in a demanding way as if we tell God what to do, but in a trusting, relying way of knowing our help comes from nowhere but God alone.

David ends with the fact that he will lie down and sleep in peace because the Lord makes him dwell in safety. When we have taken all of our troubles to the Lord in prayer, trusting in Him to hear us, answer us, and give us relief in our distress, then we can lie down and sleep in peace, knowing He is our protector and sustainer. He is the one who watches over us, protects us, and guides us. So when you find yourself distressed and feeling utterly helpless, go to your Lord in prayer, use the gift He has given us to talk directly to Him. Only then can we cry out for Him to answer us, admitting that He is the God of our righteousness and the one who gives us relief in our distress. Prayer truly is one of the bests gifts He has given to us His children, so have the faith of David and use that gift as often as you can, knowing He will always hear you.          

   

All Saint's Day Sermon!

      Greetings to you in the name of our Victorious King, Christ Jesus.  I spent this weekend working on my old deer antlers.  I started them this last spring, by getting the skulls scrapped clean, shaped up nicely, and filed smooth.  Then this summer I used a fiber glass kit to have a hard back on them in order to mount them to the boards.  I made the mounting boards myself too.  Since I have hunted in Iowa, Nebraska, and now South Dakota, I made the boards in the shape of the state so I can always remember exactly where each deer was shot.  Using a projector, I drew the states on the wood, cut them out with a jig saw, and then sanded down the edges smooth and round.  I stained them with "Gun Stock" stain, and put several coats of polyurethane on.  Then I glued padding on to the skulls and fiber glass to help give them a rounder look.  That's as far as I got and they have been sitting there like that ever since.  I finally got the motivation to get the felt on them.  It was a very slow and tedious process, so I used Friday and Saturday to get the felt on.  Then yesterday I started on the final touch of rope around the base of the antlers.  I hope to finish them tonight or tomorrow evening.  When they are officially done and on the mounting boards, I will post pictures.  I would like to find a trophy shop or somewhere to make gold engraved plates with the years and details of each one to put on the mounting boards too.  It's been a lot of work, but I am pretty proud of the deer I have killed.  The worst part is, I will have these three done but have to start all over with the one I shot this year.  
      Other than working on that, I did go sit in the stand Friday and Sunday evenings.  Did not see much though as it was cold and windy both times.  I still enjoy just sitting in nature and being outside.  Between times of working on this project, I worked on learning my sermon.  I got it down pretty well, and my preaching was pretty smooth both services yesterday.  I am still struggling to find my "preaching niche".  That certain style of delivery that just works for me and engages people.  However, I think it will come with time and practice.  Here is my sermon manuscript from yesterday.  Blessings.

Grace mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text today comes from the reading from Revelation, specifically from verses 9 and 14. “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. AND These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

      All Saints Day is a beautiful bitter sweet Day in the church year. We add the procession into the church carrying the cross of Christ for all eyes to gaze upon as we begin the service. We heard the beautiful voices of the children sing “I am baptized, salvation is free lasting to eternity!” We heard the beautiful horns play along with the Hymn of Praise. It’s a celebration, a joyous celebration as we are reminded of the gift of eternal life we have in our Lord. And yet here shortly as the names of the departed are read with the tone of a bell struck for each one, we are reminded of the ones who are no longer with us. We are reminded of the good times we had with them and how much we miss them. It makes us a little sad, maybe even make us a little teary eyed as we hear their name again. Our emotions are twisted as we know it’s a celebration of the sweet gospel, and yet a hint of sadness hits us as well. It is OK to be a little sad at the fact that our dear loved ones who we cared so much about are not here with us anymore. It’s OK to feel these mixed emotions.
      I imagine there were mixed emotions for people on May 8th,1945. May 8th, 1945, is known as VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day. When the Nazi’s officially surrendered, and the fighting in Europe was done. I imagine there was abundant joy as the soldiers who had been fighting for years, enduring some of the hardest most horrific times of their lives heard the news of victory. The victory was won but it had cost a hefty price. Over 400,000 Americans died in World War II. These men did not get to experience the Victory. Then to make matters worse, as these men and women were torn between the joy of victory and the sadness of losing so many fellow companions, they had to face reality that the fighting wasn’t over. The war was still going on in Japan. Joyous victory mixed with sadness for the fallen comrades mixed with anxiety of more fighting, this is the difficult mess these soldiers were faced with.
     And yet it is not that far off from what we are faced with today. We have the joyous victory of life after death mixed with sadness of our loved ones who have departed into that eternal life mixed with the reality that more loved ones are going to keep dying. The only thing that keeps these mixed emotions in check is that the joyous celebration of victory trumps the other two. The victory trumps the sadness and worry, and that’s why this day is a joyous celebration. It all comes down to the victory of our Lord.
      Looking at our text for today it is hard to see anything but the joyous celebration of this victory. We see this great multitude standing before the throne of God where He and the lamb are present. This multitude is too many to count, ringing back to the covenant the Lord made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their descendants would be too many to count, as many stars as there are in the sky or as many grains of sand on the sea shore. This is the multitude standing with the angels all shouting out praises to God. “Salvation belongs to our God, and Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever Amen!” I just love how the second shout of praise begins and ends with Amen. This is the picture we see of this joyous victory celebration. There are three very specific details to this picture that point directly to the victory being the cause of the celebration.
      The first detail in the picture that points to the victory is what is in the hands of this great multitude. Did you catch it when Pastor read it the first time, or when I reread it as the text for this sermon? At the very end of verse 9 which is describing the great multitude, it says with palm branches in their hands. Now palm branches do not mean much to us here in the US, especially in South Dakota. You do not see too many palm trees growing around here, and even down in Florida where my brother lives and you actually do see them growing in people’s front yards, they don’t have the same significance they did in Biblical times. In the Old Testament palm branches were used for the festival of booths, a special day in the tabernacle. King Solomon used carved images of palm trees in the temple also. They were a special symbol used with special holidays or celebrations in the tabernacle and temple. It would be kind of like our advent wreath or Easter lilies. However, when you look in the New Testament palm branches are only seen in one other place than this text from Revelation. The only other place we see palm branches in the New Testament is in John’s account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. When Jesus comes in riding on a donkey into the holy city of God’s people, and all of the people come to line the streets and shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel,” as they hold palm branches. These people shout praises to the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel as they hold palm branches. They praise him holding these branches as a celebration of the victory that he has come to be their king! They will of course change their shouts and attitudes towards Him as they shout out, “Crucify Him!” less than a week later. However, it is only through this crucifixion and His resurrection that He actually becomes the TRIUMPHANT King of Israel! Through His death and resurrection He has won the Victory that they thought they were celebrating when He entered the city, and just as they honored their victorious king with palm branches as he rode into Jerusalem, now this great multitude that knows salvation belongs to their God is truly celebrating the victory of their king and John gives us the connection of them holding palm branches again. These simple branches point directly to the fact that Christ is our King, He has always been our King, and will always be our King, and even more importantly our king who has won the victory!
      The second detail of the picture that shows us the victory of our Lord comes from verse 14, when the identity of the multitude is questioned and the answer is, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.” We know we are living in the end times ever since Jesus ascended into heaven, and the tribulation is this sinful world we are left living in until He comes back. These are the ones coming, present tense with an ongoing result, out of the tribulation and into the presence of God. These are the ones who were part of the church militant and are now joining the church triumphant. That’s who this multitude is. Malcolm Forbes is quoted as once saying, “Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.” For the ones in this multitude, the victory they are celebrating, holding the palm branches, is the sweetest, the most sweetest! Each and every one of them has known defeat! They lived in the great tribulation just as you and I are still today. We have all known defeat! We have all known times were it seems the Devil has won and God seems to be doing nothing about it. Christians are being actively persecuted in Egypt, churches are being burnt down, ministers and their families are being threatened and killed, and faithful people claiming to be a Christians are being jailed or beaten all around the world, traffickers sell woman and children as if they are purely possessions to be used for sex or slaves, predators rape and molest children, men walk into schools, movie theaters, and malls and open fire killing innocent children and victims, natural disasters leave whole towns homeless and looking for survivors, the tragic death of a young child whose smile could melt your heart, a couple who has been trying to get pregnant for years finally gets pregnant only to have a still birth three months in, the child or grandchild you have tried so hard to teach the importance of faith to turns their back on God as if it is no big deal, or cancer leaves a parent or grandparent who has been so strong and independent all their life utterly and miserably weak and sick!
      We have all known defeat and times where we wonder, “What is God actually doing?” Why does He seem to be letting the Devil run rampant having his way in so many places? We have all felt that feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, but this is what makes the victory we see in this picture that much sweeter! You cannot know how truly amazing God’s love is, you cannot know the fullness of the Gospel unless you know the fullness of sin, the true horribleness of the great tribulation. The victory of our Lord is what gives us the strength to continue on through the tribulation, the cross going before us as our banner is what gives us the confidence to remain faithful even in the worst of times, knowing that the victory is won, the victory is ours, and we will join in with the great multitude in the FULL celebration of that victory in eternity. The ones coming out of the great tribulation, now holding palm branches, are celebrating the sweetest thing they have ever known, the Victory!
       The final part of this picture that points us to the victory of our Lord is included in both verses 9 and 14. In both of these verses the multitude is pictured wearing white robes. You see as the church militant we wear a special uniform in order to be ready for the attacks of the devil. Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. This armor includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. These are our battles clothes as the church militant; however, this great multitude that is now the church triumphant is no longer under the attacks or schemes of the devil, so therefore they no longer need the armor of God. The white robes signify not only has the battle been won, but the war is completely over. They are at rest in the peace of the victory celebration. They have shed the armor and now stand in the presence of their God in white robes, their victory garments! You and I wear these same white robes claiming us as the chosen people of God, under our armor of God! And one day we too will be able to shed the armor of battle, when we come out of the great tribulation and into His presence. We will shed the armor exposing our white robes, and we will exchange the sword for a palm branch. Our battle cry will become a rejoicing shout of praise to Him who has given us His victory as our own.
       This is the picture we get of the FULL celebration of the victory. And all details of this picture point to that victory. But what does this mean for us today as we celebrate all saints day? Well we can be a little sad as we miss our loved ones, but we still rejoice that in the victory they are a part of this great multitude! We know more loved ones will continue to depart from this earth until Christ comes again, but we hold fast to the victory that is ours and theirs so that we all will one day be a part of this great multitude. Finally, as we continue to live our daily lives here in the great tribulation, wearing the armor of God we let the cross of Christ go on before us as our banner, giving us the confidence and strength to remain faithful to Him, knowing it is by His grace, mercy, and might that we are part of the chosen people, part of the uncountable multitude who all celebrate the victory of our Lord with palm branches and white robes. This Victor of our Lord trumps and triumphs over all sadness, worry, fear. The victory of our Lord trumps and triumphs sin, evil, the Devil and even death itself! His Victory is ours, His Victory is yours, today, tomorrow, and for the rest of eternity! 

In the name of our Victorious King, Jesus Christ, Amen.