Busy couple of weeks

God's blessings to you all.  I know it has been more than a week since I have posted anything, but it has been a very busy couple of weeks.  The first couple of weeks of work are off to a great start.  I have been mostly working in the shop servicing equipment, changing oil and greasing everything.  The state's budget is out of money.  In fact every budget the state has is out of money until the new financial year starts July 1st.  So until then we are just doing little jobs like picking up tire shreds and dead animals off of the roads and picking musk thistles out of the ditches.  I have spent two days picking up rubber and animals off of the interstate.  We also had to fix two signs that strong wind blew over.  I took some pictures of our equipment and some of the jobs I have been doing.  I forgot to take pictures of the signs, and do not have any of the thistles.  I will post the ones I do have below.
Other than work, I have been spending time with friends and helping my buddy Bill build his garage.  Yesterday we spent nine hours in the sun, putting roof trusses on the framed walls that he and his father-in-law already had built.  The garage is 45 by 34, which is a pretty good size building, and the trusses were 36 feet long and 8 feet tall.  They were heavy, and my job was one of the ground guys carrying the trusses from the pile to the building and manually lifting them up to the guys on the scaffolding who were nailing them up.  Today we spent another 8 hours in the sun sheeting the entire roof.  My job on the first half was to lift the sheets of plywood up to the guys on the roof.  Then once we had the first side tacked up, and they moved on to the other side, I went back with the nail gun and actually nailed the sheets down.  I had to do all the seems by hand, and then did the rest with the nail gun.  By the time I finished that side they were done sheeting the second side so I did the same thing to that entire side.  It was not difficult work but walking up and back down the roof twenty-four times per side to make sure the sheets were nailed to every truss wore my legs out.  Plus all the hammering and walking on the slant of the roof used many muscles that aren't used to being used.  Needless to say I am a bit stiff and sore.  Good thing I know work should be pretty easy for the most part again this week.
My thoughts for the day will most likely not be as good this summer since I do not have classes to learn new and interesting things.  However, I still want to keep them going.  My thought this week is time for God.  Not only have I been very busy already these first couple of weeks, but my entire summer is going to be very busy too.  I will constantly be on the go or working.  Not only am I busy, but working on the interstate I find my self watching traffic a lot.  Just sitting there eating lunch on the side of the road in the pick up, I can watch all the cars, trucks, and semis speeding down the road.  We have quite a bit of construction in our area right now as they are re-doing the interstate, and that backs traffics up as they funnel down to one lane. This only puts people in a bigger hurry to get on down the road.  Watching these people in their rushing vehicles makes me think how often we forget to make time for God.  Summer is busy for everyone and I think most often the time we find ourselves farthest from our devotional lives and prayer lives.  I am trying my hardest to still make time to spend in the Word, and find myself praying every chance I get.  I try to make my conversation with Him a priority in order to make sure I keep Him in my life and my faith strong.  I pray that all of you never find yourselves too busy for your Lord.  Life goes by fast, but it is still important to take time in Word and prayer.  No matter how busy life gets, make time for Him, because He never gets too busy for you. All Praise be to Him who is always there listening and protecting us even when we sin by not finding time for Him in our lives.
Dear Heavenly Father, 
Please keep our faith strong in each one of us.  Give us Your guiding Spirit to help us find time for You.  Let us hear Your Word and take time to speak personally to You through the gift of prayer.  Thank you for always having time for us, and forgiving us when we have gone astray.  We pray in the name of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  

 This is our motor grader.  I have not actually got to use this, but I did drive it around the yard for a while before I serviced it.  It was pretty fun playing with all the levers.

 This is our brand new truck.  It is a bad picture because it was parked in cold storage where there is not much room.  Most of our trucks are pretty old, rusty, and beat up.  So this new shiny one really looks good next to them.

 This is another one of our dump trucks/ snow plows.  This one is in the shop because Corey and I were using it to haul a piece of equipment called a sheep's foot back to Lincoln when the air brakes decided to spring a leak.  Luckily, we were parked when we discovered the leak.

This is our old loader.  I love driving it, but it is very old and worn out compared to the new one we have.  The new one hasn't been in the yard much because we are using it to load dirt that we were hauling.  So I do not have a picture of it yet.

 I spent an hour and a half driving this beautiful beast from Utica back to the shop in Seward.  It is only about seventeen miles by interstate from where it was to the shop, but I had to take back roads which took much longer.  However, I did not care and enjoyed the drive.

 This is our disk.  It hardly ever gets used.  However, a farmer decided to plant his beans in the ditch on the state's property.  They put in new Right of Way markers that show exactly where the state's property ends.  The farmer intentionally drove out and around the markers and kept on planting.  So our boss had me get the disk all fixed up and ready so one of us guys can go disk up all the planted beans that are on our property.

 This is the biggest fix I had to do to it.  It is where the hydraulic hooks up to the actual disk in order to raise and lower it.  The shop that borrowed it from us had an old hitch pin where the bolt is and they wired it on to keep it in place.  I put a new bolt in but my boss wanted spaces in it.  However, as you can see the hydraulic mount is all bent up and not in very good shape.  So I spent a couple hours fabricating the metal spacers to fit the bent up mount.

 This is the beauty I get to use to mow the yard.  That job happens more frequently now that we are pretty slow.

This is called an ASV, All Surface Vehicle.  It is basically a glorified skid-steer.  It is broke down right now so that's why I had to take a picture of it in the shop.  I will try to take more pictures of equipment and try to remember to take pictures of the jobs we do so you can see what kind of stuff I am doing.

This is Bill's garage.  I did not take a picture of it sheeted, but we will be putting on the tar paper tomorrow after work, and then shingling it Saturday.  I will try to remember to take pictures then.

Summer!

God's blessings to you all.  I apologize for going so long without writing to you all.  However, I have spent the last week writing some very long and detailed papers.  But I am all done now.  I am writing this between classes quick, then I have two more classes to sit through and I am officially done with my first year of my seminary career.  That means I am a third of the way done with classes, and a fourth of the way done with the entire process.  I have been so richly blessed during this first year, and it has went by so fast.  I cannot believe it is over.
Like I said the last week has been a rough one, but I survived.  I preached my first sermon, wrote my first exegetical paper, and attended my first jambalaya fest.  I did try a couple days ago to upload the video of my preaching for class so you could all see my first experience preaching.  However, it is a QuickTime video, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get it to work with this blog.  I do not want to put my manuscript of that sermon up here because it changed dramatically from what I typed up to what I actually preached.  I like the sermon I preached better so I will keep trying to figure out how to get the video up.  Overall, it went well.  I was kind of quiet, which was shocking to me since I have not been quiet ever.  Also, I was very mono-tone and kind of dry.  It definitely lacked personality and charisma.  However, I think that will come with time and practice.  My exegetical turned out better than I thought and I was quite impressed with my work.  However, we will see if thee Great James. W. Voelz, who probably knows Greek better than most Greeks, thinks as highly of it as I do.
What's the jambalaya fest you ask? Well, let me tell you.  A church from New Orleans raised ten thousand dollars in order to load up a convoy of vehicles, drive all the way to St. Louis and host this awesome feast for us. They brought all the ingredients and made the huge pot of homemade jambalaya. 1600 bowls of it to be exact. They fried catfish and had it on sour dough buns. They had Zapp's chips a New Orleans special I guess, and King cake for dessert. It was such good food and the people cooking and serving were so nice. I ate way too much like usual. They also had Sangria, wine, beer, and a Louisiana punch which definitely had a little kick to it. It was just an amazing thing to see that these good faithful Lutherans raised that much money, to drive all the way up here, cook such great food, and feed the entire seminary campus. We had a great turn out of students, faculty, and staff. The coolest thing is, I guess this is the fifth year they have done this. I was thoroughly impressed.
I plan to pack up my car Saturday and drive to Iowa Sunday.  Then I head to Nebraska Tuesday and start work at the State Wednesday.  I am excited to be working again, even if it is picking up dead animals.  I also am super excited because the guys I am living with this summer have been texting me for the past week telling me there are enjoying a cold beer either beside the pond right by our house, or out on the pond in the paddle boat.  I cannot wait to sit by that pond, enjoy a cold brewski, and just enjoy being back in the heart of God's country with the crops and calves growing.
I do intend to try to at least once a week to sit down and blog.  However, summer is going to be very busy and I may not be ale to keep that intention.  Either way though, I do promise to pick it back up next fall when I get back to school.  Just a little memo to all of you who enjoy following this blog.
My thought for the day comes from Dr. Kolb and confessions class.  A student was asking a question about the burden of guilt.  Now Dr. Kolb loves life and I do not think he has any guilt for anything.  He truly believes in the power of forgiveness through absolution, and he lives his life in that peace of Christ's forgiveness.  So he was explaining to this student that if you confess your sins and hear the absolution, and yet you still feel guilty, you do not truly believe in the power of Christ's forgiveness.  He then went on and put it this way.  "You do not have the right to feel guilt! You should not steal from God.  If you try to stick your hand into the tomb of Christ you steal your sin back, you're liable to have a big rock roll onto your hand!"  I love how he put this idea.  When we keep feeling guilty for our sins, we are reaching into the tomb of Christ, trying to steal back and hold on to a sin Christ died for and forgave.  When Christ forgives us, He takes our sins away, and gives us His righteousness.  Now He does not try to take His righteousness back, so we should not try to take our sin back.  We just leave it in Christ's tomb, which is also where He left them all when He rose and ascended.  All Praise be to Him who has taken all our sins away, not letting us have them back, because instead we have His righteousness.  Happy Ascension Day!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for the gift of Your Son, who died to clear us of our sins, rose to give us new life, and ascended to give us our hope of eternal salvation in heaven with You.  Also, thank you so much for not just taking Your Son home and leaving us here alone, but instead, when You called Your Son home on this ascension day, You sent Your Spirit to be and abide with us.  Keeping us in the one true faith until that day that You have promised when Your Son will come again to bring all Your children home.  In the name of Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  


I apologize, my catechism is packed up so I will not include a section from this time.

First Sermon

Hello and God's blessings.  I do not have time to actually post this week, especially since we just got another ten page paper added to our work load today.  However, I am still surviving for now.  Tuesday was Call day.  I ushered from 12:30 P.M. until 9:30 P.M.  It was a fun day, but it was a long day and my feet certainly hurt.  I will try to tell more about that exciting day if I find a free moment.  However, since I now have 42 pages worth of papers to get done, writing is not going to be my first choice of activity for my free time.
I did decide I would post my first sermon I wrote for Homiletics class.  It got a B+ and Dr. Schmitt did not really have anything negative to say about it, he just found several places that could have been better.  Of course if you have the gift he does, of being able to see profound proclamation out of anything and in the coolest ways, it is easy to find things to improve in any sermon.  Two warnings.  One, keep in mind it is written in oral style so there are grammatical mistakes, fragments, etc.  Two, it is my first official sermon and hopefully Lord willingly they will continue to get better.  The style of this sermon is called a four page sermon where you find the "law" in the text, the "Gospel" in the text, the "law" in the world, and the "Gospel" in the world.  I had them clearly marked to be graded, but took them out for your sake.  I did not make any of the suggested improvements Dr. Schmitt commented on, so you are seeing the exact text I turned in.  I have turned in my second sermon, but will not get it back until I preach it next Thursday.  I am very nervous to get up in front of the class and preach my sermon, but I will get through it.

Here is my sermon:  Titled: The Throne is Occupied!
Text Ephesians 1:15-23

v  Hymn of the Day:  LSB 492 “On Christ’s Ascension I Now Build”

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

            Today’s text comes from the Epistle Reading which we have already heard. 

This section of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is very complex and he manages to say so much in just these few verses.  Paul is using prayer to give thanks for the faith of the Ephesians, and he clearly states everything he is praying for.  Now we are not going to look at everything Paul is praying for today, and we are not going to even look at what Paul is doing through his prayer.  Rather we are going to focus in on one small, but very important, part of Paul’s prayer.  Since this is Ascension Thursday and you all have made the extra trip to church this week for tonight’s service, I think it is only appropriate that we focus on the ascension that Paul includes in this prayer.  Paul does not just flat out re-tell the event of the ascension, but we heard that in both the readings from Act’s and Luke’s Gospel.  Paul does however include the ascension in verse 20 of this passage.  We read verses 19b through 21b: “according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.”  This is the ascension of our Christ that Paul adds to the opening of his letter.  However, as simple as it is, it paints a picture that may not be seen unless you stop and really think about this event.  I am going to verbally paint this picture for you, and then as I continue through my sermon, hopefully the picture will become clearer and clearer for you until you are able to leave here with its full beauty in your mind.   The picture of ascension that I want to paint for you is the same picture that I have in my mind every time I recite the Apostle’s Creed.  When we confess that “He ascended in heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead”, I see our Lord, or a better imagery for this picture is our King, our triumphant King, in all his glory and majesty, sitting on his throne at the right hand of God the Father, reigning above all other powers and dominions, as our ruler and judge when we come before His throne as we enter eternal life.  And it is this King who is only able to sit in his throne because He was victorious, victorious indeed, that we put our entire trust of our faith in.  Keep this picture in your mind as we continue on.   

            The Ephesians, to who Paul sent this letter, have many people who are new to their faith.  They also have believers who have been following Paul’s teachings since he left them.  However they are all going to have to deal with sin and death.  It is part of our sinful world and Paul knows this.  The devil tempts these Christians to try to drive them away from their faith.  If the devil even tempted Jesus, the Son of God, you know he tempted these Ephesians that much more, hoping to make them stumble and fall away from their faith.  The devil’s ultimate goal is to drive these faithful people to complete and utter despair, leaving them feeling completely abandoned and alone.  Then he is able to get them to doubt God, and they may even be foolish enough to reject their faith.  The devil will use tragedies, their persecution, natural disasters, and unexplainable deaths to bring about their despair.  He is constantly lurking in the shadows, waiting for one of them to be alone and weak.  He wants to isolate them, because like a hunting lion, it is easier to pick off one weak member of the herd than to take on the entire herd at once.  He is constantly a threat to their faith because he is able to use their sinful nature to get them to stray from God and His ways.  The devil, sin, and death in this world are their enemies.  They are what shake their faith and make these followers of Christ question what they really believe.  From the fall of man, the devil has been preying on every human being that shows even the slightest signs of faith.  

            However, these attempts by the devil through sin and death, trying to make them feel helpless and alone is exactly why Paul includes the ascension in this letter to the Ephesians.  He includes the resurrection and ascension because this is the victory our king has won for His people.  The devil, sin, and death are the enemies, trying to constantly make Christians fall away from their faith and essentially away from God.  However, this is the entire reason Christ took on flesh.  Through His death, His resurrection, and His ascension, He completely defeated these enemies of His people.  Christ won victory over sin, death, and the devil by being the perfect sacrifice, by paying the price that no human ever could, and by being the King who triumphantly won the battle.  Paul, knowing the troubles and strife’s that these new believers are going to face, is reminding them that they can put their trust in their triumphant king who reigns above all other powers and dominions, including sin, death, and the devil, from his throne in heaven. 

            So these Ephesians hear the good news of their triumphant king from Paul in his letter to them, and this allows them to put their trust in Christ.  But what does that mean for us?  Many of you are probably saying to yourself, “Well Pastor, of course we know Christ won over sin, death, and the devil.  We hear that message every week.” And knowing most to all of you, I do honestly believe you do know that Christ is our Savior.  However, just because we know the message, does not necessarily mean we always believe it’s true.  Because you see it is almost impossible for us to wrap our human minds around the fact that God sacrificed His own Son, in order to save us horrible sinners.  We are his fallen race that He should have damned to hell, but instead He sent His own Son to receive His wrath and the full wages of our sins.  This is where the fourth use of the law comes into play.  Now since you are all such wonderful Lutheran people, you probably just found yourself thoroughly confused when I said the fourth use of the law.  Because every good Lutheran knows there are only three uses to the law.  However, when I was in my Confessions II class with the honorable Dr. Kolb who translated the Book of Concord, we talked about a fourth use of the law.  This was the first time I had ever heard of this use.  The fourth use is also sometimes called the demonic use of the law.  Because when faithful people know and understand the first three uses of the law, and they use the three uses to repent often, the devil does not like this.  He tempts them to sin, but even when he can get them to stumble, they immediately turn to Christ and receive His forgiveness.  So the devil, tricky as he is, tries a different approach.  Instead of tempting them to keep sinning, he simply whispers in their ears, “You really think the Lord forgives you.  You of all people, who sin daily, you think you are good enough for Him?  You cannot be serious, you cannot really believe that you, you dirty sinner, are saved from everything you do wrong!”  And maybe at first we do not listen to him, but the devil is a persistent guy, and he just keeps getting us to stumble and then immediately whispers the lines of doubt in our ears.  Haven’t you ever felt this way?  Have you really never felt so dirty of your sins, or so guilty about something you did, and just plain so ashamed you did not want to pray to the Lord.  I know I have felt this way at times.  I make up the excuse that I will pray to the Lord tomorrow because I just do not feel right doing it today.  I think we have all had those times when the devil tricks us into believing that yes we know the price Christ paid, and we know He forgives sins, but His Gospel, His grace cannot possibly be for us personally.  It cannot really be that easy to just be free from all our sins through a simple prayer.  This is how the devil gets us.  And as we begin new outreach programs with the college students and the campus ministries, we have new believers in our midst just like the Ephesians.  And if we, who have been faithful members of this church for years, can fall into the devils trap of doubt and questioning, just think how easy it will be for them to question if they are truly forgiven.

            So what do we do?  Do we just keep saying that we believe in Christ’s grace and forgiveness of sins, push the doubt to the back of our heart, and hope that on judgment day it is not enough to keep us out of heaven?  To use Paul’s famous answer, Absolutely Not!  We hear in this text today, Paul telling the Ephesians, but it is still true for us also that all authority and all dominion are under Christ’s feet.  The devil still roams this world, we still stumble to sin, and these bodies of ours will wear out and death happens.  However, we have a king who has power and dominion over all of these.  We have a king who came to earth to fight the good fight.  He fought the battle against sin, death, and the devil.  And He WON! How do we know He won?  Because of this special day we are here to celebrate today.  See if Christ had just died, He would have paid the wages of sin, but He would not have defeated death.  And even if He had resurrected and defeated death, if He had not ascended into Heaven, we would not have the hope of life with Him in heaven.  In our Hymn of the day we sang the line “On Christ’s ascension I now build the hope of my ascension!”  See when Christ ascended into heaven He officially proclaimed that His work was complete.  Everything He came to do on earth, He had accomplished.  And it is because He ascended into Heaven as the victor, that we too are able to have the hope of eternal life with Him in heaven.  He is our victorious king who went home to sit in His throne.  See in the Old Testament when an enemy would be a threat or be attacking the people, the king of the people would go out with his troops to battle.  He would watch the battle to know if he had won or not.  Then when he won, he would return to his city and sit in his throne on the gate to let everyone know that the battle was over, the victory was won.  His sitting in that throne was the sign to all the people that He had been victorious and had kept them all safe from their enemies.  He was back in his throne reigning over them, watching over them because they were now safe with their enemies being pushed back and wiped out.  This is the same message we get after Christ’s ascension.  Christ came to earth to fight the battle.  When He had officially won and completely defeated the enemy, He returned home to His city again.  And He sat in His throne at the right hand of the Father, where He still sits today.  He is sitting on His throne over the gates letting all of His people know that He is back from fighting, He was victorious in His fight, and His people are safe from their enemies as He reigns and watches over us.

            So you see that picture of Christ sitting in His throne at the right hand of the Father is not just a simple picture.  It is a sweet and beautiful proclamation that assures us He is our victorious king, He has defeated our enemies, and He does reign over us, watching over and protecting us.  He sits on His throne over the gates waiting for us to walk through those gates and join Him in Heaven.  That’s a pretty priceless painting if you ask me.

         And how do we now that this sweet, sweet Gospel, the forgiveness and grace of this triumphant king truly is for us personally and individually?   Because we have His name on our hearts.  Through our baptism, we have died to sin and been made alive to Christ, our King.  We are His people who live under His reign and protection, and when our enemies try to harm us, He is watching from His throne.  It is through our Baptism, where He claimed us as His own, that we can ignore those whispers of the devil and always know Christ’s forgiveness is for us, personally and individually.  “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” This is the assurance our King gives us.  We have the certainty of His saving grace in our King reigning from His throne.

        We stand to sing Hymn 464 “The Strife is O’er, the Battle Done” to proudly proclaim that we know our triumphant King has won the Battle and His grace and forgiveness is truly for us, His beloved People!

For My prayer I will use the the hymn 464:

The strife is o'er, the battle done;

the victory of life is won;

the song of triumph has begun:

Alleluia!

The powers of death have done their worst,

but Christ their legions hath dispersed;

let shouts of holy joy outburst:

Alleluia!

The three sad days are quickly sped;

he rises glorious from the dead;

all glory to our risen Head!

Alleluia!

Lord, by the stripes which wounded thee,

from death's dread sting thy servants free,

that we may live, and sing to thee:

Alleluia!  Amen.  

I will continue with the Small Catechism next time.  My apologies.  

It's not just me!

God's blessings to you all.  I had a rough, crazy weekend that actually worked out to be a blessing.  I have a sermon due this very day.  Last week on Thursday I had my outline roughly drafted, and after class on Friday I was ready to begin writing my sermon.  However, Friday night I went and saw a movie with some of the guys.  We saw the movie The Raven, which I wasn't sure what to expect from it.  There were parts that were a little more bloody and gory than they needed to be, and some of the dialogue is a little simplistic, but the overall plot was very good and I would recommend it if you are looking for a good movie.  It has a little bit of a Sherlock Homes feel to it if you like those kinds of movies.  Getting back to my sermon story, Saturday after working brunch I sat down to start writing it.  I decided to make my outline more detailed and figure out exactly what I was going to write about before actually writing it. This is where the more I thought about my outline, the more I realized it was not even close to being usable.  After about the first four hours I decided to scrap the whole idea and try to think of a new one.  Then after another two hours of pulling my hair out, I got a break from the frustration with the storm we had go through.  It got super dark, the wind was blowing very hard, the storm sirens of Clayton went off, and then it hailed for about a minute golf ball to tennis ball size hail.  It was huge and sounded terrible bouncing off the slate shingles of Wartburg.  Down by Busch Stadium a tent blew down, killing one man and injuring several others if you didn't already hear about that.  That part was not good, and some of the guys have hail dents on their cars now, but other than that no serious damage was done.  So I was back to the frustration of having no idea what I was going to base my sermon on.  The biggest problem was, I could have easily written several sermons off of my text.  Except for class we were told to write one very particular style, which is why I struggled so much. So another couple hours passed by of me starring at the Bible just thinking about every possibility I could think of.  Then I went to vent to one friend who was playing video games and not really listening.  So I went to another friend and he actually let me vent to him.  However, he asked me, "Have you prayed about it?"  I felt stupid saying no, but it was the truth.  He told me to go spend some time in prayer and then get a good night sleep and try again on Sunday.  I went back to my room, literally got down on my knees and prayed.  I threw it all out there and told the Lord I give up, I know I cannot do it, but need Your help.  Then I curled up under my blankets with a blank notebook and a pen.  I simply wrote out every idea I could think of that this text was actually saying.  After scratching out a couple dozen, one popped out.  I started writing ideas that went with it and before I knew it I had my entire outline done.  I called it a night and went to sleep.  Sunday morning, I did not have to go to field work church because I went to the deaf church.  It is part of my cross-cultural module along with my sign language class.  This was an experience I will never forget because it was so amazing.  I truly want to go back again.  I will tell all about the deaf church after I finish my sermon story, so I do not get too side tracked.  After church I came back and wrote about two-thirds of my sermon before I had to work as an usher.  The concert was an Easter Lessons and Carols concert in the chapel and was awesome.  I love going to those kinds of things we have here on campus, especially since I get paid to go to most of them.  Then after the concert I came back and wrote some more on my sermon.  Then the rest of the night last night I had to study for my Calvin Reformation test I have today.  It is open book, so I went through and highlighted important areas.  However, as I was reading to find the key parts I kept dozing in and out.  So I finally called it a night and went to sleep.  Then this morning I reluctantly got up at my second alarm, instead of waiting for the fourth or fifth like normal.  I sat down, finished my sermon and revised it once.  I still need to revise it at least once or twice more throughout the day today, but the important part is I am done writing it.  So the very important lesson I was reminded of, since I already knew it, was that the harder I try to write my sermon, the more frustrating it gets.  Instead of praying, trusting the Holy Spirit to be with me in my writing process and just overall spending enough time in the text, I tried to write it myself.  The best part of this whole story is, the teaching I used for my sermon was to "trust the Holy Spirit".  If only I had  trusted Him sooner, I would have seen the text screaming that message at me and saved a lot of hours and stress.  However, it was a reminder that the best sermon preparation is to simply let the Word preach and teach you first, then you can decide what it is trying to teach God's people.  That is a really important message I have heard on several occasions this year already.  I quote Dr. Bayer, a guest speaker, as saying, "The comfort that the preacher is trying to bring to the people, is the very comfort he needs himself and the only way he gets it is by letting the Word first address him."  I even typed that into my paper I had to write about his speech.  Dr. Gibbs told us that when a pastor gets a little frustrated he is thinking that is is him doing the work instead of knowing it is Him doing it, and when a pastor gets really frustrated he is believing  it is him doing the work instead of Him doing it.  I have heard this message several times, and yet my thick stubborn self spent all of Saturday stressed and frustrated.  Hopefully eleven hours of misery is enough to remind me next time to just stop and pray right away.  I thanked my friend for reminding me of what I needed to hear and pointing me towards the One I was forgetting about.  After I get the sermon graded I will try to post it so you can all read it.  Until then, trust in the work of the Holy Spirit and remember He is with you at all times.  
Back to the deaf church story, it was amazing.  My friend Lee and I went together.  As soon as we walked in, the Pastor asked if we were seminary students.  Lee is about the exact same size as me, so there we stood two big guys in dress clothes and ties walking into a church of about thirty people all in jeans and t-shirts. He welcomed us as did some of the hearing members.  The one lady who was in the choir starting giving us a hard time asking if we wanted to sit with the goats or with the sheep.  We sat down and ended up having to sit down the entire service.  There are only about four rows of pews, and behind the pews are tables and chairs.  Most of the completely deaf people sat back at those tables and chairs because they could still see the signs.  However, when Lee and I stood up, the people at those tables and chairs could no longer see.  So the pastor, from the altar, asked if we could just remain seated.  I laughed every time he said, "Please stand," and Lee and I both would start to stand up and then sit back down.  A fellow seminary student, who wears hearing aids and is hard of hearing, goes there for field work and he actually gave the sermon.  It was cool to see a brother student giving a sermon and signing the entire thing himself.  The entire service is still spoken by  the pastor and the people, it is just also completely signed too.  My favorite part was communion.  When you are at the rail, the seminary student gave you the bread and signed the words after he placed it in your hands.  Then an assistant would give you your individual cup.  Then finally the pastor went behind them and gave each and every person a hug and a personal dismissal.  The theme for the day was not knowing but believing.  So Pastor would randomly ask people to explain how the meal had just worked.  Then he would remind them we do not absolutely know, but we still believe.  It was just very personal and I like it.  Then he had all the children come up to the rail after all the adults had received communion.  He gave each one of them a hug and made the sign of the cross on their forehead, blessing them.  The service took longer than an hour, but was fun to see.  Then afterward we had fellowship with doughnuts and coffee.  We talked to several people, and they were all so nice.  It was a great experience and amazing to see how our Lord cares and blesses for all of His children, even in a unique ministry like that one.  They stream all of their services online, so if you want to see it the website is holycrossdeaf.org.  If you watch yesterday's church service you would see me and Lee stand up and introduce ourselves in sign language.  
My thought for the day was included in the sermon story.  So I will close with prayer and the rest of the commandments.  Hope you all have a wonderful day and I ask God's blessings on your week.  All Praise be to Him who gives us His Spirit, to be and abide with us now and forever.  Amen.    
LSB Prayer 183
Almighty God, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that He may rule and direct us according to Your will, comfort us in all our temptations and afflictions, defend us from all error, and lead us into all truth that we, being steadfast in faith, may increase in all good works and in the end obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 


Last four Commandments and Conclusion from Luther's Small Catechism:

AS THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY SHOULD TEACH THEM 

IN A SIMPLE WAY TO HIS HOUSEHOLD

The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal.

What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor's money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income. 

The Eighth Commandment: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.  

The Ninth Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor's house.  

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor's inheritance or house, or get it in a way that only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.  

The Tenth Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not entire or force away our neighbor's wife, workers, or animals, or turn them against him, but urge them to stay and do their duty.  

What does God say about all these commandments: He says: "I, the Lord your God, an a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of their fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments." [Exodus 20:5-6]

What does this mean? God threatens to punish all who break these commandments.  Therefore, we should fear His wrath and not do anything against them.  But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments.  Therefore, we should also love and trust in Him and gladly do what He commands. 

What is the Word?

Hello again.  I want to forewarn you all that the next four weeks may be very limited in the number of posts I am able to put up.  I will try my best, but I have four papers, four tests, and a sermon to accomplish in the next four weeks.  On top of that, it is also the busiest season for the department I work for with Call Day, Graduation, and about ten other events on campus.  So I will be picking up about ten extra hours on top of what I am already working each week too.  I am sure I can handle it all, and can even still do quality work on the papers, it is just going to require some major time management and serious buckling down.
I have been doing pretty well since I last wrote you.  I did liturgy this last Sunday and other than butchering the benediction, I did fine.  I was flowing along very nicely and decided to just shut my hymnal as I turned around to say the benediction.  As soon as I shut the hymnal, my mind starting saying, "Don't mess up, don't mess up, don't mess up..."  Well like I said, I messed up.  However, I just paused, saw one of the other seminarians laughing (which actually help get me back on track), started over and rolled right through it with ease.  It is funny how you know something very well, but as soon as you start thinking about being in front of people, and saying it just right, that is when you mess up.  The one elder who always lets me know exactly what I did right or did wrong, told me it was good that I just started over and got though it.  It is a good thing the congregation is all loving Christians who understand forgiveness.
I gave blood today.  I felt fine afterwards, but my buddy Stein (nickname derived from his last name) got light headed and almost blacked out.  The nurses laid him down and put his feet up and then I stood there and talked to him.  I told him it's a good thing we are not Catholic or I would have said last rights just to scare him.
My thought for the day comes from Synoptic Gospels class.  Dr. Voelz was talking about the inerrancy of Scripture.  Dr. Voelz put it in a way I had never thought of it before, and I liked it so much I decided I would share it with you.  We believe Jesus had two natures.  He is 100 percent God (divine) and a 100 percent man (human).  He looked like a human, walked like a human, and talked like a human.  He was and is indeed human.  However, we know He was and is still God.  We also know Jesus is the Word.  John 1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  Jesus is the Word.  So we know that Scripture (the Word) was written by human authors for human audiences.  The four Gospels are not exactly, word-for-word, the same because they were written by four different guys.  The Bible, when you just read it has human qualities.  It looks like all other literature written by human authors.  However, we know it is still divine.  The Word has the same two natures of Christ because the Word is Christ.  So if somebody tries to prove the Bible is not true because of what appears to be mistakes or contradictions in the human language or writing styles, we know it is true because while it has human authors, it is still fully divine as the Word of God.  I just thought that was a really cool way to look at it and know we can always trust God's Word is at work in and with us through His Scripture.  All Praise be to Him who gave us His Son, the Word, as a very important and wonderful gift completely free to us.
LSB Prayer 148
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning.  Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your Holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 


Continuing with the Small Catechism, the next three commandments

AS THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY SHOULD TEACH 

THEM IN A SIMPLE WAY TO HIS HOUSEHOLD

The Fourth Commandment: Honor your father and Mother.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

The Fifth Commandment: You shall not murder.

What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

The Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.

What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife lover and honor each other.

Suit up!

Hello again everyone.  God's blessings and peace be with you all.  I know it has been almost two weeks since I last wrote to you.  However, between classes, work, and playing every sport possible outside, the only thing I have been doing on my computer is writing papers.  I hope you all had a blessed and wonderful Easter.  I made a very quick trip back to Iowa.  I will explain why in a second, because originally mom, dad, and JoAnna were going to come down and see me.  However, plans change and I made the drive home.  I got home Thursday just in time to help with Maundy Thursday service.  Then on Good Friday I had to go to Atlantic.  This is the reason I had to go home.  I think I told you all about my sleep clinic in an older post? Well this was the follow up visit where I got my breathing machine.  It has been a pain getting used to, but seems to be helping already.  I got the one that is a mask that fits just over my nose, not my mouth, and then has a hose that runs from the mask to the machine.  The machine is actually a bi-pap machine because it shoots the air up the hose at two different pressures.  It shoots a higher pressure when I breathe in and then a lower pressure as I breath out.  I have found a couple times when I must have pulled it off in my sleep, which is not a simple feat.  However, I am getting more used to it and I do use it every night.  I am actually able to get out of bed in the morning and have cut my coffee intake in half.  I do not think I will ever give up my morning coffee all together though just because it is a simple joy to have a cup every morning.  Anyway, that is why I had to go home for Easter.  Then Friday night I helped with the service again, and then I hung out with some of my high school friends.
Saturday, I went fishing with a couple guys and we caught quite a few fish.  It was just good to be sitting beside the pond with a cold beer and talking farming or hunting with the guys again.  Then Saturday night Nate and Kari came down and JoAnna came home.  So we hung out as a family.
Sunday I got up early enough to help with both services, including sunrise service out at the country church.  I also learned a very important lesson.  Always make sure the second service is serving breakfast.  St. Johns, the first service had breakfast so Pastor and I ate there.  Then we went to second service in town and did that service.  It did not effect the parts I helped with, but during Pastor's sermon, I could not quit burping.  So the lesson is always eat after the second service when you are all done.  Then Sunday afternoon I headed back to school.  We had Monday off from classes, but I had papers to write.  Last week I had a test and two papers so they both kept me extra busy on top of the normal stuff.
This last weekend was pretty fun.  A bunch of guys hung out in the community kitchen playing pool, cards, board games, and video games.  There were a few adult beverages included and the board game that I was playing with some guys came to an end when one of the adult beverages was spilled on the board.  The game was Settlers of Catan, an awesome board game if you have not played it before.  It was just a really fun night of hanging out with a lot of guys I do not hang out with on a regular basis.
This week was supposed to be busy getting a start on the next round of papers, sermon, and tests to make sure I do not leave them all for the last minute again.  However, so far I have been pretty unproductive this week, besides getting all my regular work and homework done for classes this week.  But tomorrow I do not have any classes and I do not think much is going on this weekend.  I would like to try to get some golf in, but I do not know for sure.  I did play tennis for the first time this spring and beat the guy I was playing. He is on the tennis team, so I felt good beating him but I did not play the best and would like to get at least one more round in before I go play with the whole team.
Also, I got a new suit today.  A group of lawyers here is St. Louis rounded up two hundred used suits and donated them to us seminary guys.  We had to email our sizes in, and then were allowed to go in and try them on until we found one that fit us.  I found two that fit me pretty well.  The first fit perfect other than the pants being just a tad short.  The second one fit literally perfect, like it was made for me, but had a little hole right in the middle of the back of the suit coat.  Luckily, I was able to pick the first one, because of the awesome lady who is volunteering to alter them for us.  She is able to take the hem out of the pants and lengthen them for me.  So I now own a very nice dark grey with white "texture lines" suit.  I do not know how else to explain it.  They said they will try to do it again next fall for us.  
My first thought for the day comes from Kolb's Confessions class.  This morning we were talking about the third article of the Formula of Concord.  Kolb made the comment that God is our creator and re-creator.  He further clarified what he meant.  God the Father created us by His Word.  However, after the fall we are now fall creatures of original sin and sinful nature.  This sin is not just an illness, wound, disadvantage, or weakness.   We were not just healed by Christ's death and resurrection.  In our baptism, we died!  We actually died to the wage of sin through the same death of Christ.  We were made alive to Christ.  We were resurrected to never die again.  God is our re-creator who gave us this new life to Christ, the resurrection from our death in baptism.  He created us, and resurrected us.  I thought it was a pretty cool way to put it that God is our creator and re-creator.
My second thought for the day comes from Calvin Reformation.  Now this is a point Calvin made, so its wrong of course(partly kidding), but it helps clarify how we Lutherans see it.  Calvin has three uses for the law.  I am only going to explain the first one.  It is the pedagogical use.  He says that the law shows that God is righteous and shows us who we are.  (Kind of sounds like Luther's mirror idea).  Calvin says that the law accuses us of our sins, condemns us to hell and destroys us as children of God.  However, this is where Calvin goes astray.  Calvin goes on to say that the law moves us to see God's grace.  So when the law condemns us, and we feel the despair of our sin, the law moves us to see God's saving grace.  Now in class I asked about this because we as Lutheran's see the law as a way to see the full magnitude of the Gospel.  The fact that the law drives us down so far into despair and we realize how terrible an filthy of sinners we are, the Gospel then seems that much bigger that God would save us horrible fallen creatures.  However, that is not what Calvin is saying.  Calvin is saying that the law is actually pointing us to the Gospel.  See we believe that the law does accuse us, condemn us, and leaves us in despair.  And it ends right there, leaving us in that pit of despair knowing we are condemned.  If someone has never heard the Gospel before and you give them the law, it should drive them to feel complete despair and helplessness.  For us that is the end of the law, that abandonment, forsaken, completely alone feeling is the end of the law.  No hope, no joy, no grace.  The law by itself has no grace or mercy, because it is to be followed perfect, we have not done that, so we fail and are left for dead.  However, this is where the grace of the Gospel comes in and shows us we are not alone, abandoned, or forsaken.  So I do not want this to sound like Lutherans only give the law and leave people hanging.  However, we disagree with Calvin and clearly separate law form Gospel.  Calvin sort of combines the two by added just a touch of Gospel that comes at the end of the law, but that is not true.  This also fits in perfect with what we are talking about in Homiletics class.  The law before we know the Gospel does condemn us.  Then after one knows the Gospel, knows that Christ has saved that person from all accusations, all condemnation, and all despair; they can now hear the law as God's will.  The law, to someone who is alive to Christ and has the Gospel in their heart, is simply how God wants us to live.  It is His way of living that He expects us to keep, not because it saves us, but because we have been saved and now have life in Christ that allows us to try to live according to His law.  And again, this takes us right back to my point in class.  Once we know the Gospel, the law does indeed show us how filthy, terrible, rotten and sinful people we are.  Deliberately disobeying and rejecting God and His ways daily through our sinful nature, and yet we are the ones He saved.  We are the ones through the death and resurrection of Christ that are now the forgiven, baptized children of God.  The law shows us the full price God paid, and the full glory of the Gospel we have as His redeemed children.  All praise Him who did not leave us condemned and forsaken by the law which we broke, but claimed us as His redeemed, forgiven children.
Dear Heavenly Father, 
You are our creator and re-creator.  You have given us new life through our baptism which made us dead to sin and alive to Christ.  Let us live our new life to Christ by striving to live by Your law, not because we have to but because it is how You desire us to live.  Let our Easter songs of joy, that shout the full glory of Your amazing and saving Gospel, never end or fade, but be sang ever louder as we daily remember what an amazing God we have.  Amen.  

Since I had to memorize the Small Catechism for a test, and I realized even most of us seminary guys had to go back and refresh it in our minds, I am going to add one part of Luther's Small Catechism at the end of each post.  Today I will do the first three commandments since they are so short.

AS THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY SHOULD TEACH THEM IN A SIMPLE WAY TO HIS HOUSEHOLD.

The First Commandment: You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
The Second Commandment: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 
What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

Devotion

Happy Holy Week everyone.  I hope you are all ready for the journey to the cross, through the empty tomb, and to ascension where we find our hope for eternal life with our Savior.  I apologize for not writing for a while.  I have been so busy and just so tired lately.  Last night was the first good night's sleep I have gotten in weeks.  However, this Friday I get my C-PAP machine and I am praying that it helps me feel rested each morning.  I have several things I want to share with you, but only have a quick break to write this post.  So I am going to share with you the devotion I gave in Homiletics class yesterday.  We had to pick a text, read it, apply it to our lives, and then close with prayer.  I wrote out the full manuscript but was not allowed to use it because the whole thing had to be done without notes.  I did go back and change a few things that I added on the spot that I thought were good points.  The text I used is the story of Ehud from judges.  Now the devotion has many grammar mistakes because it is written in oral form. Sp please do not judge my writing skills on this devotion, but   try to read it as if you were listening to it being spoken.  Also I used guys from the class as examples and Jim's devotion on God working through us in my devotion.  I think you will be able to follow along.  Jim's devotion was a personal story about when he was a young confident drug rep and a doctor called him for advice for a man who was dying very rapidly.  Jim told her what to do and saved the man's life.  His application was that God saved that man's life, Jim was just the agent God worked through, very powerful.  The class and professor really enjoyed my devotion and I got several compliments from it.  So I hope you enjoy it too, and I will try my hardest to write again soon.

Read Judges 3:15-23; 26

Yesterday we heard a great devotion by our brother Jim.  And the message he gave us about how it’s not really us doing these great things, but God working through us could apply very well to the story of Ehud.  I mean it wasn’t really Ehud doing this, but God working through Ehud.  However, I want to take it one step farther and talk about why God worked through Ehud rather than choosing someone else to free the Israelites from the Moabites.  The text tells us that Ehud was a left-handed man.  Actually the Hebrew says, “not right handed”.  Now we always translate it as left-handed, but there was something serious that prevented Ehud from using his right hand.  Maybe he was crippled, we are not sure.  We just know for a fact he was left handed.  Now I learned the importance of this in my undergrad Hebrew class.  This was the first time I had heard the story of Ehud and I fell in love with it for three reasons.  The first two reasons are what I am going to explain to you today, the third reason is because it talks about the king soiling himself in the Bible.  I find that funny.  Our professor explained to us how any man of the army or any soldier had to be right handed.  Because see when they formed their battle lines, every man would hold his spear in his right hand and his shield in his left hand.  This way they were one unit, all the same.  A left-handed man would have exposed a hole in their line and created a weakness.  So no left handed man was allowed in the army.  So the fact that Ehud was a left-handed man made him special and it just what was needed for this job.  Every soldier would wear his dagger on his left side so he could pull it out like this with his right hand.  However, Ehud wore his on his right side since he would pull it out with his left hand.  So when Ehud went through the guards, the TSA of the Old Testament, they would have patted down his left side, felt no weapon, and let him go through.  They never thought to check his right side.  This was the special talent and gift God have given Ehud that made him the right man for the job. 

So Ehud went into the king and told him he had a secret message from the Lord.  So Eglon kicked everybody out and scooted in real close to hear this secret message from Ehud.  This was Ehud’s chance to pull out his dagger, stab his dagger and whole hand through the fat of the king and pull out his hand leaving the dagger inside the king.  The king fell over dead and soiled himself. 

So now the two important things I want us to look at.  The first is that God gives us our own unique special gifts, talents, and experiences that we are able to use in our ministry as He is working through us.  We are not all just robots spitting out Scripture and doctrine at our church members. We are real humans who have lived lives and have experiences, both good and bad.  Not only do these experiences and gifts help us write sermons, but they help us build relationships and be able to relate to people, they help us explain things in a way that real people can understand.  Look at Jim’s story yesterday, he is the only one in this room who knew those terms of the medicines and diseases because he had gone to school to study them.  He had finished top of his class and had the confidence of a young bright man.  That doctor could have called any drug-rep for advice, but she called Jim knowing that he would know what to do.  So yes God worked through Jim, but God worked through Jim specifically, knowing he had the courage it took to make that right call without doubt.   Look at Jerry and Gary.  If they get called to a church with a school, they are far better equipped than any of us because they have been a teacher and a principal and know how the systems work.  We are all unique and different by the grace of God because He knows those special talents are going to be used for His glory in specific cases where our special gifts help us be better prepared and ready to do His work with His help. 

The final thing we can see from this story is that Ehud and Debra and all of the other judges and Kings of God’s people in the Old Testament could save them from their enemies…. For a short while.  Then they would return right back to their old sinful ways and be taken over again.  God had to send a very special judge, a very special king to us who could defeat sin, death and the devil once and for all.  But that special king that God sent was born in a stable to a virgin, lived a life spending his time with sinners.  He would ride into Jerusalem being praised as a king, but only for a few days of this holy week.   Then he was beaten, spit on, and mocked.  Then they crucified him on a cross.  This Friday we will celebrate the death of our special king that God sent.  Our “special king” who was supposed to be able to free us, was dead just like every other human king or judge.  But then this coming Sunday we will rejoice loudly and boldly with hymns of praise, and the Alleluia’s we haven’t said for six weeks will ring out with gusto.  Because Christ did do it.  He had the special gift to be able to do it.  Then forty days later, as Jerry is preaching his sermon on Ephesians in the pulpit for the very first time, we will celebrate the Ascension of the one who God sent.  Because you see it took this special king who was sent by God to be our Redeemer once and for all. Christ was the only one who had the uniqueness to be our Redeemer for good.  

So in summary while God does indeed give us our own special gifts and talents to use to be servants of Christ, the greatest gift He has ever given us is that so special and so unique King, our Messiah and Redeemer who died, rose and ascended to heaven to defeat sin, death, and the devil once and for all, for us. 

Let us pray. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank you for making us unique and giving us our own special gifts and talents.  And we ask that you would use those gifts and talents for Your glory.  We also thank you for the greatest gift you have ever given us, Your Son, our Redeemer.  Let us celebrate this holy week in remembrance of what He did, the price He paid to be our Redeemer for eternity.  Keep us in the one true faith until, until You call us home to be with Your for the rest of eternity.  In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.