Sermon Jan 12-13, 2013

Title: Christ, in baptism, frees you from sin and makes you His child!

Text: Luke 3:21-22

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Writer Charles Swindoll once found himself with too many commitments in too few days. He got nervous and tense about it.  "I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions throughout the day," he recalled in his book Stress Fractures. "Before long, things around our home started reflecting the patter of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable.

"I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen, he said. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, 'Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin' and I'll tell you really fast.'  "Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, 'Honey, you can tell me -- and you don't have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly."   "I'll never forget her answer: 'Then listen slowly.'"

Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, pp. 13-14.

After ordination and installation last Sunday here at Peace - which was a glorious and blessed day in my life - I was talking to my friend Paul, who did the song for me the and special music with my daughter Amy for the ordination service and we both just marveled at how quickly the years of our life had gone by … since that crazy picture of me playing banjo with that towel on my head!

I’m sure many of you would agree that your lives too seem to go by in an instant … so it is with that in mind that I wish to focus today on a marvelous truth that you can be reminded of daily … and that is that:

Christ, in baptism, frees you from sin and makes you His child!

You can almost hear the hope in the people in our Gospel reading for today as they wonder and reason about John the Baptist:

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,

John, being the unique character that he is … was causing quite a stir as the people questioned about who this man could be. Is he the Christ, they wanted to know? And while the excitement of this man, out of the wilderness, may have made quite an impression on the people, when it came to his attention, as to who the people thought he was … he quickly put all speculation to rest:

16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

From our bible study on the Book of Ruth last year we learned that:

[A common method of threshing in ancient Israel employed an implement called a threshing sledge which is a heavy wooden slab with teeth made of stone, metal, or potsherds fastened to the underside and Oxen or mules dragged the sledge back and forth over the sheaves to allow the teeth to break down the stalks into husks, straw, and grain kernels.

A wooden pitch fork was used to lift away the straw.  The kernels were then separated from the husks by winnowing, tossing the pile of threshed grain into the air with a winnowing fork and wind, whether caused by a natural breeze or artificially generated by winnowing fans, blew away the lighter chaff while the heavier heads of grain fell down to the threshing floor.

The kernels were then sifted and collected for storage.  The chaff was burned as fuel and the straw became animal fodder. ]

Copyright © 2009 Mark A. Myers


This Christ that John preached would be a refining fire to those people who were looking for Him, this Messiah, this:

Jesus who is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

This Jesus came to John to be marked with you through baptism as one who heard repentance call. He also was marked with a Baptism of fire, marked to carry the sins of the world, your sins, upon Himself to Jerusalem and finally to the cross.

When Christ returns He will separate the wheat from the chaff; the believers from the unbelievers. Those who have been baptized and are covered by Christ’s righteousness will be gathered to Heaven and to an eternal life of joy and peace and those who stand covered in the filthy rags of their own righteousness will be cast into the fires of hell made for the Devil and his minions, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. (Matt. 6:19)

Your life and mine is one of continually falling short. We daily miss the mark in what we say and do. But as one who has been Baptized we are called to daily die and rise as we remember what Jesus did in being marked, not only with sinners, but with you so that we too can be renewed in our faith daily and grow in our Christian walk as we are by the power of the Holy Spirit made holy or as the tern sanctification is used to say that we are being made holy daily and set apart for the good works that God has prepared for us to do.

Now, as Lutherans we tend to get a little up in arms when we think about Good Works! This is not to undermine the work of Christ who came to take the sins of the whole world upon himself so that you would be declared righteous on account of His sacrifice. But by the grace of God and through the gift of faith you are made holy by the working of the Holy Spirit in you.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)

The boasting is God’s because we know that:

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

The Old Testament reading today points to the one who is active in the life of the world in God’s work of redemption when we read:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

And while God is speaking to the children of Israel in these verses He too is speaking of His redeeming love for all of his children – domestic and imported:

13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)
And our Lord will accomplish all that He has set out to do because He declares:

5 Fear not, for I am with you;
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,

God has called you by name in your baptisms. He has washed you and gathered you to the foot of the cross of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He continues through the working of the Holy Spirit in the your daily lives and in the lives of all His children to make you holy and to keep you by the power of His Spirit connected to Him so that we grow in Him through this same Spirit.

Ill.
A story is told of:

Charles Spurgeon and Joseph Parker were pastors who both had churches in London in the 19th century. On one occasion, Parker commented on the poor condition of children admitted to Spurgeon's orphanage. It was reported to Spurgeon however, that Parker had criticized the orphanage itself.

Spurgeon blasted Parker the next week from the pulpit. The attack was printed in the newspapers and became the talk of the town. People flocked to Parker's church the next Sunday to hear his rebuttal. He said, "I understand that Dr. Spurgeon is not in his pulpit today, and this is the Sunday they use to take an offering for the orphanage. I suggest we take a love offering here instead." The congregation was delighted. The ushers had to empty the collection plates 3 times. Later that week there was a knock at Parker's study. It was Spurgeon. "You know Parker, you have practiced grace on me. You have given me not what I deserved, you have given me what I needed.”

Moody Monthly, December, 1983, p. 81.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

God in Christ has given you and me not what we deserved but what we needed. He continues to give to us the blessings of His Son through the good times and bad. He blesses us through word and sacrament and daily sustains his you with His loving kindness and does not remember your sin but sees you through the veil of Christ which you are covered with. In Christ you receive His full attention when you pray so you can ask anything in Jesus name according to his will and He will hear, and is not hurried or bothered when you cry out to Him and will listen patently, intently and slowly because He loves you and cares for you as a father cares for a dear child.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon Jan 5-6, 2013

Title: Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

Text: Matt. 2:6

6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Telemachus was a monk who lived in the 4th century. He felt God calling him to go to Rome. He was in a cloistered monastery. He put his possessions in a sack and set out for Rome. When he arrived in the city, people were thronging in the streets. He asked why all the excitement and was told that this was the day that the gladiators would be fighting and killing each other in the coliseum, the day of the games, the circus.

 He thought to himself, "Four centuries after Christ and they are still killing each other, for enjoyment?" He ran to the coliseum and heard the gladiators saying, "Hail to Ceasar, we die for Ceasar" and he thought, "this isn't right."

He jumped over the railing and went out into the middle of the field, got between two gladiators, held up his hands and said "In the name of Christ, forbear." To hold back; refrain) The crowd protested and began to shout, "Run him through, Run him through." A gladiator came over and hit him in the stomach with the back of his sword. It sent him sprawling in the sand. He got up and ran back and again said, "In the name of Christ, forbear." The crowd continued to chant, "Run him through." One gladiator came over and plunged his sword through the little monk's stomach and he fell into the sand, which began to turn crimson with his blood. One last time he gasped out, "In the name of Christ forbear." A hush came over the 80,000 people in the coliseum. Soon a man stood and left, then another and more, and within minutes all 80,000 had emptied out of the arena. It was the last known gladiatorial contest in the history of Rome.
Source Unknown.

This weekend we celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord. We also will celebrate a very special day in my life and in the life of our church, (on/this) Sunday afternoon, when I am ordained and installed as pastor here at Peace.

On Epiphany we celebrate God becoming manifest or appearing in the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Good Shepherd, who came to deliver His people from their sins and the brokenness of this world and to restore them to the original righteousness that God had created them with before the fall.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

The story of the wise men and their traveling far to find … Him, who has been born King of the Jews, is one we have all heard from the time of our youth … and how these men followed the star to find the true light.
The story is a familiar one, but also one that may be even darker than you know. History refers to the Herod in our lesson for today as Herod the Great, largely because of his political savvy, diplomatic shrewdness and great energy that resulted in a huge building plan and grand expansion throughout Judea. Herod had secured the governorship in Galilee by the age of 25 and was later made tetrarch and was finally declared King of Judea by the Roman Senate.

Herod though was also known for his great incredible wickedness, having put to death one of his 10 wives and three of his own sons.  By such a degree of bloodthirstiness was his reign characterized that the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem is omitted by secular historians as an insignificant episode.1
1. Paul Kretzmann Commentary

This was who Herod was that these wise men were summoned to see in verse 7 and 8 or our Gospel lesson. Knowing what we know of Herod, I’m not sure that you or I would have felt too comfortable being called into his presence.

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

But the idea that Herod wanted to come and worship this King of the Jews may have seemed reasonable to them and the extent of his wickedness may have been foreign to these foreigners from the East who had traveled so far:

And we are also told:

12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

Is the light of Christ your focus? Do you follow Him with exceeding joy like the wise men that left everything to find this King of the Jews? No, you don’t and neither do I.

The cares of this life and the working of our sinful nature, compounded by the lies of the Devil, help us to take our eyes off of Jesus. The culmination of the last three years of family, church, my former job and seminary classes for me have led to this point where we stand together ready to embark on a new chapter in the life of this church. But, many things have been thrown in the way over this past year too.

My dad’s illness last winter, all the members who were hospitalized this past summer, Monica’s bone infection in her foot and now my mother-n-laws hospitalization can be distracting influences that can take our focus off of Jesus and place it on the cares of this life. But too, these distractions can be used by God to draw us back to the appearing of our God made manifest as we celebrate the joy of a God who loves you so much that he would die in your place to set you free!

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

The wise men:

9 After listening to the king … went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Whether there is any special significance in the gifts we don’t know. Though it has been commonly understood that Gold, was given to the King as a precious gift and also that incense was given in service to the divineness of God as a sweet fragrance in worshiping Him and finally that myrrh was given for one who was destined to die and that  it would be used to anoint the body.

There was even a medieval rhyme that has it:

“The first was gold, as most mighty King;
“The second incense, as Priest of priests being;
“The third was myrrh in token of burying."
Martin Luther's explanation is a bit simpler:

"Although they [the wise men] enter a poor house, find a poor young woman, with a poor child, and also there is an appearance so unlike a king, yet they are not troubled, but in great, strong, full faith they put everything out of their eyes and mind which our human nature with its arrogance might cause and bring into play; they simply follow the verse of the prophet and the testimony of the star and believe Him to be King, fall down, worship Him, and give presents to Him."

Even though their reason might say otherwise, they know that:

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

Christ has come in a form that confounds the wise of this world. God uses that which seems weak to the mind of sinful man - like the little monk in the arena of great gladiators - to overpower the strong.
God has given you the same light by the power of the Holy Spirit … but unlike the gifts that were brought to the babe in Bethlehem by the wise men this baby king gives you the gifts of His eternal kingdom that you received by faith in Christ’s once and for all sacrifice over sin, death and the power of the Devil.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the light of the world!

As I look towards my ordination and service here at Peace, as Christ’s under shepherd, I must take just a moment to thank Pastor Merrell for the faithful under shepherd that he has been to us all by God’s working in and through him here over these last 32 years. I have benefited greatly from his mentoring but more so we have all benefited from his wisdom, good council and blessing to the body of Christ here at Peace.

As one who has served in lay-leadership here for many years and will now serve as a brother Pastor … I will value your friendship more and more as the years of your retirement unfold. Well done, good and faithful servant!

 And it is with great hope that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will bless you and Nancy with a joyful and long retirement as you continue to be used by Him for His greater Kingdom.
God bless you both.

And God bless Peace Lutheran Church!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon Dec. 22-23, 2012

Title: Christ is the fruit that satisfies your need!

Text: Luke 1:41-42

41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

While crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner, F.B. Meyer was asked to address the first class passengers. At the captain's request he spoke on "Answered Prayer." An unbeliever who was present at the service was asked by his friends, "What did you think of Dr. Meyer's sermon?" He answered, "I didn't believe a word of it." That afternoon Meyer went to speak to the passengers with the lower class accommodations. Many of the listeners who had heard the morning sermon went along, including the unbeliever, who claimed he just wanted to hear "what the babbler had to say."

Before starting for the service, the unbeliever put two oranges in his pocket. On his way he passed an elderly woman sitting in her deck chair fast asleep. Her hands were open. In what he thought would be a bit of fun, the unbeliever put the two oranges in her outstretched palms. After the meeting, he saw the old lady happily eating one of the pieces of fruit. "You seem to be enjoying that orange," he remarked with a smile. She replied, "Oh, my Father is very good to me." "Your father … surely your father can't be still alive?" "Praise God," she replied, "He is very much alive." "What do you mean?" he asked. "Well Sir, I have been seasick for days. I was asking God somehow to send me an orange. I suppose I fell asleep while I was praying. When I awoke, I found He had not only sent me one orange but two!"

Our Daily Bread

Oh yes, our Father is very good because:

Christ is the fruit that satisfies your need!

In our study of the Book of Ruth during our adult mid-week Bible class this year, we learned that Bethlehem Ephrathah means “the house of bread.” It will play a special role in God’s plan as the prophet Micah records in our Old Testament reading for today:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. (Micah 5:2)

This “house of bread”, Bethlehem, would become the place where the true bread from heaven, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior would come down to save His people from the power sin, death and the Devil’s working in their lives. From this tiny town the salvation of the world would emerge.

Mary, who just a little bit earlier in Luke’s gospel reading, would have a visitation from the Angel Gabriel, announcing that she would have a very special role as well to play in God’s plan for restoring the gulf that was fixed by sin between God and man and we also these past two weeks heard how John the Baptist would be used by God to prepare the way.

Today our Gospel reading moves back a bit in the story, some 30 plus years, to Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, another women used by God for a very important role. She would bear the prophet, John, who would be the greatest of all prophets as Jesus said in our Gospel reading from last week, 28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.

But this visit from Mary to Elizabeth was a bit different.

Mary with joyful energy and as the text says, “Arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,” and came to the house of Zachariah, where she greeted Elisabeth, just as you or I might great a relative or dear friend. But then God performed a miracle. By the working of the Holy Spirit this unborn son of Elisabeth, at hearing Mary’s voice, was filled with the Holy Spirit. And so too Elisabeth, by this same Spirit acting in a miraculous way, also filled her as she spoke:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord (by special gifting of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth was given the knowledge and trusting faith to know who this child Mary was carrying truly was) should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1:42b-44)

Christ is the fruit that satisfies your need!

So what does the knowledge given you by the Spirit about Jesus bring you? Is it an unstoppable kind of joy that might even cause you to leap?  If you’re like me, I joy in Christ and that he has given me freedom from sin … but the Christmas season can be a drag. Having worked in sales for most of my adult life I have found it hard to get joyful working extra and being consumed with all that needs to be done.

Then add to all of that the fact that this child, this babe from Bethlehem, would become and is an offence to many. He is an offense in our world for sure so much so that Merry Christmas has become Happy Holidays for most of we who spend time in retail that the true meaning of Christmas has been neutered into just another sale. Sound familiar?

The message of who He is, who this child that we wait for this Advent season is, who caused the child in the womb of Elizabeth to jump for joy, this child Jesus Christ, came to conquer the power of evil and brokenness in the world, for you.

“Merry Christmas!” Try that greeting and see at times how you are received. “Jesus loves you,” another phrase that seems to bring anger in the hearts of those outside the faith.

There is a story I read this month from Hemant Mehta, who runs a blog called the Happy Atheist. In it he describes a situation of a Nativity scene placed outside of the Cottondale Elementary School in Florida.

(What’s that? Oh right, “Tradition.”) but not anymore. In order to avoid any lawsuits that they would lose in a heartbeat, the school has put the Baby Jesus in a closet:

The principal of the school told the television station that after a visit from the Department of Education:
“In an attempt to be fair to everyone, the principal said, “We decided that we would just not put the Nativity scene out on campus.”

“There are people in the community that are threatening to sue the school board (over separation of church and state issues), and it costs a tremendous amount of money to defend something you know you will lose,” she said.

It is after all the law. But, is it really just a church and state issue? In a funny turn to the story, a business across the street put the schools Nativity on their property so those of the community could still enjoy it. Needless to say our happy Atheist was none to happy … “They’re acting like they’re beating the system by doing it … but they’re not. They’re perfectly within their rights to do this and no one will tell them to remove it.”

via Atheist Lutheran

Is this really just about church and state? No if you look into any of these situations, it’s always about those who are unbelievers … who are offended, not wanting this unbelievably offensive, Christ child, in their face. And while they seem to be fine with the nativity across the street from the school, they’re not, because they believe that the school thinks that they’re beating the system and if they could make it illegal to have a nativity everywhere … they would.

Why, because it’s not about a character, who leaves presents under trees or where they believe that the date of Christmas is said to be taken from a pagan holiday and then Christianized. I posted an article on the churches Facebook page entitled:

How December 25 Became Christmas
12/07/2012
By Andrew McGowan where he writes:

“Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus diedc was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.9March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.d”

You can read the rest of the article on our Facebook link if you want to. It is quite fascinating.
So the truth may be a bit simpler than just picking a pagan holiday and it may also be quite a bit older than the world wants to admit. We celebrate on March 25: The Annunciation of the Lord when the angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she would be the mother of the Christ child and then we simply have 9 months between the date of the Annunciation and the date of Christmas and celebrate Dec. 25th in the liturgical year for the birth of Jesus.

Christ is the fruit that satisfies your need!

For John in the womb and Elizabeth, the joy that is the Christ child came in a miraculous and unexpected way through Mary’s visit. We too receive the joy that is Jesus Christ our Lord when He calls us to gather together in His name; where we receive his word and his sacraments giving us both faith and joy in this Christ child who came to free sinners, like you and me, from the enemy of our sin, from the death that it has brought to all who are conceived in sin and brought fourth in iniquity, (Psalm 51.5) and finally to join us to Him who is God in the flesh for all eternity!

Christ is the fruit that satisfies your need!

Finally, the true joy of Christmas and the Christ child can come for some in the lights of a police car in the rear view mirror of a man who was pulled over for an expired registration.

Hayden Carlo who was pulled over by a Plano, Texas, cop for driving his car with an expired registration, said he told the officer the truth:

"I said there's no explanation for why I haven't done it, except I don't have the money. It was either feed my kids or get this registration done," the 25-year-old told CBS news.

The cop handed Carlo a blank ticket, along with something extra, "I opened it up and there's a $100 bill," said Carlo. "I broke down in my car, what else could I do?"

The mystery police officer chose not to be identified.

Still, the department plans to honor him anyway. A Police Department spokesman told CBS, "As he told me, this man needed it more than him, and it was the right thing to do."

Carlo said. "He helped me out when I needed it. I appreciate that, I'll never forget that man," "It definitely restored my faith in God."

Christ is the fruit that satisfies your need and then He gives the joy of sharing that same love with others!

Joy in the Christ child that we await. He came for you and by the power of the Holy Spirit gives you faith to leap for joy from the womb of death that you are born into, and by that same Spirit He lifts you into his loving arms never to let sin, death or the Devil pull you from the eternal life he gives.

Christ is the fruit that satisfies your need!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon Dec. 15-16, 2012

Title: Christ is the one to come, rejoice in this Good News!

Text: Luke 7:20 & 22

20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”  22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

As a little boy, I use to get presents from relatives in Pennsylvania. As the presents came in they would get arranged according to whom they were for and then … a certain little boy … I’m not saying who, would start counting the presents! If one of his brothers or sister had more presents, it could take the joy of the Christmas season and make it joyless.

Today many of us are wrestling with the tragedy that occurred in Connecticut this past Friday. For many their Christmas has become joyless or nonexistent. But as we look at the Advent banner for today we can Rejoice in the one to come, who will take all our pain away and has given us joy in His Gospel message that:

Christ – the promised one - is the one to come and we can rejoice in this Good News!

The work of John the Baptist was talked about this past weekend. He was the one who would prepare the way, for another, but who?

The disciples of John had been reporting all these things to him. Of Jesus’ healing the Centurion’s servant … you remember the story … from earlier in Luke chapter 7:

“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof … But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; … 9 When Jesus heard these things, … and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Luke 7:7-9)

Or, the funeral procession of the widow’s son from the town of Nain that Jesus came upon. And he said a little further in Luke 7:

“Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched, the man and he said, “Young man … I say to you, arise.” And he gave him back to his mother.(Luke 7:14-15)

This is the question that John wanted his disciples to answer …

“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

John knew that his own calling was to prepare the way … to be the one crying out in the wilderness … to point his followers to the messiah, the Christ, the one who was to come. The question that they asked of Jesus, “Is it you? Are you the one? What should we tell John?”

Jesus, answering them said:

22 … “Go … tell John what you have seen and what you've heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Christ is the one to come, rejoice in this Good News!

I had a nice sermon prepared but when I came here to run through it on Friday, the events of the day in Connecticut overwhelmed my preparation.

How do you deal with tragedy of this magnitude? How do you deal with loss of life, especially when it involves children between 6-7 years of age?

On Friday I was driving to an elementary school in Pontiac in the afternoon to play my banjo with a co-worker for a program for mentally challenged students. Many of these students are between the ages of 18-26 and are being prepared for living outside the home. As I drove to the John F. Kennedy Elementary school on Baldwin Rd. in Pontiac, I felt a connection to the school and the teachers in Connecticut, confronted and dealing with an event of unspeakable magnitude. When I drive I like to listen to Sports Talk Radio and as I was driving the radio host comes on and says, “I want someone of faith to call and explain this to me!”

What he was really saying, was … where was God? Why would a loving God allow this type of tragedy and suffering?

Well, I turned into the parking lot and entered the school and met the teachers and students, carrying my big banjo case and having no problem getting in or finding my friend, the teacher that invited us, and where we were to go. Many of these students have debilitating physical illness, some appear normal but have mental problems and others that are dealing with all of the above. We all had a joy filled time and both my friend Paul and I were blessed to play for them and to see these dedicated teachers and workers who love and care deeply for these special children of God.

Pastor Merrell and I attended our circuit meeting this past Tuesday and Pastor Tom Fisher did a sermon on God interrupting lives through the preaching of John the Baptist. Well, there was a terrible interruption this past Friday and Tom’s message said, "We must always be prepared for being interrupted by God". This interrupting opens us all up to God’s will and is one of the core objectives of Advent's message; … prepare ye the way of the Lord!"

My life, like yours, was interrupted Friday both by tragedy but for me, also joy. As I wrestled with the sad loss of life in Connecticut one minute, I was blessed by the faces of God’s special need children being cared for and loved by these teachers and workers, many like Paul's friend Deb who are Christian and who bring through their vocation, God’s caring hands to His special children in need.

… rejoice in this Good News!

“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Jesus asks and wants to know a very important thing from these disciples who were following Him.

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way before you.’

28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.

Is there no one greater than John? This prophet who would prepare the way for the Lord? When you think of some of the prophets; Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and on and on and John … is the greatest of all of these …

Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Christ is the one to come, for you, who are least in the Kingdom of God. Rejoice in this Good News!

You, who are the least in the Kingdom, are greater than John! Think about that! Christ has lifted you up. He has redeemed you. He has made you His own. He has called you to be his child. He has washed you clean in the blood of the Lamb. He will feed you on His very body and blood given and shed for you.

You who deserve death have been given new life in Him. Rejoice in Him!

Martin Luther who was not only a great theologian and defender of the faith but quite a good hymn writer as well wrote this little hymn that it a great comfort for all who live this Christian life of faith:

“Feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving;

My warrant is the Word of God--Naught else is worth believing.

Though all my heart should feel condemned, For want of some sweet token,

There is One greater than my heart, Whose Word cannot be broken.

I'll trust in God's unchanging Word, Till soul and body sever,

For, though all things shall pass away ... HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!”

― Martin Luther

Christ is the one to come, rejoice in this Good News!

This Advent as we watch and wait, know that there is one who knows you and has known you from the foundation of the world and has called you to be His own and has forgiven you your sin so that the righteousness that you had before sin came into the world could be restored to you in Christ, by faith.

You who are least in the kingdom of God:

Christ is the one who came for you. Rejoice in this Good News!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon Dec.1-2, 2012

Title: In Christ the promise of righteousness is fulfilled for you!

Text: Jer. 33:14-16

14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

In the Antarctic summer of 1908-9, Sir Ernest Shackleton and three companions attempted to travel to the South Pole from their winter quarters. They set off with four ponies to help carry the load. Weeks later, their ponies dead, rations all but exhausted, they turned back toward their base, their goal not accomplished.

Altogether, they trekked 127 days. On the return journey, as Shackleton records in The Heart of the Antarctic, the time was spent talking about food -- elaborate feasts, gourmet delights and sumptuous menus. As they staggered along, suffering from dysentery, not knowing whether they would survive, every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating.

Jesus, who also knew the ravages of food deprivation, said in Matt. 5:6,

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS!"

We can understand Shackleton's obsession with food, on his long return and food deprived journey. We too long for the day when the Righteous One, Jesus Christ, returns in glory for His bride, the church; and as we wait, we also prepare during this Advent season to welcome the babe in the manger who came to fulfill all righteousness and is … our righteousness, because:

Source Unknown.

In Christ the promise of righteousness is fulfilled for you!

Jeremiah had a tough job. As the court prophet for King Zedekiah he brought God’s word to the King. At times God’s word through Jeremiah could proclaim blessing and joy and at other times it could proclaim judgment and sorrow.

Judah was in bad shape. They had been falling away from God and His word and trusting in their own righteousness. Even Zedekiah’s name in Hebrew means “Just” and “Righteous.” I thought, just for fun, I’d look up my own name, Russell, only to find out it simply means “Ruddy” or “Red Haired” you can see my parents got that one wrong. But I’ll take just a little joy in my name and its meaning when we consider King David’s description in (1 Samuel 16:12):

12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”

For this is right, that David was anointed to be King called by God as one after God’s own heart. But King Zedekiah was hearing judgment from God through Jeremiah’s proclaiming and it was only a matter of time before God’s judgment would come, in the form of King Nebuchadnezzar and the entire Babylonian Army, carrying the entire nation away into exile.

So what do you do if you’re the King and you don’t like what God’s word says? You continue to trust in your own righteousness and your own reason and understanding and lock God’s prophet up in prison of the palace so you don’t have to hear it.

It’s what Zedekiah did and at times it’s what we do. But the joy that our lesson today proclaims … and the blessing we wait in anticipation for this Advent season is that:

In Christ the promise of righteousness is fulfilled for you!

Don’t you too at times shut up God’s word in your own prison of indifference or rejection? When God’s word condemns your sin, it is often easier to reject the truth God’s word points out than to turn in repentance, asking for forgiveness and receiving the forgiveness and absolution God so desires to give you and for you to hear.

For Zedekiah the judgment of God would come through the Babylonian Army. Where might your judgment come from? For you and for me and through the ages, the Army that many times caries us away is found in our own wisdom, understanding and reason. What God’s word says and that which we can’t understand or wrap our arms around we often reject as foolish or only intended for a certain place and at a certain time. We set ourselves up as God’s judge and determine what is and what is not relevant to me. Our society, or Kingdom if you will, is being judged by God’s word. The truth is we are falling short as a nation. We are all going our own way, as Israel did in the  Book of Judges, having everyman doing what was right in his own eyes so that only a generation or two later … they neither knew the Lord or what He had done for them. How or when we get carried away into our own exile as a nation remains to be seen. But, understanding and reason is a constant battleground.

As Martin Luther stated in one of his Table Talks:

He said:
“Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but—more frequently than not—struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.”
—Martin Luther, Table Talks in 1569.

But even though we fall short there is still reason to rejoice because:

In Christ the promise of righteousness is fulfilled for you!

In those days, as also today, God’s word brought judgment and blessing and for those who needed to hear, just as we need to hear, listen:

14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

The promise of a savior, Christ the Lord, would spring forth from the righteous branch of that ruddy rascal King David. He, Jesus, would execute justice, fulfilling at the cross God’s work of redeeming mankind from sin and the works of the Law which cause many to stumble and fall short, trusting in their own works and own righteousness but you … are FREE because by the power of the Holy Spirit you have been brought to faith and trust in a foreign righteousness, one outside yourself and by that same Spirit you cling to Christ and the eternal hope for which He came.

In Christ the promise of righteousness is fulfilled for you!

16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

The Lord is our righteousness indeed! He has come for you and as we wait in joyful anticipation this Advent season for the coming of the babe in the manger … which is Christ the Lord, we know that He came for you.

But how, you might say, can I know and be sure that he came for me?  By faith through baptism and the preaching of the gospel, God has called you to believe and be His child.

As the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Cor.5:17-21:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (in Christ) we might become the righteousness of God.

That is the blessed Good News; that is the blessed exchange that you cling to that:

In Christ the promise of righteousness is fulfilled for you!

The Lord is our righteousness … that we might become the righteousness of God!

So, just as Sir Ernest Shackleton and his three companions in their hardship and suffering on Antarctica hungered and longed for the feast that would satisfy their earthly need. So to, Christ has come … calling you to faith and to His banquet feast, turning you back to Him, and making you His beloved child who feasts on the righteous truths of His word and believes and holds fast the blessed hope as we wait and long for during this Advent season.

The days are coming … when I will fulfill the promise … And those days have come in Jesus Christ our Lord and savior, who having redeemed you from sin, death and the power of the Devil now clothes you with His righteousness now and forever more.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon Nov. 24-25, 2012

Title: God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

Text: Mark 13:26-27

26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard, tells a parable of a theater where a variety show is proceeding. Each show is more fantastic than the last, and is applauded by the audience. Suddenly the manager comes forward. He apologizes for the interruption, but the theater is on fire, and he begs his patrons to leave in an orderly fashion. The audience thinks this is the most amusing turn of the evening, and cheer thunderously. The manager again implores them to leave the burning building, and he is again applauded vigorously. At last he can do no more. The fire raced through the whole building taking the fun-loving audience with it. "And so," concluded Kierkegaard, "will our age … I sometimes think … go down in fiery destruction to the applause of a crowded house of cheering spectators."

Resource, July/August, 1990

God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

The truth of that philosophical parable is a sobering reality to every person inhabiting the earth. The promise in scripture is that Christ will return but we don’t know … when the time will come. The text of our gospel in Mark tells us some important things:

24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark13:24-27)

There are end-time scholars that take differing views on when Christ will return. Some say Jesus Christ will come and rapture his church and that we His people will be gathered up in to heaven and that the world and all unbelievers will experience  the 7 years of the tribulation, popularized by the Left Behind series and other end-time predictors. They see this difficult to follow end-time timeline laid out in scripture where the church, God’s elect, are spared the suffering of the tribulation and where those who don’t believe are given a somehow second chance to repent and believe after the church has been raptured to heaven.

But the words of Christ here seem very clear in our reading: … after that tribulation … they will see the Son of Man … he will send out the angels and gather his elect … (not before the tribulation but after) … from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

When Christ returns it will be for the purpose of gathering His elect, those who believe and who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus uses the illustration of the fig tree:

28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. (Mark 13:28-29)

Our text today points to these things taking place but what things? It’s not what we’ve just read in the Gospel lesson but Jesus, earlier in chapter 13, from last Sunday’s reading tells us:

5 … “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines …

And we might add: hurricanes and nor-Easters as was just experienced on the East Coast.
…These are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Mark 13:5-8)

So when Jesus said, when you see these things taking place … that is what He, Jesus, was referring to. Don’t be lead astray by someone claiming to be the Christ; when you see wars and rumors of wars, nation rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and then add all the earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes … He our Lord and savior Jesus is near.

God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

He is near. He is very near. But are you ready? We’re told:

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (And then we are told.) 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.

Are you ready? The signs are very clear. The indicators are present yet 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27)

It might be today, maybe tomorrow, next week, a month, year or two … are you prepared, will you as the elect of God be gathered unto Christ when He returns?

Because: 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matt.7:21)

In our country we’ve entered what many call a post-Christian world; a world-view that calls truth false and attempts to form God to our own likeness, casting Him in our image or at least in an image of our own choosing. As we make this country and our world into a place void of God’s precepts and principles; we open our world, our home, our family, even ourselves to the schemes of Satan and his minions (his demons) to take up residence in our lives … destroying the very fabric of the family, the definition of marriage, the life of the unborn and claiming a Christian worldview where none exists.

On that day:

23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matt. 7:23)

But God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” (Mark 13:35-37)

This directive to His disciples was a warning to the lulling ability of the world the flesh and the Devil to draw them away from Christ and His word. It’s a word of warning to you too. It’s a warning to me as well. When the word of God becomes only part of my work, in service here and in the exercise of preparing a sermon … I lose the true value, the transforming devotional value of God’s word. You do too.

Ill.
The motor home has allowed us to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top or you can just Hot Spot your internet and smart phone. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. We buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet we deck it out with the same furnishings as in our living room. Thus nothing really changes. We may drive to a new place, set ourselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we've only carried along our old setting.
The adventure of new life in Christ begins when the comfortable patterns of the old life are left behind.


David Roher.
God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

God has called you by name. He has written your name in the Lamb’s book of life. You have been adopted into His family at your baptism and the promise of God is that Jesus will never let you be taken from the palm of His hand. He is among us now. Right here with you and me.

In our mid-week Bible class we’ve been talking about the Omnipresence of God, of God’s presence being everywhere at all times verses His Sacramental presence that is here for you now. Here as we gather together called by Christ in worship, we hear His word, we confess our sins and we receive the comfort that we are forgiven and have the favor with God on account of Christ.

In God’s Omnipresence, He is everywhere but for the person in the world outside of the Christian faith they receive many blessings from God in this life because the rain falls on the Just and the unjust alike but there is no comfort from God for the sinner in His Omnipresence, because he only receives Gods condemnation on account of sin … sin that has been paid for by Christ but which many refuse to acknowledge by rejecting the call of the Holy Spirit to repentance … continuing to live in sin and by sin mold their lives.

But you … who believe … you are the elect! You are the forgiven! You are the ones God in Christ will gather to Himself to be with Him forever; to live in the blessed peace of a heaven void of sin and forever illumined by Christ’s glory!

God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

"And so," as Kierkegaard concluded, "will our age and this world … I sometimes think … rather go down in fiery destruction to the applause of a crowded house of cheering spectators … than to receive Christ and his call by the power of the holy Spirit?"

But not you, most favored child of God. You are forgiven and found in Christ and by His Spirit you believe. This is the Good News for today and for always.

26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Because: God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon Nov. 17-18, 2012

Title: Christ gives us life eternal in Him!

Text: Heb. 10:23-25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Thinking of the fullness and duration of this wonderful life, W. B. Hinson, a great preacher of a past generation, spoke from his own experience just before he died. He said, "I remember a year ago when a doctor told me, 'You have an illness from which you won't recover.' I walked out to where I live 5 miles from Portland, Oregon, and I looked across at that mountain that I love. I looked at the river in which I rejoice, and I looked at the stately trees that are always God's own poetry to my soul. Then in the evening I looked up into the great sky where God was lighting His lamps, and I said, ' I may not see you many more times, but Mountain, I shall be alive when you are gone; and River, I shall be alive when you cease running toward the sea; and Stars, I shall be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great down pulling of the material universe!' "

W. B. Hinson.

Christ gives us life eternal in Him!

Eternal life is the antithesis of human reason. Antithesis is a word that means to put in opposition to … the exact opposite. Eternal life means that death is not the end but human reason sees death in only physical terms. Reason says: “When the body dies, life is no more.” But as Christians we have been bought with a price as our text in the book of Hebrews reveals:

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Heb 10:11-14)

In the words of the hymn that I wrote for my Baptism class the work of Christ is revealed.

Jesus Christ, true God and True man, heard repentance call. The sin of our first parents Adam and Eve brought about spiritual death. No longer were they to live in this paradise that God had given them. No longer would this Garden of Eden, where they were to live forever, living in fellowship with God himself and being cared for by this loving God as a father cares for a beloved child, be their home.

With sin came death; both their spiritual death which came first, separating them from God but also later the physical death of Adam and Eve that also is part of who we are and what we inherit. In God’s loving act of casting out our first parents from paradise and keeping them from eating of the Tree of Life and living forever in their fallen state, He place Himself as the once and for all sacrifice for sin and the bridge to life eternal in Him … for you and me.

Christ gives us life eternal in Him!

We continue in our Epistle for today:

15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

The water and the word of life; unites us in the death of Christ.

In our Baptisms we have been reborn. In our first birth or the natural way we come into being we have been conceived through natural means and in this way are born in sin. This sin that has been handed down in the natural course of life is called original sin and through it our death and spiritual separation from God is secured. Again we are at first spiritually dead at birth and through the course of life will also physically die. If you think about it in this way:

We are born dead to God … and apart from God’s own intervening in our life … we will remain dead to Him until God calls us all to judgment on the last day. For those apart from the Spirit of God - this is their lot. But we who have been given newness of life through baptism have God’s promise that in Christ our sins have been washed away, He drowns our sin and we will forever live with Him.

Christ gives us life eternal in Him!

But, what do we do and how do we live? Do we take the light that we are given and place it under a basket?

21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:21-25)

As you prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday this week and as a Christian look at what you have been given from Jesus Christ your Lord and savior. The Eternal life that you receive comes from the blessed blood given and shed for you at the cross by your Lord and savior Jesus Christ! He buries your sin and your guilt, he takes it upon Himself so that the spiritual death that you are born into is drowned in your baptism and is forever removed from the Fathers eyes. The grave holds no victory over you as in Baptism you are restored to that pristine relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God before sin, death and the Devil corrupted your world.

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Christ gives us life eternal in Him!

In remembering our Baptisms, we look to daily die and rise with Christ!

We can truly be thankful as the Holy Spirit comforts us with this blessed good news that our sins have been paid for in Christ! It should bring Joy and peace to us but at times the cares of this life define us and our thankful joy can once again fall to worry and despair. So, how does God stay active in our lives and continue to defend and uplift His children? - Through the word and by the work of the Holy Spirit.

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

We stay in the faith eternal through God’s word and through the sacraments as we partake together as the body of Christ, raised through the water and the word.

Martin Luther had this to say in his Large Catechism:

24] Therefore state it most simply thus, that the power, work, profit, fruit, and end of Baptism is this, namely, to save. For no one is baptized in order that he may become a prince, but, as the words declare, that he be saved. 25] But to be saved, we know, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil, and to enter into the kingdom of Christ, and to live with Him forever." -- Martin Luther (Quoted from the Large Catechism)

This hope eternal we receive. By God’s Holy Spirit in our baptism we receive this blessed faith to believe. And this faith that we receive is faith in the finished work of our Triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit who creates, redeems and brings to faith by the power of His Holy Spirit.

It is truly right to be thankful this Thanksgiving and everyday for all the blessings you have been given in this life and it is also right to thank the Lord for the saving Gospel message that in Christ you are marked as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.

Christ gives you life eternal in Him!

Even as the mountains will fall and rivers will run dry and the stars will no longer shine Psalm 119 reminds us:

89 Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens and
90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
93 I will never forget your precepts, or by them that you have given me life.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen