Sermon May 14-15, 2016 Pentecost

Title: God’s Spirit teaches, points, and declares peace in Christ!
Text: John 14:23-31

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

St Augustine wrote: I was weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when I heard the voice of children from a neighboring house chanting, "take up and read; take up and read." I could not remember ever having heard the like, so checking the torrent of my tears, I arose, interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book and read the first chapter I should find. Eagerly then I returned to the place where I had laid the volume of the apostle. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:13-14
No further would I read, nor did I need to. For instantly at the end of this sentence, it seemed as if a light of serenity infused into my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away. 

Augustine.

In our Gospel reading for today Jesus says:

23 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

There is a unique use of the singular and plural. Jesus says his words are the Fathers who sent him. There is a connection between Son and Father. Last week it was … 22b that they may be one even as we are one, 

Farther and Son are both unique and distinct but we are told also still one in a unity. 

Ill.

This past month we’ve seen some change here at Peace - a new cross and a new organ. When I went to the Berkley church Evola Music sent two drivers for the moving of the organ. Some work could be done with one person, some two and on occasion the third man was needed. I removed the speakers in the back myself and the drivers were able to get the console on the dolly and off the Chancel steps. However when it was found that the organ didn’t fit in the elevator it needed to go down a ramp and a third man was needed, and that helper was me. I held the balance and guided the organ down the ramp – not doing the heavy lifting but guiding and pointing and helping the instrument through the opening and into the truck.

When the speakers needed to come down from the attic chambers where they were housed, Jeremy handed them down to me perched on the ladder and I handed then to Jeff and he lowered them to a dolly and rolled them out of the church.

In the same way when the organ was installed I served as a helper. Handing up and drill so the installer didn’t have to come down the ladder or aiding with the raising of the speakers on to the scaffolding so they could be lowered into the speaker chambers. As a helper, it required me to aid, point, guide, lift and to help those who were doing what they were called here to do.

In answer to the Third Article of the Creed, Martin Luther writes in the Small Catechism:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

As we celebrate Pentecost today we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit. Not that the Holy Spirit was inactive because this is the same Spirit of God who in Genesis 1 was hovering over the face of the waters. 2 [Though] the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

This is also the same Spirit of God that the disciples received when Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” John 20:22-23

This is the same Spirit of God given in baptism that creates faith in the heart of the one being baptized, pointing to all that Jesus has done in his atoning work and bringing from death to life we who are dead in trespass and sin, making us alive in Christ and giving us the gift of faith to believe.

This is the same Spirit of God that is in you - throughout the life of the believer - that aids, points, guides, comforts, helps, and does battle against the world, the flesh and the devil keeping you and me united to Christ by faith as we daily die and rise in repentance and forgiveness – being sorry for our sin and knowing God’s true peace and comfort that we who are repentant are truly forgiven.

Ill.

20 years ago I learned a song called “Some may trust in horses” It was taken from Psalm 20 Verses 6 through 8.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

Today, and especially as Christians in the United States, we look for solutions to the problems we face, the breakdown of society, and granted we have a voice to speak up, to lobby our elected officials and governmental leaders, and also to vote for the freedoms we enjoy of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness granted to us in this wonderful Constitutional Republic we enjoy called the United States of America.

But, when our hope is placed in those whom we elect, and in those whom we support, we place our trust in horses and chariots and the men and women who hold that power instead of the name of our God – Jesus Christ our Lord.

In our Old Testament reading today the people had a plan:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” Gen. 11:4

The leaders and the people had a plan to build to the heavens to worship self to do things their way … to trust in horses and chariots if you will. But God dispersed them by confusing their language. But, on the Day of Pentecost – as they were in one place – the Lord sent a rushing wind and tongues of fire that rested on the Apostles, and as they spoke those gathered were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

And who were those that heard this word and understood?

Well, they were …

9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

Those of Babel who proposed to build a tower were confused and dispersed by God in a miraculous way are now united in a common understanding by a similar miraculous way. God’s Spirit now brings understanding and clarity to what God has done for me and you in Christ.

The unity of the message won’t happen by sword, or by vote, or by the philosophical worldview of the leaders. It won’t come about by capitalism, socialism or communism. It won’t come about by taking from the rich and giving to the poor – that was the philosophy of Robin Hood –not our God.

It only comes about through the word of the Gospel and by the working of the Holy Spirit.

In his letter to the Philippians Paul makes clear what we should know:

12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through [Christ] who gives me strength. Phil 4:12-13 NIV

That is the work of the Holy Spirit to aid, to point, to guide, to comfort, and to help in all situations – pointing us to what Jesus has done for you and me. May that be your peace and comfort now and always.

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

Amen

Sermon May 7-8, 2016

Title: Love, the gift of God in Christ
Text: John 17 20-26

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

22b that they may be one even as we are one,

26b that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor … act as if you did. As soon as [you] do this, you find [a] great secret. When you [behave] as if you loved someone you will come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will dislike him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."

Our Daily Bread, February 14.

Jesus in his High Priestly Prayer in John 17 prays for not only those who believe in him but for those who will believe in me through their word.

It is the desire of our Lord that we be united to him even as he and the Father are one. [Vs 22]

23 I in them and you in me, [Christ in us] that they [you and me] may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

As we celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend we also know that Godly mothers also love those of us who sin much but also this may include God- mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and yes – in the absence of a mother – fathers, uncles, grandfathers and the like.

I would like to share with you the story of a teacher, Miss Thompson.

Ill.

Ted Stallard undoubtedly qualifies as the one of "the least." [He was] turned off by school; very sloppy in appearance; expressionless, and unattractive. Even his teacher, Miss Thompson, enjoyed bearing down her red pen -- as she placed Xs beside his many wrong answers.

If only she had studied his records more carefully. 

They read:

1st grade: Ted shows promise with his work and attitude, but (has) a poor home situation.
2nd grade: Ted could do better. His mother is seriously ill and he receives little help from home.
3rd grade: Ted is good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.
4th grade: Ted is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest whatsoever.

Christmas arrived. The children [brought] elaborately wrapped gifts on their teacher's desk. Ted brought one too. It was wrapped in brown paper and held together with Scotch Tape. Miss Thompson opened each gift, as the children crowded around to watch. Out of Ted's package fell a [broken] rhinestone bracelet, with half of the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker. But she silenced them by splashing some of the perfume on her wrist, and letting them smell it. She put the bracelet on too.

At day's end, after the other children had left, Ted came by the teacher's desk and said, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And the bracelet looks real pretty on you. I'm glad you like my presents." He left. Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her and to change her attitude.

The next day, the children were greeted by a [changed] teacher -- one committed to loving each of them. Especially the slow ones. Especially Ted. Surprisingly -- or maybe, not surprisingly, Ted began to show great improvement. He actually caught up with most of the students and even passed a few.
Time came and went. Miss Thompson heard nothing from Ted for a long time. Then, one day, she received this note:

Dear Miss Thompson:

I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class.

Love, Ted

Four years later, another note arrived:

Dear Miss Thompson:

They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it.

Love, Ted

And four years later:

Dear Miss Thompson:

As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year.

Miss Thompson attended that wedding, and sat where Ted's mother would have sat. The compassion she had shown that young man entitled her to that privilege.

Jon Johnston, Courage - You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear, 1990, SP Publications, pp. 111-113.

Love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

All of us who have lost our earthly mothers joy in the faith given to them by the Holy Spirit as I do my own mother Eleanor Tkac and Monica’s mother Jeanne Comins. True blessings come in different ways. Both loved Jesus and his comfort and promise of his forgiveness and an eternity with him and those they also love. It is Christ’s desire that they be with him where he is and this is the comfort that we who remain cling to. That where Christ is there Love is and where Love is there is also those who by faith trust in him and his word of promise.

Earthly mothers who have believed and who also love their children also pray like Jesus that their children may also believe and be united to Christ. For those who have not been blessed with godly mothers God provides for all our needs by those who stand in their place - or it is God’s desire that none be lost.

This past Thursday was the celebration of the Ascension of our Lord, where Jesus returns to the right hand of God mediating our prayers to the Father. It is Jesus who both prays for us and hears our prayers. It is he who lived a sinless life in our place and died for us so that we might be saved.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

22b that they may be one even as we are one,

26b that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

It is through the love of Christ that we can love and be loved. May that comfort be your now and always.

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

Amen

Sermon April 30-May 1, 2016 Confirmation

Title: Christ’s peace overcomes the world!
Text: John 16:23-33

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Somerset Maugham, the English writer, once wrote a story about a janitor at St. Peter’s Church in London. One day a young vicar discovered that the janitor was illiterate and fired him. Jobless, the man invested his meager savings in a tiny bicycle shop, where he prospered, bought another, expanded, and ended up with a chain of bicycle stores worth several hundred thousand dollars. One day the man’s banker said, “You’ve done well for an illiterate, but where would you be if you could read and write?” “Well,” replied the man, “I’d be janitor of St. Peter’s Church in Neville Square."

Bits and Pieces, June 24, 1993, p. 23

Being the janitor of St. Peter’s Church was not a bad job, and working in the church – in whatever capacity – is not a bad job. Even owning a fleet of bicycle shops … is not a bad job and may also be fairly lucrative. But, being loved by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and being made his child … well … that is something to celebrate.

Today/ tomorrow we celebrate the Lord’s work in the lives of two of his chosen - Alex Powell and Cassidy Thompson. Both born about the time my family and I came to Peace.

I seem to have known them forever … and over this past year, in confirmation class we got to know each other a little better. Boom! Or, that is how Alex answered in response to each right answer. Boom! It’s funny but joyful as well. But, maybe it was Cassidy’s donkey? Well, that was just the donkey they talked about as we studied the 10th commandment.

As Luther wrote:

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant or his maidservant, his Ox or Donkey, cattle, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

I told them that our Ox and donkey was today more likely your riding mower and family dog … but it became Cassidy’s donkey. So, along with not coveting Cassidy’s donkey we learned quite a few things together. Most importantly though we learned that in baptism these two were brought to faith by our heavenly Father through the washing of water by that word and by his Holy Spirit they have remained in that faith and have/will confirm that reality.

Jesus says in our gospel today:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

And then clarifies:

26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

Together in class we learned to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name using the acronym ACTS - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. So we adore, confess, thank and ask God to supply all our needs in Jesus name.

Apart from me you can do nothing!

Jesus aid: 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Jesus also said … but with God all things are possible.

24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

Not … who then can be rich? But, who then can be saved?

26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matt 19:24-26

It is God who is active and who has given faith, through word and means. Alex being born on May 15 and Cassidy on May 16 of 2002 and reborn or born from above as God washed these children marking them as his own by water and the Spirit. Just as he has done for you and me marking us redeemed by Christ and keeping us in the one true faith now and forever.

Romans 11:17-18 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, while you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness [of the root and sap] of the olive tree, - That is Jesus
18 Do not boast over the branches and pride yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root [that supports] you.

Through baptism you have been grafted in and that is all a gift from our heavenly Father.

Our gospel lesson today concludes with these words from Jesus.

33 I have said these things to you, that in me [in Christ] you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

You and everyone who follows Christ will see the tribulation promised. There may be a time of falling away even and it will largely not be when times are good – when things seem to be well and going your way … a time of prosperity. That is when Satan … will sift you like wheat, as he did with St. Peter and the other disciples in Luke 22:31, when St. Peter denied the Lord three times … even saying that “he didn’t even know the man.”

You may see that time too, a time of falling away, a time of unbelief, a time of trusting the world and the flesh, and a time of doubt. And like Peter today you may think “Not me Lord!” being ready to go to prison and even death for your faith in Christ.

23 [That like] those others [the fallen branches, Jews], if they do not persist in [clinging to] their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

And so to you … who may fall away for a time … God has gift for us all and will work repentance in you and me and those we love, to draw you and to bring you back into his peace and to his sheepfold … not letting any to be snatched from the palm of his hand.

It is here where Christ promises to be, it is in his house where forgiveness and his true body and blood take away sins and strengthen faith. It is where the peace that passes all human understanding is, in a world of chaos and corruption. It is where Jesus calls, gathers and feeds his sheep.

God has opened your heart and has given you his word and faith to believe may it always be here where you fine his pavilion of rest.

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

Amen

Sermon April 23-24, 2016

Title: In Christ all are granted forgiveness
Text: Acts 11:1-18

16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in.

Source Unknown.

The circular life of the Christian is one of daily repentance. Dying and rising with Christ in baptism, remembering our sin and the comfort of our savior who has washed us clean in the blood of the lamb. It is the circular life of sanctification, and God by the working of His Spirit, that we return each week to worship confessing our sins and receiving the Lord’s comfort and forgiveness.

In Christ all are granted forgiveness

The Law of God was given to Moses on the mountain to show how we are to love God and love our neighbor. These 10 commandments, three pertaining to our relationship to God and 7 pertaining to how we live with each other, show who we are, as sinners in a broken world, curb how far off the rails we go in our sinful activity, and guide us as to how we are to live.

They are a mirror of our brokenness not a means to our righteousness.

11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 

The Jews here, or as they are called, the circumcision party were seeing a very different distinction between Jew and Gentile or the work of the law and the work of Christ Jesus our Lord.

God here gives Peter a vision – a strange one to be sure – or a sheet from heaven and animals of all kind, clean and unclean and a directive ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ Answering to Peter’s ‘By no means, Lord; referring to clean and unclean animals … and God’s response:

‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 

Ill.

Last weekend new members were received into fellowship here at Peace not because they had met some requirement but because they confessed Christ. They gave answer to what Jesus had done for them and what he continues to do by his spirit in them.

17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”

That is how God worked in bringing Jew and Gentile into his fold. The Good Shepherd calls, gathers and sustains or as my friend Pastor Monson said, “He feeds, cares for, and chases after lost sheep.” And he does this through his means of word and sacrament and through those who have been entrusted with the care of the sheep where they have been called as under shepherds.

Ill. Baptism of the Barbaric Tribes

Centuries ago, when missionaries went among the barbaric tribes of Western Europe and converted whole nations, baptisms of thousands of people at one time was a common occurrence. One thing the missionaries found was that many of these barbarians insisted on keeping their right hand out of the baptismal water when they were plunged beneath its surface. They were willing to become Christians in every aspect except one; they wanted their strong right arm left free to kill enemies and to use as they please. 

Encyclopedia of Illustrations


This is an interesting illustration if the water or the mode of baptism was of significant importance. If my right arm remains free they thought, I can go and do as I please. Again, placing trust in themselves and their own righteousness verses placing trust in a God who is all sufficient. 

Again, John baptized with water … a baptism of repentance but baptism instituted by Christ in the name of the Father, Son + and Holy Spirit gives faith, life eternal and the gift of the Holy Spirit connected to the waters of baptism.

True repentance and true faith are God’s gifts and his working. We can’t remain unbelievers and remain his children. The hope in the Law brings death.

Having just completed a study in Galatians with our midweek group we see that even Peter – yes the one with the vision - was led astray. When the circumcision party arrived Peter separated himself from the gentile believers. The apostle Paul had to oppose him to his face, to stand up to him – even an apostle – that the gift of God consists of Christ plus nothing!

Saying:

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” Gal. 3:11 ESV

26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal 3:26-27 ESV

4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. Gal.5:4 ESV

But Paul leaves them with this exhortation:

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict [or opposition] with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. Gal 5:16-17 NIV

… So much for leaving your hand out of the waters of Holy Baptism., huh?

Trust in the Law brings only death because it is opposed to Christ. Trust in Christ brings life because he fulfilled the Law on our behalf.

Faith is not our work but God’s work in us. Through the word proclaimed and through the means he has provided in baptism.

What did Peter understand?

17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”

If we come to faith it is all of God work. If we remain in sin, it is all our own fault.

And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Sermon April 16-17, 2016

Title: Sheep … follow their shepherd
Text: John 10:22-30

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Last weekend we talked about discerning the voice of the Lord. Also, hearing, listening and obeying that same voice. At times, God’s voice is clear, direct and powerful and it is easy to discern what he means and what he expects of you and of me.

You shall have no other Gods
You shall not steal
You shall not bear false witness
You shall not covet

Other times, God’s word causes us to wrestle with the truth of his word and how best to understand it as we deal in this life with sin, death and the devil.

Honor your father and Mother

Well, what if a mother or father has been or is an abuser of their children?

You shall not kill

How might this apply to warfare and accidents or unintended death? What about capital punishment?

Go, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit … Matt. 28:19

Is Baptism God’s work or mans?

Take eat, this is my body which is given for you … Take drink, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Luke 22: 19-20

Is Christ’s true body and blood in with and under the bread and wine or, as some denomination maintain, that it is simply a remembrance? These and other questions must be answered by God’s word in an honest and truthful way and though divisions exist within the Christian church as my professor Dr. Arthur Just once said, “Even if a church misses the blessings God intends in the sacraments they still have God’s word!”

Our gospel for today begins:

22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. [Today this feast is known as Hanukkah or the festival of lights] It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.

The Feast of Dedication commemorated the reconsecration of the temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated. So here in the temple is Jesus, the true temple, who had said in John chapter 2: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again." speaking of his own death, burial and resurrection that we just celebrated during Holy Week and Easter. This was in answer to the Jews who had demanded a miraculous sign of him.

Now, the Jews again ask, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

To this Jesus tells them, that the works that he does in his Father’s name bear witness about him. His death, burial and resurrection bear witness, His word of promise to make disciples by baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bear witness, His gift of body and blood, in and with the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins, bear witness.

To deny Jesus is to deny the witness and works he has done in his Father’s name.

The Jews did not believe so Jesus tells them: 26 …” you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.”

It is unbelief that damns us and separates us from Christ.

Ill.

(Today/ tomorrow) we (will) welcome some dear Christian friends into membership here at Peace. It is always a great joy to celebrate with these new members their fellowship here at Peace. Some have been members of God’s flock at other places - for a good long time I dare say, but all are relatively new here to Peace. They all have been called to faith by the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to believe and by the working of the Holy Spirit they remain steadfast in the faith, hearing the Good Shepherd’s voice, even through the weak vessels of Christ’s under shepherds. They have once again, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit in them, confirmed their faith in the presence of God and his church gathered here. They have been received into this sheep fold that is Peace Lutheran church as members so we rejoice with them that they hear Christ’s voice … and come.

But Christ also comforts with this promise … [“That] I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

My friend Pastor Paul Monson who preached at my ordination a few years ago sent me a reminder me when I was starting my seminary education saying:

“I'm proud of you that you are getting such good grades. Just remember what the pastoral office is all about. It's about feeding sheep, caring for sheep, and running after stray sheep.”

But I would add that it is also about joyfully welcoming the sheep from other folds that God has seen fit to send here … to be fed and cared for at this time.

Ill.

C.S. Lewis once said:

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to [tie] a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it? 

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed.

In the midst of sickness, test results, or impending surgery the Lord comes to mind to us all, doesn’t he? We see a great amount of souls added to the prayer list. But following the healing, good test results or successful surgery we see some forget again the Lord Jesus and his gifts.

It is certainly not what we do that keeps us in the faith. It is both God’s work that justifies or saves us, as well as, sanctifies or sustains us in that same faith … making us holy.

Ill.

Next Saturday Peace will be hosting the LWML Spring Rally and not only do I serving as the LWML Zone pastor, but I’ll also be the guest speaker sharing how the Lord brought me from Rock-n-Roll to the Rock of ages.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

How else can you explain where I was to where I am now, except that the Lord hand was upon me and he was directing all things and had the outcome that we now see?

At our elder’s meeting this past Tuesday we too found it interesting how the Lord has worked over this past year to direct and guide us in aspects of mission and ministry here at Peace, many times bringing the things needed right to our door.

Having difficulty finding an organist last year, Katherine Nold found us.

Having no means to replace our organ, God, now gives us a newer and better one.

Needing it professionally moved … Jim Evola offers to move it at no charge.

As I told our Elders, “We can’t make this stuff up and have it happen … we just need to follow God’s leading and directing, trusting that he knows what is best for us.”

The Dow’s, Charles Fox and Jackie Nast came to Peace because this is where God desires them to be as members at this time. It is God who has worked in each of us faith and has brought us here. By his Spirit we hear and follow the good Shepherd call and by that same Spirit he will point, direct and keep us all in that same one faith.

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always.

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

Amen

Sermon April 9-10, 2016

Title: Through God’s work we can proclaim Christ!
Text: Acts 9:1-22 (Kim readings below)

4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Last weekend we talked about fear and doubt and the persecuted church. The apostles were hidden in a locked room for fear of the Jews and were locked up in a public prison. Fear and doubt ruled the day then as today.

Now, this week we hear about Saul, one of the chief architects and muscle, who brought this persecution and fear to the people – men, women and probably children too – who were bound and brought by force to Jerusalem. Doesn’t sound like the best choice of a person to bring peace to a hurting world in the midst of persecution, does it?

Through God’s work we can proclaim Christ!

3 Now as [Saul] went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

As God would have it, the one he chooses to represent him – in bringing the peace of the Gospel to the world - was not who we would have thought.

When the NCAA championship game was on the line last Monday night tied 74-74 and with time running out, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins hit a three pointer at the buzzer for the win.

The ball was given to one of the Villanova players for the opportunity to win the game.

What God does in our lesson today, as the clock is winding down, is not to give the ball to his best player or even a bench player but to pass the ball to the opposing team for the win. To give the ball to his opponent … what a surprise that would have been for Villanova, huh!

Well Ananias thought so too.

For in a vision, 11 … the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and what might Saul been praying … Lord, forgive me a poor miserable sinner …

12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”
Saul was known to Ananias all right and for good reason.

“Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

Persecution was real from the church – new as it was –and Saul was known to be about as bad as you could be in opposition to Christ and his church.

But when you think of it … what better witness to the power of God?

God used his word to reach Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And to reach Ananias as well: “Ananias, rise and go.” One was an enemy, the other a disciple, and both were called by God’s word to hear, to listen, and to follow that same word.

But through God’s work, we can too can proclaim Christ!

You too hear God’s word. Here on the weekends in our Divine Service, in devotions, maybe on the radio – probably not on the sports station. You hear, and at times you listen, and at times you obey, but … at other times you block it out.

So the question might be, how do you know when to listen, and when to obey, and what voice is speaking to you?

Ill.

I told this story in Bible study a few weeks ago as we are in acts chapter 9 as the Lord would have it.

When I was taking a class on the Bible at Oakland Community College about 15 years ago the professor asked a question. Now the class was a night class so it was full of young and old alike. Some who were just starting their college careers and others who were going back to school like me or taking classes for personal enrichment? One older Jewish man who was sitting next to me turns to me and says, “When we get to the New Testament, you’re going to have to help me!”

The lesson for the day was Genesis 22 and the story was about Abraham.

God’s voice calls to Abraham:

“Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

The professor asks the class, “If you, heard the voice of God telling you to kill your only son or daughter, would you?” Well, one young lady, who was a Christian, was all too quick with her answer and said almost with a smile on her face a definite yes. To this the teacher asked, “How would you know … that it’s God speaking to you and why would he want you to kill your son?”

She was a bit silent to his question. How can we discern the voice of God from the voice of the devil, who masquerades as an angle of light (2 Cor. 7:14) and as the thief, [only] comes only to steal and kill and destroy? John 10:10, as witnessed in the scriptures from the apostles Paul and John.

The Lord chose Ananias, and said to him that Saul is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

The Lord also chose Saul, soon to be the Apostle Paul, as well as other men who served the Lord and by inspiration of the Holy Spirit were moved to write the words of scripture that we have and know to be God’s word. We can access that word of God daily as we read and by that same Holy Spirit discern God’s word and will.

The willing and the unwilling the Lord chooses and uses.

The fifth commandment Thou shall not kill reveals God’s will given through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 5 and what we should do and it is a different desire than what the voice of God called out of the heavens to Abraham in Genesis 22. [In various times and in various way … Heb. 1]

Following the giving of the 10 commandments God through Moses writes – and I paraphrase a bit here:

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

7 … teach them diligently to your children, talk [about] them when you sit in your house, and when you’re [out and about], and when you lie down [to sleep], and when you rise [in the morning].

8 … bind them as a sign on your hand – [like a string tied around your finger so that you never forget them] – [so that God’s word] shall be [always before] your eyes. Deut 6:6-8

Then you will know his voice, and his will, and his desires.

So Ananias goes and lays his hands on Saul and we’re told something like scales fell from his eyes. God’s word through the sending of Ananias brings clarity and vision for Saul.

“Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

God’s word for you and me also shows, at times, his Law and our sinfulness but also his Son, Jesus our savior, and what he has done for us. By this we can know his will and hear his voice and obey what he calls us to do, though we fall ever short daily.

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Rom. 10:17

The Apostle Paul would write those words from prison in his epistle to the Romans, maybe reflecting his own conversion. But the word of God is always effectual. Whether it is God’s word proclaimed, the audible voice of God that Saul heard, or God’s word connected to the water of Holy Baptism or in, with and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.

It is God who is active and it is we who receive.

19 … Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. 21 all those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on his name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests? 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. Acts 9:19b-22

We too who have been born God’s enemies have been called to believe and by God’s Holy Spirit working faith in us we believe. It is no less a miraculous conversion for you or me than Saul. We who were dead in trespass and sin have been made alive in Christ! Praise his holy name!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Sermon April 2-3, 2016

Title: Through Christ belief is given and doubt is erased
Text: Acts 5:12-20

14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

When Henry Norris Russell, the Princeton astronomer, had concluded a lecture on the Milky Way, a woman came to him and asked, "If our world is so little, and the universe is so great, can we believe God really pays any attention to us?" Dr. Russell replied, "That depends, madam, entirely on how big a God you believe in."

Today in the World, Feb 89, p. 12.

Over the last few months we’ve welcomed the Christ child, born in a manger and celebrated the Epiphany of our Lord as he is revealed and made know to the world through the visit of the wise men. We watched Jesus grow in wisdom and stature and begin his ministry. He taught, cast our demons, healed the sick and raised the dead. He was celebrated as a great teacher but ultimately was rejected by the religious elite and the people. He was tried, convicted, crucified, dead and buried. It is finished.

Then … Easter came and Jesus rose from the dead. Death has been changed forever – swallowed up in victory as we proclaim. It is now the blessed hope of all who die in Christ that we too will rise and live with him free of sin, death and the power of the devil forever.
Through Christ belief is given and doubt is erased

The reality of this life, broken by sin though continues and it continued for the Apostles as well. Signs and wonders were regularly done among the people at the hands of the Apostles, and they were held in esteem by the people.

They even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

From the surrounding towns and villages they brought their sick and those with unclean spirits, and they were all healed!

Much had changed but much remained the same.

Those afflicted … remained so. Those called by Jesus to follow him … followed in his footsteps in the care of souls. Those opposed to Christ – the high priest and the party of the Sadducees –rose up being filled with jealousy and 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

Much had changed but much remained the same.

Ill.

William M. Batten, in Fortune Magazine wrote:

When I hear my friends say they hope their children don't have to experience the hardships they went through--I don't agree. Those hardships made us what we are. You can be disadvantaged in many ways, and one way may be not having had to struggle.

William M. Batten, Fortune.

Struggle is certainly part of the Christian walk. Many of you struggle with the trials of life. I do too. Sickness and death, job loss, guidance and care for our children and our parents. Friends and loved ones with cancer, you name it and it seems to go on and on. 

Through Christ belief is given and doubt is erased

Ill.

Today those opposed to Christ seem greater than ever. Foreign and domestic opposition to Jesus is rampant. College campuses indoctrinate free thinking and alternate lifestyles and they have for years, as long as your free thinking is not in support of traditional family values and accepted religious and public norms. Politically correct views trump that which was traditional accepted – no pun intended.

The recent bombings in Brussels, the killing of women and children in Pakistan, the terrorist attacks late last year in France and San Bernardino, and now the kidnapping of Indian Catholic priest Father Thomas Uzhunnalil, this past month in Yemen, highlight the hate for those outside of their narrow view of Islam but it is especially highlighted for those who name the name of Christ.

On March 4th of this year ISIS or ISIL (depending on which politically correct version you wish to use), killed four nuns serving along with Father Tom at an elderly care facility in Aden, Yemen. One nun managed to escape the terror standing behind a door as they searched for her. She said, “I wasn’t hiding, but they never looked behind the door.” Not killed along with the nuns was Father Tom. He was taken captive and it is being reported that he was crucified on Good Friday by the terrorist group … though some still hold out hope that he is alive through prayers.

The vision of St. John in the book of Revelation comforts we who morn for those martyred for their faith in chapter 6.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Rev. 6:9-11 ESV)

Persecution remains part of our Christian walk; though we like the fifth nun hope to be hidden behind the door of God’s protection.

It is easy to see that the corruption of this world continues. And though the wages of sin has been overcome by Christ we all wait in anticipation for the glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13

Even the Apostles, after Christ rose from the dead … and now doing his blessed work … in his name … were arrested and thrown in prison for their witness. Persecution, doubt, loss and fear continue to hound the church and those sent to serve. It will continue until Christ returns.

Through Christ belief is given and doubt is erased

The joy of Easter though is celebrated, as it was last weekend, but the reality of persecution continues for Christ’s church. In our day some who once followed Jesus rebel in sinful disobedience to the word of God. Others, have an apathetic distain for God’s word and all that Christ has done on their behalf. Truthfully, we all fall short in our love of God and service to neighbor.

I, a poor miserable sinner, rings true again each week. The truth is that Jesus died for you and for me in a very public way, so we cannot live for him by ourselves in private. And no, it’s not a work, but it is a fruit of who we are in Christ.

Fear gripped the disciples too. They, for fear of the Jews, were locked in a room and Jesus came and stood before them saying, “Peace be with you.”

This peace from Christ is real. God has made what we could never make possible a reality. Now he brings this reality to you and me through his means.

Jesus showed them his hands and his side, the reality of his death was there, the holes in his hands and feet, the mark in his side from the spear, all those remaining marks of his finished work for you and me were there, and he says and again … bringing the words of comfort …

“Peace be with you.” But now gives the means of this gift for the world’s peace and salvation. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Christ Jesus here sends these disciples, these 10 men locked in this room - Judas having fled and taken his life in despair while Thomas was not yet there among them.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

It is a true absolution and peace, true forgiveness, not because the men who stand in the place and by the command of Christ, stand of their own accord, but because they stand as servants of the word. They do what Christ does and commands because, it is his words of peace, it is his words of forgiveness and it is his words of comfort spoken by those called to stand as under shepherds of the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ himself. 

Peace is truly a gift, but it also truly had a cost. Jesus is both the gift and the price that was paid to procure your peace and your salvation. 

In Baptism, we too who are brought to the font receive that same gift of peace by Jesus. With Christ’s body and blood in, with and under the bread and wine we truly are fed, forgiven and strengthened.
At times the word of God’s Law points us all to our sinful nature, so that we might be brought to repentance. But God’s forgiveness is certain for those who repent, so that we might live redeemed, in the midst of a world broken by the fall.

In the lives of the Apostles the prison they were placed in was real.

9 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

It is God who forgives and it is God who speaks forgiveness to a broken world. The gospel always brings peace and erases doubt. Be comforted and strengthened as you stand in a world increasingly opposed to Christ for this world is dying but the gospel makes alive. 

Just as Christ lives “in him we live and move and have our being … For we are indeed his offspring, (Acts 17:28) and his children … adopted into Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, who changes hearts and brings peace.

Through Christ belief is given and doubt is erased

14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

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

Amen