Tag Archives: faith

Thought For the Day NCTV 45 Monday January 20 – 24 2025

Monday Jan 20, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

Many people try to make Jesus into a sort of idealist, kumbaya, eastern guru, who frankly, let’s just say not real genuine. No, stop it, did you know that Jesus talked more about money, than He did about heaven? And it’s not in the sense of “ok, come on, gotta pony up more money”. No it’s in the sense of we are given this stewardship by God as one of many ways that we grow in Him. Jesus was very practical and very empathetic on the topic of money, but it along with many other issues, is something that has a very profound impact on people and should be taken seriously. In Matthew 25:18-23 “The one who received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.” Now this doesn’t earn this person any more in his eternal salvation, but as Jesus was a good and faithful servant to us, we should be to Him. We should trust that the Holy Spirit is working through us in order to conform us to God’s will, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And kinda not talking about money so much as: “Well done good and faithful servant.” We are trusting what Jesus is asking us to do. I saw one person say that in today’s value, we would be talking about $10,000. That’s not a lot of money, it’s not small either. But Jesus is saying you have trusted in me, you have followed my leading. You were faithful to me to do My will. We owe so much to Jesus in every part of our life, how can we truly serve Him.

I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day

Tuesday Jan 21, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

We’re talking about Matthew 25:18-23 where Jesus’ servants go and serve Him with the resources He has given us in order to serve Him. I know, such an abhorrent thought that we should be “serving” anyone. Hmmmmm how much would our family relations improve if we saw ourselves as more in how to serve our spouse, children, parents, siblings. Oh no, we can’t do that! We’re here to grab for everything we can in order to boost our place in the world, not to put someone higher than us. Sure there are plenty of times where we are given the opportunity to improve our place in the world, and usually we jump on it. But too often what we are given by God is taken for granted, and we don’t really appreciate what we are given. Jesus gave His life to serve us, that He did to pay for our sins, He made us righteous and worthy to have everlasting life in Him in His resurrection. Jesus tells His faithful: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” It is my purpose in life that I will be worthy to hear Him say that to me when I am in His presence. This isn’t what I earned, everything I have is earned and given to me by Jesus, but I am faithful to Him in how I serve Him. Jesus finishes “Throw out the worthless servant into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” So many like to make Jesus into a cream puff, that He takes whatever we give Him and He’s just happy with that. If you won’t serve Jesus, you just don’t care how it works out, you are saying that He is not important to you and you won’t be important to Him.

Wednesday Jan 22, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

Dr Reed Lessing one of my favorite seminary professors. He’s written a lot of books, I’m in the middle of his book “Overcoming Life’s Problems.” The book is a commentary on the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah suffered immensely from Israel’s enemies, and from his own people in Israel, and totally unjustly. He is reporting to the king what God tells him to report. Jeremiah isn’t trying to provoke anyone, but he has to serve God as God directs him. Dr Lessing uses this one example of how we can start with great intentions, still end up paying for what we thought was right, he writes: “Maybe you heard about this incident on a company accident form. ‘When I got to the building, I saw that the earthquake had knocked off some bricks around the top, so I set up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up two barrels full of bricks. After I fixed the damaged area, there were leftover bricks. I went to the bottom and began releasing the line. Unfortunately the barrel of bricks was heavier than I was and, before I knew it, the barrel started coming down, jerking me up. I decided to hang on since, in a matter of seconds, I was too far off the ground to jump. When I hit the beam at the top, the barrel of bricks hit the ground, spilling the bricks. I was now heavier than the barrel. I started down at high speed. When I hit the ground, I landed on the bricks. I let go of my grip on the rope and the barrel came down, hitting me in the head.’ Talk about concussion protocol. Happened to Jeremiah, it’s happened to me. We are called to be good and faithful servants and we are going to get lumps when we do and we have to trust God’s will and not worry about our feelings or how bad we physically suffered.

I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the webChristlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day

Thursday Jan 23, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

We are talking about Dr Reed Lessing’s book “Overcoming Life’s Problems”, we do the best we can as I quoted him yesterday with the man and the barrel of bricks, but we can still end up getting hurt. And yes, sometimes we will have to take the lumps, people have been doing it for centuries in the cause of Christ. Those people we call martyrs, they stood up for their faith in Jesus, knew the possibilities and ended up paying with their life. I’m not hear to be a recruiting poster for Jesus as so many who are phony in their faith in Jesus. He told us that the world would hate us that we would suffer. We serve Jesus, the world wants to bring us down into the pit of sin and mediocrity and we weren’t meant for that. But Jesus still does do miracles and I’ve been blessed by that too. Dr Lessing writes: “It’s tempting to cut everyone out of life. We no longer have the energy it takes to invest in relationships. Depression and anxiety overwhelm us. Sadness and fear… John tells us why. ‘When Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days’. Many Jews in Christ’s day believed that after death, a person’s soul hovered over the dead body for three days. On the fourth day, however, the soul departed. That’s when death became irreversible. That’s when Jesus shows up – on the fourth day. Jesus didn’t want to do a difficult miracle. Jesus wants to do an impossible miracle – something that demonstrates beyond any doubt that He is God.” We know He is God and we submit to Him and trust His will. His is that good and perfect will and is all for those He loves in Jesus and who serve Jesus.

Friday Jan 24, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

If you know science, especially in terms of mathematics, computers, technology, you will know the name Blaise Pascal.

There are these pretentious little fops out there who like to tell people like me, Oh I believe in science… and wouldn’t even know who Pascal was. Just like so many of the most brilliant minds in history, they were devout Christians, as well as the highest rank of scientists. They knew perfectly well that everything around us had to have been created, that it is statistically impossible for the universe to just create itself the way that it’s created. If you understand the complexity and the obvious “intelligent design” of everything in the universe and made that way in order for us to be able to survive on this tiny little blue dot in a rather remote spot in the universe than you will understand that it had to be the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, transcendent power of a completely all powerful God, not an accident or the inert, consciousless “universe”. In his book “Pensees” Pascal writes: It is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason. This, then, is faith: God blessed by the heart, not by the reason.

Faith is a gift of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of reasoning. Other religions do not say this of their faith. They only gave reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not bring them to it. Do not wonder to see simple people believe without reasoning. God imparts to them love of Him and hatred of self. He inclines their heart to believe. Men will never believe with a saving and real faith, unless God inclines their heart; and they will believe as soon as He inclines it. And that is what David knew well…” God gives us the faith to know Him, to trust Him, to serve Him and to know that in the end we will be in His very presence in a perfected, magnificent world where as Jesus promised there will be life and life more abundant. That will be as a result of the faith He gave us and what Jesus did to save us. Nothing we did for faith or our eternal salvation.

Thought for the Day NCTV 45 Jan 6 – Jan 10, 2025

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Friday January 10, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

We will finish the twelve days of Christmas today with the “Feast of the Circumcision of Christ” which is celebrated on January 1. Ok I get it, a feast day for a circumcision, well to the twenty-first century ear, ya probably a little weird.
Baby boys are almost routinely circumcised shortly after they are born with, mercifully very little notice. However, we are not talking about the twenty first century, we are talking about first century Judaism. Christians today would do themselves a big favor and get over themselves and realize that while this might sound a little awkward, that this was a profoundly important part of the faith Jesus was born in to, it still is today. Circumcision marked that boy as a part of Judaism, that he was a faithful Jew. Did Jesus “ need” to be circumcised? No. It was God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who set the conditions to be circumcised and Jesus was certainly going to follow those traditions and certainly Mary and Joseph would not dream of failing to observe the Jewish Law and custom of the time. They were faithful in taking Jesus to the temple for the ceremony to be conducted. This was in order to comply with the Law that was given to Abraham, the same one who “saw” Jesus’ day and was certainly a faithful worshipper of Jesus in heaven. Jesus would not have violated Abraham’s Law, especially since He came to save us from our sins under the Law. That Jesus suffered and died to pay the penalty of the sins of the world, to do that He would have to faithfully adhere to the Law to save us. If you want to know what circumcision is message me on the church website.

I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, if you would like a transcript of today’s Thought, go so with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day

Thursday January 9, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

We are going to finish the Feast Days of the Christmas season, the twelve days of Christmas. December 29, is the feast of St Thomas a Becket, he was the bishop of Canterbury England in 1170. Becket was a court favorite, a royal chancellor, a friend of King Henry II. Becket was part of the Christian church early in his life. He had become important to the Archbishop at the time, Theobald. Becket completed many assignments for Theobald and the church. Becket was recommended to be the British chancellor, then when Theobald died, Becket was recommended to be appointed the Arch-bishop of Canterbury. This Arch -bishopric is the head of Christianity in the British Empire. King Henry decided that even though Becket had never been ordained as a priest, that he was marginally a part of the church hierarchy, that he would appoint Becket to the most important Christian office in Britain. Why? Henry wanted to encroach on the Christian church’s power and resources. He thought appointing his close associate Becket as the head of the church that he would have Henry’s six and back him up in this, kind of, take-over attempt. Becket had enough time to really understand and appreciate what the Christian Church was about and decided to stand up to Henry as the leader of the church. Henry didn’t appreciate what he thought was either failure of outright disloyalty. Becket fled to France. He returned and excommunicated three bishops for trying to support Henry’s move to make the church an arm of his empire. Becket was not going to relent on December 29, 1170 three knights of Henry’s entered the arch-bishops church, the seat that he ruled the British church from and martyred Thomas a Becket. He became an example of standing for the church even to death.

I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day

Wednesday January 8, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

We are talking more about Epiphany and its importance in the Christian calendar. First, the biggest reason that Epiphany is such an important season is that the magi are not Jewish, they are pagan Gentiles. We really don’t know anything about them. A lot of traditions have grown around them, most if not all are probably not true. Stcatherinecc.org had some interesting points. One legend says that the reason they have been called “Kings” is that they were supposed to really be kings. That is almost certainly not true, but legend has it that Caspar, not the ghost, was the king of India, Melchior king of Persia and Balthazar king of Arabia. That puts them very far apart geographically, which begs how did they meet up? There is a tradition that they became Christians at meeting Jesus or evangelized and they were all martyred for their beliefs. Now Matthew writes that the magi went into the oikia, Greek word for house, not cave. They saw the paidion Greek for the young child, not agoraki, the Greek word for baby. Clearly the magi didn’t get to the scene until about a year after Mary gave birth. The most important part of Epiphany is that it announced to the world that Jesus was not just a Jewish king, Jesus was the King of all creation, and that creation was made through Him. So baby, ya. But having it very specifically portrayed that these men were very important Gentiles, and that they came to Jesus not just to give Him gifts. But to also worship and adore Jesus that Jesus is most certainly the God and Creator of all creation and of all peoples.

I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day

Tuesday January 7, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

We talking about Epiphany and we will go back to the other feast days of the Christmas season. Epiphany is on January 6 and begins the season of Epiphany. In our Pastoral Desk Diary from Concordia Publishing House, I found information I had never heard before or thought about. First, Epiphany is the second oldest season on the Christian calendar. I bet you can guess that the oldest season is Easter. Certainly Easter with all the very explicit descriptions leading up from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday Lent season and Easter season is obviously the most important season of the church calendar. To be frank, despite what they might have read in Luke people of that time were not terribly impressed with little babies, show us what you got and then we will talk about you. Mark’s Gospel doesn’t talk at all about Jesus’ nativity. Hey they’re big tough Romans, babies don’t matter. Heck if a baby was born that didn’t work for them, they’d leave it in the forest for animals to eat. Guess what Christians saved those little babies, ya, nice people the Romans, sort of like today when Christians try to save babies from abortions. John makes some allusions in his Gospel but nothing really specific. Epiphany is when the Magi from the east, came to visit Jesus. Now, again, for most people, this is no big whoop. Their names are traditionally known as Melchior, Caspar, Balthasar. There was probably a whole caravan and many more people than just these three.

I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day

Monday Jan 06, 2025

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

Today is Epiphany, for most people not a big name, or not really known as being the end of the Christmas season. Actually Epiphany is a very important Feast Day and has been pretty much from the beginning of Christianity. Epiphany is the observance of the Magi visiting Jesus. Now I know many people are quite sure that the Magi showed up that night, that’s almost certainly not true. It’s so much the superficial reading of the Bible that so many people take and they really have no idea what is true, what is meaningful, important, but they have no hesitation to come to someone like me so that they can set me straight, clue me on the real truth. They are so astonishingly wrong, but people will fall all over themselves to try and minimize God. Why? The more insignificant God is the more people feel they aren’t accountable to anyone, anything. They are going to be in for a rude awakening on Jesus’ return which is big part of what we, are supposed to remember, in the Advent season. Anyway Epiphany is covered in Matthew 2: 1-12, Matt 3: 13-17, Jn 2:1-11. These men show up at the “door”, not in the cave from the account in Luke, so obviously Mary and Joseph have moved out of the cave. This is the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the season of Epiphany, so more tomorrow, we will bring Epiphany to you.

I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day and a final Merry Christmas.

Monday Dec 30, 2024

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

Merry Christmas! We are in the Christmas season. The Christmas season starts on December 25 and goes until January 6, Epiphany. Epiphany is the feast to remember when the magi visited Jesus. This is an important day for the church because until that time and except for the Book of Isaiah, Jesus was seen as the Jewish messiah. With the visiting of the Magi. We will discuss Epiphany more as the day approaches. Genuine Christians recognize the saints that have been venerated through the centuries of Christianity. Too much of the Christianity that thinks it’s all about me, that Jesus is my buddy and if I’m a good little Christian Jesus will make sure I have everything I should have in life, big house, big car, gorgeous spouse, pretty and healthy. The saints certainly epitomize what is genuine in Christianity versus what is phony and frankly kind of corrupt. Why did the men and women who have been recognized through the centuries have to go through so much trial? To assure us that we would all have a nice, soft easy life in Jesus? No! Jesus said that the world would hate those who are genuine in their faith. If someone is a little too popular, liked by the world, they really should check whether they are more concerned about being people pleasers or whether they are truly standing for Jesus. We recognize those throughout history who stood for Christ in very difficult times and circumstances. Those who think it’s all about Jesus making their life nice and easy, certainly aren’t saints and should take a hard look as to whether they are truly Christians. Christmas season did start on, yes Christmas, so we are starting last week. Christmas is also referred to as the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, that is, when Jesus was born. There is often discussion whether this is the most important feast day of the season or Epiphany is the most important. We will discuss that on January 6, Epiphany

Thought for the Day NCTV 45 transcripts

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Monday Nov 11, 2024

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

Today is Veteran’s Day observed. Did you know that only about 1% of Americans wear a military uniform. Back in Vietnam it was less than 10 %, Korea, World Wars, it was over 10 percent. But today’s military is very specialized, very highly trained, highly motivated and very professional at all levels. In the Coast Guard, for example over 25% of the enlisted personnel have bachelor’s degrees. The American public is served by a very elite military in all branches and at all levels. These people all put themselves in the forefront of the action, putting themselves where they protect Americans and our various interests in areas all around the world. This may seem self-serving. I had the privilege of serving in the UNITED STATES COAST GUARD in various capacities for 29 years, at a boat station saving lives and property in Naval Coastal Warfare ready to deploy anywhere in the world to protect United States and Allies High Value Assets. I did a stint in the Aids to Navigation, maintaining the buoy system, lighthouses and other aids in the Massachusetts Bay area. I am very privileged that my son was in training to be a combat medic, my nephew served in the Air Force, my oldest brother Coast Guard, next Army, next Navy and my last brother served in the Marines. My father served in the Air Force, so our family has all the services covered and we were all very blessed and very privileged to do so. It is nice to hear people thank you for your service, but we are privileged to serve a great people and a great nation.

Tuesday Nov 12, 2024

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

The Rev Dr Martin Luther, who essentially founded the movement of the Protestant Churches because of his stand against the Roman Catholic church which brought the split of those churches disputing Roman Catholics teaching of works, of indulgences, money the penitent would pay to lessen their time in purgatory, which Luther asserted doesn’t exist. It doesn’t there is nothing at all in the Bible that refers to purgatory. Luther was a great proponent of prayer and not in some gratuitous way that many others in the Protestant churches make it to be. Luther once said I pray for over an hour each day, and if it’s going to be a busy/difficult day, I pray for two hours. That was to emphasize the need he and the rest of us have for prayer, especially when we know the going will be tough that day. Dr Luther’s barber asked him how he should pray. Luther wrote the book “A simple way to pray for Peter the Barber”. Our Synod president, he’s the president of all the Lutheran churches, translated Luther’s book from German. You should get a copy it is very helpful, very encouraging. You can order it from Concordia Publishing House, on-line it’s cph.org We all need to continue to grow in our prayer life. Dr Luther helped Peter and millions of others to go deeper in their prayers for their benefit and to be moved closer to God. You will too.

Wednesday Nov 13, 2024

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

Started talking about “A Simple way to pray for Peter the Barber”. Dr Luther titled the book that way, not because it was just for Peter the Barber, but because Peter asked him about prayer. This was translated by Rev Dr Matt Harrison the president of our synod. So often it happens to me, obviously to Luther and I’m sure every parish pastor. The disciples asked Jesus “Teach us to pray”, Luke 11: 1-13. Is there a “right” way to pray. I’ve had many times where it’s been, here it is God, help me to deal with this. As I’ve said before, these are called the “spiritual disciplines” for a reason, they are discipline just like any other activity that requires skill, training. I do triathlons, whether a person is good or not, I’m not good, but in order to finish to improve, to achieve the conditioning necessary you need to have discipline and do what is necessary to even achieve your goals in any “discipline. Dr Luther said he prayed for at least an hour each day . I wish I had that kind of discipline, guess I need to work on my game. One way to break out of praying the laundry list that so much of us do, take some time to read through Scripture, I recommend the Psalms or one of the Gospels. When you come to a passage that has particular meaning lift it up in prayer to the Father in Jesus’ Name. Maybe even write out in a journal what you read and what you took away from it. This way we grow deeper, our spiritual roots are stronger. We can bear the trials and issues in our life by our discipline.

Thursday Nov 14, 2024

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

As you would imagine disciplines require a certain setting, certain equipment, certain mindset. Dr Harrison suggests:

“Praying in the way described by Luther requires a time of solitude and intentionality. It will also require a period of preparation—perhaps following a brief order of prayer like that found on pages 294–98 of Lutheran Service Book (Concordia, 2006), or the inside front cover of The Lutheran Study Bible (Concordia, 2009).” you can get all this “equipment” through Concordia Publishing house, cph.org These will give you a lot of good information and will really set the stage to help you get situated for a time of serious prayer. Yes, it does take some time. Try getting up earlier in the morning. Create a family “altar”. Mark it with a crucifix. Yes, a crucifix, come on let’s start getting real about Jesus. If Jesus didn’t die on that cross than all the other stuff really doesn’t matter we die in our sins if Jesus doesn’t make His vicarious sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sins. Certainly have a Bible on the altar, a Lutheran Service Book would be good. The Lutheran Study Bible is a great way to really study Scripture and these resources all complement each other. Bring your journal with you, lift up your prayers. Take your time, write down some things during the day that aren’t just a wish list, but what it is that the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. Wait on God, be patient, let Him guide you. You may not like it, He may not be going fast enough or in the “right” direction, but it is going to be the way He wants it whether you like it or not.

Friday Nov 15, 2024

Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.

We are talking about Pastor Matt Harrison’s translation of Dr Martin Luther’s classic book “A Simple way to pray for Peter the Barber”. It’s for all of us to pray better, get more out of our prayers, grow closer to Jesus. Pastor Matt writes about Hebrews 13:17: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” OK might seem a little self-serving and worthy of a much deeper discussion, but for now let’s focus on how you can take guidance from the Bible, in prayer, in order to follow God’s will. God made it for a man to serve as a pastor. We may not always think the pastor is the best choice, but it’s God’s call not yours, I assure you, you, me, no one in the congregation is smarter than God. Pray on what God is doing through His under shepherd, His pastor. Also this will get you into a mode that will stop making it about every thing that is really kind of small in terms of eternity; heal my creaky joints, let me get a raise at work, why can’t that grouchy neighbor next door move and move you into genuine growth in what is God’s will for your life, not what you want to fuss about. This is called Christian maturity. That is what your pastor and God are trying to move you towards.

Faith Hall of Fame Hebrews 11 August 11, 2019 Trinity Lutheran Church Chestertown, Md

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[for the audio of this sermon click on the above icon]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son + and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who are blessed with faith in Christ said … AMEN!

Today’s readings are certainly interwove. The Gospel reading, follows on last week’s reading of the man who had plenty. He had neither fear nor faith, he didn’t have to, he’s rich. He was an American because we know wealth solves our problems, that is if you ignore the recent spate of celebrities and millionaires who have committed suicide. I’m sure they would say something different, now that they have to explain themselves to their Creator, the one who made them and gave them life. How would I explain to God how, while He has given me so much and there may not be millionaires here, but we are all blessed with so much. I wouldn’t want to explain to God my lack of faith, after all He’s blessed me greatly.

Going through serious personal trauma for the last few weeks, I am getting a powerful lesson in dealing with anxiety. I wish I could say that I’ve been doing just smurfy. That would not be true, maintaining faith under difficult circumstances has been very difficult. It is instructive when I was in Marge’s room at the Neuro Critical Care facility at the U M Medical Center in Baltimore, I did know one thing. No matter what, the Holy Spirit was closer to me than anything I could imagine. He knew more about me than I did through this time of trial. With Margie mostly unconscious, being in a city I had only been in three other times, I certainly felt alone, isolated, fearful. When concepts like Sola Fide are drilled in your head, in the depths of fear and uncertainty, God reaches through the Lord’s Prayer, Apostle’s Creed, the sermons, the discussions, the teaching, through these God spoke to me in that dark room, where the uncertainty of Marge’s situation hung over my head. Dr Luther writes: “Faith makes God real to us and real in us. Without faith, God’s honor, glory, wisdom, righteousness, truth and mercy cannot be within us. Where there’s no faith, God has no majesty and divinity… When we honor God, his divinity remains complete and intact – he has everything that a believing heart can give him. When we honor God in this way, we are showing the greatest wisdom, the highest justice, and the best worship, while offering the most pleasing sacrifice.”[1]

After Jesus relates the parable of the Rich Fool, ^ESVLuke 12:22 “And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.” There is nothing wrong doing your best and earning money. If you are successful good for you! Too often those who put their faith in what they earned, that it’s all about what they store in the barn and silo, and “…who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21) There is a lot of people who have plenty and found it did not satisfy. We regular folks, have anxiety, stress, worry, about those things, Jesus tells us there’s not much point. In fact, the guy who thought he had it all found at the end of the day, he would be in the presence of the Lord. His full barns, silos and smug attitude won’t help when you’re in the presence of the Lord.

The contrast then in our readings is between the self-righteousness arrogance of the farmer, to the “Faith Hall of Fame” described in the Book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews is interesting in itself. Dr Luther describes it as “… a marvelously fine epistle… who wrote it is not known and probably not be known for a while [500 years ago Luther wrote this, it’s been “awhile”] it makes no difference… he discloses a firm grasp of the reading of the Scriptures and the proper way of dealing with them…” It is telling in the fact that that writer knew the Old Testament, even things we really don’t accept as canon/Scripture. It’s not to say we don’t consider these books as acceptable history or relating of some truths at the times they were written. They are just not considered to be inspired by God. There are a number of “apocryphal” books that were considered for the New Testament, one in fact was Hebrews. Big problem on Hebrews is, as I quoted Luther, we don’t know who wrote this book. There is some interesting suggestions. Tertullian quoted from an epistle to the Hebrews under the name of Barnabas.”[2] I favor that, Barnabas was a really great disciple, it would be very appropriate if we had writing from his hand. “Tertullian goes on to write: “The author, furthermore, calls his document ‘my word of exhortation’ (13:22) and Barnabas means “son of encouragement/exhortation (Acts 4:36)…”[3] Luther nominated Apollos mentioned in Acts 18:24, Paul and others have been nominated, maybe in 500 more years the name of the author will be discovered.

Chapter 11 of Hebrews starts: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (vv 1,2). From there the author describes those in the Old Testament, notable for their faith. Abel, Enoch appears in Genesis, he’s only described in Genesis as who was his father and who he was the father of, that he walked with God, meaning he was faithful and that he was taken. The author of Hebrews interprets that to mean: “^ESVHebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.” In particular he describes Abraham. Rev Dr Carl Fickencher on Issue’s Etc said: God created this faith in Abraham to believe God’s Word and according to Paul the Lord counted this to Abram as righteousness, believing that God honor’s His promises, that God cares for us, is the way we receive the righteousness of God Himself. This opened the way to the Reformation when Martin Luther understood God accounted His righteousness to us, when we believe it was given to us in Christ, that opened the door for Luther to change the world, it opened his heart to see that heaven was opened before him, rather than for him to trust in his own works, his own laboring, his own hope which we know will always be fruitless.”[4] If we picked the leading example of faith in the Old Testament it would be Abraham. Most of us know what it’s like to pick up and move from a familiar place to the unfamiliar, I’m still learning my around this area. Abraham picks up from a place he had grown old in, to a place completely foreign to him in Canaan, the promised land of the Old Testament. Abraham is called to wait into extreme old age for the son God had been promising him. When that child came, when he was about twenty years old, God called him to sacrifice that son. The Hebrews author writes: “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead.” (v 19) C.F.W. Walther writes: “Before the world, faith appears to be so humble, but before God, it is the most precious thing one can offer. Through faith, man begins to fulfill the first and highest commandment to make God his God and to trust in Him above all things. … ‘Without faith it is impossible to please him.’”[5] Whether in that hospital room an unfamiliar place, not as unfamiliar as Abraham in Canaan, but still imposing, praying to God that He heal and restore Marge praying over her all night. It is in faith that we trust what Christ did for us. God gives us the faith we need in order to not just function through the trials of our life. He gives us the faith we need that 2,000 years ago a man hung on a rude, rough cross in that same Canaan Abraham had been led to 3,000 years earlier. That Jesus died in order, by faith, to save us to eternal life in the resurrection. God gives us that faith. He does not expect us to have the faith necessary to move through life on our own. He knows we depend on Him for everything as Jesus tells us in the Gospel lesson. Certainly clothes, food and also the faith to trust, the same way Abraham, Abel, Noah, Enoch, all those who lived in faith in God and all pointing to Jesus. Dr Luther writes: “…faith is a power that comes from God. When God gives faith, the individual is born again and becomes a new creature.” Take some time to really think about those times that you simply had to turn over to God the trials we experience. How did God lead you, how did you cope waiting on Him? There is one Hall of Fame we can qualify for, the Faith Hall of Fame through Christ.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom Christ is risen! He has risen indeed Hallelujah

[1] Martin Luther quoted in “Martin Luther Through Faith Alone” September 26

[2] Concordia Self-Study Bible p 1873

[3] Ibid

[4] Dr Carl Fickencher on Issue’s Etc with Todd Wilkins Aug 9, 2019

[5] Translated by Gerhard Grabenhofer “God Grant It” Daily Devotions from C.F.W. Waltheh

Can’t always be your way! (do you want to succeed for Jesus’ church or not?)

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Wow I wish the average person would get that. I’ve actually seen people try and undermine an activity because it wasn’t being done their way.

I spent 29 years in the Coast Guard, most of what is done is all through training and procedure. Years of experience have taught how to do things and continually reporting and evaluating has developed new ways and methods.

Great! Right? Certainly though, there will be the times when something has to be worked out. As General Stanley McChrystal responds to this question: “Can you create a flexible group without lots of debate and argument? The general’s answer: “No. In all healthy organizations, argument happens face-to-face. You debate, argue and move on.

By the way, there’s a pile of argument in the military. It just take different forms. But when the landing-craft ramp drops and hits the beach, that’s not a time to argue the plan.” (1)

Yea, and that’s what too many non-military types just don’t seem to want to understand. Even more so in terms of the fact that you are trained to be there for everyone around you, you depend on them, they depend on you, the job needs to get done and everyone needs to RTB (return to base). That seems to be a foreign concept to most civilians, that includes police, politicians, medical persons, computer salesmen, pretty much everyone. It has to be their name on it, they have to have the recognition. In the civilian world “it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, so long as the job is accomplished”, is almost thought to be stupid. Of course it matters who gets the credit, because after all in our society today, it’s all about me.

Now I have worked in corporations, very successful ones, where it was understood that we needed to get this done and we all got the job done. Those were great places to work. Too many of those places and that includes some places in civilian government I worked where it was dealing with the clueless who were sure it was all about them.

This also extends to the church. Frankly it is astounding that the one place you would think that you would find some genuine altruism, is actually way to much about me and my way. People who are sure they are oh so smarter than everyone else. I know how to parse a Greek verb and I was number one in my class in Wheatfield, South Dakota, so everyone should listen to me. Smart people who aren’t very smart. Who don’t understand teamwork and synergy because they’ve been so caught up in themselves for so long.

This is Jesus’ church, not yours. Whether you are clergy or lay people. Frankly laypeople need a serious wakeup! Just because you can sell cars, or build something does not mean you know what a church is about. Maybe we can all get together and genuinely figure it out.

Please let’s really put the silly aside, it’s not about you. It’s about Christ first, last and always. The landing-craft ramp has dropped. God put us in the world for a reason and He has given us the plan, it’s the Bible and His Church. So let’s all set aside the entertainment, the unrelated silly and really do something with Jesus’ church. It really can be great being a part of a team that can bring Jesus in the world. For way too many of you out there who can’t get past your ego, you probably wonder why you’ve never been part of a winning team. It’s cause you try to do your own thing on that beach and then wonder why you get snuffed all the time.

(1) General Stanley McChrystal to RichKarlgaard in Forbes Magazine Oct 24, 2017 p 26

The Holy Spirit brings us to Jesus, we don’t “chose” Jesus, He choses us

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American Christianity has introduced seriously incorrect concepts into Christianity. One of the most pretentious is how “I accepted Jesus into my heart”. This idea that in the super-mart of beliefs, I was a really great guy and decided to throw one to Jesus. I often wonder if people really understand how prideful and pretentious that sounds and is.

The Holy Spirit chose me, He gave me the understanding of who/what Jesus is and how He saved me. There was nothing left for me to mess up, other than of course I could just reject Jesus, but surely the Holy Spirit would make me realize how stupid that would be.

CFW Walther took orthodox Lutheranism from Europe and brought it to the United States, established the church apart from American Christianity and enabled it to be established in the US so that it could continue to teach and preach true Christianity. In a sermon, Walther asserts the understanding of how we are chosen and don’t chose. I do appreciate his point that while there are many who are “interested” in Jesus/God, they’re not interested to the extent that it runs their life, they’re still in charge and that’s that. If Jesus is not the Lord of your life and you’re not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you are not a Christian. It’s all about God and what He does and nothing about what we do.

“By nature, no person is capable of receiving the Word in his heart. He must be brought to it by the Holy Ghost. As often as an unconverted person hears, reads or examines the Word of God, the Holy Ghost seeks to convince him that he is a great sinner, that he does not stand in grace with God, and that God’s wrath rests upon him. If, through this divine working, the person does not resist the Holy Ghost, his heart is filled with a deep sadness and his awakened conscience provokes anxiety and even terror in him. Then, through the Gospel, a heartfelt longing for grace, help and mercy arises in the person. Oh, blessed is he who experiences this, for this longing for grace is the beginning of the true, saving faith. It begins as soon as the sinner reaches out with longing to Christ, the propitiation of all sins. If such a person remains under the cultivation of the Holy Ghost through the Word of the Gospel, he finally, in faith and confidence, embraces Christ so he can cry out with divine certainty: ‘Praise the Lord, O my soul! For I, a sinner, have found grace. I, a miserable person have found mercy.’ The person who has had such an experience has received the Gospel and come to true faith.”

Essentially, that we as evil, sinful people have no capacity to even know how to truly come to Jesus. Those who pridefully announce it, are sinning in their presumption. Do we “accept” Jesus in our pride and power? No, of course not, we are making it into a sinful effort on our part.

“…whoever has never groaned from the depths of his distressed heart for Christ’s grace and whoever still fails to recognize that a person cannot believe in Christ by his own powers but alone by the working of the Holy Ghost is certainly still without faith. The birth of faith in the soul of a sinner cannot leave him unmoved. Indeed, it is a work that transforms the whole person – from darkness to light, from spiritual death to spiritual life – and brings him out of powerlessness into divine strength.” [I think it is better that in our humility and weakness we are endowed with the power God gives us to truly know him and live our lives in our new birth, in our baptism, in Him. How could we be anything but humble and weak in order to be endowed with God’s strength?] “Luther gloriously speaks about this in the preface to his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans: ‘This is the reason that, when they hear the Gospel, they fall-to and make for themselves, by their own powers, an idea in their hearts, which says, ‘I believe.’ This they hold for true faith. But it is a human imagination and idea that never reaches the depths of the heart, and so nothing comes of it and no betterment follows it. Faith, however, is a divine work in us. It changes us and makes us to be born anew of God’ (John 1); it kills the old Adam and makes altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers, and it brings with it the Holy Ghost … Pray God to work faith in you; else you will remain forever without faith, whatever you think or do’ (xvi, xvii).” (translated by Gerhard P. Grabenhofer God Grant it Daily Devotions from C.F.W. Walther pp 662-663)

Knowing that it is all about what God does in us gives us the assurance of knowing that we are truly in Christ, that it’s been done effectively, correctly and for eternity. Can we decide we just don’t want this? Sure, reject God and decide to do it our way. How do you think that’s going to end up? I always find it interesting when people in such indignation complain “how could a good God send people to hell?” As you can see here, it’s about what people are doing by rejecting God. That than begs the question, who’s sending who where? Obviously people are rejecting God and choosing eternal separation and outside of God that means torment. When it’s all about their “choice”, it’s always bad, when it’s about God choosing, obviously, it’s always good and that’s what we want to go with, God’s choice, not mine.

God’s promises to us in prayer

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The last Tuesday of the month is out monthly prayer breakfast at First Saint Johns Lutheran Church. It is a time to lift up prayer for each other, for the church that God has put us in, for our community, any other needs that people bring up. Everyone is welcome, it’s a great breakfast and a really great time of fellowship in prayer.

It is also a time for a little teaching. We can all always use a little more guidance in our prayer/devotional life and I found he following is from Martin Luther which will be a topic of conversation:

“Good prayer that is heard by God has two prerequisites. First, we must consider God’s promise that he will hear us. By reminding him of his promise, we can dare to pray confidently. For God hadn’t asked us to pray and hadn’t promised to hear us, then all people praying their requests together wouldn’t be able to receive even the smallest item.

So no one receives anything from God because of the quality of the prayer, but only because of God’s goodness. God anticipates all of our requests and desires. With his promise, he prompts us to pray and desire these things so that we will learn how much he cares for us. He cares for us so much that he is prepared to give us even more than we are ready to receive or to ask for. Because he is offering us so much, we can pray with confidence.

Second, we must not doubt what the true and faithful God promises to do. He promises to hear our prayers – yes, he even commands us to pray. He promises this so that we might firmly believe that our prayers will be answered. As Christ says, ‘That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours’ (Mark 11:24; Matthew 21:22). Christ also says, ‘So I tell you to ask and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the person who knocks, the door will be opened’ (Luke 11:9-10). By trusting in these promises and obeying thee commands, we can pray with confidence.” (Through Faith Alone 365 Devotional Readings from Martin Luther October 30)

As in everything in our relationship with God it is about Him guiding us in prayer, it is about Him leading us in everything. We can certainly lift up inspired, high prose in our prayer, but that’s not really the point. Often we would do well to wait in prayer for the Holy Spirit to move us to understand what we really should be praying for and get on God’s track for us instead of us trying to force our prayer and struggle. God truly is waiting to God us in all parts of our life. That is faith, trusting His leading instead of fussing about what we’re supposed to do.

A Spirit Not of Fear but of Power Matthew June 25, 2017 First St Johns

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We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who trust Jesus and are overcomers said … AMEN!

I’m sure many of you have had this discussion with your parent, to the effect, “But dad I don’t want to because I’m afraid of this person”. The response was to the effect “you have more to be afraid of me, then of aforementioned person.” I’m sure you’ve had the same thoughts in terms of “I don’t want to do this because I’m afraid of the reaction I’m going to get from someone else” and then come to the realization, I’d better be a lot more afraid of what God is going to think or do then the big monster I’m afraid of will do. I was afraid, [Rodney voice] I grew up in a tough neighborhood, the local restaurant only had broken leg of lamb on the menu.[1] On my street, the kids take hubcaps – from moving cars.”

Jesus makes it pretty plain, sure bad things can happen if you get someone in the world angry, but that’s not going to be anything compared to making God angry from failing to be faithful to His will. In fact whenever I’m in that quandary, after all is said and done, when I look back, I realize that the person/ thing/situation that I was afraid of, was nowhere near as big, bad or ugly as I thought. Furthermore, trusting in God usually results in an outcome I never expected, would never planned. I’m not giving you a Harry Potter incantation or Joel Osteen everything’s going to work out because God has a great plan for your life. He does, but not some Osteen formula. It’s according to the only words that matter, Holy Scripture.

Jesus talks about the one who has “endured to the end who will be saved.” While too many “Christians” have a rainbow and unicorn perception of Jesus, as we see in this passage, through the Gospels and particularly the Book of Revelation, to quote another writer: “The Bible teaches Christians to recognize that the world is a battleground, not a playground.”[2] To take Mr Dangerfield’s quotes, we all grow up in a tough neighborhood. We certainly have the assurance that Jesus will be faithful, that when we trust in Him we will be delivered. It might not seem like it, people do die, people do suffer tragedy, or, at least what we perceive as death or tragedy. We know many cases where we might think that someone has been treated unfairly, but what God has lead that person to do in that trial, that tragedy has, in fact, resulted in genuine blessing for that person, for others that they have served, have inspired, have reached. As Christians we know the ultimate tragedy is to be lost for eternity. While we may suffer in this life, and the reality is that we all suffer in one form or another. That we all have a cross to bear, ^ESVLuke 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Arthur Just explains: “These are catechumens who have heard the Word, have left family and understand the costs of discipleship. But as they travel with Jesus to Jerusalem, they begin to encounter rejection and persecution…[this] corresponds to the seed that fell on the rock and withered because of lack of moisture, like those who receive the Word with joy but have no roots and fall away in times of temptation, which can include persecution.”[3]

It’s never my intention to, create fear in people. The words we see in the Bible emphasize being aware and faithful. Jesus told His disciples in this passage; “^ESVMatthew 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” We are saved, we are protected, we are baptized, we eat the Body of Christ and drink the Blood of Christ, we are very much a part of Him, in the sacraments, in the Keys of the Church, His Body that we are very much a part of. We don’t, ultimately, have anything to fear. The same writer: “The Greek word most often translated “overcomer” stems from the word nike which, according to Strong’s Concordance, means “to carry off the victory. The verb implies a battle.” You probably remember the Nike missile, Nike sports gear. Needless to say in war and in sports, the point is victory. To take the simile a little further, the Nike slogan is “just do it”. I wish we, as Christians, understood that motto in terms of our witness to Christ instead of being fearful of rejection and embarrassment. Embarrassed for Jesus? hmmm, sort of where He says: “^ESVMatthew 10:32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” When we are unfaithful, and put our trust in the world, and the things around us, just chose to punt, to give in to the world, Jesus is under no obligation to be faithful to us. If by our lives and our witness we demonstrate that Jesus is not important in our lives, why would we have the idea that we should be important to Jesus? Why should He stand up for us for eternity, when we won’t stand up for Him for just a moment in a world that is so temporary, so fleeting, so transitory? I have seen it so often, I chose not to stand up, I chose not to bravely confront and deal with a fraudulent world, but then expect someone to stand up for me and they are outraged that they’ve been left completely exposed. The world loves to set people up, as false witnesses, as Paul writes “to be slaves to sin … for the end of those things is death” (Rom 6: 20..21)

The real emphasis in the real language Jesus uses over and over again, is very much in terms of one who stays faithful, the one who endures, the one who while they are afraid, still endures. Many have the idea that the “brave man” has no fear going into danger. That would infer a really high level of stupid. I’ve seen plenty of brave men and women, people who’ve had to face actual, physical danger. They are acutely aware of the danger, and they are by no means stupid people. By the same token, they realize that they have to overcome and trust their fear because others are relying on them, trusting them to do what is necessary. As Christians we should always trust Christ in the face of danger. We have the guarantees, we have the lock, we know how the story ends, we are going to feel fear, BUT, we are certainly called to overcome. How do we overcome, do we overcome in our own strength? NO! We know the Holy Spirit is with us to strengthen us in those times when we face any challenge and certainly that includes up to and including death. Our trust is this, that what we do for Christ will never be wasted. Too often people talk about someone they perceive dying prematurely or being seriously injured as waste. They only see the here and now and don’t wait in faith for how Christ will use this. If that person has rejected Christ, has actually wasted their life, then we can see the reason why they might have died. I’m sure you can imagine many who simply wasted what they were given. By the same token those who have endured, stayed strong, overcome the trials that were given and still pointed to Christ as the reason, we certainly know and will witness to others and we know the Holy Spirit will use that to glorify Jesus and bring others to Jesus. The Christian church in China will be the largest church in the entire world in about 15 years. This in spite of horrendous persecution and suffering. Those who suffer are very real witnesses to others of the truth of Jesus’ church, of the Christian church and that it does save and they become Christians because they know that they have the promises of Christ of their resurrection to eternal, real life, life and life more abundant! The world cannot come close to such a promise, but takes those who fail to persevere, who will not stand in the strength of Jesus and the world toys with those people, gives them empty promises, kicks them to the curb and walks away laughing. “Overcomers are promised that they will eat from the Tree of Life (2:7), be unharmed by the second death (2:11), eat from hidden manna and be given a new name (2:17), have authority over the nations (2:26), be clothed in white garments (3:5), be made a permanent pillar in the house of God (3:12), and sit with Jesus on His throne (3:21). Jesus warned that holding fast to Him would not be easy, but it would be well worth it.”[4]

Jeremiah’s words have to lift you and inspire you, the promise of who God is and what He will most certainly do: “E^SVJeremiah 20:11 But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.”

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

He has risen! He has risen indeed! Hallelujah!

[1] source: http://www.jokes4us.com/peoplejokes/comedianjokes/rodneydangerfieldjokes.html

[2]

[3] Arthur Just Concordia Commentary Luke 9-24 p 581

[4] https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-overcomer.html0

Palm Sunday the next step to the Cross John 12 First Saint Johns April 9, 2017

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[for the audio of this sermon click on the above icon]

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who shout Hosanna, God save us said … AMEN!

Palm Sunday has been seen by Christians in many different ways. Some to the effect that this was Jesus’ big move, that the people were falling in line and Jesus would re-establish David’s kingdom. Certainly the people that day saw it as such. They are shouting “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” We see those words today almost as a platitude, something you say when David’s Son, Jesus, comes riding in as Zechariah prophesied and seems to be making His political or military move. The people greeting Him see it that way, recall from last week’s readings: “^ESVJohn 11:47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” Even Jesus’ disciples were sure that this was a power play. That Jesus’s being crucified, was a huge miscalculation. Maybe on His part? Who knew, but things just weren’t coming out the way they were supposed to.

To be clear, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the direct, immediate march to the Cross. There is no turning back, there are no backup plans. Maybe some second thoughts, you really can’t blame Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing full well what is going to happen to Him in about twelve hours, at least raising the possibility to the Father that maybe this isn’t how we want to go? But the plan was in place, everything is set.

We see prophecy of the passion going back to David’s time in some of the Psalms He wrote: ^ESVPsalm 22:7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Clearly a prophecy of the mockery from the Roman soldiers and the leaders of Israel. Matthew 27:41 is about the mockery about Jesus being King of Israel, that if He’s the Son of God that the Father would surely save Him. ^ESVPsalm 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet-17 I can count all my bones- they stare and gloat over me;” Clearly a description of a man who has been stretched out on a cross, nailed to it so that they could plainly see his ribs. David is being shown by God that his descendant, Jesus, is going to be killed in a way that he wouldn’t even know. Crucifixion wouldn’t be used as a means of execution for at least another 500 years after David lived. Yet he writes pretty vividly what we know of the crucifixion of Jesus. “18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” A clear reference to Matthew 27:35. No we can’t know for sure, but in terms of biblical prophecy, no one really questions that Psalm 22: starting with verse 7 is prophecy of the events that we plainly seen in each of the Gospels. The scene had been set over a thousand years ago when David wrote the words of Psalm 22. Yahweh told David quite plainly that his descendant, Jesus, would be killed in a very violent way.

Today is Palm Sunday and we remember Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. The whole Jerusalem community turns out to see Jesus. He certainly has made an impact. John writes: “The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.”(vv 17-18) As I pointed out in last week’s sermon, Jesus had done His miracles in Capernaum, about 117 miles away from Jerusalem. The place He raised Lazarus was about 2 miles away from Jerusalem. Everyone who mattered knew fully well who Lazarus was, knew that he had died and knew that Jesus raised him. Clearly Jesus had set up His notoriety in anticipation of His entering Jerusalem. If nothing else, everyone wanted to see the man who raised another man from the dead. If Jesus wanted to make sure there was a crowd He accomplished that, but soon that cheering crowd would be a jeering crowd, demanding His death which was prophesied 1,000 years before His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Psalm 118 and Hebrews 9 is the Gradual for today’s worship. Psalm 118 is referred to as the “Great Halliel” a Psalm of celebration referring to the deliverance of God, and certainly the people of Jerusalem see that their deliverer is now entering Jerusalem: (v 16) “Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous” … “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” … “With [tree] boughs in hand join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.” (vv 24, 27)

Dr Carl Fickenscher was talking about Palm Sunday on Issues Etc on April 4. He asserted that the crowd is shouting Hosanna, which means “come save us” that this Psalm is a coronation Psalm that they perceive that Jesus is coming to be crowned King of Israel. In fact Jesus is coming to enter into the holy places, the Holy of Holy in the temple. Only the priests could enter the Holy of Holy and that was only once during the year and that was on the Passover. If anyone else entered the Holy of Holies the penalty would be death. Jesus is now entering into Jerusalem because He is the Great High Priest, that by His sacrifice, His death, His blood, that He is tearing down the curtain that separates the Holy of Holies because by His death He has assured eternal redemption for all who are in Him. Jesus knows that He is going to the Cross, to be that sacrifice for the payment of all the sins of the world. The Cross becomes the Holy of Holies for all and He is proceeding into Jerusalem in full view of all in order to proceed to the Cross at the end of the week.[1] Matthew 27:51: “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” Why from top to bottom? The curtain was 60 feet long and 30 feet high. Certainly a massive curtain and no one would try to tear it from the top. But in this we certainly see that by Jesus’ death, the curtain that had separated man from God was now removed by God and Jesus is now that link to the Father. Jesus goes in to the Holy places by means of His blood and security, our eternal redemption. Jesus becomes our High Priest by becoming our salvation, our intercessor with God the Father at His right hand. People had gone out to see the man who raised the dead and was certainly the man foretold by David, Isaiah, Zechariah, all of the prophets. They thought that He was coming into Jerusalem to save them from the Romans. He came to save them and all of us through history from ourselves and our sins and to deliver us so that we would have eternal life in Him because He died for us on the Cross and then overcame death when He rose from the tomb and was resurrected on Easter morning to give us the assurance who are in Jesus of our eternal resurrection in Him.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Dr Carl Fickenscher “Issues Etc” April 3, 2017

Leaving it all on the course for Him Matthew 5:21

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We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who have left it all on the field for Jesus said … AMEN!

You’ve heard the interviews after an athletic contest, one of the most common phrases; “I left it all on the field”, basically I gave everything I had in order to win. It can get a little cliché, but by the same token, I have no doubt that each person who says that truly believes it. At the end of that contest; a race, basketball game, matholympics, I gave everything I had, physically, mentally, emotionally in order to win, or at least to do my best. I’ve done races where I expected it to be a little more challenging and at the end upset with myself that I was holding back too much and I could have pressed harder on the bike or the run. By the same token I’ve seen people sprinting to the finish line, giving everything and as soon as they crossed, going off somewhere and literally getting sick right after they finished. No question they exceeded their normal physical ability in order to find that tiny little bit that they had left in order to finish as well as they could.

We certainly see this in so many of the people described in the Bible. King David wrote dozens of Psalms, but if you think he was all about sitting at a desk pen in hand and dreamily wondering how to compose his poetry, you would be mistaken. Most of his prose was about the different ways that he was left it all out on the field for God. David was a powerful soldier, his soldiers followed him into many different situations, they trusted him as a leader who would be there for them, do whatever it took for his men and defeat his enemy. David had no compunction going out on that field and doing what God directed him to do and pouring every last ounce he had into the fight for his men, his country and very much so for his God. David lived his life for Yahweh, there were times when he failed in that and he failed in a way that only a great king and general could fail. As Dr Luther wrote: “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [or sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.”[1] If King David had known about Jesus and written about Jesus, he would have understood completely what Dr Luther wrote.

In a lot of ways that is what Jesus is saying in the Beatitudes, you have to go over and above, you have to leave it all out there. There may even be a physical price to pay. The Beatitudes can be taken in a legalistic way. Jesus is not saying you have to do this, you have to do that in order to be saved. People have told me that they live by the Beatitudes. It’s not about grace, it’s about them and their performance, what they need to do, that God is keeping score and waiting for them to tank, to hit the wall, to not finish the course. If they somehow fail in one of Jesus’ directives they failed to leave it all out on the field for Jesus, they kept some back for their own pleasure, maybe cheated on the course somehow and didn’t completely live up to what Jesus directed us to do.

The fallacy is this, the Gospel doesn’t tell us that unless we are picture perfect, that we have somehow failed and therefore don’t manage to hit the finish line having left it all out on the course for Jesus. The Gospel does say that Jesus who is entirely perfect God and perfect man, something we could never be, a person that we will never be because there was only one Jesus. Jesus absolutely did leave it all out on the course and it was entirely for us, Jesus didn’t do all that He did for Himself. What’s the point? Jesus is the One through whom all creation came into existence, He is perfectly God, all He did was not for Him, but entirely for us. Nothing we can do, can add to what Jesus did for us, not one iota, not one jot or tittle.

Yet, many people are pretty sure it’s about sticking to the letter of the Law in the Beatitudes and that gets you over the line. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be obedient, Jesus said “if you love Me, you will obey Me.” But Jesus knows that we are fallible, that our obedience is qualified by our failings as sinful people in a sinful world. However, for all that Jesus did for us, how can we not strive to be obedient? How can we not strive to leave it all out on the course for Jesus?

Does a completely good, completely holy, completely gracious God want us to pluck out our eye and throw it away if we are not completely perfect in everything? In this day and age you can’t look anywhere that doesn’t offend your eye. The issue is, did you let your eye linger over that which offended? Or did you realize, “hey, this isn’t glorifying Jesus or doing me any good”, and just turn away? That’s what Jesus is asking us to do, in the Beatitudes. He exaggerates to make a point. He might say. “You really want to try to earn your way, this is what has to happen, if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. I’m thinking, none of us would truly stand that test. That does not, however, minimize the fact that we should strive to avoid things that offend our eye or what we do with our right hand, or our left hand in order to sin.

Marge and I were at Pastoral Leadership Institute immersion this past week, which, ironically is about us and our performance, and driving us higher in Jesus. It’s an honor to be asked to attend, not everyone is, and it’s recognition of the fact that we are striving in evangelism and discipleship and given the opportunity in PLI to push to the next level. It doesn’t makes us more saved, but it does push us to better serve you and the Kingdom of God as leaders of His church.

The Father is not trying to impose unrealistic expectations on us, He is trying to get us to realize that we can’t get there on our own effort. We will fail! We will have plenty of good efforts, being obedient to the things Jesus asks of us, but at some point we will fail to push as hard as we could. That doesn’t mean we’ve lost, that we should cut off our hand. Matt Popovits was one of the speakers, the overall subject was discipleship, which was great, I emphasize discipleship in my ministry. While we are called to be strong and faithful disciples of Jesus, our performance in that respect is not what saves us. The thesis was “How do I measure my worth?” For those who are so sure that it’s all about me and my “opinion”, because my “opinion” is so vitally important! I have bad news for youse, your opinion just doesn’t really matter. Heavens, how can I say such a thing, come on pastor, we all know it’s all about me! It really isn’t. I can tell myself how great and special I am, but despite what I think, it’s not going to get me diddly. Whose opinion does matter? Oh yes, God’s opinion. That is a great thing! By the way, I told Matt I was going to rip him off relentlessly here, he said “fine, go for it!”.

Anyway, Matt talked about “Performacism”, this idea that we measure our worth by what we do, how well we do it, in and of ourselves. Performacism drives you to the following: 1) The fear of and trying to avoid a horrible outcome, a false Hell that you’ve created, that you’re running from in order to make it to an “unfulfilling heaven, that you earn the applause and approval of your peers. That heaven can’t do what you want, doesn’t fulfill your life.”[2] God’s not all powerful, it’s all about you and what you do and more importantly the way you want it to play out. It drives me nuts hearing people talk about heaven as a boring place, “why would I want to end up there”. Heaven is not our ultimate destination, our ultimate destination is the eternal resurrection. We will be put back on this earth in our physical bodies in order to live our lives the way God intended us to live, a world filled with unlimited possibilities and life fulfilling beyond anything we could imagine. Matt points out that Adam and Eve rejected the “Garden of Yes” in favor of the “tree of no”. We make that wrong choice all the time, a garden full of all kinds of possibilities in order for us to indulge in our personal besetting sin.

Matt further observes that we make ourselves a “Functional Savior” that it’s all in our hands whether or not we make it to that amazing eternity. It’s our activity, and accomplishments that save us, so that we are valued by ourselves and by others, because, heavens! in today’s world, it is all about everyone else’s who so precious opinion. We have that problem on a massive scale in our society today and something that our youth get so caught up in, but we’re all susceptible to it. Our self-image, whether our physical attractiveness is valued by others. In a world where everyone’s equal regardless, ya right! Our hypocritical world is just so full of themselves. The fight is to be as superficially attractive as possible to be of value, if you’re not, you might be patronized a little, but just not taken seriously. We see girls today going to extremes because hey the vital thing is to be beautiful, get the right guy, have all kinds of worldly wealth and live happily ever after. Forgetting that despite all our efforts, some, like me, who’ve just been ugly from birth, end up simply being dumped out the other end of life, whether we were beautiful or not because we no longer meet the standards.

The cut to the chase is this; Jesus tells us that we can do it the hard way, by our own standards, our own worldly, wrong opinions. Or, because Jesus did it the hard way for us, we can trust in Him, that He has done all that’s necessary. Yes, we should leave it all out on the course for Jesus, because that’s what He’s done for us, but never think that is what gets you His promises.

We are so incredibly valued by the Father and there’s not one thing that we can add to that, not by anything we’ve done, not done, or done wrong, but solely who we are in Jesus, so incredibly valued because of who we are in Him and that He died a horrific death in order to save us. For such a huge price and to be adopted into true life in the Father’s family in baptism, we are, each one of us, so incredibly valued and loved. There are those of us who the Holy Spirit is moving to do big things, to serve at high levels. There are those of us who just physically can’t or who are called to do what we feel are humble things. Doesn’t matter to the Father, yes we should follow our calling, but no, we should never doubt how precious we are to the Father and what we are to Him in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom

[1] Dr Ryan M. Reeves https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/ryanreeves/2016/04/20/did-luther-really-tell-us-to-love-god-and-sin-boldly/

[2] Matt Popovits PLI seminar, Cary, NC, February 9, 2017