Gospel of Luke

Something more

/ The Pastor

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. [Luke 12:29-31]

Life is more than food.
Life is more than having a roof over your head.
Life is more than having the newest, popular gadget.
Life is more than having an athletically successful child.
Life is more than having the right friends.
Life is more than good health.
Life is more than money.
Life is more…

Yet we seek and seek
Yet we search and search
Yet we long and long

for something more.

Sometimes we find something “more” but it’s not complete; it’s not “more” enough.

So we search some more and more and more and…
What a vicious, never ending cycle.

Ugh!

Will we ever learn?
Will we ever figure out that God knows what we truly need?
Will we ever accept God’s loving kindness?

Lord help us.

Let our seeking be for the Kingdom of God.
Let our searching be for that which is already clear: Jesus.
Let our longing be for communion with God.

And may we see that, with Jesus, we had more all along.

Praise be to God!

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Be nice and love…EVERYONE

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. [Luke 6:35-36]

Wow, that’s a tough one. Love my enemies? Do good to them and lend to them? Expect nothing in return? This seems to be asking a lot. And why should I do all of this since my enemies have very little interest in loving me or doing good to me or even lending to me?

In a culture of, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, we are not used to returning good for evil. If someone hurts you then you withhold love and goodness as a form of punishment. But more than that, we often withhold love and goodness as a way to protect ourselves from further injury and pain. We have a tendency to distance ourselves from our enemies

But this is not the way of the Gospel.

Instead, Jesus says love your enemies. What better way to proclaim the Gospel than to show love to those who are not expecting it or to those the world is not expecting you to show love to. This is the whole “heaping burning coals on their head” (Romans 12:20-21) thing; that we should not be overcome by evil but over come evil with good. A tall order. A difficult task. An awesome command.

Lord have mercy and help me.

But consider something else: Who are we to call people evil when we ourselves are evil? That’s right, God shows love and goodness and mercy to you and me; filthy sinners; evil; enemies of God. God sent Jesus to die for us because we are evil and sinful. God did not withhold his love from us even though in the economics of this world he had every right to do so. This, my friends, is what makes God’s love through Jesus Christ so amazing…

It’s undeserved.

Therefore, what better way to show God’s love than to love those we consider enemies, because who knows, we might win a new friend. Better yet, we might win a new brother/sister in Christ.

As God loves you through Jesus Christ, love one another…EVERYONE, to the praise and glory of God our Father.

Have a glorious and blessed day 🙂

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ No distinctions

/ The Pastor / 3 Comments

But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” [Acts 15:11]

In the early years of the church, they were struggling with how to deal with Gentile converts. There were many disagreements among the Jews on what the Gentiles needed to do to be saved. For them, faith wasn’t enough but you needed to be circumcised as well. So finally, the elders in Jerusalem were discussing this when Peter chimed in (he was the one called by God to preach to Cornelius, a Gentile, in Acts 10. There, Peter realized that salvation is for all people through faith).

So why make distinctions?
Why place requirements on some for salvation?
Why place a greater burden on some to enjoy the gifts of God?

I believe the simple answer was, and still is in some cases, that many in the church want to maintain a sense of power and control. And maybe even to help maintain appearances. You can’t have just any person off the street in here. If so, then live like we live and dress like we dress.

What a shame that some believe this. But Jesus says:

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
(Luke 15:7 ESV)

Salvation is through faith alone in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ; that through his death and resurrection you have forgiveness of sins and thus will live forever. And therefore the church needs to be a place for messed up sinners, not a museum for saints. And in case you haven’t figured it out, YOU are a messed up sinner.

Jesus didn’t make distinctions and neither should we. Celebrate and give thanks that you are saved through faith ALONE and that you are welcomed even though you are still a messed up sinner.

What an awesome God we have. Praise be to God through our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Still Christmas

/ The Pastor

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. [Luke 2:20]

It’s still Christmas. And I’m not talking about being in the midst of the 12 days of Christmas. It’s still Christmas in the sense that the Good News of Christmas is still Good News and always will be. I don’t imagine the shepherds glorifying and praising God only for a season. I imagine it continued on and on. They saw and heard amazing news. They gazed into the face of salvation. They had their lives turned upside down (or in terms of my Christmas sermon, “messed up”). I mean, how does one get sick and tired of news like this:

Jesus was born for you that you may know God and therefore everlasting life.

That is amazing!
That is awesome!

A season is not enough time to share the Good News of Jesus for there are many who have not heard. And for those who have heard, we often forget. So continue on your way, like the shepherds, glorifying and praising God for all you have seen and heard.

Praise be to God, always and forever, Amen!!!

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Peace Among Us

/ The Pastor

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” [Luke 2:14]

When Jesus was born…
~ The Roman empire didn’t suddenly fall.
~ Wars didn’t stop.
~ Hunger didn’t vanish.
~ Poverty didn’t disappear.
~ Diseases weren’t instantly cured.
~ World peace was not achieved.

None of these things happened, but peace did appear. And it appeared in the midst of this stuff. People often wonder and question:

If God is so loving then why is there war? Disease? Death of the young? Etc…

If these things exist then God can not. That is silly rationale and something that does not see or understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The fact of the matter is that Jesus came in the midst of a fallen world (among it) to redeem creation from sin. Jesus came to save you. When Jesus was born, the very thing the angels sang about happened:

Peace came among us

And with that peace among us ~ Jesus ~ we can have the strength to face conflict, disease, hunger, death and anything this world throws at us; knowing that God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, has overcome this world by defeating the last enemy: Death. And our peace is that through faith in Jesus we too have overcome this world.

So live at peace is this chaotic, messed up world and hold onto the hope of the resurrection. Be at peace and sing with the angels:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Praise be to God!

The Pastor – |—

Our Father’s good pleasure

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Being a pastor and a father has opened, for me,  the door to new theological understandings of our relationship with God.  This “door”, though, may be the cause of some embarrassment for my little girl when she gets older, so for now I am going to enjoy freedom from chastisement. So here I go 🙂

The other night my wife and I were enjoying some quiet time together; talking and watching a little TV.  Mayah was in the next room sleeping.  Every now and then Mayah would make a little noise or a small cry but then would go back to sleep.   Finally, after a while, she started crying and crying.  We waited; thinking that she just lost her pacifier and that she would eventually find it and go back to sleep.

But she didn’t stop crying.

Connie finally said, “I think she lost her pacifier.  One of us will need to go in.”

I quickly volunteered.

When I entered her room, Mayah was in her crib on all fours crying; pacifier in her mouth.  When she saw me she raised up on her knees and reached for me.  I picked her up and cradled her in my arms and she immediately stopped crying.

Her diaper wasn’t wet
She didn’t seem cold or warm
Night light was working fine

Basically…nothing seemed to be wrong except that she just wanted to be held.  As I sat there in the rocking chair with my little girl; feeling content, happy and loved, I remember thinking: “I wonder if this is what God feels like when what his children want is to just be near Him.”

[32] “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. [33] Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. [34] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  [Luke 12:32-34, ESV]

It is our Father’s good pleasure…yea…I like that.  It was my good pleasure to go in and rock my little girl to sleep; giving her the love and security she wanted at that moment.  And even more so, it is our heavenly Father’s good pleasure to do the same: to hold you in His arms and give you the kingdom.

What a Father in heaven that we have. What a treasure 🙂

Don’t wait to “need” him. It is our Father’s good pleasure to hold you and love you and to give you peace whenever and wherever.

Praise be to God!

The pastor -|—

My least favorite day

/ The Pastor

I love Christmas, but recently I heard a pastor say something that saddened me:

“The only thing I love as much as Christmas is the day after Christmas.”

I didn’t quite know what to say to that because I knew what they meant; they were looking forward to Christmas being over 😦

Christmas is indeed busy.  There’s lot’s of extra things to do on top of what we already need to do.  Yesterday morning, for example, I thought I had the Christmas Eve service all planned last week.  I gave the musicians the bulletin outline so they could practice the music, but then my secretary pointed out a mistake I made ~ I put a carol in there twice.  So I had to make some changes and contact the musicians.  And this is all while I am trying to get my newsletter article done, do sermon prep, make a delivery to the nursing home and run a couple other errands.  And then the phone was ringing and I had to try very hard to be patient with people (because it is not their fault that everything was piling up on me).

Christmas can cause a lot of headaches and stress and sleepless night for a pastor but you know something…

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

For me Christmas is a golden opportunity to preach the Gospel to people who normally don’t come to worship.  It’s my chance to slap people across the face with the Good News of the Christ-child being born for all people.  It’s the perfect time to tell people that Christmas is not a secular holiday but rather a celebration of perfect love coming down to us.  As one of my 4th grade girls said in release time just recently:

“If Jesus wasn’t born then he wouldn’t have died on the cross for our sins and therefore we wouldn’t go to heaven.”

Amen!  That’s the Good News of Christmas.

Next to Easter, Christmas is my favorite day of the year and my least favorite day is the day after Christmas because it means I have 364 days to wait to do this again.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The pastor -|—

Wave those branches loudly

/ The Pastor

Palm-Sunday

Wave those Palm branches to the glory of God and don’t be silent.

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
[Luke 19:38-40]

Let us pray…
Loving God, we enter another Holy Week.  We will hear the same story.  We will participate in the same worship services.  But your story is anything but business as usual. The Passion of Jesus is anything but old news.  I ask that you may make this story come alive for us so that we can see once again your amazing grace; not old news but Good News.  We are sinners, O God, with very short attention spans and therefore we need to hear this story over and over again.  Work faith where needed.  Strengthen faith where needed.  And in the end may we seek you with our whole lives.  May we cry out to you in praise so the rocks will have no reason to take our place. To you who is worthy of all worship, honor and praise…in Jesus name…Amen!

Blessings to you on this Palm Sunday and during your journey through Holy Week as we approach the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The pastor -|—

Sanitize and Repent

/ The Pastor

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
[Luke 3:7-8]

This influenza season has gotten me more nervous than any other I can remember.  The number of people being hospitalized and/or dying is alarming.  People young and healthy are succumbing to this illness…and quickly.  So I have started taking precautions:

~ I’m washing my hands more.
~ Using hand sanitizer more.
~ I am suspending hand shaking during worship.
~ We are wiping down and disinfecting commonly touched surface areas around the church building.
~ I am being very diligent…more so than any other year.

When I hear of a friend or someone I know getting sick my heart skips a beat or two.  Recently…someone I know was hospitalized with influenza A and pneumonia.  I am praying hard for healing.

And I know I am not the only one concerned about this flu season.
I know I am not the only one taking extra precautions.
I know I am not the only one changing my life and routines.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance

And why doesn’t the epidemic of sin cause people to be just as diligent (or even more) about their lives.  I mean…sin is a lot more deadly than any influenza strain nature can devise.  Yet…we often take sin for granted.  We come to worship; confess our sins and then go home feeling some emotion or sense of satisfaction.

But…

is there any life change?
is there any repentance?
is there any running away from that confessed sin?

Or…

Do we continue in our illness, embracing the symptoms, and running to our death?  Sounds dramatic, I know, but sin needs to be taken seriously because God takes it seriously.

How seriously?

Look to the cross; that wooden instrument of death that Jesus was nailed to, suffered upon and died upon.  Jesus died on that cross; taking our sin with him and announcing forgiveness and giving us hope.  But more than that, God gave us the cure to this deadly disease.  God gave us life.

Through confession we expose our disease to God and receive the cure.  But what next?  Sanitize/Repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Why?  Because of fear of retaliation from God?

NO!

Because God has given us an amazing gift.
Because God has shown us amazing grace.
Because God has given us an amazing future.
Because God is worthy.

Be healthy and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Sanitize your life.  Run away from sin.  Embrace the love of God.  AND…praise God always and forever. Sin is deadly, but Jesus is for us.

Have a great day 🙂

The pastor -|—

Do you remember?

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. [Luke 2:1-7]

Do you still remember?

Manger scene

Do you still remember what this season is all about?

Do you still remember why we run ourselves crazy and tired this time of the year?

Do you still remember?

For the past week or so, my wife and I have been preparing for our Christmas open house that we host every year at the parsonage.  I look forward to spending time with people over some Christmas goodies, hot apple cider (and of course some Christmas themed coffee) and some Christmas cheer.  I enjoy receiving people into our home and visiting.  But the preparations can be stressful… especially this year with more on our plate:
~ We are in the adoption process so we have paper work all over the place (not to mention the emotional toll this process takes).
~ My wife is recovering from minor knee surgery and is not as mobile as she would like to be.
~ Then there’s all the baking and cleaning (that my wife tries to do in her “limited” condition).

All of this adds up to stress and frayed nerves…

And many of you can probably relate to this.  I know I am not the only one running around trying to get a multitude of things done.  It’s crazy…and sometimes we forget.

This is why I am diving into the Christmas story EVERY day.  I don’t want to lose sight of the joy of this season.  I don’t want Satan to turn this season into something that it is not.  I don’t want to strive to make myself look good but rather God.  After all…

This is about a baby
This is about a Savior
This is about God’s amazing love.  And…

This is not about me (and it is not about you).  This is about what God has done and will do for you and for me.  We just can’t lose sight of this.  People around us (whether they know it or not) are counting on us not to lose sight of what this season TRULY means.

So I challenge you and encourage you to take some time EVERY day to read the Christmas story.  Soak in the wonderfulness and joy.  Bask in the grace and love of God.  Receive and be filled…and…

…remember.

It’s Christmas time…PRAISE BE TO GOD!

The pastor -|—