Monday, July 23, 2018

July 21-23, 2018 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Mark 6:30-34 (EHV) JESUS CARES!


PENTECOST 9

July 21-23, 2018

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Mark 6:30-34 (EHV)



JESUS CARES!

1. He Knows Your Needs.

2. He Provides for Your Needs.



Mark 6:30-34 (EHV) “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” For there were so many people coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat. 32They went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33But many people saw them leave and knew where they were going. They ran there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34When Jesus stepped out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. His heart went out to them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He began to teach them many things.”



          Jesus cares. Jesus cares about you. You know this in your head and your heart. All you have to do is look at the cross that stands as a fixed worship reminder of how much Jesus cares for you. So much He willingly suffered the punishment you earned through your sins. The Gospel, the Good News of the Bible proclaims this truth to us. God loves you. God cares. The proof is in Jesus. His primary work was to come as your substitute and save you for eternity. The Gospel, the Good News of the Bible goes on. God cares for your earthly life too. The Apostle Paul so beautifully and eloquently summarized that fact in the book of Romans when he wrote, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not along with Him graciously give us all things? An obvious truth from the greater to the lesser, but not so easily believed when your life is a mess and your heart is hurting, when you are dealing with conflict or anger or a serious medical condition has suddenly appeared. Shhh! The Holy Spirit whispers to our faith in God’s word. Look at Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. See how He cares.

          His disciples and the crowds in Mark’s Gospel certainly saw how Jesus cares. If you recall from the Gospel reading last week Jesus had sent out the disciples and so they were called apostles meaning “those sent out.” Jesus had told them not to take any provisions. God would provide for them through His people. They were given a bit of Jesus’ authority to cast out demons and heal people. Now they were back swapping stories. “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. Can you imagine their excitement? Thomas, “Lord I don’t have any proof but you have to believe me I healed sick people!” Peter, “Lord no one can deny what I did. I told demons to leave and they did. Three times!” James and John and all the rest, eagerly telling all that had happened and how they had told people the Messiah had come. And then Jesus had to tell them what had happened when they were gone. John the Baptist had been beheaded. This too happens to faithful servants of Jesus. What a rollercoaster. Jesus cared about them. He knew what they needed. “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” For there were so many people coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat. 32They went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.” After all their hard work, after emotional highs and lows they needed rest. Jesus knew exactly what they needed.

          Others had needs too. “But many people saw them leave and knew where they were going. They ran there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34When Jesus stepped out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. His heart went out to them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He began to teach them many things.” A large crowd of people followed Jesus. They probably felt they needed to see Jesus do more miracles. But that wasn’t their need. They needed to hear the word of God. Jesus knew that. In the following verses of Mark 6 we find the people had another need, food. They had run after Jesus without even thinking of a very real need. But Jesus knew.

          Brothers and sisters, Jesus knows your needs too. Your real needs. Some people will talk about a difference between real and perceived needs. A perceived need, for instance, might be a better paying job.  A real need might be budgeting skills. A perceived need might be a distressed marriage relationship while the greater real need might lie in a missing relationship with Jesus. Then there is the whole wants and needs thing and we all know how that goes with our kids that they confuse wants and needs, but honestly we big kids do the same. The good news is no matter how we confuse needs Jesus, our Savior, knows exactly what our needs are. He cares and watches us daily. Is your heart hurting because something or someone is missing in your life? Jesus cares. He knows what you need. Got some family or health difficulties? Jesus knows. He knows what you really need. And for those times when difficulty and hardship become a way too familiar companion remember that Jesus knows what you need and if He is allowing something like that to pop up or stay in your life it’s because He knows you need it, like we heard a few weeks ago, that Paul needed a thorn. Jesus cares. He knows your needs.

          He provides for them too. Jesus’s disciples needed rest. He took them away. When the crowds caught up with them Jesus was their provider, their teacher, not the disciples. They got to rest and watch. By the way, American Christian, rest is still something God wants you to have. You don’t have to pack every hour of every day. It is God pleasing to get rest each week. The crowds who followed Jesus needed something different. They didn’t need to be entertained by miracles. They were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus cared. His heart went out to them. He became their shepherd. Practicing the Biblical truth that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, Jesus first filled that need. He taught them God’s truths. Now they did have that other need, the “we forgot to pack our lunch” need. In the next verses Jesus will take care of that too with the miracle we call the feeding of the 5,000 even though it was probably closer to 20,000. And you really can’t hear Jesus talk about a shepherd without automatically thinking about how as the Good Shepherd He lay down His life for His sheep. Jesus cares. He knows needs and provides needs.

          And you are included in that caring, knowing and providing. As your Lord Jesus watches you each day He is watching over you day by day. And day by day He knows exactly what you need and He provides it. This is the truth that enables us to fight fear of what happens next. My Jesus is in control. This is the truth that provides daily contentment. What I have and where I am at is good. And if I don’t have something I want it’s because Jesus knows that it’s not right for me right now. This is the truth that pushes us to be better budgeters of time and money because we know we have been provided what we need and so if we are a little short in time or money it means Jesus is pushing us, motivating us, to be better managers His gifts of time and money. This is the truth that enables us to meet adversity with a smile on our faces because Jesus cares, knows and will provide each step of the way. This is the truth that enabled Paul and you and me too to boast about weaknesses and relish the thorns in our lives. Jesus cares and He provides what we need.

          Brothers and sisters, the Pentecost season of the church year that we are in is all about focusing on growth in our faith life. Having every question in life answered, having every want supplied and problem fixed requires no faith. Peace, joy, happiness, contentment in want or plenty, in matters of death as well as life, in time of peace or time of strife, well that takes faith. God’s words give faith. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things? Of course He will. This is Jesus we are talking about. I’m reminded of the very clever motto our 8th grade had last year. “My lifeguard walks on water.” Yours does too. Amen.

Monday, July 2, 2018

June 30-July 2, 2018 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-6a (EHV) “ON BEING A BLESSING TO OUR NATION”


THE NATION

June 30-July 2, 2018

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-6a (EHV)



“ON BEING A BLESSING TO OUR NATION”

1.     Be here now.

2.     Pray, pray, pray!



1 Timothy 2:1-6a (EHV) “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.”



          “You know what you should do is…. Hey, I’ve got a great idea, why don’t you...” Do you have somebody like that in your life? Someone who has all kinds of fixes and improvements and ideas about what you should do? Actually we can all kind of be that way. When there are problems or issues a natural way of thinking seems to be to focus on what others need to be doing. That’s an easy trap to fall into with our nation. We do have issues. The hot button ones now are immigration and international economics and tariffs. The festering ones are a two party political systems where each side seems to be more interested in getting each other than getting things done. Emotional political issues as well as personal failings by too many elected leaders have put obstacles in the way of our ability to respect as God commands. You know what they need to do is…Oops. See how easy that is? God’s word today shows us a better way. A God pleasing way. It doesn’t have to do with them. It’s about us. By God’s grace we are able to be a great blessing to our nation. So let’s talk about us.

          First, brothers and sisters, we need to understand that Christians living in nations where the government does not always work right, where leaders are immoral and lead the country into immorality, where Biblical Christianity is not always appreciated is nothing new. When Paul wrote this first letter to Timothy, Timothy was in city of Ephesus under the control of the Roman government. Talk about shady politics, graft, corruption, sleaze, immorality, that’s Rome. And the emperor at the time was a man named Nero, the one who would usher in some of the most brutal persecutions of Christians. Certainly this could have been a time for handwringing and complaining, calls to be subversive or urging Timothy and the congregation at Ephesus to flee. But Paul didn’t. He encouraged them where they were at.

          Be here now. That’s a phrase that has popped up in our society, in business and home. With our smartphones giving us access to so much info at our fingertips there can be a tendency to consult it during meetings, family meals, sermons. Be here now means to pay attention where you are at. Mindfulness some call it. Don’t think about what you have to do or what is going to happen later. Be aware of what is going on around you right now. Be here now is way for us Christians to be a blessing to our nation. In that context it would mean we don’t look back with longing for the good old days, which by the way had their own set of problems.  It would mean not worrying about the future but focusing on being a blessing now. And brothers and sisters do you realize what a blessing you are to our nation just by being you, by being what God made you in Jesus? As we heard last week we are new creations in Christ. We have the Holy Spirit living in us, shaping and forming us to be more and more like Christ. The nation is blessed as we grow in faith and live our faith. And did you hear what Jesus called you? Salt of the earth and the light of the world. “You are,” He said. By your very nature you attract people to Jesus, you light the way to heaven. And like salt you are a preservative for the nation. Let’s go back to our first reading. Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked, so wicked, God knew the best thing for the rest of the people in the world was for Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed. And then we got to listen in on Abraham’s prayer that led us to see that the mercy of God is such that for the sake of just 10 believers, 10 righteous people, God would have spared the wicked in those cities. If only there had been 10. But there wasn’t. There are more than 1o here! Be here now. You are a blessing to your nation by being a believer by raising your children to know Jesus, by influencing your family and friends to stay true to the one true God.

          And now that I mentioned Abraham it reminds me of another way we can be great blessings. Pray. Pray. Pray. For others. Like Abraham prayed for the wicked people. Like the Apostle Paul urged. “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all those who are in authority.” Paul urges us to use four different aspects of prayer. Petition, that is asking for something. Prayer has the idea of reverent and humble asking. Intercession is a pleading on someone else’s behalf. And thanksgivings are just what they sound like, thanking God. But did you notice here that Paul isn’t  instructing us on what to pray for but whom to pray for. All people. Then specifically those in authority. Let’s return to be a blessing for our nation. If you are like me you have a visceral initial gut reaction that is negative towards our fellow citizens who are misbehaving, defying God or in some other way making a mess or things. Think of the carjackers and baby murdering abortionists. Think of how you feel when yet another government leader has their moral failings exposed. You know what should happen to them…“First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. for kings and all those who are in authority.” No matter what our political views, no matter what our opinion is about your federal state or local government officials we can be a blessing to our nation by praying for them and all the people in our country.

          And why would we do that? “In order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”  Brothers and sisters, praying instead of complaining, praying instead of bashing, praying for instead of cursing out is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior. We could stop there but we have more reasons. It helps us live a quiet and peaceful life with godliness and dignity. That failure of a politician could very well be in God’s plans to be a swing vote in legislation that will be a blessing. That thug might end up donating organs that will save lives of someone you know. And do we need more motivation? “God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” Let’s remember what’s really important, the salvation of souls. There will be no perfect nation on earth. There will be no end of sin and struggle here. But there will be an end. And whether that end is the end of earthly life here or the end of the world the eternal future of every person rests on Jesus. Only Jesus is the way to heaven. He gave His life as a ransom for all, not only for all those people in our country that irritate us and make us mad, not only for the dirty politicians, but even for people like us, who know what is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior and still would rather complain and think evil than pray, pray, pray.

          Many years ago, President Kennedy made this plea to the citizens of our country. “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.” I’m not sure what inspired him or his speechwriter but I do hear refrains of what is good and pleasing to God our Savior as we focus not on what they or others should do but what we can do. May I suggest a change to a popular phrase? How about, “God bless America—through me!” Amen.