April 18-20, 2020 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: John 20:19-31 (EHV) “PEACE!”

EASTER 2

April 18-20, 2020

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: John 20:19-31 (EHV)

“PEACE!”

1.     For those who are afraid.

2.     For those who doubt.

3.     For those who believe.

John 20:19-31 (EHV) “On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” ²²After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” ²⁴But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” ²⁶After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  ³⁰Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”



          One of the not so good things about this shutdown is I find myself watching more TV commercials. Normally Chris and I use our DVR to avoid watching them but recently since we are doing a little more TV watching we don’t have the buffer or the recording. One of those commercials brought a smile to my face. It was for Geico and had some people trying to hide from a killer. You’ve probably seen it. Instead of taking off in a car, they say “Let’s hide behind the chainsaws!” Really? Don’t you know what’s going to happen? It reminded me of the way so many dramas are set up. The lady is home alone. She has been threatened. She hears a noise in the basement. She goes to explore. The light doesn’t work. So she starts down the stairs. At that point you are just screaming. “Seriously, don’t you know what’s going to happen?” You want to jump into the program and stop them. I find myself feeling the same way as we walk with Jesus’ disciples after Jesus’ resurrection. Guys! Come on. Are you really going to be fearful, really going to doubt when Jesus has already given proof  He is alive! Don’t you already know what’s going to happen? But it’s good for us to see how Jesus’ disciples act because we are Jesus’ disciples too. And we often act like they do. More importantly, we see Jesus and how he provides all his followers with exactly what they need to have peace!

It’s the evening of Easter Sunday. The disciples have heard from the women that Jesus rose from the dead. Peter and John have seen the empty tomb and folded grave clothes. The Emmaus disciples have rushed in and told them how Jesus walked with them. So of course they are rejoicing and celebrating and…No. They are behind locked doors afraid of the Jewish leaders who had opposed and killed Jesus. Fear will do that to you. It will make you act irrationally. It will paralyze your ability to have joy and happiness. But Jesus came. “Peace be with you!” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” Look how things changed when they knew, they knew, Jesus lives. Peace. That’s calmness even in difficult circumstances. Joy because Jesus lives. Purpose. Remember the real mission is to get folks forgiven.

          Peace is what Jesus gives to his disciples who are afraid. Good thing too, because sometimes we are afraid. Fear can cause you to do things that appear irrational. I don’t know anybody who would arbitrarily say that shutting down a booming American economy, stunting the education of 54 million k-12 students and millions more college kids, having over 22 million Americans lose their jobs and not letting children see their parents in their last days of life is a good idea. Yet that very thing has happened. Why? Fear. Fear what the coronavirus could do. Fear because we don’t have all the facts. Fear that is robbing people of peace and joy. Maybe it is robbing you. But this is nothing new for us, is it? Like the disciples we have been told Jesus lives and rules all for our good. We have seen the proof in our own lives. Our personal history proves the proverb “If God brings you to it He will bring you through it.” But then the cancer diagnosis comes. Then the job loss comes. Then___________________. We feel anxious. Fearful. Sad. Stressed. Peace! Jesus lives! The conqueror of sin, death and the Devil lives and is with you. He rules for you. That Good News needs to be the focus of our lives.

          Peace is also what Jesus provides for the doubters. Poor Thomas is always going to carry that label. He didn’t always doubt. He was the one who urged the disciples to go die with Jesus when He went to Jerusalem knowing full well the opposition he would receive. He has this moment of weakness. He’s heard all the testimony the others disciples have. Now he gets theirs. They keep telling him Jesus is alive. The response? “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Now I know we wanted to rush in there and try to stop him but it’s good for us that Thomas went ahead with his bold skepticism. It’s good because while sometimes we are like Thomas and are bold in our trust in Jesus at other times we are like Thomas and we doubt even though all of the voices in the Bible are telling us the truth, even though we can look back at the fingerprints of God in our lives but when a time of testing or trial pops up we doubt. Look what Jesus gives to the doubting. “Peace be with you,” he said. ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Peace with proof. The exact proof Thomas had boldly demanded proving that not only does Jesus live but He is with us always. Do you think it made an impact on the rest of Thomas’ life to realize Jesus had been with him the whole time he was setting his conditions? Jesus lives so Thomas got peace.

          Good news for us. Because no matter how many times Jesus gets us through another rough patch, no matter how many times he provides in a way were not anticipating, the next time there is a tight spot we find it so easy to doubt Jesus’ wisdom and power in our lives. We doubt that we will get through it. The result? No peace. But Jesus lives. And just like He gave Thomas exactly what he needed to believe Jesus has done the same for you and me.

          Jesus pointed us to it when He said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  And then He had John write these words, “Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Peace. A calmness no matter what is happening, is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s a blessing the Holy Spirit brings into our lives with faith. While Thomas believed because he saw, Jesus says it is better to believe because you have heard. He said those who believe on the basis of being told are blessed, made happy, at peace. Think about it. If I can only have peace once I see how God bailed me out that means I will live most of my life without peace because I can’t have peace until I have seen. If you can’t have peace until you see how this whole covid 19 thing plays out, you will have weeks or months of no peace. On the other hand if I have peace because God says so then I get to live the largest portion of my life at peace. I get peace right now because Jesus lives. Jesus who did so many more miracles than we know of. Jesus who rules all for the good of the church. Peace. Do you want it? You know how to get it. These things are written so you may believe in Jesus and have life in His name, a life of peace now that will extend to the perfect peace of heaven.

          I urge all of you to continue to be in this word if you already are. And if you are not to make it your first priority to get that going. We don’t want people to have to look back at how we handled this or any other crisis and say, “What were they thinking? Didn’t they already know that Jesus lives?” Yes, we do. So we will have peace! Amen.

May 16-18, 2020 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 John 3:11-18 “LOVE”

EASTER 6

May 16-18, 2020

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 John 3:11-18

“LOVE”

1.     What’s love got to do with it?

2.     I want to know what love is.

3.     All you need is love.

1 John 3:11-18 (EHV) “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: Love one another. ¹²Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. ¹⁶This is how we have come to know love: Jesus laid down his life for us. And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.”



          If you haven’t been to a wedding reception lately some things have changed. You may remember that at many receptions guests would try to get the bride and groom to kiss by klinking their glasses. That’s not so common any more. The brides and grooms are fighting back. They make you earn the right to have them kiss. You might have to correctly answer a trivia question about the bride or groom. You might have to roll a large pair of dice or spin a wheel and do what it says or stick a bag on a board with the bags game. I’ve been to many receptions where the bride and groom would not kiss unless the requesters sang a song that had “love” in it. I’ve often threatened to Chris that I was going to get up and sing “Love Stinks” by the J Geils band. Now you can understand why there would be this request to have love songs at a wedding because love is a necessary ingredient for a marriage.

          And love is a necessary ingredient for a Christian. God made that abundantly clear through his Apostle John. If you recall John was the last living Apostle. While all the others had been martyred Jesus used John to grow up the fledgling Christian church. When it was brand new love abounded. This is what we are told about the early Christian Church in Acts 2:44-45. “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” They loved each other with word and actions. It was obvious. Some sixty years later when John wrote his first letter with its strong emphasis on love you have to wonder. Was love for one another waning? Were some of them wondering, “What’s love got to do with it?”

          If you are wondering what love has to do with being a Christian, I can answer with one word, everything. “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: Love one another. ¹²Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.” John takes us to two beginnings. First is the beginning of the Christian Church when Jesus had his disciples in the upper room and told them, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:34) Jesus said loving one another is necessary. It is a sign, evidence, that you are a disciple of Jesus. Then John took us to another beginning, the beginning of hatred, the opposite of love. Just like love is the evidence of belonging to Jesus, hatred is the evidence of belonging to Satan. And brothers and sisters in faith today need this warning just like they did at John’s time. Cain did not murder a stranger but his very own brother. Cain was jealous of his brother. He hated the fact that Abel’s righteous living testified against his own evil living. We need the warning that the ability to hate lives in our own lives. We have seen it come out when we have murdered a brother or sister in faith with our words, tearing them apart. We also need to understand that when we live as followers of Jesus unbelievers will hate us because we remind them they are wrong. What’s love got to do with it? Everything. It’s a sign that you are a Christian and its absence that you are not.

          Now someone might hear or read this and honestly say, “I want to know what love is.” That’s legit. That word love gets thrown around a lot and can be twisted to mean all sorts of things. But if you want to know what love is as a Christian you don’t have to guess. You just have to look—at Jesus. “This is how we have come to know love: Jesus laid down his life for us.” Look at Jesus as see what love is and is not. Love moves a person to do what they can to take care of the needs of others. All people have the need of having their sins removed. If sin clings to you when you die you go to Hell. People cannot like that truth all they want. You might not like it or want it to be that way but it is the truth. No one covered with sin lives in heaven. Only Jesus had the ability to take care of that need. Only He is the perfect holy Son of God. Now taking care of that need would cost Him dearly. But He loved. So He laid down His life. That sacrifice paid for the sins of the whole world. That’s love, sacrificing to take care of the needs of others. Love is not permission to sin. Love is not toleration of sin. Love is not letting others do what they want or giving them whatever they want. Look at Jesus and you see what love is: making a personal sacrifice to help someone in need.

          Now, brother, sister, all you need is love. Love that shows. “And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.” Remember Jesus shows us that real love means that if you are able you make a personal sacrifice to help someone with a true need. Having received the love Jesus has demonstrated in action and truth on the cross we now reflect that love to others. Not by paying for their sins. We can’t do that. And Jesus already has. But from time to time we will find ourselves in position to make a personal sacrifice to meet a brother’s need. In this context brother is your fellow believer. What needs might they have that I can make a personal sacrifice to show love? Well they need the Gospel. While our Christian giving is important as a way to show love to God it also shows love to our brothers and sisters in faith who need pastors and teachers to preach and teach. Actually giving, making that personal sacrifice, loves with action and truth and let me tell you I have seen the love in the way you have been making such efforts to get your offering in. How wonderful it has been to have so many members contact us willing to drive or shop for or help other members in this shut down time. Others of you have offered your stimulus payment to help members in need. That’s action and truth. So many have given time for our building program, cleaning and painting and hanging things. Action and truth. Depending on where things go with unemployment there may be opportunities for you to sacrifice to help a fellow member whose hardship goes on. Before Covid 19 we were planning our emphasis to more deliberately live as the family we are. St Jacobi. Your church home on Forest Home. As we get back together and resume that emphasis you will be presented with opportunities to love each other as family and it is important that you do because if you don’t, you’ll give love a bad name.

          Love is what it’s all about. God so loved us. We love one another. There are literally thousands of songs about love. I checked. There will likely be more. But none will hold a candle to the one we already sang. Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so. Dear friends as He has loved us, so we must love one another. Amen.

May 2-4, 2020 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Psalm 23 Because the LORD is your Shepherd…

GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY

May 2-4, 2020

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Psalm 23

Because the LORD is your Shepherd…

1.     You have everything you need.

2.     Your soul gets restored.

3.     You are on the path of righteousness.

4.     You have nothing to fear.

5.     You are well fed.

6.      You are blessed right now.

7.     The best is yet to come!

Psalm 23 (NIV 1984) “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. ²He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³he restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

⁶Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”



          Psalm 23 is one of the most well known parts of the Bible. I was surprised to discover that in my over 25 years of serving as a pastor I had never preached on it. That changes today. The Holy Spirit caused King David to write Psalm 23. There is a little bit of foreshadowing going on here. David was a shepherd before he became king. Jesus is a Shepherd and a King. David, the shepherd becomes a lamb as he writes this psalm. That reminds us of Jesus, doesn’t it? Jesus, the Good Shepherd became the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. The reason Psalm 23 is so well known is because it gets read a funerals a lot! And with good reason. As we go through the Psalm you will see it is a beautiful expression of both comfort and confidence, the very thing that happens at Christian funerals. God’s people are comforted and are confident. But Psalm 23 is not just a comforting and confidence giving psalm for death time. It’s a comforting and confidence giving psalm for earthly life. We’ll see that today as we look at the blessings we have because the LORD is our Shepherd.

          Now the first thing you have to understand is everyone has a shepherd. Using the picture of a shepherd and his flock, the shepherd is the one you look to to take care of you, provide for you, protect you and comfort you. Some people have a shepherd named Sam, Uncle Sam that is. And they look to the government as the ultimate source of protection and wisdom and comfort in time of trial. To be sure God Himself established government to rule a country for the physical welfare of its people. But as Jesus pointed out in the Gospel lesson there is only one Good Shepherd. All others are hirelings who do not care for the flock like Jesus does. IF Sam is your shepherd you will be sadly disappointed. Some people choose shepherds named Jim or Jack, Jim Beam and Jack Daniels, that is. And alcohol is what they lean on to get through tough times. Another hireling that deserts you and leave you hanging. Probably the most popular shepherd that people have is named Mimi, you know Me. Me! Again, the Lord God has given to each of us a personal responsibility to care for ourselves and our families as He enables us but…if we look to ourselves as the ultimate shepherd, well, we are hirelings too, and limited in what we can do. Not so the LORD. Remember that is the name God chooses to use in the Bible to communicate that He is the Savior God, the one who uses His omnipotence to save people and show mercy, to always have their best interests in mind. Look now at all the blessings you have because the LORD is your Shepherd!

          First you have everything you need. “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” Now I know some of you kids out there are saying, “Hey, wait a minute! I don’t have everything I want. I want more legos. I want to be playing with my friends. I want to be back at regular school!” Oh yes, there are all kinds of things we want. But what the Psalm says is be in want. That means to lack something you need. When the LORD is your Shepherd you don’t lack anything you need. Mark this well. If the LORD has not provided it for you, you don’t need it. You may think you do. You may have your heart set on it, but you don’t need it.

          Secondly, because the LORD is your shepherd your soul gets restored. “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters. ³he restores my soul.” King David, who had cared for sheep uses a picture to help us see how well we are blessed. The flock is at rest in an idyllic meadow with a peaceful supply of water. It communicates rest. Rest for the soul. Souls need to be restored. The soul is well, the “us” part of us, the part that feels. And when you live in a world ruined by sin your soul needs to be restored. Our souls falter and grow weak. Sometimes that’s because of sin. Guilt and shame drag us down. The LORD forgives us. Our soul is restored. It feels better. Sometimes we are down because things are out of our control. We face hurt and disappointment in relationships. The LORD smiles on us, assures us He is in control, that He has something much better for us. Our soul gets restored.

          Another blessing. Because the LORD is your shepherd you are on the path of righteousness. “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” The path of righteousness is the only path that leads to heaven. Remember God’s standard. Be holy, perfect because God is holy and perfect. At first glance it might sound like the blessing we have is knowing right and wrong. And it’s true. Jesus our Good Shepherd has clearly told us what is right and wrong. He has stripped away all pretenses that outward behavior is good enough for God and that trying it good enough for God. We know what is righteous and what is not. And knowing that could lead us to despair. God’s demands on impossible! Who can control his thoughts? Who can be perfect all the time? No one! Not true. Jesus was and Jesus is and that means you are too. The paths of righteousness could be called the way of righteousness and remember something our Shepherd said? “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We are on the path of righteousness because we are riding on the shoulders or our Good Shepherd all the way to heaven. He is our righteousness. And what a blessing it is to know right from wrong. Even though our obedience doesn’t get us to heaven any more than our sin keeps us out when we have the LORD as our Shepherd, when we know the paths of righteousness we have a way to show Him our love. Willing obedience to what He says is good and right.

          There’s still more. Because the LORD is your shepherd. You have nothing to fear. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”  There are many things we can be afraid of, germs, heights, the dark. When we give in to our fears it can rob us of the fun and joy of life. I still remember the first time I was allowed to have a friend over for a sleepover. I was in 3^rd grade. My friend and I had great plans. We were going to sleep in the basement. There was TV there. We were going to stay up all night and have so much fun. But we watched a scary movie. Sherlock Holmes meets Jack the Ripper. All of the sudden being in the dark basement by ourselves wasn’t fun any more. We just went to bed. Lamest sleepover ever! Fear. Makes you do stupid things. The saddest part is because the LORD is your Shepherd you have nothing to fear. He has a rod to beat off your enemies and staff to pull you back to safety. There may be things you are afraid of, but you don’t have to be. The LORD is your Shepherd!

And because of that you are well fed. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” The picture kind of switches here. Sheep and lambs don’t sit at a table. Still the picture is clear. A scrumptious feast. While it is certainly true that we American sheep are well fed physically, (the scale does not lie!) we are more well fed spiritually. We have God’s faith feeding word available to us in print, online in so many ways. Can’t wait until get to feast on the Lord’s Supper again.

Still more. Because the LORD is your Shepherd you are blessed right now. “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” Oftentimes at Thanksgiving we are urged to make a list of all our blessings. How about making a list right now? Instead of focusing on all the things that the shutdown has taken away list all those blessings you still have. You’ll get a long one. We are so blessed!

          And as good as that is the best is yet to come! “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” One of the many frustrating things about the shutdown is at this point there nothing to look forward to. Whether it’s your favorite festival, concert or sport or other activity, there is no firm plan on when things will get going. Some of the hireling shepherds are forgetting that people need hope, something to look forward to. Your Shepherd, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is not a hireling. He knows you need hope. He gives it. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever! What a house! Perfection. Joy. Happiness that knows no end. No matter what happens here, a better life, the best  is yet to come. No matter how badly this body breaks down, in heaven we will be perfect, compliments of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

          Now as we have been going along I’ve been telling you the truth. I’ve been pointing you to the blessings you have because the LORD is your Shepherd. Faith is the hand that takes what God says is true and makes it personal. Psalm 23 is a personal Psalm. It’s not a third person Psalm or a second person Psalm. It’s a first person Psalm. The LORD is my Shepherd. So now I invite all of you to join me in making this Psalm your very own as you say it as your declaration of faith.

          “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. ²He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³he restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”