HONORING GOD January 26-28, 2013 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 19:1-10

HONORING GOD

January 26-28, 2013

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 19:1-10

“BIG LESSONS FROM A LITTLE MAN”

1.     He knew himself.

2.     He knew his Savior.

3.     He knew how to honor God with his wealth.

Luke 19:1-10 (NIV 1984) “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

          We are all probably familiar with this Bible Story since we’ve heard it since we’ve been wee ones. Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. Yet he is included on the pages of Holy Scripture for our learning and understanding. There are some big lessons we can learn from this little man.

          The first is that he knew himself. What do we know about him? Zacchaeus lived at a time when Roman government controlled the Jewish people. One of the things Rome was very interested in getting from people they conquered was taxes. They were smart about it, too. They hired native people to collect the taxes, people who knew the ways their own people might try to hide money. Tax collectors then were considered to be traitors. They also we often thieves. Not much new. Back then people also thought they were underpaid and found ways to get what they felt deserved. Tax collectors often used the threat of Roman soldiers to extort just a little more from their people then they actually owed and became quite wealthy. Was Zacchaeus like that? Well Luke tells us Zachaeus was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. The people labeled him a “sinner.”  It seems Zachaeus knew this too. We aren’t given a glimpse inside his heart. We see his actions and words. He talks about cheating others. He goes to great lengths to see Jesus. He recognized his sinfulness. He knew himself.

          He also knew his Savior. Again we aren’t able to see his heart but we get a glimpse by looking at his actions. Jesus was coming. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Why? What did he know about him? Had he heard about Jesus as the one who welcomed sinners? The one who gave those labeled “sinners” another chance? We don’t know but he wanted to see Jesus. There were some inconveniences in his way. Others wanted to see Jesus. The crowds were there. He was short. He was resourceful. Up the sycamore tree he went. And then, and then, Jesus stopped right underneath him. Gulp! Busted! Now what was going to happen? “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.” While Zacchaeus the sinner was just hoping to see Jesus, Jesus had bigger plans for him. Jesus sought him out. “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Jesus was His Savior and showed it by His words to Zacchaeus and his actions staying at Zacchaeus’ house. Zacchaeus knew his Savior.

          And once he knew his Savior he knew how to honor God with his wealth. “Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” I don’t know what kind of money manager Zacchaeus was before this. From his reaction and what we are told it is likely he had stolen to get his wealth instead of earning it honorably. It is likely he was not a generous man. He was not loved by the rest of the people and people who are not loved usually have a hard time showing love. But the presence of Jesus in his life changed things. Now he wanted to use his money in a way that was pleasing to Jesus. He would do things the right way. Where he had cheated someone he would pay restitution, with interest, four times what had been stolen. He would be generous to those in need. Half of his horde would be used to help the poor. He knew now how to honor God with his wealth.

          Big lessons from a little man. Let’s apply them. Brother, sister, do you know yourself? Do you look at yourself regularly in the mirror of God’s word? Do you have your eyes open when you do so that you see a sinner that the Lord should not even eat with? When you speak the words of confession owning up to countless sins, do you mean them or are they just words? I guess it boils down to is this: do you see yourself as a little sinner needing a little help from a little Savior, or like the little man Zacchaeus do you see yourself as a big sinner entirely helpless in need of a gigantic Savior. Do you know yourself?

          Do you know your Savior? Is He such a source of hope that you want to go to great lengths just to see Him? Does the thought that Jesus loves you so much in spite of everything He knows about you leave you in awe? Does the picture of Jesus on the cross dying for your sins bring that paradoxical feeling of sadness and honor that Jesus would have to and want to do this for me? Does the prospect that He, Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, would look at the way you have handled the talents He has entrusted to you and might possibly say to you one day, “Well done good and faithful servant,” send chills down your spine? Do you know your Savior?

          Do you know how to and want to honor God with your wealth? Last year at St. Jacobi we started a three year program on honoring God. We used as our model the Old Testament priest Phineas who was so zealous for the honor of God’s name that he used a spear to put an end to mocking God’s name by bringing immorality into the Israelite camp. God was pleased that Phineas was zealous for His honor. He blessed Phineas. We have the same Savior God. We have all the same reasons to be zealous for His honor. So we said, “Let’s do that.” The emphasis last year was to raise the level of honor for God with word and worship. Our hoped for goals were greater respect for God’s Word and more frequent use of it, greater prioritization on public worship and more faithful attendance.

          Our emphasis for the second year of our Honoring God program is to honor God with our wealth. Please be clear, this is a whole lot bigger than our offerings to God here at St. Jacobi. Just like God does not just own the one hour a week we spend in public worship but cares just as much how we spend all the hours He has entrusted to us, God does not just own or care about our thankofferings at church. All of our wealth belongs to Him. We will want to use all of our wealth in a way that honors Him. And we all have wealth. Oh, it may not feel like that some times. We may not have any leftover at the end of the month. Yet the amount of money that God has entrusted to our care each month compared to what He entrusts most of the people of our world with is huge.

          Like Zacchaeus we will need to look at our past and current practices for handling money to see if they honor God. Where they don’t zealousness for the honor of God demands a change. Some examples. We can point fingers at our federal government that can’t seem to pass a budget, but do we all pass a budget each year? Do we have a plan so that we don’t spend more than we make? We can point fingers at the foolishness of the federal government for continuing to rack up the national debt, 16.5 trillion and counting, but are we racking up debt in our own financial houses? I’m not talking about debt caused by some emergency or planned debt for a house, student loans, maybe a car, but debt because we spend what we don’t have on what we want. We can point fingers at all levels of government for what seems to be wasteful ways of spending money but do we do the same with the result that we try to get more by taking from what is important, underreporting income on our taxes, nothing left to give to those in need, an inability to be generous toward others, and then giving God a less than honorable portion of our income for our thankofferings? When you pick up your offering statement for 2012 and compare it to your annual income as you do your taxes you’ll want it to show that you are honoring God.

          With the Lord begin your task. We can’t honor God with our wealth without the help the Lord provides. As Jesus changed Zacchaeus heart so he could have a changed life Jesus needs to change ours. Anything we do on the outside is meaningless if the motivation on the inside is not God pleasing. That’s why even though our second year of Honoring God emphasizes honoring God with our wealth we can’t leave behind honoring God with word and worship. This is where He strengthens us. This is where He motivates us. This is where Jesus dines with us. This is where we hear Jesus proclaim “Salvation has come to your house today.” Then we can respond. Now let’s commit this task to the Lord in prayer. Amen.

January 13th, 2013

2013Jan13 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.

BAPTISM OF JESUS

January 12-14, 2013

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

“CHOSEN!”

1.     David to be king.

2.     Jesus to be Savior.

3.     Us to be the Children of God.

1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NIV 1984) “The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”² But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”⁴ Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”⁵ Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹ Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”¹² So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.”¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.”

          There’s no getting around it. It feels good to be chosen. Doesn’t matter if it’s for a kickball team at recess, an all-conference team in a sport, for the college you want to go to or for a job you’ve applied for. It feels good to be chosen by people. It’s so much better to be chosen by God! I wonder if that’s how David felt the day he was chosen to be the next king of Israel. You heard the story. Israel’s current king Saul had been rejected by the Lord. He trusted himself. He disobeyed God. A new king was needed. God sent his prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to a man named Jesse. He had eight sons. As Jesse had his sons pass by Samuel made the classic sinful human being mistake. He judged by outward appearances. But God hadn’t chosen the looker. “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”¹² So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” The boy’s name was David. He was the youngest, considered so unlikely to be the one chosen he had been left tending the sheep. He was the one God had chosen. Why him? Was there something special about him? Well, he was the youngest of 8. No it wasn’t him. He was simply chosen by God. “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” Samuel poured oil on his head and the Holy Spirit came on him in power. Why did that happen? Because God said so.

          Now how did David respond to being chosen? You could make a movie about his life. It would be called “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” There was the Lord trusting defeat of Goliath and Philistine armies against humanly speaking insurmountable odds. There was his honorable utmost respect for God’s authority that he didn’t try to get rid of his leader, King Saul, he did nothing against him but let the Lord’s timing make him king. Zeal to build the temple for the Lord. That was good. There was his arrogance at winning later battles instead of giving glory to God.  His love of Absolam, his son, more than righteousness, there was his following of the ways of worldly kings with many wives and concubines. That’s bad. Then there was the ugly. The adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, the attempted cover up through murder of  Uriah, all the time he spent thinking he’d gotten away with it until God exposed him through the prophet Nathan. Yet through all this David is described as a man after the Lord’s own heart. Why? When the push came to shove David repented. He came clean with his sin with no excuses, threw himself on the mercy of God and humbly accepted the earthly consequences of his actions. That’s how David responded to being chosen.

          This lesson makes us think of others who were chosen. In the Gospel lesson Jesus was publicly chosen to be Savior at His Baptism. Why did it have to be that way? Why is it at His Baptism that the Holy Spirit came on Him in a special way? You know the answer, I think. If you do say it with me when I start. Because God said so. And how did Jesus respond to being chosen to be Savior? He kept up His perfect obedience to all commands of God, living under the law because we are subject to the law. He responded with His perfect love submitting to the will of the father even though that meant His death, death on the cross. He did that all for us, in our place, so He could give us His righteousness and take our place in being punished for sin. I’d guess we’d call the movie of His life “The substitute.”

          But someone else was also chosen by God. We are. We are. Doesn’t that feel good? The reading from Titus reminded us that our choosing isn’t because of righteous things we have done but because of God’s mercy. It told us that this choosing happened through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. That’s Baptism and the result is that we become God’s heirs, His inheritors, His children. Now how can Baptism do such great things? You better know the answer by now! Say it with me. Because God says so. It’s that simple.

          Now, how will we respond? Like Jesus with perfect obedience? No. And yes. No, not of ourselves. As long as we have our sinful natures we are not capable of our own perfect obedience. But yes because of  Jesus and Baptism. Remember Jesus came to be our substitute. To do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He perfectly obeyed so that He could cover us with a robe of His righteousness. The Bible tells us in the book of Galatians, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” That’s why remembering your Baptism is so wonderful. When the filth of your own living shames you and embarrasses you can remember your Baptism that covers you with Christ.

          You are going to want to remember to do that because really the movie of our life to someone watching will look more like David’s.  The Good. The Bad. Maybe even some ugly. We have our shining moments, right? The times we get it right and do the God thing, choose to be on Jesus’ side and no one elses. The times when we trust God in difficult times. The times when we resist sin. The times when we obey when it is not easy. That’s the good. And then there are those shameful moments when we arrogantly take credit from God as though we are responsible for our blessings. Those times when we blend in too well with a sinful society with filthy language, misuse of God’s name. There are those times when we love other people more than God and instead of telling them what they need to hear to be right with God we tell them what they want to hear so they will like us. The bad. Is there some ugly? Has the Devil tempted you to have a sinful relationship? Are you flirting with someone at work instead of your spouse? Are you having an affair with a bottle or a porn site? Do you think, like David, that no one knows and even God is fooled? It’s time to come clean. He gave David the prophet Nathan. He gives you your pastors. Talk with us. We’ll help you on the pat to repentance. That’s how David responded to being chosen. That’s what it meant to be a man after the Lord’s own heart. It’s what our holy God deserves.

          It’s an honor to be chosen. That’s why it feels good no matter if it is for something big or little. God chose David through anointing. God chose Jesus. He chooses us through our Baptism. What an honor. Let’s meet honor with honor striving our best to do what God has prepared for us to do, so that in our lives as we wait for our inheritance, there is more and more good. Less and less bad. And no ugly. Amen.

January 6th, 2013

2013Jan06 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.

Pastor Waldschmidt 1-6-2013 MATTHEW 2:1-12 SEEK THE KING Imagine you are on the way to grandmother’s house. “Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go, the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through white and drifted snow. As you are singing you realize that grandmother isn’t there where you expected her to be. I would imagine that’s the way the magi felt as they made their way “over the river and through the sand to Jerusalem so far, the camels know the way to carry the sleigh they are following the star.” Then they arrived in Jerusalem and the King wasn’t there. Let’s catch up with the wisemen hop up on our camels and ride along with them in God’s Word as they seek the King! You might wonder how it happened a wiseman would ever be headed to Jerusalem to seek the King. We don’t know all of the answers but we do know that God said that Jesus would be the King and Savior, not just for a tiny country or a small group of people, but rather he would the King and Savior for the whole world. God’s word says, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” And in the Old Testament Lesson for today God promised, “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. So the Savior would draw people from all over the world. We also know that there were exiles from Israel who were scattered throughout the world. Among them would have been exiles like Daniel who was described as one of the magi. It would make sense those exiles would have talked about the Savior God had promised. They would have talked about how God had promised that “a star would come out of Jacob and a scepter from Israel would come forth. “ When Jesus was born, God put His birth put His birth announcement in the sky and worked it out that the wisemen came seeking the King. “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Naturally the Magi assumed that the new king would be born in a palace in the capital city of Jerusalem. They sought him there. But Jesus wasn’t born there. Now normally assumptions that end up not being true end up being an embarrassment, but not this assumption by those seeking the Savior. This assumption ends up bringing comfort and peace to us. If Jesus had been born in Jerusalem, I suppose people might have assumed that Jesus was just the Savior for the Jewish nation or for the people who live in palaces. But God wanted everyone to know that Jesus was the Savior for all people so he brought these magi seeking the Savior from a distant land to a little town. The account of the magi is not so much about them seeking the king as it is about the King seeking them. The King brought them to know about and trust in God’s promises and to step out and travel to worship the new born king. That’s comforting for us because the King has done the same thing for us. By His grace he has brought us to know about the King-the king which the star of Bethlehem proclaimed came to be the Savior of all. He came to be your Savior. The Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” The wisemen would have noticed when they got to Jerusalem that this Herod guy was a little creepy. They must have seen it on the faces of the people of Jerusalem as they told them they were looking for the new born king of the Jews. If they asked would have heard stories about how he had no compunction about killing even members of his own family when he perceived them as threats to him being the king. He had even executed his wife and three of his sons. King Herod was upset with the thought of another king on the scene and so he goes after Jesus. “When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” What a striking contrast we see in these passages as this scoundrel King Herod, who had used and abused God’s people, inquires about the Jesus the King who would be the kind Shepherd for God’s people. Having found out where this new King was, Herod hatched an evil plot to put him to death. “Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I may go and worship him.” Herod was seeking the Christ child but not to worship the newborn king but to kill the baby Jesus. Herod viewed the birth of the Savior as something that was bad for him. Today is Epiphany Sunday. Epiphany means “making known”. Jesus was made known as the Savior of the whole world. That’s something to celebrate with the wisemen and cling to because that means Jesus is our Savior. We like to walk with the wisemen but the truth is that part of us walks with King Herod. When the light of God’s Ten Commandments shines on our lives we see a part of us that is pretty creepy. Our sinful nature looks at everything from a selfish sinful point of view. “What does this mean for me?” Then there are times when our anger, our jealousy, our selfcenterness has led us to do sinful fool things. But we have a King- who paid the penalty for them for us on the cross. We have a Savior, the Savior the Wisemen were seeking, the Savior who sought us. That brings us to seek what the King wants in our lives. Let’s try more and more to look at each situation in our lives through His eyes. Let’s look to Jesus for help that the things that come out of our mouths may be words like God’s Word talks about when it says, ”Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” The wisemen must have looked around Jerusalem and wondered what they had gotten themselves into. Now this creepy king is asking them to be his minions and rat out were the Christ child is so that he could go and “worship” him. The King born in Bethlehem did not leave them alone. IS there something you wonder what you have gotten yourself into? Are you afraid of what’s going to happen in yourfamily tomorrow? Are you afraid that tomorrow might be the day when everything in your life goes over the edge? Are you afraid of the illness of some illness that you are struggling with in your life right now? Are you afraid that your business is going to fail or that you will lose your job? Are you afraid that your sins have driven you far away from God? When those troubles bother you, seek the king. Jesus calms your fears, “Let not you hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me.” “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give you to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” “After they had heard the king, they went on their way and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.” By a miracle of God, the star went ahead of them and guided them to the place where the new born king was. “On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their country by another route.” Look at this! The magi who were some of the most respected people of that day fell on their knees and worshiped this little baby born not in the capital city of Jerusalem, but in lowly Bethlehem- laying not in the arms of a jeweled queen but rather in the arms of a poor young woman. How could they do this? Their hearts must have seen that their true treasure was not in the gold and Frankincense and myrrh in their backpacks but their true treasure was in the Christchild. He was the one to seek. The hymn we sang a few minutes ago has special meaning for my family. In the hours when my mom was dying it seems like we sang through the hymnal. This was one of the hymns we sang at the nursing home. The melody takes a little while to get the hang of but we struck by the words, “Dear Christian friend on him depend. Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move you. For God’s own child in mercy mild joins you to him how dearly God must love you. “ The man who wrote that hymn, Paul Gerhardt lost his wife early relatively early in their marriage while he was unemployed and only 1 of their 5 children lived into adulthood. Jesus was his treasure, Jesus was the teasure of the wisemen Jesus is the treasure for us to seek more and more. “The world may hold her wealth and gold, but thou my heart keep Christ as your true treasure. To Him hold fast until as last, the crown be thine and honor in full measure. “ Amen

New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2012 sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - Hebrews 11:24-30 and other Scripture portions
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In Christ Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever, fellow
believers:
    There have been many predictions that the end of the world is at
hand.  The most recent one was December 21, 2012, based on a
supposed prediction in the Mayan calendar.  Since you are here, and I
am here, and this church building is here, guess what!  It didn’t happen.
    There have been other predictions of specific times for the end.  The
Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, have set a date more than one time.
But we are still here.  There have been other sects or cults with people
gathering together to wait for a so-called rapture or end which they say
definitely is right around the corner.  But it hasn’t happened. 
    Why?  Because God alone knows the time He has set and no one
else knows of that day or hour.  I can’t even say for sure that 2013 will
definitely arrive just a few hours from now.  Maybe God has planned
the end for before midnight.  That is His business.
    So what do we do?  Leaving the future in God’s hands, we MOVE
ON.  And in this service let us do that moving on by looking at the
past to learn something about living in the present as we await what
is eternal.  For that I would like to make use of especially two people
from Old Testament times, namely Moses and Joshua.  
MOVING ON
I    LOOK AT THE PAST.  (Hebrews 11:24-29)
    1. Moses looked back at the past. (24-26)
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as
the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along
with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a short time.  He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of
greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking
ahead to his reward. 
        a) Moses, having been brought up in a king’s palace, easily could
have had opportunities to enjoy this life’s treasures and sin.
        b) But first, from his family, he had learned about a greater
treasure, the truth of God’s salvation.
    2. What do we see as we look back?
        a) Did the past include family that brought us up to know God’s
salvation in Christ His Son?  Thank God for that.
        b) But do we also have to look back and see that the so-called
pleasures of sin made us fall once, or often?  Were we at times
ashamed to stand up and be identified as Christians, ashamed to suffer
“disgrace for the sake of Christ”?  Moses had to deal with that too.
    3. Moses’ past life was a life of faith.  (27-29)
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered
because he saw him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn
would not touch the firstborn of Israel.  By faith the people passed
through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried
to do so, they were drowned.
        a) By faith Moses followed God’s will, God’s guiding directions,
and experienced the truth of what God had promised.
        b) That promise was not only deliverance from Egypt, but above
all deliverance from eternal death by God’s Passover Lamb.
    4. In faith he acknowledged past guidance. 
        a) Who wants to go through great difficulty?  Moses, among
other things, had the Red Sea and a desert to cross.
        b) Perhaps you had your own Red Seas to contend with, like
sickness, stormy financial times, problems with family or other people.
        c) But look at the past.  Humbly thank God for being with you.
And now, moving from Moses to Joshua, let’s go on to
II  LIVE IN THE PRESENT. (Josh. 1:1-5; 24:23-24; Heb. 11:30)
    1. Joshua had God’s promise. (1:1-4)
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said
to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:  “Moses my servant is dead.
Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan
River into the land I am about to give to them - to the Israelites.  I
will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised
Moses.  Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon,
and from the great river, the Euphrates - all the Hittite country -
to the Great Sea on the west.” 
        a) Living in the present would not be easy for Joshua.
        b) But he had God’s promise that God would be with him.
    2. We have the same promise from God. (1:5)
“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your
life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave
you nor forsake you.”
        a) The promise is not that life in the present will always be easy.
        b) But it is the promise that God will never leave or forsake us.
    3. May we live in the present keeping our promise. (24:23-24)
“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are
among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God
and obey him.”
        a) Israel made this promise.  But Israel failed again and again.
        b) We have made this promise too - think of your confirmation
ceremony.  But often we fail too, don’t we.  That is why we daily need
our God’s grace and forgiving love, the comforting assurance of the
Lord’s Supper that Jesus died that we might be forgiven and live.
    4. Live in the present confident in God’s promise. (Heb. 11:30)
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched
around them for seven days.
        a) The future was still ahead for Israel, but they could be
confident that God would keep His promises.  And He did.
        b) Now for us in the present, we have God’s promises too.
        c) And what we should do is remember that as God kept His
promises to Moses and Joshua, so He is with us as we live in the
present, and as every passing second becomes the future.
III  AWAIT WHAT IS ETERNAL.  (Hebrews 4:8; 11:13-16; 2 Cor.
    1. No earthly home is our real home.  (Heb. 4:8)            /4:16-18)
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken
later about another day.  There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for
the people of God.
        a) So was it for Israel.  That geographical land wasn’t and isn’t it.
        b) And so it is with us.  I have lived in homes in 2 countries, in 2
states, and in 5 cities.  But none has been or is my real home.
    2. We don’t live hanging on to 2012. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did
not receive the things promised; they only saw them and
welcomed them from a distance.  And they admitted that they
were aliens and strangers on earth.  People who say such things
show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had
been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had
opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better
country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
        a) Israel didn’t go back to Egypt, and we can’t go back to 2012
or any other year that we considered better than what we have had.
        b) Looking ahead, God has prepared something far better,
something that required what we celebrated in Christmas and will again
celebrate on Good Friday and Easter.  Jesus, God’s eternal Son, took
on Himself a body, flesh and blood like ours, so that He could die an
innocent death in place of all of us sinners to pay the wages of our sins,
and then to arise from the dead to prove His victory and His promise
of being our Resurrection and our Life.
    3. So let us live not getting discouraged. (2 Cor. 4:16-17)   
Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting
away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our
light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all. 
        a) Yes, trouble and aches and pains may well increase.
        b) But don’t ever forget about the eternal glory our Savior has
won for us, a glory that far outweighs any problems or difficulties we
may have had or may have to deal with in 2013 or later.
    4. Live now anticipating God’s promised future.  (2  Cor. 4:18)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For
what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
        a) Look at the past, and learn from it.
        b) Live in the present, knowing God will never forsake His own.
        c) And await what His eternal love has prepared for us.

    Moving on to the end of this sermon now, we know that this
evening we’ll hear many people say to us, “Happy New Year!”
    Isn’t it wonderful to know that one day, because of Jesus our
Savior, we’ll hear God saying to us, “Happy Eternal Glory!”
    Meanwhile, as we move on from 2012 into 2013, may we always
remember that our God will never leave us or forsake us.        
           


St. Jacobi Evangelical Lutheran Church
8605 W. Forest Home Ave.
Greenfield, Wisconsin 53228
www.stjacobi.org

NEW YEAR’S EVE SERVICE
December 31, 2012               Monday               4:00 & 6:00 P.M.
MOVING ON
























Church Phone 414 425-3030                    Timothy J. Spaude, Pastor 414 425-8601
School Phone 414 425-2040           Richard A. Waldschmidt, Pastor 414 425-1485
David Hackmann, Principal  414 529-0214    Paul G. Eckert, Pastor 414 425-4649

WELCOME TO ALL!

Opening Order of  Service
    Hymnal Pages 52-53 and 55-56

Hymn 69:1-5   -----------------  “Across The Sky The Shades Of Night”

Scripture reading - Deuteronomy  34:1-9
     Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the
top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the
whole land - from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of
Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western
sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the
City of Palms, as far as Zoar.  Then the LORD said to him, “This is the
land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I
will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes,
but you will not cross over into it.”
     And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the
LORD had said.  He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth
Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.  Moses was a
hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not
weak nor his strength gone.  The Israelites grieved for Moses in the
plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was
over.
     Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom
because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to
him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

Hymn 71:1-6   -----------------  “The Old Year Now Has Passed Away”

Sermon Text - Hebrews 11:24-30  (and other Scripture portions)
     By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the
son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along with the
people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the
treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.  By
faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because
he saw him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover and the
sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not
touch the firstborn of Israel.  By faith the people passed through the
Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they
were drowned.  By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had
marched around them for seven days.
MOVING ON
I    LOOK AT THE PAST 
II  LIVE IN THE PRESENT 
III  AWAIT WHAT IS ETERNAL 

Our Offerings to praise and serve our eternal God.
    (During this time please fill in the Friendship Register.)

Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer  - “Our Father in heaven ---”

Confession - spoken together - Hymn 302:1 and 4
    “Lord, To You I Make Confession ---”
    “Lord, On You I Cast My Burden ---”

Absolution

Continuing Order of  Service
    Hymnal  Pages 35-37

Hymns  during distribution of the Lord’s Supper  -  441,  588 

Closing Hymn 73:1 and 4  -------------  “To God The Anthem Raising”

Other Scripture portions referred to in the sermon.
Joshua 1:1-5 and 24:23-24
    After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said
to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now
then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into
the land I am about to give to them - to the Israelites.  I will give you
every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.  Your
territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great
river, the Euphrates - all the Hittite country - to the Great Sea on the
west.  No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your
life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you
nor forsake you.”
    “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are
among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and
obey him.”

Hebrew 4:8 and 11:13-16
    For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later
about another day.  There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people
of God.
    All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did
not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed
them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and
strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are
looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the
country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has
prepared a city for them.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
    Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting
away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light
and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal.

(All Scripture quotations are from the NIV which is in our pew rack.)

Some Announcements 
     Our regular schedule of services is Saturdays at 5:00 P.M., Sundays
at 8:15 and 10:45 A.M. and Mondays at 7:00 P.M.  We welcome all! 
     We thank our organist, Mr. Ralph Engelhardt, the ushers, the
worshipers - all who are in any way involved in praising our Lord and
Savior.  Visitors, please join us in worship again.