September 2-4, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Romans 8:18-25 (EHV) “IT’S ALL WORTH IT!”

 

PENTECOST

September 2-4, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Romans 8:18-25 (EHV)

 

“IT’S ALL WORTH IT!”

1.     Suffering

2.     Groaning

3.     Waiting

 

          Is it worth it? Sometimes the answer is yes. On a recent vacation my daughter and I were hiking to see some waterfalls. The hike was getting long. No waterfalls. We met some people coming back. “Is it worth it?” we asked. “Oh yes, you will not be disappointed,” was the response. And we were not. The beautiful falls God created were worth the sore feet and temporary shortness of breath. Sometimes the answer is No. Is it worth it? One more drink and a drunk driving ticket. No, that’s not worth it. The word of God we are looking at comes from Romans chapter 8. I hope all of you have that bookmarked in your Bibles. It is filled with comfort and encouragement for all seasons of life. This section hits head on the truth that life is not always easy for followers of Christ. We experience suffering, groaning, waiting. So, is it worth it? Is it worth to pick up your cross and follow Christ?

          Is the suffering worth it? The Apostle Paul wrote this. “For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. ¹⁹In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope ²¹that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” For the followers of Christ life is filled with sufferings. We have the hurts, heartaches and problems common to all people living in the sin filled world. Following Christ does not give you immunity to cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons. It does not give you a get out of sickness free card or guarantee no broken bones, or broken relationships. Our world is ruined by sin. Our bodies are ruined by sin. We will have those sufferings and the extra suffering that comes with the hurt when we don’t understand why God allows certain things. Following Christ does not divorce proof your marriage or make your kids act like angels. It does not protect you from mean girls in high school. We are sinners living with sinners and some sins other people do hurt us, deeply, and the hurt can hurt more as you understand God could end those hurts, but He doesn’t. Deliberately following Christ in your life brings more suffering. We get extra when the society you live in is not Christian In case you have not noticed our society is turning more and more anti-Christian. Every sin is to be welcomed and tolerated but calling something God says is wrong sinful, well now, we can’t tolerate that. Watch the way the media treats churches, schools, individuals who make moral stand based on what God says. Sufferings are coming. Followers of Christ also feel the angst of the personal struggles against our own sin. Guilt and shame are not fun. The unbeliever does not have that. We do. Suffering. Is it worth it?

          Groaning. Is it worth it? “For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. ²³And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” Here and in the previous section Paul reminded us we are not alone in suffering, groaning and waiting. He pictured the rest of Creation like a person. Creation suffers because it does not work like it’s supposed to. God’s original plan for creation was never to let it be destructive with winds whipping fires and hurricanes and viruses making people sick. Just like we don’t like the sin that comes from us, Creation doesn’t like being destructive. And it groans. “No, not again! This is not what God created me to do! When will it end?” We groan too. Now there are different kinds of groaning we do. “All right students, tomorrow we will have test.” Groan! “Yes, you can play your video game, after you clean your room.” Groan! If you’ve ever heard a Mr. Kasten dad joke. Groan! That’s not the groaning we have to do as believers. Kids on bikes in hit and run accidents. Another senseless shooting. Dirty politicians getting away with it. Another hit to the family finances. Loved ones dying too soon. People who want to go to heaven hanging on. Another drug overdose. God blasphemed and kicked out of our nation and God does nothing about it. We groan. How long O Lord? Is it worth it?

          And then there is the waiting.  “Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.” “The waiting is the hardest part,” an old rocker crooned in a song that probably is not about something good. But in many ways, he’s right. Waiting is hard. You wait when something is out of your control. You wait when there is nothing that you can do to change the situation. Think of waiting for Christmas when you are kid, a medical test result for an adult. It’s all out of your hands meaning it is in God’s hands which we know is a good thing but…there’s a little Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in all of us. “I want it and I want it now!” But God says wait. There will be justice. When? Wait. Those who make your lives miserable for following me will pay. When? Wait. Your broken heart will stop hurting. I will give you peace. When? Wait. Your body will work the way it’s supposed to. When? Wait. Satan won’t get away with it. Evil will not triumph. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. When? Wait. All of this waiting for what we do not have and do not see. Is it worth it?

          Snowflakes. Might seem an odd thing to mention in the midst of a hot sunny weekend and on the heels or a hotter more humid one. But I’m not talking about the snowflakes that fall from the sky and we want at least for Christmas! In modern usage calling someone a snowflake means they are overly sensitive and will melt when the heat is on. Satan wants you to be a spiritual snowflake. He wants you to look at your sufferings that God could take away and does not melt your love for God. Satan wants you to let your groaning at the unfairness of it all and your community and country turning its back on God and you and God does nothing about it, to melt in your faith, to give up, be hopeless and ultimately turn against your God who loves you. But God’s Good News for you is you are no snowflake. You are not going to give up because you know the suffering, the groaning, the waiting, it’s all worth it!

How do we know? We keep our eyes on Jesus. In the book of Hebrews we are told to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who “…for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame.” (Hebrews 12:2) Suffering. Groaning. Waiting. That’s Jesus on the cross paying for our sin. If ever someone would be justified in giving up, giving in to the Devil’s temptation to take the easy way out. But He didn’t. It was worth it to Him. Joy was set before Him, the joy of winning us for God, the joy of having us with Him in heaven. It was all worth it to Him to have you. And that’s why we consider our suffering and groaning and waiting worth it. Glory is coming! “For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” Creation is looking  “to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Twice Paul reminded us we are “eagerly waiting.” Heaven. It’s better than a waterfall. It’s better than a baby. It’s better than we can imagine. Just take the happiest you have felt, the best you have physically felt, the closest to God you have ever felt multiply it times a billion and you are far short of how great it will be. The Lord Jesus will make everything new. A new heaven and a new earth. New relationships and new bodies. And the Devil thinks were going to snowflake on that? No. Whatever we have to put up with to faithfully follow Christ, it’s all worth it! Because He is. Amen.

 

 

August 12-14, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18 “ONWARD!”

 

PENTECOST 11

August 12-14, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18

 

“ONWARD!”

1.     We have God’s power.

2.     We have a mission.

3.     We have each other.

 

          There are these times in you’re your life when you just feel like giving up. Sometimes it’s because of our own sin and the mess we have made of our lives. Sometimes you can do everything right and it still turns out wrong. You feel defeated, like giving up. As you heard earlier in the reading from 1 Kings, God’s prophet Elijah found himself at one of those moments. If you don’t like our nation’s leaders do a little Bible reading on Ahab and Jezebel. Wicked. Evil. Conniving. Lying. Only looking out for themselves. Enemies of God who tried to wipe out all believers. God stepped in. There was this great showdown between the prophet Elijah representing the one true God and 450 prophets of the idol Baal. You have to read it for yourself in 1 Kings 18! God and Elijah made fools of the prophets of Baal and God revealed Himself to all the people there as the one true God so that all the people turned to God, rose up and killed all the prophets of Baal. “Ah!” thought Elijah. “This will be the turning point. The nation will return to God. But they didn’t. Soon after wicked Queen Jezebel heard what happened Elijah was running for his life. He fled Israel and ran to where the nation of Israel began, Mt. Sinai. That’s where the Old Testament lesson began. Elijah, down and discouraged, hiding in a cave. He was done.

          But as you heard, God did not leave him there. God came to Elijah in the cave and asked, “Why are you here, Elijah?” That’s a good question, that we will come back to. Elijah responded. “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Armies, but the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life.”   Elijah was done. He couldn’t go on. Or so he thought.  Elijah wasn’t done. He needed to go onward. So God picked him up. He had Elijah stand at the mouth of the cave. First came a powerful gale force wind and if you have ever seen the aftermath of a tornado, hurricane or straight line wind you know it’s power. Then came an earthquake. Again, been in one or seen the aftermath, power. Was the fire that God used next like the fire He used to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Again power. But not God’s real power to build up or tear down. That came next. A soft whispering voice, the power of God He has placed in His word. It would accomplish the destruction of God’s enemies and the saving of His people. Elijah was not done. He had God’s power in His word. Elijah would use that word to accomplish the work God gave him. “Then the Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came and go to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you get there, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. ¹⁶You will also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah as prophet in your place. ¹⁷Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.” If we go back to our map you can see God told Elijah to go back the way he came and then some. All the way to Aram or Syria. Why? He had work to do. Two kings and one prophet to anoint or set aside for service to God. They would bring God’s punishment on the people who needed it. Elijah couldn’t be done. He had a mission. He needed to go onward. And despite how he felt, Elijah was not alone.  “But I have preserved in Israel seven thousand whose knees have not bent to Baal and whose lips have not kissed him.” It’s a classic mistake, judging by what you see with your eyes rather than what God says. Elijah felt alone. But he was never alone. God was with him and God had provided others. Elijah’s eyes saw no one. In fact there were over 7000 faithful believers just like Elijah. Elijah needed to go onward because he had God’s power, he had a mission and he had other workers and people to help him.

          And the same thing is true for you and me. Can you relate to how the prophet Elijah felt? If not now, at some time in your past? Lord. I’ve done my best. I’ve tried to save my marriage, I did all I could to raise my children to love you. I worked hard for this company. As a church we’ve stayed faithful to your word. But…the marriage has failed, the kids don’t care, I’m the one let go, the nation’s gone to pot. I’m done. I’m done fighting. I’m done dealing with it. I’m done. I’m going to crawl into that cave I call my home, mind my own business and whatever happens, happens. I’m done. I’m done trying, I’m done being the only one working at it. Feelings like that are normal for sinful human beings who whose eyes are on themselves instead of their God. Because we are weak that happens. And it actually is true that by ourselves we are helpless, helpless to save ourselves for sure and honestly helpless to change people around us. But we are not by ourselves. As God graciously came to Elijah in the cave He comes to us today in His word. “Buck up little trooper! With whatever I have asked you to deal with, Onward! Keep going.” Why?

          We have God’s power. Our earthly eyes and a part of our frustrated self wants God to show His power in destructive force that everyone can see. Send some fire and brimstone on Washington DC! Clean up that mess. Drown the drug dealers in the depths of Lake Michigan. God has the power to do that and more. His real power He has placed in His word. This is the power to save souls eternally and to destroy them. This is the only source of the message of free salvation through Jesus Christ to all who believe. It powerfully cleanses away sins and snatches souls from the Devil and saves them for an eternal life of joy and happiness with Jesus. This is the power to destroy. Drowning in Lake Michigan or death by brimstone is nothing compared to what happens to those who persistently reject and despise Jesus as Savior. We have God’s power. We can’t give up on our families, our community, our nation. Onward.

          Onward because we have a mission. “Why are you here, Elijah?” Remember that question? God asked it twice to help him think. Why are you hunkered down in this cave when I have work for you to do? “Why am I here?” is a good question for each of us to ask ourselves. Right now, the answer is to praise God and be strengthened and encouraged by His word. But there’s a bigger answer. Why did God choose you for His kingdom? Why does He have you living here and now? Why are you retired or doing the job you are? It goes to the important question of meaning and purpose in life. We have a mission, from Christ Jesus Himself. It’s to be His witnesses. Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone is the marching orders for all of Christ’s church. Onward with the Gospel in the greater Greenfield community is the specific one for you and me. The reason you are in your job you are at or retired is to be a blessing to the people God brings into your life. Help them. Do good. Do your job well and then be ready when they ask you for the hope that you have. The purpose of St. Jacobi church is not to be a cave for us to crawl in once a week to lick our wounds because our society is not going the way we want to, it’s a gathering together of people zealous for Christ knowing we can do a lot better job of proclaiming Christ together than alone. The reason we have our school is not so that our kids don’t have to go to a school with transgender bathrooms and litter boxes for the furries but so we can teach children who are so precious to Jesus just how much He loves them so they believe and are saved. And the Devil wants us to give up? Crawl in a hole? Throw ourselves a pity party? No way! Onward. We have mission from the Lord Jesus Himself.

          And we have each other. Poor Elijah had to just trust God’s word there were 7000 fellow believers left. We don’t have to do that. We can look around. If in person worship is your regular weekly practice, keep it up. It’s good to see and be seen. If it’s not it needs to be if at all physically possible. God has given us to each other to encourage one another. I wish all of you could be aware like we pastors are of how much is getting done by all of us working together. Your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your time, your sweat. (Today we also are happy to welcome new called workers God has given us, people who will use the power of God’s Word for the mission of Christ with us. None of you are new to the congregation, Mandy, thanks for accepting additional duties, Katrina and family, pardon the interruption of your regularly scheduled programming. We appreciate the sacrifice. TJ, the last time you were here was as student teacher, so overwhelmed and nervous you were hoping you wouldn’t wet you pants. Now you are here as veteran teacher so you shouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. Like Elijah anointed Hazael, Jehu and Elisha, the Holy Spirit has anointed you three to come help us. You are a part of the “each other” of Jacobi so that you can be a blessing to us and we can be a blessing to you.) Give up? Stay silent about our Savior? Stop reaching out? Close our school? No way! Onward, with God’s power, carrying out His mission with each other. Amen!

 

July 22-24, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Matthew 13:24-30. 36-43 (EHV) “WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE WEEDS?”

 

PENECOST 8

July 22-24, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Matthew 13:24-30. 36-43 (EHV)

 

“WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE WEEDS?”

1.     Live with them.

2.     Live differently than them.

3.     Live without them.    

 

          It’s a familiar problem for Wisconsinites. Weeds. You know how it goes. You plant your garden or put your flowers in after Mother’s Day so you are safe from frost. Everything is nice and neat. You tend the garden early on and then get the chance go on vacation. You come back. Weeds! Everywhere. You didn’t plant them. You do want them gone. Options. Pull them by hand. A lot of work. Spray Roundup or use a homemade flamethrower. Effective but collateral damage. What do you do with the weeds? Jesus uses that all too common picture to teach us some lessons we need for our spiritual life. We are in a section of the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus tells 7 parables to teach about life as a believer. Three deal with the growth of God’s kingdom in a believer’s heart. Four deal with how God’s kingdom works in the world. This is one of those.

 

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (EHV) “He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶When the plants sprouted and produced heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. ²⁷The servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather up the weeds?’ ²⁹‘No,’ he answered, ‘because when you gather up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the weeds, bind them in bundles, and burn them. Then, gather the wheat into my barn….³⁶Then Jesus sent the people away and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” ³⁷He answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the Evil One. ³⁹The enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are angels. ⁴⁰Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the world. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and those who continue to break the law. ⁴²The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

          This parable is not hard to understand since Jesus plainly explains it to us. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has sprinkled this world with believers, the sons of the kingdom. His enemy and ours, the Devil, has worked very hard to fill this world with unbelievers. It is important to take note that if you are not a believer in Jesus then you are a son of the Evil one for the worst form of evil is to reject the kindness and love of God in punishing His Son for sins instead of the sinners. There is no middle ground. There are weeds and wheat. At the same time it is not always easy to tell a believer apart from an unbeliever. Here is a picture of what Jesus’ disciples thought of listening to the parable. Very hard to tell apart until they start bearing fruit. Sometimes weeds can look like wheat. And sometimes wheat can look like weeds. Sometimes believers can look and act like unbelievers and unbelievers can look and act like believers. Weeds and wheat. What do you do with all the weeds?

          Three things Jesus’ parable teaches us. One. Live with them. Jesus’ parable exposes the idolatry that lives in our hearts. We really have a hard time letting God be God. We inwardly give our approval when He does things the way we want and when He doesn’t? We chafe. We question. We feel disappointment. Specifically this parable exposes how our impatience with God’s timing is idolatry. “God, didn’t you want a perfect world, or at least just one with all believers in it? Look at all the weeds. Why do you put up with them? They make our life more difficult. When are you going to do something about them? Or maybe we should.” At least the angel harvesters had the divine decency to ask permission of God. Should we go pull them up? Should we get rid of all the unbelievers? But why does God want us living with the unbelievers? Why does He let them remain? Why is He so patient with them? He doesn’t want to lose anyone who will be saved. Some people are weeds and will remain weeds. They have confirmed themselves in their evil rejection of God. Some people who look like weeds now, maybe choosing lifestyles that are detestable to God, will repent and be saved. God doesn’t want to lose them. Not too long ago I was having a conversation with someone you connected me to by handing out one of my pastor trading cards. This person asked a question that has really had me thinking. “When we get to heaven do you think we will be more surprised about who is there that we thought would not be or who isn’t there that we thought would be?” At Jesus’ time everyone thought the Pharisees and the teachers of the law would be in heaven but they are not. They thought the tax collectors and ‘sinners” were beyond redemption but they weren’t. Some believed and were saved. Makes you think. What do we do with the weeds? Live with them. It is the Father’s will.

          Live differently from them. That too is our Father’s will. After all we are wheat and not weeds. When a man sows good seed he does so with the expectation there will be a harvest. When God grants the gift of faith He expects there will be fruits of faith. While on the outside you may not be able to tell a believer and an unbeliever apart just by looking at them they are different. Faith in Christ brings repentance along with it. Repentance is a change of heart on the inside that brings changes on the outside. Believers want what Jesus wants. Believers want to please Him in their thoughts words and actions. So as we continue to live with the weeds we can’t just be upset by them and complain about what they are doing. We have to check ourselves. Are we living differently than the weeds? God has us right where He wants us so that by actions and then words we can draw unbelievers to Him. For that to happen our way of talking, handling problems, dealing with people needs to be markedly different than the unbelievers. What do you do with all the weeds? Live differently than them.

          And then finally live without them. Listen again to the end of Jesus’ explanation. ⁴⁰Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the world. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and those who continue to break the law. ⁴²The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.” Despite the way that many Americans like to try to create God in their own image and so paint God as some smiling senile doting grandfather who never gets upset or punishes anyone God is a God of justice as well as grace and mercy. He has decreed that those who reject Him as the one true God and specifically these days, those who reject His Son Jesus as Savior, there is one eternal fate. Hell. Described here as a fiery furnace where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is Good News! Why? It’s there to help us with our impatience. It’s there to keep us from vengeful thoughts. It’s there to stop us from trying to step into God’s shoes. Let the weeds be weeds until God says it’s time to take care of them. And He will take care of them.

          A world without weeds! Can you imagine coming home from a vacation and finding no weeds in your gardens? Nothing messing up your pretty rows? Nothing choking out your pretty flowers? That day is coming. There are no weeds of any kind in heaven. Until that time it is best for the wheat to be more concerned about how we are doing our job, than how God is doing His. Amen.

 

July 8-10, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Matthew 11:25-30 (EHV) “JESUS MAKES IT EASY!”

 

PENTECOST 6

July 8-10, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Matthew 11:25-30 (EHV)

 

“JESUS MAKES IT EASY!”

1.     To know the truth.

2.     To bear life’s burdens.

 

          Some people make it look easy. Like taking off from the top of the key to dunk a basketball. Giannis makes it look easy, but it is not easy. I’ve tried it. Doesn’t work. Not easy. Or accomplished musicians. Watch an accomplished pianist work the ivories, hand over hand, so fast you get lost in the motion, beautiful music. They make it look easy. But it’s not easy. Then there are some folks who actually make it easy. Try to do a home or auto fix. You try what makes sense. Impossible. But ask a DIYer or auto mechanic who knows the tricks, go to youtube and watch someone do the fix the right way and hey, that was easy. Our Lord Jesus comes to us today in His word and makes some difficult things easy for us.

          Like knowing the truth. People struggle with that. At this time in history when so much information can easily be spread so quickly and so far whether it is true or not, that’s a problem. There’s news, fake news, real news with a spin. Everybody seems to have an agenda. How do you know what’s true? It spills over into what’s really important, God’s truth. So many different world religions, how do you know your religion is the right one? So many different Christian churches, how do you know your church’s teaching are correct? This is not new. At Jesus’ time there were all kinds of religions. At Jesus’ time the Jewish pastors were teaching many different things. So Jesus made it easy.

          “At that time, Jesus continued, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from clever and learned people and have revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, because this was pleasing to you. ²⁷ Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him.” Did you hear that? Jesus makes it easy to know the truth. Refuse to act like clever and learned people and be like a child. He’s talking about what God has revealed in the Bible. Specifically the truth that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one, no one comes to the Father except through Him. The clever and learned Pharisees read their Bibles and got so full of their own smarts that they could not see the simple message of sinners in need of a Savior . They didn’t know that truth when they were staring at Him! But Simeon, Anna, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha and Lazarus did know they truth. They were childlike in their faith and to them God reveals the truth. Not to the wise and learned.

          Nothing new under the sun, friends. The Devil can’t undo what Jesus has done for all so he tries to confuse people on the truth. He works through people. So many mainline Christian denominations have their wise and learned pastors reading their Bibles and saying Jesus is one of many ways to heaven, not the only way, despite what the Bible plainly says. And I’ve had all I can stand and I can’t stand no more of the fake Lutheran church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. I am not saying this is true of all their people but the church body is not Lutheran. It is fake Lutheran. It does not hold to the Lutheran pillars of grace alone, faith alone and Scripture alone. Don’t do this before you eat or after you eat or you will lose your appetite or your lunch but look up the Sparkle Creed used in a fake Lutheran church in Minnesota, you will see what I mean. So clever and learned and blasphemous. Be on your guard when you hear people say, “We have better scholarship now, the words don’t mean what they say. Marriage isn’t just between a man and a woman. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not same sex sex but a lack of hospitality toward strangers. Abortion is not specifically prohibited so it is permitted. We are wiser, more clever and more learned, let us tell you what God meant to say or should have said.” Blasphemy. Arrogance. As though only 21^st century Americans are the  ones smart enough to really know what God has revealed and all the rest of the people for the past 2000 years our holy loving God let down. Brothers and sisters, you must reject every inroad of that kind of thinking. It is Satan trying to obscure Bible truth so he can hide the Truth of Jesus as only Savior. You young people here today, be strong. I know you are getting bombarded by social media and pressured by your peers but you are the ones people in our country need. You will keep proclaiming God’s truth so that people can be saved and so you can continue to do that Jesus has made it easy for you. Don’t listen to all the wise and clever Bible twisting arguments. Be a child when you read and listen to Scripture. God says what He means and means what He says. That’s easy. Jesus did that for you.

          Jesus also makes it easy to bear life’s burdens. And life has burdens. There are the burdens of sickness, disease and body parts wearing down. The burdens of broken family relationships. The burdens of deaths of our loved ones, especially when they are too young by our standards. The burdens of hopes unfulfilled. The burdens of disappointments that may last a lifetime. The burdens of real or perceived economic or workplace unfairness. Everyone has those.  And for those who know the truth there come more burdens. For followers of Christ who take His words seriously and want to live, talk, breathe in a way that honors Him there are the burdens of sin, the frustrating inability to get it right no matter how hard you try that Paul verbalized, the guilt, the shame. For followers of Christ who know God is all powerful and in control there is the burden of impatience and perceived unfairness from the hand of God. How long O Lord until you make things right? How long until evil is revealed for what it is? How long until the desire of my heart is fulfilled? Why do you let the wicked thrive and your people languish? Burdens! Our Lord Jesus knows, cares and makes our burden bearing easy.

 “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Now, don’t misunderstand me. The burdens we carry in a sinful world are burdens. And Jesus makes no promise to take them away. He promises to make bearing them easy by giving us His strength to carry them. “Come to me,” says your Lord Jesus. This is an invitation to bear burdens His way. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” For all of us non ranchers, the yoke is a device that connects two animals. Normally one strong and experienced with a younger weaker animal. By yoking them together the younger, smaller learns from the older stronger and is often carried along by the older’s strength. “Be yoked with me,” offers Jesus. “You don’t have to fix these burdens, I will. You rest. I know you can’t get it right. I did that for you. You have my righteousness and I’ve already taken your sin. You have the Father’s unconditional love.” Look at me!” says Jesus. “There were times the Father let me struggle, there were times, He made me wait, there was that time at the end when He said No to what I asked. But everything had a plan and a good purpose. And in the end the Father makes it right. So rest and wait, you’ll see. Yes, I know your body hurts right now. I know it does not work right. Just wait until you have your resurrection body! Come to me daily with those problems and my strength will carry you. Let go of having it your way and trust mine and those burdens will feel lighter and lighter until they are gone.

And they will be gone. All of them. Jesus’ words not only provide needed hope for this life but also have us looking forward to that day when we will have perfect rest from every burden and every struggle. Sin will be gone for good. We will not chafe because we don’t understand God’s wise whys of dealing with us or others. Jesus will make everything new! He keeps our eyes on our heavenly goal. And there again Jesus makes something that is so difficult, it is impossible for people, easy. For when it comes to getting to heaven it all depends on Him. His life, His death, His resurrection, for you. Amen.

 

 

 

June 17-19, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Matthew 9:35-38 “LOOK!!”

 

PENTECOST 3

June 17-19, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Matthew 9:35-38

 

“LOOK!!”

1.     Look around!

2.     Look up!

3.     Look out!

 

Matthew 9:35-38 (EHV) “Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into his harvest.”

 

          What do an officer from the Southern California Humane Society, Jesus and St. Jacobi members have in common? More than you might think! According to a newspaper report a while back officer Tori Matthews of the Southern California Humane Society got an emergency call one day. A boy’s pet iguana had been chased up a tree by a neighbor’s dog. It had then fallen from the tree into a swimming pool where it sank like a brick. Officer Matthews came with net in hand, dove into the pool and seconds later emerged with the iguana’s limp body. She promptly began mouth to mouth resuscitation. As she later told the reporter, “I thought, well, you do CPR on a person and a dog, why not an iguana? Now that I look back on it,” she said, “it was a pretty disgusting animal to be kissing but the last thing I wanted to do was go back to that little boy and tell him his pet had died.”

          You see when Tori Matthews looked at that iguana she didn’t see a water logged lizard, she saw a little boy’s beloved pet. She did what she had to do to keep it from dying. That’s what Tori Matthews has in common with Jesus. You heard from Matthew’s Gospel how when Jesus looked around He didn’t see a bunch of disgusting sinners. He saw people who were loved by God and that moved Him to do what He needed to do to keep them from dying eternally in Hell. And that’s also what you and I have in common with Jesus. When we look at the people around us, we also see human beings who are loved by God.

          Now with the way our country is going that is getting harder and harder to do, isn’t it? Let’s look to Jesus for help. Jesus was in the part of Israel known as Galilee. Matthew tell us, " Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.” Jesus saw people who needed Him. That’s who He had come for and that’s who He ministered to. But what did Jesus see when He saw people?

          Even though we aren’t specifically told we know what He would have seen because nothing has really changed in this world we live in, at least when you are talking about people. Jesus would have seen people whose lives were a mess because of sin’s presence in their world and their own sinfulness. He would have seen people who abused alcohol, who sold themselves as prostitutes or to prostitutes. He would have seen people who abused their spouses and neglected their children. He would have seen people whose greed, pride and hatred spilled from their mouths and showed in their actions. He would have seen people who did these things even though they knew better.

          As the sinless Son of God, the One whom the Father has appointed to be the Judge of all people you would think His holy blood must have boiled when He looked around at those people who were living in rebellion against God. You could just imagine Jesus with his hands over the red destruction button ready to put an end to the sin with His righteous Judgement. You would think He would look around at those people and say, “If you want to live separate from God then so be it, forever, in Hell.” That is what they deserved.

          But what did Jesus see when He looked around? “When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus didn’t just see sinners. He saw sinners who needed a Savior. He didn’t just see people who were running away from God. He saw people who needed to be led to God. He didn’t see enemies of God but victims of God’s Enemy, the Devil. He didn’t see creatures that were disgusting to Him, He saw creatures dearly loved by the Father and the last thing He wanted to do was to tell His Father they were dead. Jesus had compassion on them.

          What do you see when you look around? I’m not talking about the people here. I’m talking about the people you work with, that you see on the news. What do you see when you look around? It’s not hard to see people who don’t know God or even care. It’s not hard to see disgusting people you really don’t want anything to do with. This is to be expected. This is what the Bible prophesied about our times. (2 Timothy 3:2-5 EHV)  "For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, not able to reconcile with others, slanderous, without self-control, savage, haters of what is good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, puffed up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to an outward form of godliness but denying its power."

          It’s not hard to see people like that when you look around, is it? It is hard to see them the way Jesus saw them. There is a remedy for that though. Before you look around at others, look at yourself. In the mirror. Not the mirror hanging in your bathroom. Try the mirror of God’s law. If you take a good hard honest look, you will see a person “who loves him or herself, loves money, is proud and abusive, has been disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unloving and unforgiving.” And still Jesus had compassion on us. Compassion that led Him to do not to something simple like kissing an iguana, but to something most unimaginable and least desirable—death on the cross with the full burden of everyone’s sins on Him.

          The compassion that Jesus had moved Him to action. Knowing full well what He would do for the sins of the world Jesus turned toward His disciples and said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” In other words, “I’ve paid for the sins of all people. How few there are that are willing to tell them!” Imagine being one of the 12 disciples called to be witnesses for Jesus looking at all those people. 12 disciples for an estimated world population of 300 million at the time. Kind of like 1200 souls at St. Jacobi for an estimated world population of 8 billion right now.

          What a daunting task for them and us, to tell that many people! It’s no wonder Jesus told these men to look the only place they could find help. Up. “Look up!” Jesus said to those who would be His witnesses. “Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into his harvest.” Pray. It can be intimidating  to look at all people and see them as troubled and downcast sheep rather than ugly iguanas you want gone. It can be intimidating to look at all the people who need to know Jesus save them. What a monumental task! How can we do it? It starts with prayer. We can’t do it on our own. God can. Prayer works. Pray for people to be witnesses.

          Do you think God will answer that prayer? Will He really provide the workers needed for such a great harvest? Immediately after telling the disciples to pray, do you know what Jesus did? He sent the prayers out. These 12 men were the answers to their own prayers. They were the workers they asked for. That’s why I say to you look out! Look out because you also are the answer to your own prayer for God to provide workers for His harvest. You are His witnesses. Some of you boys need to seriously think about becoming WELS pastors and some of you boys and girls need to think seriously about becoming WELS teachers. However, the privilege and responsibility for telling others that only Jesus saves is not reserved for workers called into the public ministry. It belongs to everyone who has experienced God’s grace and compassion. It belongs to everyone who received God’s grace in Baptism. It belongs to everyone who knows and appreciates what it means that God says you are forgiven for the sake of His Son Jesus. Look out when you pray for more witnesses for you are the answer.

          Brothers and sisters, I suspect that if present trends continue we will find ourselves wishing that it was iguanas that God placed before us instead of people. People are messy and getting messier. Some are following lifestyles and ways of dressing that make us sick to our stomachs rather than filled with compassion. But remember, the real enemy does not have skin on. Until you know that a person is a willing servant to the Devil it is better to view them as troubled and downcast and spiritually abused. Someone you don’t want to tell the Father he has lost. So be nice. Be respectful. If God has placed them before you, He may have picked you to be an answer to prayer. So look. Look around, look up, look out and always, always, look at Jesus. Amen.

PENTECOST May 27-29, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 Corinthians 12:3-11 “THANK THE SPIRIT!

 

PENTECOST

May 27-29, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:3-11

 

“THANK THE SPIRIT!

1.     For giving us faith.

2.     For giving us gifts to live our faith.

 

          Thank the Lord! Thank God! I think you can all recognize those phrases. Maybe you have heard them. Maybe you have said them. Hopefully, always as a prayer. Those phrases developed in human language at a time when people were much more mindful of their reliance on God’s blessings than they are today. People said, “Thank the Lord!” or “Thank God!” and meant it. Gradually over time those phrases became too common and did not flow from faith. Oftentimes today they really just serve as exclamation points, but not from us. You and I do know how totally dependent on God’s goodness we are so we can rightfully say, “Thank the Lord!” and “Thank God!” to all kinds of recognized blessings. You know what I’ve never heard people say? Thank the Spirit! Today we celebrate the Church Festival of Pentecost. In the reading from Acts you heard how the promised and needed blessing of the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles in a special way giving them needed gifts. And He is still with us and blessing us with needed gifts. But just like the 3^rd important celebration of Jesus’ ministry, Ascension, tends to go forgotten by God’s people, so too the 3^rd person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, tends to be forgotten as well. We change that today as God’s words for us lead us to make, “Thank the Spirit!” a regular and meaningful prayer.

          Thank the Spirit for giving us faith. “Therefore I am informing you that no one speaking by God’s Spirit says, “A curse be upon Jesus,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” At the time Paul wrote his first letter to the Christians at Corinth the church at Corinth was a sick church in a sick city. Corinth was that time’s sin city. If you think America is bad, we have a long way to go to sink to the depths of sexual depravity of Corinth. And they were proud of their sexual filth. The church at Corinth was sick in a different way. It was marred by a lack of unity. There were factions and cliques in the congregation. They were immature spiritually. Some were puffed up with their own importance and looked down on those in the congregation with different gifts than they had. Some thought they were more gifted because they deserved to be. They needed a God’s eye view of who they were and how they got there. They needed to thank the Spirit for his gifts to them.

          Most important among those gifts is the ability to believe in Jesus as Savior. The Corinthian Christians had been idol worshipers. But now they were believers in Jesus. How did that happen? The Holy Spirit went to work in their hearts. When the good news that they had a Savior from sin was proclaimed to them the Spirit opened their hearts to believe. They made the confession of faith, “Jesus is Lord.” Why? The Holy Spirit. There is nothing hard to understand about this word of God. No one can say Jesus is their Lord and Savior unless the Holy Spirit enables them. None of the Corinthian Christians were better than the others. None could take credit for being a believer. All need to say, “Thank the Spirit! Thanks for the gift of faith.

You and I can say that too. If you were brought to faith in Christ as a baby through Baptism you likely cannot remember a time when you weren’t saying Jesus is Lord. Those of you brought to faith in Christ later in life can probably remember a time when Jesus meant nothing to you. You may even have used his name as a curse. But not any more. Now you say, “Jesus is Lord,” thanks to the Holy Spirit. What a blessing that is! When is the last time you just pondered the fact that the Holy Spirit’s work in you pulled you out of Hell so that you breathed a sigh of relief at what the Spirit did for you? Or do you like me have to sadly confess that you probably felt more relief that the officer you passed going 10 mph over didn’t pull out after you? Thank the Spirit! Thank the Spirit for giving us faith.

And thank the Spirit for giving us gifts to live our faith. “There are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are different kinds of ministries, and yet the same Lord. ⁶ There are various kinds of activity, but the same God, who produces all of them in everyone.” You noticed the clever connection between different and same. The Spirit gives different gifts. There are different ways of serving the Lord. God works differently in different people. Yet it’s the same God, the Triune God, who is behind it all. He has a single purpose. “Each person is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” The purpose is the common good. When the Spirit gives spiritual gifts it’s so that everyone may benefit. That the common good of doing the Lord’s work may get done. Did you notice something very encouraging in that verse? “Each person is given” the manifestation of the Spirit. Have you ever felt worthless, wondering why God left you here on this earth? Do you feel like you don’t have anything to contribute? Yes you do. God says so. He has given you value and worth. Each one of you have been given gifts so you can live your faith.

          What might some of those gifts be? “To one person a message of wisdom is given by the Spirit; to another, a message of knowledge, as the same Spirit provides it; ⁹ by the same Spirit, faith is given to someone else; and to another, the same Spirit gives healing gifts. ¹⁰Another is given powers to do miracles; another, the gift of prophecy; another, the evaluating of spirits; someone else, different kinds of tongues; and another, the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹One and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them to each one individually as he desires.” This list is by no means exhaustive. Wisdom: spiritual wisdom, the ability to apply God’s Word in a Godly way. Knowledge: having a storehouse ready of what God has said. Faith: the ability to remain calmly trusting in trying times. Healing and miracles: think of the Apostles ability to cure disease and do miracles as a way of authenticating their preaching before the Bible was complete. Prophecy: the boldness to proclaim clearly what God has clearly said. Speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues: how nice to be able to tell people in their own language the great things God has done for them. Remember how the Apostles were given that ability without even studying those languages! We could add others mentioned in Scripture, encouraging, generosity, leadership, administration, witnessing and many, many more. All kinds of gifts given as the Holy Spirit determines for the common good. Thank the Spirit you are using those gifts here at St. Jacobi for the common good of worshipping our Lord, praying for others, of making sure we stay faithful to God’s Word and on task with the mission our Lord Jesus entrusted to us, helping in so many ways for our common proclaiming of God’s word to continue and grow.

But these gifts from the Spirit aren’t just use them at church gifts. They are gifts to use regularly in your homes as you pray daily and devote to God’s word, as you Jesus’ name regularly, but not in vain. As you model and teach those in your sphere of influence, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, friends what a faith in Jesus life looks like.  As you do that and use the gifts the Spirit has given you, you will get opportunities to be the one God will use to connect people to the Holy Spirit so they can say Jesus is Lord and join us in the mansions of heaven some day. Thank the Spirit! Thank the Spirit for all His gifts.

Gift giving can be a little tricky. This weekend I have my daughter’s birthday and with June comes Chris’ birthday month. Yes, you heard right. That’s how she rolls. A birthday month. I’m going to be giving some gifts and that can be a little tricky. You know when you’ve chosen well when the gift is appreciated and you can tell it’s appreciated when it is used. The Holy Spirit has given us the gift of faith which is the golden ticket to heaven. He’s also given each one of us exactly what we need to live our faith so we can fulfill God’s purposes for us and be a blessing to others. He has given us the Word and Sacraments to strengthen and cultivate that faith and those gifts. Best way to thank the Spirit? Use them. Amen.

May 13-15, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Acts 17:22-31 “CONNECT THE DOTS!

 

EASTER

May 13-15, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Acts 17:22-31

 

“CONNECT THE DOTS!

 

          At one point or another we’ve all done them. Dot to dot or connect the dot puzzles. Both in school and at home children of all ages have enjoyed connecting the dots to see what picture was revealed. Sometimes our children’s worship bulletins have them too. Today in God’s words for us we have a verbal dot to dot presented to us by the Apostle Paul. He was on what is known as his Second Missionary Journey. (PICTURE of missionary journey) After he was invited to leave Berea by the Jews who rejected Jesus Paul went to Athens and waited for his missionary companions, Silas and Timothy, to join him there. After visiting the Jewish synagogues in Athens to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah Paul did some sightseeing. Though not as prominent as it had been when Greece controlled the Mediterranean area Athens was still an important city in the Roman Empire. It was considered a center both for worldly wisdom and philosophy and at the same time pagan idol worship. One historian quipped that there were more gods than people in the city of Athens.

          Paul saw this and was distressed. As we ought to be too. Idol worshipping people go to Hell. Paul found a way to talk with these people about what was important. “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. ²³For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’” Paul found some common ground, their natural knowledge of God. “You are religious people. That is a good thing. You are even covering your bases just in case there is a god you missed. Well, there is one, the only one. Let me tell you about Him.”

“Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you. ²⁴“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands. ²⁵Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have. ²⁶From one man, he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live. ²⁷He did this so they would seek God and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” “The God you didn’t know about before this is the Creator. He doesn’t need our worship, but He wants us with Him. No coincidences. God determined when and where you should live so you will know Him. That’s why I’m here.”

“For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’ ²⁹“Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. ³⁰Although God overlooked the times of ignorance, he is now commanding all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he appointed. He provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” No more excuses. You aren’t stuck any more with just the natural knowledge of God that tells you there is some god. Think it through, a god you have to make is no god at all. Let me reveal the true God. Jesus. The proof. God raised Him from the dead.

Here Paul begins to connect the dots. The first one is resurrection, Jesus’ resurrection. Because He is true God who will come to judge the living and dead, repent. Connect the dots. Jesus’ resurrection is the reason for repentance. Turn from the false gods to the only one who saves. Looking religious isn’t good enough. Worshipping some god isn’t good enough. Only Jesus saves. Turn to him and you will be saved. You will get new life. Connect the dots. Jesus’ resurrection leads to repentance and your own resurrection.

Now Paul knew exactly what he was talking about. He lived it. Paul died that day when he was on the road to Damascus when he was converted to faith in Jesus. Back then he was known as Saul. He looked more religious than most of his fellow Jewish people. He zealously served the god he had made up in his own mind and so he tried to wipe out everyone who believed that Jesus was God. Can you imagine the fear, the shame, the “what have I done?” feeling when he saw the blinding light from heaven and heard the voice of God declare, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!” All his zeal, all his religious efforts were not only wasted but worse, a direct attack on the only one who could save him. Saul, who would be Paul, died that day. He died to his sinful way of making God in his image when he realized Jesus lives. He had a complete change of mind, repented, and was given a new life as a follower of Christ. All his zeal was now put into service for Jesus. Connect the dots. Resurrection. Repentance. Resurrection. Having lived that he called the men of Athens to do the same.

And his words call us to do the same. If Paul walked around our community what comments might he make? I see you are a very religious people, or maybe used to be. Look at all the fine churches you have built. In some places of your city there is one on every block! Look at your money. “In God we trust” it proclaims. But do you? Too many of those churches are empty waiting to become artists’ workshops, unique apartment and air Bnbs. Your claim on your money appears to be empty too. Your trust is not in God. You give the glory He is due as Creator to your own dreamed up cockamamie lie called Evolution. Your money should say In Science we trust or In ourselves we trust. You offer rainbow and unicorn prayers as your legislators meet to pass laws to legally protect mothers and doctors who murder babies and slowly erode the rights of your citizens who want to worship the true God. Connect the dots. Resurrection. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He will be judging. So Repent. Have a complete change of mind so that you can honestly say “In Jesus we trust.” And then live a new life that shows it. Resurrection.

That’s what Paul might say if he walked around our communities. But what if he visited our homes? I can see, people of Jacobi, that you are a religious people. You all have a Bible or two in your homes. Some of you have a cross and a picture of the Lord Jesus. You make a point of actually warming a pew in church, at least when it is convenient and does not interfere with other family items, or when mom asks you to for Mother’s Day, but I don’t hear a lot of talking to Jesus in your home. Why does that Bible have dust on it? From your calendar and budget books it looks like your Triune God is actually, recreation, entertainment and personal comforts. Worshipping God only when and how it is convenient for you is not worshipping God but self. And having a one hour a week relationship with God is not acceptable to Him. In the past He did not overlook that among His people but gave them over to be conquered by foreign nations. Do you think it will be different for you? Connect the dots. Resurrection. Jesus lives! Do you understand the privilege you have to be chosen by God to know and believe in Jesus as Savior? He lives and loves you. His death paid the price for all of your sins. He rose to prove it. Connect the dots. So repent. Have a complete change of mind about just going through the motions of having faith. You need to die a little each day. Die to sin so you are alive for Jesus. Connect the dots. Resurrection. Jesus died for you so that you should no longer live for yourselves but for Him who loves you and freed you from your sin by His blood. New life. Resurrection.

Look with me please at a portion of the worship summary in your bulletin. It reads in part, “True love involves obedience. Jesus did not simply say he loved his heavenly Father. He proved it by obeying his Father, even when that obedience meant dying on a cross for our sake. Love for God who lives in us leads us to a life of obedience. The God who lives in us calls us to live for him. It is as simple as that. Love for our risen Lord means obedience to his commands.” On this Mother’s Day every mom here knows this. Children, it is your willing obedience that shows love for mom. That’s a gift she will cherish every day. Jesus is much greater than mom. He deserves far greater obedience. Connect the dots!

I’ve done many dot to dot or connect the dots puzzles in my life. The real joy in a dot to dot is seeing what the picture finally looks like. Paul has connected the dots for us between Jesus’ resurrection, our need for daily repentance, and our own resurrection. This is what the final picture looks like. (Welcome into heaven).