RE: Life in Perspective

Here it is.  I wrote it rather quickly as I am running out of time today.  Please excuse any bad grammar or misspellings.  Have a blessed weekend!
 

This is going to sound redundant and over done today, but I feel as though I must speak on this. 

      There would be no Christmas without Christ, yet every year Christian churches around the world are seeing less and less people on Christmas Eve. 

Don't even get me started on Christmas day around the Warrenton area.  It is as if Christmas is already over on Christmas Day. 

             What has happened?  Has Christ become less important?  Yes.  Has Christmas become more materialistic?  Yes. Do Christians have a bigger job to do today than ever?  YES.

            The thing is that it's not about guilting people into getting back into church or to start going in the first place.  It is about sharing the LOVE of Christ with them.  Here's an example, if someone invites you to go to come to their house for a party are you more likely to do it if you are nice to them and show concern and love for them or if they are mean spirited and make you feel guilty? 

            It only makes sense that people will want to come to church if there is someone there who cares about them, loves them, and wants them to be there.  It is just common sense.  Likewise if there is someone in your life that you want to see come to church with you or someone who needs to hear about Jesus, are they more likely to listen to you if you are constantly berating them and calling them a sinner or if you are showing love and genuine concern for them?

            I think the church and people in the church have made a few mistakes in this area.  Usually when people quit going to church or never enter the doors in the first place it is because of something going on in their life.  Something is keeping them from going to hear God's Word and receive His gifts.  It could be some sort of relationship problem.  It could be money issues.  It cold be here is a particular sin in a person's life that is taking over and keeping him or her from God. 

            Whatever it might be, we as Christians, need to recognize that the last thing that these people are going to respond to is our accusations, our ridicule, and our judgment.  On the other hand, they will respond to our love, even more than that, Christ's love.  The Apostle Paul put it best in his letter to the Corinthians chapter 13. Love (Christ's love) is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way;  It is not irritable or resentful; It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

            Usually when we hear these words we say, "I sure wish I was loved like that."  Or, "yeah, that's the kind of love I want."  Really?  I have been told quite often that you get what you give. 

            Do you want people to know the love of Christ?  Then love them with His love.  Don't love them with a selfish, earthly kind of love but with a selfless, forgiving love that loves unconditionally and for God's purposes and not one's own. 

            The best Christmas gift you can give someone this year costs you nothing, but cost Jesus His very life.  Give someone the gift of forgiveness and eternal life this Holiday Season.  Give them the love of Jesus!

            Tonight at St. John's at 7pm our preschool children will be sharing that love by telling us all about the Christmas ABCs.  Then this Sunday evening our Sunday school children will be re-enacting the "Manger Seen"  Then Christmas Eve we will celebrate the birth of Christ with a  wide variety of carols and music at 7pm and 11pm.  Then on Christmas Day we will enjoy the beauty of Christmas morning as we hear more about Christ's birth, sing some more songs, and just bask in the glory of Christ. 

            Please join us and know that you are always welcomed and loved at St. John's no matter who you are. 

 

---

Subject: Life in Perspective
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:45:50 -0600
From: JQuagliata@yourjournal.com
To: revklaus@hotmail.com

 

Good afternoon Jeremy,

 

Just e-mailing to see if you have a newspaper column to submit today. Hope your week is going well!

 

 

 

Jamie Quagliata

Community content editor

Suburban Journals of St. Charles County and Warrenton

636-946-6111, ext. 267

636-946-0086 fax

jquagliata@yourjournal.com

 

Want to subscribe to the Journal? Call 1-888-755-2879

 

---

Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. Sign up now.

religion article

Attached is the religion article for next week.  Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

I have always believed that less is more.  I can't stand it when my house or even a single room is filled with clutter.  My grandma had one whole room of her house that was filled from floor to ceiling with newspaper clippings and old plastic containers.  It was overwhelming when they moved to town to a smaller house.  They ended up throwing most of it away as there was nowhere to store it anymore.  When she passed away they could only get rid of the rest of it. 

 

In this time in our nation's economical history and in our own lives that phrase "less is more" rings all the more true.  We are learning to get by with less and that certain luxury excesses don't really mean that much.  We are learning all over again that it is better to have something useful and economical than fancy, expensive and only useful for special occasions. .  We are also realizing that the less our life is cluttered with stuff the better off we often are. 

 

Having too much stuff can take a spiritual toll as well.  Just think of all the money and time we spend protecting and taking care of all our stuff.  It is so very easy for our stuff to run and then ruin our lives. 

 

Jesus knew this full well.  When he sent out the 72 to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God he told them to only bring enough with them to be comfortable.  He told them that when they entered a town they should rely on the people there, whom God had appointed and blessed, to help them with all their physical needs.  He didn't want them to be overburdened with too much stuff but instead to be able to focus on their mission. 

 

He wants the same for you.  He doesn't want you to be overburdened with too much wealth.  It sounds like a contradiction doesn't it?  Too much wealth, is there really such a thing as too much wealth?  Believe it or not, there is.  Jesus himself said that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." In this way and in many others, too much is more of a curse than a blessing. 

 

Instead our Lord and Savior wants you to be able to rely on Him first and foremost.  Instead of relying on the things, why not rely on the giver and provider of those things.  Instead of trusting in material wealth to get you by and make you happy, why not trust in the spiritual wealth that only Christ can provide. 

 

I want you to think about these things throughout this Advent and Christmas Season.  Think about how much you have and what it is doing to you.  Then maybe instead of hoarding and buying, buying and hoarding, you can give all your extra stuff away and bless someone who needs it. 

---

Bing brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now.

religion article for week of sept 30

This article is also attached in Word format. 

 

Peace on your day!

Jeremy Klaustermeier

 

 

Throughout this financial and economic crisis there has been great blessing.  What?  How can you say something like that pastor?  Have you been blind to the ills of the world?  Don't you see that unemployment is close to an all time high?  Don't you see all the businesses closing?  What about all the foreclosures? 

            Can you imagine anything else in all the world that has more control over our mood and our circumstance than money?  We even call the time when this country had run out of money "The Great Depression."  Yet, I have talked to many a Christian who was "poor" during that time but who also describe that time as the happiest in their life.  I have also seen many a "rich" person who was completely depressed because of the burden of that love of money. 

            Let me share with you several verses that will help explain what I am trying to say.  The first verse is 1 Timothy 6:10.  It says, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil."  Or how about this one from James 5:1-6 "Come now you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.  Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten.  Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.  You have laid up treasure at the last days.  Behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you…."  Or this one from Ecclesiastes 5:10 "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.  All this is vanity."

            How is this present situation a blessing?  It is a blessing because we have all too painfully been able to see how easily all of the physical and material things we have can be taken away.  It is a blessing because for too long we have been made to put our trust in money instead of in the one who gives us the money and even the abilities we have to earn the money in the first place.  It is a blessing because our present tough circumstance has caused us to turn back to him for guidance and support. 

            I can look back throughout my life and point to specific times in it that the Lord has turned me back to him, giving me no choice but to rely on Him for goodness and grace.  It is in the toughest of times in my life that I have grown the most in my faith life.  I praise and thank God for those tough times, because without them, God would not have made me the man who is able to write this article to you today.  As Paul put it, "suffering produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us" if our hope is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

I urge you in Christ to do whatever you need to do so that your hope and security doesn't lie in your finances or your economic circumstances but in the one who is in control of those circumstance.  Take control of your finances.  Pay off your credit cards and any other debt you have.  Give your tithe.  (By the way the word "tithe" means 10%, so if you don't have a job or, at this time, for one reason or another, have a negative cash flow, no one expects you to give anything.  In fact, we as your brothers and sisters in Christ are expected to give to you as you have need.)

Have a garage sale and get rid of all the stuff you don't need.  Give all that extra clothes away.  Give what you don't use but someone else can to Agape or the charity of your choice. Don't be burdened by the love of money and things.  Let God take control of it for you by going to Him in prayer and giving all those concerns to Him.  He will guide you in all truth. 

In other words, use this tough time for your spiritual benefit and for the spiritual benefit of others.  Grow in spiritual wealth for a change instead of material wealth.  Simplify your earthly life so that you can make time and space for your spiritual life in Christ.

 

---

Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don't worry about storage limits. Check it out.

Attached is the newspaper article for next week.  Please note that the title is different.  This article is also going to be the "official" statement of our area Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Churches and will be published in our church newsletters and websites. 
 

            You may have noticed that there are many differences within Christianity.  It is no different within the group of churches known as Lutheran.  These differences have been brought to the forefront once again as the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) voted in convention on August 21, 2009 to allow homosexuals who are in committed relationships to be pastors and church workers.  It should be noted that before this vote homosexuals could be pastors and church workers as long as they remained abstinent. 

            There are at least thirteen Lutheran Church bodies within the United States.  The two largest are the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) with close to 4.8 million members and the LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) with close to 2.4 million.  We note this because often in many news stories and publications only the term "Lutheran" is used.  This can often cause confusion even among fellow Lutherans much less the larger community. 

            Our church body, the LCMS, is not in favor nor does it support the action taken by the ELCA.  LCMS churches in Lincoln, Montgomery, Warren, and West St. Charles County include the following: St. John's Lutheran Church, Warrenton; St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Jonesburg; Grace Lutheran Church, Wellsville; Trinity Lutheran Church, Wellsville; Immanuel Lutheran Church, Wentzville; Trinity Lutheran Church, Troy; Christ Lutheran Church, Augusta; and St Paul's Lutheran Church, New Melle. 

The disagreement between our two church bodies begins with our difference in believing, teaching and confessing the supreme authority and infallibility of Scripture.  The LCMS believes, teaches, and confesses that the Bible IS the inspired and infallible word of God in its totality, while the ELCA claims that the Bible only CONTAINS the Word of God and that not every part of it is actually God's Word. 

            Since we believe that all of Scripture is God's Word, we take Him at His Word regarding homosexuality.  In several places throughout the Old and New Testaments our Lord, both through prophets and evangelists, speaks against homosexuality calling it sinful.  A few verses include the following (Lev. 18:22, 24, 20:13; 1 Cor. 6:9-20; I Tim. 1:9-10; and Rom. 1:26-27)

            The problem comes when a person or group calls something right or good that the Bible calls sinful.  We in the LCMS cannot do such a thing.  We are bound by God's Word not our human reason or intellect no matter how much it goes against the trends and beliefs of society.  The ELCA is not necessarily bound by God's Word, because they treat human reason and Scripture as equal. 

            Just as we would not accept adultery, pornography, crude sexual jokes, or other sexual sins as right or good; neither can we accept homosexuality because God Himself calls it sinful in His Word. 

This does not mean that we "hate" homosexuals or that we wish them harm or condemnation.  On the contrary, since we know from God's Word that sin is extremely hurtful and can cause a person to lose his or her faith, which is the only thing that saves, we want to help to restore that person to a right relationship with God through confession, repentance, and forgiveness.  We do this in all humility and submission knowing that we too are sinful and are under the same condemnation unless delivered from it by Christ Himself.  Christians especially are aware of their sinfulness and their utter helplessness and so should be in constant confession and repentance all the time knowing that God has forgiven them on account of Jesus.

            Just as Jesus desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, so we, as Christians, desire the same for all people.  We do not wish harm, destruction, or damnation on anyone.  We wish that all would come to know God's will so that they may repent and believe the good news. 

            We in the LCMS know that our stance on this issue will not make us popular in the world, in the United States, or in our communities.  We know that it will be considered intolerant, unloving, and hateful by those who don't understand our position on God's Word, but if we are to take God at His Word then we must abide by it in all things. 

            It is our prayer that all sinners, that is all people, will confess their sin to God, turn from it, and believe in the mercy, grace, and forgiveness of God on account of His Son Jesus Christ.  Lord God, may it be so.  Amen. 

           

           

 

 

---

Hotmail® is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. Try it now.

newspaper article attached

Attached is the religion article for august 19.
 
God's blessings on your weekend!

---

Get back to school stuff for them and cashback for you. Try Bing now.

newspaper article for june 3

Article attached.  Have a blessed week!
 

 

---

Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. See how.

Religion article attached

Religion article for next week is attached.  Christ is risen!
 
God's blessings on your day!
 

---

Windows Live™: Life without walls. Check it out.

religion article for next week

religion article for next week attached.  Enjoy!

---

Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmail®. See how.

Are Things Out of Control?

There's lots of bad news today isn't there? I don't have to rehearse all the things that are going wrong, are out of control, or that are just plain lousy. You know all about them? What I wanted to get at is how the bad news in the world and in your own life affects you?

When you hear bad news does it take its toll on your mood? Does your attitude seem to get lower and lower the more you listen to the radio, read the paper, or watch the 9pm news on T.V.? How do the bad things in the world affect how you live your life?

Paul said in Romans chapter six verse two that we died to sin, how can we live in it any longer? While this applies to the sins that we commit it can also apply to how we live with the sin around us, how we take it in, how it affects our mood and ultimately what our Christian witness looks like.

As Christians we have the most powerful and best good news there is. We know that Christ died and rose again, and that by his death and resurrection he has defeated sin, death, the devil and hell forever. We are no longer slaves to sin, because sin has lost its power. We can count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Yet, even though we have the most wonderful news in our lives and written on our hearts we walk around with our heads hung low and shuffling our feet like Eeore. You remember Eeore, the guy who seemingly had nothing going right in his life. The guy who was always, "woe is me." Does this sound like you lately?

Now if we died with Christ we know that we will also live with Him. We KNOW this and yet we seem to be no different in our attitudes and our actions when it comes to bad news in the world and in our own lives.

Does the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection affect you as much as the bad news of a sinful world? Does the fact that you are saved from your sins and have eternal life with Christ give you as much joy as the bad news gives you sadness?

With all the bad news you would think that the world is coming to an end. You know what? It is! And we who have hope and faith in Jesus Christ look forward to it! We look forward to it with all joy and anticipation because we know that when it does come it will be a glorious day and we will be rid of the sin in the world, the sin in our own lives, and even our sinful human bodies.

If you have this knowledge, it is time for you to shake the dirt of the world off of you. You died to it! How can you live in it any longer? Shake it off, lift up your head to heaven and shout "Alleluia, Christ has saved me." Come on! Do it right now! Get up! Shout it from the rooftops! There is no greater joy and it is yours! Have a blessed day in the Lord!

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeier

To God All Praise and Glory!