Life in Perspective

Re:

2011-09-22T20:08:00.001-07:00

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RE: Life in Perspective

2009-12-11T11:35:00.001-08:00

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

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religion article

2009-11-25T11:57:00.001-08:00

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.

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religion article for week of sept 30

2009-09-24T08:59:00.001-07:00

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.

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2009-08-26T09:26:00.001-07:00

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.

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newspaper article attached

2009-08-14T13:02:00.001-07:00

Attached is the religion article for august 19.

God's blessings on your weekend!

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newspaper article for june 3

2009-05-27T14:55:00.001-07:00

Article attached. Have a blessed week!

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Religion article attached

2009-04-17T09:41:00.001-07:00

Religion article for next week is attached. Christ is risen!

God's blessings on your day!

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religion article for next week

2009-03-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

religion article for next week attached. Enjoy!

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Are Things Out of Control?

2009-01-12T15:46:00.001-08:00

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!

Who can fix all the ills of this World?

2008-12-10T12:34:00.001-08:00

Taking ourselves and others too seriously is a major flaw we as human beings and even as Christians have.

Last week we had yet another scandal break about a politician. Needless to say I was sad to hear about it, and even sadder that it would effect so many other people. At the same time, do we think we should expect anything more? He is just as sinful as the rest of us are. He may have certain characteristics that make him elect able and make him a good governor, but that doesn't make him perfect does it?

Back in November we had an election and Barack Obama was elected president. I'm sure he will be a good president. He did a good job campaigning and getting people to vote for him. Still, do people really expect him to fix all of the ills of the world? Isn't he just a man, like you and me? Does he not still have sinfulness in him? When he fails the first time are people going to disown him, and call for his impeachment? Do people really expect him to be the Savior of the world? Can you imagine the pressure he is under to perform? How will he ever live up to expectations?

How about you? What do people expect of you? Does everyone expect great things of you? Do people expect you to be the perfect father, mother, worker, boss, leader, etc.? I know how you feel. As a pastor a lot is often expected of me and when, not if but when, I fail, I ultimately disappoint, discourage, and even anger people along the way.

Spouses do this with each other. We all have expectations of what our perfect spouse should be like, and for a while they might live up to the expectations, but eventually failure will happen. The sad thing is that there are such high expectations and such a lack of forgiveness that this failure often results in broken relationships.

The truth is that we all do it. We all have high expectations of each other. At the same time, people also have such high expectations of us. We are all always letting each other down.

The remedy? Stop taking ourselves and each other too seriously. Stop thinking that another sinful person can fulfill the impossible standards you have set for him or her. Stop hating yourself for not living up to everyone's expectations of you.

Especially with it being just a week before Christmas and everyone just wanting all of their expectations met; do not be disappointed if you don't get the perfect gift from your spouse. Don't be disheartened when your kids don't appreciate every little thing you got them. Don't get discouraged when the cookies don't turn out the way they should. Don't get upset when the family shows up an hour late. Don't freak out when it is just a week before Christmas and you still haven't started your cards yet.

Instead, enjoy the time you have with your friends and family as a time that is from God to you. Enjoy it as a reminder that the perfection has already come in God's own Son, Jesus. Realize that it is in him and through him that we will become perfect in paradise. Have peace in this hectic, fast paced time in the knowledge that one day all of this will go away and a new heaven and a new earth will come forth, will arise and it will be perfect.

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeier

To God All Praise and Glory!

What does Christmas mean to you?

2008-11-26T16:07:00.001-08:00

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Christmas? Is it shopping? Is it parties? Is it travel? Does the birth of Jesus even enter into your tenth or twelfth thought at this time of year?

Do you ever wonder why you do the things you do at Christmas? Why do you have the traditions you do? Why do you spend all that time wrapping presents just so your kids can rip them all open in under ten seconds? Why do you spend all that time writing out Christmas cards? Why do you make seven different kinds of Christmas cookies and then give them all away? Why do you take your child to church every Saturday morning for a month to get ready for a half hour long Christmas program?

There is one answer to all of these questions. The answer is Jesus. If it wasn't for Jesus there would be no reason for any of it. It would just be empty meaningless ritual. Instead, our giving of gifts reminds us of the surprise gift we got that first Christmas. We make cookies to celebrate the birth of the Christ-child. We visit friends and relatives to remind them and ourselves of the love we have in Christ Jesus by sharing it with each other. We decorate our homes as we would decorate a baby's room at his or her arrival to welcome the baby Jesus into our homes and our lives. Even the colors we use, red signifying the blood of Jesus and green signifying the life that the blood of Jesus gave, truly do bring meaning to an otherwise empty and meaningless celebration of nothing.

As you go about your rituals and traditions this season, please think about why you do them. You may even want to get rid of them if they have become meaningless. You may want to teach your kids why you do them while you are doing them. Make this a truly meaningful holiday full of the real meaning of Christmas, Jesus the Christ, who came down to earth as a lowly child to live, suffer, and die for us. Have a blessed Advent!

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeier

To God All Praise and Glory!

"Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." [Mk 7:50]

2008-10-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

By the time you read this you will probably know who the next president is going to be. Many of you though have your fears and doubts about the future of this nation. There is definitely a lot to fear. You have the economy, wars and rumors of wars, job loss, health insurance, your own health, your family, the economy, oops, I mentioned that already.

It seems as though our circumstances in the future don't look so good. Or maybe, you are looking at your future circumstances, and you are thinking that everything is going to be fine or even better than fine, things are going to be great.

The thing is, no matter what our circumstance, we can't let them rule our lives. We must allow something, even someone else rule our lives. That someone, of course is Jesus Christ.

Paul put it best when he said, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well fed or hungry, whether in plenty or in want, I can do all things through Christ who give me strength.

And how does He give us strength? He gives us strength through the very fact that he died on the cross for us and three days later rose from the dead. Those acts of dying and rising give us strength because they are the be all and end all of our existence. They give us strength because, as Christians, we now live to him and die in him. They give us strength because we know that neither death nr life, things in the present or in the past, neither angels nor demons, nor anything else in all creation is able to separate from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So whether Barack Obama or John McCain is president; whether our economy turns into a recession or depression or goes so far up that you can't see the top; whether we lose our health care, our social security, and our 401k's all on the same day or they are all doubled; whether we have enough food in our pantries for ten families or our cupboards are bare; whether we are the supreme picture of health or are on our last breaths; we know that Christ will never leave us nor forsake us. We belong to him forever. And if we belong to Him everything will be just fine no matter what.

Don't let your circumstances ruin your life or your witness. Let your witness to the calming, soothing, and peace giving Gospel run your life. Wake up in the morning with a cheerful heart knowing that your sins are paid for and forgiven. Go through your day smiling all the way as you remember that your sins have been washed away by the precious blood of Jesus. Then, end your day with this prayer: "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. And this I ask for Jesus' sake. Amen."

Then wake up in the morning either happy that your sins are forgiven and you are ready to start a new day or completely happy and ultimately at peace knowing that you are in paradise with your friend and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeier

To God All Praise and Glory!

DO YOU HAVE PEACE OR CONFUSED?

2008-10-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

"And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

Have you ever felt like Chicken Little, who knew that the sky was falling and tried to tell everyone but most weren't listening, others would just patronize him with a pat on the head, and still others would make fun of him behind his back?

Do you ever feel that way as a Christian? Your message is not so much that the sky is falling, but that Jesus is a solution or at least a remedy to the problems that people are facing? As Christians we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. We call Him our Savior. We try to tell others that if they would just put their faith and their trust in Jesus, that they would finally have a peace that passes all understanding. We try to tell people that their sins are forgiven by His death on the cross and that their place in heaven is secure by His resurrection from the dead, but they are too focused on the troubles of this life to realize the joy and the peace that are theirs by faith.

One of the verses that gives me comfort as a pastor is not necessarily a comforting verse. A couple days before He was to be betrayed, Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under wings, but you were not willing." Matthew 23:37 It gives me comfort, because as much as people don't always listen to me, even more did they not listen to Jesus. And He was God.

In the midst of this financial crisis, who knows what tomorrow holds? It sure isn't the financial wizards, they as much as have confessed so. They don't know what tomorrow brings anymore that you do. I'll tell you who does know. God does. In fact He tells us that there will be an end to all things. He alone knows what, where and when the end is.

So as long as we are putting our faith, our trust, and our hope in something or someone other than the one who knows all things and still loves us and cares for us, we are no different from the "Jerusalem" that Jesus speaks of here.

In a financial crisis such as we are experiencing the church can and must be a beacon of light and hope. It must be a place where people can come to find help. It has to be a place where people are turned to a true, lasting, and real hope, a hope not built on the shifting sands of this world, but a hope built on the solid foundation that is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Still we as Christians need to be willing. If we want God to care for us, protect our spiritual welfare, and guide us through this tough time, we must be willing to come under His wing, His Word and Sacraments. We must be willing to give up our independence in spiritual matters, acting like we have it all together, and realize our sinfulness and stupidity so that Christ may finally take us under His wing of forgiveness, life, and salvation. If God is for us who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32

Even if your 401 K has dwindled down to nothing, even if your business is on the verge of closing, even if you can't get a loan, don't have health insurance, and are on your last penny, you can have peace. I'm not saying that you will be physically comfortable or that you will even always have enough to eat. I am saying that your spirit, your soul will be at peace. It will be at peace as long as you believe and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

As a Christian, you know that this world is not the be all and end all of your life. You know that the end is only the beginning. You know that you can "rejoice in suffering, because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-4

My friends, this is a time of great rejoicing in Christianity. The fact that there a millions of Christians around the world and that are billions of saints already in heaven is a testament to the blessings of the Lord. Many more blessings are to come. As we look forward to an everlasting kingdom, let us be reminded daily of His love for us. Let us remind others of His love for us. Let us use ALL of our gifts to His glory, for His purposes, and to make disciples of all nations so that they may know the peace that passes all understanding just like we do! Can I get an Amen?

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeir

To God All Praise and Glory!

2008-09-30T17:52:00.001-07:00

WHO IS YOUR MASTER?

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Luke 16:13

Who is your master? Here is a test to find out? If you had the opportunity to choose between overtime at work where you could earn time and a half and Sunday morning worship which one would you choose? Or here is another test, say you had ten dollars in your pocket and you had to choose between buying a nice dinner tonight and giving half of it to church and going to McDonald's instead, what would you choose?

Which do you hold on to tighter your checkbook or your Bible? Which one has received more of your attention? Which one have you spent more time thinking about? Have you spent more time at the store this week than at your chair or table reading God's Word, on your knees in prayer, or in your community sharing the love of Christ?

I am often amazed at how defensive and even angry people get when you start talking about stewardship and money. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because it happens all the time. People actually leave church and never come back because you ask them to give a tithe to the Lord.

Why do you think that is? Everything else is fair game. Everyone can know how much time you have and how many things you are good at doing, but don't you dare touch my money. Don't talk about it. Don't ask about it. And especially don't ask me to give more of it away. Could it be that our hearts and our attitudes are more attached to our money than they are to our faith, our church, and our God?

Last week there was quite a bit of panic when the Dow Jones had its biggest one day drop in history. My question to that is this: Who would put their trust, their faith, and their peace in something as volatile and uncertain as the stock market or in money period? Does our happiness and our security really rely on the Almighty dollar that much?

I have heard people speak of the "Great Depression" before. Many of them say that it was a very hard time, but most of those people also say that it was a time that they remember with fondness, because neighbors helped each other out, churches grew by leaps and bounds, and families grew closer together. It was a time of great need, but it was also a time of contentedness and happiness for people whose happiness didn't reside in their pockets.

I pray that it doesn't come to a "Great Depression" again. I don't want to see people lose their jobs. I don't want to see people lose their life savings. I especially don't want people to be thrown out into the street. It hurts to watch people suffer. At the same time God has always used hard times to bring people closer to him. My question to you is how hard is it going to have to get before you realize who your master truly is?

I pray that you get your priorities in order in your own way and in your own time and that you are not forced to do so. I pray that you realize where your spiritual bread is buttered and for that matter your physical bread as well. Come to your senses and know that in order to have true peace and happiness in your life, God must be your master and master of everything in your life! Learn that the secret to contentedness does not lie in the checkbook balance but in God's love, mercy, grace and peace that He gives to you daily in His Word. Realize that God loving you enough to send His Son Jesus to die on a cross for you is not just something for Sunday mornings and funerals but for every day of your life to give you hope and peace.

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeir

To God All Praise and Glory

ARE YOU FED UP WITH............

2008-09-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

Are you fed up with soaring prices? Are you fed up with your government? Are you fed up with how things seem to be going from bad to worse? God knows how you feel.

Since the beginning of the downfall of humanity when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, things have been going from bad to worse. At times, such as right before the flood and right before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, things got so bad that God decided to have the whole world destroyed by a flood.

At this time God is holding back his wrath. He is keeping our complete destruction, which is truly what we all deserve, from happening to us. Just in this way we see God's mercy working in our lives. I can look back at so many times in my life where I didn't get what my sins deserve. There are too many moments of stupidity in my life to count. Yet God, who is rich in grace, keeps the full penalty of the stupidity of our sins from us.

At the same time I often hear people say things like. "Things are so bad. Pastor, do you think the end of the world is coming soon?" Or they don't even ask me but they simply say, "The world must be coming to an end, because everything is going downhill. My answer to these comments and questions is always the same. The world has been coming to an end since the beginning. With every rise of the sin the world is always one day closer to the end. In the New Testament writings of the Apostles there is great evidence that many at that time thought that the end of the world would come during their lifetime. Paul spends a great deal of time making sure people continue to live their lives instead of just simply waiting for the end. There is also an urgency in Paul's writings to share the Gospel for the "time is near", which is exactly what Paul did from his conversion on.

When we see things that make us think that the world is coming to an end we should be motivated greatly to increase our witness to Christ. We shouldn't cower in a corner, become pessimistic, or just sit and wait and tell that day comes. We should get to work! Jesus tells us that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. He tells us to ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers out into the harvest field.

Are you fed up with the way the world is going? Then do something about it! Share the Lord's truth with others. Fill your own life with God's Word, with His good news, and with His grace. Fill your community with these things. Tell your neighbors, friends, relatives, and everyone else about what Jesus has done for you and for them. If your world is falling apart around you and you aren't doing these things, you only have yourself to blame.

As has always been the case, it is God's Word, His truth that changes lives. It is His living Word that, when it reaches the ears of His creation causes people to go from belief and unbelief, from unsaved to saved. He has given us the joy and the opportunities to share His Gospel with others. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit gives us the power to share that good news with people from every tribe, language and nation.

You have no excuse, nor do you have a reason not to share the Gospel. The time is near when the end of all things will come, so instead of being fed up, start feeding souls with the food of the good news of salvation that only comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. Peace be with you as you get to work!

How Sure Are You?

2008-07-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

How sure are you of what is going to happen tomorrow? Do you know what is going to happen from minute to minute? How much do you have planned? How much of that do you think you will actually get done?

As I get older and wiser, some might argue the second one, I realize more and more how unpredictable life really is. For instance, not in a million years would I have predicted how, when, or where I would meet my wife. I never imagined that I would have two wonderful kids that brighten each and every day like they do. I would have never thought that I would be a pastor in Warrenton, MO, because I didn't even know such a town existed till I moved here.

I am amazed by the unpredictability of life. Yet, in the midst of all this, I oftentimes still fool myself into thinking that I have it all under control. What a fool I am! What fools we all are!

What do you think? Are you fooling yourself into thinking you have it all under control? Are you planning everything out from day today to the point where time doesn't move without you moving it? When your schedule gets messed up or when things like, oh I don't know, church and faith, get in the way, are you able to handle it?

I am about to go on vacation for two weeks. The plan is to go to the Black Hills, to Yellowstone National Park, and to Estes Park, Colorado with my family. I don't know if it is going to happen like I have it planned. I don't even know if I am going to make it past tomorrow.

It is this uncertainty that causes us to turn to God. It is this absence of knowledge that makes us fall to our knees and at the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The good thing to know is the God knows everything. He knows how my vacation is going to go. He knows how long I am going to live. He knows how many grandkids I am going to have. He knows what my kids are going to be when they grow up. He knows how many hairs are on top of my head.

It is this same God that, in His foreknowledge, sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to this sinful uncertain earth to suffer and die in our place. It is this same God who loves us more than we could ever love ourselves. It is this same God who gives us everything we need and so much more.

The whole world is full of uncertainty. You don't need me to tell you that. Are you going to put your trust in the things of this world, the economy, the government, your job, or your abilities? Or are you going to put your trust in Almighty God, who rules over all of these things, knows what is going on with all of it, what will happen in the end, and still loves you anyway?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeir

To God All Praise and Glory!

Learn The Secret Of Being Content.

2008-07-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

There is so much uncertainty these days. What is going to happen to gas prices if things stay the way they are? What if I lose my job? What is the future of the world going to be like for my kids? How am I ever going to be able to afford to retire?

People with no insurance are deathly afraid of getting sick because of soaring medical costs. At the same time businesses with employees are wondering how they are going to be able to continue to afford the insurance they provide. A dollar isn't going nearly as far as it did even six months ago.

Isn't it odd how all of this seems to center around one thing, money? One of the biggest reason for divorce is money. One of the biggest reasons for depression is money. The economy is front and center in the news and in newspapers. There are wars going on all around the world because of money. People are killed by the hundreds every day because people are going into houses and businesses to steal money. I could go on and on.

In 1 Timothy 6:10 it says very plainly "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many grief's.

Have you ever noticed that when our lives, our hearts, and our minds are focused on money we never seem to have enough of it? We can have money in the bank to spare, but if our trust is in that money, we are never happy or satisfied.

Have you also noticed that some of the most satisfied people are the people with the least amount of money? They scrape to get by, and often wish they had more money, but the money isn't getting in the way of their happiness nor is it controlling their happiness.

I was reading a Reader's Digest article the other day that had the five top reasons for happiness. One of those reasons was money. It wasn't the gathering and accumulating of wealth though, instead it was the giving of it away. It said that the more people were involved in donating to charities and helping other people, the happier and more content they were.

Notice that it is not money in and of itself that makes us happy but how we use it. If we use it in selfish ways and for selfish reason we will be miserable people. If we use it to help others and to give glory to God and His kingdom we will be satisfied and happy people. We will be content because we will be using our wealth to help others.

Paul said it best when he said, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything who gives me strength."

In these hard financial times it is best to be like Paul. He went from being a rich Pharisee to being a lowly tentmaker and evangelist. He went from everyone adoring him and giving him honor, to being beaten, stoned, and imprisoned. Then, after all was said and done, the times that he was most content were when he relied on God alone to give him strength.

Don't let your whole life revolve around getting more for yourself. Instead, learn the secret of being content. Learn to rely on God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who gives you strength.

Start using what God gave you to further His kingdom by supporting missionaries, donating to Agape, helping fellow church members who need financial help, starting a mission project of your own, donating to your church's building project, starting a scholarship fund for kids in need, going to places like Cedar Rapids, New Orleans, or Winfield and helping people out. The opportunities to serve and to give are endless. Go in peace, and serve the Lord!

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeir

To God All Praise and Glory!

How Much Are You Worth?

2008-06-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

How much are you worth? It seems as though on a yearly basis now, record salaries are being rewarded to professional athletes. Just this past Spring a guy who hasn't even played a down in the NFL was given the biggest rookie contract ever. Pitchers in baseball, before they ever pitch a day in the majors are set for life. I'm not saying that it is wrong or right. I am a bit jealous of them. But, I guess if the owners and general managers of different teams can afford this, then so be it.

I also know that as soon as a person gets Dr. in front of their name or a Ph. D. behind their name their stock goes up. They become more important, even if they finished with the worst grades in their class.

In our world, the popular people are usually those who have some sort of special ability or at least a lot of money. Many people know the name Warren Buffet only because he is the richest man in the world. Just about everyone knows who Tiger Woods is because of his special ability to hit a gold ball well. Just about everyone knows who Paris Hilton is, well I don't know why everyone knows who she is, but I know it is not for good reasons.

What happens when the athlete loses his physical ability? No one but Twins fans remember who was on the 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins. I can guarantee that 15 years from now no one will remember Paris Hilton. When people who seem to be worth a lot in earthly terms die, their worth goes away immediately.

This is not the case in the life of Christians. When Christians die their worth skyrockets. This is because their worth is and always has been found in Jesus. When the Father sent His Son to the earth, He showed how much we are worth to Him. We are worth nothing less than the life of His only Son. We are worth EVERYTHING to God. There is no amount of money, no fame, no power that can compare to how much we are worth to God. He sent His one and only Son, God incarnate, to take our place, the place we deserved, on the cross.

How humbling is that? How much peace does that really give you? The Almighty God, the one that created you, gave you breath, and sustains it thinks enough of you to send His Son to suffer and die for you.

To the world you are only worth what you can do or give. Once your talent goes away you are worthless. Once your fame and fortune is gone it is as if you are gone too. We don't much care what Michael Jordan does on a daily basis. People outside of Illinois and Chicago didn't have a clue who Barrack Obama was two years ago.

I bet there aren't too many people outside of Warrenton who know you either. Jesus does. Jesus knows you. He knows how many individual hairs are on your head. He knows when you wake up and when you go to sleep. He knows your past, present, and future. He literally knows you inside and out. And in spite of all that He still loves you.

I encourage you today to measure your worth, not on what others think of you or even on what you think of yourself, but on the measure that God with which God measures you., His Son. Have peace that on one thinks more of you than God does. Have joy that your worth will never change. And then, as you go about your life in joy and peace, honor God with the honor that He has given you! Have a peace filled day knowing that you are worth everything to God!

Rev. Jeremy Klastermeier
To God All Praise and Glory!

2008-06-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

It's vacation time. As you read this article this week I am sitting on a beach, catching a big walleye in a boat, or swinging a golf club on a golf course. I can't wait. I am really looking forward to this vacation.

Does this mean I am taking a vacation from being a Christian? Certainly not. In fact, I am weighing my options for worship on Sunday and am bringing several books along for devotions. I am looking forward to being able to devote some quiet time in a most serene setting, the north woods of Minnesota, to reading and listening to God's Word. I am looking forward to being in God's Word MORE.

A vacation is a good thing. In fact, God commands us to rest. The third commandment is very specific about remembering the Sabbath (rest) day by keeping it holy. Yet, we are not to rest AWAY from God's Word, but instead rest IN God's Word.

God's Word is where we can truly find rest. Yet even I, as a pastor, can forget that from time to time. I can't get over distressed about things going on in the church. I can get frustrated with the sinful things that people say and do. I can get overwhelmed from time to time with the great responsibilities that come with leading a church. All of this stress and heartache usually comes about because I am not, in the words of Martin Luther himself, reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting God's Word as much as I need to.

If I look back at the most stressful times in my life and my devotional life, there is a direct correlation between the two. The more stressed and freaked out I am the less I am in God's Word. The more calm, relaxed, and peaceful I am the more I am in God's Word. I am sure you can see this in your own life as well.

This is because in God's Word is where we find true peace, comfort and joy. In God's Word we find the true light of the good news of Jesus Christ. We hear things like, "For God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but everlasting life." And, "He was crucified for our transgressions and raised for our justification." And, "Don't worry... God know what you need." And "For we are saved by grace through faith and this not of ourselves, it is a gift of God not by works so that no one can boast."

I encourage you today to get into God's Word. Find a Bible study or start one of your own. Ask your pastor questions when you don't understand something. Take shelter under God's Word for in it you will find rest for your souls.

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeier

To God All Praise and Glory!

Patience is a Virtue

2008-05-31T09:49:00.001-07:00

Patience is a virtue. Have you ever heard this saying? Have you ever thought that you wish you had this virtue? Bet you didn't know that it is one of the eight fruits of the Spirit. Here are the nine in order from Galatians 5:22. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

These are all the things that we get when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. So are all of you Christians filled with patience? I know I'm not. So what's the deal? Does this mean that the Holy Spirit is not working in me? Does it mean that I am not a Christian?

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, there is sin in the world, therefore because we are part of the world, you know "dust you are and to dust you shall return", we also have sin in us. If we were not sinners we would be perfect. We would have perfect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Since we are sinful human beings in sinful bodies we do not have those things perfectly but imperfectly.

So why do some seem to have greater fruits of the Spirit than others? Well, this can be answered in two ways. The first is that God gives these gifts in different ways to different people. One person might have more patience than another, while one might be gentler than another. One might live a purer life as in staying away from sin more, while another may have a very peaceful demeanor about him. We all have different gifts but the same Spirit gives them to all who believe in him.

Secondly, some people have experienced God's grace a whole lot more than others through hearing, reading, and studying his Word and receiving His forgiveness through the Word and the Sacraments. Because they have experienced God more they have also received more of certain kinds of gifts. For instance, a person has sinned greatly and hurt quite a few people along the way. After realizing his sin and the hurt he has caused he begins to feel greatly troubled in his heart and is unable to reconcile himself. He has caused much pain and grief and his pain and grief has been heaped back upon him tenfold by many who want nothing more than to hurt him back. In the meantime, one person that he hurt most deeply comes to him and tells him that he forgives him. At that moment peace comes upon him as he realizes and receives the forgiveness he so desperately needs. Having the true and real peace that he has, he is able to convey that peace to others in such a way that peace is clearly seen in him.

Also, think about the times when you have felt the closest relationship with God. I would imagine that these close times involve you being in God's Word in devotion and Bible study and in a close relationship with other Christians through a church or some other organization. I liken it to a marriage or even a parent-child relationship. Some have said that they felt that close relationship through experiences in nature where they can see God's handiwork in action. The point is that the more you are involved in and with the life of the other person and the more time you spend with a person the closer your relationship will be. Same is true with God. The more you are interested in Him and show it by listening to him, learning his will, and living a life connected to him, the closer your relationship with him will be.

God gives you the tools. He gives you His living and active Word, His personal letter to you by which he gives you the knowledge of his perfect will and shares his real and true love with you. He gives you the washing of water and the Word in baptism by which you are made His child. He gives you His true body and blood to connect with Him in a real physical and Spiritual way. He gives you other Christians with whom you can share His love and forgiveness and from whom you can learn the fruits of the Spirit.

One of the greatest gifts God gave me was my wife. I have learned so much from her, especially when it comes to the fruits of the Spirit. She is so giving, so kind, so faithful, so loving that one can't help but see the fruits of the Spirit in action. Every day I am amazed at the Holy Spirit working in and through Karin in so many aspects of her life. Her seemingly tireless attitude when it comes to work in the church is second to none. And she loves doing it because of her love for the Lord.

The best thing about the fruits of the Spirit is that you don't have to work to get them, that is unless you call being involved in church, reading your Bible, and being in fellowship with other Christians work. It really all comes naturally. I have often told people that I don't consider my job as a pastor work. Sure, there are times when I would rather be working on a farm field plowing up dirt, on a lake fishing, or on a golf course hitting the tee shot into the woods, but I can honestly say that there is nothing more satisfying than sharing the Gospel with people and having them share it with you. I encourage you today to look into how you can increase the fruits of the Spirit in your lives and in the lives of your family and friends. Peace to you always.

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeir

To God All Praise and Glory!

2008-04-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 1, has been set aside as the National Day of Prayer. Our Christian ministerial alliance and other Christian spiritual leaders in our community will be leading prayer at the University Extension Center at 107 Walton St. in Warrenton beginning at noon.

The national day of prayer is a day designated by the United States Congress as a day when all Americans are asked to come together and pray in their own way. It is held on the first Thursday in May, this year being May 1.

It was first made official in 1952 by President Truman, but even before that there had been several "days of prayer" that our government or certain presidents have called for. The specific day of the year that it was to be held on was put into law by President Reagan in 1988 and has
remained the same ever since.

Since the Warrenton Christian Ministerial Alliance is hosting the program on May 1, we will be praying to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and praying in Jesus name and for His sake.

Please come and pray with us and for our churches, our community, our county, our state, or nation, and our world. Let us not forget about who has the power to answer our prayers so that all glory, honor, and might may go to God forever.

Oftentimes I get frustrated when I hear people talk about the power of prayer. I get frustrated because of the misconceptions on prayer. People often don't take into account what the Scriptures say about prayer and what Jesus himself says about it.

I get frustrated when people think of prayer as some type of words in just the right way that God will certainly give you what you asked for in prayer.

I get frustrated when people talk about the power of prayer instead of talking about the power of God to answer prayer. People will actually pray for healing for someone and then, if the person isn't healed, it was because they weren't praying hard enough, or because they didn't have enough faith when they prayed.

I get frustrated when people don't take God's will into account when they pray, thinking that if it is their will it must be God's will too. Everyone dies, yet somehow people still think that you can live forever, or at least be cured of every disease that plagues you, if you just pray hard
enough and have enough faith.

The problem continues to be that we put too much emphasis on ourselves, our faith, and our abilities instead of laying our lives at the mercy and grace of Almighty God.

Prayer does just that. When we pray as we ought, we are throwing ourselves at the feet of Almighty God and asking Him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He is the one who changes hearts and minds to follow Him. He is the one who gives us daily bread. He is the one who forgives sins and gives us the will to forgive others. He is the one who keeps us from temptation. He is the one who guards and protects us from all evil. If our lives are to change, it is only because we have become powerless and Christ has become the power in us.

Again, please join us for prayer tomorrow at the University extension center from noon-1pm as we lay our lives, our community, our state and our world at the feet of Almighty God so that He may lift it up to His honor and praise.

Life in Perspective

2008-03-31T08:27:00.001-07:00

"The Resurrection of Our Lord Sunday".

What was Easter all about for you? Was it about eggs, pastel colors, frilly dresses, and ham? Was it about getting together with family and friends to enjoy each others company? Was it about going to church very early in the morning, going to breakfast, and then going back to bed? Or was there more to it than that? What is Easter really all about?

Easter Sunday, or as it is more properly known, The Resurrection of Our Lord Sunday, may be considered the most important festival day in all of Christianity. It is the day that we celebrate the fact that Christ rose from the dead. The day of the year on which we celebrate changes every year, but the purpose and importance of it stays the same.

Unfortunately even people who call themselves Christians are believing in it less and less. Since it was 2,000 years ago, and since it is such a far-fetched story people just have a hard time believing it. It doesn't fit into people's brains. People just can't fathom a man rising from the dead. Besides isn't it all just made up anyway?

My friends, it doesn't take faith to believe in the resurrection. The resurrection is a true historical fact. Just like we have as fact that George Washington was the first President of the United States, or that Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address. It is not faith that believes in the resurrection. It actually really happened and there are more than 500 witnesses to back it up.

What takes faith is to believe that Christ's death and resurrection were for you. Here's an example of what I am trying to say. One day I decide that I am going to work all day and give my paycheck to you. I have told you that I am going to do so. It doesn't take faith to see me working all day. You can go to where I am working and verify that I am working. It does take faith in me that I am actually going to give you my day's wages.

It is the same with faith in the resurrection. You could simply deny that the resurrection happened, which is just silly nonsense. The claims and facts of the resurrection would stand up in any and every court of law. To say that you have to have faith that the resurrection happened is nonsense. It is one of the most attested to events in all of human history.

Paul said it best when he wrote to the Corinthians. He said,

"If Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." (1 Corinthians. 15:17-22)

This passage from Paul answers everything. It gives another attestation to the truth of the resurrection, and it tells us how the resurrection benefits us. My prayer for you is that you not only believe that the resurrection actually happened just as the witnesses said, but also that you believe that the historical and real resurrection was for you, so that you may hold to its truth all the way to everlasting life. My other prayer for you is that you share this Gospel truth with all people so that He may hasten His second coming to restore that complete and total peace that He has promised.

Life in Perspective

2008-03-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

"Jesus" and "forgiveness".

The last few weeks I have been talking about how to deal with conflict in a God pleasing way so that your relationships can be restored. This whole thing can really come down to two words, "Jesus" and "forgiveness".

This is holy week. It all starts on Palm Sunday as we remember Jesus' ride into Jerusalem on a colt as the people sang "Hosanna to the king". On Maundy (command) Thursday we remember the institution of the Lord's Supper and Christ's command to love each other. On Good Friday we remember the "good" death that Jesus died on our behalf. On Holy Saturday we mourn as we remember that it was because of our sins that Jesus lay in that tomb. Then comes Easter Sunday as we rejoice in the victory over death and the grave that Jesus won for us and that because he has risen we too shall rise and live forever.

What does this have to do with reconciliation and conflict? Well, look at it this way, if it wasn't for all that Jesus did in His life, suffering and death we would have no power, nor would we even desire, to reconcile ourselves to each other. Without the forgiveness of Christ we could care less whether those whom we have sinned against forgive us, and we certainly have no desire to forgive those who sin against us.

When we become Christians, we truly have Christ in our hearts, and our desire is for the Lord. Our desire is to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. Our desire is to do what God would have us to do. Our desire is to be reminded, as often as possible, of the forgiveness won for us on the cross on Good Friday and the victory over death on Resurrection Day.

We should never withhold forgiveness or think that we are in the right when we know that we really aren't. We should never turn our search for forgiveness or our forgiveness for others into some sort of self righteousness where we think that, because we have done what God wants us to do, somehow we are better or deserve heaven more.

This holy week is a perfect time to get moving on reconciliation. You may be getting together with family members on Sunday. Wouldn't it be awesome to go to them and simply ask for forgiveness? Would it be spectacular if you could get a hug instead of a sneer? Wouldn't it be beautiful to feel love and forgiveness instead of tension and hatred? Think about it.

As you go forth in your efforts to reconcile, remember the four "Gs".

1.. Glorify God
2.. Get the log out of your own eye.
3.. Gently restore.
4.. Go and be reconciled.

For more information and help on how to reconcile your relationships go to www.HisAoR.org or give me a call at church at 456-2888.

God's blessings and peace as you mourn the death of Christ, as you remember that His suffering and death was for you, and as you rejoice in His resurrection and yours!

2008-03-12T08:55:00.001-07:00

God has restored our broken relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. In order to share that good news and bring it to bear in the lives of others, we should and must forgive others and seek forgiveness from others. We should and must seek to be reconciled with one another and seek to have our relationships restored to ones that truly show forth Jesus Christ.
We should never withhold forgiveness or think that we are in the right when we know that we really aren't. We should never turn our search for forgiveness or our forgiveness for others into some sort of self righteousness where we think that, because we have done what God wants us to do, somehow we are better or deserve heaven more.

This holy week is a perfect time to get moving on reconciliation. You may be getting together with family members on Sunday. Wouldn't it be awesome to go to them and simply ask for forgiveness? Would it be spectacular if you could get a hug instead of a sneer? Wouldn't it be beautiful to feel love and forgiveness instead of tension and hatred? Think about it.

As you go forth in your efforts to reconcile, remember the four "Gs".

1. Glorify God
2. Get the log out of your own eye.
3. Gently restore.
4. Go and be reconciled.

For more information and help on how to reconcile your relationships go to www.HisAoR.org or give me a call at church at 456-2888.

God's blessings and peace as you mourn the death of Christ, as you remember that His suffering and death was for you, and as you rejoice in His resurrection and yours!

Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeier
To God All Praise and Glory!

2008-03-06T21:38:00.000-08:00

Life in Perspective: Put meaning in forgiveness

Today we talk about the fourth "G" in matters of reconciliation. This fourth "G" is for "Go and be reconciled."

During a worship service, after the members of the congregation confessed their sins, their pastor declared, "As a called and ordained servant of the word, I announce to you that God says, 'That's OK. Don't worry about it. You should be sorry. Don't ever do it again. I forgive you, but I don't want to have anything to do with you again."

The people couldn't believe their ears. He continued, "What's the matter? Isn't that the way that you answer others who tell you they're sorry? But you don't expect God to forgive you that way. Why not?"Is this the way God forgives us? Does he tell us that he wants nothing to do with us ever again? Does he remember our failures and shortcomings all the time and hold them against us? Does he shove our face in the dirt after we have come to him on our knees? Or does he lift us up with his forgiveness and peace?

Do you want real and true reconciliation in your relationships, or do you just want to feel better about yourself and get your own conscience clear? Do you want to have a relationship restored or do you just want to make the other person suffer for as long as possible? If we want true and real reconciliation, we need to be ready to forgive as God has forgiven us. What does that look like?

Well, when you forgive someone of their sins, you can promise the following things to them:
I promise I will not dwell on the incident.
I promise I will not bring this incident up and use it against you.
I promise I will not talk to others about this incident.
I promise I will not allow this incident to stand between us or our relationship.

If you can't do these things, then maybe you need to go back to the second "G," which is getting the log out of your own eye. If you can't truly forgive someone, it's not the other person's fault, it's your own.

The next question that usually comes up is: When should I forgive? Maybe a better question to ask is, when does God forgive us? According to his word, God forgives us before we know him, before we confess, before we repent. In fact, he forgives us while we are yet sinners, while we are still his enemies.

As Christians, we need to be forgiving people. We need to forgive people before they even sin against us. We need to forgive for our own sakes, for the other person's sake, but especially for Christ's sake, so that he may be praised.

Sometimes we may not immediately announce that forgiveness, though. We may first need to help the other person understand how he caused offense so that he can repent and believe in the forgiveness that is his. This prepares a person to receive the gift of forgiveness that has already been won by Christ.

Again, when we look at this fourth "G," we see it as having Christ at the front and center. He is not just our model but he is the one who makes true reconciliation happen. If it wasn't for his forgiveness won on the cross, we wouldn't be able to forgive others.

To me this has become a lost art. It is something that I have so often failed at. It is something that is foreign even to me as a pastor. If I have been hurt, I want to hurt back. If my reputation has been ruined, I want to ruin the other person's reputation as well. If I want to get my way and make the other person do what I want them to do, there is no better leverage than a past sin. As sinful human beings, these are the things that we hold on to.

Jesus' disciples asked him, "How many times should we forgive our brother who sins against us, seven times?" Jesus replied. "Not seven times but 70 times seven times."

Isn't it wonderful that, no matter how much we sin, our Lord Jesus forgives us? No matter how stupid we are and no matter how many times we slip back into our old ways, our Lord Jesus still died on the cross for us.

As you finish up your Lenten season and look forward to Easter, look to that cross for the answers, look to the Lord Jesus who has saved you from your sins.

The Rev. Jeremy Klaustermeier is pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church in Warrenton. He writes a column about religious matters for the Journal.

2008-02-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

Throughout the last two installments of this article I have been talking about the four G’s of reconciliation. Today we talk about the third “G” which is “gently restore”. The best way I can think of to do this is to tell you a story about myself as a pastor and how I messed up on this third “G”.

For the last few years I have been on a push of some sorts to get into contact and “deal” with inactive members of the church. I would call them and most of the time leave messages for them to call me back. Almost 100% of the time they wouldn’t call back. My next step would be to send a letter to them, explaining to them the “error” of their ways and how God wants them back in church. In the letter I would ask for a response from them once again, and once again almost 100% of the time I would get no response. At the end of this frustrating process I would send what as I look back on it now sounds more like a collections letter than a “loving” letter from the pastor basically telling them that I expected them in church soon and if they didn’t come to church or at least express their intention to do so soon, that their names would be dropped from membership roles.

You can probably guess that this approach was unsuccessful to say the least. Not only did these people not come back to church, but many were so offended and hurt by my “good intentions” that in their eyes and in the eyes of many of their family members my reputation was and still is ruined. I am no longer the loving pastor to them that they need. Instead I am the judging, hurtful pastor that they never want to see or speak to again.

Was I in the right? I guess you could say that I was. I was their pastor and it was my job to “take care” of them and I was doing what I thought was right. After all, they were the ones who weren’t coming to church. They were the ones who needed correction. Weren’t they?

What good did my self righteous actions do? They did no good at all. Why? Not because I wasn’t doing my job. I was doing my job. But I wasn’t doing it in a Godly, Christian, and loving way. I was being a self righteous critic and judge instead of being a loving and caring pastor.

If any of you that I have hurt by my words and actions are out there reading this today, I would love, more than anything, to come to you to talk with you and spend time with you so that I may confess my sins to you and so that God may reconcile us.

This is a perfect example of how NOT to gently restore. First of all I wasn’t glorifying God. I was instead trying to glorify the church and myself and at the same time put down and judge the person I was supposed to love and care for. There goes the first “G” which was to “glorify God” in conflict.

I also messed up the second “G” which was “get the log out of your own eye”. The person or family had not been coming to church for a reason. Maybe I hurt them by something I said or did. Maybe someone in the church or the church in general hurt them or in some way caused their inactivity. Yet my focus was on them and not on me or the church. I was looking at the speck in their eye and forgetting all about the log in my own eye.

Then, as if the first two weren’t enough, I totally messed up the third “G”. Instead of going to them personally and restoring them gently, speaking the truth in love and spending time ministering to them in their hurt, anger or temptation, I was more concerned about their worship attendance and how that looked on them and on the church.

Certainly I cared about them. I wanted them back in worship where they could receive the good news of the Gospel and His body and blood for the forgiveness of their sins. I wanted them to see that the longer they stayed away from church the more in danger they may be of losing their faith all together. I cared about them and frankly was worried about them. Yet I didn’t show that in my words and actions.

Can you see how my approach was more than a little off? I was writing letters instead of speaking to people personally. I was judging others without first judging myself. I was not going to them gently but in a spirit of judgment and criticism. Instead of offering support and forgiveness I was offering up ultimatums and deadlines.

Oh, I could justify myself all day long. After all, the church constitution says that a person can be considered “inactive” after only six months. I wouldn’t “deal’ with people till after at least a year and a half and even longer. After all wasn’t it my job to make sure that people were holding up their end of the bargain, fulfilling the vows they made at their confirmation? After all, I was “in the right” and they were “in the wrong”.

What good does justifying oneself do? No good at all. It is God who justifies the sinner. It is God who makes things truly “right” in us. Justifying myself only caused all sorts of walls to go up between me and the people God had placed into my care.

While it may be too late for some of the relationships I have done such a good job to mess up, I thank God that he has used some wonderful loving people to correct me and ring me around to a right, Biblical and loving way of thinking so that I will do a better job to restore future broken ones. I thank god that he has kicked me in the you know what, that he has brought me down to a place of severe humility so that He may lift me up again.

As you work on your broken relationships and as you gently restore the person you love. Remember that your goal is not to justify yourself, it is not to judge, but it is to reconcile, it is to forgive, and it is to help them to restore their relationship with God. If you go to restore the person you love without glorifying God and getting the log out of your own eye first, you will not succeed. If you want them to see their sins for all the wrong reasons, you won’t be successful. If you don’t do all these things out of the pure and genuine love of Christ, it won’t work.

It is my hope and prayer that out of my mistakes and failures some good might come. It is my prayer that you will use what I have learned to reconcile your relationships and bring everlasting peace.

2008-01-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

This past week I went to a workshop called “Coaching through Conflict”. In this workshop we were taught how to coach others as they work through conflicts with each other. Throughout the next few weeks I will share with you some of the things that I have learned, my “wisdom from on high” if you will.

One of the things that our workshop leader said that really struck me is that he never thought he would be at a seminary teaching pastors how to deal with conflict.much less teaching them how to coach others. I would imagine that much of the church conflict that we experience is due to the fact that pastors have not dealt with conflict in a right way, nor have we taught and coached the members of our churches on how to deal with conflict in the right way.

Throughout the next few months I will be giving practical, Biblical advice on how to work through conflict. It is important that we, as Christians, learn how to use conflict to share the Gospel with each other and so bring peace to our broken relationships in every area of our lives. For the benefit of this article we will call the art of reconciliation “peacemaking”.

Today I simply want to talk about the first “G” of peacemaking, “Glorify God”. When it comes to the conflicts in our lives too often we focus on our own needs, wants and desires. How can I get them to do what I want? They just aren’t listening to me. I need this. I want that. You get the idea.

Instead of focusing on our own desires or dwelling on what others may do, we need to rejoice in the Lord and bring him praise by depending on His forgiveness, wisdom, power, and love as we seek to faithfully obey his commands and maintain a loving, merciful, and forgiving attitude. Instead of focusing on our own needs and wants we should focus on what God wants in the situation. Notice I said what God wants, as what God wants may not necessarily be what the other person wants.

If God is glorified in a conflict the conflict will not be so much a problem as it will be an opportunity for genuine, real healing of souls to occur. What God wants is there to be peace and reconciliation in conflict. He wants the good news of His mercy and grace to be brought to bear on the lives of His people. He wants the relationship restored with each other so that the relationship with him can also be restored.

Our conflicts are not so much about the things we fight over as they are about the sin in our lives. Let’s face it, if there was no sin, there would be no conflict. Since there is sin, since there is a selfishness to us that we will never fully get rid of this side of heaven, there will always be conflict, not only between humans, but also between humans and God.

One very real way that we can glorify God is to recognize and realize the sin in our lives. Just as the first step in recovering from alcoholism is to admit that you are an alcoholic, so the first step in recovering from sin is admitting that you are sinner. Once you admit that to God, God is ready with arms open wide, to forgive your wickedness and remember your sins no more.

You can do this in your conflicts with others as well. You can glorify God by admitting your guilt in the conflict to the person with whom you have the conflict. Even if it is nothing more than how you reacted to what the other person did or said to you, you still have a part in the conflict. You still have sin to confess. The best way to begin to resolve a conflict then is to not only confess your sins to God but to confess them to the person against whom you have sinned.

Imagine this scenario. You have been fighting for months with your spouse about a bedtime for the kids. At times it has come to a shouting match. She thinks they should be able to stay up later. You think they should be in bed by 8pm. You have said some pretty choice words to each other. Now imagine that you go to them tonight and confess that you have said some really mean things to them and that you have shouted and yelled when you shouldn’t have. You also confess that you really haven’t been listening to her and only want your way for your own sake.

What would that do? Would it break down barriers that you have put up? Would it make way for a free flowing discussion where you could come to agreement? Would it heal a broken relationship?

I urge you throughout these next two weeks, till the next article, to think about all the conflicts you are having in your life and how you have been a big part of them. Confess your sins to God. Then go and confess them to your opponent. See what happens. This alone might just fix your relationship.

On the other hand, the other person might be stubborn and not ready to accept your new attitude and outlook. Be prepared for that. Realize that they have not had the same advice that you have had. The only thing you can control is what you do and say! And remember GLORIFY GOD!

2008-01-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

This past week my family and I did a lot of traveling. We went to Indiana for a wedding, from there we went to Minnesota to visit my family for our Christmas celebration, and then we drove back home to Warrenton. All in all it was a total of 27 hours on the road. It was a long trip, but nothing compared to the trip that the magi, also known as the wise men, took from the east to see Christ the king.

We don’t know exactly how old Jesus was when the magi went to see him. Many crèches (nativity scenes) have them seeing Jesus lying as the infant in the manger. We can figure that this probably wasn’t the case. There is really only one piece of evidence that points to this and that is that when Herod found out that the magi had not come back to report to him as they were asked he became outraged and ordered that all the males two years old and younger be killed.

In any case it was a long trip and one that these magi thought very important to make, for they were going to see the King of kings and Lord of lords. Even at that time, as the child of a poor carpenter and his young wife, Jesus was so important that three very important astrologers, wise men, some even call them kings, would travel such a long distance to see him.

This is what Epiphany is all about. Epiphany is a season, celebrated in many Christian churches, during which the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. The stories we focus on at this time of year are the visit from the magi; his baptism at which the voice from heaven, the Father, calls him his beloved son; his first miracle of turning water into wine; and we end it with all with his transfiguration, the time that he went up to the mountain with his disciples Peter, James and John and had a meeting with Moses and Elijah and was transfigured so that he shined with the brilliance and glory of heaven.

All of these events show the importance and glory of Jesus They show us that he was more than just a man who had somewhat of an impact on the earth. They show him to be who he really is, our God and our Savior.

The question is who is he to you? Is he just a guy that you simply go to when you need him? Is he someone that you are trying to appease so that he likes you more? Is he someone that you think about every once in a while when you get the “feeling”? Or is he the Lord and God of your life?

He should be our God and Lord, but he isn’t all the time, is he? We don’t think about him all the time. Our attitudes and actions are not always based on his will. Our life doesn’t always revolve around him. We fail all the time, every day.

My friends, that is exactly why he came in the first place. He came for us. He came to take our place. He came to be the guy that always had the right thoughts, actions, and attitudes for us. He came to provide the perfect love that we couldn’t provide. He came to give the perfect sacrifice that we couldn’t give. He came to be Immanuel (God with us).

For all this it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him. He doesn’t require it of us for our salvation. We don’t obey him to be saved. We obey him because we are saved. Our Christian life becomes one of thanksgiving and praise because Jesus came to earth to save us and because WE ARE SAVED by his precious blood and righteousness.

Throughout this Epiphany season listen to and reflect on the stories of Epiphany. Through His Word, allow him to reveal himself to you as he really is, your God, so that the peace that goes above and beyond all understanding might keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, all the way to your eternal life!

2007-12-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

Today’s article is going to be about conflict. I know it is getting really close to Christmas and we should be talking about all that is peaceful and good and we should avoid conflict completely, but with all the getting together with relatives that you don’t particularly care for and all of the added tension that the holidays bring, there will be added conflict. What I want to do today is give you a Biblically based and very sound way of how to deal with conflict.

It comes from Matthew 18:15-17 which reads, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Now, the thing about all this is that there is an overriding factor called love. Jesus tells us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” If love is not the motivation of the action laid out in these verses, it will never work. You will be seen by your brother as someone who is judging him, someone who hates him, or someone who is out to get him. The motivation has to be love.

If you go to your brother with hatred and/or anger in your heart against him you will not have healing but will only cause more bitterness and conflict. On the other hand, if you go to your brother out of love and compassion for him wanting only what is best for him, the outcome will be much different. Love always thinks of the other person first.

When we talk about these actions laid out in these verses we must also know that they must be carried out in humility with gentleness and respect. Jesus tells us that we must first take the plank out of our own eye, before we should even try to take the speck out of our brother’s eye. This means that we always need to confess our own sins first. Saying “I’m sorry” for what you did or said first will make all the difference. If you go thinking that you are totally in the right and he is totally in the wrong, as the Bible says, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” We must always be willing to admit our own faults first.

The last thing to remember is forgiveness. In the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to forgive us our sins (trespasses) as we forgive those who sin against us. In essence, we are saying that we want God to forgive us as much as we forgive others. Do you want God to only forgive you for some of the times you have sinned? Do you want him to forgive you only after you have paid the price for your sins? Do you want him to make you suffer for what you did? Well, then why would you make others suffer, withhold forgiveness, or treat your brother any differently than God treats you? The disciples asked Jesus, “How many times should we forgive our brother, seven times?” Jesus answered, I tell you not seven times, but seventy times seven times.”

In this season, we must always remember why Christ came to earth in the first place. It was to forgive sinners. It was to break down the dividing wall of hostility between us and God. It was to get rid of the conflict that sin put between us and God. Christ became our mediator, he became our sacrifice, he became our redeemer so that the conflict would be resolved. And it was! Praise God that he sent His Son, Jesus Christ to resolve our conflict. Praise God that he has given us good rules to follow in resolving our conflicts with each other. Praise God that we are redeemed sinners forgiven by Christ!

2007-11-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

This coming Sunday begins the season of Advent in many of our Christian churches throughout the world. Many of you know it by those little Advent calendars on which you count down the days till Christmas. The word Advent literally means “getting ready for a coming” or “preparing for an entering into existence”. While we could use those phrases, Advent sounds so much better, cleaner, and neater.

In essence though, Advent is a kind of microcosm of all of life, isn’t it? I mean, aren’t we always getting ready for the return of Christ? Aren’t we always preparing for him to come? Maybe we are, but then again maybe not.

Are you ready for Christ to come? I don’t mean as a baby in a manger at Christmas. I mean as the eternal ruler and judge over all the world, as either the Savior or judge of your soul. Are you ready for him and for that? Why or why not? What makes you ready?

Simply put, it is faith that makes you ready. It is faith in Christ Jesus that saves, nothing more and nothing less. What I am trying to say is that if you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you, then you are ready. You are ready for when the bridegroom returns to enter the banquet feast. You are ready when the trumpet sounds. You are ready to make that entrance into life eternal.

As a pastor I so often have to be there and help people when they are in their worst distress. One comment I often get is, “I am not sure if I am going to heaven. I don’t know if I am good enough.” The answer I always give often seems a little bit to simple. At the same time it is the only answer I know. I first ask them, “Did Jesus die on the cross?” If they answer yes, then I ask a second question, “Did he die for you?” If they answer yes to this second question then I simply say, “Then you are saved and you are going to heaven.”

If you spend your whole life wondering whether you are saved or not, what good is that for you? If you spend your whole life trying to be good enough and never succeeding what will your life be like? It will be full of distress, anger, resentment, and despair.

If you live your life as Christ want you to, as his forgiven, redeemed, and saved child you will have peace in your heart even when there is no peace in the world. You will have peace because you know that Jesus’ death on the cross was for you.

As you begin this season of Advent on Sunday, please know that your sins are forgiven so that this time before Christmas can be a joyful time for you. When you get to Christmas and you have your loved ones all around you, thank God that he sent His one and only Son to be born in that barn for you and for them! The peace of Christ that comes from the knowledge of your salvation go with you all your days!

2007-11-12T07:42:00.001-08:00

It seems as though our world is full of worry today. We worry about the price of oil and how gas prices may soon be $4 a gallon. We worry about our greenhouse gas emissions and how we are ruining the atmosphere for future generations, how in essence our actions are destroying the world. We worry about our economy. As I listen to the news I hear that the dollar is getting weaker and weaker. While I don’t quite understand what that means, I know it is not good. We worry about our kid’s future whether they are going to be alright. We worry about our own future whether we are ever going to be able to retire. We worry about the bills that seem to keep piling up. There is no end to our worry. After one thing is settled in our minds another pops up. After God takes care of one problem another one is right there to replace it.

What is it that makes us worry? Why, after God has promised us that he will care for us and give us what we need, do we continue to worry day and night? Why, when we know that our lives are safe in God’s hands, do we seem to forget that very fact?

Let me tell you why. We all have a sinful nature. Because Adam and Eve lost the image of God, and we are children by birth of Adam and Eve, we too have lost that image. We have the curse of sin upon us through our conception and birth not to mention our actions, thoughts, words, and deeds.

Therefore, because we are sinful and do not have the complete image of God in our human nature, we are unable to live perfect and, as some of my Christian friends from another denomination would put it, “obedient” lives. If we were able to live obedient lives, if we were able to “obey the Gospel”, then we wouldn’t have need of a Savior. We would be able to get ourselves to heaven because we would be considered perfect.

Yet, since we are not perfect, we continue to fret about things over which we have no control. We continue to think that we are actually in control of our own lives when we should know full well that we are not. Sure we can make the money. Sure we may have certain talents. But what if God would take that all away? Would we still be okay? Would we still have peace, or would we lose it?

As human beings created by God we need to be able to say every day, in good times and bad, as David said: “From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.” We need to be able to say as Paul says, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” We need to be able to trust in what Christ says: “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me”, or when he says, “Behold, I am with you always to the very end of the world.”

What happens when you put your trust and your confidence in the things of this world or in your own abilities? Your confidence is lost. Your trust is broken. Your hope is gone.

On the other hand, what happens when you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Your confidence is strengthened. Your strength is renewed. Your hope is restored. Your faith is sure! You have that peace that no one can understand!

Thanksgiving is only a week away. Although it is a national holiday it is also a day, as every day is, to count your blessings. Wherever you might be and whatever you might be doing, count those blessings, especially the one that is your Savior Jesus Christ, the biggest blessing of all. As you count them, watch your cares and worries melt away and a peace overtake you that comes from the knowledge that everything is going to be alright because of what Christ has done for you on the cross and where he will take you at life’s end! Give thanks in peace! Amen!

2007-10-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been reminded of your shortcomings? I sure have. In fact, as I try to lead a congregation of 475 souls, I am constantly reminded of them. Just about everyone in my congregation knows that I am very forgetful. Not to make excuses, but when you come to me on Sunday morning five minutes before worship is about to start and you tell me to call you on Thursday at 8:14 am, don’t expect me to remember that.

The other day though, my forgetfulness went way too far. I was supposed to pick up the junior high kids after school so that they could come to church for bell practice. I was even reminded twice by one very faithful, loving, and worrisome mother. In the meantime, I got another church member’s concerns on my brain, went to see him, and totally forgot all about those ten or so kids that I was supposed to pick up.

There was also that one time, where a church member called me to inform me that another church member was in the hospital. As soon as I hung up the phone, my daughter, who was two at the time, started screaming and I had to attend to her, then I had another phone call, plus it was supper time so my mind was where it always is, on food, and before you know it, that church member in the hospital totally slipped right out of my mind.

A couple weeks ago I was supposed to do chapel at Lutheran High School in St. Charles. I didn’t forget that I had to do it, but I remembered the wrong day. I was supposed to be there on a Wednesday and, for some reason, I don’t know why, I thought it was Thursday. I even had it written down in my appointment book.

Every day, somewhere along the line, I find myself worrying about someone I have forgotten to call or to go and visit or some appointment I have missed. It is way too often that I have that sneaking suspicion that I forgot to do something.

In this little way, and in so many other ways, I am reminded daily of my sinfulness. I have never really had a problem with saying that I am a sinner in need of forgiveness, because the sin is way too prevalent and forthright in my life for me to ever miss it.

Paul says the same thing when he says in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.” In Romans 7:18 Paul continues by saying “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good , but I cannot carry it out. Actually from verse 14 all the way to the end of the chapter is a good thing to read over and over again.

As it is though, verse 24 is the one that gives me comfort. It says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What this says to me is of greatest comfort, especially after I have had a terrible week, after I have said some mean things, after I have complained a little too much, and after I have forgotten the fourth appointment of the week. It says to me that there will be a rescue from this overweight body and this forgetful mind. It says that there will be a deliverance from all of the times that I said I would do better next time and still failed when next time came. There will be a time when I will throw off this old sinful nature that I housed in this sinful body and exchange it for my new perfect and sinless body in paradise.

This same promise is for you as well. If you have come to realize that no matter how hard you try, you still fail. When you finally come to notice that you can’t do everything, be everyone’s go to guy, or even control yourself. Then you can finally begin to realize that you are a forgiven and redeemed child of God. Then you will have real peace that doesn’t spoil or fade away! Peace be with you all in Christ!

2007-09-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

The longer I am a pastor, the more I worry about the future of the Christian church. One of the biggest stressors in my life is to work on ways to keep church attendance and church membership growing. Just about every day I get something in the mail telling me that they have the secret to growing my church and that if I just attend this or that conference and do this or that program, my church is sure to grow. At the same time, often location has a lot, if not everything, to do with it.

Still our churches should be growing at least a little bit, just as Warrenton is growing. The problem is that they aren’t. Instead they are declining in membership and worship attendance. And when I say “they” I mean all Christian churches in general. If you look at any census of any major denomination you will notice that the majority of them are declining.

Why? Why are we declining? Why aren’t our churches busting at the seams? Why aren’t we having to add worship services instead of taking them away for lack of attendance? Why are so many churches struggling to keep their doors open because of finances?

I have a few answers to this question, but only one main one that I would like to share with you all today. It is because over the past couple of decades we have failed our youth. I am not saying that we haven’t tried to do everything possible to keep them interested in church. No, we have done that to a fault. We have employed every possible means of entertainment and attention grabbing devices and ploys to keep our children’s attention at church.

What I am talking about is that we have failed to teach them the utmost truths of Christ and the theology of the cross as it has been laid out for us in the Scriptures. We have worked hard at keeping the kids in church for the church’s sake instead of for Christ’s sake. For many churches including my own at times, it has been enough for us to get them into the doors, while we often don’t really care about what they believe or how their lives are affected by what they believe. We don’t care what they know about Christ. We simply want the kids to be in the church building and somehow maybe they will learn by osmosis or something like that.

As long as I have been in ministry, which is about 12 years all together now, I have seen a lot of well meaning parents, youth directors, and even pastors entertain the youth of the congregation just to keep them interested in church. Then, as soon as there is something important to teach them and it requires a lecture or a lesson, or something gets “boring”, or they aren’t entertained like they want to be, they leave, or at the very least, continue to whine and complain to their parents about forcing them go to church or forcing religion down their throats. The parents in turn, out of frustration, give in to their kids or use the copout that they want their kids to decide whether they want to go to church or not or how much they want to be involved, which is usually not at all.

It is hard to be something you are not. The church is not an entertainment venue, so when it tries to be it may succeed for a while but eventually it will fail to keep people interested. It is not a full service store where everyone will get all of their wants met, notice I said wants not needs. So, if a person is going to church to get a certain want met, they may get it met, but then when their want is filled and they have another want, and that one isn’t filled, they move on to the next church that can fill that want, and so on and so forth. Do you get my drift?

My point in all of this is that we need to be about the business that Christ gave us in the first place, which is very simple. Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and behold I will be with you to the very end of the age. ”

We, as the Christian church, can’t be in the business of keeping people interested in the church for the church’s sake. Because then it is nothing but an empty knowledgeless religion based on feelings and what I want from day to day. The church needs to be about the business of making disciples of Christ for Christ’s sake, teaching them and baptizing them, so that the body of Christ may be built up and we all may be in heaven together on the last day. We especially need to be about this business with our young people so that they can grow up in a good relationship with their Lord and Savior as they go through their most difficult years.

To this end, St. John’s Lutheran Church has started a before and after school program, which focuses its attention on the spiritual welfare of each of the children who attend this program. The program is called Kingdom Kids. It is not just a babysitting service but also a program that teaches kids all about Jesus and helps them to grow in their relationship with him in many ways. If you would like more information about this program, please call our church at 456-2888!

Always remember this verse, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Peace to all!

2007-08-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

When tragedy strikes, are you prepared? Do you have all of the things you need to deal with tragedy? What do you need when tragedy hits you or your family? What is it that you need?

These past few weeks have shown us a lot of tragedy. First we had a bridge collapse after which they still haven’t found all of the people who were on the bridge. Then we had a mine collapse, and again, as I write this a week later, they still haven’t found the people trapped in the mine. Then, after that, two sweet little kids drown in a pool. Today there were hundreds killed in car bombs and roadside bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq. I just visited a family at Cardinal Glennon whose first baby died from SIDS, whose second baby developed an illness and almost died, and whose newest child was recovering from viral meningitis. I could go on and on, and the longer I live, the more tragedy I see. It never goes away and it never becomes less.

So, I go back to the question, what do you need to deal with tragedy? Well, I can answer that question with one word. I bet you already know the answer. It is JESUS.

When it all comes down to it, the only real, true, and lasting hope comes from Jesus. And I’m not talking about the hope that you can be like Jesus some day, or the hope that if you are as good as Jesus was and, “obey the Gospel” like Jesus did, that you can be saved. What I’m talking about is the never failing, all availing, grace of God that comes through and because of the suffering, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

How many times have you failed today? If you were to put your trust in yourself, don’t you suppose that you would eventually let yourself down so much that you would run out of trust and hope? Just because you tell yourself over and over again that you are a good person, doesn’t mean that you are. Even if you are a Christian, you still aren’t perfect! Where’s the hope in that?

There is someone who was perfect. There is someone who has kept all the law and the prophets. There is someone who has fulfilled all his promises. There is someone who will never leave you or forsake you. When you fail yourself and all of those around you, the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t fail you!

He said he would suffer and die for you, and he did. He said he would rise again, and he did. He said he would ascend into heaven, and he did. In fact, everything that he said he would do, he did! Can you say that? Can you promise that? When tragedy strikes can you find peace within yourself? Can you find peace in anything in this world?

Let me ask you this question; why does tragedy strike in the first place? It strikes because this is an imperfect world. If it was perfect everything would always go right. Tragedies happen because of sin. Our Lord tells us that the wages of sin is DEATH. In the same passage, actually the very next verse, it says that “the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The best example of this is Job, whose hope was not in his things, his family, or his own life. His hope was solely situated in the Lord God. His famous saying, which we use time and time again is very clear. “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!”

There is so much more that I could say about this. The main thing I want you all to understand is that the only hope for this world is Jesus! There is no other real hope! Trust in him, believe in him, have faith in him, live in him, and have eternal life in him!

2007-07-26T21:34:00.001-07:00

In the past few weeks a lot of Protestants have been up in arms about what the Pope said about other denominations. Frankly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about.

The Roman Catholic Church has been saying that their church is the only true church since the beginning. In fact, up until the reformation, the Roman catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church were really the only two ‘Christian” churches in the world. Then came the reformation, which caused a wide variety of divisions and splits among Christianity all of which claimed that they were right.

Yet, even before that, yes since the beginning of the Christian church, there have been divisions and disagreements. Acts and the Epistles are full of accounts of disagreements between Judaizers and those who would not have Christians follow the Jewish way of thinking. There were disagreements about the Lord’s Supper, about Baptism, as well as many other things.

To think that we all can agree on everything is ludicrous. We will never agree on everything on this side of heaven. We will never come to an agreement about how we should baptize, when we should baptize, or even what baptism does for us. We will never agree on whether the whole Bible is true or just parts of it. In connection with that, we will never agree on how to interpret Scripture either. We are so close and yet so far apart.

Now, I am not saying that this is all right. I wish for and long for the day when we can all agree on every matter of faith. It would be the most awesome thing in the world if we could all come together as one in theology and in practice. Still, as long as there are human beings in these church and a part of these churches, I am afraid that this will not happen.

Even within our own church bodies, from Lutherans, to Roman Catholics, to Presbyterians, to Methodists there are constant struggles and disagreements. The LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) of which I am a member, just had a convention. Not one of the motions that were voted on received a 100% vote. While this may seem like a terrible thing, it really isn’t. It just shows that we all come from different places and times, have different views on things, and will never agree on everything. I’m not saying that it is good that we can’t ever agree or that it is ideal, but it is just the way it is among sinful human beings.

This shows another reason for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior of the world. If we were all perfect, which we aren’t, we would all agree on everything, because we would all have the same mind, the mind of Almighty God. Since none of us is perfect, and since we are all fallible human beings, we will always disagree.

At the same time, getting back to the beginning point, we do have different belief systems based on our best understanding of things. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod bases its beliefs solely on the Scriptures as they have been set out for us in the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. We also believe that Scripture interprets Scripture, which means that if we don’t understand something in Scripture the only way to figure it out is to read the rest of Scripture to come up with the answer.

The Roman Catholic Church has as its authority the Scriptures and church tradition which includes an infallible Pope. In other words, if they don’t understand Scripture they go to the Pope for the answers.

They believe they’re right. We believe we’re right. And you believe you’re right. If this weren’t the case we wouldn’t need all of these different churches now would we? We would all be one big happy Christian church.

While we long for this and continue to work toward this, the likelihood of this happening is very slim on this side of paradise. Therefore we eagerly await our full adoption as true sons and daughters of the king into our heavenly inheritance that is heaven where there will be no more divisions, wars, famine, plague, or any other consequence of sin. Come quickly Lord Jesus! Come quickly!! Amen!

2007-07-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Over my six years of being a pastor there have been a few things that I have learned. One of the most important things that I have learned is that the Gospel is a much better motivator than the law is. It is much easier to catch flies with honey.

What I mean by this is that, if you want to conform someone to the will of God and have it be for the right purposes, you have to persuade them with the love of Christ that flows through your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This can be applied to just about any and every situation in life. If you want your spouse to be kind to you, to respect you, and to show love to you, treat her with kindness, love, and the peace of the Lord. If you treat her with contempt, with scorn, or as someone to just be there for your every whim, you won’t get very far.

It can be applied to your kids as well. I learned this with my daughter Cara. If I start to yell at her when she isn’t doing what I want her to do, she immediately shuts down and goes into crying mode, or she is rebellious to the point of sitting down on the ground and pouting. At the same time, if I treat her with respect, if I tell her why it would be good for her to do what she is told, and if I show her the love of Christ as I am telling her, she will gladly do it most of the time and we will both be pleased.

This also works very well in talking with others about Christ in so many various forms. You can either go up to someone and accuse them of their sin by calling them a sinner, or you can show them that you are sinner too, that both of you need a Savior, and that God sent his Son Jesus to save both of you by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

This also works well in getting people who have strayed from worship and fellowship to come back to church. It doesn’t work to make them feel guilty and ashamed of not being there, that just drives them further away. It also doesn’t work to accuse them of their shortcomings over and over again. What does work is to share Christ with them, over and over again, letting them know how much you care for them, how much you want to have them back with you, and spending time with them, kind of like Christ did with “sinners” like the Samaritan woman, the tax collectors, and others.

Truth be told, I have had to learn most of these lessons the hard way. I have tried to guilt people into doing things. I have tried to yell my kids into submission. And I have tried to use the law to motivate people into doing what I want them to do. It just doesn’t work.

Not that I have achieved the ideal yet. I still get a little too forceful with my kids from time to time. I still bring out the guilt card with members of my church a little too often. And I still try to use the law to bring about results. Please forgive me God.

My point is that if we are to grow our churches, if we are to bring about love and peace in our families, if we want to heal broken relationships and make new ones, we need to do it with the fruits of the Spirit namely: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

At the same time, this isn’t something that we can necessarily “work” on. Instead these things come as a direct result of our growing understanding of God as he has made himself known to us through his word and sacraments. In other words, to change our habits, to change our attitudes, and to change our perspective we must rely on the one who changes us, namely the Holy Spirit.

This is what worship is for. In worship we confess our sinfulness and receive the forgiveness that our Lord Jesus won for us on the cross. You receive His Word through your ears as the pastor preaches the sermon, as you hear people read from God’s Word, and as you sing hymns that contain his word at every point.

This is what Bible study is for. In Bible study we learn all about God and who he is and how he deals with us, we also learn from him how we are to treat one another and grow with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is what daily devotions are for. In daily devotions are minds are turned from the every day worries of the world to the serenity and peace that can only be found in Christ. In prayer we have a conversation with our Lord God, and who better is there to talk to than him?

If we spend time daily in these things, and rightly learn from God’s Word we will definitely see a change in all of our relationships. We will also see a change in ourselves.

One thing I do wish though is that I would have learned these lessons a long time ago, that way I wouldn’t have messed up so many relationships and spent so much time trying to fix what I had messed up.

I encourage you all to learn from my mistakes. Live a life of love, not sappy all accepting love, but true Christian love that flows from a pure heart that has been cleansed by the blood of the lamb. God go with you as you grow in, by, and through him!

2007-06-21T14:56:00.001-07:00

I don’t know about all of you, but I am sick and tired of all this namby-pamby, touchy- feely Christianity that is out there. It seems like everywhere I turn nowadays all anyone wants to talk about is feelings and attitudes. There is not much talk about theology, the Bible, or absolute truth. There is not much discussion about standing up for what you believe in and actually saying that other people might be wrong. It is considered intolerant and even at times bigoted or evil to express your faith in a real and concrete manner. It frustrates me to no end when I hear people, who call themselves Christians, say things like “Aren’t we all going to the same place anyway?” Or, “My God is no better or worse than their God.” Or, “it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere about it.”

Come on people! Was Jesus ever like this? Did Jesus ever say, “It is all right if you believe in Mohammed instead of me, or that you don’t believe that I am God, or that you don’t believe that I rose from the dead, as long as you are sincere in what you believe, it’s all okay”? NO! He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.” He also said that “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.”

How did we get to the point where a Christian can’t stand up for his true beliefs without being criticized or slandered? Well, sorry to say, most of the problem lies with Christians themselves. We have become too concerned with what people think of us. We don’t want to offend anyone so we water down our Christianity so that it sounds and looks the same as every other religion. When attacked, we back down instead of fighting.

When I watch most of the T.V. preachers out there, at least the ones I am familiar with, I could be watching a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, or an Atheist, and I wouldn’t know the difference. Everyone sounds the same because they are all about helping yourself, or about making yourself feel good, or about the most popular thing for the day.

Very seldom do you hear a T.V. preacher, with the exception of the likes of Billy Graham, talk about the saving work of Jesus Christ. It is all about how you feel and how to feel better, when it should be about how you are a sinner and how God saved you from your sin by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for you.

People are dying without knowing what Jesus has done for them and all we can talk about is how to make our own lives better with more money, a better career, or a more successful life, come on! It is time to get our heads out of the sand and start preaching the pure Gospel again! It is time to forget about what people think of us or the successes that we do or don’t have and start thinking instead about how the Holy Spirit can work through us to bring souls to him through the Gospel!

Quit being a namby-pamby, touchy-feely, emotional, self serving Christian and start serving others by giving them what they really need, Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. If they are sinning, and you know it, tell them, even it means hurting their feelings.

Don’t tell them that whatever they are doing is alright, as long as they aren’t hurting anyone else. There is no such thing as a sin that doesn’t hurt anyone, because every sin hurts God!

Instead, tell them that what they are doing is against God’s will according to what He says in the Bible. Tell them, that you love them but that you can’t stand to see them hurting themselves and God like they are. Tell them you don’t want to see them lose their faith because of what they are doing. Then, when they are finally listening to you and heeding your words, tell them the true and certain good news that Jesus died on the cross for them and that their sins are forgiven.

I think one of the reasons that we tend to see less and less men in church is because of this emotional, feely Christianity that so many have grown accustomed to. If we want to regain the Christianity of our forefathers, if we want to rise up again as brothers and sisters in Christ, then we need to stop worrying about feelings and start looking to the truth of God’s Word and the true help and salvation that is offered there. God bless us as we rely on God to guide us into the way of truth! Amen!

2007-06-11T15:38:00.001-07:00

A lot of advances have been made over the last ten to twenty years in the areas of anxiety and depression. There are tons of wonderful medicines out there that can help someone who is dealing with these issues. Counselors, therapists, and psychologists are continually working on news ways to work with people who are clinically depressed or have anxiety disorder. Still, it is disheartening and discouraging to me to see how many within the Christian church still don’t have a clue about these disorders that have been affecting the lives of millions of people since the fall of Adam and Eve.

I used to not understand these issues either. If someone would talk about being clinically depressed or having anxiety issues and panic attacks, I would say things like, “Why don’t they just take a deep breath and stop worrying”, or “Just stop it”, or “Trust in God more”, or even “Maybe if you work on strengthening your faith you will be able to conquer these problems you are having.”

Then, in January 1995, something tragic happened. A fellow teacher of mine and a person with whom I shared a classroom and coached basketball committed suicide. We found out later that he had been clinically depressed for quite sometime and hadn’t been taking his medication. I didn’t quite understand it. I blamed myself. I was angry at him. None of it made any sense. If he was just depressed why didn’t he just do something to make it so he wasn’t? It bothered me for quite some time until I learned more about what it actually meant to be clinically depressed or to have an anxiety disorder.

Many of you reading this today have some sort of ailment. Maybe it is high blood pressure. Maybe it is diabetes. Maybe you just can’t see as well as you used to. What if I told you people with high blood pressure to just calm down and lower your heart rate? What if I told you people who have diabetes to just have more faith and that will lower your blood sugar. What if I told you people who can’t see that you don’t need glasses, you just need to work on your eyesight?

It doesn’t make sense, does it? While we are still learning a lot about depression and anxiety, we do know that in the majority of the cases it is not simply external factors that are the cause. Most of the time there is a mix up and a mess up in the chemical reactions of the brain that cause one to be clinically depressed or have anxiety disorder. Hence, it is really a physical problem not just something that can be relieved by simply taking a deep breath and counting to ten.

When I say clinically depressed, I am not simply talking about having a bad day once in a while. I am talking about a depression or anxiety that causes physical symptoms and a disorder that takes over and ruins your life even when everything seems to be going great; something you have no control over.

So how should we as Christians, forgiven for our own sinfulness and shortcomings, react to such a problem within our own family and loved ones? Well, one thing I have learned from past mistakes is that it is best not to give advice for something you don’t understand. Don’t tell them to pray more and it will all go away, but pray with them and for them. Don’t criticize them and tell them that their faith is just too weak. That will just bring them further down and make them wonder about their salvation.

Instead offer to help them find help. Assure them that it is okay to take medicines for this just as it is okay to take medicine for high blood pressure or diabetes. Offer to go with them or to take them to a counselor that will help them deal with their disorder and live with it, but know that it might not be something that ever goes away. I have had asthma since I was two. It hasn’t gone away, but I have learned to live with it and manage it.

Most importantly, assure them of their salvation. Let them know that even when they might not know what is wrong with them and even when they may be questioning God, God still loves them and Jesus Christ has still died on the cross for them.

In a way clinical depression and anxiety disorder are both great testaments to the helplessness we have in our humanity because of our sin. I’m sure those with anxiety and depression would just love to “snap out of it”, just like I would be forever grateful to the person who comes up with a cure for asthma to the point where I don’t have to take medicine anymore. At the same time we all have shortcomings, failures, and the consequences of sin in our lives. This shows us that we are who we are and God is who he is, and no matter how hard we try, we are never going to reach up to his heights, nor are we ever going to be able to bring God down to our level. We must rely on the mercy and grace of God to both get us through this life and take us to eternal life with him forever.

If you are someone with anxiety and/or depression I urge you to get help. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t think that you are weak or that you will somehow be “abusing” drugs if you are taking medicine for these or other disorders such as these. If you want you could even come and talk to me and I will try to counsel you the best I can, but most assuredly I will help you find the help you need, and I will pray for you and with you.

God’s blessings as you live under God’s grace and forgiveness in spite of all the things that you have to deal with in this world.

2007-05-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today I want to talk about these books that people have been suggesting to me saying, “Pastor you’ve go to read this”, or “I really like that book it really changed my life. I call them “self help books” although many would call them masterpieces of literature and words that change lives. They are huge in scope and number, but my problem is that they have even entered the realm of Christianity, and have sold millions of copies among Christians. I want to speak only about two of them today although there are literally thousands of them

The first one I want to talk about is called “The Secret”. It is a book that even Oprah raved about for quite some time. What it tries to sell to us is the law of attraction. It is very simple and it makes sense. If you are nice to people and do good things, you will attract nice people and good things all around you. If you are hard working and do your job well you will attract more clients, more business, and so on. Sounds pretty reasonable right? Not always.

What happens when you are doing all the right things as it says to do in this book and still nothing good happens to you? In other words, what if you are like Job who had everything he could want, and all was taken away from him even though he did everything right? Or what if you are like Solomon who had everything he ever wanted including all of the wisdom of the world and yet, was miserable after not following God’s will concerning foreign wives and false gods.

The next book is a book by Joel Osteen called “Live Your Best Life Now”. This one isn’t much different. Think positive thoughts, have A LOT of faith, and you can achieve and have everything you could ever want. Again it has a lot of good stuff in it. But you can tell from the first page on the book is nothing more than Norman Vincent Peale warmed up and put in a colorful package.

I know I am probably ticking off quite a few of you today, but you need to be aware of what you are learning. You may think I am a bit too critical, but I have to be critical of anything that can cause harm to a person’s soul.

I could continue to list so many of these books that are flying off of the shelves in Christian bookstores everywhere. I guess they are flying off of the shelves because, just like the books, we are self centered. And who doesn’t want to live their best life now, know the Secret to a successful life, and live a life with purpose to it.

My friends, the key to happiness is not how much worldly wealth you acquire, or how much good you can do, because you will always be in want of more. Instead of being self or human centered, as if we are the center and in control of the universe, we need to be Christ centered and cross focused so that, even in the midst of pain and failure, we can have peace and joy. The key to a successful life is a life spent in the grace, mercy, and peace of Christ, knowing that even in the midst of your failures and shortcomings you have nothing to fear, the pressure to perform and do everything perfectly and in righteousness towards God and fellow man is gone.

As Paul says, “Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with Go something to be grasped, but made himself NOTHING, taking the very nature of a servant.

The problem is that these books promise success, happiness, and prosperity, when they are in no way able to fulfill these promises. What happens when the average person does what these people tell him to do in these books and no earthly good comes out of it? What happens when all they get for their $25 they spent on the book is just $25 less in their checkbook? What happens when success isn’t all its cracked up to be and a person gets to the top and realizes how lonely it is up there?

Instead of empty promises of wealth and prosperity, we need to stick to the one who keeps his promises. I am talking about our Lord Jesus Christ, who promises that if we but trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus and his death and resurrection we will soon be with him forever in paradise. We need to stick to our goal of eternal life. When we stick to this goal through the power of the Holy Spirit our lives, no matter what the circumstance, no matter how much we have in the bank, how big and beautiful our house is, no matter what our health is like, no matter how many people we can gain as friends or influence along the way, our lives will be fulfilled in the grace, mercy and peace of Christ.

2007-05-21T11:59:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that this world just stinks! Everything about it stinks. A guy, out of his mind, shoots and kills 32 college folks. Another guy takes a hostage and kills him along with himself. Twenty people die in a car bombing in Baghdad. There are five people in my subdivision that are on the sex offender list. Wives and children are constantly being abandoned by selfish jerks who could care less about the child they helped to create as long as they get everything they want. People are starving all over the world and we throw more food away than we consume. The most popular people, at least as observed by Entertainment Tonight, are women who are having babies and then handing them over to their nannies to care for as soon as they can, all the while partying till they puke. These are the girls that our daughters are supposed to look up to? I think not! Or is it the rap artist who has been shot seven or eight times and survived? Oooo, he must be a tough guy. We better look up to him? Question, why was he in a place where he could get shot that much?

The next day I came to another conclusion. I am one of the luckiest people in the world. I have a wonderful, beautiful wife, two very good looking and above average kids (listen to Garrisson Keilor on "A Prairie Home Companion" to understand the above joke), if I do say so myself, a perfect job where I can, every minute of every day, talk about Jesus and his love, a wonderful support group of Christians all around me, and most importantly a faith that will see me through to eternity.

Did you catch what I did there? I showed the contrast between the world and Christianity. I clearly delineated what it means to live in the world but not of it. This is what it means to live the Christian life.

One of the best selling books to come out recently is called "The Secret". I haven't read it and I don't care to, because I am too busy reading the BIBLE which is really no "secret" at all. Yet, what I have heard about this book is that it gives you the "secret" to a "happy" life. The problem is that this book just assumes that the key to a happy life only includes money, fame, success, a good looking spouse, and a healthy body. Sorry, but if my happiness is connected at all to what I have on this earth without first relying on the mercy, grace, and peace of God, then all is lost and I will be the poorest, most depressed sap in the world.

I'll give you the real secret to being happy or to a life worth living, or living your best life now, or how ever you want to put it. Here it is! Are you ready? Do you have paper and pencil to write it down? "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. Now that you've heard it you realize that it is really no secret at all. All you have to do is open your ears and your eyes to the truth that is right before you in God's Word.

In the midst of a world that seems to be going downhill faster than an Olympic skier, in a personal life that will be full of ups and downs, you can be happy because you know that John 3:16 is completely true. You know that, because Jesus died on the cross, you will not die but live and proclaim what the Lord has done!

Sometimes as I am watching the late evening news I just sit there and cry. All I see and hear is one bad news story after another. Yet I have peace because I know that there will come a day when this world will end, and it is this peace that makes me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, appreciate all of the good gifts that God has given to me while I am here on this earth! I pray, out of sincere love for all of you, that you can and do know that peace and security as well, because I really want to see you in heaven with me someday! "The peace of God which transcends all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians. 4:7) Amen.

2007-05-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

What is evangelism? Is it simply inviting someone to church? Is it just getting them into the church building, and then whatever they do see, or hear is irrelevant? Is it taking care of someone’s needs either physical or emotional? What is this thing called evangelism? Well, the actual word comes from the Greek word euangelion, which means “good news” or even “Gospel”. Evangelism is “good newsing”.

Are we “good newsing” people by only doing the things listed above? Are we sharing the Gospel by helping people with their physical needs? The answer, very plainly, is no.

We need to define what we mean by “Gospel”. Again, we go back to the Greek word “which literally means, “good news”. Well then, what is the good news that we have heard from God? It is nothing less than “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Simply put, people need to hear this message and come to believe it, or they are going to hell.

The question we all have to ask ourselves in our own Christian lives and in our Christian churches is “Have they heard the Gospel from me/us?” Do they know that Jesus died on the cross for them? Are they going to be in heaven with us?

A church can be doing all kinds of good things, bringing thousands of people into the church through all sorts of programs, feeding thousands of people through charity, and providing all manner of programs to help people make their lives better, but if they are not bringing people to the saving work of Christ they are not doing what God has called them to do.

Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are good and the church should be doing all these good things. They should be feeding the hungry, clothing those who have no clothes, helping people who need help, being a comfort to those who need comfort, providing a safe place for children to go, and so many other things. But all of these things are done so that people will be more receptive to, hear, and believe the Gospel.

Almost every other religion does good things too. I have even heard of Satanist doing good things for others. Doing good things for people does not make us Christian. Believing that Jesus Christ came to earth, suffered, died, and rose again for us does. We reach out to the “least of these” so that we may show them Christ and what he has done for us.

As Christians, we need to be all about the good news. If it means inviting them to church so that they can hear the Gospel then so be it. If it means giving them a meal so that they listen to you tell them the good news, that’s good too. If it means that it changes your relationship with someone then so be it.

Are you sharing the true and unadulterated Gospel with people? Is your church? You might not be. I can tell you that I am not always telling people about Jesus as I should. At night when we go to bed we all must confess that we are not sharing the Gospel as we should. Then, after we have confessed, we should ask God, every night, to give us the power and the strength to be bolder tomorrow.

God has truly blessed us with the most wonderful message in the world. It is a message that gives people peace on their deathbed. It is the Gospel that can calm and comfort a soldier in battle. It is the good news that Jesus has saved us that can help in all times of trouble. Thanks be to God!

May God bless all those that we love, which should be everyone, even those that the world has deemed unlovable, with that same peace that comes from knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord!

2007-04-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Lately I have heard a few people talking about how to dress for church. While there are a lot of thoughts on this matter, and it may sound sort of trivial, it is not really a joking matter. I know a lot of people who have been afraid, embarrassed, or just plain didn’t come to church because of this issue. They think that they didn’t or wouldn’t “fit in”, or that every one would be looking at them.

The fact is that God does give us some instruction, especially to women, in the New Testament, about how one should dress. You might think it says that women should dress to the hilt with makeup, and their best, most expensive dress, and some nice jewelry, but it doesn’t. Instead it says, “I want women to dress modestly with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God.”

Really, it comes down to the heart. What does the way you dress say about you? Does it say, “I am a slob and I don’t care who knows it”? Does it say, “I am rich and successful and I want everyone to know it”? Or does it say, “I am a Christian and I am here to bring attention and worship the Lord God and not bring attention to myself.”

The truth is that God could care less what you wear to church if your heart is not there. You could wear the finest suit or dress known to man and if your heart is not with the Lord you might as well be wearing old dirty rags. Your outward appearance only matters to God if it matches your inward appearance.

On the other hand, when you go to visit someone you care about, you want to wear your best for them, don’t you? If you are going to visit the president would you wear sweat pants and flip-flops? If you were going on a date would you want to make the best impression possible? If you were invited to a friend’s house for dinner, wouldn’t you at least take a shower and put on clean clothes?

When you present yourself to God, your whole presence, both inwardly and outwardly, should be a presence of humility and worshipfulness. If that means a suit and tie then that is fine. If that means a polo shirt and khakis that’s, fine too. It may even be that it means clean sweat pants and a t-shirt, or shorts and a tank top, as long as the tank top doesn’t bring attention to you. The whole idea is that you are bringing glory to God and no attention to yourself, and that you are honoring God with what you are wearing.

The reality is that the only one we should be dressing for is God. We should dress as a witness and testimony to the honor we have for him. We should dress as if he mattered most in our lives. Isn’t this just common sense?

The problem comes, once again, in the “have to” versus the “get to”. Do I have to dress up? No! Do I get to dress up to bring glory to God? Yes! So the answer is, you should dress your best to bring honor and glory to God.

The other problem is that in a sinful world others may judge you according to what you wear. The question is does their judgment matter? The answer is, No! They have no business judging you. Only God can judge you.

So the best thing you can do is to dress so that you don’t bring attention to yourself, but that all the attention goes to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That, in fact, is the essence of what Paul is telling Timothy in the reading I mentioned earlier.

In short, a Christian’s motto should always be “To God all honor, praise and glory!”

2007-03-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

During this season of Lent we talk a lot about sin. But what exactly is sin? Is it something you do? Is it something with which you are born? Are there different categories of sin? Well, hopefully in the next few paragraphs, I will be able to answer some of these questions.

To find the answers to these questions, we only need to turn to one place and that is Scripture. In 1 John 3:4 we see John describing sin in this way: "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness."

Please understand that we are not simply talking about the law of the land, but the perfect, unadulterated law of God as he has set forth in the Old and New Testaments.

How did sin get into the world? Well, there are really two answers to this question. The first comes from 1 John 3:8 where it says, "He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning."

So sin came from the devil. On the other hand, as it says in Romans 5:12, "Sin entered the world through one man." How many kinds of sin are there? There are two kinds of sin, original sin and actual sin.

What is original sin? Original sin is that total corruption of our whole human nature that we have inherited from Adam through our parents. There is one verse especially that tells us this straight out.

Psalm 51:5 says, "I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

There are others that hint at this in one way or another. Romans 5:12 tells us that, "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." John 3:6 tells us that "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

This original sin has brought guilt and condemnation to all people, has left everyone without true fear and love of God, and causes everyone to commit all kinds of actual sins.

Actual sin is every act against a commandment of God in thoughts, desires, words or deeds. This is clearly taught in Matthew 15:19 where it says, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." It is also seen in James 4:17 where James tells us that, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

The way we confess it at St. John's Lutheran Church is that we have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. There are many actual sins that you commit each day, some without even knowing it.

The best verse is 1 John 1:8 where John tells us, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

You can see then, that once you look into the perfect word of God, you know that no one, not one person, can escape the ravages of sin. We are all sin damaged.

Yet, the next verse, 1 John 1:9 gives us peace, comfort and joy, because it also plainly tells us, "If we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Today I commend to you God's word as you search it out for the truth in your life. There is no hiding from God. It is time to look at yourself with all honesty and reality as you are a sinner. It is then time to look at Jesus for what he is: your Savior! Have peace, in Christ you are saved!

2007-02-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent in many churches. It is a time to humble ourselves by realizing our sinful states and our need for a Savior. On Ash Wednesday we "humble" ourselves by having a smudge of ashes placed on our foreheads to remind ourselves and others that "dust we are and to dust we shall we return."

We do it to show others that we are no better than they are, that we are sinners too, in need of God's forgiveness that comes to us through his Son's suffering and death on the cross. During Lent, we realize our sinfulness through the law so that we may rejoice all the more on Easter Sunday when we hear, "He is not dead, he is risen."

In my last article, I talked about the difference between the law and the Gospel. The law kills and destroys in that it shows us our sins and brings us to our knees in humility seeking forgiveness through the mercy and grace of God. We see this happen in Scripture. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah is before the God's throne when he realizes his sinfulness and falls with his face to the ground. He said, "Woe to me for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the Lord God Almighty."

In the New Testament, after Jesus provides the miraculous catch of fish to Peter and the other disciples, Peter realizes his sinful state and falls down on his face and says, "Move away from me Lord for I am a sinful man."

When Moses came down from the mountain after receiving the Ten Commandments from God, his face shown with the brilliance that could only come from being in the presence of Almighty God. When the Israelites saw this brilliance they exclaimed that it was too much for them and they asked Moses to cover himself when he came down from the mountain.

It is the same with us. When confronted with the magnitude and seriousness of our sin, our first reaction is to hide. Take Adam and Eve, a perfect example of the shame of sin. Immediately after they ate of the fruit of the tree of which they were not supposed to eat, they realized that they were naked so they hid.

In today's world, we think we can hide from God. We do things in secret, thinking that no one can see us, when God is right there beside us. We lie and deceive.

Even as Christians, we like to explain or excuse our sin away. Think of all the things you do wrong every day and how you justify it by claiming that you didn't have enough time, that it was a little mistake, that everyone else is doing it, or that it is an accepted practice in society. We do and say these things hoping to justify ourselves. But we know all along that we are only hurting ourselves and our Lord God.

As Christians, we need to confront sin head on, not on our own, but with the power of the Holy Spirit who works through the Scriptures. When someone is sinning openly and unrepentantly, we need to confront that sin so that the person may be saved. We don't do this in a judgmental way, but we "speak the truth in love."

If God's love is not in your heart when confronting another's sin, you will fail in your task of bringing that person to God for forgiveness. If you have not love you are "nothing but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

When we are sinning ourselves, we need to come clean, not only to the person or people we are sinning against, but most importantly to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As long as we continue to dismiss sin by saying things like, "It's not that bad," or "He is doing it too," or "The devil made me do it," we only hurt ourselves and the rest of the church.

When we are confronted with sin and feel the sheer despair that only the true and unadulterated law can bring, we need not remain in despair. We can find perfect comfort and peace in the Gospel.

Martin Luther went through this very thing. As a monk, he felt as though he was keeping the law perfectly. Because he kept it perfectly, he felt as though he was gaining his way to heaven.

As he read deeper into the law, he realized that the harder he tried and the more he worked, the more he failed and the deeper he fell into despair. He had no relief. He had no peace - until he realized what the Gospel was all about as he read passages such as Romans 1:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9.

In these passages, he discovered, "No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin" (Romans 3:20). He read a little further and found that there was "a righteousness apart from the law to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe" (Romans 3:21-22).

Through God's word, Martin Luther and millions of others before and after him came to realize their total reliance on God for salvation from first to last, because they couldn't rely on themselves any longer.

It is important that we keep the Law and the Gospel in balance in our lives. It is important that every day, as we are confronted with our sinfulness through the law, that we acknowledge it, confess it, and let the Lord Jesus kill it and remove it from you with the Gospel.

We cannot hide form the law, because no matter where we go or what we do God is there. He knows our very thoughts before they even come into our minds. We cannot excuse it away as being no big deal. We must deal with it face to face. It is how we deal with it that makes the difference. We must deal with it through the means of grace and forgiveness that our Lord God has given us.

I urge you to deal with your sin, so that you are not burdened with it any longer and that "The peace of God which is beyond understanding keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Amen.

2007-02-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

What is the law for? I'm not talking about the law as in the laws of the land - although they are based upon the laws to which I'm referring. I am talking about the law set before the people when God gave it to Moses on the mountain: the Ten Commandments. What are they for?

Many people throughout the world view these commandments as rules to live by. Yes, this is one reason we are to live by the law, but is that the only reason that God gave us the law?

What happens when you don't follow that law perfectly? What happens when you look at someone other than your spouse lustfully? For Jesus tells us that anyone who looks at another woman (not his spouse) has already committed adultery in his heart, thus breaking the third commandment. He also tells us that if anyone says, "Racca" (I hate you), to his brother, he has already committed murder in his heart. Or what about all of those times that you held money in higher esteem and with more value than you did the Lord? Didn't you break the commandment there as well?

Jesus tells us that if we break the commandments at just one point we are guilty of breaking all of it. What good are the Ten Commandments, not to mention the hundreds of other laws, if we don't follow them perfectly?

Well, back when I was in eighth grade confirmation class I learned it this way. The law acts as a curb, a mirror and a rule. It acts as a curb to keep you from straying too far from God and to keep you on track. It is the way that God has given to his people to keep from destroying themselves. The laws of our land are based on this point. They keep us from anarchy and total destruction. They are used to keep the peace.

The second use is as a rule. The verse from the Scriptures, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," has a good application here. The problem is that we would be in big trouble if we stopped there. We would be constantly depressed if this was where we stopped in our use of the law of God, because we would realize how much we fall short on a daily basis.

That leads us to the third use of God's law.

The law also acts as a mirror. As you look at yourself in the mirror and see all of your flaws and blemishes, so you can look at the law and do the same with all of your failures and spiritual blemishes. When you look at the law you can see all of the things that you did that you shouldn't have done: the evil thoughts you had, the things you failed to do and the evil words you spoke.

It is through this use of the law that you are driven to your knees in despair, seeking mercy, grace and forgiveness because you are helpless and hopeless to save yourself.

It is in this way that the law is good. It brings us literally and figuratively to our knees. It helps us to confess that we are poor, miserable sinners. It helps us to forego our pride and put our very lives in the hands of Almighty God who alone has the power to save.

This reminds me of Jeremiah 31:31-34, which I have used several times before, but I want to remind you of it again. In it God tells us that the time is coming when he will make a new covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the first covenant, which they broke. The difference in this covenant is that it will only be God who is responsible to keep the covenant. In this new covenant, he will forgive our wickedness and remember our sins no more.

In the old covenant under the law, God's people were responsible for keeping all of God's laws and commandments. When they broke the law, they were to offer sacrifices or "sin" offerings. This wasn't necessarily to pay for what they had done wrong or to appease God. It was to help them realize how costly and serious sin is. Too often, these sin offerings were not given with a penitential heart, but only in a dutiful manner, as a way to simply "pay" for sin and keep God off their backs. The offering lost its meaning and effectiveness. The sins remained and the people were dead in trespasses and sins.

Under the new covenant, the gospel, Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, has fulfilled all that we could not fulfill, and paid the penalty that we could not pay. He is the perfect sacrifice for us. He is the sacrifice that paid for all of our sins for all time. Therefore, instead of looking to our own superficial and meaningless sacrifices to appease God or to rid ourselves of sin, we look solely to Jesus, who "takes away the sin of the world."

I urge you, as you look at your life and measure it up to God's perfect law, and as you realize his command to "be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect," I pray that you come to the conclusion that you are totally lost and condemned.

Then, fall on your knees, and tell God you're sorry. Turn from your sin, knowing that your sins have been forgiven - not because of your confession and repentance or that you turned your life over to him and totally committed yourself to him. Rather, it is because of what Christ has done for you by living a perfect life, dying a perfect death, and rising victoriously over sin, death, the devil and hell.

"Then, the peace which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7)."

2007-01-29T22:13:00.000-08:00

What do you believe about Christ? An even better question might be, do you believe certain things "about" Christ, or do you believe "in" him? There is a difference.

A person can claim they believe Jesus was a man who died on a cross and rose from the dead. In fact, one can claim everything written in the Bible is historical fact. It is still a totally different thing to believe "in" Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. It is a totally different and more complex thing to believe "in" the totality of Scripture.

Many churches claim to be Christ-centered, even more claim to be "Christian," but how many of them claim to believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? How many claim to believe "in" Christ rather than just believe "about" him?

It all has to do with the relationship you have with him. I can believe my spouse is a good person and that she will do what is right because of the way she has acted toward me previously. It is another thing to rely on her and believe in her integrity to be a helper, companion and partner in life.

One comes from the knowledge of previous experience and the fact that she continues to be a good person. The other comes from a willingness to put my trust in her for my well-being and the well-being of my children.

On a much larger scale that is what faith is all about. You can have all the knowledge of all the facts that there are about the events and circumstances in the Bible and that can all be proven to be true in your mind. None of that takes any real faith. What takes real faith is when you put your complete trust in God for your well-being here on earth and, for that matter, your eternity.

Let me put it in even simpler terms. It is one thing that to know and believe Jesus died on the cross. This is a proven historical fact. It is totally another to believe this death on the cross was for you, for the forgiveness of your sins and for the saving of your soul from hell.

Say you are hanging off a cliff by your fingers. A man comes along who has the proper tools to save you. He lowers down the rope and says, "Grab on, I will pull you up." You know and believe he has the power to save you because you can see it in his hands. Still, it takes a big leap of faith to let go of the rock and grab the rope. In the end, you will grab the rope because you will eventually fall and die otherwise.

Faith in Christ is kind of the same way. Your whole life is like you are hanging from a cliff by one hand. The difference is you don't know it, or you think you can still pull yourself up with your own hands. Christ comes along with the tools, his very own body and blood, to save you. It just seems logical that you would, in the midst of your peril, let go of the rock and hold on to Jesus who is able to lift you up safely. Yet in your self-centeredness and pride you tell Jesus, "No thanks. I can make it on my own."

This is how the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature want us to think. Christ, on the other hand, wants us to simply let go of the cliff and hang on to him to be saved.

Once you start thinking in a truly Christ-centered manner, all of the pieces start to fall into place. You start to think and believe the world doesn't necessarily revolve around you, and you begin to realize there is a higher power involved in the world. You start to view the whole Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, in a Christ-centered way so even things like the fall of Adam and Eve, the flood, the rise and fall of earthly kings all point to the savior who is to come.

At the beginning of this article I made the analogy of how I believe in my wife. That analogy falls short in that from time to time my wife will let me down and even more so I will let her down. This is because she is a sinful human being just as we all are. When we put our trust in God, however, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will never be let down.

I urge you not to simply believe "about" God or even to believe God, but to believe "in" him. Put your trust in God to save you from sin, death, the devil, and hell, solely by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. I can assure you with all certainty that you will not be disappointed.

2007-01-29T22:05:00.000-08:00

We are well into 2007. Things are constantly changing. The computer I buy today may be totally obsolete tomorrow. What is hip and cool today is totally outdated and uncool tomorrow. Our moods change with the weather. Our feelings change with the seasons. Our emphases in life change just as much as the rising and setting of the sun.

Six years ago the emphasis of my life was to get done with the seminary, wait expectantly and worriedly for the birth of my first child and for my first call into the ministry. Today my emphasis is on raising two wonderful kids and leading a church through the first decade of the 21st century.

In the midst of the workaday world that chases after all the latest fads, we can be sure there is at least one thing that will not change.

The old saying goes, "We can be sure of two things, death and taxes." I would have to add one other thing, the Word of God. His promises are as sure today as they were when he promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Savior. His word is just as valid and as relevant today as it was the day he first breathed it into the ears of His inspired writers. His Law and His Gospel mean as much today as they did the first time they went into the ears of its hearers.

The problem is not God's Word as so many would like to say. It is not outdated and irrelevant. It is not wrong. The writers would not have changed what they said based on scientific hypothesis. God would not have changed his mind based on what a few people thought and said was true. It has never been based on the whims of men but on the steadfast mind and will of God.
No, the problem is not God for he does not change and he is perfect in every way. The problem is the sinful creatures who change on a minute-by-minute basis, whose very lives change like shifting shadows, whose moods change based on the barometric pressure. The problem is we are sinful creatures who cannot seem to simply take God at His Word. We want to have it our way, not God's way.

In an age of complete relativism, in an age of you believe what you want to believe and I'll believe what I want to believe and we're both right, we need to get back to an absolute truth. In an age of everyone saying what itching ears want to hear, the law, the commandments of God, need to be proclaimed and taught so we all know where we have fallen short and where we stand with the Almighty judge and know that we are all poor miserable sinners. We need to then proclaim the simple Gospel of God's grace that he gave through the death and resurrection if his Son, Jesus Christ so that people, in their despair over their sin, may be saved.

As this year bulldozes forward, and as your thoughts and moods change by the minute, trust in and hold fast to God's Word as it changes your life from the inside out. Trust in the promises of God which are the same yesterday, today and forever and which will save you for all eternity.

I urge you to read God's Word, the Bible, for what it truly is, God's Word and not necessarily what you want it to be. Peace go with you throughout this year.

2006-11-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

“How Much is Enough?”

As many of you know, our church has been involved in a process to gather information and to hear opinions about the starting of a Lutheran school at our church, called the Genesis Project. The process is now finished and we will have our final report in January.

One question that has come up because of and throughout this study, especially in my own mind, is the question, “How much knowledge of the Scriptures is enough?” Well, that’s a trick question, and an incomplete one at that.

First of all I have to ask, enough for what? If we are speaking of enough for salvation, one need look no further than one verse, or even one word, in the Bible, the verse John 3:16, the word Jesus. At the same time, we need to know what to believe about this guy Jesus. How many of you do?

On the other hand, if we are to answer that question in terms of enough to know about God, to learn his will for lives, or to grow in our faith and life, the answer is a little different. The Bible tells us all that we need to know about God. It tells us his will for our lives. It gives us the means by which we are able to grow in our faith and our life. In this case, there is never enough of learning the Scriptures.

On the first hand, we have everything we need for eternal life in the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord.

On the other hand, if that is all we ever learn throughout our lives, we will never grow from an infant faith. The writer of the Hebrews chastises his readers in this when he says in chapter 5:12 “In fact, though by this time some of you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s Word all over again. You need milk not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, still being an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

Unfortunately, as human nature shows very clearly, most people want the bare minimum. They want to know what they need and nothing more, to keep their heads above water, to keep from going to the hot place. Beyond that, interest seems to decline rapidly.

Did you know that the Scriptures clearly tell us how we should have voted on Amendment 2 this past Tuesday? Did you know that there are diet secrets in the Scriptures? Did you know that there are very clear and good instructions on how to have a happy marriage in the Bible? Did you know that there are tons of good, nonfiction, stories to read for entertainment in the Bible, take the book of Esther for instance? I bet there are a few of you reading this today who didn’t even know there was a book of Esther. Did you know that you can teach reading, writing, and arithmetic through and with the Scriptures? I don’t know about advanced calculus, but I think you get the idea.

The Scriptures are God’s Word to us. God didn’t simply dictate to the Apostle’s and prophets what they were to write, he put his Words in their hearts and wrote it on their minds.

Shouldn’t we want to know as much as we can about them and learn as much as we can from them? Shouldn’t we want to make it the basis for our life and not simply use it for one or two things and then put it on the shelf? We should be hungering and thirsting for God’s Word. We should be people who just can’t get enough of it, who can’t put it down.

Instead our lives are full of so many meaningless things. I say our, because I too often forget how important and useful the Scriptures are for me and for my life. I forget what Paul says to Timothy in II Timothy 3:14-16, where he says, “But as for you , continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. All Scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We forge the simple reality that if we want to know the truth we need to go where the truth is found.

I urge you, then, to go to that book shelf of yours and get that old Bible off the shelf. Don’t just start reading it. Pray beforehand. Have a study guide with you. Most importantly though, read it always knowing that it is all about Jesus Christ, from beginning to end. The whole Scriptures center around Christ. In other words read it all with Christ in mind.

I think I have mentioned before that I have several different Bibles for several different purposes. I have a daily Bible that I use for devotions. It goes through the whole Bible in one year. I have used it for the past ten years in a row. I also have a study Bible with many notes in it. I use that to prepare sermons and Bible studies. I also have several different translations so that I can sometimes check to see if what one translation says is different than the version I am reading. I also have a Greek New Testament and a Hebrew Old Testament so that I am able to go through things in the original texts and see how things were originally expressed.

I have read through the Bible many times. I have studied it for the last 33 years, from three years old on. I went to schools where the Bible was taught every day. Still, every time I read God’s Word I learn something new about the world, about him, and about my own life. It has definitely made me “wise for salvation.”

So how much is enough? The answer: there is no such thing as enough learning of the Scriptures. I for one will be reading and learning from it till the day I die, at which time I will see God face to face and will finally know it fully and completely!

Won’t you join me in renewing your zeal for the Scriptures? Go to your church’s Bible studies. Start a Bible study of your own. Ask your pastor to help you study it, or at least get you started on your own. Offer suggestions for new and inventive ways to do group and individual Bible studies. It’s just like anything else, you just have to start doing it and keep it going!

God’s blessings as you get back into God’s Word!

2006-10-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest lessons that I have had to learn as a pastor is that you can't preach or teach someone into heaven or into a real relationship with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What I mean is that I could have the most inspiring sermon in the world but if the ears aren't open and the heart is not ready to hear and accept the word of God, nothing is going to happen. As the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

I have learned this lesson the hard way with my 3- and 5-year-old children as well. I can make them look at me when I am telling them something, I can tell them something 15 different times, but in the end it is up to them to take what I say to them to heart and actually do what I say. Take Karin's and my attempts to potty train our three year old Gus for example. We tell him over and over again that big kids go potty on the potty. We give him rewards when he does go. We scold him when he doesn't. We beg him, prod him, and push him, but still in his rebellious nature, he refuses to do what we ask him to do.

You would think that the good news that Jesus died on the cross and rose again for you and for me would be an easy thing to hear and accept, and that once a person hears this good news that their lives would change and they would be ignited for the Lord. You would think that, but thinking something is going to happen and seeing it happen are often two different things.

Why should I expect anything else? Did Jesus himself always reach the hearts and minds of his hearers? He even instructed his disciples to shake the dust off their feet at the house or the community of those who didn't hear what they had to say. The people at one point were so angry at what Jesus had to say that they picked up stones to stone him to death. They even crucified him on the cross because of their hardened hearts. If this was the case with Jesus, should I expect that I have such amazing power and such a way with words that I am going to convert everyone I meet or turn everyone, to whom I preach and teach, into raving evangelists and people who are on fire for the Lord? I would have to humbly say, certainly not.

Maybe you have been witnessing to your next door neighbor for months. Sure he listens to you, and has even said that he would be in church a time or two. Yet, when Sunday rolls around, they are not in the pew with you. You finally figure out that he is just being polite so that he doesn't turn you away from being a good neighbor to him.

Yet, before you and I go and judge our hearers, maybe we should first judge ourselves. For as little as people have not listened to us, so have we not listened to God, our heavenly Father, even less. If we only condemn the people who fail to listen to our message, without condemning ourselves and our own failure to listen to and do God's will, we are only deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Oftentimes ministry is a frustrating job. That is one major reason why so many pastors suffer from burn out and also why it is so hard for all of us to continue to share the good news with those around us. It is frustrating because we know what our hearers need, but it isn't our job to make them take it. It's not like giving a dog medicine where you can wrap the pill in a piece of cheese or a hotdog. A person must accept the good news at face value for what it is. It should be an easy pill to swallow, but because of our totally lost and condemned state it isn't.

At the same time, in the midst of the many heartaches and frustrations in sharing the Gospel there is much joy, not only because there are those rare times when someone hears and believes, but also because every time you share the Gospel, your own ears are hearing it again too. The Holy Spirit, through your own witness, is working on your heart and life. In essence, there is grace, mercy, and peace simply in just getting the message of God's saving work through his Son Jesus Christ out to the world. It is as much for the messenger as it is for those to whom the message is given.

In the end, as hard as it may be to do, we must give up our control to the Holy Spirit, for it is he who brings life and immortality to life. It is he who works that saving faith in a person. It is he who breathes life into a lost and condemned sinner. It is the Holy Spirit who makes the Word work in a person's heart and mind. It is simply our job as Christians to get the message of salvation out to the world.

It is this knowledge and that gives us comfort and peace. To know that I am not responsible for whether a person goes to heaven or hell takes a lot of the pressure off of me. To know that the best I can do is get the message of salvation out to the people is comforting, because I know that I can lead a horse to water, but I can't make him drink. God bless your witness of Him and His salvation.

2006-09-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

“But God”, “Then God”, “Yet God”; have you ever heard these words spoken or read these words anywhere? I have heard them many times, not by themselves mind you, but always in the middle of a sentence or paragraph that goes something like this: “I was in deep trouble, I didn’t know where to turn, I was penniless and my children needed food, so I prayed to God to help me and THEN GOD did something miraculous. He provided for my needs in ways that I would have never imagined. I was fed and clothed.

How about this one? “I had been dating for a quite a long time and nothing seemed to be working out. I was getting frustrated and tired of it so I quit, I told the Lord, ‘If you want me to have a wife you are going to have to bring her to me.’ Not two nights later I went out with some friends to just listen to some music and relax and low and behold guess what, just THEN GOD gave her to me.”

Here’s another one. “I was laying in the gutter stoned out of my mind. All I wanted to do was die. I had given up. I was worthless. My life meant nothing to anyone. I was about to run out into the street and end my life. BUT GOD had other plans. Just then a man came up to me, helped me to my feet, and asked me if I needed any help.” He brought me to a shelter, got me into a treatment center and befriended me for as long as I needed.” Go really helped me out there.”

The stories go on and on. These are stories of God’s help, stories of God doing exactly what he promised to do if we would only ask. Why is it then that we don’t ask? Why are we so proud as to not ask God for help? Why do we fail to see all of those times when we needed help and God very plainly gave it to us?

The biggest story is the one that all of us, if we call ourselves Christians, have gone through time and time again, most of the time simply taking God’s help for granted as though if we ask for his help he is duty bound to give it to us. This help comes in the form of confession and forgiveness. It starts off with us realizing how sinful we really are and how much we need Jesus in our lives. This realization may come about in a way that can’t be missed, when a loved one reprimands us or shows their disapproval of the sins we have committed. It may come in the gentle whisper or the loud shout of our conscience convicting us of that sin we keep doing even though no one else even knows about it. Whatever it might be, that realization of sin is a gift from God in itself. For if we hadn’t known our sinfulness we wouldn’t have known our need for a Savior. Still God provides the law, written in His Word, and also written on our hearts to convict us and condemn us.

The second part is the forgiveness. This is the greatest gift of all. If it were not for forgiveness, a complete removal of sin from us by the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, we would be lost and condemned forever. I can’t think of anything more important to us than this forgiveness. I don’t know of anything more crucial in life and for life than the gift of forgiveness. The best part is, all we have to do is ask.

That is also the worst part. For in the sins of pride and self importance people are unwilling to ask for forgiveness. People would rather die forever in hell than face up their sinful lives, get down on their knees in humility, and ask the Lord for forgiveness. I hurt for these people. I yearn for these people to know the peace and joy that I know. I long for these people to, as the Lord says, “turn from their sins so that they may live.”

My prayer for you all who are reading this today is that you let go of your pride and your self importance. My prayer is that you realize your sin, your inability to get rid of that sin yourself, and your total dependence upon God for all things. My prayer is that you turn to your God in all humility and dependence and ask him for the forgiveness and peace that you so desperately need so that you may be saved and may live out your days on this earth in that peace that goes above and beyond all human understanding! God bless you and give you the will and the way to Him forever! Amen!

2006-09-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Today I want to talk about wisdom. The way the Scriptures talk about wisdom is that there are two kinds of wisdom. There is the wisdom of the world, which is the one that is really not true wisdom, and then there is the wisdom of the Lord.

The difference is in where the wisdom comes from and on what that wisdom is based. The first is based on one's own experience and one's own mind. It looks at the world and tries to figure things out on its own. It uses reason and logic to work things out. It will look to certain people that it deems worthy of respect and honor.

For example, a person who wants to be wise about money and uses the wisdom off the world, will look to someone like Donald Trump or Bill Gates. A person who wants wisdom on how to raise children will look to someone who has either done a good job at raising their own children or someone who has written a book on the subject. A person who wants wisdom concerning how the world began will look at secular science textbooks and consult evolutionists.

The second one will look to the world for wisdom, but only through the eyes of Scripture. For instance, I might read a book by Dr. Phil on how to lose weight, but if Dr. Phil tells me to go into a trance and pray to Buddha or to take illegal drugs, I will know not to follow his worldly wisdom. If I want to earn a living through investing in real estate, Donald Trump might be just the right guy to learn from, yet I am not going to use his advice if he tells me to stab my neighbor in the back or cheat in some way.

The very simple premise here is that if you are going to have true wisdom it has to come from the right source. King Solomon is still considered to be one of the wisest and most well known kings.

In today's world he would be the richest and most successful person in the world. From where did he get his wisdom? Did he pick it up on his own? Did he learn it from someone who wrote a book on the subject? No. He got his wisdom from God. When contemplating his kingship, God came to him and told him to ask for anything he wanted. He could have asked for all the riches of the world. He could have asked for fame and power. Instead, he asked the Lord to give him the wisdom he needed to govern the Israelites in a God pleasing manner. Still today the legend of his wisdom surpasses everyone else.

In Solomon's book to us, Proverbs, he tells us all about true wisdom. One of my favorite verse in al of Scripture is Proverbs 9:10 where Solomon tells us that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." I love this verse because it sums up in one sentence how we are to gain wisdom.

Some of the wisest people I have known were not wise by human standards. By that I mean that they didn't have all the money in the world, they weren't the most intelligent, or the fastest, or the coolest, they were and still are those who fear the Lord. They took the Lord seriously. They took the Lord at His Word. They had a holy fear that could be seen in the way they acted, how they gave to the Lord, and especially in how they loved the Lord by loving the people around them. They studied the Scriptures as much as they could. They worshiped the Lord as much as they were able. They totally sought the Lord and His holy will in very part of their lives.

The best part of these holy people is that they were able to see that they were not perfect but that they truly needed a Savior. They knew that, if it were up to them, they would be lost and condemned forever. Therefore, when they realize their sins they are able to go before Almighty God with all humility and ask for forgiveness. Then, in their wisdom, because they know what the Lord has done through his Son Jesus Christ, they are able to live in peace knowing that their sins are forgiven.

Are you following God's wisdom or are you aimlessly and hopelessly following the wisdom of the world? Do you earnestly and honestly want to have true wisdom or do you just want the kind of wisdom that suits you and your fancies? Remember again and once for all what the wisest man of all time said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Study God's Word. Know the truth of the Scriptures. Keep the Word of God as your only rule and norm for faith and life and you will get the wisdom of the Lord.

2006-08-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

One of the major reasons people don't like going to church or have even quit going to church is because the church seems to always be asking for money.

"All they want is my money", is often a phrase heard from a disgruntled church member. "Why can't I just go and not have to put an offering in the plate?"

What I want to say to them and what I often do say to them are two different things. What I usually say is something like, "I don't care how much you give to church, all I want is to see you there hearing the Word and receiving His blessings." This is a truthful statement and one that I will continue to use when confronted with this situation so as to not turn the person off to church even more than he or she already is.

What I really want to say is a bit more sarcastic and maybe even a little bit rude, but at the same time just as truthful as the first statement. What I want to say this, "If you were giving like you were supposed to be giving to the Lord, the church wouldn't have to ask, now would it?"

While this may seem a bit harsh and even sarcastic, there is really some truth to it. The truth is that if every giving member of the church even gave 2 percent of their income, forget the 10 percent that is God's prescribed amount in the Scriptures, there would be no need to ask for money. Imagine what the church could do, if people gave what they could.

One problem is that when people talk about "the church" they think of it as a separate entity apart from themselves. They don't connect the fact, like we say it in the children's song, "I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together. All of God's own people, all around the world, yes we're the church together." People confuse the church, as a whole, with the people who are placed in charge of the church whether by election, call or hiring.

So the first thing such a person needs is to identify him or herself as part of "the church." When you become part of "the church" and its ministries, you begin to realize the amount of time and money it takes to keep an organization running and effective. If you are on the outside looking in, all you see is the pastor or the chairman of the board of stewardship telling you that you need to give more and that "the church" needs more money.

A second problem has to do with the incorrect understanding of what stewardship is all about. Stewardship starts with the clear understanding that everything you have comes from God and is, in effect, God's.

If you come from the understanding that things you have are yours because you worked for them and earned them, then your Christian stewardship is gong to be effected immediately. The second thing to realize is that your stewardship, your giving to the Lord of your time, treasures, and talents is for your benefit, not for the church and certainly not for God. God does not benefit from your giving to him. He's God. He's perfect. He has everything he needs.

What God sees when someone is practicing good and correct stewardship is someone who is giving out of the joy they have in their heart simply because they are one of God's redeemed children.

Consequently, if you are withholding money from God by not giving what you are truly able to give, or if you are giving grudgingly (because you have to), then you aren't practicing God-pleasing stewardship. If you are happy to give to the work of the Lord and you would gladly give more if you could and if you are giving what you can, then you are practicing God-pleasing stewardship.

God wants you. He wants your whole heart and soul. He doesn't want to share you with your money. He wants you to be free from the slavery of money. He wants you to think more about him than you think about the balance in your checkbook. He wants you to go to church more and spend less time in overtime for that extra dough you get. He wants you to give away those things that can hinder you and weigh you down.

In other words, he wants to be your God. The first commandment is a very serious one. It simply states, "You shall have no other gods." Is money more important to you than the work of the Lord? Is that extra overtime check you get for working on Sunday morning more important than going to church on Sunday morning? Is the new house, new car or new TV more important to you than the new person you see in church because of the money you gave so that the board of outreach could do some more effective evangelism? Is the checkbook more important than the good book?

I think that it is time for all of us, including me, to let go of our hold on our money. I'm not saying get rid of it all. I'm not saying you should give every last penny you have to the church. What I am saying is that we all need to have a loser grip on our wallets and a tighter grip on the Word of God.

God forgive us for not doing that, and God help us to do that better in the future. To God be all the glory. Amen.

2006-07-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed something different about last week’s article. That’s right, it wasn’t me. It was Pastor Quartermous from Foristell Christian Church. I want to thank him first of all for his intelligent insight and his introduction to the teachings of the Christian Church there in Foristell.

I first want to say that I am honored to have him share this spot in the Journal with me. From what I have read from him before, I know that he is an honorable man who believes and trusts in Jesus Christ for his salvation.

I would also have to say that my church, along with most Christian churches agree with almost everything he talked about. We both believe that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God and is the only rule and norm for faith and life. We also both believe that the world was created in six, consecutive 24 hour days. We, in the Lutheran church, also believe that baptism is necessary for salvation, although not absolutely necessary, take the thief on the cross for instance.

We are also trying to be a church that believes and teaches what the first Christians believed and taught. But we also believe that those first Christians had articles and confessions of faith, creeds, to express what they believed about the God of the Scriptures. In fact, I would venture to say that Pastor Quartermous’ whole article last week was a statement of what his church believes and teaches, and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the very definition of a creed “a statement of what one believes and teaches”?

In our creeds, the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian, we are simply stating what the Bible has stated about God. We don’t add anything to it. It is simply a summary of the Bible’s teachings about God, just like Pastor’s summaries of what his church believes and teaches as he had in his article last week.

Now, it is important to say here that both of our churches, along with anyone who believes that Jesus Christ died on the cross for them, which is the Gospel in a nutshell, will be in heaven. Members of Foristell Christian Church believe that, members of most of the churches in Warren County believe that, and members of St. John’s Lutheran Church most certainly believe that. We will see each other in heaven some day despite the differences we may have.

The big difference between St. John’s and Foristell Christian Church is in our views on free will, which ultimately show themselves in our differing views on baptism. In the Lutheran church we believe that when it says “Surely I was sinful from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” in Psalm 51:5, it means that I was a lost and condemned sinner even before I was born, when I was still in my mother’s womb. We would give that sin a name. It is called original sin. We also believe what it says in Ephesians 2:1-10 where it talks about us being dead in our transgressions and sins and how God made us alive in Christ, even though we were dead in transgressions.

Therefore, since we were dead, could we bring ourselves back to life, or even have any part in it? Can a dead person hear? Can a dead person move? Can a dead person willfully do anything? No, not unless God acts upon them and brings them back to life. We see this very plainly in the raising of Jairus’ daughter. She was dead. Jesus came to her and said, “Little girl, I say to you get up.” She did, but only because Christ raised her from death. Once she was dead she could not breathe again nor could she make her heart start to beat. The same is with us in spiritual life. God uses his Word, and in the same way Baptism, which contains water and his word, to bring us back to life, to breathe life into us. The good news of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” is very true for us. It is as if he is saying through these very words “My child, I say to you, get up, rise from the dead, and live, because of what Jesus did on the cross for you.”
Because of what it says in these verses and what it says in many other verses, the Lutheran church would say that we have no free will apart from the will to sin on account of the fact that we were sinful from the time our mother conceived us. Foristell Christian Church would say that we still have, inherent in us, a will to take what God has to give us, namely the forgiveness of sins. In fact, they may even use the same verses that I have used but interpret them in a different way.

Here’s the difference on Baptism in a nutshell. Foristell Christian Church believes that Baptism is an act of obedience. It is something we do because God has commanded us to do it. They would say that, it is something we do to show that we believe in Christ. They also believe that there is forgiveness in Baptism as we also do, but that they take that forgiveness through this act of obedience.

The Lutheran Church believes that Baptism is simply a means of grace. It is not something we do, but something that God does to us, through the water and the Word. We would say that it is not an act of obedience, because a dead person, one who is dead in his trespasses and sins, cannot act in obedience to someone which he is not nor ever has been obedient. In other words, the Lutheran Church believes that baptism is a means by which our Lord Jesus instills faith in us and by which he washes us of our sins. One takes, the other receives. This is why, in our church, an infant can be baptized. Not only do the Scriptures tell us to baptize all nations, and not only do the Scriptures tell us that the whole households were baptized, and not only are there records of infant baptisms as early as the second century (100’s A.D.), but in our church Baptism is solely an act of God upon humans. The human being does nothing but receive the blessings that our Lord Jesus bestows in and through baptism. Therefore, since the human does nothing, it matters not how old he or she is.

The other thing, which I don’t want to spend too much time on today, is the whole thing of immersion. There are actually several different instances in which the word baptism is used. It is also used in many different forms. It is seen as baptismos as Pastor Quartermous pointed out, but also baptidzo, baptidzein, baptidzontes, and many others. Some of these point to an immersion simply by context, but never is it commanded that we baptize by immersion only. The word baptize at least in all of the lexicons (Greek dictionaries) that I have, always say that this word, in its various forms, means simply to wash. Whether it is immersion, sprinkling pouring, or whatever way you wash, to us anyways, doesn’t matter. It does matter to several other denominations and so we respect their ideals, although we do not agree with them.

I hope that you will take both of our articles to heart as both of them have one goal, that the hearers come to a belief in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins so that they may receive eternal life.

2006-07-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

Ah, the dog days of Summer, don’t you just love them? Frankly, even after living in this general area for over ten years now, I can’t stand them. Frankly, there are a lot of things I can’t stand. That’s why many people, including my wife, call me an old (even though I’m only 35) crabby German. The humid heat of Missouri is, by far the worst on my list. When all I have to do is breathe to sweat, it is too hot. When I can’t stand my own stink after sitting outside for ten minutes, it is too humid. When condensation from the humidity in the air builds up on my sliding glass window. It is way too humid.

Now it may sound like I am complaining, and I am, even if it is all in good fun. Still, we hate to be burdened by anything. As I look to many other places around the world, including several place right here in our United States, I have a hard time complaining too much. Right now, on the Gulf Coast there are people living in tents, because they are still waiting to receive help. Right now in Israel and the surrounding area there are people in bomb shelters waiting out yet another attack. Right now in Africa there are tons of children who are dying of starvation. And I am going to complain about a few extra degrees on the thermostat and the dewpoint? I am going to complain about the few extra cents I have to pay for gas. I am going to complain that my bed is not comfortable enough or that my satellite T.V. isn’t working properly. Come on! Or as my wife would say, “Get over it.”

As Christians, especially Christians living here in America, we have nothing to complain about. We are blessed with opportunity after opportunity. We have comfort upon comfort. We have more money than anyone else in the world. Still, there are some days when we can be seen and heard complaining as much as Job! What a waste of time.

As Christians we need to get off our duffs and, instead, of complaining, we need to do something. Instead of waiting for someone else to do it we need to be doing it. Instead of looking to our government to help out those in need we need to be doing it. Instead of waiting for help from somewhere else, the help needs to start right here. Instead of saying, “That’s their own business, let them deal with it”, we need to be on the front lines dealing with it.

Jesus didn’t say, “Wait around an let them come to you”. He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” The key word here is go. Go and do is the command of Jesus.

Today I urge my fellow Christians to go and do! If someone needs food, give them food. If someone needs shelter, give them shelter. If a child needs to learn more about Jesus teach him. If a widow needs a shoulder to cry on lend her yours. If someone has not heard the Gospel, that Jesus died on the cross for us, then let it be you that they first hear it from.

And if there is nothing you can do, you can still pray that God would do something! You can pray that his will would be done. You can pray that he would show you the way that you can help. You can pray for grace, mercy, and peace. You can pray for his kingdom to come.

God help you as you work on stopping your complaining and start doing and praying! Amen!

2006-07-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

This week I am having knee surgery to clean up some scar tissue in my knee, to smooth out the cartilage and to move my knee caps back to where they are supposed to be. As you read this, I will have already had my surgery and be well on the way to recovery, God willing.

Did you ever notice that we don't use that phrase "God willing" nearly enough? We simply state our plans as if we have the control and the power to make sure that they are carried out. Yet, as I look at my own life and at the lives of others I am often reminded at how I am not in control, but how God is truly the one that controls even my very breath.

There are lines in a country song that I like that say it ever so truthfully, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans." Isn't that the truth. The Lord declares to us through holy Scriptures that, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your way my ways." Sometimes I wonder how far away my thoughts, ideas and plans are from the Lord's plans for my life.

It is at times like surgeries, whether minor like mine, or major like that of my father's 12 years ago when he had heart surgery, that we begin to realize how fleeting and fragile life is. One need look no further than that major interstate that goes through the middle of town and see the tons of life-ending accidents that occur on a daily basis. One need only watch the news for a few seconds and hear of another murder or another attack in Iraq to see how quickly life can come to an end.

So what do we do? How do we keep ourselves from going into complete despair? How do we have peace in our lives in the midst of tragedy and sorrow? We trust in the Lord, that's what. We trust that when we say in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done" that it will.

We trust in his word that he will never leave us nor forsake us. We trust in the words of Paul when he says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. Most importantly though, in the midst of the realizations of this fleeting world we trust in the salvation Almighty God won for us on the cross. We trust in his never-changing mercy to save us from death and bring us to everlasting life.

I really don't know how my surgery is going to go. It may go well or it may not go so well. The real reality is though, that I don't even know whether I am even going to make it to the hospital to have my surgery. God may decide to take me to heaven before I get there. That would be awesome. I know my family and friends would miss me, but I also know that they will see me again and I them, in paradise.

My prayer for you today is that you also realize how fleeting your life really is. I pray that you would hear God's call to trust in him for all things, especially eternal salvation from death.

I pray that you would feel that peace that nobody understands but that can be yours through faith in Christ.

Peace be with you.

2006-06-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes ministry is overwhelming. I am not just talking about pastoral ministry here, but about the ministry that all Christians do.

Let me give you an example.

A group of us just got back from a trip to Ocean Springs, Miss. It is near Biloxi and is part of the area that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Let's just say pictures in magazines, books and TV do not begin to do the devastation justice. Whole towns have been wiped off the face of the earth. Over 130,000 people are living down there without jobs, because their businesses and places of employment have been destroyed.

The list goes on and on as far as the problems that continue for the people down in Mississippi.

I will remember, for as long as I live, one of the first scenes I saw as we arrived. Our group stayed in an old textile mill that had been renovated and fixed up to house volunteers and to act as a distribution center for food and other supplies. This will be in place for the next eight years.

Anyway, as we were entering the facility the cars were lined up four deep to pick up supplies. In the front was an old, beat up station wagon with a mother and her four kids. The kids were dirty, the youngest was crying, the mother stepped out of the car, picked up her groceries and simply smiled and said thank you.

This was no big deal, I thought, this happens every day even in Warrenton. Later I came to find out that, for the last nine months, that mother and her four children had been living in a tent in the local campground, because her home had been destroyed, she had lost her job and had nowhere to go.

That was it for me. I broke down and went away to my nice, cozy, air conditioned room and wept for a while.

Sometimes the sheer pain and suffering in this world is more than we can bear. We feel the weight of all that can happen to us in an instant. That first night we went down to the beach and saw what the storm had really done.

There is a bridge that connects Biloxi and Ocean Springs, or at least it used to. This bridge made of millions of pounds of concrete, steel and iron was simply picked up and broken to pieces by the force of nature. Houses that had been standing in the same place since the early 1800's were blown away in an instant.

It is in the midst of all this devastation and hopelessness that we can't help but turn to God. Christus Victor Lutheran Church operated the place in which we stayed. Christus Victor is now known as the place to go for help, along with all of the other churches in the area.

As we walked along the beach we encountered one church group after another. On our way back, we stopped in Memphis and just happened to meet up with two groups who had been working down in the same area.

My point is that it is the churches, not the government or special secular assistance, that is providing the bulk of the help for those who are struggling just to live. It is God who is providing the help through people like you and me. It is God who is doing the work in us so that we can, in turn, go and do the work where it needs to be done.

As I said in the beginning, ministry can be overwhelming at times, but only when you think of it as your ministry and not God's ministry. I am only one person. God is infinite.

My group was only able to minimally help one family. God is able to help all people forever. If we think that it is by our power or might that things will get done, then we are just plain stupid. It is only by God's will and power. As the Scriptures say, "Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord."

My friends, if you think that you aren't making a difference, think again. If you speak words of love to someone, if you help someone who needs help, if you act as a Christian should, then you are making a difference.

Everyone knows the story of the boy on the shore with the starfish. The boy saw all these starfish on the beach and wanted to save them, so he started to pick them up and throw them back into the sea. An adult came along and chastised him. "What are you doing?" He asked. "You realize that there are millions of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly make a difference here. Picking up another starfish and tossing it into the sea, the boy replied, "I made a difference to that one."

As I sit here at my desk writing this article, I know I am only one man. But my hope and joy is that I can make a difference one person at a time.

St. Paul put it best when he said, "I have become all things to all me so that, by all possible means, I might save some." Our group made a difference to one family down in Mississippi. You can make difference with your children, with your spouse, with your neighbors and with everyone else you know.

God go with you and give you strength as God makes a difference through you.

2006-06-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard someone say, "I don't have to go to church to worship God, I can do that anywhere"? I must say that I have heard that more times than I have ever wanted. I usually hear it when confronting someone about his or her worship attendance. The conversation goes something like this.

Me: I have noticed that you haven't been in church a whole lot lately.

Other person: Yeah, I have just been awful busy with a lot of stuff lately.

Me: And that stuff happens on Saturday evening between 5 and 6 p.m. or Sunday morning between 8 and 11:30 a.m.?

Other person: Well, not always, but I am always so tired by the end of the week that Saturday and Sunday is the only time I have for myself or just to sleep in.

Me: So you're sleeping and doing something else on Sunday morning instead of coming to church to spend time with God.

Other person: Well, I do go to church sometimes, and I always pray, every day. Besides you don't have to be in church to worship God. You can worship him wherever you are.

Me: "That's right you can worship God wherever you want and wherever you are, and you should, but do you?"

After this the answers and responses vary. Some might hem or haw their way around it. Others might just admit their guilt, which is best, because then we can get to the good stuff of repentance and forgiveness. Still others will get defensive and angry and even just plain leave.

Don't get me wrong, I know it is hard to make it to church sometimes. I have had other jobs which required me to work on Sundays, but that's why I was able to go Wednesday night. I have been awful tired after working an 18-hour shift on several occasions. Yet, I have felt worse if I skipped church than if I would have just gone and been fed and lifted up by the Holy Spirit through the word and Sacraments.

Many people just have an aversion to church. Some have this aversion because of a former experience they had with a church member or pastor where they attended once upon a time.

Someone said or did something bad to them or made them feel bad. I especially hear this all the time from people who are angry with the Roman Catholic Church because of the priest abuse scandal. There are also those stories of mean people who got angry with someone for sitting in their pew or parking in their parking spot.

Others have an aversion to church because they just don't feel like they belong due to some past life or something in their life right now that is really bothering them. Maybe they just feel so guilty about something that they just can't let it go. Or maybe they see the rest of the people in church and feel like they just don't measure up.

Still others have an aversion to church because they don't like the people in the church. They see them act one way in a church setting and another way around town. The reason that these people use for their lack of church attendance is that people who attend church are hypocrites.

For these three reasons, I have a quote from a wise and learned man who once said, "The problem with the church is that it is full of sinners." Isn't that the truth? I have often said that I am the chief sinner of this place (Paul, the Apostle and missionary, said that once too by the way.)

The reason we come to church is not that we are perfect, but so we can be made perfect through the word of God and through the sacraments. We come to hear the precious saving words of the Holy Gospel, which is like precious ointment for the soul. We come to receive God's mercy and grace through the words of forgiveness.

Everyone at church is in the same boat. They are all sinners in need of forgiveness, and church is the very best place to get it.

One more reason for not attending church is that the church always asks for money. To that I say, if we don't pay the electric, water and mortgage bills then there won't be a church to attend. Where do you think the church gets its money? Does God let it rain down from heaven like manna? No, it comes from its members.

If we are to "make disciples of all nations," as God commands us, it takes time, talents and money. God has given us money to use as he pleases, not as we please.

The money used to support the work of the church in evangelism, missions, ministry to the sick, to the lost, to the dying, to the young, to the old, to everyone comes from the members of the church. I say, if you are not willing to give to the work of the church with your time, talents and treasures, don't be a member.

Getting back to the point, sure you can worship whenever, wherever and however you want. But do you? Do you worship God when you are lying in bed on Sunday morning sleeping off the hangover you have from the night before? Do you worship God when you are on the third hole, par four, and you just slapped your third tee shot into the water? Do you worship God at Denny's eating your stack of pancakes? Do you worship God as you are sighting in that turkey or deer?

I would probably guess that the answer, if you were to answer truthfully, is no.

My friends, we need corporate worship. We need the fellowship of believers however sinful they may be. We need to hear God's word read, preached and sung. We need to be able to say with fellow believers that we believe in one God, father, son, and Holy Spirit. We need to study God's word so that you may grow in its truth and peace. We need to fulfill Jesus' last command to make disciples of the whole world. We need the Sabbath. As Jesus once said, "The Sabbath was made for man."

I usually get on this worship kick at this time of year because attendance seems to go down drastically. People go on vacation, and I hope they go to church somewhere else while on vacation. I dread though that the truth might not be so optimistic.

I encourage you all to get to church on a regular basis this summer. You are never too busy that you can't take an hour or two on Saturday night or Sunday morning to worship. On the contrary, as Martin Luther once said, "I'm too busy not to worship and pray."

The fact is that the more you have going on in your life the more you need Jesus in your life. Quit making excuses and go to church.

2006-05-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

In our world today, we are all about convenience. If something works for us and fits into our schedule then it is good and we will spend the time on it that is needed and required.

If something is not convenient and throws us off our game, so to speak, we would rather not take part in it.

So it is with God.

There are tons of times in the Bible when God tells us what to do and not to do. For instance he tells us "marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed pure", meaning that we should only have sex, of any kind, with the person to whom we will be married for the rest of our life.

To us, living in the world, this is very inconvenient and downright impossible. To God, this is his will. Which one shall we choose? Which one is right?

This is just one example of hundreds where our convenience and our wants and needs take precedence over God's will for our lives. Yet, we can see that because we choose our own will over God's will, time and time again. Our lives suffer greatly. Not just our lives but also the whole world in general suffers because of sin.

The thing is, we want God himself to be something we can handle and put in a box. We want him to be all powerful, all knowing and all loving, but only if he is going to do what I want him to do.

We want him to be understandable and reasonable, which, I would think, would go directly against any definition of what "God" is supposed to be. We want him to conform to our will, norms and rules instead of us conforming to his. We want him to be this nice grandfatherly type who gives us whatever we want whenever we want instead of the vengeful, just and sometimes angry God that we often see in the Scriptures. To sum this all up, we want control of God.

This goes with what he says in the Scriptures. If something in Scripture doesn't quite fit our ideal way of thinking we can do one of three things.

We can explain it away, saying something like, "That was only for that time and place. Things are different now", which in some cases might be true, but not all cases.

You can totally dismiss it as not really being God's word, which is what the "Jesus Seminar" and other fringe groups have so often done. But what does that do for this verse in II Timothy 3:16?: "All Scripture is God breathed and is useful teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." I guess if you want, you can take out that verse too.

Homosexuality is an issue, living together before marriage is an issue, divorce is an issue, whether Jesus is God or not is an issue, whether Christ rose from the dead or not is an issue, basically everything that is in the Scriptures can be questioned once you throw out the II Timothy 3:16 passage.

People, just because something in Scripture doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean that it isn't from God. Just because your sinful human mind doesn't want to acknowledge that something isn't from God doesn't mean it isn't.

It is a sin as old as Adam and Eve. We put ourselves above God. When God plainly tells us "You shall not", we say "He didn't really mean that." When one of the gospel writers tells us that Jesus rose from the dead, are we ready to say, "He didn't really mean that?"

You can pick and choose what you want to believe, but that doesn't mean what you believe is true, does it? If I believe, with all my heart, that the moon is made out of green cheese does that mean it really is? In the same way, my believing that Jesus rose from the dead doesn't make it true. The only thing that makes it true is that it really did happen.

The only thing that the people who wrote Scripture said about it is that it is all completely true, real and from God's mouth. Nowhere does it say that some of it is true while other parts of it aren't. It only claims to be true and real, nothing else.

Not only that, but the Scriptures have withstood the test of time. We have found no evidence that anything in the Bible didn't happen just the way it is stated. In fact it has always been just the opposite. Those trying to find evidence to prove the Bible false have always found evidence that only proves the Bible true.

The last thing you can do is simply believe the Scriptures to be what they say they are. Believe in God's word. Hold on to it, even when you may not like it too much. Trust in it to guide your life. Live by it so that you may be blessed instead of cursed.

My friends, I encourage you to let go and let God be God. Don't try to put him in a box, or to minimize him to your standards. Don't try to put your own conscience and your own reason above God's will and his word. If you do, you will only hurt yourself, and cause yourself years of bitter anguish pain and sorrow because of your sin.

I leave you with these words from Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths."

2006-05-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

It is very clearly stated in Ephesians 2:8-9, yet, for some reason, people choose to ignore or it or deny it.

My favorite passage tells us all how we are saved. It says, "For we are saved by grace, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast."

Let's unpack that verse for a second. What does the word "grace" mean? There are many dictionary definitions for this word, but the one that is useful for us states:

"Unmerited Divine assistance given man for his regeneration and, or sanctification."

A way that I have learned to describe it is through an acronym, using the letters for the word grace to say God's Riches At Christ's Expense. It is a gift. It is something that is not earned or even taken, but something that is simply given and received. If we try to earn it, then it is not grace.

The second part we must look at is the "through faith" part. Faith is described in the dictionary in many ways as well. The one that works best for us is:

"Firm belief in something for which there is no proof."

The Bible tells us a definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

In other words, Ephesians 2:8 could be paraphrased to say, "We are saved by God's riches at Christ's expense through being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

This still doesn't answer the question about how we get faith in the first place. Does it just come to us magically? Do we somehow conjure it up as if we have the power to do so? Or does God work through means to bring us to life by the power of the Holy Spirit?

To answer this question we must first look at what the Lord tells us about ourselves before conversion. He tells us that we are all are conceived and born sinful and so are in need of forgiveness when he says, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."(Psalm 51:5), or "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." (Ephesians 2:1)

Can a dead person do anything? No. Can a dead person come back to life? A dead person can only come back to life if God acts upon him in some miraculous way as in the story of Lazarus and others, but especially in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

God must act upon us to bring us back to life. How does he do this? Well, we have the answer to this in Romans 10:17 where Paul tells us that "Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ." This word is what we would call the good news or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The message is that Christ has died on the cross and has risen from the dead. The Holy Spirit has the power to use that message and those words of good news to bring a person, who was dead in their trespasses and sins, back to life.

Consequently, what this is saying to us is that all you need are two ears to hear the good news and you can be brought to faith. I know of 3-year-olds who can barely talk, and yet they can tell me that Jesus died for them. It doesn't take any special training or special age requirement or some sort of understanding that goes above and beyond believing that Jesus died on the cross for you.

You don't even have to be able to express it. According to this verse all you have to do is hear it. If you hear it and believe what you hear, you are saved according to everything written in the Scriptures.

The reason I am writing this article is that there has been some confusion as to how we receive the grace that God gives to us. Many different Christian denominations teach many different things. In my church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, we believe that the Holy Spirit works through means. We call these means the Word (Bible) and the Sacraments (for Lutherans there are two Sacraments — Baptism and the Lord's Supper).

Other churches believe that God works immediately, that is without means, to bring a person to faith (The Spirit goes where it wills).

Still others believe that God works with a person, this is called synergism, to bring him/her to faith. In these churches, a person still has the ability to work with God for his own salvation. Whether this is called a choice, a decision, or being slain in the Spirit, is up to the individual denomination or even congregation.

This can all get very confusing, but there is one thing we must keep straight. In order to be a true Christian, one must believe that Jesus died on the cross for them and that by His death on the cross he has saved us from all sins.

A man once asked Peter, "What must I do to be saved?" Peter answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." John said in his Gospel, "God loved the world so much that he sent his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but eternal life." Mark says, "Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Belief (faith) is what counts, not just belief in anything, but belief in Jesus Christ, he is the Son of God and that he came to suffer, die, and rise again for us.

Some say we get faith only one way, some say that we get it through means, and still others say that we work with God to get it ourselves. What matters most to me is that people get it. If they simply hear the Gospel and believe, then great. If they get it through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, that's great. If they get it through an immediate, "Pentecost" moment, that is awesome too.

As Christians, we are simply able to praise God for the faith that we have. Thanks be to God that we receive God's grace by faith. I can't wait to get to heaven.

2006-05-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

Recent events demand question — What is truth?

Last week I talked to you a bit about the debate between those who believe in evolution versus those who believe in the Scriptures and creation. We talked about the fact that there are some people who believe that their own brains and their own thoughts and feelings can be held as equal with God. We talked about the fact that our sinful human nature is, by nature, opposed to God's word. Therefore, even among Christians, the devil works to get us to think that we can become equal with God. That, of course, was the first temptation of Adam and Eve, and it has not stopped since.

Today, I would like to bring up a few modern heresies that have popped up in recent months and years. One is "The DaVinci Code" and the other is "The Gospel of Judas".

I call them heresies simply because they go directly against what the Scriptures teach, and because those who have written these things have put their philosophies and their own minds on par with God.

The first one, "The DaVinci Code" is about some sort of "relationship" between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This relationship is unbiblical and is only supported by a speculation of Mary Magdalene being in the famous DaVinci picture of the Lord's Supper. Although the book is purported as fiction, the author supposedly states at the beginning of his book that all places, documents and events are factual.

The second one is a supposedly "lost gospel." It is about Judas, although Judas didn't write it, because he had been dead before it was written. It is a story that someone made up. It states, among other things, that Jesus took Judas aside and told him that he would be doing God's will by handing his friend Jesus over to be crucified. There is also a promise from Jesus to Judas that Judas would become scorned on earth but be revealed as great in heaven.

Unfortunately these types of things are not something new. These false teachings and being held as true and real have been around as long as Christianity has been around.

Certain heretics like Arius and others tried to teach that Jesus was not fully God or that he was not fully man. Certain people throughout the ages have written other "gospels" or other "testaments" with the intent of turning people away from the true word of God and faith in Jesus Christ.

It is important here that we realize criteria for including something into the Canon of Holy Scripture. They didn't just accept everything that came along that talked about Jesus or God. There were some very strict rules they followed for a book to be included in the Christian Scriptures.

For the Old Testament there were two things to which they held. One was that Jesus quoted from every book of the Old Testament except for two and the other was that the Jewish scribes were meticulous in their preservation of God's word. Therefore the Old Testament has not been in question even from the very beginning. There were several books called "The Apocrypha" that didn't stand up to the tests and scrutiny and that is why these books are still not fully accepted as true and real.

For the New Testament there was quite a bit more scrutiny. There were four very strict questions that needed to be asked. Was the author an apostle or someone very closely connected with an apostle? Was the book accepted by the body of Christ at large? Did the book contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching? Did the book bear evidence of clear high moral and spiritual values consistent with the Old Testament? A good book to read about all this is called "The Canon of Scripture", by Bible scholar F.F. Bruce.

The apostles approved of books that already existed. Peter talked of Paul's writings as inspired. Paul talked of Luke's Gospel as equal with the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Several of the early church fathers, such as Clement, Ignatius, Ireneaus, Polycarp and Hyppolytus, accepted certain books. Only Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John and 3 John had any real question as to their authenticity, and only that by a few people because of their origin.

Today, unfortunately, the world's philosophy is, "Whatever you believe about something makes it true for you." Or "If it makes you happy it must be right." It is a theory of relativism.That is why, you can have someone like Dan Brown write a purely fictional book and have hundreds of thousands of people take it as true. Or you can have an old writing found by archeologists, calling itself the Gospel of Judas, and right away, without question, people come to believe it as a true and real gospel because it is old or because one or two people say it must be true and real.

As I said last week, it is your choice. Are you going to believe in someone or something that is here today and gone tomorrow? Or are you going to believe in something that has withstood the test of time over centuries of debate, ridicule, whole countries and groups of people trying to destroy it, and even the punishment of death for those who were caught with these writings in their possession?

At the time of the acceptance of the Canon, these men were risking their lives for these books. They were willing to die for them. That is how precious the Scriptures were to them. Are they that precious to you?

2006-05-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

Evolution, creationism both take faith

I have been watching the debate that has been fought in the letters to the editor of this newspaper these past few weeks. I didn't really want to even bother with it, because frankly, I believe that it is a waste of my time.

I would rather be telling you about Jesus and how much he loves you and how much he wants to see you in heaven with him when the time comes.

Yet, I feel as though I must get the facts out about this debate that continues to rage on, and has raged on for over 150 years.

How many of you, when you hear or talk about how the earth is billions of years old, the ice age, missing links, the big bang or any other thing having to do with evolution, ever hear the word "theory"? Probably not too much.

I hate going to science museums for that very reason. Evolution is always purported as fact by those who believe in it. I guess I can't blame them. When you have faith in something, you want and need to believe it is real and true.

You're not going to have faith in something you know and believe is false, are you? We, who believe in the Scriptures, don't call creation a theory, do we?

The debate is about what to believe in. Do you believe in God and his word or do you believe in the study of evolutionary science and the scientists who study it? They both take faith. One has faith in God and the other has faith in scientists. So let's look at them both and see which one holds more credibility.

In case you don't quite understand the theory of evolution, here is what this theory states: 1. All life forms have developed from other species. 2. All living things are related to one another through a common descent. 3. All life on earth has a common origin. That is, in the distant past there once existed an original life form and that this life form gave rise to all subsequent life forms. 4. The process by which one species evolves into another involves random, heritable, genetic mutations, some of which are more likely to spread and persist in a gene pool than others.

Let me just say a Christian can agree with numbers three and four as they are stated here. The difference is that, for number three, we would call that original life form God. We would also say that the subsequent life forms were and are called plants, animals, and people.

For number four, we don't have a problem with "microevolution," which is the constant change within a species. Humans grow shorter and taller over generations. Humans, as well as other species, develop immunities as well as new bacteria and viruses all the time.

We also don't have a problem with the idea of natural selection. Different families within species, and sometimes whole species, go extinct. Through climate changes and the survival of the fittest some species thrive while other species deteriorate.

Yet, to use the scientific evidence for microevolution and transfer it to macroevolution is simply a denial of the real origin of all life. Why is it so hard for people to admit that God created the world in six days? Why is it so hard for people to simply accept the word of God? The reason is very simple and it comes from last week's article.

They want to be like God, or even more, they want to be a "god" unto themselves.They want to believe that the earth is the center of the universe instead of the creator. They want to believe that their minds, their reason and their intellect can go above and beyond anything in the Holy Scriptures and anything that God declares to be true and right.

It is a sin as old as Adam and Eve.

An evolutionary scientist will say that any talk of creation or study of biology, chemistry and physics in the light of creation cannot be called science because it involves trust in someone and something that goes above and beyond anything "scientific".

I went to Lutheran schools my whole life. I learned a lot about life systems, chemical reactions and how things live, move and have their being. I know there are a lot of good scientists who believe in a six day creation. Tons of them are working in labs and fields across the world right now.

Don't let these evolutionists trick you into thinking that you can't do good science if you believe in creation.

My friends, you have a choice. You can either believe in flawed, and at best, speculative evolutionary "science" that relies on poor, sinful, human brains making hypotheses and theories, a brain that can change its mind in an instant.

You can believe in a sin-filled earth and a bunch of fossils that are flawed because of sin. Or on the other hand you can believe in God's infallible word. You can believe in an almighty God that created all life, including fully developed human beings, in six consecutive, 24-hour days just like it says.

Both take faith. Both take a belief in something. It is just that one is human science and the other is God. You choose.