How can we be sure?

As I was doing some devotional reading yesterday, I was struck by these words from the Apostle Peter: Though you have not seen Him (the Lord), you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  1 Peter 1:8-9.

How is it that Peter can write with such confidence? Why can he be so sure that his readers are filled with such a trusting faith in Jesus?

The explanation to the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed in Luther's Small Catechism reminds us that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts and gives us the saving knowledge of Jesus as Lord and Savior.  With this faith we can trust Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, rejoice in our new life of faith and find comfort in our Lord in all the seasons of our lives.  With the help of the Spirit, we believe in our Savior even though we do not see Him!

The psalmist Asaph speaks to this same kind of faith.  In Psalm 77, Asaph complains about the difficulties of his life and the lives of his people.  They have suffered so much and, without any relief, Asaph is beginning to wonder if God has forgotten about him.

But then Asaph begins to meditate on God's Word.  He remembers God's mighty deeds.  He recalls God's gracious help and deliverance when the people were freed from bondage.  He writes in 77:19 - Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though Your footprints were not seen.

Faith enables us to know that God is with us even when our eyes can't see Him.  His Word assures us that God will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  Today, offer thanks to the Holy Spirit who empowers you to know and trust Almighty God even when you can't see Him.  

God's service station

A while back in "Christian Reader" magazine, Jim Corley wrote about a conversation he had with a friend named Alex who attends Corley's church.  Meeting at an automobile dealership, Alex got right to the point.

"Jim," said Alex, "I feel like a hypocrite every time I go to church because I fail to live for Christ so often."

"Alex, what do you call this part of the dealership?" Corley asked, nodding to the area outside his cubicle.  "You mean the showroom?" Corley answered, "That's right.  And what's behind the showroom, past the parts counter?"  Alex answered confidently, "The service department!"

Corley then asked, "What if I told you I didn't want to bring my car to the service department because the car was running rough?"  Alex quickly answered, "That would be crazy! That's the whole point of the service department - to fix cars that aren't running right."

Corley responded, "You're absolutely right.  Now let's get back to our initial conversation.  Instead of thinking of church as a showroom where image is everything, start thinking of it as God's service department.  Helping people get back in running order with God is what the church is all about."

What can keep our relationship with God and others from running smoothly? In a word - sin.  So when you come to church on Sunday, you are stepping into God's service station! In worship, God serves you and the very first thing He does is to hear your confession of sin and to speak His Words of absolution and forgiveness.  God forgives that sin that separates us from Him and empowers us to practice this same confession and forgiveness with those whom we have hurt or have been hurt by.  Do you need a tune up or a complete overhaul?  Come and let God serve you!

Breaking Through Depression

Those who suffer through depression often lose hope.  There is a feeling that life will never get better and you will never again feel like your normal self again.

But there is a hope for depression sufferers and I believe it comes through a coming together of: 1) Prayer and worship; 2) Diet and exercise; 3) Appropriate medication; 4) Speaking with a trusted and caring counselor or therapist.

In his book, Donald Hill shares the story of Staci.  He tells of her journey from hopelessness to hope.  The paragraph below describes the end result.

She stopped worrying about the future. She trusted God with the best and worse cases she could imagine. Her verbally bitter husband began to mellow. Still, his behavior didn't really matter. Staci was centered on God's love and generosity, assured that regardless of her spouse's behavior, (God) would keep her in perfect peace. Her husband's threats of divorce lost their sting - God would provide what she needed. His criticism of her care for her children was dismissed. She trusted God and humbly loved her husband - spiritual vitality made it possible.

Donald P. Hill, "Breaking Through Depression," page 226

It would be foolish to believe that from that point forward, Staci, enjoyed a "happily ever after" life. What she had been given was the tools to know that God would see her through her "best and worse" cases and knowing how to react to them would go a long way to holding on to that feeling of hope - something which we can't live without.

May God fill you with the assurance of His hope and His dependable care for you.

Thanks for reading and God's bless your day!

Prayer - Your First Option Rather Than Last Resort

You're on the road when you have a flat tire. You reach in the trunk for the jack and you find that your teenager forgot to put it back.

You're running late for your child's soccer match when you become ensnared in a traffic jam.

You have a misunderstanding with an old friend who rebuffs your efforts to try and make things right.

What do you do in those situations? Get mad? Get even? Laugh? Cry? Give up and throw in the towel?

Why not pray?

When you're tempted to lose your head, why not pray and ask God to help you keep your head and find a solution to your problem.

When the traffic jam is enough to make your blood boil over, use the time to thank Jesus for the forgiveness and salvation that is yours because of His shed blood on the cross.

When you feel powerless to bring reconciliation between yourself and your friend or loved one, ask the Holy Spirit to work through the power of the Gospel so that your friendship might be restored.

The apostle James wrote: The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  Since this is true, let's ask our Heavenly Father to help us make prayer the first option instead of the last resort as we encounter these and other situations in our lives.

Let us pray!

What's your weekend looking like?

Let's see...

We've got two of our grandchildren staying with us.  We're not sure yet what our fun agenda will be with them but we've been advised that they like to watch Christmas movies (in June?) and that they like to get the bikes and trikes in our backyard and wash them.  Our dog, Jake, may join them but the truth is, he doesn't really like the heat and the tile floor in the kitchen feels real good this time of year.

Tomorrow, we'll be celebrating my son's 40th birthday.  This does not seem possible but we checked his birth certificate and it is true. We'll have dinner here and then visit Sherri's mother so that she can join in the celebration. 

Today, I preach at the 5 pm service and tomorrow I'll share my message at 8, 9:30 and 11 am.  Come and join us this Sunday at Life in Christ!

Friday Funny - Helpful Sermon Feedback

They say that a preacher's wife is always his number one assistant.

An example of this comes one Sunday morning after the preacher had finished his sermon.  He went on a walk that afternoon with his wife and she asked him how he thought the church service went.

The Preacher shrugged and said, "The worship was excellent, and I think the prayer and communion times went quite well, but," he continued, "I just don't think the sermon ever got off the ground."


The wife looked over at him, and before she could stop herself, she said, "Well, it sure did taxi long enough!"

What About Mistakes?

John H. Holiday, who was the founder and editor of The Indianapolis Star, stormed into the composing room of the newspaper one day.  He was mad...ticked off.  He had been reading the newspaper when he found a story where the word "height" had been spelled as "hight."  Holiday was determined to find the person who had made the mistake and really let them have it.  A copy editor checked the original copy of the story and discovered that it was Holiday himself who was responsible for the misspelling.  When he was told that he said, "Well, if that's the way I spelled it, then it has to be right!" For over 30 years The Indianapolis Star misspelled the word "height."

Holiday's actions sometimes mirror ours.  We find it difficult to admit our mistakes, don't we? At time, a three word sentence is the hardest for us to say: "I was wrong."  Rather than admit our guilt or acknowledge our missteps, we cover up, make excuses, or shift blame to someone else.  We'll often do anything but own up to a mistake.

Remember Cain? He became jealous because of his brother's offerings were received by God while his own were not. God gave Cain a chance to correct his mistake and do the right thing.  But Cain refused and his anger ultimately led to his act of murder against Abel.

Mistakes are inevitable.  We are not perfect people.  We sin daily.  So we have two choices.  We can behave like Holiday and fail to acknowledge our error or we can humble ourselves before Almighty God and, in repentance, tell Him, "I was wrong."  Like the psalmist David, you can say, "Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord' - and You forgave the guilt of my sin."  Don't let foolish pride get the best of you.  It is God's nature to forgive and restore.  Know that as you pray to the Father, "I was wrong," He is always ready to answer, "You are forgiven for the sake of My Son.  Go in peace."  Amen!

From June 19, 2012