Rev. Curtis A. May Blog LCMS

"Adopted to be Holy and Blameless"

          Mark 6:14–29 ²²For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” ²⁴And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.

          What we do for those who we can see with our own eyes, and who also can see us with theirs.  It is like the man who borrowed money from a lone shark who was known for his dreadful means of collecting his debts.  Should you default on the loan he will not only repossess your home but maybe even your life.  We can see the loan shark and his name is worldly. 

It is also like your spoiled child who you promised something to and is relentless in reminding you of your promise.  We don't want to upset those we can see and especially those who we see who can see us too.

It is too easy to fall into the trap set by our conscience which says we should please those around us at all cost.  It is also very hard to do what is right and follow God because we don't feel Him staring at us.  We seem to forget God is all knowing and all seeing.  Yep, you guessed it we all live in glass houses when it comes to God.  Adam and Eve couldn't hide from God, nor could Sodom and Gomorrah. Adam and Eve were reprimanded for their sin, and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

Maybe it would be so much easier if we could feel the gaze of our Lord looking at us, and every time we turned around there God is glaring at our very decisions.  How different do you think your life would be if God was right behind you micro managing your life and every move?  Thank God for Jesus Christ, and that we have a God who is looking for those who will love him for the reason of Christ.

Ephesians 1:3–14 ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

          It is a single predestination that our God meant all along to adopt us back into His family.  You see we all have left the family of God through our sin.  But God knew this before He had created the earth and Adam and Eve.  God knew He had to have a plan to bring us all back into the family, and that plan is Jesus Christ.

          We should be holy and blameless but how would that happen if we all have an active sinful nature?  Certainly we cannot get rid of our sinful nature.  Our sinful nature cannot be solved by man’s philosophy, if it could it would already be gone.  Our sinful nature cannot be surgically removed otherwise we would all have a scar from our peccadilloectomy.

Peccadillo is another word for sin, I think I will start saying we have a peccadillo nature, maybe not, it sounds too cool and then everyone will want to have it.  Wait a second, I think we all at times do want to have a sinful nature whether we admit to it or not.

Our Beloved Jesus Christ assured our adoption through His Blood, Sweat, and Tears as He asked His Father and our Father to forgive us for we know not what we do.  Though we try to be ignorant in our time to what sin is, God knew before hand that He would sacrifice His only begotten Son so that He could have many sons and daughters through adoption. 

We are through our adoption to our Father in heaven made Holy and Blameless through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.  We are also made Holy and Blameless through the baptism that was given in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  How awesome is that?  Our Father in heaven through His Son our Lord and Savior, through the works of the Holy Spirit, and through their love worked it out to predestine us to be with them in heaven for an eternity.  Amen to that dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

"God's Grace, is Enough"

2 Corinthians 12:7–10 ⁷So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.

         

God has a way of humbling us, and being humbled is not always so comfortable to go through.  Though God tells us that we should be humble sometimes that is hard to do.  Paul says he was given a thorn in the flesh.  We all have this thorn in the flesh, which is a metaphor that translates to desires that comes from our sinful nature.

          A messenger of Satan can come to us in many ways, however Satan does not have to work hard these days.  The world and our own sinful desires do all the work for Satan.  The world says it is all ok, and our own desires use the world for an excuse to fall to all that feels good.

          What becomes humbling is those who see their reflection through God's law.  We might boast in our accomplishments forgetting God gave us the gift to do all that we do that is good, but then there is the side of us that does not do good.  We have a thorn to let us know we are in need of God's mercy and grace.

2 Corinthians 12:1–10 ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

         

It is not that we should boast about our sins, but rather boast in God who because of our sins gives us grace.  If God gives us nothing more than His grace we have much to boast in our God about.  However our God does much more for us as He has gifted us with those effects we need to not only survive but also survive in a world who wants us to sin so they can feel good about themselves.

          I can thank God for my knowledge I need for my previous vocation, and surely I can thank God for my present vocation, and I do thank Him.  We certainly can now thank God that because of our weaknesses His power is made perfect as it shows us His grace is His perfect love for us.

          God's perfect love is that even though we fall prey to our flesh of thorns He still loves us greatly.  And, loving us greatly than greatly we should praise and thank Him, boasting that we have such a perfect God.

2 Corinthians 12:1–10 ¹⁰For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

         

So we can all now be content with our lives.  No matter what we suffer through our lives in this world, we know are not of this world, but we are of God and His love.  His love was made perfect through Christ who died and took the punishment for our sin so we did not have to. 

          Through God's loving mercy we are stayed from what we deserve.  Through God's grace we receive God's great and awesome love He has for us.  This grace we do not deserve by our works but through God's love we receive through the works of Christ.

          Stop to think of your life without hope, and think of Christ who gave us that hope as He suffered and died on the cross.  This is God's grace in action as it is poured out through the blood of our savior Jesus Christ. God's grace became even greater as Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  God's grace even became greater as He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us through this life along with the His word.  And are you ready for this?  God's grace becomes even greater when we not only realize that we are forgiven but also given an everlasting relationship with Christ that translates to an eternal life of joy.  Wow! When you look at it this way God’s grace is enough, and I can't wait to receive it in full.  Amen.

 

"The Joy of Christ"

2 Corinthians 6:1–2,11–13 ¹Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ²For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. ¹²You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. ¹³In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

          Christianity is not a belief as the world might have us believe, it is a way of life and in fact it is life.  We start as infants and begin to learn by seeing and hearing taking it upon faith that we are being taught by those who know.  We then become children and now we learn by careful study as we have now been shown how to learn on our own.  But as children we also must have our time to play and enjoy the wonders of the world and the imagination God has gifted us with.

          It is this childhood that we sometimes lose and other times fear losing.  When we lose our childhood we forget to have fun and we also lose our faith.  When we fear losing our childhood we try to hang on to it and we do not grow.  However if we do not fear losing our childhood we grow and still are able to enjoy the wonders of the all the gifts God has given us.  We realize there is a time to learn and a time to play.  And both times are a time to feel joy.

          Joy is one of the gifts that God gives us and one that we do not realize we throw away.  The Corinthians were for the most part epicureans as they spent most of their time trying to gain happiness.  The problem with happiness is that if is not coupled with joy does not last long.  We get gifts from one another and we are happy with them for a fleeting moment and then we tire of them and that happiness is gone.  We find ourselves looking for the next happiness fix when we should be hanging on to the joy Christ died to give us.

Mark 4:38–41 ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

          Our lives actually become easier to contend with when we realize that Christ is in our lives.  We will always have storms in our lives to contend with, and some of the storms will be worse than others.  Depending on our faith in God we will be able to stay the course even through the toughest of life's storms and feel the joy Christ gives us from the cross to His resurrection.

          Hebrews 12:2 ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

          The storm Christ endured was greater than any we could face on our own.  Jesus took all our sin past, present, and future on His shoulders and endured the great pain that the law demanded to be paid.  I'm not sure what eternal pain would feel like, but praise Jesus Christ that He suffered it for you and me. 

          Christianity is life and in this life of Christ there is joy and the joy is that Christ takes care of us through forgiveness and salvation.  God our Father takes care of us through what He provides and the vocation we have.  The Holy Spirit comes along and fills us with joy through God's word and builds up our faith so we can feel the joy God wants us to have.

          Christian life is a life to share in joy and as we share this joy with others Christ than starts to work in those whom we share with.  Christianity is joy!  Joy is knowing we have a God who loves us and cares for us even in an eternal relationship.  Is that just awesome knowing we are the joy of Christ forever?  Amen.

"What We Have In Common, Is Jesus Christ"

Ezekiel 17:22–23a ²²Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ²³On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar.

          Judah is now in the middle of its Babylonian captivity and Ezekiel is one of three prophets that bring good news to the people of Judah.  The good news is that their God will bring them back to a great nation on their own again.  A cedar tree can be 130 ft. tall and about 8.5 ft. in diameter, which makes it a very large and exceptional tree.  This is mankind, we were created to be exceptional among the roaming life God created to walk the earth. 

The sprig from the top of the cedar is smaller than the other branches that are lower to the ground.  The sprig is the Hebrew nation God started through the covenant with Abraham.  And, it is God who decided that He would reconcile with His creation through this small sprig and build a nation under Him and this nation would be noble in eyes of the world.

          Ezekiel shows his people the history of how they became the chosen of God to be His nation.  That sprig could have been any other small nation, but God chose those who would be the offspring of Abraham.  Not because they were any better than any other nation, however more because of the faith Abraham had already been given through his relationship with God.

          Ezekiel 17:23b And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.

          Just within one nation there are many different people of different talents and different status.  There are also people who came from different nations and become grafted into the nation they now claim to be citizens of.  Though there are differences they still have something in common, they support the belief that the nation they show patriotism to is their nation.  Having the patriotism to their nation is one of the great tools for that nation to grow.

          Mark 3:24-25 ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

          Sometimes our personal desires get in the way of our true patriotism and through our desires we are divided and divided we fall.  So where should our patriotism be, in our nation, in our desires, or in God who created all nations.  We come from as all people do, through the creation of Adam and Eve of which we should die from daily.  As we die from Adam we are then born into Christ and now come from the spirit of God.  It is God who gives us rebirth through our baptism and also through the forgiveness Christ worked so hard to die for.

          Ezekiel 17:23b–24 ²⁴And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

          We are the birds of every kind and we like birds fly in and fly out, but in this we have something in common and that is we build our nest among the trees.  Each tree is a nation and each nation is created through the works of God.  But it is the tree of life we should see that God prepared to give us the shelter we need to live.

          Jesus is that tree of life; through Him we find our salvation and Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the word of God works to bring us into the faith.  The Holy Spirit and the Word of God builds our faith so that we can have all in common. 

We have everything in common because we are all sinners and have a sinful nature; but most importantly is that we belong to the nation, that is, the kingdom of God.  This is what Christ died for so that we can all be reconciled back into the nation of God.  Amen.

"For Our Sake"

2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 ¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

          We have all been convicted of a crime and found guilty through evidence that is beyond questioning.  There is nothing we can do to change this verdict and we are waiting for the execution of punishment that fitting to our crime.  We stand waiting and knowing that our punishment is to be eternal death, eternal suffering, and eternal humiliation. What are we going to feel?

          Some might try to plead an appeal, but the evidence is too conclusive to change the verdict.  Some might try paying penitence but the cost is so insurmountable to pay that even a monetary apology could never be enough.  The verdict stands, we wait for our executioner to show his face.  We might even try to be genuinely sorry and plead that we won't do it again, but our track record says we will and the verdict stands the punishment waits to be carried out. 

          We are guilty of a crime and the law demands our punishment is eternal death.  The punishment will be carried out sometime in the future to give us plenty of time to think about what we did and about the fate we deserve.  There is no escape plan to come.  We are trapped and not even a place to hide.  Life is over as we knew it.  We are left in our sorrow, helplessness, and we are weak and powerless.  It is nothing less than a gloomy depressing outlook to a miserable existence.

          2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 ¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

          The sorrow, helplessness and powerless gloom and doom of our convicted status are those things that are seen and are transient, brief, and temporary.  What!!!?  What are we going to feel?  Luke 7:44-48 is the story of the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and her hair.  She knew her convicted status, she knew she is a sinner, and the punishment for her sins was eternal death.  Yet she washed the feet of Jesus not to gain favor but to show her repenting heart and sorrow for what she had done in the name of sin.  The other reason for this woman's tears was to show her love for Jesus.  What love did this women have for Jesus?  It is quite simple, this woman loved Jesus for His mercy, and for His grace given to her through forgiveness.  Do we realize Christ forgiveness comes through His love for us?

          We stand waiting our punishment and love little because we do not realize the reality of our situation with God.  We live in denial of the gospel given to us by the physical suffering, the suffering of humiliation, and the dying through suffocation and loss of blood that Jesus our Christ endured "for our sake."

          We stand convicted ready to be put into death, and someone comes to our executioner and say WAIT!!!  This punishment will not take place with these people for they belong to God!  I will take their place and die for their crime.  Let them go to their Father and He will wash away their inflictions with my blood.  The Father will give them the reward of everlasting relationship and eternal life because I will pay the ransom and they will become adopted into my family by my Father and become my brothers and sisters.

2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 ¹For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

          Through the mercy God we are saved from eternal death and punishment.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ we are forgiven through His grace and given eternal life in God's new earth and new heaven.  Amen.

"In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, an awesome AMEN!"

Isaiah 6:3–5 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”  ⁴And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

          We are not to look at God in His full glory which is God in heaven.  If we did look at God we would not live.  In fact, Moses did not look at the face of God, rather Moses only saw the back of God.  Though Moses came down from the mountain with his face all a glow, he actually did not see the face of God.  You would have to be perfect as God to look at His face.

Exodus 33:20-23 ESV ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

          Isaiah a prophet chosen by God to be a messenger of His word, both law and gospel, saw himself in the light of our Lord and Savior.  What Isaiah saw himself as, was not a person who was worthy of God's calling.  Isaiah saw himself as lost and unclean, a sinner in need of a savior.

          Lost, what is it to be lost?  We could look at being lost as a person who needs to find their way to what is familiar, but that does not take us to where we belong.  We could compare this to a lost child that can't find their way back and needs someone to find them and lead them back to where they belong.  That actually would be more like it.  When we sin we are lost to God.  Like the song, "lost but now I'm found."

          Unclean, what is unclean? One who is lost in the wilderness after awhile is certainly unclean, as they have collected dirt trying to find their way back.  But that seems to be the problem, that is, when we try to find our way back we pick up dirt on our way, and sometimes not realizing that we have.  When we sin we are unclean and we are in need of cleansing.

Isaiah 6:6–7⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

          Yes, Isaiah realized he was lost and unclean and that he could not lead himself back to where he belongs or even make himself clean because the dirt he picked up while being lost was the sin in his heart.  Like us, Isaiah needed help being found and cleansed, and the only help that would work can only come from our Lord and Savior.

          1 Corinthians 3:13-15 ESV ¹³ each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

          Isaiah's sins were consumed by the coal that was taken from the cleansing fire of our Lord. (Baptism by fire)  Isaiah was cleansed and his reward is he is no longer lost but found.  Now that Isaiah is found and his sins atoned for his reward is eternal life and everlasting relationship with God.

          Jesus is that fired coal taken to be placed on our lips as we are baptized by the cleansing fire and lead by the Holy Spirit to confess Christ as our savior.  Christ atoned for our sins and through His resurrection we are no longer lost.  We are no longer lost, we are found to be the children of God, Yahweh.  And!  Being the children of God we have eternal life and everlasting relationship with our Lord.  And this is God speaking to us as we realize that we are indeed not lost to death but saved to life.  Through our joy and excitement we say...

Isaiah 6: 8-9 ⁸And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

          Do you see?  Do you hear?  Do you now have faith?  Our Lord has saved us to be His forever and ever, Amen.  Wow! An awesome Amen!  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, an awesome AMEN!

 

We start Pentecost this Sunday, Study the book of Acts and James it’s time for Action!

 

“Jesus Came To Save The Lowly”

John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

          Don't you just love to condemn others, it just makes one feel so much better about themselves when we can put others down and in their place.  O I'm sure you don't ever do this because that would be breaking the eighth commandment not to mention the second greatest commandment we learned from Mark 12:31, you know, love one another.  The problem with the whole world is that everyone breaks this commandment almost daily.  But, Jesus who could say a lot about all of us did not.

Isaiah 57:17–21 ¹⁷Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.  ¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, ¹⁹creating the fruit of the lips.  Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.  ²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.  ²¹There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Do you fear God, and do you fear getting God angry at you?  We should fear God and fear His anger, God has wiped out the world, flattened cities, and swallowed up thousands.  Yes, God can have a devastating anger.  We just don't fear God.  We don't fear God because we have only read about His anger and we have not experienced it.  We don't realize it will happen again when God finishes what He started and clears away the old to replace it with the new.  We call it end times, but really, we should call it beginning times.  Beginning a time of real peace, no sin, real joy, no sadness, real life, and no sickness.

We are forgiven, so is it ok to sin?  The Ten Commandments and the greatest commands that God and Jesus gave us are just nice things to show on plaques for the atheist to feel guilty about and have them taken down.  Maybe we should take them down because we Christians don't follow them.  When we fight to keep them up do you think we are just making ourselves look self righteous?  Hey!  Look at the other guy, I'm glad I'm not like him!  We are all sinners and we all need help.

Isaiah 57:15–16 ¹⁵For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:  “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.  ¹⁶For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.

          Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn it.  Rather Jesus came to save the lowly sinners that we are.  We are always in need of a savior, who can save us from the evil one and save us from ourselves.  We are forgiven but it is important to know we are forgiven when we are contrite.  Contrite is that we actually feel sorry for our sins.  This is called part of repenting and the other part of repenting is that we work with the word of God and the Holy Spirit to stay from our sins.

          Jesus justifies us to the Father and then with the Holy Spirit and the word of God we are sanctified.  Being sanctified, that is made holy, makes us acceptable to our Father in heaven.  And, this is our path to heaven through Christ who works to keep us as His own.

          Think about this, we have a God who says He loves the world, the world has only sinners in it and despite our inequities our God still loves us deeply.  How do we know God loves us?  God the Father gave up His only son so that all who believe will be saved to eternal life.  How do we know He wants an eternal relationship with us?  Our Father in heaven did not send His Son to condemn us but rather to give us His word to show that we are saved through His Son!

          The one high and lifted up!  That is Isaiah telling us about Jesus Christ who inhabits eternal life!  This is awesome! Our Christ came to die for our sins, Christ came to rise from the dead, and Christ came to ascend into heaven.  And, feeling for our contrite lives Christ came to take us to where He is so that we to can inhabit eternal life, and have a loving eternal relationship with our God.  Amen.

"Pray to Live in the World"

Alleluia, Christ is risen!  He has risen indeed!

Alleluia, Christ is risen!  He has risen indeed!

Alleluia, Christ is risen!  He has risen indeed!

          John 17:14–19 ¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

          It is getting harder for people to become Christians because more and more Christians are joining the people of the world.  We have so many things of this world that are influencing our younger people.  And, what is so disappointing is that our churches are doing less and less to influence our children.  Why is that?  The world is fun and church is a chore.  Why is that?  We Christians also get caught up in the hype of the world for acceptance because who doesn't want to be cool?  Who wants to be hated?  Please raise your hand if you want to be hated.

          Hate is assuredly a cruel act to place on anyone and our world is quick to shout hate crime.  Sadly those who shout hate crime are committing the very same crime they blame others for.  This is true especially when it is directed toward Christianity.  And here is the greater problem, there are a lot of Christians doing it to each other as well.  We live in a world that loves to hate and we believers and non believers do it through their own self righteousness. 

          Let's ask ourselves a question, who among us does not sin, and does not point to others who do sin?  No matter which half of that question you use you still can't honestly raise your hand.  Let's ask another question, who among us does not measure the severity of their sin or the sin of others?  Again, no matter which half of this question you use you still can't honestly raise your hand.  There is only one who can raise their hand to any of these questions and that is Jesus Christ.

          John 17:18–19 ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

          Ephesians 2:10 ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

          We are Christians and we are not supposed to be of this world but rather sent into the world, and this does not give us an excuse to hate anyone.  We are actually sent into the world to love our neighbor. ("love one another" can be found 14 times in the N.T.; "love your neighbor" can be found 7 times in the N.T.)  Let's ask another question, if someone treats you with hate, would you more likely change so they won't hate you?  Some of you might say no, some of you might actually say yes, and some of you will say no until you are confronted with this dilemma because it has more to do with people accepting you and even more when it is people you love. 

So let's ask one more question, would you be more likely to change if someone treated you with love and forgiveness?  And again, some of you might say yes, some of you might say it depends, and some of you might say yes until you are confronted with this situation because again it is about acceptance to the world.  Thank God Christ and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us.

Though Jesus Christ showed us the greatest love by dying for us we still turn our back on Him and live as if we are of the world instead of just being in the world.  Let us pray to live in the world and teach it the love of Christ so all can be not of the world.

          John 17:11b–13 ¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

          Thank God Christ sanctifies us and has made us holy in His blood.  Here Jesus prays for us, He is still praying for us even sitting at the right hand of the Father.  Jesus is not only praying for us but He is praying without ceasing.  Jesus did not stop before He was nailed to the cross, He continued to pray for us while He hung bleeding and dying on that cross meant for sinners.

Jesus Christ our savior prayed to the Father "forgive them for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)  Jesus continues to pray for us for His will is to see as many of us not fall to the world but believe in the gospel.  And this is the gospel that He does not lose any of us because we are given to Him by His Father in heaven and our Father in heaven. This is keeping us in His name the name above all names, Yahweh, the name of the Father and the name of the Son and the name of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!  He has risen indeed!

Alleluia, Christ is risen!  He has risen indeed!

Alleluia, Christ is risen!  He has risen indeed!

Alleluia! Christ has Risen! He has Risen in Deed!

Alleluia! Christ has Risen! He has Risen in Deed!

Alleluia! Christ has Risen! He has Risen in Deed!

"We Are Those Friends"

John 15:9–12       ⁹As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

¹²[Jesus said:] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

          Keeping Jesus' commandments, Mark 12: 30, 31, shouldn't be hard, there are only two; love God and love one another.  How many of you will say you love God?  What does that love look like?  How would you describe loving God?  I'm sure we could come up with many answers to these questions.  It isn't that your answers would be right or wrong, rather it would be a matter of degree.  What degree of love from your heart, soul, mind, and strength do you feel you love God?

          If we are truthful we might answer Sunday for one hour, maybe the one to two hour bible study, and part of the time we spend during a voters, guild, or board meeting.  Some of you might say during prayer, and devotion.  Here's a question, do you ever tell God you love Him? 

With my whole heart I try to love God and try to make it more often practiced.  With my soul I worship God and try not to do it by memory but with true feeling and realize in return God gives me joy through that worship.  With my mind I try to dig deeper into scripture to know my God more and that to have a return of joy as I learn His ways of loving us.  And with my strength which I pray God will continually increase I try to combat my sins that get in the way of me loving God as much as I am able or as much as I should.

          So loving God has many facets for us to ponder and discover through His love which is also through His word.  One of the ways our God loves us is through His word.  And through God's word we find out how we are to love one another as He has loved us.

John 15:13–15 ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

We don't always love God the way we should.  None of us including myself can pat ourselves on the back and say we do love God as we should.  This is unfortunately true because God is not our lives, He is just a small part of it tucked away in a little box that we hide whenever we feel He is getting in our way. 

So if we have a problem loving God the way we should, how can we be good at loving our neighbor the way we should?  Sure we are helpful at times to one another, we even pray for those we know not so much for those we don't.  What do we do to help each other grow; what would that love look like; would God's word answer this question?  How fast would you turn on one another if one was to have committed a crime or you caught them in a sin? 

How many of us live in the law and forget the gospel?  It is always easy to disperse law even when the law does not apply.  In our world there is no innocent until proven guilty, rather one is guilty until we can't prove it, and they're still guilty.  Forgiveness is optional but there must always be a sacrifice for the sin!  Well, as long as it isn't me, me, me...

          You know the story of Abraham and his son Isaac.  Abraham was told to sacrifice his son by God and Abraham, through faith, was going to do what God asked.  God stopped Abraham before his knife fell and accounted Abraham's loyalty as faith.  Did you ever think that Abraham's faith was that Isaac was not the right sacrifice and God would provide the right sacrifice needed? 

However you look at this story Isaac would have lived even if Abraham had followed through because of the promise God had given Abraham.  God's promise was the many descendants he would have through Isaac.  Abraham through faith and patience waited for God to deliver the right sacrifice that was caught in a bush a few feet away. 

Could we have that much faith so as not to turn on our neighbor in time of need even when it was due to sin?  Could we practice patience and wait for God to show us the truth of what is needed in all situations so that the right sacrifice was given? 

Jesus asks us to bear fruit that is good fruit.  Our fruit comes from the heart to God and to our neighbor. Our love for one another comes from our heart and is dispersed with our whole soul.  Through love we rely on God's word to fill our minds with His way of love, and through our God given strength God becomes our way of life.  Jesus Christ made us His life and through His friendship gave His life to save ours.  Let the gospel then live through us.

John 15:16–17 ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

We are able to abide in Christ, that is, we live in Christ as He lives in us.  Christ went to the cross to show us His great love for the Father, and the Father's great love for us, and Christ's own love for us.  Christ sacrificed through pain humility and even death to pay the ransom owed for our sin, and it was because He considers us His friends.  And as a friend Christ serves out of love for each of us.

But the gospel shows even greater love as we are not just cleansed through our baptism and forgiven from the cross through Christ's body and blood.  We are also living in the gospel as we have now been given everlasting relationship through eternal life with our Lord and Savior who loves all His friends and we are those friends. 

Alleluia! Christ has Risen! He has Risen in Deed!

Alleluia! Christ has Risen! He has Risen in Deed!

Alleluia! Christ has Risen! He has Risen in Deed!

" God is Greater Than Our Heart, and He Knows Everything."

Alleluia!  Christ has Risen! 

He has risen indeed!

Alleluia!  Christ has Risen! 

He has risen indeed!

Alleluia!  Christ has Risen! 

He has risen indeed!

1 John 3:19–20 ¹⁹By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

          How's your heart pumping these days?  You ever listen to your heart?  I remember going to the doctor when I was a young boy and the doctor putting his stethoscope on me and letting me listen to my heart beat.  Sounded more like some fluid being forced in and out of a tube.  Seems more like a beat when I hear it night laying on my side and my blood pressure is high.  It almost sounds deafening.  How does your heart sound these days?

          I think my blood pressure goes up based on how many people I hold in my heart.  At least that's what I try to tell my doctor.  Well maybe not.  Enough about my heart, what about our heart?  Yes, what about the collective heart of our congregation?

          We certainly claim to have a heart for our God that we worship every Sunday, and we might even claim that our heart for God never condemns us, or does it?  There are those times when we have been on that side path of sin and then something important comes up that we feel we should go to our Lord and pray for.  So we put our hands together and start to pray and all of a sudden we remember we are on that side path of sin and no words come out.  It's like we are frozen in the thought of what's the use God won't answer this prayer, because He knows of my side path of sin.

1 John 3:21–24 ²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²²and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. ²³And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.  ²⁴Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

          Oh yea, I've been good all this week and God will surely listen to my prayers, yeah!  It's funny how we get stuck on the perfect, that is, as long as we do everything by the law then God will be good to us.  And, if I don't do everything by the law of God then He will not be good to us?  Well... that's not entirely true is it? 

          Certainly if we follow God's commands He will be good to us.  But, if we do not follow God's commands God will forgive us if we have a repentant heart.  Maybe that's the contributing factor of blood pressure, the more one sins and the more one repents the more one's blood pressure increase.  I better stop sinning so much.  Ok, maybe that's not it either.  But it's good to have a healthy heart to keep us on the steady beat.

          You remember what we read first, "God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."  God knows our heart, He knows why we sin, and what we are trying to make up or replace with our sin.  Though the reasoning for our sin is not a real excuse, God sees everything attached to our heart and becomes greater than our heart as He forgives. 

1 John 3:16–18 ¹⁶By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

          We can believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because we should know through God's word that we have a loving and caring God.  Our hearts might condemn us, but God says Himself that He does not.

John 3:17 ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Christ laid down His life to show just how much God wants us to be with him, and not just for a time, but for eternity.  This is the truth of God's love, it is Jesus Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection that gives everlasting relationship with our God who has the greater heart.  Amen.

Alleluia!  Christ has Risen! 

He has risen indeed!

Alleluia!  Christ has Risen! 

He has risen indeed!

Alleluia!  Christ has Risen! 

He has risen indeed!