"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!