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January 9, 2024

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

When God speaks, things happen. When there was nothing at all besides Him, He said, "Let there be light,' and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). Through the angel Gabriel, He told the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and bear a Son, and she did. Through apostles and prophets and pastors and parents and grandparents and neighbors, He shares the Good News of Jesus' death and resurrection, and people come to faith. His Word does what it says because His Word has the power to create.

That is how something as simple and ordinary as eating a bit of bread and drinking a sip of wine can give you forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. When our Lord Jesus invites you to His table and blesses the bread and wine with His Word, you receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. No other huamn's word could do that. No parent or grandparent, no pastor or priest can make bread and wine into Christ's body and blood, much less bless you with forgiveness on the authority of his own words. Our Lord, however, is not just any other human being. He is also true God with the Father and the Spirit. His Word brought creation into being at the beginning. His Word turned water into wine at Cana. His Word healed the sick and raised the dead. His Word unites His body and blood with bread and wine, through which you receive forgiveness, life, and salvation.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

January 8, 2024

Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.

Living inside of redemption, surrounded by the richness of God's grace, is exactly what the Lord's Supper is about. God leaves the tangible for us because He knows that the devil indeed threatens, trouble and danger do assail, love is cold on this earth, and sin clings tightly to us in word and deed. Taking the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine physically places forgiveness into every system in our bodies, filling us from the inside out with the love of Christ, the mercy of Christ, and the heart of Christ. We can certainly have forgiveness in Christ apart from the Lord's Supper, but I also wouldn't want to miss out on this inside-out grace of my Savior. I come because God the Father is inviting me. God wants my company. God wants to fill me. God meets with me.

Can you imagine living outside of that knowledge? Can you imagine wondering whether God would receive you? This is the reality for many in our world. In the message of the Lord's Supper, we share with them also the message of freedom in Christ, the love of Christ, and the strength of Christ. We go out with the supper in us, messengers of life and salvation. Because we are filled, we may overflow with words and actions, not of death and condemnation, but of life and salvation. I seek God at the Sacrament, knowing I am welcome. I share God in the world, knowing sinners are welcome.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

January 4, 2024

Matthew 2:16-18 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Herod’s plan to identify the newborn King and eliminate Him was thwarted when the Magi were directed by God not to return to him. In his fury, he broadened the effort and brought weeping to many homes throughout the area of Bethlehem.

 The Magi, on finding the Christ child, worshiped Him, falling on their knees and bowing with their heads to the floor. Opening their treasures, they presented gifts of great value to the newborn King: gold and frankincense and myrrh. Already in the Early Church, the gifts were seen to have been chosen for their meaning: gold, a suitable gift for a king; frankincense, an offering to Him as God; myrrh, a prophecy of His death as the Savior. Others have suggested that they symbolically represent what we, too, must offer Him: the gold of willing surrender of all of life to Him; the frankincense of our inmost thoughts and prayers; the myrrh of patience in suffering when carrying our own crosses.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

January 03, 2024

Matthew 2:1–12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler     who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

 

The Magi were from the region of Babylon or Persia, where the science of astronomy had been highly developed and had spawned its related pseudoscience, astrology. Magi were valued as counselors in the courts of ancient kings. As they told King Herod, they had seen an unusual star in the east, which they had related to prophecies about a king of the Jews. Many Jews continued to live in that area after the Babylonian exile, so it is not improbable that the Magi had learned of their messianic hopes.

 

Today, some scholars relate the star to a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC which would have appeared to the Magi as a bright star low on the eastern horizon. God does indeed at times use natural means to manifest and assert His will and purpose, but this naturalistic explanation does not fit the biblical account in all details. Matthew said the star went before them from Jerusalem to Bethlehem “until it came to rest over the place where the child was.” Clearly this was a miraculous phenomenon, designed and utilized by God to lead the Magi to Jesus.

 

Herod’s reaction to the inquiry of the Magi was what you would expect of this shrewd, ruthless old king who had murdered his wife, three sons, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle, and others whom he saw as challenges to his throne: he immediately began plotting the elimination of this new rival, this King of the Jews.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

December 19, 2023

Isaiah 9:6  His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

One of the challenges of family gatherings is recognizing who is in charge. When do we eat? Who sits where? How long shall we wait for family members who haven't arrived yet? Someone needs to be in charge.

If that's true of a simple family gathering, it's definitely true of the whole world. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a single voice that could fairly and peacefully give direction? We need a Prince of Peace.

That's the wonderful promise of our text. We have endless questions and few lasting answers. We need a Savior with the power and authority of God Himself but whose message is not our destruction but the gift of peace. How easily His role could have been judgment only. But His cherished title is Prince of Peace.

He is the Prince of Peace who created peace between God and all people by being the incarnate Son of God. In Him is all the fullness of God and the authentic human flesh we carry. He is not a mere messenger from one side or another but the living peace between God and all people. With Him, we have the King whose word is peace.
 


 

December 18, 2025

Romans 12:18  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Many churches have a time of peace in the days before Christmas. The church sanctuary is open all day, there's quiet music playing in the background, and the Christmas decorations beautify the church. Stay five minutes or stay an hour. Savor the quiet and the peace.

If only the next two weeks were an island of calm and peace. If only you could escape at the first hint of conflict. But that won't happen, nor is it likely that we'll be able to get everyone to follow all of our directions. We live in the tense middle ground between escape and control.

Paul gives us the direction we need. Yes, seek peace, but realize that you might not be able to guarantee it. Peace is your desire, but it might not be everyone else's goal. Paul's further direction is helpful: "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly" (Romans 12:16). Find someone who sits alone, someone whose story is seldom heard. Listen to his or her whole story. This is the listening that God extends to us. He hears our every word. With His life, we have found our quiet place and peace.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

December 14, 2023

Colossians 1:19-20  For in Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things.

It happens in a moment. One careless move and your favorite coffee mug falls off the table. You love this mug, and now it's broken, the handle snapped clean off. How will you put it back together? There's no lack of various glues and epoxies as you wander the aisles of a hardware store. I like anything with the word miracle on the packaging. Will it work? You'll have to try it to find out.

We are that shattered handle. Our once-perfect tie with God in the Garden of Eden was broken long ago. What will bring us together again? We're the broken handle, and there's nothing we can do to reconnect with God who made us. It will take a miracle of His own action to join us to Himself. That is the miracle of the incarnation of Jesus, who was born in the center of the nativity scene. He has all the fullness of God. In Him, the broken pieces come together. He makes an eternal union of God and man in Himself. That union brings peace to our broken world.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

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