Family of Christ

HANGING OUT AT THE GROCERY STORE

2012-01-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

I like hanging out at the grocery store, it is one of my favorite places to be. I usually go there at least once a day. I do that because I like my ingredients as fresh as I can get them. I don’t necessarily spend a lot of money there, but I just like to shop and price things and plan. Yes I know that sounds strange. What is really strange is that in general I don’t like to shop. I make it to the mall maybe twice a year and I can’t stand to walk into a clothing store. When my wife does manage to drag me to the mall, I moan and groan the whole time we are looking at clothes. I hate shopping! I love walking around the grocery store though. All that food, all the possibilities of things that can be cooked with it! My love affair with grocery stores started in college at the University of Idaho. I did most of my own cooking in college and my roommates and I would go shopping at 2 a.m. in the morning. At that hour we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves. It was a fun place to hang out for a few hours before the donut shop opened at 3:30 in the morning. My friend knew the donut shop owner and she would let us in and we frost our own fresh donuts. There is nothing like a warm freshly frosted donut. Then we would all go home and finally sleep.
My love affair with the grocery story increased when I went to Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The seminary required that all unmarried students live on campus and eat at the cafeteria, something I had never done in college. The problem was the cafeteria food was awful. The building was officially called Katherine Lutheran Hall in memory of Martin Luther’s wife. The food was so bad though we called it Kitty Litter Hall. My friend and I detested the food so much that we usually ate out at one of the local restaurants instead. So I was paying money for board and then paying money to eat somewhere else, but at least I didn’t have to eat bad food. I have always believed that life is too short to eat bad food. Another thing my friend and I would do was to go to the grocery stores. We never bought anything mind you, we had no way to cook it, but we window shopped. We would walk down the meat aisle looking at the all the things we could be cooking if they would let us move off campus. The main two grocery stores we would go to were Cubs and Lions Foods, they were superstores. Superstores were new in those days, we liked them because they were huge and had tons of food. We sometimes wondered if we could buy some of this food and then break into the dining hall and cook it while everyone slept. We never did, but just dreaming about it made life a little easier.
I like visiting grocery stores and comparing them to each other. I know that certain stores carry this brand and other stores carry that brand and I am also pretty good at knowing what that brand costs and how it tastes compared to another brand. I always have my ears open to new stuff and new tastes. A good grocery shopper has to know their stuff. For instance with meat, different stores call the same grade or type of meat two different things. Sometimes an ingredient called for in a recipe has a different name at the store. I study to go shopping. It is almost like a sport. If I do it right and get the right ingredients and then I use the right techniques to cook it, well I have had a good day and everyone is happy.
Sometimes I think I am strange because I am fascinated by this stuff, but then I read in Scripture that this seems to be important to God as well. When God wants to point out that something is good, he uses food talk. He tells the Israelites that they are going to receive a land filled with milk and honey, he even gives them recipes. For the Passover they have to cook a lamb and they are given precise instructions on how to do this. When the Israelites are in the desert he sends manna and rains quail down upon them, you could say the grocery store came to them. In the New Testament Jesus is always eating with someone. When the disciples realize that they are in the middle of nowhere with five thousand people they tell Jesus, “Hey dismiss these people so that they can go to the grocery store and buy food.” Jesus instead, again, brings the grocery store them and feeds the people himself. The book of Revelation pictures heaven as a big banquet where God brings out of the storehouses, the grocery stores, the finest of meats and the finest of wines. Many people believe that when we get to heaven we will have jobs to do there. If that is so I call dibs on being the guy that gets to do the shopping, especially since it’s all free.
So is visiting the grocery store a little vision of heaven? Well I wouldn’t go that far, but is a wonderful relaxing place to be most of the time. So much food, so little time. What are you eating tonight?

Pastor Fred

Ho, Ho, Ho, and a Bottle of Rum?

2012-01-11T10:52:00.001-08:00

Christmas is over! For some of us that is a statement of relief and for others it is a statement of sadness. For me it is a little bit of both. My favorite songs during Christmas include songs like Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and White Christmas. I enjoy singing those songs and listening to them. They bring back many childhood memories and several of them are good ways to worship God and remember what Christmas is really all about, the birth of Jesus. My favorite song after Christmas though is Jimmy Buffet’s, “Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum” with the tag line, “Santa’s run off to the Caribbean.” Jimmy Buffet came out with a Christmas album a number of years ago and that was one of the songs on the CD. In my office I even have a little figure of Santa wearing a swimsuit and riding the waves. I love to listen to that song in the car and sing along, but I change the words slightly to the, "Pastor’s run off to the Caribbean.” The Christmas season in the church is exhausting. There are programs, special services, and parties and then you add in family events, baking and shopping, and well as wonderful as it all is, thankful it finally ends. It all happens so fast too. It is like people are trying to shove a whole years worth of celebrating into a few weeks. It is many times too hard to control, in a sense Christmas happens to you and then it’s gone. One minute you find yourself at the fourth Christmas event in as many days and then next thing you know you are watching the ball drop and it’s a new year. That is when I get visions of playing in the sand in the Caribbean. I want a margarita and the sound of steel drums in the background. Although I have never went to Caribbean, I usually do take a few days after Christmas to come down from the chaos, relax, get my bearings and think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year. I need that time every year to get it all back together. We all do.
The time after Christmas is a good opportunity to refocus. Some do that by making New Year’s resolutions. They realize everything didn’t go as well as it could have gone last year and they want to make this next year better. I make resolutions as well. One of my big resolutions this year is to eat breakfast every morning. Now that doesn’t seem ground breaking but as a diabetic who chronically skips breakfast and just drinks coffee and maybe eats a donut, it is a significant one. I know that if I can keep this resolution it will go a long way to keeping my diabetes in check and will also help me eat healthier the rest of the day. It seems like a small thing, but over time I am confident it can lead to much better health. I also believe that this is a resolution I am actually capable of keeping. I like to cook so I plan to make it interesting and maybe during the year I will share some of the fast breakfast recipes I come up with. So resolutions are a good thing. Visions are better.
What do I mean be visions? Am I talking about prophetic visions? Am I talking about hallucinations? Since we just finished Christmas am I talking about visions of sugar plums? Am I just talking about seeing? No I am talking about focus, about what we are really looking at, what we are really concentrating on. I am talking about what is our central theme of life. What causes us to do what we do every day, the reason behind our actions, the object that our decisions are based upon. Resolutions though good tend to be short term and are aimed at fixing what is wrong with us. Visions are long term; they are aimed at how we can be all that God wants us to be. A resolution says I am fat so I need to lose weight. A vision sees an ideal that could be and focuses on the object that can make that ideal a reality. So where am I going with this? How did we get from playing steel drums in the Caribbean to talking about a vision for our life? Well because maybe it’s time to stop dealing with just the symptoms and deal with the problem itself. Instead of focusing on the symptom of being worn out, or being unhealthy or whatever it is that you are dealing with, why don’t we deal with problem behind it all, our disconnect with God. I put to you that if we make God our vision many of the issues we struggle with will be handled as well. That is not to say that everything will be perfect, we are sinners living in a sinful world so nothing is ever going to be perfect, but a strong relationship with God can put everything in its proper perspective so that we don’t end up getting wrung out all the time by the chaos that we live in.
During our worship service on New Year’s Day I based the sermon on an old Irish Poem composed by Dallan Forgaill in the 8th Century. The poem is Be Thou My Vision, and it was a part of the Irish Monastic tradition before it was put to song in 1912. The first few lines of the song say, “Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, naught be all else to me, save that thou art; Thou my best thought by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.” I used the song because I thought it conveyed a good message for the start of the New Year. This is the type of vision that we need for 2012. We need to keep our eyes, our vision on Jesus this year. It won’t make the chaos go away but it will guide us through the chaos, it will keep us grounded and concentrating on what is really important, our relationship with God. If we put God first then all the other stuff will fall into place. When that happens then instead of being rung out by life, we can embrace life and live the way God wants us to live. So I challenge you to every day get up and let the first words of your prayer that day be, Lord be thou my vision today, and then let God take over. That doesn’t mean you can’t dream of the Caribbean, it just means you will already be focused when you get there.

Pastor Fred

I Love You Like A Love Song Baby

2011-12-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

My pre-teens, translate six year olds, are really into music. They have been listening to Christian music both hymns and contemporary since they were born and we try to expose them to as much Christian music as we can listening to the radio and playing CD’s in the car and at home. They also have grown up listening to a lot of secular music, my wife and I love 80’s rock and roll and yes even some country music. We for the most part are able to control what they listen to when we are around but we are not always around and so sometimes they get exposed to things that we are not really happy about. Unfortunately my son is gaga over Lady Gaga. There are a few other younger singers that we are not too pleased with either like Justine Bieber, sorry but I just don’t get how he is popular. One singer though that we kind of like because she was on Disney Channel for so long is Selena Gomez. She has now transitioned to making CDs and my kids are always listening to her songs. The latest and most popular of her songs is entitled “Love You Like A Love Song.” The main chorus in the song is “I, I love you like a long song, baby.” It is very catchy and I find myself walking around the house repeating the chorus.
When I stopped to think about it I realized I didn’t really know what that meant. So I went and looked up the lyrics on line. Most of the song is the chorus repeated over and over again, but there are two verses and a bridge that surround the chorus. So I thought well the lyrics will explain it right? Well, they do, but I am not so sure I like the explanation. I don’t have a problem with the lyrics I just think they are superficial, like I was supposed to expect anything else from a pop song. If you haven’t heard the lyrics, the first verse goes like this, “It’s been said and done Every beautiful thought’s been already sung And I guess right now here’s another one So your melody will play on and on, with the best of ‘em You are beautiful, like a dream come alive, incredible A centerfold miracle, lyrical You’ve saved my life again And I want you to know baby.” And then she transitions into the chorus.” Okay nothing offensive, which is a plus compared to some of them out there. Basically she is saying she looks upon him as a beautiful love song come alive in her life, heck I could even hear those lines included in wedding vows, not any wedding I would perform, but I could see it done.
So what’s my problem if they are not objectionable? Well my problem is not in what is there, but in what is not there. If the words of the lyrics are the basis for love, then that love is probably not going to last very long. Love songs come and go. In other words new ones are always replacing them. The lyrics even contain the line, “So your melody will play on and on, with the best of em.” So in other words there are other love songs and maybe other people as well. I know I am nit picking and for crying out loud it’s a pop song by a teenage girl. My goal is not to put down Selena Gomez, so far in my book she is a nice girl.
The problem is not Gomez and it’s not the song, it’s the fact that many people’s idea of love is as superficial as this song and most other pop songs about love. I run into the problem a lot when I sit down with young couples who are getting married. They are in love, he or she is perfect, they are that love song. And so I ask them how they met and what they like to do together and its’ always so wonderful. I usually let them go on for awhile about how wonderful it is and then I stop them and ask, so what are you going to do when it’s not so wonderful? What are you going to do when you realize that she or he is not perfect, matter of fact there are a lot of things about them that just flat irritate you? What are you going to do when the finances fall apart, when you can’t agree on how to raise the kids, when your mother-in-law drives you nuts? What are you going to do when the music stops?
Most of us who have been married for awhile realize that no matter how much we love our spouse, those things are going to happen. Every marriage that I have been around has gone through some sort of trial at some point and some have even been through the fire once or twice. So what are you going to do when that happens? Unfortunately we live in a society where too many people love their spouses like a love song by Selena Gomez. Those marriages usually fall apart. They have nothing to hold them together except some emotions, some good feelings. Loving someone like a love song is great when you are a teenage girl in love with a cute teenage boy, but it doesn’t work when you are an adult and married to a real person who has real faults just like you do. Very quickly that pop love song becomes a Mark Chesnutt country song with the words, “I’m going through the big D and I don’t mean Dallas.” I guess somewhere we need to find a balance between pop love songs where every relationship is perfect and country songs where every relationship ends in divorce.
As I said before my problem is not what is in the lyrics but what is not in the lyrics. What is not in the lyrics is the word commitment. Real love always involves commitment, because real love is more than an emotion it’s an action, it’s a way of living. When you love someone you don’t just feel good about them, you do things for them, you care for them, you support them, and you are there for them through thick and thin. Real love stays when the chips are down. Real love forgives, builds up and protects.
When I tell young couples that sometimes they look at me like I just took their CD out of the player and broke it in half. When I see that look I know I have done my job. I have introduced them to reality. If there is no C word there will no doubt be a D word somewhere in their future.
When I realize I have their attention and I sense they are a little worried I introduce them to another C word, Christ. Christ is the big C word because it is from him that we get the strength to be committed to each other. As sinners we humans had offended God in so many ways I don’t have time to name them. God had every right to just get rid of us, but in spite of all of our sin God continued to love us, he continued to be committed to us. The greatness of that commitment was demonstrated in his sending of his Son Jesus Christ to save us. Christ showed that commitment to us by going to the cross and dying for us, even suffering the pains of hell for us. Bottom line He saved us from eternal destruction because he loved us with real love, committed love. As believers in Christ we are now called to love others, especially our spouses, the same way. We love others because Christ first loved us. The chorus “I love you like a love song baby,” although not objectionable is so weak that it is pitiful and certainly not the basis for a real relationship. No real love, committed love that lasts says, “I love you like Christ loved me, baby.” Maybe it’s not as catchy but it’s the type of love you need in reality.

Pastor Fred

What Are You Thankful For?

2011-11-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Next week we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not an official Christian holiday but we usually do hold special services to commemorate it. We will be doing that here at 7 p.m. on Wednesday the 23rd and then we are going to have a Pie Social afterward. So if you are in the area join us for worship and some pie. I will be conducting the worship service and I preaching on how thankful we are to be, that is usually what pastor’s do for Thanksgiving services. I am not staying for the Pie Social though because I have to be in San Diego for Thanksgiving with my extended family. So we will be leaving a few minutes after the benediction. I am actually looking forward to the drive because I know the kids will fall asleep quickly and I won’t have to stop for sixteen potty breaks between here and California. Plus I like to drive at night when everyone is asleep, it lets me think my own thoughts and not be disturbed. Our CD player and radio went out in the van awhile ago so there will be no music either. It will just be me, the headlights, the ribbon of road, some wildlife and maybe a few illegal aliens trying to sneak across I-8 in the middle of the night. I have never seen that yet on the drive, although I often look over into Mexico at times when we are near the border. Whenever I see the hills of Mexico off in the distance I am reminded of Clint Eastwood in all those spaghetti westerns, which were really filmed in Italy, hence the name spaghetti western, but always seemed to end up in some dusty little village in Mexico. But that’s another topic, back to Thanksgiving.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving because I am going to spend it with a large part of my family this year. That hasn’t always been the case for me. I have spent a number of Thanksgivings in other places in the country without family. I always had friends mind you but family was thousands of miles away. Over the years I have spent Thanksgiving with close friends in Nebraska, with congregation members in Michigan, North Dakota, and Indiana, all of them nice but not the same as with family. I had three Thanksgivings that were to say the least strange. The strangest one was in Cambridge England when I was going to school there. It occurred to my friend and I that the Brit’s don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. We didn’t know what to do. The Brits somehow picked up on our confusion and threw a Thanksgiving dinner for us with all the trimmings. That was nice, I still remember that. I don’t remember much about the dinner but I do remember with great thankfulness their hospitality and what it meant to my friend and me. I spent another Thanksgiving in a restaurant in North Dakota. I was supposed to join a farmer and his family for Thanksgiving but the night before it snowed two feet and they shut everything down. North Dakotans are a resilient group though and someone talked to someone who talked to someone else who arranged for the entire town to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the local diner together. There were 250 people in the town so it was a little confusing but again, it was wonderful. I will never forget my Thanksgiving on the road though. It was also in North Dakota but several years before the one I just talked about and before I was a pastor. Another friend and I left Idaho together, he was headed for graduate school at North Dakota State in Fargo and I was headed to Seminary in Fort Wayne Indiana. He was going to start after Christmas break and I was going to start after Thanksgiving break and so we decided to drive out together in the bad weather. We got caught in a horrible snow storm right before Jamestown North Dakota, in which we came very close to getting killed, and so we ended up staying the night there. The next day was Thanksgiving. As we filled up at the gas station we both grabbed a frozen burrito and heated them in the station’s microwave. We nodded to each other and said, “Happy Thanksgiving.” In this case it was just good to be alive. As we left Jamestown and headed East we realized how blessed we were, the roadside was littered with overturned trucks and cars. Many people have similar Thanksgiving stories; many probably have stories of Thanksgivings in faraway places such Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, or a number of other places that have left indelible memories. I have been blessed for the past fourteen years to spend every Thanksgiving with my family, sometimes it was just me and my wife but we were family. For the past six years it has been at the very least the four of us and there has also been a lot of extended family and friends at times as well.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this year because the four of us are going over to join my mom and my nephew and niece for Thanksgiving north of San Diego in San Marcos. As the years go on and I attend more and more funerals of family and friends I realize how important and precious times like these are. The people you value the most aren’t always going to be there. You never know when you are spending your last Thanksgiving with them. We have a tradition at Family of Christ here in Phoenix. Right after the sermon we ask people to stand up and tell everyone what they are thankful for. If you understand anything about Lutherans you know that is pushing the envelope. We Lutherans don’t usually talk about our feelings, especially in front of groups of people. Therefore I am always amazed at the number of people who do stand up and express, sometimes very emotionally, what they are thankful for. Many times what is expressed is that they are thankful for their families and for each other. I know that is what I am thankful for. I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the family he has given me both inside and outside the church. In fact I am thankful for so many things I have that I can’t begin to list them.
As I said before Thanksgiving is not a Christian holiday, at the same time thankfulness is a Christian virtue. We have so much to be thankful for. As Christians we have been adopted by Christ into his family. We have been saved from death and damnation through our faith in Jesus. If there was ever anything to be thankful that would be it. In addition to that he has given us so much more, namely our families and our friends that we share our lives with. He has also given us homes and jobs and health and food you name it. Too often we take those things for granted and we only think about them when they are gone. The holiday of Thanksgiving is a way of guarding against that. So this Thanksgiving wherever you are, gathered around the family dinner table with those you love, at a friend’s house, at a roadside gas station in the middle of nowhere, take the time to think about what you are thankful for, and also take the time to thank God for them, and then thank the people around you for being who they are in your life. Thanksgiving is not a Christian holiday, but maybe it should be.

Pastor Fred

I Have Found The Sinner and He is Me!

2011-11-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest pet peeves in life are people that go through the drive thru lane at a fast food restaurant or someplace like Starbucks and then order for a bunch of people. They take forever to order and then when they get to the window it seems like they are never going to move. You know the scene, the person inside hands them a cup of coffee, and you think okay, but they don’t move, then the person inside hands them another cup of coffee and a bag holding some pumpkin bread or something. Still the car doesn’t move. Slowly another cup of something is handed to them, then the person inside leans their head out the window and you know they are listening to some complaint, and sure enough there goes a cup of coffee back to the server and the car doesn’t move. Several more minutes go by and then another cup of something passes through the window to the person in the car, obviously the replacement for the wrong drink they had received before. The worst part is that you know it was probably the person in the car who messed up the order in the first place, Aunt May wanted caramel in that drink and they forgot to mention that. So now you think the car is going to move but no the server sticks her head out the window again and the person inside the car hands them a wad of cash. Don’t they know everyone uses credit cards these days! Now the server is going to have to count them and invariable will count them wrong and there will be more conversation between the car and the window. This is one of my biggest pet peeves as everyone in my family knows all too well.
When this is going on I am saying things like, “Oh for crying out loud people, if you are ordering for more than two go inside, that’s what inside is for. Those of us out here in cars are in our cars for a reason, we are in a hurry, you’re in a car, you should know that, but NO, you’re too important to go inside, who cares if the rest of us have to wait, we really don’t matter after all do we?” “I mean how rude and inconsiderate can you get, I bet his guy also brings a full cart to the 15 or less items line at the grocery store”, another pet peeve of mine. My wife is always saying, “Please stop, it’s not going to speed anything up, we just have to wait.” My response, “You’re right we have to wait because that guy decided to order for the whole office in his car!” My kids by this time are laying back in their seats staring out the window, hoping no one hears my ranting. Patience is not a virtue of mine when it comes to waiting behind people who order for half the community in the drive thru. Now I don’t go through the drive thru at Starbucks every day, not even most days, but it seems that when I do, I always get behind one of these horrible sinful people who should know better.
Saturday Charlie had baseball practice early in the morning. After practice I usually like to take him someplace for a treat, and that morning I decided that I would get the whole family a treat, so after practice Charlie and I drove to Starbucks. I asked Charlie what he wanted. He said that wanted some of those pink birthday donuts that Starbucks serves and that he also wanted a drink. I though well if I get that for him, I also have to get that for Jasmine as well, and then I also need to get something like for Darla and come to think of it that sounds pretty good for me too. As we were pulling up to Starbucks Charlie said he wanted to go inside, I said, “No, not this morning, mommy and Jasmine are waiting and we have a lot to get done today we will just go through the drive thru.” So when I got to box where you order I put in my order of a Venti Americano with cream, a Grande strawberries and cream and two Grande hot chocolates, plus I also wanted six of the birthday donuts and a brownie. The voice in the box said, “I don’t know if we have six birthday donuts, let me check”, so I sat there in line while she checked. She came back and said, “No I only have three of those.” Oh I said, “Well how about those pink birthday pops, how many of them do you have?” She said, “Wait a minute let me check”, so I waited there while she checked. She came back and informed me she had plenty of those and so I said “Give me three birthday donuts and also three of the birthday pops and drop the brownie.” “You don’t want the brownie sir”; “No” I said “I don’t want the brownie.” “Okay” she said and then proceeded to run through my order with me. After she did, I said “No I don’t want cream in that Americano, I want whole milk.” “Oh I thought you said cream?” “No whole milk”, actually I had said cream because that is the way that I order coffee at Dunkin Donuts. So finally we were done. A few minutes later I found myself at the window. The server opened the window and started to hand me a drink, but I stopped her, and asked if she could please put all the drinks in a cup holder, so she took the drink back and closed the window. The window opened again and she handed me the tray of drinks which I put on the seat beside me and before I did anything else I took the Americano out and tasted it to make sure it was whole milk and not cream. I turned back around and she was handing me the donuts and pops. I took them and made sure I looked in the package to see if they were all there. Then I reached for my Starbucks gift card, which I had forgot to put in my wallet so I had to start digging through my pockets. Finally I found it and handed it to her. The window closed and then opened back up again and she informed me that I still owed a little over seven dollars. Not wanting to use my credit card I started rummaging for dollar bills in my pockets again. I finally end up with a wad of cash in my hand and I figured there was at least seven dollars in there and so I just handed it to her. She started to straighten it out and count it and then window closed again. Finally she opened the window and said I need another dollar. I didn’t have another dollar so I asked for my money back and handed her my credit card. As I did I looked in the rearview mirror and it hit me. Opps!

A Change in Seasons

2011-10-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

A change in seasons has happened. Yes we even get changes in seasons in Arizona, although not quite as dramatic as in other parts of the country. In fact when you are new here you really don’t notice it that much. It is sunny pretty much every day in Arizona and it very seldom gets real cold. The first few years you are here all you really notice is that the heat finally goes away and it gets comfortable for several months before the heat gets turned back up again. After you have been here awhile though you start to notice the subtle differences in the seasons, in a sense you learn a new normal. Basically you learn to complain about different things and rejoice in other stuff that many people would think strange. For instance in the summer when the temperature drops to 99 you rejoice that finally you have a cool day. When it’s 109 you rejoice that after 18 days in a row it’s not above 110. When it drops below 32, which doesn’t happen often, panic and hysteria kick in because in Arizona most of the piping is outside and nothing is insulated from the cold so pipes start breaking throughout the community. I have lived in North Dakota, Indiana, Idaho, Montana, Michigan and even in Wyoming where it gets really cold and my pipes have never burst. So it was ironic that the day I arrived in Phoenix it dropped below 32 and my pipes broke in my house. I had lived through winters of weeks on end of 30 below without a problem, first day in Arizona with 32 above and I have a major disaster on my hands. But that’s Arizona, sunny, warm, hot, sometimes wonderful and always a little strange.
A change in seasons is about to happen in the church as well. In a little over a month we will be ending the season of Pentecost and entering the season of Advent and with that a whole new church year. For those us who follow a liturgical calendar we will be entering season B. It is a three year cycle of A, B, C and then we start the whole thing over again. As a pastor who went through his phase of trying to “be with it.” I used to make fun of the church year and all the colors and old traditions. At a certain point along the way I realized that I wasn’t “with it,” in fact I had probably lost it along the way but just can’t remember where, to loosely quote Johnny Carson. I know if you reading this and you are under 40 you are probably asking yourself, “Who is Johnny Carson?” More evidence I am no longer with it. I have relearned recently to deeply appreciate the change in seasons in the church. I know they are not in Scripture and they are certainly not points of doctrine, but that doesn’t make them unimportant. Right now we are in the season of Pentecost. This season starts with the Day of Pentecost which usually occurs somewhere in late May or early June, depending on when Easter is. It is day of red. Red represents the fire of the Holy Spirit coming down on the church. It is a color of power and strength. The Sunday after that is White because it is Trinity Sunday. White stands for purity, and sinlessness, perfect for a Sunday focusing on the three persons of the Godhead. The next Sunday the color turns to Green and remains Green for usually twenty some weeks. Green is the color of life and growth and the season of Pentecost focuses on the life of the Christian, it is also sometimes referred to as the non-festive half of the church year. There is one festival though that we as Lutherans celebrate and that is the usually the last Sunday in October when we celebrate the Reformation, where the color is Red again. The new Church years usually starts at the end of November with Advent. The color for Advent is Blue, which is a royal color and a color of anticipation. During Advent we celebrate the various comings of Christ. We celebrate his first coming at Christmas, we celebrate his coming into our hearts by faith and we celebrate his second coming which we are still waiting for. Advent is of course followed by the season of Christmas which is also White. The season of Christmas takes us into the New Year and is followed by the season of Epiphany which is Green. Epiphany means shining forth and during this time we celebrate the miracles of Jesus while he was here on earth. Jesus was both man and God but for the most part people just saw his humanity while he was here on earth, but at times he would perform a miracle and his divinity would shine forth out of his humanity. Epiphany is then followed by the season of Lent which is represented by the color Purple, which is a color of suffering. During Lent we walk with Jesus to the cross. We look at his coming suffering for us and it all leads up to Good Friday which is represented by the color Black, the color of sin and death. Thankfully two days later we celebrate Easter with the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The season of Easter is presented by the color of White. This season then leads us back to Pentecost where we started. Each of these seasons has a different color and a different focus. These seasons keep us on track and keep us in a rhythm. We also have special celebrations during all of this, unusual things happen in the church, sometimes some big event in the world will cause us to stop and take notice and related it to God in some way, but for the most part the seasons come and go and we continually get reminded of the law and the gospel. The law shows us our sins and the Gospel shows us our Savior. Each season looks at those two things differently but at the end of the day it all comes down to the fact that Jesus died for our sins and that he offers us his free forgiveness through faith in him.
I will admit that I miss the four seasons, I particularly miss the early fall. I believe there is even a Clint Black song that contains the line, “There is just something about the early fall.” Early fall in Arizona is not as different from summer as it is in other parts of the country. I make up for that by making pumpkin bread and drying pumpkin seeds. I also observe the seasons of the church which in fall begin to change as well. There is also something about the early fall in the church, the pace changes, the air changes, and I like that. A cold cloudy day wouldn’t hurt though. Just a special request.

Pastor Fred

PATIENCE SOUP

2011-10-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

I love making soup. Typically when people think of soup they think of something that they eat in late fall or in the winter. In Arizona most people consider it too hot to eat soup in the summer. I mean who wants to eat soup when its 115 outside? I get that, I understand that, but I love soup all year round. I eat soup even when it is 115 outside. I stand over the pot stirring whipping the sweat off of my brow and then I eat it with more sweat pouring out. I just love soup. It probably helps that I also like hot weather, although sometimes 115 is pushing it. If I had my way we would eat soup every night I like it so much. The other members of my family though, are not quite as fanatically about it as I am. My wife likes soup. My kids are not big fans yet. I say yet because I am slowly working on their taste buds and they are starting to eat some of my soups. They particularly like my homemade chicken noodle soup. I have several soup books in my library. The books all have different approaches to soup. For instance I have one book entitled, “500 Soups”. It has a bunch of different categories like cold soups, meat based soups, and grained based soup etc… and then every soup has about 6 variations. The soups in this book are all very good and they usually only take at most 45 minutes to make. There is a soup in there called, “Chili beef soup with cheese topped tortilla chips.” I use lamb instead of beef and my family says it tastes just like the “Mexican Pizza” at Taco Bell. The difference the soup is healthy for you while the Mexican Pizza isn’t. The soups from the book are easy to make and don’t take a lot of time. We eat a lot of soup from this book.
I have another soup book though that takes a very different approach it is called, “The Best Soups in the World.” It literally has soups from all around the world and even from different time periods in world history. The recipes have ingredients that are sometimes hard to come by and the instructions can be very complicated and time consuming. Some of the soups in this book can take hours and hours to make and one mistake and you might as well pour it down the drain. Soups in this book have names like, “Basler Mehlsuppe” which is from Switzerland. “Armenian Trahana Soup” which is from Armenia and takes a week to make from start to finish. Then there is “Soupe de Poisson” from Marseilles which has recipes within the recipe. Whenever one of these soups is on the schedule my family takes a step back because they never know what is going to happen. They just know I am going to be obsessed with my cast iron Dutch oven over the stove for several hours and that I am not to be disturbed. I absolutely treasure this book. I don’t even let people turn the pages in it until I have a blood sample, social security number and their first born child as collateral. I usually only make two soups a month from this book, because of time constraints, I need to make sure there are no conflicts on the calendar and that I will have time alone to make the soup. These soups require preparation and great care and above all these soups require patience. With the “500 Soups” book you just kind of put it together and cook it and the soups are pretty good. With these soups though, much patience is require and the ending result is either something out of this world or it is horrible. The conclusion I have come to in the last six months is that really good soup, soup that causes you to forget where you are at and what you are doing and why you even exist, requires patience. Patience is a key ingredient.
The thing about a good soup is that it needs to slowly cook and certain ingredients need to be added at certain times. The amount of the ingredient is many times measured by taste and smell. You have to let it simmer, you can’t rush things, you can’t speed up the process and get really good mind blowing soup. Things need time to cook down, to cook together, and to release flavors. Spices need to be added in small amounts and herbs need to be stripped from the stems and crumbled just so between your fingers over the soup. If salt is being added, it can’t be put in until the last minute and then you can’t over salt because you can’t take it back. Pepper needs to be ground at the last minute also, but only to the point that its taste comes out and not to the point that people choke when they eat it. Patience and calm is needed in all of this.
I never have understood the concept of the angry soup maker that is sometimes portrayed on TV. After I get done making soup, I am the calmest guy in the room. All of my stress is gone and I am in a very good mood. I am also very patient at this point. I have taken ingredients and put them in a pot and added heat and over the course of a couple of hours I have added this and that, stirred endlessly with my wooden spoon, covered the pot and let it simmer on its own, checking every once in a while on its progress. If I have added wine, I probably I have also drank some, my hands smell of garlic and maybe mint, thyme, sage, pepper, basil and a few other herbs and spices. The house smells wonderful and now all there is to do is eat the soup that patience has created. The thing about this patience soup is that it seems to translate to other areas of my life as well. I tend to be more patient with people in general after I have been making soup.
Now I know the standard Christian response to this will be, pastor what you really need to do is read Scripture and pray if you want patience. I agree and I do that, but I also believe that God works through the common everyday things that we do. When we are in need of some quality like patience or kindness, he doesn’t just say take a couple of Bible verses and call me in the morning after you pray. He gives us vocations, avocations and sometimes vacations to keep us healthy. I need patience, therefore in addition to prayer and Scripture, I need soup. I think that is true of everyone. It may not be soup for you, but maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s a hobby or a craft like cooking, but everyone has something. How do you slow down and focus and develop things like patience? If you don’t have anything right now what are some ways that you can start to find them?

Pastor Fred

STOP SO I CAN CATCH UP

2011-09-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

Ever heard those words, stop so I can catch up? Ever heard them being said to you by you? This past weekend my family engaged in fall cleaning of the house, mainly because my mother-in-law is coming next week and my wife wants the house cleaned. We made some good progress; the problem is life does not stop to wait for cleaning. There was still all the other stuff that needed to be done. Meals still needed cooking, shopping still needed done, homework still needed done etc… The result, nothing really got done. The house actually looked worse on Monday then it did on Saturday morning. The result frustration. The problem is Monday brought a whole new bunch of stuff that needed accomplished. There were meetings, notice the s as in plural, there were practices to attend, there was dinner that needed cooked, again etc… As a result, the house even looked worse on Tuesday. The result of that and too many meetings, even more frustration. The result of that, the inner cry of stop so I can catch up or let me off this merry-go-round. As Regis Philbin used to say, “I am only one man!” The next question, when does the sheer exhaustion end? Or how can I make it end, and are the consequences of doing that bearable? I know I am not the only one in this crazy world that feels that way. When you get to that point I think that there are only three options.
One, you can continue on the road that you are on and eventually you will either crash and burn or just walk out of the door of life and disappear someday. You know one day you are stressed to the max and the next day you wake up and you are in another country washing dishes and speaking Portuguese to a bunch of people that call you Padrozah, which means, “Strange guy that wandered into village one day looking lost.” Makes for a good book or a movie but not exactly a very good life.
Two, you can totally change directions and avoid it all, which is some cases can be good, but in most cases results in disaster, because you are just avoiding the problems that you need to be dealing with. The result even more stress as you look back and realize you really messed things up by running away from your problems and now you spend all your time dealing with guilt and regret and the situation you are in is even worse than the one you wanted out of. Makes for a good setting to learn more about yourself and God, but is horrible on the central nervous system and family relationships. Not a good option.
Three, you can deal with reality and realize that you can only do what you can do, and most importantly you can take it to God and leave it at the foot of the cross. It means dealing with the reality of the situation and realizing some things are not going to get perfectly done. If the house is not perfectly clean when my mother-in-law gets here, well so be it. At the end of the day, kids need to be fed, homework needs to be done and jobs need to be accomplished, the rest is gravy. It is the same with any situation, the important stuff needs accomplish and the less important stuff will be done if there is time and if there is energy. As they say no one says on their death bed, “I wished I had spent more time at work.” Or, “I wish I had run another program, or had a cleaner house.” People talk about their relationships with their family and the important things that they did in their life. So in other words the best way to deal with a crazy out of control life, is exactly that, deal with it. Don’t walk away, don’t avoid, face it and prioritize it and deal with it and hand the stress over to God, and let the chips fall where they may. Sometimes you need to stop so you can catch up.

Pastor Fred

REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11TH

2011-09-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up I remember my parents talking about Pearl Harbor. For my parents born in the 1920’s Pearl Harbor and then the assassination of President John Kennedy were the defining moments of their lives. My parents could both tell you exactly where they were at and what they were doing when they heard about those horrible events. It was seared into their memory. I remember listening to their stories of how they reacted to it and what happened as a result of it in their lives. Pearl Harbor literally turned their lives upside down. My dad would end up joining the Navy and spending time in the Pacific and on the island of Okinawa. My mother would marry a man who would go into the Army and would learn to grow up fast. The results of World War II would remake our nation and my parents lives would be shaped forever by those events. Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assassination were unifying events for us as a nation. Everyone it seemed was affected in some way and everyone came together as one. After those events it seemed another event of great magnitude would never happen to us again as a nation. There was of course the Korean War and the Vietnam War but neither of them had a huge national event that unified the nation. There was also the landing on the moon but it didn’t really unify people or bring them together. There was the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan but he survived. There was the shuttle blowing up on takeoff in the mid 1980’s but nothing of the magnitude of Pearl Harbor or John Kennedy.
Then 911 happened. Like Pearl Harbor it felt like a punch in the gut to the nation as a whole. The vast majority of Americans were nowhere near the tragic events that unfolded that day and yet we all felt like it was in some way aimed at us. The real time coverage of the event made it even more so. I like you remember the events of that morning in very clear detail. It was a Tuesday morning and I was living in Fort Wayne Indiana. My wife had already gone to work and normally I would have been in my office at the time as well, but I woke up with a sore throat and decided to stay home for awhile. I had just sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Katie Couric was about to sign off on the morning show when she announced that a plane had just crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York. They began to show live video of the smoke coming out of the building and starting talking about how it must have been a small cargo plane. Suddenly right over Couric’s shoulder on the video screen I watched live as the second plane crashed into the next tower. It was then that we all realized this was not an accident. I watched the TV for several more hours that morning as the nation went into panic mode, as another plane flew into the Pentagon and yet another went down in field in Pennsylvania and as both of the towers went down. I don’t think I even went to the bathroom that morning and at times wondered if what I was watching was actually real. Could such a horrendous thing as this actually be happening? I eventually went to work that day but there was no escaping it. The videos, the pictures were everywhere. I don’t think any of us knew what was going to happen, if this was the end of it or if there was more coming, but we did all know one thing, our lives would never be the same again. There was a bad wind blowing and we could feel it we just didn’t know what the ending result would be.
Ten years have now passed since that tragic day and how our country and our world has changed. Even if you were not close to the events of that day, and even if you didn’t know someone who died that day, in the last ten years you have been personally touched in some way by the events that followed. Around five thousand Americans have been killed in the war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan and several other places, and many times that have been wounded. I think everyone in the country knows someone who has served in harm’s way in the last ten years. How we travel has drastically changed. I find now when I tell a story about travel by air I have to say this was before or after 911 because getting from point A to point B on a plane anymore is very different. Security for public events is also very different and how we view other people has changed. We are not as trusting as we once were. This Sunday at Family of Christ we want to recognize that and the sacrifices that have been made by so many over the past ten years. Therefore we are holding a special service at our regular time of 9:30 a.m. that will be a service of remembrance and also a service of worship of the God who has sustained us over these years. There will be special videos and our school kids will be singing God Bless America. So we invite you to join us this Sunday as we take a moment to think about those who have given so much.

Pastor Fred

LEARNING TO TIE YOUR SHOES

2011-08-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

One of my kids made an achievement this morning. It wasn’t a remarkable achievement in fact I thought it was something she had already accomplished. Jasmine my 6 year old learned how to tie her own shoes. I know that is not a big thing for a six year old, like I said I thought she already knew how to do it. A lot of her shoes have been the Velcro type through the years and I guess without really thinking about it I have just always tied her other shoes, usually because we are in a hurry to get somewhere. She demanded to tie her own shoes this morning and I was like okay, so how long is this going to take, I am not known for my patience when trying to get my kids to school in the morning so I had to take a deep breath and say to myself, “Breathe deeply it’s going to be okay”. I had already been told by her mom that she had asked the same thing the night before and the lesson hadn’t gone so well. So once the shoes were on the feet I took one foot and showed her how to do it. She tried it a couple of times and just couldn’t get the concept. That was the end of my patience so I very quickly tied both and said, “Okay let’s get going we are late.” After I took Charlie to his classroom I went to Jasmine’s class to check on her. I found her sitting on the floor trying to tie her shoes again. She was not giving up. So I sat down next her and said, “Okay let me show you this again.” She watched and then successfully did it herself. Learning to tie your shoes might seem like a minor thing in life, but I still remember when I first learned to tie mine and how proud I was, I could see that same pride in Jasmine’s eyes this morning. Plus there is a freedom in knowing how to tie your own shoes; you are no longer dependent upon someone else to do it for you. I also experienced a little sadness because what’s next? What else is she soon going to learn that I will no longer have to do for her? Before I know it she will have a driver’s license, then she will be out of high school, graduating from college and moving to some other part of the country. Okay maybe I am being a little dramatic, but the fact is I want my kids to always need me. It’s a stupid worry because no matter how much we achieve in life we still need our parents in some way. Even when we are completely independent we still value their advice, their wisdom and their amazing love of us. The fact is no matter how old we get we are still the kids and they are still the parents, even though the roles may be dramatically different.
My children have provided me with a different view of God lately. When I look at the relationship I have with my children and how much I love them, no matter how bad they act at times, it brings me comfort, because God the Father loves us even more than that. No matter how much we love our children, God loves them more and loves us more, I personally find that comforting. I also realize just as my children learn to be more independent they will always in some way be dependent upon me, even if it is just for emotional support. In the same way we are even more dependent upon God. We may think we can handle everything on our own, but that is not the truth. The big difference between our children and us as children of God is that we never really grow up. We are always dependent upon God for everything. We never really learn to tie our shoes. We are perpetually children before God the Father. As much as my sinful nature rebels against that thought, my new nature relaxes in that knowledge that Dad is always there handling things. In many ways I still provide all of that for Jasmine. I may have lost the tying the shoes job, but I am still her ride to school, at least for another 10 years.

Pastor Fred

What's The Fusion About?

2011-08-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

Fusion is a new old chic word that most people thought they knew the meaning of. Well I should say they knew what the idea was, maybe not the actual definition. When you used to mention fusion people would immediately think of nuclear fusion. Again they may not have understood it well but they had heard it enough to recognize that the two went together. Today if you mention fusion you will get a number of different responses. People may talk about a car or they may talk about business or they may talk about food. The dictionary definition of the word is that it is a fusing or melting together. A union of different things by or as if by melting; blending. Nuclear fusion is defined as, “The process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or fuse, to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy.” And here I thought nuclear engineering was supposed to be complicated. I mean it’s not rocket science, well then again maybe it’s harder. But I digress. For foodies fusion has become the new word that gets everyone excited. Fusion Cuisine is defined as the combining of elements of various culinary traditions which not being categorized per any one cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970’s.” Quite clearly not nuclear science, but it tastes a lot better.
Now if you have read this blog before you know I am not going to talk about nuclear fusion that would just lead to confusion. You know that I am going to talk about fusion cuisine. If you are going to talk about fusion cuisine you have to mention the name of Richard Wing, who in the 1960’s combined French and Chinese cooking at the former Imperial Dynasty restaurant in Hanford, California. Unfortunately for Richard he was not good at marketing himself and so has become a footnote in culinary history. I mean have you ever heard of him? Here is a name that you have heard, Wolfgang Puck. Wolfgang, the short chef from Austria, is the most famous pioneer of fusion cuisine. Puck’s restaurants are known for combining foods from different countries into new dishes. From Chinese and Italian, to Japanese and French you name it, Puck has probably done it. The result of fusion cooking has been new recipes and new tastes that people had never experienced before. Where cuisine used to be regional it is now becoming global. The lines between Italian, French, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, and whatever regional food you want to name, have begun to disappear. Another good illustration of this is Bobby Flay who has never lived outside of New York City and yet cooks Southwestern U.S. food with a California – New York understanding. This movement has traveled down to those of us who cook at home as well. My wife and I have taken her fantastic spaghetti sauce and have southwesternized it by adding chili powder to it among other things. I won’t tell you the other things, that’s a secret.
Fusion also applies to the human race. If you live in a larger city like I do you see this all the time. The Europeans are not just hanging out with Europeans anymore and neither are the Asians or the Hispanics or the Africans. To take it a step further the Europeans are not purely Europeans anymore and neither are Asians or the Hispanics, or the Africans purely Asian, or Hispanic or African anymore. In my family we have seen a wonderful fusion happen over the years. My close family of my wife and children and brothers and sisters-in-laws and nephews and nieces includes people with ancestry from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Many of those family members are products of at least two of those different regions. The result, a very interesting blending of cultures, languages, music, art, and yes food. I was eating Japanese noodles with a side of baked potatoes and a salad containing seaweed long before Puck came around. I love the fusion in my family because it makes life interesting.
So what’s my point? Fusion is important in the church as well. The early church struggled with that. It was primarily a Jewish church. It was not an easy thing to let the Gentiles in because they were different. Their food was different, their music was different, and their choice of words was very different. God had to perform a miracle to convince the church leaders that God wanted this done. This fusion thing has been a hard thing for the church to swallow throughout its history. Many of the church bodies that we have today came into existence because of ethnic differences instead of doctrinal differences. That is why you see historically black churches or historically Polish churches you name it. People groups through the years have found it easier to worship with people like them, but this is not the way God intended it. Jesus’ constant prayer for the church is that it be one. Paul talks about how now because of Christ there is no difference between Jew and Gentile and you could apply that to every people group. I have worshipped in churches that were primarily full of people from Africa, from Poland, from India, from Mexico, and I have spent my life in churches that are full of people primarily from Northern Europe. I have enjoyed all of those experiences and learned from them, but at the end of the day I have always thought something was missing. God was there, but the representative church as a whole wasn’t. It needed some fusion. Even though I grew up in a part of the country that is primarily of European stock I have always loved diversity, probably because from an early age my family was diverse. I really love diversity in the church. Unfortunately diversity is largely lacking in the church today. As someone once said, I forget who, Sunday morning is the most racially divided day of the week in America. I hope someday that will end. I don’t know how to end it, I don’t have a plan, but I do hope it ends. I love walking into a church and seeing people from all around the world in it. I think it is a little glimpse of heaven. In heaven there is only one church and it is the ultimate fusion church, everyone thrown into one pot and stirred up. Fusion, let’s let it happen.

Another School Year of God's Grace

2011-08-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today is the third day of the new school year for us here at Family of Christ. My son and daughter, who are first graders and therefore too old for our school are actually in their third week already. They go to a school with a different calendar which leads to some confusion every year in our family. Today was our first big chapel at Family of Christ and I was Bible Man who had “come to save the day” with his huge Bible. I wear a disguise but I think the kids have figured out that it’s really Pastor Fred who is Bible man. At the same time it is exciting for them and it’s a good way to lead them into thinking about God’s Word. Our chapels are very energetic with lots of singing and dancing and praising God. We have a truly amazing staff and director who keep the kids on the edge of their seats. As I have walked though the classrooms the last few years I have observed this energy and joy that the teachers bring. One word I have never heard about our school is boring. Education should be exciting and the presentation of God’s word should always be filled with hope and grace.
At Family of Christ we have two things we want to accomplish with our kids. The first one is providing the best quality education that we can. The second one is presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to every student and family in our center. We want to give head and heart knowledge at the same time. We want to have an eternal impact on the children that pass through our doors. We see that impact many times in how God moves in the children’s lives and in their parent’s lives. It is one of the reasons there is so much energy and excitement around here on a daily basis. God is at work and we get to watch. So we rejoice at the beginning of yet another school year, another year of God’s grace and love, another year of growth.
Pastor Fred

To Compromise or Not To Compromise

2011-08-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

In the last month we have heard a lot of talk about compromise and we have seen a lot of people not willing to compromise. The result, a stalemate. The way the stalemate got solved, compromise. I am referring here to the recent debt ceiling issue that our government has dealt with and also the negotiations between players and owners in the National Football League. Thankfully both of those issues are solved, no one wanted to see the effects that a default would have on our country and I think we all want to see a little football this year. These stalemates though have brought up another issue, compromise. Some people say that compromise is always good, and some say that compromise is always bad. I think we should compromise and find a middle ground between both of those statements. I think they are both equally wrong and I won’t compromise on that fact. I am not going to get into the political issues going on in D.C. and I personally couldn’t care less what deal the owners and players came up with I just want to see them play, but I do want to look at what God says about compromise.
For God the issue of compromise depends on the situation. There are some situations where compromise is called for and there are some situations where God clearly says there can be no compromise. The trick is figuring out where what applies. For instance in Ephesians 4 Paul calls for us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. He follows that up by telling husbands and wives to submit to one another as well. In other words compromise with one another when you have different ideas of what you want to do. When there is not compromise in personal relationships you do not have healthy human relationships. You either have two people who can never get along and are constantly fighting or you have one person controlling the other person, neither of which is good. We have all dealt with that person who refuses to compromise on anything and we know how impossible they are to work with or be around. I have usually either walked away or ended that relationship. To compromise with someone is to show respect for them. Most successful businesses and all healthy relationships practice compromise. Without compromise most things do not get done.

At the same time there are situations where there can be no compromise whatsoever. God clearly says there can be no compromise when it comes to his word or the doctrine that comes out of it. There are situations where the lines need to be drawn in the sand. When Scripture for instance says that something is immoral there can be no leeway given. It doesn’t matter if the culture has changed or if society has accepted it or if we are related to a person doing the immorality it is still immoral, end of argument and not an inch of ground can be given. For instance where there might be compromise in a business deal over price, there can be no compromise if one party asks the other party to do something that would be defined as stealing or otherwise unethical. In the church there might be compromise on how a worship service is conducted but there can never be compromise on the doctrine that is taught in that worship service. In the church there may be compromise on how programs are carried out but there can never be comprise on the mission and vision that God has given to that church. In the family there might be compromise when a child is going to clean their room but there cannot be compromise on the fact that the child is going to clean their room. In the family there can be compromise with the kids on when and what church they are going to, but there can never be compromise on the fact that the child is going to church, whether they like it or not is not an issue, it is a Scriptural command to parents to make sure it happens.
To compromise or not to compromise, well let’s compromise and say it depends on the situation. Wisdom is knowing when each applies, on that fact there is no compromise.

Pastor Fred

PROCESSED FAITH

2011-07-26T10:43:00.001-07:00

American cheese is very un-American. Yes you read that correctly, American cheese is about as un-American as you can get. America is the land of opportunity; it’s the land of self starters with original ideas. America has even been called the “great experiment.” What is the experiment? Can you put a whole bunch of people from different races, backgrounds, and beliefs together in one place and have them get along and actually be successful? Although we have had our share of bumps along the road, I think we would have to say that so far the experiment has been producing good results. One thing about America is that it has never been boring; it has never been a copy of something else. That is why American cheese is un-American. If you were to read up on your cheeses you would find that of all the major cheeses that we consume, American cheese is the only one that is processed, some would say it isn’t even a real cheese; it’s made in a factory. It is complete and utter garbage in my opinion. I love cheeseburgers but the cheese has to be something else than American cheese. I personally think the name should be changed because it is so bad it is an insult to our great country. It is unoriginal, boring and bad for your health. American cheese though is just a symptom of a larger problem, and that is processed foods.
When I refer to processed foods here I am talking about how industry takes natural good foods and puts in additives and preservatives to make the product look better and give it a longer shelf life. Processed foods do provide convenience and if you are in the middle of nowhere it does help the food last longer. The problem though is that is destroys the true taste of the food, and it puts chemicals in your body that medical research has shown to be harmful to you. Processed foods also contain a lot of salt and fats to make up for the loss of taste in the pure product, hence the obesity problem in America and the rise of diabetes. The biggest problem though in my opinion is not the health issue; everybody is going to die of something some day whether it is processed food or stepping in front of a bus. No the biggest problem with processed food is that it is boring and unoriginal, two cardinal sins in my book. This boring and unoriginal processed movement has taken over just about everything, from the supermarket to a lot of so called restaurants. Many restaurants today do not make their own food, they just mix together some ingredients they got out of cans at Costco and then heat them up and serve them to you as if they made it. All I can say is boring! My purpose here though is not to take on the processed food market but to talk about another thing that is sometimes processed, and that is our lives.
In particular I am addressing our spiritual lives. The basis of our spiritual lives as Christians is the Word of God and nothing else. The Bible is the Word of God in its pure form without any additives or preservatives or other stuff to make it taste or look better. From the Bible we get God’s grace and love and forgiveness and salvation through the Gospel. We also get all of our doctrine that teaches about who God is and what he has done for us and how he expects us to live in response to that. Doctrine is extremely important but it needs to be doctrine that is drawn from the pure Scriptures. Unfortunately people want to process the Word of God to make it look better to people, to keep people coming back to hear it and they want to add stuff to it thinking it will go down a little easier with people in our world. There is a huge demand for this so there are many out there willing to provide it. The original food, the Bible gets thrown to the side.
What do I mean by this? People have always wanted to modify what Scripture says because they are afraid that it might offend people, so they change the word to fit what sounds good to most people. They take out the things it says about sins that we like or lifestyles that are popular. People also like to add things to the word and make it address issues that it doesn’t like politics or bizarrely enough, what you should eat. The result is a processed faith that doesn’t resemble what the Bible teaches at all and gets in the way of providing the necessary spiritual nourishment that we need. One of the biggest culprits of this movement, although certainly not the only one, has been the modern Christian bookstore which at this time is by and large going out of business thankfully. It has provided books to Christians written by athletes and business people who teach their philosophy and lifestyle instead of what Scripture teaches. It has also provided the jewelry and t-shirts and other stuff that Christians are told that a good believer should wear. They have also been the leading promoters of pre-formatted one size fits all church programs. Just buy our DVD and you don’t have to read the Bible, we will tell you what to think.

The result has been disastrous. Cookie cutter Christians who dress alike, vote alike and quote their favorite authors and teachers more than they quote the Bible. It has also produced churches which have nothing original about them, they are just knocks offs of another popular church in another city. It is the spiritual version of obesity and diabetes. This processed Christianity is killing the church in America. So maybe it’s time to get rid of the all the additives and preservatives and go back to the original source. My family has slowly been making the transition from processed foods to fresh ingredients. As we have made that transition we have been pleasantly surprised to find that the food tastes better, we don’t eat as much and we feel better. Our taste buds have also been revived and we are experiencing new things in natural flavors. We rarely eat at fast food restaurants and have stopped eating at some other restaurants after we discovered that they were just heating things up. It’s time to do the same with our spiritual lives. It is time to go back to the Bible alone. When we do we will find that there is no Christian look, there are no Christian politics, and no Christian food among other things. It is time to stop consuming processed Christianity. It is time to stop doctoring the Bible to make it less offensive or more inviting and just let it speak for itself. When you do you will find that you will be closer to God and you will experience him in ways that you never imagined.

THE HABOOB FROM HELL

2011-07-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

Throughout the years of living and traveling throughout the country I have experienced some very interesting weather. A week or so ago though we had a storm here in Phoenix that some people have called a hundred year storm, meaning you only get one like that every hundred years or so. The city of Phoenix basically lies in a bowl in the middle of the desert. Most of the time that just means we get some really hot days like 115 to 118 in the summer. Phoenix is basically known as a hot and dry place which is it is most of the time. I say most of the time because we have a thing here called the monsoon season. Now when I think of monsoons I think of Southeast Asia and places like that, but certainly not the hot dry desert of Arizona. So I was surprised when I moved here and found out about it. Now admittedly our monsoon season is nothing like those in other wet places in the world where it rains for days and weeks on end. Our monsoons come out of nowhere packed with rain that falls for 5 minutes or so and then is followed by a huge wind bringing dust and dirt. Usually the whole event takes 15 minutes and then you go outside and start to clean up the mess it left. These dust storms are called haboobs. The one we had a week or so ago though was the Haboobs of all haboobs. When it arrived it was daylight and the sun was brightly shining. I live in the very southeast corner of Phoenix bordering the city of Chandler so my house was one of the first ones hit. My neighbor took pictures of it coming and they are amazing. At 7:23 you see it looming in the background of a beautiful sunny day with everything at peace. One minute later it is looming over my house like an angry monster looking to devour everything. One minute after that the sunny day has become pitch black the trees bowing in the wind and things flying through the air, absolutely terrifying. The storm went on for over an hour without letting up. The aftermath thankfully to my house was just a lot of dirt and dust everywhere. In other places there were trees down, power lines taken out and people without electricity. Overall for such a monstrous storm it did very little damage. The images of the storm though are other worldly. I spent that storm in my office working and watched it at times through the front windows of the church.
Yesterday we had another haboob, this one not near as bad. I was home and saw it coming and took several pictures which I posted on Facebook. Although it was a minor storm compared to the monster it was ominous watching it come. Here is my best description of it. The sun is shining and then you start to see a brown cloud in the distance. You walk outside and realize it’s not a cloud but a haboob. As you are watching you realize that it is taking in everything. You look to the right and to the left and it takes up your whole view. Suddenly the wind picks up, and your phone rings and it's someone you know telling you to be prepared that a haboob is on the way. You say, “Yeah I know, I’m watching it.” By this time the cloud seems to be right in front of you and the palm trees are bending and the dust is starting to fly, so you step back into your house and watch it through the glass. In ten minutes, it’s gone. It’s an amazing thing to watch, exciting and yet terrifying at the same time. Watching the one yesterday got me to thinking though. Is this how the end of the world is going to be like? Many people in the last few weeks have told me they have also thought about that. It’s a good question. I don’t know the answer of course. I do know from what Scripture says that one day the end is going to come.
As a Lutheran I don’t subscribe to a rapture or to anything everyone read in the Left Behind series of books that came out many years ago. Although I will have to say unlike so many of my fundamentalist friends who do hold to those teachings I actually read all of the books of the Left Behind series. I found them poorly written and a horrible twisting of Scripture, but I gutted it out and read the whole series just so I could tell my fundamentalist friends that I had read the whole thing when they hadn’t, so there! Actually I love my fundy friends and look forward to spending eternity with them in heaven, where I will jokingly keep pointing out how wrong they were. As a Lutheran I believe that Scripture teaches that Jesus will come back someday, I don’t know when and neither does anyone else, and the end of the world will happen. Scripture tells us it will come when we least expect it and it will be sudden. Jesus even told the people to look up when the end came because their redemption was drawing near. I thought about that as I looked up at the haboob the other day. Is this how the end is going to come, with Jesus in the front of a storm gobbling up everything? That would certainly be a scary sight. And yet from what I read in the Bible I am not afraid of the end of the world. No believer in Christ should ever be afraid of the end of the world; it just means we are going home to be with God. So many church leaders though try to scare people with this, they write books, do movies that lead people to fear the end. As a believer in Christ I look forward to the end, I know where I am going because of Christ’s death and resurrection. I once said in a sermon that to try to scare a Christian with the end of the world is like trying to scare an overworked guy with the fact that vacation might be coming next week.
I don’t like the Haboobs we experience here because they are a pain to clean up after, so the fewer of them the better. At the same time I look forward with great anticipation to the final great Haboob that Jesus will bring. In the words of John from the book of Revelation, “Amen, come Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”

FINALLY A GOOD USE FOR CHURCH PEWS

2011-07-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

From the last entry in my blog you know I am a foodie. I love to cook, I love to read about cooking and I love to watch others cook. I recently found a restaurant that makes a dish that brings back old childhood memories. I grew up on pasties. Pasties basically consist of pie type dough filled with things like meat and potatoes and some root vegetables. My mom grew up in Butte Montana where pasties are famous as the food that miners took into the mines with them. They kept well and they tasted good. My mom made them all the time when I was growing up. I thought everyone ate them so I was surprised after I left home that nobody seemed to know what a pasty was. Therefore I have always longed for pasties. I have even learned how to make them myself. When I found out that there was an authentic pasty place in Mesa well I had to go. I was not disappointed. They have taken the basic pasty and have found ways to come up with a variety of different favored ones.
I love this new place called The Pasty Company for a number of reasons. First it makes great pasties. They have the basic Oggie which is steak and potatoes, onions and root vegetables. I personally like the Lamb and mint which has lamb, potatoes, rutabaga, onion and fresh mint with a side of wine gravy. They also have Bangers and Mash. Secondly it reminds me of many of the pubs I spent time in when I lived in England. You can get Strongbow Cider, Franziskaner Hefe and even Oak Creek Nut Brown Ale from Sedona. Thirdly, well it has spunk, a little bit of rebelliousness with a tongue in cheek attitude about it. For instance since the owners are from Northern England you can get Car Bombs as a drink for 3$ or Skull Splitter Ale. Not to mention that happy hour is from 3 to 6 and 10 to close everyday and its happy hour all day on Sunday. How can you beat that? I have joked to my wife though that if we are going to keep coming here we are both going to have to get tattoos and some nose piercings to fit in better. The entire staff looks to all be in their twenties. They are all tattooed, pierced and have various shades of hair coloring and at first glance a hardness to them. You soon discover though that they are also very cheerful and warm to their customers. But there is an edge here and it is in the customers as well who are an assortment of people, many looking just like the staff, and still others from various walks of society, but there are no suits here, no ties. If you’re going to come here you better leave that at home. I love this place so much that I thought about writing Guy Fieri about it so that maybe he could come out with his Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives team and do a show on them. But then I realized this is not a Guy Fieri place. In fact if Guy were to walk through the door with his phony spiked white hair and sunglasses and over the top attitude he would soon be grabbed by the ear and shown out the other door and told to get lost. And it probably wouldn’t be the male six-four bartender doing the honors but the close to six foot female waitress wearing a t-shirt with some band’s name on it that no one over thirty has ever heard of. No this isn’t Guy’s place; no this is the land of Anthony Bourdain of No Reservations fame. Anthony would be loved here, he would be invited into the kitchen here, this is his type of place from the tattooed waitress to the Church pews for seating.
Yeah that’s right I said church pews for seating. The first time my wife pointed that to me I responded well finally someone has found a good use for church pews. Anyone who has spent anytime around me knows I hate church pews, at least in churches. I have led worship in a multipurpose room that looks nothing like a church for eleven years now and have enjoyed it. I am not a fan of the traditional church building. I figure why spend money on something you are only going to use a few hours on Sunday when you can spend money building something you will use all week. I really don’t have a good reason for my disdain, except well, other people’s attachment to these things. I grew up in a traditional church setting and I like most things about the traditions of the church. They provide stability and they keep things constant. The traditions also carry with them good practices that have endured hundreds even thousands of years now. I like things like times of prayer and good order and flow in the worship service. I am not against tradition in the least. I guess you could say I just have a problem with furniture. Well it is more than that. I have a problem with any tradition that has outlived its usefulness but people still keep demanding that it be kept because, well that is the way we have always done it. I have found that most church people have no idea for instance why we have pews, why we have flowers on the altar, why we have altar rails, why we have stained glass, why we have altars, or eternal lights. They could not tell you why those things exist, but if you tried taking them away they would throw a fit because it would be change.
Maybe that is why I like the Pasty Company, they are very traditional and yet living outside the box. Notice I didn’t say thinking. They are not just thinking outside the box, they are living outside the box. There is a big difference. They are making the traditional pasty and serving traditional English food, but they are doing it their way. They have invented new recipes; they have challenged the status quo. Most of all they are having fun serving food that I remember when I was kid. It’s a taste of my childhood with a twist. Jesus himself was a bit of an Anthony Bourdain. He spent a lot of time hanging out with the Pasty Company crowd and he loved them, and they loved him. Jesus was not concerned about furniture or a steeple, he was concerned about people. I think he would laughed at the church pews as well. Jesus isn’t concerned about what you are sitting on when he is talking as long as you are listening. Jesus interestingly enough provided meals many times with his preaching, and did much of teaching between bites as he was eating with the people. Maybe we should build a restaurant like the Pasty Company to have Church services in, but then I would want to get rid of the church pews.

Pastor Fred

OF PICTURE BOOKS AND STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

2011-07-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

My six year old son was looking through a book the other day entitled 100 Bible stories. It’s a book put out by Concordia Publishing House that in short form tells 100 of the most important Bible stories from both the Old and New Testaments. It usually has the story on one page and then on the next page is a picture of what is going on in the story. My son can’t read yet but he seems to understand the stories by simply looking at the picture, so kudos to CPH for the great artwork. The other day he came up to me and showed me the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden. He said to me, “God is mad.” I asked him how he knew. He said because Adam and Eve had sinned. He had gotten the whole story from the simple picture. He then proceeded to show me other pictures and tell me the stories that went along with them. I have to say I was pretty amazed. I guess I shouldn’t be that amazed though, telling stories by pictures is part of church history that gets largely ignored today. All you have to do is look at some stained glass windows to see it. Or I guess I should say you have to look at some old stained glass windows to see it. Most stained glass windows today are just some coloring and maybe some flowers or butterflies mixed in. They basically serve the purpose of changing the lighting in the church and making some feel like they are, well, in church. Old stained glass on the other hand told stories. They contained pictures of the Biblical stories that were very vivid. There was a reason for this most of people hundreds of years ago couldn’t read. They received the Word of God two ways, one through hearing it read and preached to them and two through the stained glass windows that they looked at during the church service. In those ancient stained glass windows they saw both the law of God and most importantly the Gospel of God. They saw their salvation in pictures every time they were in the church. It seems that people in the church never got tired of that, stained glass was a constant thing in just about every church that was built for hundreds of years. People were comforted looking at those pictures Sunday after Sunday. I don’t know for certain what lead to stain glass’s demise or the change of it into just different colors with worthless symbols in it, but I would venture to say it had to do with more and more people learning to read. It wasn’t needed as much anymore. Thankfully we still have picture books for kids.
Picture books for non-readers serve the same purpose. My son can’t read so he gets the Word of God one of two ways. He hears it read to him either in church or at home and he has books with pictures which he carries around with him. Like the people with their stained glass he never gets tired of it. One of the stories my son always goes to in his book is the death of Jesus on the cross. The cross is very important to him. He asks me all the time why Jesus died on the cross. I tell him a few different things. Number one I tell him because we are sinners Jesus had to die to pay for our sins. He struggles with that a little, so sometimes I just tell him because Jesus loves him, but still he continues to ask me. Like most people, I don’t like being asked the same question over and over again, so at first it bothered me that he asked me the cross question so much but then I began to slowly realize he likes hearing that Jesus loves him. He takes comfort in that fact that Jesus went to the cross for him. He likes looking at the picture, he likes hearing me tell him the same story of God’s love over and over again. Really he is like all of us. We like hearing that same story over and over again. It is why we read our Bibles; it is why we come to church. We need to hear that we are sinners in need of forgiveness, but more than that we need to hear that we are forgiven and loved by God. We need to hear that story of the cross and of the resurrection over and over again. It just never gets old. It never gets old because it is so important to us as people who one day are going to die and see our God. We like the story, because it’s a good story and it has a happy ending. Thank God for old stained glass and picture books.

Food is next to Godliness

2011-06-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

I know it's supposed to be "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" but you haven't seen my kitchen so I decided to change it. I have always loved to cook. First of all I love food, I am skinny guy with a fat man trying to get out. In fact I have cooked since I was seven years old. There are advantages to being a latch-key kid, you learn to do a lot of stuff other kids don't. When I got to college I ate full meals every day that I cooked myself, I knew how to do my own laundry, how to iron a shirt and sew on a button. Cooking though has always been something that has brought me great joy. When we were getting ready to graduate from Seminary our professors told us that we needed to get a hobby otherwise we would get in a rut or burn out or both. Following their advice I tried exercise at the local health club, but I found it to be more boring than tiring. You stand in a room on a machine going a million miles an hour and getting nowhere. I have belonged to five health clubs in 18 years of ministry, and I hardly went to any of them, might as well of poured the money down the drain. So then I tried collecting old books, but I soon found that original copies are very expensive, so much for that. I tried Karate, interesting but required way to much self discipline. I am a reader so I tried military history, interesting but with a family of four, reading time was not a luxury, plus what do you do with it? Oh I have also tried bike riding, which I still do some but again not that interesting, at least to me. I have also tried hiking, loved it but my knees and my heart complained way to much, plus I really don't have the time in the mornings and in Arizona you don't hike in the afternoons. I think you see where I am going with this. As far as any type of art or pottery or wood work, well I draw stick figures, so not happening.
That brings me back to cooking. I have always cooked, but until recently my wife did most of the dinner cooking and I cooked on special occasions. My wife's hours changed recently and so I found myself in the kitchen every night cooking. I quickly realized that I loved it. In fact it was like therapy, by the time I was done cooking I was relaxed. Slowly cooking went from something I needed to do to feed the family to something that I looked forward to everyday. It has now become my hobby. It is in fact the perfect hobby. I can read and research about cooking, it's history, techniques etc... I can physically do the cooking and practice new things and best of all my family eats good food. It is a win, win. The family needs to eat so any money spent is money that is going to be spent anyway. Plus I have found that I spend less now because of planning and buying in advance and learning how to work with food in more economical ways.
I also read the Bible differently now. I am blown away how so much of Scripture is centered around food. They are always eating and if they are not eating they are complaining about not eating. Jesus is shown eating all the time as well with all types of people. In fact some of his best sermons happen around food. And you wondered where the church pot-luck come from. In the Old Testament treaties and covenants were sealed with food or some sort of sacrfice that involved food. Jesus speaks of himself as food in the New Testament and right before his arrest instituted the Lord's Supper using food. Because of that our church's liturgy has involved the eating of food, bread and wine for over 2000 years now. Food is next to Godliness, we even get picture language of heaven being a great banquet. Therefore I think food and preaching go together hand in hand. Now if I could just get my hands on some of those recipes for the food in heaven.

Making Things New

2011-02-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

If you are reading this blog you also have seen our new website. God talks about making things new many times in Scripture. Primarily he is talking about the New Covenant he has made with us through his Son Jesus Christ. Well we are making some new things here at Family of Christ as well. This website is part of it. You will notice that it has a lot of information on it and also that it is very easy to navigate around. It is still a work in progress, in the coming weeks and months there will be many pictures added to it and it will be improved as people offer suggestions. One of the things we wanted to emphasize on this website is the integration of the our school and church, that is why the front page is basically divided in half. The school is owned and operated by the church but we didn't want people to have to go and look for school information inside the website. We hope you enjoy our website and we also invite your comments.

Pastor Fred

Life's Traffic Jams

2010-12-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Living in Phoenix you get used to traffic jams or slow traffic. If you have to get somewhere downtown at certain times of the day you know you are going to be in one. Slowly you learn some shortcuts that eventually everyone finds and then they are no longer shortcuts. There is nothing worst than sitting in traffic because everybody wants to get to a similar location at the same time. I remember the worst traffic jam I ever found myself in. It was in Chicago, where as some one once said they have two seasons, winter and road construction! This was the road construction season and traffic was at a dead standstill. After what seem over an hour I found an exit ramp and took it. As I was driving off the freeway I looked to my side and was amazed at the sight. Traffic wasn't moving for miles up ahead. It was going to be a long day for many people. The funniest thing though was a guy who was riding a stationary exercise bike that he had in the back of his truck! It was like the Chicago version of the Biggest Loser. He knew traffic wasn't going anywhere so he might as well put the time to good use!
Life can have its traffic jams at times as well. In the church there are some obvious ones. From about the middle of April to the end of November traffic moves pretty well. There is a lot to do but it is spread out enough that it is doable. Then comes the Christmas season. During this period, time as one person put it ceases to exist, and everything happens at once. There are Christmas programs at church and at school, there are Christmas parties at school and at church and at people's homes. There are dinners and get togethers and special services, and it all happens at once! People begin to act crazy they spend more money than they have, they eat way to much and they give fruitcakes to people and expect them to be happy about it. Has anyone ever actually eaten a fruitcake? During this season the expectations are extremely high. There are traditions that need to be observed no matter the cost, there are presents to be bought and cards to send. And of course there are the people that send the Christmas letter that details everything their family did this past year. The pain and sheer boredom of reading the Christmas letter has replaced being invited over to their place to watch a long winded slide show of their last vacation to Dollywood, but I digress.
In short life kicks into overdrive and as a result it stops dead in its tracks. We are all running our engines, in this case at max RPMs and going nowhere. As I think about this, I wonder if the guy sitting on the exercise bike in the middle of a Chicago traffic jam had it right. Maybe its time to stop beeping the horn and cursing the traffic and shut the engine off, get out of the driver's seat and do something worthwhile that will have some lasting results. How about slowing down and stepping away from what the world is going to do in this commercialized version of Christmas and concentrate on what really matters. Maybe its time to remember what happened two thousand years ago. Maybe its time to sit down by the manger and catch our breath and observe God taking on flesh for us. We can still enjoy the tree and the lights and food and the presents but enjoy them in light of the infant at Christmas who is also the infinite God. If we all do that the traffic might begin to break up and start moving again at a healthy rate.
No one likes the stress of Christmas. The only answer to that is to keep our focus and expend our energy only on the necessary things. And the only thing necessary for Christmas is the baby Jesus.

Pastor Fred

Jesus Christ Is The Life Of The Party!

2010-09-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

Many of us who spent the 80's in college, and believe me when I say I spent the 80's in college, my parents thought I was never going to graduate. Well that is what happens when you change your major three times and then realize you really don't want to graduate because then you might have to get a real job. I solved that problem by going to Seminary right after college and managed to get into the early 90's before I finally had to get a job. But anyway, many of us who spent the 80's in college remember the song, "You have to Fight for the Right to Party!" Some of us don't just remember it, it was our theme song. Now admittedly it is probably not a song you would sing in church, or around your parents, or anywhere outside of the shower with the bathroom door closed, but I have always loved the song or at least the music to it. Recently a Christian company and band made a new version of the song, a Christian version, yes I thought that was slightly strange and even, well, radical. They changed the words to, "Jesus Christ Is the Life of The Party!" They also added stories from the gospels about Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and other miracles he did in public. The main point of the song is that Jesus had a habit of showing up at parties and gatherings and kicking them up a notch. He always ended up being the center and the life of the party.

Many people today think that Christianity and the church are full of a bunch of party poopers. Unfortunately some times they are right. On top of my book case in my office I have an action figure, notice I did not use the world doll, of the church lady which was played by Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live. This SNL character ticked off many in the church, personally I used to laugh so hard during the skits that I would fall of the couch. I laughed and I think others got angry because we all knew the church lady was true to life. In fact we all know a few of them. There is also a little bit of the church lady in all of us. Even at my young age, oh that's right college was in the 80s, even at my middle age there are certain things that just bug me. But as I read the Gospels I don't find Jesus to be a party pooper at all. In fact as the song sings he was always the life of the party. He shows up at a wedding and they run out of wine. At the time of Jesus it was a horrible social shame to run out of wine in the midst of a party. It would cause a great loss of face for the wedding party. So what does Jesus do? He turns water into wine and everyone rejoices. He shows up at his friend Lazarus' house and finds people gathered from all over mourning because Lazarus has died. What does Jesus do? He raises Lazarus from the dead and the party kicks back in gear! Throughout the gospels you see Jesus bringing salvation and joy to one person and group after another. It was like the Jesus party tour bus.

Even in Jesus' time though there were church ladies. They were the religious leaders who didn't approve of Jesus helping and healing people on the Sabbath. They didn't approve of the sinners and low ranking people that Jesus hung out with. They didn't like his stories about forgiveness and grace. I can hear the church lady in the Pharisee's words when they accuse Jesus of healing by the power of Satan, "Maybe Satan!" They could not stand that Jesus was the life of the party and so like a raid on a college party they arrest him and put him on trial. They convict him too in spite of a lack of evidence. It looked like the party was over. The life of it hanging on a cross and then buried in a tomb, the party broke up and everyone went home, and in the disciples case, into hiding.

Jesus had no intention of letting the party poopers win though and so on the third day he rose from the dead declaring victory over sin and death. This party was just getting started!!! He then appeared to his disciples over 40 days and then ascended into heaven. Before he left though he told them to keep low for a few more days until he sent the Holy Spirit who would be the Spirit of the party. Ten days later Pentecost happened and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people and party restarted. We have been rocking out in the church for over 2000 years now waiting for the life of party to ride back into town to take us all to the big eternal party in the sky. Yes the church ladies are still among us, they constantly remind us of their rules. If you are a Christian you need to dress like this, look like this, listen to this type of music, don't watch these TV shows and you must vote this way. Maybe the original version was right even about the church. "You have to fight for the Right to Party!" Thankfully the church is Jesus' party and he is not so concerned about our rules as he is about our heart. When the heart is filled with Christ, well it can't help but party, even in church.

Pastor Fred

The Fake Jesus

2010-09-08T12:30:00.001-07:00

Last night at the dinner table my 5 year old daughter was telling my wife and I about a Christian show that she has seen on TV. She said that in the movie, the fake Jesus had healed a man and then the fake Jesus had been arrested and then put on a cross. The fake Jesus comment got our attention. Our daughter then proceeded to tell us a few more things that this fake Jesus had done in the movie. Finally I interrupted her and asked, "who exactly is this fake Jesus?" She said, "the Jesus in the movie." I asked, "but why do keep calling him the fake Jesus?" She looked at me for a second and then impatiently said, "He is the fake Jesus because it is just someone playing Jesus, it was not the real Jesus." "Oh I said," feeling a little stupid, "I guess the actor would be a fake Jesus, wouldn't he?" Her observation reminded me of those commercials where the guy, who usually was an actor on a medical drama, would say, "I am not a real doctor, I just play one on TV." My daughter understood that the guy in the movie was just an actor, he was not the real thing. I could just hear that actor in a commercial written to sell Bibles, "I am not really the Messiah, I just play one in the movies."

As humorous as her fake Jesus comments were, they made me think of a very stark reality. As Christians, people called to be Christ-like, how many times are we the fake Jesus? We are called to be Jesus to other people. What that means is that when people see us they see Jesus in us and are attracted to him. I wonder how many times when people see us they see the fake Jesus instead. How often are we playing a role instead of being the living witness that God wants us to be? In the next several weeks here at Family of Christ we will be studying the Externally Focused Life. In this study we will be looking at how we can live our lives for others. The focus is to be Christ, the real Christ, to those around us everyday.

What does that mean you may ask? Well it means first and foremost that our faith is not just a head knowledge or even just a heart knowledge, but that it is a hands and feet knowledge as well. It means that we live out what we believe. It means that our faith results in us taking practical actions to help others, to serve others with our time and our abilities and our resources. Jesus didn't just tell people he was the Savior, he showed them. He healed them, he feed them, he raised them from the dead, he cast out demons. He showed his love for people in practical ways that then brought people to faith in him. As people of God, who are called to be Christ-like, we are asked by God to do the same thing. We are called to live out our faith and show Christ's love to others in ways that are tangible and that actually physically and emotional help people. Then with the guidance of the Holy Spirit people will be brought to faith in this real Jesus.

How is your faith walk doing this week? Are you just an actor, a fake Jesus, in a movie, or are you the real thing? Who do people see when they look at you? Even 5 year olds can tell the difference.

Pastor Fred

Thank You For The Church God

2010-08-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

We have tried to teach our children how to pray through the years. In doing that we have let them lead most of the dinner table prayers and some of the prayers at bedtime. They both have different things that they like to pray about. I have always been inspired that they mention their friends and grandparents in their prayers. Like in most children's prayers there are a lot of thank yous. They are just starting to learn to pray for things instead of just about things. Just as life is a journey, so is the developing of a prayer life a journey. Your prayers change through the years depending on what has happened to you and what you are facing. They also change as your relationship with God deepens and you realize how much you really do depend upon him. Adults therefore tend to pray a little different than children. But there is one thank you that my son Charlie prays that I hope all of us remember to pray. It is not something that I taught him, in fact when he prays it I am reminded how lax I am in praying it, and how sometimes I just take it for granted. In addition to all the thank yous for his family Charlie always prays, "Thank you for the church God."
It sounds like such a simple prayer but it has so much depth, and I realized for Charlie so much meaning. The church has always been at the center of Charlie's life. When we adopted him and his sister we brought them back to our congregation in Fort Wayne and we had them baptized. It was a joyous event as they were introduced to the grace of God in the waters of baptism and made members of God's family along with ours. The unique thing about that baptism is that we didn't have a couple of sponsors for them, no we had close to 500 sponsors. The entire congregation of Praise Lutheran church stood up as God parents for them. I know some people are critical of such a thing, they say you should just have one or two not a mob. But that sponsorship with just the beginning of their life in the congregation. The people of Praise lived up to their promise. As I would preach on a Sunday morning I would watch my kids get passed back and forth among the people. I never had to look for someone to baby sit there was always a competition to see who would get them.
When we moved to Phoenix the kids were accepted here too, and they have been loved and cared for by the people of Family of Christ. Charlie and Jasmine have always loved church. They love Sunday mornings when they get to see their friends and also interact with the adults in the congregation. Charlie over the years has learned many of the songs and it is a place that he feels loved and accepted.
Charlie has some learning disabilities and has scored low on your typical standardized tests that they use to evaluate kids his age. There is one area though that not only didn't he score low, he actually scored pretty high, and that was socialization. Charlie loves people, he loves playing with them, interacting with them, and he is very outgoing. My wife and I credit the church for that. The church from the very beginning whether it was in Fort Wayne or here in Phoenix has always opened its arms to him and taught him that he is loved, that he is valuable. Through baptism and the witness of his friends around him Charlie has a deep faith in Jesus Christ. He knows that the church loves him and he knows most importantly that Jesus loves him. It is why he sings Jesus songs on the way to school in the morning and why he witnesses about Jesus dying on the cross to his doctors and therapists. He makes me wish I had the trust and understanding that he does.
So yes Charlie, thank you for the church God. Thank you for the Word and the sacraments that bring us to faith and sustain us in that same faith. Thank you for the body of believers who love and care for one another like Christ cares for all of us. Charlie understands that, hopefully someday I will understand it as deep as he does.

Pastor Fred

School Is Starting

2010-08-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

School will be starting here at Family of Christ this coming Monday the 9th of August. As I write this teachers outside of my office are decorating their classrooms and making plans with their aides. Tonight is the first, "Meet the Teacher Night", of the year. You can sense the excitement. I am also excited because it has been a long summer and it has been very quiet here. We have kids during the summer but just a small amount that are here all day. Monday pre-school starts and all the kids come flooding back. Some of the children will be returning children and some will be new. There will be a big time of adjustment for students, teachers and yes even for parents. We are excited about this though because we know why we are here and what we have been called to do.
Family of Christ Learning Center is not just any learning center. Yes we teach all the stuff that pre-schools are supposed to teach. We work very hard at getting our students ready for kindergarten, but we do much more than that. As I said Family Christ Learning Center is not just any learning center, it is a ministry of Family of Christ Lutheran Church. As Lutherans in the Awhatukee village of Phoenix we believe that we have been put here by God to share Christ's Word and his love with the children and the parents that live here. We are intentional about that. We believe that there is no greater gift than the forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and we want everyone to know about that and be brought to faith. Along with that Lutherans in general have always highly valued education and so we strive to provide the best quality that we can.
As a pastor I love being able to work in a pre-school and share the faith with children from all races, nations and languages. I also know I am blessed to be able to see and experience the faith of the children. Children at times can exhibit such great faith that it blows you away. So we are preparing for next week and looking forward to another year in God's grace.

Pastor Fred

Bible study blog week 7

2010-03-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

Monday March 8 - Exodus 14:1-31
Tuesday March 9 - Exodus 15:1-27
Wednesday March 10 - Exodus 16:1-17:16
Thursday March 11 - Exodus 18:1-27
Friday March 12 - Exodus 19:1-20:26
Saturday March 13 - Exodus 21:1-22:31

Bible study blog for week 6

2010-03-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry to all of you who are following that I missed last week. I remembered it Tuesday and thought it would be just better to put off for a week and give some people time to catch up, like me.

Here is week six

Monday March 1, Exodus 5:1-6:30
Tuesday March 2, Exodus 7:1-25
Wednesday March 3, Exodus 8:1-9:35
Thursday March 4, Exodus 10:1-29
Friday March 5, Exodus 11:1-12:51
Saturday March 6, Exodus 13:1-22

Pastor Fred

Blog Bible study for week 5

2010-02-15T07:00:00.001-08:00

Monday the 15th of Feb: Genesis 45:1-46:34
Tuesday the 16th of Feb: Genesis 47:1-48:22
Wednesday the 17th of Feb: Genesis 49:1-50:26
Thursday the 18th of Feb: Exodus 1:1-22
Friday the 19th of Feb: Exodus 2:1-25
Saturday the 20th of Feb: Exocus 3:1-4:41

We are finally getting out of Genesis!

Pastor Fred

Bible Study Blog for week 4

2010-02-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry forgot to post yesterday.

Monday the 8th of Feb: Genesis 36:1-37:36
Tuesday the 9th of Feb: Genesis 38:1-39:23
Wednesday the 10 of Feb: Genesis 40:1-23
Thursday the 11th of Feb: Genesis 41:1-40
Friday the 12th of Feb: Genesis 41:41-57
Saturday the 13th of Feb: Genesis 42:1-44:34

Pastor Fred

Some comments on Genesis 23-28

2010-02-03T19:57:00.003-08:00

Did you notice the note about Sarah being the only women whose age at death is recorded in the Bible? There is a triva question the next time you want to impress someone in a small group.

Another interesting thing that is brought out is that Sarah was buried in the promised land, in the same place that Abraham and the patriarchs that came after him would be buried.

In Chapter 25 we see how God is the one who determines who will serve him and that the rights of the firstborn do not always go to the first born. Here Esau is the first born but it is Jacob who ends up with the birthright and that is something that God predetermined. In the same way to be a child of Abraham doesn't mean you have to be one physically. It is by faith that Abraham believed God and was credited with righteousness and it is by faith that we become children of Abraham and Children of God.

We see in Chapter 26 that Isaac followed in the sinful footsteps of his father in saying that his wife was his sister so as to save his own skin. There is no perfect holy man in this life, even the best ones are also great sinners.

In chapter 28 after Jacob has been blessed with the blessing of the first born that physically was Esau's we see the character of sin come out. Esau instead of being repentant for selling his birthright deliberately went off and sinned by marrying a woman that his parents forbid him to marry. Sin leads to more sin and so on. Meanwhile Jacob gets visited by God and worships God in that place. It is the start for what will be many hard years for him, but God here promises to be his God no matter what.

Pastor Fred

Answers to some comments

2010-02-02T05:22:00.000-08:00

Yes Glen you are right Adam was a chump. He was standing right there as Eve took and ate and then when she offered him some he ate too. We often blame woman for bringing sin into the world but it was Man that God had directly warned not woman, therefore the responsibility was with man to stop her. That is why the New Testament talks so much about Adam's sin.

Dave that is a good question about the languages being confused and the people dispersed. From what we read God did that because man was becoming powerful and full of themselves. They were trying to take the place of God, and even though that would never happen, God was concerned about their spiritual welfare and the consequences of sin that it would bring. So he confused their languages so they couldn't communicate and then dispersed them around the world. There is in interesting parallel here, because of man's sin he could no longer really communicate with God either, at least in the way that Adam and Eve did in the garden. Therefore it was fitting that he couldn't communicate with other men as well. It is the effect of sin. That is why the Day of Pentecost is so important. God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit was bringing man back together in a relationship with him and with his fellow man. The tower of Babel event is a perfect example of the consequences of sin and the Day of Pentecost is a perfect example of the consequences of forgiveness.

Pastor Fred

Bible Study Blog reading for Feb 1

2010-01-31T21:23:00.000-08:00

Feb 1 Monday - Genesis 23:1-24:67
Feb 2 Tuesday - Genesis 25:1-26:35
Feb 3 Wednesay - Genesis 27:1-28:22
Feb 4 Thursday - Genesis 29:1-30:43
Feb 5 Friday - Genesis 31:1-33:20
Feb 6 Saturday Genesis 34:1-35:29

Sorry about no comments last week, it was very busy. Therefore there will be two comment days this week.

Pastor Fred

Blog Bible Study Readings

2010-01-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

Here are the readings for this week. Look for my comments this coming Wednesday.

Monday - Genesis 12:10-13:18
Tuesday - Genesis 14:1-15:21
Wednesday - Genesis 16:1-17:27
Thursday - Genesis 18:1-19:38
Friday - Genesis 20:1-21:34
Saturday - Genesis 22:1-24

Happy reading

Pastor Fred

Genesis 1-11

2010-01-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

The first 11 chapters of Genesis are extremely important. They are the foundation for the entire Bible. Everything is started here. Man's creation, Man's fall into sin. The promise of the Savior. The line of descendants. The flood symbolizing baptism. The Tower of Babel and the breaking up of the nations.

The rest of Scripture constantly refers back to it. If in any way these chapters are not true, if they are just myths or good stories then the rest of the Bible is just a myth as well.

We teach that God made the earth in six literal days. The theory of evolution, which has never and never will be proven goes against that. They say that dinosaurs and other creatures lived on the earth before man and were even extinct before man was created. There is only one problem with that. There was no death in the world before man's sin, so how did the dinosaurs die? It would have been impossible for them to die, sin is what causes death. Therefore you either believe in the theory of evolution or you believe in the Bible, but you cannot believe in both and be honest.

Another question that comes up is how did Moses, who lived about 1500 b.c. know all of this stuff? First of all we say that Scripture is divinely inspired by God. In other words even though Moses wrote down the words they were given to him by God, therefore it is God's Word. Secondly Moses very well could have drawn on other historical documents that were around at the time and there was also oral tradition. There were stories that had been passed down through the years that were known by all the people. They could have also been a source of information. At this point people point out that by the time the stories were told to Moses they were so changed and different from the original stories that he was just writing myths. People point out the telephone game where one person tells another person something and he passes it down the line and the story the last person tells is very different from the story the first person told. So they say see we can't trust these words of Moses.

Oral tradition in ancient times was very different from the telephone game though. Stories were told within a community and everyone in the community knew the story and accuracy was considered very important. Therefore if someone started to change a story he was corrected very fast. Historians who study in this field say that stories could be passed down this way for thousands of years without significant changes being made. So there is no reason to believe that Moses was not dealing with accurate stories.

A key verse to remember in this section is Genesis 11:9 where it says the languages were confused and people were dispersed all over the earth. In the New Testament we see that on the Day of Pentecost the opposite happens. The people were all brought back together and all the languages were understood by everyone. A good point to keep in mind is that much Old Testament stuff has a corresponding point in the New Testament. I will point these out as we go along.

Happy reading

Pastor Fred

THE BLOG BASED BIBLE STUDY FROM LSB

2010-01-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Over the next two years we will be reading through the Bible. We are going to be basing our discussion on the notes in The Lutheran Study Bible. You do not have to have The Lutheran Study Bible to participate but it helps. You can order one through www.cph.org Every Sunday I will give you the reading for the week which will go through Saturday. We will not have readings on Sundays. At least once during the week I will make comments on what we are reading, or ask questions.

Here are the readings for this week.

Monday: Genesis 1:1-2:25
Tuesday: Genesis 3:1-24
Wednesday: Genesis 4:1-6:8
Thursday: Genesis 6:9-8:22
Friday: Genesis 9:1- 10:32
Saturday: Genesis 11:1-12:9

Happy reading!

Pastor Fred

Keep it simple stupid.

2009-11-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

Keep it simple, stupid! I think we all remember that phrase from many years ago. So how many of you out there live complicated lives? How did they get complicated? Did you over time get yourself involved in so many things that now you feel trapped? Take heart, you have a lot of company. Americans are some of the busiest people on the planet and now if we could just figure out why? Christians are unfortunately no exception to that rule. Are you sometimes confused by the church when it tells you that you should spend more time with your family and out living your faith in front of your friends and neighbors, and then it schedules four events during the week which you are expected to be at? Is there just something wrong with that picture? Yes, I think we can say that there is.
Some churches confuse activity with getting things accomplished. And some churches confuse getting things accomplished with spiritual growth and discipleship. Unfortunately spiritual growth is measured by the number of hours you spend at the church. Particularly if you are not quite sure why you are there in the first place. Isn't there a better way? Isn't there a more practical way to meet with God, grow in faith and share his love with unbelievers around you?
Yes, yes there is! Keep it simple, stupid! Sorry didn't mean to call you stupid, it's just a phrase. My point is you can do more sometimes by doing less. Okay now, you say, that made no sense. Well maybe it just takes a whole new way of looking at things then.
I put to you that you can accomplish more by doing less if you center your focus and only do those things that fit what you are called to do. In other words do less, but do it much, much better than you did before. Get rid of all things that you don't need to do in the church, in life for that matter, and just concentrate on what you actually need to do. Make every move count.
Paul compares it someone running and boxing to win the prize. He tells us to not run aimlessly or swing at the air, but focus as someone who wants to win. My brother is an eigthth degree black belt in Karate. He has told me that as he has gotten older he is a little slower than he used to be, but he is twice as accurate. In other words he doesn't throw as many punches and kicks anymore but when he does, he hits his target everytime. He doesn't swing aimlessly.
Now think about the church. We haven't lost any of our speed at all, now if we could hit the target everytime and not just swing at the wind. Think how effective we could be by doing less to accomplish more and have a bigger impact.
Something to think about as look at the Revitalization Process.

Pastor Fred

The 911 Psalm

2009-09-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

I was reminded this morning as I took my children to school that the perfect psalm for this day of Remembrance is Psalm 91:1 and following, and not just because it is the numbers 911. So I have decided to put this Psalm in my blog today to remind us that no matter what God is with us, even when we face terror and war.

Psalm 91:1ff

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place - the Most High, who is my refuge - no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. "Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."
(The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers)

Pastor Fred

The Countdown has started for new beginnings

2009-08-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

We are 15 days away from a new beginning. I know everybody is always talking about change now. It is said that everyone hates change but at the same time everyone seems to want it. It is kind of confusing. People want change for a variety of reasons. Some want change because they are bored with the present, they just want something new and they don't care what it is. Other's want change because someone else told them that it is the thing to be doing, if you are changing you are doing something right. Others want change because what they are doing right now is not working. That last reason is probably the best reason so far for change. But there is an even better reason for change. How about change so that you can start doing what you should have been doing in the first place? Change so you can do the right thing, the thing you were designed to do. Now there is change worth having. We are about 15 days away from starting that kind of change.
Actually we have already started the process. We have entered into an agreement with The Transforming Church Network. They are going to help us go through a congregational revitalization process. We have also begun writing a 20 year history of the congregation and putting other things in place. When this process is complete in about two years hopefully we will be a congregation that is fully integrated into our community taking worship outside of our walls and into our community. I am not talking about holding worship services in the park here. No I am talking about a church that is engaged in its local community, serving it and bringing it inside the church through interest groups and community events. A church whose people are found in different community organizations spreading their faith through their words and more importantly their deeds.
There will be a lot of training involved in this process both for me as the pastor and for the congregational leaders and even for the average member. We are starting that process the week of September 13 with new small groups studying "Why Are We Here? Motivation for Mission." This is a six week small group study. Then on October 30 through Nov 1 we will have a consulting team here to interview and train us for work in our community. It will be change at its hardest and best. No longer will we sit as a church and wait for people to come to us, instead we are going to go to them. Everyone in the congregation will be involved in small group ministry and everyone in the congregation will be working. No more pew, or chair sitting allowed.
Scared? I am. It is change from being a church with a sign out front to being the church that is found in the book of Acts. In other words this is a change to do and to be what God has called us to do and be. The countdown has started.

Pastor Fred

Cook off Challenge this Sunday at 9:30 service

2009-08-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Come one, come all we are having a food thrown down or challenge during the 9:30 service. Wisdom and Folly are the names of the two cooks. Both of them will be preparing a banquet of food, the question is which one is serving the best food? The basis for judging of this contest will be Proverbs 9.

Pastor Fred ( who will be intrepreting the results)

And a Little Child will Lead Them

2009-08-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

This morning we had our first Wednesday morning chapel for the school year. We had lots of singing and Bible stories and puppets talking about God's creation. The best moment of the chapel though came without any planning. A video is always shown of a foreign country where most the population is not Christian. The video is shown to get the children to pray for the children of that country and get them interested in doing missions throughout their life, whether supporting them financially or going themselves as missionaries. After the showing of a video on Uzbekistan Miss Sue our director asked the children to pray for the children of that country tonight that they would come to know Jesus as their Savior. Out of the blue a little four year girl's hand went up and she asked if we could pray for them right now! So Miss Sue said sure and asked the four year if she would lead us in prayer. And she did, praying that God would lead the children of Uzbekistan to faith in Jesus.
Jesus said in Mark 10:14ff, "Let the little children come to me; and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Jesus knew who had the most faith in the community, and it wasn't the grown up adults.
What a fantastic way to start a new school year, led by a little child of God. May we be little children of Jesus this year.

Pastor Fred

Back to School

2009-08-05T07:11:00.001-07:00

As a parent I am really excited about school starting next Monday. I love my kids but I also love it when they are in school and I can exhale a little bit. Today at Family of Christ is Staff Development Day. Which means all the staff and teachers get together and talk about the coming year. I will be doing a devotion on how we surrender to God and rely on his strength through the Holy Spirit to carry out the tasks he has for us this year. We will go over all the regulations and have a lot of time for prayer. Then we will have lunch. I'm really excited about that! I do love to eat. This is a time to re-focus though and remember why we are here and why we do what we do. We do not just exist to provide education so that our kids are ready for elementary school, but we also exist to share the good news about Jesus' love for us. We will do that in earnest this year. The children will hear the message of what Christ has done for them on the cross every day in the classroom. On Wednesday morning we always have a chapel service where the children worship God with passion. If you have never attended one of our chapel services you need to.
We have a really great staff this year. We also have re-started our Kindergarten. We are all looking forward to a school year of learning more about Jesus and rejoicing in his death and resurrection and the forgiveness and salvation that he has given us. Come and join us!

A Summer with the Old Testament

2009-05-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

During this past school year we have had a number of sermon series, some better than others. As I write this we are finishing up a sermon series on the 40 Days of Love. Sermon series are a great way to get deeper into a subject than if you just preached one sermon on it. It focuses everything and connects everything together. But sometimes we need a break from series. So this summer the sermons will be on the Old Testament text for that Sunday. That means that every sermon will be a stand alone sermon, but there is some advantage in that. If you didn't like a particular Sunday's topic well next week will be totally different.
I choose the Old Testament because it is not something I preach from a lot. I spend most of my time preaching on the Epistle's and the rest on the Gospel. I have tended to stay away from the Old Testament through the years for a number of reasons. When I preached on the readings for a particular Sunday I found that most of the time the Epistle and the Gospel had something in common, where the Old Testament reading never seemed to connect with either one. Many times the Old Testament reading is kind of the odd man out. The second reason I didn't preach on the Old Testament was, to be honest, because it was harder to do. There is many times a depth and richness to the Old Testament that is hard to get your mind around. The Old Testament is a challenge because in some ways you have to connect it to the New or show how it is fulfilled in the New.
So I am taking this on this summer as a challenge. I am trying to wrap my mind around some of these Old Testament texts and bring out what they have to say to New Testament people like us in 2009. I hope that you will join me on this journey starting June 7th with Isaiah 6:1-8.

Learning Center Children Leading Worship

2009-03-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

On Palm Sunday the children from our Learning Center will be leading our contemporary worship service. They will be presenting the Biblical story through a series of plays. As this is being put together it looks like it is going to be very exciting. The question of the service is, "What are You going to do with Jesus?" In their plays they will present the answer to that question by showing us what the Bible says. There is no greater faith than the faith of a child so this will not be service you will want to miss. Come and join us as God speaks through his youngest disciples.
Also mark your calendars for Thursday April 9th at 7 p.m. for our Maundy Thursday service with communion around the table. On April 10th at 7 p.m. we will have our Good Friday service followed by a showing of the movie, The Passion of the Christ at 8:15 p.m. It all comes to a climax on Easter morning when we will have a Sunrise Service at 6 a.m. and then breakfast at 7:30 followed by an Easter Egg hunt and then worship again at 9:30 a.m. See you there!

Pastor Fred

Sermon for coming Sunday Feb 8, 2009

2009-02-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

Here is the sermon for tomorrow. I am posting it on the blog, because I will not be preaching in it in church. It is just too boring. In fact as I have looked back at the entire sermon series so far, it is all too boring to continue it. I never usually apologize for anything that I preach but I am apologizing for this particular sermon series, it has been awful. Thankfully Friday night I realized that as I was practicing it. It is also very long. So I decided to not preach it at all. I have no idea what I am talking about tomorrow I am just going to wing it. So you might want to come and watch, it could be interesting, hopefully for me in a good way. Again my sincere apologies for a very boring series. You guys are too long suffering at times. Well here it is in all its unedited unpolished glory.

THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING HIS LIFE
DEUTERONOMY 18:15, 18-19
FEBRUARY 8, 2009

If you look at a typical gravestone you see the date of the person’s birth and the date of their death and usually between those two dates is a dash. That simple dash represents that person’s entire life. But on the grave marker it looks pretty insignificant. The emphasis seems to be on the beginning and the end with no attention to the in-between. If you listen to many Christians and most of the messages coming out of Christian churches you hear much of the same thing. There is a real emphasis on his birth, the Christmas season. And there is a real emphasis on his death and resurrection, the Lent and Easter season. But all the stuff that happened in between is in many cases simply ignored or always put in the context of his birth and death and resurrection. In fact if you ask the typical Christian questions about Christ he can tell you in great detail the facts about Jesus’ birth and his death and resurrection but is not so sure or informed about what happened in between. It is as if it wasn’t that important. You know his birth well yeah that’s big, his suffering and death and resurrection, well yeah that’s huge. But his life, well maybe interesting but we need to keep our eyes on the big stuff. But Jesus life, the dash in-between is of huge importance for us today.

The Old Testament prophets certainly thought it was important, because they talked about it a lot. The New Testament writers certainly thought it was important because they wrote a lot about it. Paul certainly thought it was important as he stressed that Jesus living the perfect sinless life in our place was a must for our salvation. The birth yes important, the death and resurrection, yes important, but none of them would have meant a thing if Jesus had not lived the law perfectly for us, if he had sinned for instance then his death and resurrection wouldn’t have meant anything, he would have just been saving himself. Also there were many things that the Old Testament prophets said were important in the life of the Messiah, that he had to do these things to fulfill what God wanted. So today we are going to look at the Old Testament prophecies concerning the life of the Messiah and their fulfillments in the New Testament life of Jesus. There are tons of these but we are just going to look at the most important ones.

Moses is the first guy we run into this morning with something to say about the Messiah. Moses of course was the leader of the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. He was the guy God has personally selected and sent to the people. Under his leadership the people were liberated from four hundred years of slavery under the Egyptians. It is said that no one has ever had a relationship with God like Moses did. God spoke directly to him in person and he was God’s man on earth to the people. In the book of Deuteronomy though he is getting ready to leave the people, in other words die. And this was a very traumatic event for God’s people. Moses had been the go to guy all these years, he had done everything, knew how to solve every problem, he was the one who God talked to and who God listened to when they had a problem. So what were they going to do? God understood their fears and so through Moses he makes them a promise, one that they can count on and know that they are going to be alright. In Deuteronomy 18 Moses says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.”

The immediate fulfillment of this prophecy is of course in the line of the prophets that follow Moses in Israel’s history. God always provided them for the people but the ultimate fulfillment is found in Jesus. In Luke 7 after Jesus raises the widow’s son from the dead the people were all filled with awe and praised God. A great prophet has appeared among us,” They said, “God has come to help his people.” And in Luke 24 after Jesus’ resurrection he is walking with some the believers on the road to Emmaus; they don’t recognize him yet but are telling him about Jesus, about himself in other words. They say, “About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.” The people themselves realize that Jesus is a prophet from God. And we see he is also very much in the way of Moses. Like Moses, Jesus delivers his people. Moses delivered the people from slavery in the land of Egypt and Jesus delivers his people from slavery to sin and death. He leads them out of the land of darkness and into the kingdom of God.

Jesus throughout his life though acted as a prophet. He proclaimed God’s word to the people and he warned them of the coming judgment and told them to repent. He also told them about God grace which was found in him and he told them what was going to happen in the future, both about the destruction of the temple and the second coming. In his baptism God the Father reiterated his command to the people about listening to his prophets. He said, this is my Son with him I am well pleased, listen to him.” Unfortunately many people of this day and of our day don’t listen to Jesus and his message of salvation. Just like the ancient Israelites used to ignore the prophets or even persecute them so it is today. Even sometimes in the church we don’t pay close attention to his words. For those that do though, there is comfort and good news.

Jesus was also very much not only the Son of God, but also a Jew. And because of that he will dedicated to his Father’s house. In Psalm 69:9 we read, “For zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.” Then in John chapter 2 we read about Jesus clearing the temple of the money changers. He overturns their tables and drives them out with whips. He says, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The house of God represented the presence of God among the people and that it would be defiled was like God himself was being defiled and for Jesus as God that was a personal insult to both him and more importantly to his Father who he loved. It’s like the story about Bob. Bill White of Paramount Washington tells this story. “Our church is in the heart of the city, so along with the great opportunities come some challenges. For example, our church building has been “tagged” a number of times – spray painted with local gang signs or the initials of the culprits involved. A few years ago our worship leader, Bob Olson, was in his office at the back of the sanctuary when he heard strange noises in the alley. Tired of having bad things happen to his place of worship, he decided to act. He burst into the alley through a barred door that hadn’t been opened in years. There stood two teenagers holding spray paint cans, initialing the building. “What are you doing?” he yelled, despite their being only fifteen feet away. They stood up and acted tough. One answered back, “What are you going to do about it, old man?” Bob’s hair is thinning, and he’s in his sixties. There were two of them, and they were young and strong. But as the Scripture says, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Bob started walking right at them. The guys stood their ground for a moment, but then they turned and sprinted down the alley. And Bob gave chase! He chased them around one corner, down a residential street, across a yard, and down another street. But Bob didn’t stop. After a two-block chase, he leapt at the slower of the two guys, grabbed his jacket, and pulled him to the ground. The guy struggled free, and made off – but not without leaving behind his jacket and his spray paint. Although the police caught the two of them on the next block, they might have been relieved to be away from the passionate worshiper with the thinning gray hair.”

All that zeal that Jesus has in our text comes from the fact that he truly is the Son of God. In Psalm 2 we read this prophecy, “I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” We see this prophecy explained as applying directly to Jesus in Matthew chapter three. As Jesus was being baptized God spoke. It says, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” In Luke chapter one as the angel Gabriel is explaining Jesus coming birth to the Virgin Mary he says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” This is that incarnational fact that we celebrate every Christmas. God become man and yet remaining fully God. Jesus is more than just a mere man. He is more than just a prophet; he is God himself in the flesh living among us. That in itself is mind blowing, but it also leads us to some very important things. This Jesus has the power to do what he has set out to do, namely save us from our sins and give us salvation. In the midst of world of uncertainly and anxiety. In the midst of hard times that seem to get harder every time we check the news and see more lay offs, new diseases, death in of all places peanut butter. That this Jesus, our Savior is truly the Son of God, God himself is of great comfort. That God would go to the extreme lengths of actually become man shows us how much he loves us and that he will preserve us no matter what. And that leads us to the real gospel concerning the Old Testament prophecies about his life.

The first one is that the Messiah will be anointed to preach liberty. In Isaiah 61 we read the prophet saying this about the Messiah, ‘The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.” This describes in wondrous detail what the Messiah was going to do when he came. He was going to preach the gospel to the poor, and that was not just the physically poor, but the spiritual poor. He was going to proclaim freedom, freedom from sin and death and release sinners from their bondage to sin. He was going to proclaim the final coming of his kingdom and the end of the ages and was going to comfort all who mourn no matter what they mourn about. This was a fantastic promise that the Old Testament people held onto. It was something that they looked forward too. This Messiah was going to take care of everything. And so it was great amazement that in Luke chapter four we read that Jesus visits the synagogue and is given the scroll to read, and it just happens to be this particular passage that he reads that day. After he gets done reading it in front of the people it says, “Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” There is no way to take the shock out of what they must have experienced at these words. Some rejected what he said but others it seems came to faith in him, and believed that he was that Messiah they had been waiting for. Here was the answer to all their prayers. He is the answer to all of our prayers and searching for help, deliverance and comfort.

These words of Jesus are a great comfort, but Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy with more than just words but also with his actions. For instance in Isaiah 35 we read this about what the coming Messiah will do in his life here on earth, “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” This prophecy said that the Messiah will heal people from various ailments, that in fact that would be a sign that he was the true Messiah. It was a clear way of identifying him. Then we read in Luke chapter seven about John the Baptist who is now in prison sending some of his disciples to confirm that Jesus really is the Messiah that John thinks he is, “Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who has come, or should we expect someone else? When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’ At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” In other words, “Yeah John I am it, there isn’t anyone else coming. I am the Messiah fulfilling those identifying prophecies in Isaiah. The life of Christ here on earth touched many people in very practical ways, but more importantly it gave a demonstration of the real healing and raising from the dead that he was going to do on the cross at the end of his life. Those other miracles were only temporary. Eventually all these healed people were going to die anyway, and even the ones he raised to life were going to die again some day. But the healing and life that won through the cross is forever, it is eternal healing and eternal life.

The last prophecy I want to look at today has to deal with Christ’s coming in victory in our world and in our lives. In Psalm 118 we hear the prophecy, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.” This is talking about a victorious king returning from victory, the one who has defeated his enemies with God’s help in other words. We see this fulfilled in Matthew 21 when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. “A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ “Hosanna in the highest!” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’” The crowd was welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem like a conquering king. Maybe they thought he was going in to kick out the Romans, to set up a new kingdom of Israel that would be as powerful as it was in the past. If they thought that they were wrong.

Jesus did enter Jerusalem that day like a conquering king. He was coming into the city to get rid of the people’s enemies, but it wasn’t the Romans. Instead the enemies that he was going to defeat were Satan, sin and death. He would achieve victory not man’s way but God’s way through suffering and death. By the end of the week the victory would be his as he hung bleeding and dying on the cross. He had truly come in the name of the Lord and he had done God’s work. That work of God extends down to us today as we benefit through the forgiveness that receive through Christ’s death and resurrection. But that would not be the final fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy in fact you could say were are still waiting for it to happen. Jesus himself prophesied that this prophecy would again be fulfilled in the future. In Luke 13 Jesus expresses he is great sorrow over Jerusalem. He foresees that the Romans are going to completely destroy it in 70 A.D. and it pains him to know the suffering that they are going to undergo because of that. So he says this, “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 her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” This if course is referring the second coming of Christ that is talked about in Revelation chapter one, “Look, he is coming with the clouds and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be. Amen.” That is a day that we are still looking forward to with great anticipation. That day as we talked about a couple of weeks ago.

The life of Jesus Christ was more than just a dash between his birth date and his death on earth date. It was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy identifying who he was and what he was called to do for you and I. His life was also the perfect life for us. Where the first Adam had fell into sin and dragged us down with him. The second Adam, Jesus Christ was without sin, lived the perfect life in our place, fulfilled the law for us and then through our faith in his death and resurrection gave us his righteousness and holiness and perfection. Like Moses he led us out of the land of slavery and into the land of freedom and perfection. This Jesus is our Messiah, our Christ, our Savior; he is the fulfillment of prophecy in this age and in the age to come. Amen.

Prophecies about His Birth - Sermon for Feb 1, 2009

2009-02-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

THE PROPHCIES OF HIS BIRTH
ISAIAH 7:14
FEBRUARY 1, 2009

The other day a woman had eight babies at once. She was supposed to only have seven but apparently there was an eight one stowed away in there somewhere that the ultra sound didn’t pick up. Eight kids at once. And now it turns out that she had six kids before that to go from a family of two to a family of eight and the instantly to a family of fourteen is simply amazing. The birth of one child is drama enough. The coming birth of a child is something that people wait for with great anticipation. Even to the point of parents asking right after a couple gets married when they can expect to be getting grandchildren. And once conception has happened there are months of getting ready. Trying to figure out names and colors for the nursery. Trying to organize the baby shower, doctor visits and all kinds of tests. Some people even start making plans for future schools and setting up college fund accounts. The mother is given tons of attention and as the due date gets closer schedules of grandparents and friends are rearranged so that they can be a part of the whole big event. Then the day finally arrives and what ever else was going on, no matter how big, it all comes to a screeching halt as the mother is hauled into the delivery room and the birth takes place. After the event there is much celebrating and in the days or weeks that follow there is usually a big baby shower and friends and family pitch in to help in any way that they can as adjustments are made in the family. The anticipation of and the birth of a child are a big thing in our lives. But they are nothing compared to the anticipation of The birth. The birth of God among humanity. The anticipation for that birth was over the top and the events of that birth although in normal circumstances were astounding.

It all started at the beginning, where most things start. It begin with a promise, a promise of life. We have all heard that quote from someone I can’t remember that a baby is the promise that life goes on. Well this particular baby would be the promise of eternal life for everyone who would believe in him. Man had fallen on hard times. Hard times that were his own fault. Man had made a really bad decision to disobey God and as a result fell into sin, lost his property in the garden and got kicked out into the streets East of Eden. Everything was lost. The Garden property was the least of it. Man now had developed a terminal disease called sin. He was going to suffer for years and then die of it. The image of God, his righteousness that had been put into him at creation was gone, and without it he was going to die forever, there was no hope, nothing he could do it about.

And then God, his creator stepped in and said that he was going to send a child to save him. A child that through his suffering and death was going to give him a transplant. He was going to take out the sin of man and transplant his righteousness, the righteousness of God back into him. We hear unfortunately today of the possibility of babies being born for the purposes of providing organs for transplant. In other words babies full of spare parts. In a sense that is what this child of the promise of Genesis 3:15 was going to be born for as well. He was going to be the second Adam who would save us by dying for us and giving us his holiness and righteousness. This was a baby that was to be born for the purpose of dying so that we could once again be united with God. Through this Child man would once again be able to have that same relationship with God that the first Adam had in the garden before the fall. As I said this promise was given to our first parents in Genesis 3:15 when God said that he would send a Savior from the seed of the woman who would crush Satan’s head as Satan struck his heal. That promise would later be expanded upon and further explained.

In Isaiah 7:14 we get some more information on how this child would be born. Isaiah says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah very clearly prophesies that the mother of this promised child will still be a virgin when she gives birth to him. And of course we see in the New Testament that Mary the mother of Jesus is a virgin when she gives birth to Jesus. In Matthew one we find, “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins,” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means God with us.” We hear a somewhat expanded account in the gospel of Luke where we read, “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The Virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

The virgin birth of Jesus has been debated about for years, but Scripture is very clear that this is the way it was. Some people totally disregard the doctrine and say well why is it important anyway? But the fact is it is important for a number of reasons. One if she wasn’t a virgin then Jesus had a human father and therefore was not the Son of God. He was just a man. Without the virgin birth there is no Christ, there is no Savior. Secondly without the virgin birth Jesus is born in sin. Therefore he is not sinless and not God therefore he is totally useless as a Savior and even if he does die on the cross he dies for his own sins and not ours. So the virgin birth was of upmost importance. Jesus is yes born of a human mother and takes on her flesh, but he is also pure and sinless and is the Son of God. That is the only way that he can be our Savior. As a human he can identify with us and put himself under the law and die for us. As God he can live the perfect life and in his death defeat Satan, sin and death and rise from the dead declaring victory. So the fulfillment of this prophecy from Isaiah is very important and we see that Jesus does just that through Mary.

Another very specific prophecy about his birth is that he would be born in Bethlehem. We read in Micah 5, “But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, thought you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Then of course we read in Matthew 2, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “For this is what the prophet has written: “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 be the shepherd of my people Israel.”

And of course we all know that story very well especially after having celebrated it just a few weeks ago. Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth but because of the census they had to go to the city of their lineage and register. Bethlehem was that city of David for them and so they loaded up and took off. Sometime during their stay there Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God, thereby fulfilling this Old Testament promise. What is interesting about it that it was not Mary and Joseph that planned for it happen this way. They went to Bethlehem not for the purpose of fulfilling a prophecy but for the purpose of fulfilling a government responsibility. The Roman ruler made the fulfillment of this prophecy a reality. It is to say the least an interesting way for the King of the Universe to enter his universe. Not coming down in glory in the clouds, not in a royal palace, but in a small no account town, in humble surroundings with absolutely no fanfare except for that surrounding some peasant shepherds out in the fields.

The next prophecy actually takes back to the first one from Isaiah 7:14 where it says that he will be called Immanuel or God with us. There is more significance to that then first meets the eye. We look at it and we say well yeah God becoming one of us and living like us, yes he was God with us. But again there is more to it than just simply that. Remember why the Son of God came down in the first place. He came in response to the promise of Genesis 3:15. God and man had been united in the Garden, they were like this. That was the way that God had designed that relationship. But after the fall man and God were not only separated from one another, they were at war with one another. The purpose of Genesis 3:15 was the promise that one day man and God would be united again in a harmonious relationship. And that is exactly what this Jesus; the Son of God had come to do. Not only would be he be God with us for 33 years of his life here on earth, but his later death and resurrection would mean that God and us would forever be together again. Jesus is God with us even today.

There is also another major prophecy concerning Jesus birth. This is the one concerning the star out of Jacob. This actually comes from an oracle of Balaam who was commissioned by an enemy of Israel. Balak king of Moab wanted Balaam to pronounce curses upon the Israelite army, but instead Balaam finds himself time and again pronouncing blessings upon them. In Chapter 24 he prophecies this about Israel’s Savior, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth.” The prophecy finds immediate fulfillment in King David but is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In Matthew 2 we read, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod; Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Then we read a little later, “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.” The result, a baby shower for the Savior of the world. Talk about some expensive gifts! Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh wow! Everything that a new family could want and more. Gifts that literally would set them up for what was coming next. This was also where the gentiles come into the picture. They, we are part of the promise as well. These gifts are symbols of our gratefulness to God.

These gifts as I said would help them out as the next prophecy around his birth came true. That would be the flight into Egypt. In Hosea eleven we read, “”When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” This is first of all referring the Exodus of the children of Israel from the country of Egypt during the time of Moses, but Matthew looks upon that exodus as a picture pointing forward to the picture of Jesus’ coming from Egypt. We read in Matthew 2, “So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Egypt reminds of the slavery to sin that we were born into. Just as Israel was captive to slavery during their time in Egypt so were we captive to sin which pervaded us through and through. And just as Moses leads the children of Israel out of that slavery and eventually into the Promised Land. Jesus leads us out of slavery to sin and death through the blood he shed for us on the cross. He leads us out of death’s grip, makes us his and eventually when we die leads us into the promised land of Heaven. All of these things added together present us an amazing picture of the prophecy and its fulfillment in the birth of Jesus Christ. This was not just a happenstance event, it didn’t just happen out of the blue. It was planned from the beginning and talked about from the beginning and talked about through the years leading up to it. The promise of the coming Messiah filled the Old Testament world with anticipation, they couldn’t wait, it was on their minds constantly. Then one day they saw it all fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. God had kept his promises to his people. He truly had come to save us from our sins and make us his forever. God is not slow in keeping his promises but he does do it in his own time and way.

And that leads us to the last major prophecy concerning the events surrounding his birth. That is the prophecy concerning the murder of the innocents. In Jeremiah 31 the prophet says, “This is what the Lord says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.” Then in Matthew 2 we read, “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. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, “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.” Now why would we include that in the prophecies about the birth? Well first of all because it is one of them, but also it points to some very important things. Most of the birth narrative is a very feel good story. It is shapes our view of the Christmas story that we celebrate and act out each year. But it was a narrative with a larger purpose than that. Yes everyone likes babies and the gifts of Christmas but the setting of this story is actually really messy. And I not just talking about being laid in a feeding trough for a bed either. No the reason that this child was born was very bloody. And here in the fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy we see just how bloody and brutal it is going to get.

Lots of blood flowed that night of the massacre of the little children. A scene we don’t really even want to think about really. But it would point forward to another miscarriage of justice some thirty years later when another innocent person would be killed to satisfy the hatefulness of another group of leaders. Except that the blood that flow down from the cross would leave more than loss and death, but would also cleanse us from our sin. Why both deaths, the death of the children and the dead of Christ would be horrible, in the death of Christ you and I would find life everlasting. We would be reunited with God in a relationship similar to what we read about in the garden before the fall. Christ’s death reconnects us with God the Father and guarantees us a place in the real Garden of Eden, Heaven.

The prophecies concerning Jesus birth were fulfilled in the New Testament in Jesus Christ. He is the one that was promised back in Genesis 3:15. He is the Savior of mankind, and more importantly the Savior of you. But his birth was just the beginning of the cosmic adventure. Jesus would now spend the next 33 years fulfilling even more Old Testament prophecies as he lived his life. We will look at those next week. Amen.

The Day of the Lord - Sermon for January 25, 2009

2009-01-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

THE DAY OF THE LORD
MATTHEW 24
JANUARY 25, 2009

Will Willimon tells this story. “Early in my ministry, I served a little church in rural Georgia. One Saturday we went to a funeral in a little church not of my denomination. I grew up in a big downtown church. I had never been to a funeral like this one. The casket was open, and the funeral consisted of a sermon by their pastor. The preacher pounded the pulpit and looked over at the casket. He said, “It’s too late for Joe. He might have wanted to get his life together. He might have wanted to spend more time with his family. He might have wanted to do that, but he’s dead now. It is too late for him, but it is not too late for you. Today is the day of decision. Then the preacher told how a Greyhound bus had run into a funeral procession once on the way to the cemetery, and that that could happen today. He said, “You should decide today. Today is the day to get your life together. Too late for old Joe, but it’s not too late for you.” I was so angry at that preacher. On the way home, I told my wife, “Have you ever seen anything as manipulative and insensitive to that poor family? I found it disgusting.” She said, “I’ve never heard anything like that. It was manipulative. It was disgusting. It was insensitive. Worst of all, it was also true.”

If you have hung around certain church denominations a little bit you have heard some sermons like that. Although I have to admit, I have never heard one like that at a funeral. But I have endured my fair share of ones like it on a typical Sunday visiting one of my friend’s churches growing up. I was Lutheran and he was fire and brimstone Pentecostal, talk about a cross-cultural experience. The preacher would get up and talk about how God as Judge knew exactly what was going on in our lives and that if we didn’t repent like right now, he might take us tonight, you know we wouldn’t see that car coming, or some other bad accident would occur, and it would be too late and we would spend eternity burning in hell. And then of course there would be an altar call where dozens of scared wide eyed people would head toward the altar seeking fire insurance. I was one of those people a couple of times. When you’re a teenage kid you always feel guilty and have plenty of sins to confess, especially when your Lutheran and then you add in the Pentecostal guilt factory, and there were a couple of times I just knew I wasn’t going to see that car coming or that something was going to happen to me later that night and God was going to mete out his punishment on me for all of eternity. I don’t know exactly how many times I prayed the sinner’s prayer during my later teen years, but I know it was more than a couple of times. And it was always based on the fear of hell; it had nothing to do with actual faith in Christ. And then of course the Lutherans always made me feel guilty telling me that good Lutherans don’t pray the sinner’s prayers. I couldn’t get a break.

But I very clearly remember the fear that the preacher put in me about the coming judgment, about that day. It was a day to be afraid of. I have watched through the years as certain portions of the Christian community have continued to spread that fear. Preachers on TV and on the Radio have spread it around the globe. Christian authors such as those who wrote the left behind series, have taught such a fearful convoluted heretical view of that day that most Americans think that is what the Bible actually teaches. The main result, fear. I have people in a pretty regular basis ask me questions about the last days and usually there is always some fear of it involved. So what about that day, that day of the Lord? Where did the teaching come from? And what is it all about? The Day of the Lord is an Old Testament prophecy that talks about the end of the world. It talks about its destruction and also the destruction of humanity, in particular God’s enemies. And throughout the Old Testament it is presented in very fearful terms. This is something that people needed to worry about. This was not going to be a pleasant event. And yet it was also a day of great prosperity for God’s people. So in most circumstances it is presented as a day that unbelievers need to be afraid of, they are going to get theirs. At the same time God’ people are not let off the hook either. If they do not repent they too will be punished. For instance in the book of Amos chapter 8 God says, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. In that day, declares the Sovereign Lord, the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies – flung everywhere! Silence! Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat? The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget anything they have done.” Then he proceeds to tell them all the horrible, terrible things he is going to do to them if they don’t repent. In Chapter five of Amos he says this about the day of the Lord, “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness not light. It will be as though as man fled from a lion only to meet a bear.” Or there is Isaiah 13:9, “See the day of the Lord is coming – a cruel day with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.”

Pretty scary picture. Makes you want to come up and throw yourself across the altar and beg for mercy. Makes you wonder what is waiting for me after I leave here this morning. Maybe there is a bus with my name on it. But thankfully the day of the Lord is more than just a day of wrath and retribution. It is also a day of great promise. A day full of God’s glory, a day of full of God’s light. Zephaniah and Zechariah point out that God is preparing a sacrifice which will consecrate the people and remove their sin. There is a remedy for this wrath; there is a way to avoid God’s retribution. Zephaniah 1:7 we read, “Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited.” And in Zechariah 13:1, “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” Wait a minute the Lord has prepared a sacrifice? He has invited people? There will be cleansing from sin and impurity? Does this mean there is hope? Yes not only is there hope there is a promise of a sure and certain hope. God is not going to hold back his wrath to punish sin mind you but there just might be a way to avoid being the one taking it on the backside. The day of the Lord will be a fearful day for many, but for others it will be a day of great joy and blessing. It will be a day that was promised back in Genesis 3:15 that would come from the seed of the woman.

In Luke 4:18-21 we see this Seed of the woman, Jesus talking about what he has come to do for people on that day of the Lord. He visits the synagogue and gets up to read publically from the scroll. He reads to them, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Whoa! Now that is a strong claim of authority and fulfillment. He is quoted directly from Isaiah 61 which talks about the work of the Seed of the woman, of the Messiah, the Savior of the world and he ends by saying standing before you, is the fulfillment of this prophecy, I’m it. The one and only, simply the best, better than all the rest. A bold claim, but true. Jesus has come on a saving mission to get people ready for the great day of the Lord. He is not here to bring it to its end yet as he says in John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” And that is exactly what he would do.

After living the perfect life here on earth he would go to the cross for our sins and die in our place and as his blood flowed our sins were washed away forever. The wrath of God was carried out on Jesus on Good Friday. He suffered every pain we deserve to suffer. In the end he suffered our death for us. He was in the words of Zephaniah the sacrifice that God has prepared. He was in the words of Zechariah, that fountain that was opened to cleanse away our sin and impurity. He was the light in the midst of the darkness. The hope in the midst of despair. He was the answer to people’s fear of that coming day of the Lord. He was the good news in a world of bad news. That is why we call it the gospel. Deliverance had come. Which also meant that there was still something to be delivered from. The coming of the Messiah did not mean that the great day of the Lord was cancelled it just put it in a different light. But the day well it is still on its way.

In Matthew 24 and 2 Peter 3 we hear Jesus and Peter say things like this about it, first that it will come like a thief in the night, ‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house by broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Or “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” Jesus and others also warn about wars, famines, and natural disasters that will lead up to it. “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Jesus also indicates that the gospel will be preached to the entire world, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Jesus also warns of much satanic evil, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” At that time the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect form the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” And again in the words of Peter, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

Some very dire warnings there. But the warnings have more than just the purpose of scaring us or alarming us, although sometimes we need that, no they are there to point us back to Jesus and the fact that we need him in our lives to face all of this. That is because Jesus has already faced all of this for us. He has endured God’s wrath for us. He has endured God’s destruction for us. So all this scary stuff about the day of the Lord, we don’t need to be worried about. Yes it will happen on a perfectly normal ordinary day, yes he will come like a thief in the night, but through our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are already prepared for that. And when he does come it will be not to punish us or make us suffer but to take us home to be with him forever in heaven. Jesus explains it this way in Luke 21, “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” In other words while the unbelieving world is passing out in terror of what is happening as a believer you can without fear stand up and lift up your heads because its just the bus coming to take you home. There is nothing to be worried about if you have faith in Jesus Christ.

The day of the Lord is going to be a frightful day for those who do not believe in Jesus. But for those who do believe in Jesus it is going to be a glorious day full of wonder and excitement as we see heaven opened and Jesus returning in all his finery to take us to be with him. There is nothing to be worried about if we are prepared and the only way to be prepared is to have faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you have that you are ready to go. Let me end here with a story of another funeral which was totally unlike the funeral at the beginning. Tony Campolo tells this story about a funeral he went to when he was a kid. He says, “I went to my first black funeral when I was 16 years old. A friend of mine, Clarence, had died. The pastor was incredible. From the pulpit he talked about the resurrection in beautiful terms. He has us thrilled. He came down from the pulpit, went to the family, and comforted them from the fourteenth chapter of John. “Let not your heart be troubled,” he said, “You believe in God, believe also in me,’ said Jesus. Clarence has gone to heavenly mansions.” Then, for the last 20 minutes of the sermon, he actually preached to the open casket. Now, that’s drama! He yelled at the corpse: “Clarence! Clarence!” He said it with such authority. I would not have been surprised had there been an answer. He said, “Clarence, there were a lot of things we should have said to you that we never said to you. You got away too fast, Clarence. You got away too fast.” He went down this litany of beautiful things that Clarence had done for people. When he finished – here’s the dramatic part – he said, “That’s it, Clarence. There’s nothing more to say. When there’s nothing more to say, there’s only one thing to say. Good night. Good night, Clarence!” He grabbed the lid of the casket and slammed it shut. “Good night, Clarence!” Boom! Shock waves went through the congregation. As the preacher then lifted his head, you could see there was a smile on his face. He said, “Good night, Clarence. Good night, Clarence, because I know, I know that God is going to give you a good morning!” The choir stood and starting singing, “On that great morning, we shall rise, we shall rise.” We were dancing in the aisles and hugging each other. I know the joy of the Lord, a joy that in the face of death laughs and sings and dances, for there is no sting to death, on That Day!” Amen.

Faith forming politics or politics forming faith?

2009-01-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

First of all let me say that I did not vote for Obama for President in November. Secondly let me say that I fully support him as our president, I hope that he is successful and I pray for him daily. I also know that some people nodded their heads in agreement with my first statement and then lost all faith in me when they read the second. I also know that some people shook their head in disapproval when they read the first statement and are thinking I had a conversion when they read the second statement. Thankfully I really couldn't care less how anybody feels about my politics and also refuse to conform to any norms that people might expect of me. There is no Christian or non-Christian party. No party has a monopoly on faith or on morality, or on compassion.
Faith is certainly not divorced from politics. When people say that it should be they exhibit a complete ignorance of American history and attempt to put God and Christians in a box. As Lutherans we do teach a separation of Church and State, but not a separation of our faith and how we vote and act in the public square. Although churches and church leaders should not endorse political candidates, faith should help form our political thoughts and ideas and it should influence how we vote and who we vote for. As Christians we need to look at the moral issues of our day and vote the way our faith, informed by Scripture, leads us to. We should also examine candidates and their stand on major issues and using God's Word sort out who best represents God's will. In doing so we also must realize that there is much room for disagreement even among Christians concerning many of these things. Just because person A votes for this guy and person B votes for the other guy does not mean that one of them is not a Christian or didn't vote their conscience. We as Christians are called to use our faith in making political decisions.

The problem I have noticed lately though is that this has been completely turned around. Far too many Christians are letting their politics form their faith. Many people spend more time listening to talk radio than they do reading or listening to their Bibles. I do not know anything about the faith of those in talk radio but I do know they are not the conveyors of Scriptural truth. It has been disheartening to me to listen to and read about Christians making racist statements about Hispanics because of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is something that needs to be addressed because, well, its illegal. I think we can all agree on that. But it is unchristian to be racist, plain and simple, there is just no excuse for it. I have heard Christians say that they will not pray for President Obama because they don't like him or maybe his policies. Again everyone has the right to vote for who they want to, and to write letters, protest and do other legal things to make their thoughts known. But to not pray for the president of the United States is unscriptural. God commands us to pray for our rulers, and it has nothing to do with whether we like them or agree with them.

It is time for Christians to turn off the radio and pick up their Bibles and start reading what God actually says about these issues. Many of them will be surprised at what they find and realize that they need to repent. God calls for us to take a strong stand for our faith and for moral issues. He calls for us to be a light to the world and that involves standing for the truth but also doing it with compassion and love. If not done with compassion and love than the truth is just mean useless dogma, and as we read, especially in the Old Testament, God is not pleased with it. As I said at the beginning I did not vote for President Obama in November and I do not regret that, I think I did the right thing. I probably will not vote for him in 2012 either, but right now he is the duly elected President of the United States and therefore I pray for him, that he will be safe, that God will fill him with wisdom and lead him to make the right decisions. I wish him well and support him because that is the Scriptural thing to do.

Pastor Fred

The Eternal Dynasty Sermon from Jan 18, 2009

2009-01-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

THE ETERNAL DYNASTY
2 SAMUEL 7:11-16
JANUARY 18, 2009

Craig Brian Larson writes, “Since 2004 Time magazine has each year recognized 100 people as the most influential in the world. As heady a thing as it would be to find your name on such a list, the recognition also highlights the fragility of life and power in this world. In May 2008 Time recognized journalist Tim Russert as one of the 100 most influential people for the power he wielded over politics on the program Meet the Press. In June of 2008 the respected and beloved Russert suffered a heart attack at age 58 and died. Also named among the most powerful in the world were the three candidates still in the race for president: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. One month later, Hillary Clinton ended her campaign, and before the year was out McCain had lost the election. Follow the others on the top 100 list and you can depend on it: their influence will pass, some in fading glory like the leaves of autumn, others overnight like a towering tree felled by a lumberjack. Even for the most tenacious, life and power are brief.” No one lasts in power forever. No type of government last forever. Just think of the changes that have happened in your own lifetime. Even the things and monuments we think are forever are not. Even the pyramids of Egypt which are thousands of years old are slowly being eaten away and if not constantly preserved will eventually disappear. When we think of ourselves it can be even scarier. In a hundred years no one is probably even going to remember us or anything that we did. In the words of Scripture we are but a breath.

Yet in the midst of this transitory world there are some eternal things. And there was one person in Scripture that was told that his kingdom would last forever. That his throne would be part of an eternal dynasty. That would be King David. In 2 Samuel chapter seven we see Nathan telling David what God has revealed to him. He says, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will rise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”

God is telling David that the throne that he occupies will always be occupied by one of his descendants. That is quite a promise when you think about it. What if for instance you had started a family business and you wanted to pass it down to your children but you were always nervous about whether it was going to make it or not and God told you that not only would your business survive but that generation after generation of your descendants would inherit this the business and build it up, that at some point in the future it would become the world’s largest business. How would that make you feel? Well that is exactly what David is being told here. Except he is being told that it is going to be eternal. What we see here in this promise, remembering that the Seed of the woman also goes through David, is that the promise of the Seed from the first week and the promise of the eternal kingdom are tied together. In fact there is an eternal kingdom for David because the eternal king is going to come from his seed. Not only will kings come from his loins but so will the ultimate king, the Messiah, the Savior of the World.

In Psalm 89 we have a prayer that mourns the downfall of the Davidic dynasty and yet pleads for its renewal. And so there is a reminder that thought there will be bad kings and there will be punishments meted out to them that the promise of the eternal kingdom will endure. The individual kings will be punished but the covenant will not be torn up. We read, “If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statues, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness – and I will not lie to David – that his line will continue forever and his throne will endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Again this is an everlasting kingdom, no matter what happens to it through the years, it will endure forever.

In Psalm 110 David talks about his kingdom and how strong and victorious it is and will be. “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing rulers of the whole earth.” This will not only be an enduring kingship but a victorious triumph one.

This is again promised along with some very specific prophecies about the coming the king, the Messiah who will be the ultimate fulfillment of this promise in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” This Messiah will reign forever; he will be the eternal king. So these are some very interesting promises and prophecies we see running throughout the Old Testament. I say throughout because I just gave a small sampling of the many references we could go and on about this morning. This is a huge theme in the Old Testament. But what we are really concerned about this morning is how that is fulfilled in the New Testament. And more importantly, who fulfills it.

The Jews were definitely looking for this king. They were in fact living in great expectation of him. Unfortunately they were thinking too small. They were looking for a king that would simply deliver them from their Roman occupiers. But the King that Scripture was talking about was going to deliver them from much more than that. He was going to deliver them from Satan, sin and death and give them eternal life in an eternal kingdom. And before we get too judgmental on them for that, we many times do the same thing. We focus on immediate deliverance from the problems right in front of us. Especially the ones that threaten to immediately overwhelm us. Whether it is a relationship problem or a financial one or a health one or a tax one or you name it. All these real problems that we deal with in real life. And God is not unaware of or unconcerned about those things either. He cares about everything that goes on in our lives. But he also has a much bigger plan and has much bigger things to deliver us from than just those things. He will get us through that stuff, but he also has much bigger fish to fry. The Israelites were always worried, like us, about what was around the next corner. That, like with us, sometimes became so much of their focus that they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. If you read through the Old Testament you see that God let them go through suffering but he always rescued them in the end or got them through it. He didn’t forsake them and he won’t forsake us today either. He will get you through that stuff but in the process he doesn’t want you to get so focused on it that you lose sight of the big picture. The big picture which contains your real problems, sin and death and that fact that he is going to deliver you from them. Sin and death make the rest of our problems look small in comparison.

Jesus stresses this fact by beginning preaching in Mark 1:15, “The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” In other words the physical kingship of David is not here to physically continue, no we are beyond that. This is the kingdom of God baby! This is the eternal kingdom; this is the real eternal of the eternal kingdom. It is time to turn your hearts to God, this is good news. This is time to look beyond your immediate circumstances and see that you are included in God’s eternal kingdom and the king has arrived. He makes this very clear in Matthew 12:28 where he says about himself, “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” He said this after the teachers of the law questioned by what authority he was casting out demons, admitting that he did it by the way but asking how. Jesus says well either it is by the power of the devil, but then why would the devil be casting out his own people, so it must be by the power of the God’s Spirit. And if that is the case, which it obviously is, then guess what the kingdom talked about in 2 Samuel, the kingdom talked about in Psalm 89, Psalm 110. The kingdom prophecies in all the prophecies throughout the Old Testament, well guess what guys he’s here, I’m the man!

He points this out directly to the Pharisees in Matthew 22 when he applies the words of Psalm 110 directly to himself, “While the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “The Son of David,” They replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him Lord? For he says, “The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” Then David calls him Lord, how can he be his son? No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.” What Jesus is saying that is that He is more than just a descendant of David but that he is also superior to David, that he is David’s Lord as well. We also see numerous other fulfillments as well. Matthew 8:16-17 records this about Jesus, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” Jesus is king over all things even disease and sickness. In fact as the eternal king he is head of everything, Colossians 2:15, “and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” And Philippians 2:9, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave them the name that is above every name.”

Jesus is the king that God talks about the in Old Testament. He is the King that first of all comes and suffers for his people. That is why the prophet Isaiah talks about his suffering on the cross and his death and resurrection. This is not just a king that puts on a crown and grabs a comfortable seat on a throne. This is king that becomes one with his people, lives like them, suffers normal everyday suffering with them, and goes through what they go through, what we go through. And then even though he is innocent he declared guilty of all of man’s sin and is put on a cross to die a slow painful death in our place. In doing so he pays for all of our sins and wins us forgiveness. And then in the end rises victoriously from the grave declaring that Satan, sin and death have been defeated. This is a warrior king like his forefather David, except where David defeated earthly enemies Jesus defeats the bigger spiritual ones. And he is a king who reigns on high, whose name is above every other name.
In two days we are going to inaugurate a new President in this country, a new leader. A leader who is normally thought of as the leader of the free world. He will be the leader for at least 4 years, but that the most 8 years. And then he will become just another former president like all the others before him. His hold on power you could say will be brief. In contrast Jesus leadership will never end. He is clearly the ultimate eternal king that is talked about throughout the Old Testament. A king that is yes concerned about your everyday problems and needs. A king who has promised not necessary to remove you from them, but to get you through them. But more importantly a king who has promised you eternal deliverance and eternal things. Deliverance from Satan, sin and death. And the promise of his continual forgiveness and salvation. A king who has promised you a place in his eternal kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. To echo the words of Jesus the Kingdom is near, in fact the kingdom is here in our faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Raising Charlie

2009-01-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

I love both of my kids the same, but there is something unique about a father-daughter or a father-son relationship. As I dropped my close to four year old son off at school today I realized how blessed I am to have him. He insisted on me taking him to school. Usually mom takes him but since I was home he wanted me to do it and wouldn't take no for an answer. So I got him dressed and made sure he brushed his teeth and had his backpack and out the door we went. We keep the car seats in the van so that is the vehicle that the kids always ride in. Very rarely is there a car seat in my car, but apparently when there is it is a special treat. Charlie saw my car and wanted to ride in it instead of the van, I couldn't figure out why but remembered the pure joy he exhibited the last time he rode in my car, but we didn't have time for a car seat change so he had to settle for the van today.
His desire to ride in my car brought back an old memory from my own childhood when I was maybe just a little older than he is now. My dad had an old pickup that I always loved to ride in. It was different from the family car so it was special when you got to go someplace in it. Now for years I always thought it was the truck itself, but now I am not so sure that was it. I remember soon after getting Charlie thinking about getting an old truck because of that memory, but the money was never really there and it just wasn't a reasonable thing to do. I wanted the truck because I wanted Charlie to have that same wonderment that I had. But after today I don't think it was so much the truck itself as it was that it was my dad's truck. It was his truck, only he drove it. To ride in the truck meant to be alone with dad in his terrain. I say that because Charlie seems to have that same fascination with my simple every day car. He gets a real kick riding in it with me, especially when it is just him and I. Maybe the kid just likes being with his dad in something that is dad's domain.
I thought about that as I was pulling into the school parking lot and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that smile. We weren't in the car but it was just me and him taking a ride. And that seemed to bring him great joy. In that smile I could see my smile from forty years ago. I have to go pick him up from school in a couple of hours, so I think I am going to go out and move one of those car seats into the back of my car and create some memories.

Pastor Fred

A Blessing To The World - Sermon from Jan 11, 2009

2009-01-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

Christopher Wright in an article in Christianity Today entitled, "An Upside-Down World," writes, "The map of global Christianity that our grandparents knew has been turned upside down. At the start of the 20th century, only ten percent of the world's Christians lived in continents of the south and east. Ninety percent lived in North America and Europe, along with Australia and New Zealand. But at the start of the 21st century, at least 70 percent of the world's Christians live in the non-Western world - more appropriately called the majority world. More Christians worship in Anglican churches in Nigeria each week than in all the Episcopal and Anglican churches of Britain, Europe, and North America combined. There are more Baptists in Congo then in Britain. More people in church every Sunday in Communist China than in all of Western Europe. Ten times more Assemblies of God members in Latin-America than in the U.S." And I would add that there are many more Lutherans in Africa then there are in the United States now, also Latin America. The promise given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and 22 has been fulfilled in ways that no one could have expected. Who would have ever thought that the center of Lutheranism would end up being Africa instead of Germany or Scandinavia or America? But that is what has happened. Who would have thought that there would end up being more Chinese Christians than European ones? But that is what has happened. Who would have thought that Africa would start sending Christian missionaries to America to bring the gospel to people who at one time were the dominate force in Christianity? But that is what is happening. Abraham would have bowed down in worship if he had seen this for himself. God has been true to his Word.

Abraham, a blessing to the world is today's theme. You could almost say that this is a sermon about the history of missions in the church. In Genesis 12:3 we hear God say to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse: and all people's on earth will be blessed through you." God here is singling out Abraham to start a line of people that will be his people, his nation. These would end up being the Israelites or as a smaller group of them would later be called, the Jews. But here he points out that, that is just an intermediate step that in the end all peoples on the face of the planet will be blessed through him. Later in Genesis 22 God reissues this promise. The plan was that the Nation of Israel would draw other people around them to God. When people saw how the Israelites were blessed they would desire to have what they had. We see this start to happen in the book of Exodus. We see that some of the people listen to Moses' warnings about the plagues and take actions to protect themselves. In Exodus 12 we see that when the Israelites finally do leave Egypt that a number of the Egyptians go with them. They had come to the realization that this God was the one true God, they had become believers.

We see this promise continue to be talked about throughout the Old Testament. We also see many Gentiles brought into the Israelite nation. Gentiles like Rahab the Canaanite prostitute in Jericho and Ruth the Moabitess. We see God continues to send out his Word promising salvation for the Gentiles. In Isaiah 49 he says, "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth." In Isaiah 52 we see that the Messiah suffers for all men's sins. It reads, "So will he sprinkle many nations." This is alluding to the high priest sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat in Leviticus 16:14. The servant doing the sprinkling of his own blood is of course Jesus Christ. The sprinkling brings forgiveness of sins and redemption. And it is for all people, for all nations.

Unfortunately God's people are not so generous at times. Sometimes we tend to want to limit God's promises to people like us. For instance in the book of Jonah, Jonah is ordered to go and witness to the gentiles in Nineveh, but he does everything he can to avoid it. Eventually he ends up going and is very angry when they do repent and God forgives them. He does not think they deserve to be forgiven. But that is what God does because he desires that all men be saved.

This line of promises about the gentiles continues throughout the Old Testament. The prophets Jeremiah, Zechariah and Malachi also look forward to the time when all the gentiles surround the throne and worship hm as Lord and king. The most remarkable thing we see about this is that God always seems to use humans to do his work in this area. He usually doesn't just bring people to faith he generally works through other people to do this. We really see this in the New Testament. In Matthew and Luke all Christians are given the directive to out and baptize and teach all nations about Jesus Christ. And we see this happen for instance in Acts 8 where the Ethiopian eunuch is brought to faith through Philip explaining Isaiah to him. In Acts 10 we see Cornelius, a gentile and centurion in the Roman Army brought to faith through the ministry of Peter. All of this by the way resulted in much consternation in the church at first. They did not like the idea of the gentiles coming into the church. They were unclean and didn't follow the traditional customs. But in Acts 12 we see Paul saying that he and Barnabus will bring the message of salvation to the gentiles. In Galatians 3 Scripture talks about the gentiles being justified by faith in Christ alone. In Ephesians it talks about how the gentiles and the Jews are united in one church. Finally in the book of Revelation we see the multitude praising the Lamb and counting him worthy to open the book. This multitude is from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

The book of Revelation is book that looks into the future which means we are also part of the process of getting this blessing out to others. You could say that this is a promise that is not completely fulfilled yet and that we have a part in filling it. We are included in that directive of Matthew 28 to go out into all the world and baptize and teach about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The history of missions is impressive to say the least. Through the past two thousand years Christians have risked life and limb and even died doing missionary work in the hardest of circumstances. Yet there is much work yet to do.

At the same time we have many Jonah moments when it comes to missions. Most of those Jonah moments have to do with local missions in our own backyard. There are certain people that some do not want in their churches. In one of my previous ministries I was at a function where an elder in another Lutheran church, which was in the inner city, told me that some people in his church wanted to call an African American pastor because most of the community was African American, but he said he was against that, after all the good African Americans went to the Baptist church and we didn't want the other kind. When I started doing developmentally disabled ministry I found that 80 percent of that population had no church, not because they didn't want to go but churches didn't want them because they made too much noise and sometimes messed up the carpets. So much like Jonah we don't care if someone burns in hell as long as we have good people like us in the church and our carpets are clean. When God told Abraham that through him all peoples would be blessed he meant just exactly that, all peoples, even Ninevehites.

The fulfillment of this promise though has been nothing short of amazing to watch, whether it has been following it through the Old Testament and into the New or whether it has been looking at the history of missions in the couple of thousand years that have followed it. God has succeeded in keeping his promise and he did it through us, humans. Whether it was the Israelites witnessing and demonstrating their faith, or the Apostles spreading the Word or modern missionaries covering the planet. God has kept his promise. Through the Seed of Abraham we have the Messiah dying on the cross for us and rising from the dead, paying for our sins and redeeming us and also through the blessing given to Abraham we have the message shared with everyone, no matter their tribe or language. We as Gentiles have been the recipients of that blessing. The early church did not want our kind in their church with our non-Jewish ways and unclean habits, but God through his Word brought us in any way. And thank God for that. Thank God that the Lamb of God sprinkled his blood on the altar for the healing of all nations, because that means we are the forgiven and saved people of God. And it also means that now we have the joy of sharing that with all the others that Christ died for as well. Amen.

The Seed - Sermon on January 4th, 2009

2009-01-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

People pass down a lot of things to their children. They pass on their appearance, their attitudes, their property, their businesses, their money among other things. That is why some businesses have been in the family for years, why people in certain professions also have had dads, granddads and even great-granddads in the same profession. Scripture is also full of things being handed down through the generations, things being given to their seeds. Land in the OT was one big thing that was handed down. The biggest thing that was handed down though was the Promised Seed. I am not talking about plant seeds here but human seed, offspring would be another way to put it. What we are talking about here though is not just any offspring but the one offspring that had been promised clear back in the Garden of Eden. Immediately after the fall God pronounced judgment on Satan. That judgment would include the seed of the woman crushing Satan's head and Satan's offspring striking his heel. God does not reveal who that seed is at the time, just that he will come from the woman. We of course know that Seed as our Savior Jesus Christ.

What we have here is the greatest promise ever given to mankind bar none. Man had just lost everything and had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden and was told that now he would die. The ground was cursed because of him and he was forced to work it. Nothing would ever be right again. Because of that sin we now have death and disease, conflict you name it. But in the midst of it all God made a promise that one day paradise would be restored. The people were to look for the Seed of the woman which would bring it all to pass.

Well Eve did not have that promised man herself instead generations of people came and went and time passed on, but God had not forgot. The next major time we hear of the promise is in Genesis 17 and 22 where God promises Abraham that he will be the Father of many nations and that all people on earth will be blessed through him. The seed was going to pass through Abraham. Then in Genesis 49 we hear Jacob blessing his children and when he comes to Judah he tells him that the scepter will not pass from him until the one to whom it belongs comes. This messianic prophecy was fulfilled in two ways. David fulfilled it in the short run as the first king of Israel who was after God's heart. Ultimately though it would be fulfilled again in Jesus.

The next big mention is in 2 Samuel chapter seven where David is promised by God through the prophet Nathan that his throne will be established forever. The final inheritor of that throne is of course Jesus who came from the line of David.

Paul takes up the prophecy of the Seed in Galatians 3:16 where he says, "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ." This was the Seed that Adam and Eve had been promised. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that promise. He was the one who would crush Satan's head by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

In conclusion, the promise that was given to Adam and Eve that their seed would crush Satan's head was fulfilled at Christmas when Jesus was born to Mary. Eve would not have the promised seed, instead her descendant Mary would literally thousands of years later. It is the most important promise ever fulfilled in all of Scripture. People pass down a lot of things to their descendants. Adam and Eve passed down sin and death to us. But thankfully God in his mercy had his Son Jesus Christ, the promised Seed, passed down to us. Through his life and death and resurrection he brought forgiveness for those sins and he brought us back to life with him. That is truly something worth inheriting. May it be yours in Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you missed the sermon

2009-01-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

If you missed the sermon there will be a cliff notes version of it on this blog the next week. I am not going to put my whole sermon on because it is just too long. But if you want just the main points then this will be the place to come to. Those of you out there in churches that follow the church year, well I don't. At least not much of the time I should say. Right now we are doing a series on Old Testament prophecies and how they were fulfilled in the New Testament.
For those of you interested in Bible study, this coming Sunday we are starting a new Bible study on the book of Daniel in the Adult Sunday School class which is at 9:30 a.m. in room 9. This is an important book in the Old Testament and is also important for understanding the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So come and join us.

Pastor Fred

Goodby 2008

2008-12-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight CBS had their end of the year Christmas specials. Charlie Brown and his pals rang in the New Year with a dance while Charlie tried to finish reading War and Peace. I guess the title of that book is a good summary of just about any year lately. The Charlie Brown special was followed by Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer saving the New Year. It was actually a very interesting story. It seems that Father Time has called out to Santa Claus for help because Happy the Baby New Year has disappeared and if he doesn't get back in six days than the Old Year will continue forever. The weather is horrible and so Rudolph is asked to go out and find him before it's too late. It is not an easy mission though because there is an evil bird out there trying to find him as well. This evil bird is supposed to turn into snow and ice with the New Year so he wants to find the Baby and stop him from taking the throne of the New Year. In other words he wants to stop time. A strange story yes, but if you think about it that is kind of scary. Just imagine if 2008 never ended. What if it just went on and on and on? Some parts of that might not be too bad, there were many good things that happened in 2008, but there was also a lot of bad.

That is always the great thing about a New Year, we get to restart all over again. We put the old year behind us and say things will be different this year. They may not be, but at least we have some hope that they will be. January first always gives us a clean slate in a way. We need that, we want that. So thankfully tomorrow night we can say goodbye 2008, its time to move on. Its time for 2009!

Pastor Fred

John McCain, Misty May and Family of Christ

2008-08-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

The latest news from Family of Christ is that a bunch of us had lunch with John McCain and Misty May (Who won the gold medal for beach volleyball last week) on Sunday. We had a great time. We even watched a Diamondbacks game together. I had a bratwurst and then some Panda Express. Darla and the kids had pizza. The rest of the Family of Christ had all kinds of different foods and drinks. I didn't see what John and Misty were eating but I have a feeling they didn't stand in line to buy it. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to give John any advice on a running mate, and Misty wouldn't let me hold her gold medal. But it sure was a lot of fun being with them.
Now I have to admit that we didn't have a lot of conversation, actually we didn't have any at all. It is kind of hard to talk to someone when they are on the other side of the field or in a box suite. 20,000 other people kept getting in the way as well. But I saw them on the big screen in the stadium. John was there, well because he is from Phoenix and with the Democratic Convention this week, he might as well take a few days off. And Misty was there because her husband plays for the Florida Marlins who the Diamondbacks were playing.
Family of Christ's name appeared on the big screen as well during the game, so you could say that we did share the spotlight with them. Overall a great time was had by all.

Pastor Fred

Hey Let's do some Bible Study

2008-08-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Starting on Tuesday September 9th there will be a new Bible study called TUMBS. It is for whatever ails you. TUMBS stands for Tuesday Morning Bible clasS. We will be studying the book of Luke this year. The class starts at 9 a.m. with some coffee and refreshments and then the study will start at 9:15 a.m. and go until 10:15 a.m. Everyone including parents in the Learning center are invited to take part. It will be lots of fun. The book of Luke presents the life of Christ a easy to follow manner and has many of the good parables. So come and join us in Room 1.

Pastor Fred

Where have I been?

2008-08-05T14:01:00.001-07:00

That is what many people have been asking when they look at the blog online. What in the world have you been doing? Well I will have to admit not so much that I couldn't have updated this blog sooner. But lately yes I have been on the run. At the end of July I spent a week in Seward Nebraska. It sounded like a fun entertaining place so why not right? It is a corn lover's dream. Corn as far as you can see and cattle mooing in the background. Let me tell you it was the highlight of my summer. That is why they call me mister excitement! No actually I was there for a music and worship conference. It was great, 720 people gathered together to study music and liturgy and worship and 719 of them could sing and play. I sat in the audience. It was the best conference I have ever been too. Learned a ton and enjoyed it all. Then two days after getting home I headed up north for a Pastor's Retreat. That was fun too. Then I had a couple of days in the office and headed up to Lewiston Idaho to do a wedding. I am sure you have heard of Lewiston it is famous for....? Well anyway it is in Northern Idaho and the scenery is great, no corn fields there. Finally got back to Phoenix last night. I am tired, I just want to stay home for awhile, but this weekend we are headed back up north to install a guy in Payson. It never ends.

I learned some things on my trips though. The first one is that there is no good substitute for toothpaste. No matter how hard I plan I always forget something and the new airline restrictions don't help. So when I got to Seward I realized the next morning I had forgot my toothpaste. Well my roommate had already left so I couldn't ask to borrow his and I was going to be spending the day with over 700 people. Skipping brushing my teeth was not an option. So I headed to the bookstore and they didn't have any. So there I stood in the bathroom with my toothbrush but no paste. It was then that I saw the bar of soap I had just used in the shower. My mind went back to all those times I sat in a corner with one of those in my mouth because of some word I had said. I didn't remember it being very pleasant. But man not brushing my teeth, that thought I couldn't stand. So as I looked at it I thought well it is just soap right? And isn't toothpaste soap. Well.... So I ran my toothbrush across it several times closed my eyes and began to brush my teeth. The first 5 seconds weren't so bad but then the soap was all over my mouth and I think I swallowed some. Thankfully I was in the bathroom alone because within seconds I found my self on the floor gagging and then spitting everything out of my mouth into the sink. I was filling my mouth with water and doing everything I could to get it out. It took an hour or so before the taste of soap finally left my mouth. Again there is no good substitute for toothpaste.

Second lesson. You know that car insurance they always want you to take out on a rental car? Well not a bad idea. I have driven tons of rental cars and never had a problem and felt I had been flushing money down the drain buying that insurance. So when I arrived in Spokane this past week I turned down all the insurance. I mean what could possibly happen? Five miles from the airport on I-90 headed into Spokane a semi passed me and threw up a rock and hit the windshield dead center. Huge rock chip! I still am waiting for the bill on that. Buy the insurance!

The other thing I learned is that every place you have lived has certain things you always have to do when you return. Lewiston is a town of about 30,000 people with about another 15,000 across the river in Clarkston. Not very big compared to Fort Wayne or Phoenix. But it has two of the best restaurants I have ever been to. One is Fazzaries in Clarkston WA. Best pizza ever, bar none. And then Taco Time in Lewiston. Now I know they are a chain and I have ate at a great number of them. But the one in Lewiston is the best one in the country. It has even won awards to show it. No other Taco Time measures up. Then I found another little restaurant which I will return to some day. My buddy suggested we go eat breakfast at a place called the Bait Shop. Not exactly the most appealing sounding place to eat. So I reluctantly went. It is a fisherman's hang out with all kinds of fishing gear on the walls and most of the people in there looked like they spent all their time fishing. Sometimes they even put a gummy worm on your plate. Well I ordered breakfast and I have to tell you I have never tasted pancakes so good in my life. I think we spent close to two hours in there eating and talking. It is just a tiny run down looking place but man the food is out of this world!

So that is what I have been doing since April. Basically traveling and eating. I will try to be more regular here.

Pastor Fred

Living in a Kid's World

2008-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

A funny thing happened this weekend, I realized I like living in a kid's world. We had a bunch of older family members visiting this week and then on Saturday we had a bunch more older ones show up at our house for a day long visit. Now that sounds like lots of fun at first, and they were all very nice, but they didn't fit into our kid's world. Now I not just referring here to our "Kid's" world but my kid's world as well. Let me explain. Years ago BK (before kids) we used to watch shows like CSI and Cold Case and Criminal Minds. We, or I in particular used to watch serious and sometimes action or violent movies, and it was quiet when we did these things. Our world was an adult world, where if there were children present, they were seen and not heard. Then the gumba's, the twins came along and everything suddenly changed.
Our world now is a kid's world. We do not watch CSI or Cold Case or Criminal Minds any longer. They are too dark and scary for the kids. We do not watch violent movies for the same reason. In fact we hardly watch TV at all any longer. When we do watch it is Sesame Street and Elmo and good cartoons. We also watch kid's movies, I can recite lines and songs from Madam Blueberry and Pooh. We still watch the news but we have to sit close so that we can hear it over their playing. We sing kids songs and we play kid's music. Our kids also have an electronic drum machine and a keyboard which is constantly being used. Our house is always full of music. We also spend a great deal of time playing outside in the yard or at the park. We ride bikes, we play on swings. In other words we live in a kid's world.
So it was hard this weekend to all of sudden be living in an adult world. I didn't much like it to be honest. They expected my kids to be quiet, they expected my kids not to play their keyboard and drum machine. They wanted to watch a serious movie, and be able to hear it. They didn't want the kids interrupting their conversations. The adults, as usual, made it all about what they wanted. At one point I took the kids and spent several hours playing with them instead of talking to the adults.
Needless to say, although the adults were nice and friendly, I was glad to see them pull out of my driveway so that I could go back to my kid's world. Today I will probably watch Madam Blueberry for the 157th time. I will probably read another kids book at bedtime. I will probably get in a tickling contest and lose. I will probably set up the bubble machine and listen to them hammer on the keyboard and dance around the room to their own beat. That's my kid's world and I love it. Someday I will return to the serious adult world and I will probably complain about other people's kids making to much noise, but for now turn up the music, put on Elmo and let the bubbles rise. Kids really know how to live.

Pastor Fred

Read Thru the Bible week 22

2008-04-07T10:49:00.001-07:00

Here are the readings for this week

April 7 - Psalms 24, 25, 26 and John 10:22-42
April 8 - Psalms 27, 28, 29 and John 11:1-29
April 9 - Psalms 31, 35 and John 11:30-57
April 10 - Psalms 36, 37, 38 and John 12:1-26
April 11 - Psalms 39, 40, 41 and John 12:27-50
April 12 - Psalms 53, 55, 58 and John 13:1-20
April 13 - Psalms 61, 62, 65 and John 13:21-38

Pastor Fred

Adventures in Cardiology

2008-03-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know I just spent an adventuristic weekend in Chandler Regional Hospital. I went in because I had some pain in my chest and some trouble breathing on Friday. I really didn't want to go in because I figured they would just tell me it was gas or my imagination. But it wouldn't stop so I went. When I arrived at the hospital and took a look at the ER I almost got back in my car and drove home. It was packed. But I discovered something during my visit that might be of use to some of you. If you ever have to go to ER for any reason and you want to avoid the long lines just walk up to the front and inform them that you are having problems with your heart. Let me tell they get all excited about that. You will be moved right to the front of the line. Then when you are getting taken care of you can just kind of mention your real problem and hey you are already there.
Well my little visit turned into several hours in ER and then getting checked into the hospital. The next day it resulted in a heart cauterization. Which is where they stick a tube up through your leg and into your heart and spray dye all over to see what your problem is. They didn't discover any blockage but they did discover some heart disease and some narrowing of the passages. I ended up not getting out of there until Sunday night. Needless to say I am now on several medications I can't even pronounce. They said the first week or so they would make me tired and dizzy. Like that would be any different from how I feel all the time now. They were right, I have spent most of today drifting in and out at my desk.
I am not exactly happy about all of this, especially when I saw the diet they want me to follow. It should have just said, "Eat Cardboard." Now I have to reorganized my life, because these pills have be taken at certain times under certain conditions and I have to be aware of certain side effects. I also have to pay close attention to my diabetes. So now I am making doctor's appointments and trying to figure my schedule for eating and I have to cut down on coffee, popcorn, salt, butter you name it. It is going to be a real pain.
The good news is I am still alive and it looks like I am going to keep breathing for some time. In the end I look at it as a God thing, because I had not been taking my meds as I should, and I had not been eating the right way. I was skipping breakfast, drinking to much coffee and pop and paying no attention to my sugar levels. Well now I don't have a choice. Or at least I don't have more than one good choice. Get my act in gear or die in my backyard clutching my chest. I think I will chose the first option. I can still drink a little coffee and most importantly I might just be around for my kids graduation from college.
So I would encourage all of who are not taking care of your health to start, because even spending three days in the hospital was hard, imagine spending weeks there. Plus if you don't take care of yourself you will find yourself facing all kinds of fun restrictions on your diet and taking all kinds of pills.

Pastor Fred

Reading thru the Bible week 21

2008-03-31T13:37:00.001-07:00

Here are the readings for this week

March 31 - Psalms 4, 5, 6 and John 7:1-27
April 1 - Psalms 7, 8 and John 7:28-53
April 2 - Psalms 9, 11 and John 8:1-27
April 3 - Psalms 12, 13, 14 and John 8:28-59
April 4 - Psalms 15, 16 and John 9:1-23
April 5 - Psalms 17, 19 and John 9:24-41
April 6 - Psalms 20, 21, 22 and John 10:1-21

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru the Bible week 20

2008-03-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

Okay now I missed two weeks I can't believe it! Okay no excuses here just have to get back on the horse

March 24 - 2 Samuel 13, 14 and John 4:1-26
March 25 - 2 Samuel 15 and Psalms 3, 69 and John 4:27-54
March 26 - 2 Samuel 16, 17, 18 and John 5:1-24
March 27 - 2 Samuel 19, 20 and John 5:25-47
March 28 - Psalms 64, 70 and John 6:1-21
March 29 - 2 Samuel 21, 22 and Psalms 18 and John 6:22-40
March 30 - 2 Samuel 23, 24 and John 6:41-71

Pastor Fred

Read thru the Bible week 19

2008-03-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

I know Missed last, but it gave you a chance to catch up.

March 10 - 1 Samuel 30,31 and Luke 24:1-35
March 11 - 2 Samuel 1, 2 and Luke 24:36-53
March 12 - 2 Samuel 3, 4, 5 and John 1:1-28
March 13 - 2 Samuel 6, 7 and Psalms 30 and John 1:29-51
March 14 - 2 Samuel 8, 9 and Psalms 60 and John 2
March 15 - 2 Samuel 10,11, 12 and John 3:1-15
March 16 - Psalms 32, 51 and John 3:16-36

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru the Bible Week 18

2008-02-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

Here are the reads

February 25 - 1 Samuel 19, Psalms 23, 59, and Luke 21:1-19
February 26 - 1 Samuel 20, 21, Psalms 34 and Luke 21:20-38
February 27 - 1 Samuel 22, Psalms 56, and Luke 22:1-23
February 28 - Psalms 52, 57, 142, and Luke 22:24-46
February 29 - 1 Samuel 23, Psalms 54, 63 and Luke 22:47-71
March 1 - 1 Samuel 24, 25, 26, 27 and Luke 23:1-25
March 2 - 1 Samuel 28, 29 and Luke 23:26-56

Notice that we start seeing more Psalms mixed in as we get to the time of David. That is because David wrote most of the Psalms. I don't know about you but the book of Judges through 2 kinds are some of the most interesting books in the entire Bible.

Pastor Fred

Reading thru the Bible week 17

2008-02-18T15:37:00.000-08:00

Here are the readings

February 18 - 1 Samuel 1,2,3 and Luke 17:20-37
February 19 - 1 Samuel 4, 5, 6, and Luke 18:1-23
February 20 - 1 Samuel 7, 8, 9 and Luke 18:24-43
February 21 - 1 Samuel 10, 11, 12 and Luke 19:1-27
February 22 - 1 Samuel 13, 14 and Luke 19:28-48
February 23 - 1 Samuel 15, 16 and Luke 20:1-26
February 24 - 1 Samuel 17, 18 and Luke 20:27-47

Pastor Fred

Read thru the Bible week 16

2008-02-11T15:17:00.001-08:00

Here are the readings

February 11 - Judges 7, 8 and Luke 13:23-35
February 12 - Judges 9, 10 and Luke 14:1-24
February 13 - Judges 11, 12 and Luke 14:25-35
February 14 - Judges 13, 14, 15 and Luke 15:1-10
February 15 - Judges 16, 17, 18 and Luke 15:11-32
February 16 - Judges 19, 20, 21 and Luke 16
February 17 - Ruth 1, 2, 3, 4 and Luke 17:-19

Pastor Fred

One Season Ends, Another One Begins

2008-02-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

The end of the football season and the beginning of a big church season coincide this year. Yesterday we all watched a game that seemed like a big defensive struggle through the first three quarters. Wasn't that Giant's defense amazing? You gotta be happy for Strahan. Plus it was kind of nice to see the Patriots come apart. They couldn't do anything. Payton's little brother seemed to keep it together no matter what happened. Now some people don't like a low scoring game, but those are the same people who watch the game for the commercials. Speaking of commercials I wasn't impressed by any of them. You would think for 3 million dollars they would do something interesting. The fourth quarter was probably one of the most spellbinding quarters of football all season, not because of anything spectacular but because it looked like the Patriots might actually lose. That quickly changed when they scored again and we all leaned back in our armchairs and said well what else could we have expected. And then Payton's little brother became Eli and did what no one thought he could do. He drove down the field escaping from tacklers along the way and eventually threw a touchdown to the man who had predicted a New York victory. And as if to top everything off and show that good does win over evil, the Patriot coach (Darth Vader) left the field with time still on the clock. It was like the end of a superhero movie where the good guy (Eli) saves the day but the bad guy (Darth Vadar) gets away at the last second (literally) to plot his next attack. Yes New England will be back! And you could add a few more dramatic lines in here like Darth Vadar saying, "And I would have gotten away with it if had been for that meddeling kid (Eli)" And you could also add in a Senator's name that is similar to spectator. So the football season is over and now is the time of my discontent, but April and the draft is coming.
Now we begin the next season, not a sport season, sports are over until training camp in July. No this is a church season. The season of Lent which kicks off (get that kicks off, okay bad joke) this Wednesday with Ash Wednesday. We will be holding Wednesday evening services for the next six weeks at 7 p.m. There will be soup suppers preceding them starting Wednesday the 12th. The series that we are following this year is Lamb of God Pure and Holy which is a Lutheran hymn (LSB 434). The themes are as follows: "The Pure and Holy Lamb of God"; The Crucified Lamb of God; The Patient Lamb of God; The Lowly Lamb of God; The Lamb of God Who Bears Our Sins Away; The Lamb of God Who Suffered Scorn; On Maundy Thursday the theme will be, "The Lamb of God Who Has Mercy on Us. On Good Friday it will be "The Lamb of God Who Gives Us Rest."
If you have not picked up a devotional book yet please do so on Wednesday. It follows the themes and provides good meditation.
The story of Lent is similar to the story line of the football game that we saw yesterday. It looks all throughout the story that the bad guy is going to win. And yet time after time Satan is frustrated and keeps getting sacked by Jesus. But then as the game comes a close Satan scores big with the crucifixion and it looks like it is all over. But then Jesus shows what he really made of and rises from the dead. The result is an upset victory in the eyes of the world. The good guy wins agains.

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru the Bible week 15

2008-02-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

I know I missed last week, but that should give some you time to catch up.

February 4 - Joshua 10, 11, 12 and Luke 10:1-24
February 5 - Joshua 13, 14, 15 and Luke 10:25-42
February 6 - Joshua 16, 17, 18 and Luke 11:1-28
February 7 - Joshua 19, 20, 21 and Luke 11:29-54
February 8 - Joshua 22, 23, 24 and Luke 12:1-31
February 9 - Judges 1, 2, 3 and Luke 12:32-59
February 10 - Judges 4, 5, 6 and Luke 13:1-22

Pastor Fred

Transfiguration Sunday vs. Superbowl Sunday

2008-01-31T14:50:00.000-08:00

Well this is the big weekend! This is what everything has been leading up to. This is the weekend of transfiguration! If you follow the church calendar this Sunday is the last Sunday of Epiphany better known as Transfiguration Sunday. On this Sunday we traditionally celebrate Jesus changing appearance on the mountain. He glows white and Moses and Elijah appear with him and the Father speaks from heaven. For the disciples that see this it is an amazing sight. They are so overcome by it that they don't even know what to say. They know one thing they don't want to ever leave.
A few miles from here another transfiguration is also happening. In fact this transfiguration has been years in the planning. I am of course talking about the Superbowl in Glendale (suburb of Phoenix) I know you think you are your own town, your not, get over it, we own you and you know it. If you have watched the news you have seen all the lights and you have heard about all the fuss. That section of Phoenix has been completely changed for this event. Why, well because its the Superbowl the show case event for what is the richest sports league of any kind in the world. And more than that the whole country, the whole world in fact is watching. We want to look good. Why do we want to look good, well because we want them to give us another Superbowl in the near future and we want people to come on vacation here and spend, spend, spend. We also want people to move here and buy all those houses that no one can pay for. We also want Phoenix to be mentioned in the same breath that New York, Chicago or L.A. is. This is our big chance to get the world to say, "Wow, that city in the desert has it going on." So we transfigure everything and light up the night sky. But you know what on Monday Glendale (suburb of Phoenix) is going to look like a Hollyward star after a hard night out. It is not going to be pretty.

Jesus transfiguration was a completely different deal. He lite up the mountain top and wowed the disciples. When it was all over they didn't know what to think, but they knew they had seen something divine. They knew they had received a glimpse of the glory of God. And they didn't forget it either. In 2 Peter 1:16-18 Peter says, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice come to him from the Majestic glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain." The transfiguration became part of the foundation of their faith. It is also part of our faith, because the story of the transfiguration has been shared now for two thousand years in the gospels. Jesus' transfiguration has helped lead to our transfiguration.

So enjoy the Superbowl I know I will be. I don't plan on missing a second of it or the commercials. Enjoy the transfiguration

Pastor Fred

Read Thur the Bible week 14

2008-01-22T06:08:00.000-08:00

Here are the readings

January 21 - Deuteronomy 26, 27 and Luke 7:1-30
January 22 - Deuteronomy 28,29 and Luke 7:31-50
January 23 - Deuteronomy 30,31 and Luke 8:1-25
January 24 -Deuteronomy 32, 33, 34 and Luke 8:26-55
January 25 - Joshua 1, 2, 3, and Luke 9:1-17
January 26 - Joshua 4, 5, 6 and Luke 9:18-36
January 27 - Joshua 7, 8, 9 and Luke 9:37-62

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru the Bible week 13

2008-01-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

Anybody out there? Didn't hear anyone complain about no readings last week. Sorry about missing last week. I would like to say that it was to give you a week to catch up but I just simply got caught up in other things and forgot.

January 14 - Deuteronomy 5, 6,7 and Luke 3
January 15 - Deuteronomy 8,9,10 and Luke 4:1-30
January 16, - Deuteronomy 11, 12, 13, and Luke 4:31-44
January 17 - Deuteronomy 14, 15, 16 and Luke 5:1-16
January 18 - Deuteronomy 17, 18, 19 and Luke 5:17-39
January 19 - Deuteronomy 20,21,22 and Luke 6:1-26
January 20 - Deuteronomy 23,24,25 and Luke 6:27-49

Pastor Fred

What I would like to see happen in 2008

2008-01-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

The paper has been full of people making New Year's resolutions the past week. Many of them were interesting and some even funny. There was one guy who made resolutions for others instead of himself. As I said Sunday I don't make resolutions, at least not ones that I tell anyone about, I mean then people would hold me accountable and I might have to actually try to keep them and what would be the fun in that. So I am going to follow the lead of the guy who made New Year's resolutions for other people. This is what I would love to see happen in my little world in 2008.

I want my close to 3 year daughter to continue to walk around the house singing songs about Jesus, most of which I don't understand but the key words always seem to come out. I also hope that she remains as stubborn as she is, she is a pastor's daughter and she is going to need that stubbornness to make it through childhood in the fishbowl.
I want my close to 3 year old son to continue being the prayer in the family. Charlie won't eat without praying and won't go to bed with praying and several times in the day just likes to pray for whatever reason. He doesn't say much but he always knows how to say a hearty Amen! I also want him to retain his sense of wonder, every time I come home he acts like I have been gone for a month, makes me feel kind of like a rock star. He also likes to be with daddy wherever he goes.
I want my wife to continue to have the patience of Job as she raises three kids, Charlie, Jasmine and me. It is not easy being a stay at home mom when you have had a career, plus the pay is lousy and there is no vacation time.
I want on November 4th of this year Christians throughout the country to get on their hands and knees and pray for the new President Elect no matter what party he or she belongs too. Ultimately everything is in God's hands and even if you know "who" gets elected, (Oops almost went there), we have to remember that in the past God got us through well you know "who", (Oops almost went there again.)
I would like to see the immigration debate be a debate about laws and what is right and what is wrong instead of one about language and culture and skin color and for crying out loud quit the yelling and playing the loud music!
I would like to see us express our gratitude for those who serve in the military. Many of them have given much more than we will ever know or understand. Their sacrifices need to be appreciated and remembered no matter what your politics are.
I would like to see Christians stand up for what they believe and quit apologizing for their faith. The world needs to know what we feel about moral issues and about who God is. I would like to see it done though with gentleness and respect.
I would like to see Family of Christ continue to grow into being the family of God. Where we don't just look at each other as people we know from church but as brothers and sisters that God has put together to serve him. I watched that happen many times in 2007 and it was awesome to be a part of people taking care of one another in ways that maybe me and few others will ever actually know of on this side of time.
I would like to see our church grow with many young families with children joining. I would like to see our older members mentor or I guess the new term is coach the younger fathers and mothers and share their wisdom. I would like to see many of the older people connect with more of the youngest people in the family, serving as grandparents and role models.
I would like to see the back two rows all the way across be where the families of small children sit together and take care of one another. I would love to see the children on the floor dancing to the music and even playing with their toys during the service. You might call me crazy but I watched just that for seven years and it was great. They were not a distraction to the older people who all sat up front (hint, hint), and personal relationships between families of faith were established and strengthened as the congregation looked at all the children as their own. In fact when Darla and I got Charlie and Jasmine we made the entire congregation god parents. And believe me they took it seriously.
I would like to see no need for a nursery anymore because all the children are in church with families taking care of each other's children. It can happen, I have seen it!
I would like to see no problems getting Sunday School teachers or people to help take down chairs and set up the multi-purpose room on Sunday so the same people don't have to do it all the time.
I would love members who have problems with other members or issues in the church to go to the person that they have the issues with and settle them before we have to deal with church disciple issues.
I would love to see people brought to faith or strengthened in their faith this year. I would like to see continual growth in the relationship between the learning center and the church. I would like to see our upcoming Alpha program be a force to draw in those who have questions or who think they already know all the answers.
I would love to see us all realize that not everything that is traditional is Scriptural and that not everything that is Scriptural is traditional. I would like us to see that tradition and contemporary doesn't mean bad or good it just means different and sometimes different is good.
I would like to see us forget about how we did it in the past and concentrate on how we should do it now. I would like to see us love our way of worship but love people more. I would like to see us love our great doctrine but realize that not everybody is ready to swallow the whole book at the same time. Sometimes people need to be met where they are and then loved into wanting to learn the doctrine. I would like to see us realize that it is alright to disagree and that sometimes we are the one that is wrong.
I would love to see us be devoted to God and nothing else this year. If we can do that, all that stuff I just mentioned, well it will happen.

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 27 - The Third Article II

2008-01-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

As many of you know I am taking these few days to do planning for most of the year. So I am camping out at Starbucks drinking coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. In some ways I am amazed at the progress that I have made and in other ways I am frustrated. What seems like a good idea one minute doesn't look as good later on. I think I am beginning to finally firm up some stuff though. I am in outline form at least in September already. I think I will stop there and start putting some meat on that outline. In the process I have not forgotten about Lutheranism 101 so we are back to the Third Article of the Apostle's Creed. Let's look at the Church or the communion of Saints.

There is only one church but it is both visible and invisible. That doesn't make a lot of sense at first but there is some solid logic behind it. The visible church is the church that we can see. That is all the people who belong to a church or show up at church on any given Sunday or really anyone that says they are a Christian. They are visible, we can see them, we can count them. The real church though is invisible. We say it's invisible because we cannot see faith. This church consists of all the people who actually believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So we say that the visible church contains the invisible church. What I mean by that is that not everyone in the visible church is part of the invisible church. There are many people who attend church but do not believe. They are there for a variety of reasons but not because they are actually Christians. Only God can see the invisible church.

So really the church is the people of God gathered together. That is the real meaning of Church. Now we also use the word church to indicate other things like a denomination, a local congregation or a house of worship. But the core meaning is the people of God.

The next question is how do you know what local visible church to attend? Well hopefully the answer isn't the one that is closest to you. When you are looking for a church you want to find one that believes that the Bible is literally the Word of God and that it is inspired and inerrant. If a church doesn't believe that, stay away from it. When the Word of God is compromised then everything else will be as well. Also you should look at how they view the sacraments. Scripture makes clear that God's grace is given in both baptism and the Lord's Supper. So you should ask questions about what they think about the word of God and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. You should also listen very carefully to their doctrine and what they say about forgiveness and eternal life. Scripture tells us that we are justified by faith alone. If they tell you that there is something you have to do as well to go heaven run out the front door and keep on running.
As far as worship styles and ways of worship those are personal preferences that you will have to decide for yourself. The important thing is that the word of God is taught correctly.

The church is very important to God, in fact the Bible tells us that we are the body of Christ and that Christ is our head. God also refers to the church as his bride. So God loves the church. God also has given the church a mission or a job. That job is spread the good news that Jesus Christ has earned forgiveness for everyone through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

Here are Scripture verses for you: Ephesians 2:19-22; 2 Timothy 2:19; Acts 2:41, 47; Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 4:3-6; Ephesians 5:25-27; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Galatians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:3; Acts 1:8

Pastor Fred

Reading Thur the Bible Week 12

2008-01-01T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here are the readings a little bit late this week, sorry.

December 31 - Numbers 23, 24, 25 and Mark 16
January 1 - Numbers 26, 27 and Luke 1:1-20
January 2 - Numbers 28, 29, 30 and Luke 1:21-38
January 3 - Numbers 31, 32, 33 and Luke 1:39-56
January 4 - Numbers 34, 35, 36 and Luke 1:57-80
January 5 - Deuteronomy 1, 2 and Luke 2:1-24
January 6 - Deuteronomy 3, 4 and Luke 2:25-52

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru the Bible Week 11

2007-12-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hope you are keeping up with your reading over Christmas.

December 24 - Numbers 5, 6 and Mark 13:1-20
December 25 - Numbers 7, 8 and Mark 13:21-37
December 26 - Numbers 9, 10, 11 and Mark 14:1-26
December 27 - Numbers 12, 13, 14 and Mark 14:27-53
December 28 - Numbers 15, 16 and Mark 14:54-72
December 29 - Numbers 17, 18, 19 and Mark 15:1-25
December 30 - Numbers 20, 21, 22 and Mark 15:26-47

Pastor Fred

Read Thur the Bible Week 10

2007-12-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

Here are the readings for this week

December 17 - Leviticus 19, 20 and Mark 9:30-50
December 18 - Leviticus 21, 22 and Mark 10:1-31
December 19 - Leviticus 23, 24 and Mark 10:32-52
December 20 - Leviticus 25 and Mark 11:1-18
December 21 - Leviticus 26, 27 and Mark 11:19-33
December 22 - Numbers 1, 2 and Mark 12:1-27
December 23 - Numbers 3, 4 and Mark 12:28-44

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 26 - The Third Article I

2007-12-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

The Third Article
"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen"

The Third Article of the Apostle's Creed deals with the role of the Holy Spirit. So the first question we have to ask is, who is the Holy Spirit. Well he is not a force or an energy, and he is not a holy version of the Casper the ghost. The Holy Spirit is also not an it, but a he. He is a person of the Trinity. In fact he is the third person of the Triune God. The Holy Spirit has the special job of what we call sanctification. Which is a snobby way of saying he makes us holy. Scripture shows us that he makes us holy in two ways.
The first way is by bringing us to faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Contrary to popular opinion we cannot bring ourselves to faith. We are born spiritual dead and a dead person cannot do anything. Therefore something or someone has to bring a dead man to life. That is what the Holy Spirit does to us. That leads to the next question. How does he do it? When we read the Bible we see that people are brought to faith through God's Word and sacraments. The Holy Spirit uses God's Words from Scripture to change people's hearts and bring them to faith. He also uses the sacrament of baptism, which is water combined with God's Word to bring people to faith. We see that especially when infants are baptized. God works in their hearts and establishes a relationship with them. The details of how the Holy Spirit does all of this through the Word are not known to us, we just know it happens.

The Second way that the Holy Spirit makes us holy is by renewing our lives and creating within us the desire to lead a holy God pleasing life. Again he does this Word and sacrament. When we read and hear the Word of God we are reminded of how God has forgiven us and promised us eternal life, that creates in us a desire to do God's will and live for him. We also daily remember that we are a baptized child of God and a member of his family. In the Lord's Supper we receive not only forgiveness but also strengthening of our faith. All of this leads us to do good works.

That leads to the next question what are good works? Well simply defined they are anything we do in faith for others. The important thing to remember is that good works come after faith not before it. In other words good works do not create faith, instead they are the result of our faith. I always like to illustrate this by asking why does a dog bark? The answer is because its a dog. It doesn't bark to become a dog. Why does an apple tree grow apples? Because it's an apple tree. It doesn't grow apples to become an apple tree. So why does a Christian do good works? Because they are a Christian, they don't do good works to become a Christian. So anything we do in faith for others is a good work, no matter how big or how small.

We also see in Scripture that the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts. These are talents or abilities that we are to use in the church and God's kingdom. Everyone has different gifts. Some people for instance may have the gift of teaching, others the gift of giving or the gift of caring etc.. God does this so that the church can be effective in its work. Now there are some gifts that people like to argue about. The gift of speaking in tongues or healing for instance. Scripture clearly says that these gifts exist. At the same time we are instructed not to concentrate on the amazing gifts as much as on the gifts of faith and other practical gifts that build up the church. At the same time we cannot deny these gifts or say that God no longer uses them or won't use them some time in the future.

The last thing the Holy Spirit does is preserve us in faith. He does this again through His Word and sacrament.

Next week we will talk about the Church.

Here is some Scripture for you on today's lesson: Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; Genesis 1:2; Titus 3:5; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 12:3; John 3:5-6; Romans 10:17; Romans 8:9; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 10:31;

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru the Bible Week 9

2007-12-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here are the readings for this week

December 10 - Leviticus 6, 7 and Mark 6:1-29
December 11 - Leviticus 8, 9, 10 and Mark 6:30-56
December 12 - Leviticus 11, 12 and Mark 7:1-13
December 13 - Leviticus 13 and Mark 7:14-37
December 14 - Leviticus 14 and Mark 8:1-21
December 15 - Leviticus 15, 16 and Mark 8:22-38
December 16 - Leviticus 17, 18 and Mark 9:1-29

I just know you are loving the book of Leviticus!

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru The Bible Week 8

2007-12-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

Isn't it interesting that our text Sunday for the sermon was the same as the reading for Saturday. Believe it or not I did not plan that. I hope that you were able to get through all the technical descriptions of how the Tent of Meeting should be built. There are parts of the OT that seem to be a little boring, but if you take the time to investigate you will find they have deep meaning. This week we get the first Psalm which was written by Moses.

December 3 - Exodus 29,30 and Mark 2
December 4 - Exodus 31,32,33 and Mark 3:1-19
December 5 - Exodus 34, 35 and Mark 3:20:35
December 6 - Exodus 36,37, 38 and Mark 4:1-20
December 7 - Exodus 39, 40 and Mark 4:21-41
December 8 - Psalms 90; Leviticus 1, 2 and Mark 5:1-20
December 9 - Leviticus 3,4 5, and Mark 5:21-43

Happy reading! Pastor Fred

Read Thru The Bible Week 7

2007-11-26T07:44:00.001-08:00

Here are the readings for Week seven.

November 26 - Exodus 14, 15 and Matthew 26:36-75
November 27 - Exodus 16, 17, 18 and Matthew 27:1-26
November 28 - Exodus 19, 20 and Matthew 27:27-50
November 29 - Exodus 21, 22 and Matthew 27:51-66
November 30 - Exodus 23, 24 and Matthew 28
December 1 - Exodus 25, 26 and Mark 1:1-22
December 2 - Exodus 27, 28 and Mark 1:23-45

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru The Bible Week 6

2007-11-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

Here are the readings for week six.

November 19 - Genesis 46,47,48 and Matthew 23:1-22
November 20 - Genesis 49, 50 and Matthew 23:23-29
November 21 - Exodus 1, 2, 3 and Matthew 24:1-28
November 22 - Exodus 4, 5, 6 and Matthew 24:29-51
November 23 - Exodus 7, 8 and Matthew 25:1-30
November 24 - Exodus 9, 10, 11 and Matthew 25:31-46
November 25 - Exodus 12, 13 and Matthew 26:1-35

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101- Part 25 - The Second Article IV

2007-11-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Last time we talked I said that in the next lesson I would be presenting some stuff about the resurrection and also about the last times.

It has become popular to try to debunk that Jesus actually physically rose from the dead. First of all the gospels very clearly said that he did just that. There is no other way to read them. But there is even more evidence to back up these claims. The following are drawn from a discussion guide by Lee Strobel and Garry Poole about the Passion of Jesus.

The first proof we have is that Jesus' empty grave is reported in extremely early sources that date so close to the event that they could not have been products of legend. It usually takes hundreds of years for legends and myths to develop and the resurrection is reported in Paul's letters which were written within a couple of decades of the cross and he draws from earlier sources than that.

The second proof is that the site of Jesus' tomb was known to both Christians and their opponents, so it could have been checked by skeptics.

The third proof is that nobody - not even Roman or Jewish leaders - ever claimed the tomb still contained Jesus' body. Instead, they claimed the disciples, despite having no motive or opportunity, had stolen the body - an outlandish theory critics have long since abandoned.

The fourth proof is that apart from the resurrection, there's no reasonable explanation for why skeptics like Paul and James would have been converted and died for their new-found faith.

There are many other proofs that Strobel lists and we could add even more to that, but I think these are good ones to ponder if you have any doubts.

Now about the last times stuff. We teach that the end will come like a thief in the night. We do not believe, because Scripture does not teach it, in a rapture. The Bible does not talk about a secret return of Christ in fact it says when he comes back the second time everyone will see him. We are also not afraid of the second coming, we know that means we are going home to be with Jesus! That is good news, not something to be afraid of. We also teach that the thousand years mentioned in Revelation is not a literal thousand years, but is a number representing completeness. We also teach we have been in that thousand year reign of Christ for the past two thousand years. Jesus started reigning right after his resurrection.

Next time will will finally move onto the Third Article of the creed.

Pastor Fred

Reading Thru The Bible Week 5

2007-11-12T06:39:00.000-08:00

The stories of the Patriarchs are fascinating to read. Abraham has some great adventures. Isaac after nearly getting sacrificed by Abraham has a pretty good life and becomes very wealthy. It seems he isn't the best father though, showing favoritism to his one son. He has twins and both of them are real pieces of work. One is into his own thing and the other is a deceiver like his mother who sets up the great death bed deception and also like his father and grand-father who deceived rulers by passing off their wives as their sisters. Genesis reads like an episode out of Desperate Housewives at some points. At the same time they were great men of faith that truly trusted in God. They were sinners and saints who struggled with their desires. Yet we see how God works through them. More proof that God is the one who is truly great and not us.
Here are the readings for this week

November 12 - Genesis 29, 30 and Matthew 19
November 13 - Genesis 31, 32 and Matthew 20:1-16
November 14 - Genesis 33, 34, 35 and Matthew 20:17-34
November 15 - Genesis 36,37, 38 and Matthew 21:1-22
November 16 - Genesis 39, 40 and Matthew 21:23-46
November 17 - Genesis 41, 42 and Matthew 22:1-22
November 18 - Genesis 43, 44, 45 and Matthew 22:23-46

Pastor Fred

Reading thru the Bible Week 4

2007-11-05T09:03:00.001-08:00

Here are the readings for this week. Notice we jump back into Genesis

November 5 - Job 34, 35 and Matthew 14:22-36
November 6 - Job 36, 37 and Matthew 15:1-20
November 7 - Job 38, 39, 40 and Matthew 15:21-35
November 8 - Job 41, 42 and Matthew 16
November 9 - Genesis 23, 24 and Matthew 17
November 10 - Genesis 25,26 and Matthew 18:1-20
November 11 - Genesis 27, 28 and Matthew 18:21-35

Pastor Fred

Commentary on the Readings I

2007-10-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

One of my friends from Fort Wayne has asked if the reading plan we are following is chronological because we went from the middle of Genesis to Job. The answer to that question is sort of. We will be getting back to Genesis once we finish Job and if you read the Bible chronolically this is where they usually place Job. But I say sort of, because later on the readings do not follow a strict chronological order. Those of you who went with me through the Bible Chronologically a year ago will notice some of the differences. So yes and no. I took this reading plan from another website, www.heartlight.org. I thought it would be good to have both Old and New Testament readings combined throughout the year. Now the New Testament reading are not chronological at all. So it is kind of a mesh mash of things. But we will go through the entire Bible.

Job is a great book about human suffering and how sometimes there is no answer as to why. Job's friends also give us some insight into how not to minister to someone going through hard times. At first they just show up and sit with him for several days and say nothing. If they would have kept doing that and maybe offered to listen to him and help him in whatever way he wanted them to help him, they might have gotten it right. But they have to start talking and trying to find a reason that this is all happening to him. They of course point out to him that it must have been something he did. They don't know what it is, but it must have been something. They even seem like they need it to be something that he did. Because if it just happened for unknown reasons then it might happen to them also and they don't want to deal with that. Job keeps saying hey I didn't do a thing and you can start to see the anger coming out of him first at his friends and then the more he thinks and talks about it, that anger starts getting directed toward God. Then his friends start making the second mistake, they take upon themselves to defend God, which of course makes Job even more anger. Later we see that God is none to pleased about it either. Job is probably thinking first all this stuff happens to me and then my friends show up and make it even worse. As we continue to read you will see Job's anger and frustration increase. He has lost everything his family, his house, his possessions and his friends are no help. Whenever I read this portion of Job or see somebody struggling like this I think of the scene in Forest Gump where his friend Jenny comes home after many years of leading a hard life and they end up walking to her old abandoned house where she had been abused as a child. Jenny sees the old house in the field and all the bad memories come flooding back. She then begins to pick up rocks and starts throwing them at the house. While Forest stands there and watches she throws every rock she can throw at it until she can't find anymore and falls to the ground. Then Forest says to himself, "Sometimes theres just not enough rocks." I think Job felt the same way at this point as he begins in his frustration to throw verbal rocks at his friends and eventually God. Sometimes when we are suffering theres just not enough rocks.

Pastor Fred

There are no real answers given in this book except that God is always there and that he does deliver.

Read Thur the Bible Week 3

2007-10-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the readings for this week.

October 29 - Job 17,18,19 and Matthew 10:21-42
October 30 - Job 20, 21 and Matthew 11
October 31 - Job 22,23,24 and Matthew 12:1-23
November 1 - Job 25,26,27 and Matthew 12:24-50
November 2 - Job 28,29 and Matthew 13:1-30
November 3 - Job 30,31 and Matthew 13:31-58
November 4 - Job 32,33 and Matthew 14:1-21

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 24 - The Second Article III

2007-10-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

So we have just finished talking about state of Christ's humiliation, now lets talk about the point of it. The reason that Christ humbled himself was to buy us back as his people. We were trapped in sin and death and God wanted us back. So Christ in becoming one of us took our guilt and punishment upon himself. Through his suffering, death and resurrection he beat death. Therefore we have forgiveness and eternal life through our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. He makes this forgiveness available to everyone that lives on earth. To get the benefit of it though you have to have faith in Jesus Christ.

Now lets move on to the Jesus' state of exaltation. This is where Christ now fully and always uses his Divine powers. The stages of Christ's exaltation consist of this, He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead."

Now some people are surprised to learn that Jesus' descent into hell is part of his exaltation, that is because of too many pictures and movies about how horrible Christ's time in hell was. Scripture paints an entirely different story. It tells us that Jesus went down to hell not to suffer, but to brag that he had won. Remember Jesus last words on the cross? It is finished! That meant everything was done for salvation including his suffering. So when Jesus descended into hell he was taking a victory lap running around in the flames going nah, nah, nah, nah I won, I won, you lost ha, ha, ha!

Then the Bible tells us Christ rose from the dead on the third day. Notice it doesn't say three days later. He was crucified on Friday and died so that was counted as day one, then Saturday was day two and Sunday was day three. We also know that he showed himself alive to over 515 people for over 40 days that he was walking the earth after the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is very important for a number of reasons. First of all it proves that he really was who he said he was. It also proves that God accepted Christ's sacrifice for our sins. His resurrection is kind of like our receipt that proves the price was paid. And it also shows that all believers in Christ will also one day rise to eternal life.

After roaming the earth showing off his crucified body he then ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God. That doesn't mean he is literally sitting at the right hand of God, but that he is in the power position in heaven ruling over the earth.

We also know that he is coming back some day a second time. When that will happen, that we don't know. We know it will happen without warning and that he will judge the earth. We live in great hope and anticipation of that day, because it will be our final ticket home with God.

Next time I will talk a little bit more about some proofs of the resurrection and a little about End Times theology.

Here is some Scripture for you:John 10:17-18; Hebrews 2:14-15,17; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 15:55-57; Isaiah 53:5; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 John 2:2; Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Peter 3:18-19; Colossians 2:15; Acts 10:40-41; 1 Corinthians 15:4-8; Acts 1:3; Romans 1:4; Romans 4;25; John 11:25-26; John 14:19; 1 Corinthians 15:20; Acts 1:9-11; Matthew 24:27; 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Mark 13:32; Luke 21:28; Titus 2:13

Pastor Fred

Read Thur The Bible in a Year - Week 2

2007-10-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the readings for this week. We have a little change of pace as we read some stuff from the book of Job.

October 22 - Genesis 20,21,22 and Matthew 6:19-34
October 23 - Job 1,2 and Matthew 7
October 24 - Job 3,4 and Matthew 8:1-17
October 25 - Job 5, 6,7 and Matthew 8:18-34
October 26 - Job 8, 9, 10 and Matthew 9:1-17
October 27 - Job 11, 12, 13 and Matthew 9:18-38
October 28 - Job 14, 15, 16 and Matthew 10:1-20

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 23- The Second Article II

2007-10-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

In talking about Jesus Christ's work of salvation for us we talk about two different states, and no they are not Arizona and California. They are two different periods of his life that were part of the salvation process. We call these two states, the state of humiliation and the state of exaltation. The state of humiliation consists of the period of time that as man He did not always or fully use his His divine powers. The state of exaltation consists of the period of time like now, that he fully and always uses His divine powers.

In the state of humiliation Jesus remained fully God, he just didn't always use his Godly powers, he restrained himself and lived as human under human conditions of suffering. The stages of Christ's humiliation include when he is conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. These things cover the time period that God choose to not let fully let his glory shine. Let's look at these in a little more detail.

We teach that Jesus was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary. In other words Jesus did not have a human father, but he did receive a human body and soul through Mary. The importance of the virgin birth cannot be overstated. If Jesus was not born of a virgin he would have been born sinful because he would have been born in the natural way through sinful parents. The fact that he was not conceived in the natural way, that the Holy Spirit enabled his conception through miraculous power enabled Jesus to be born sinless and perfect. So we can say that Jesus was true man in every way except he was without sin. This is also important because only a sinless man could obey the law perfectly for us in our place. Therefore to deny the virgin birth is to deny Christ.

In the humiliation of Christ we also talk about how he lived life here as a poor human and how he underwent persecution throughout his life, from the time that Herod tried to kill him as a toddler to the time of his death on the cross. We also included his burial. We teach that he was buried in a borrowed tomb and remained there until the third day.

Now during this time of humiliation he did at times let his glory be seen by others. When he walked on water, when he transfigured on the mountain, when he preformed miracles and raised people from the dead he displayed the fact that he was God. So Jesus in his actions very clearly showed at times that he was the God he said he was. Next time we will talk about Christ's work of redemption and atonement for us.

Here is some Scripture for you: Philippians 2:5-8; Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:20; Isaiah 7:14; Luke 2:7; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Isaiah 53:3; John 19:1-3; Mark 15:1-20; John 19:16-18; Mark 15:42-47

Pastor Fred

Read Thur The Bible In A Year - Week 1

2007-10-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Okay here we go! This reading plan that I found on the Internet will take us through the whole thing in a year with readings from both the Old and New Testaments every day. This will keep you from getting bogged down in the some of, well lets say less interesting parts of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a lot longer so their will always be more from the old than the new, but some of the Old Testament stories are fascinating. I will make comments on the readings from time to time as well. Here is the first week

October 15 - Genesis 1,2,3 and Matthew 1
October 16 - Genesis 4,5,6, and Matthew 2
October 17 - Genesis 7,8,9 and Matthew 3
October 18 - Genesis 10,11,12 and Matthew 4
October 19 - Genesis 13,14, 15 and Matthew 5:1-26
October 20 - Genesis 16,17, and Matthew 5:27-48
October 21 - Genesis 18,19, and Matthew 6:1-18

If you don't like reading you can listen to them on biblegateway.com or on a CD.

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101- Part 22 - The Second Article of the Creed

2007-10-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Just who is Jesus Christ anyway? That is the question that has been the subject of one book after another, one movie after another and one TV show after another. Everyone seems to have an opinion as to who Jesus was and what he means for us today. While people may have many opinions about who Jesus is the only one that really counts, the only one we can really trust is the opinion of Scripture. I say that because it is the only place that we know for sure where God has revealed himself. All other opinions are just uninformed ideas. So what does the Bible itself say about Jesus? Well since we know that the Creed is a summary of Scripture let look at what it says.
"I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead."

Let's take this part by part. First of all lets look at the name Jesus. Jesus means the Lord saves. Now there were tons of other people running around the countryside with the name of Jesus. It was a common name. So it wasn't as if when they heard his name was Jesus that they immediately knew he was the Savior because of his name. People didn't pass by Jesus and go see there is the Savior of the world, really how do you know, well because his name is Jesus, so obviously he is the one. No there were lots of people with that name. The importance of the name comes in the fact that an angel told Joseph to give him that name and that he actually lived out that name by saving his people.
The name Christ also has great meaning. Now when I was a kid I thought Christ was Jesus' last name. You know there was Joseph Christ, Mary Christ and little Jesus Christ. It took me awhile to figure out that Christ was not a last name but a title. Christ means, "the Anointed" in Greek. In Hebrew the word is Messiah. So to say that Jesus is the Christ is to say that he is the anointed one. He is the chosen one sent down to rescue us. There are also other titles for Jesus such as Redeemer, Immanuel, Son of the living God, the Word, Lord, Angel of God. So Jesus has many titles that tell us about him.

So now that we know what Jesus' name is and what his role is in saving us lets look a little closer at his being, in other words his two natures. Scripture tells us that Jesus is both God and man, that he has both a divine and human nature. That seems to us to be impossible. How can he be both God and man at the same time? Well that is not something that we can fully understand with our finite minds, but Scripture very clearly points out that it is true. We see that Jesus is God from eternity. And that two thousand years ago he took on flesh through the Virgin Mary. Therefore although there was never a time when Jesus wasn't God, there was a time when he was not man. Only for the past two thousand years has the Son of God had a human nature and a body. We also know that he did not get his human nature the natural way. Instead his mother Mary was a virgin and the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. That does not mean that God had sex with Mary, but that the Holy Spirit through his miraculous power gave the Son of God a true human body and soul in her womb.
Therefore we teach that Jesus has two natures united in his one person. That does not mean that Jesus has a split personality. There is not one part of him saying do this and another part of him saying do that. The two natures are united and work together in one personality.
Now some may ask why did he needed both a divine and human nature to save us? Like I said they work together but they do have different functions. Jesus had to be man so that he could be like us and live under the law and keep it perfectly in our place. He also had to be able to suffer and die in our place. Only a man could do that, not God. But he also had to be God so that he could die for everyone on the earth. He also had to be God so that he could overcome death and the devil for us. So you could say it was a one two punch. He had to be man so that could identify with us and take our place and suffer for our sins. And he had to be God so that he could overcome death and save all of us. The two go together. Again I know that is all impossible to fully grasp, it is beyond the ability of the human mind, but Scripture says its true.

Here is some Scripture for you to explain what I have said above: Matthew 1:21; Acts 4:12; Psalm 45:7; Acts 10:38; John 3:36; John 20:28; Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 2:5; Luke 24:39; Hebrews 4:14-16; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6; Galatians 4:4-5; Hebrews 2:14; Galatians 3:13;
Next time we will continue with the Second Article

Pastor Fred

Lets Read Thru Scripture Together

2007-10-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

I think this would be a good time to start preparing to read through Scripture again together. But this time we will read through the entire Bible and take a year to do it. So it should average about three chapters a day. That is not too bad. You can also listen to it on Biblegateway.com like I do or on CD or if you have cassettes you can do that. Does anyone own a cassette player anymore? Believe it or not I still have records, you know the big black round things you used to put on a turntable. I don't have anything to play them on, but I have them. Anyway we will not start this next week because it is fall break. We will start on Monday the 15th. I will provide some commentary along the way and we will find some verses to meditate on. So get your Bibles dusted off or your cassette player out and we will start in a little over a week

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101-Part 21 - The First Article of the Creed II

2007-10-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Last week we ended our talk with the discussion of angels. This week we move on to human beings. What we know from Scripture is this. Human beings did not evolve from something else but were created directly by God himself. Humans are also not just another creature on earth. We are the most important creatures that God created. In fact Scripture says that man was created in the image of God and was given a spirit or soul, which the other creatures were not given. God also gave man authority over all the earth. It is man's job to manage it. So we have the right to use its resources, but we do not have the right to abuse its resources. We are God's managers of the planet. So in other words God put us in charge of the earth and said take care of it, use it and protect it. Therefore man can eat other animals, he can wear fur coats and he can mine and cut down trees. On the other hand he also has the responsibility to see that it is done so that the earth continues to thrive and that other creatures are not abused. That is why we have agencies like the Forest Service, the Fish and Game Department and the Department of the Interior.
As I said before man was created in the image of God. So does that mean that we look physically like God? No. Remember God does not have a body. Being created in the image of God means that we thought like him and had the same wishes and desires as God. We were righteous and holy. Unfortunately that image was lost after the fall into sin. In Christians God has begun to rebuild His image, but only in the heaven will we again be perfect.

In the first article we also hold to the truth that God still takes care of us today. In other words God still provides us food and clothing and health and everything that we need for this life. Now he doesn't just drop down food and money to us from heaven, although he did do that in the past for the children of Israel. Instead he gives us talents and abilities so that we can get jobs so that we can pay for all that stuff. He provides doctors and other medical personnel to heal us. He takes care of us most time through what we would consider natural means. But we know that our intelligence and abilities are given to us by God, and that he works out everything for our good.
Many times that information leads to the question of, "Well if God is supposed to be so good to us, why is there is all this suffering in the world?" That is a very complex question with some incomplete complex answers that we really don't have the time to answer right now. But in the end no matter how much you write or talk about the problem of evil in the world it all boils down to this. Evil and suffering are in the world because of man's sin. Man brought evil and suffering into the world and God allowing man free will let it happen. So yes bad things happen all the time to all of us, sometimes it is because of something that we have done, other times we are innocent bystanders on the sidelines that get taken out because of someone elses sin. Then there are those times we have no idea why the bad thing happened. Sometimes it is just the result of sin in general being in the world. Sin exists in this life and so bad things just happen without no real explanation. That is the answer in a nutshell. But we also know this Christ came and suffered for all that sin and through his resurrection from the dead he has shown that he has power over sin and evil and that one day through our faith in Christ we will be delivered from it. Maybe not in this life, but we will in the next. God does not promise to remove us from suffering while in this life. What he does promise is that he will be with us in the midst of it. He has promised that he will guide us through it and ultimately bring us home with him where there is no more suffering. Again that is the simple answer in a nutshell and I know that simple answers are not satisfying when you are suffering, but if you want to talk about it more give me a call.
Next time we will begin the Second Article of the Creed.

Here are some Scriptures for you: Genesis 2:7; Genesis 1:26-28; Mark 10:6; Psalm 139:13; Jeremiah 1:5; Colossians 3:10; Genesis 3:8-10; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Psalm 36:6; Psalm 147:4; Romans 6:23; Psalm 145:15-16; Matthew 10:29-30; Genesis 2:15

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101- Part 20 - The First Article of the Creed

2007-09-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time since the last update. Hopefully we will be more consistent in the future. Today we start talking about the First Article of the Apostle's Creed. Simply stated it says, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." This is the article having to do with creation. The first article also concentrates on the first person of the Trinity, the Father. He is called Father because he is the Father of the Son of God and he is also our Father through our faith in Jesus Christ. We also believe that he is the father of all human beings because he created them. Therefore there is really only one human race because we all come from the same Father and are all children of Adam and Eve and we are also all redeemed by Christ.

We also believe that he created the world in six literal days. Not to start everything off with controversy but that is what Scripture says. The Hebrew word Yom is used here and it means a twenty-four hour period. It is the not the same word for day that is used in other parts of Scripture where a day could be a longer period of time. So we do not believe that it took billions of years to create the world. It only took six days. Evolution is merely a theory that has not been proved. Now many times people think of evolution as pure science like the science it takes to make the space shuttle or designed computers or bridges, but it is not. That is observable science. In other words you can see it and test it over and over again. Evolution is not that type of science, it is historical science. No one was around when the world was created, no one saw how humans and mountains were first created. When evolutionists say that a rock formation is a million years old there is no way to prove that. No one has ever actually measured a million years before. Now they have chemical tests that are supposed to be able to date things like that, but do they actually work? The only way that could be proven is if someone were around a million years ago and saw it happen, and then the chemical test showed the same thing. Plus when you start investigating these things you will find that the age of mountains and rivers keeps changing as new tests are developed.
Then there is the more important point that in Scripture there is no death until the sin of Adam and Eve. But according to evolution whole species of living organisms died out before man even came on the scene. That is impossible according to both the Old and New Testaments. So you either believe in evolution or you believe in God, you can't believe in both. If you believe in Evolution then you might as well throw the Bible out because it is a book of lies. Ken Ham who created the Creation Museum in Ohio is a good source of information on this. Answers in Genesis' website is a good place to look. You can find it at www.answersingenesis.org

I am sure that you have lots of questions about what I just said and I would be glad to respond to any comments. But for now lets move on to another topic, angels. What are angels? Years ago there was a popular TV series out called Touched by an Angel. It was a top rated show because people are interested in angels. Well lets start off by destroying some myths. Angels are not people who have died and gone to heaven. So grandpa and grandma are not up there with wings on looking down on you. They are enjoying heaven, they have better things to do. Angels are creatures that God created to work for him and to watch out for us. The word angel itself means messenger. God used them throughout Scripture to deliver messages to people. Angels are spirit beings, they do not have bodies, although they have been known to take on bodies for awhile. We also know that some of the angels rebelled against God and were thrown out of heaven. Satan was one of those angels and now he and his demons do everything they can to destroy God's plans and his people. We know that there are many good and powerful angels that protect us and carry out Gods desires. We also know that angels are strong and mighty, they are not like the little girls we always pick to play them in the Christmas plays. They are more like military special forces guys that kick in doors and take out people. Thankfully they are on our side. Next time we will talk about humanity and how God continues to take care of us.
Here is some Scripture for you: Galatians 3:26; Malachi 2:10; Acts 17:26; Psalm 33:6,9; Hebrews 11:3; Colossians 1:16; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 24:4-7; 2 Peter 2:4; Daniel 7:10; Psalm 103:20-21; Hebrews 1:14; 2 Kings 19:35;; Ephesians 6:12;John 8:44;

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 19 - The Apostle's Creed - Intro

2007-08-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

THE APOSTLES' CREED
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

What is a creed? Well yes it is the name of a rock band, but it is more than just that. You could say that we all have creeds about certain things. We have creeds about who should be President. We have creeds about gun control and immigration. We have creeds about sports. We all have many different creeds in different areas of our lives. A creed is simply a statement of what we believe, teach and confess. If you are a Republican you probably have a different creed than a Democrat when it comes to taxes and social spending. It is the same with our faith. We all have creeds about what we believe about God. As Christians we also subscribe to the historic Christian Creeds. These would be the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. These three creeds are pretty much accepted as the truth by all Christians around the world even if they do not use them in their worship services. We will be looking at the Apostles' Creed because it offers the most concise explanation of Christian doctrine.
Now the Apostles' Creed is not called that because it was written by the apostles. It is called that because it briefly states the doctrine that God gave through the apostles in the Bible. You will also notice that the Apostles' Creed is Trinitarian. It has three parts to it. The first part deals with God the Father, the second part deals with God the Son and the third part deals with God the Holy Spirit. You will also notice that the creed begins with the word I. It starts that way because it is a statement of faith and we cannot believe for each other as a group. You must believe for yourself.
Traditionally in the church we have used the Apostles' Creed for baptisms because it started out as a baptismal creed. We also use it for non-communion services. We use the Nicene Creed for communion services. This is just tradition and doesn't need to be done that way.

Here are some Scripture verses for you: Romans 10:10; Psalm 31:14; Psalm 37:5; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:1; Habakkuk 2:4; Luke 7:50; Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 4:4-6; John 15:26; Galatians 4:6

Pastor Fred

TEST OVER THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

2007-07-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Well sharpen your pencils here it is. This is a very easy test over the Ten Commandments.

1. What does the close of the commandments tell us about the job of parents?

2. What is the difference between simply wanting something and coveting it?

3. What other commandment is the Eighth Commandment connected to?

4. What are some ways that we steal?

5. What are the only reasons for divorce?

6. What are some ways that we keep the Sixth Commandment?

7. What is and what is not Euthanasia?

8. Where in Scripture do we learn that the unborn are people too?

9. What do we have to prove before we can Scripturally disobey authority?

10. Who are the authorties in your life?

11. What are the two main parts of the church year called?

12. When do we use the color purple?

13. What are some things that are required in worship?

14. What part of the Third Commandment is Ceremonial Law and what part is Moral Law?

15. Why do we worship on Sundays?

16. What is God's name?

17. What other commandment is the Second Commandment tied to?

18. What Petition of the Lord's Prayer is it connected to?

19. How do we worship other gods?

20 How many tables of the law are there and what do they mean?

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 18 - The Close of the Commandments

2007-07-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well we finally made it! This is the last lesson on the Ten Commandments. Today we are talking about what we call the close of the commandments. Actually it comes between the First and Second Commandments in the book of Exodus. After God gives them the First Commandment he tells them what he is going to do if they keep or don't keep all the commandments. He says, "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thouand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Notice God says he is a jealous God. Now most of the time we say jealousy is a bad thing, but that is not always true. Jealousy can be bad if it is over stupid things or if it is because of evil motives. Jealousy can be a be a good thing though. There is nothing wrong with a jealous husband or father. A person has a right to be possessive of their spouse and family they belong to him; he wants the best for them. A person should not be willing to share their spouse with another person. A person should not let their family be taken from them by another person. It is the same with God.
First of all God hates sin, he wants perfection and he knows that sin separates us from him. He does not want things or other gods getting between us and him anymore than a husband wants another man between him and his wife.
He says if that happens then he will punish those people. He is not going to put up with one of his disciples sinning with other gods. That person will no longer be his disciple.
Probably the most distrubing part of God's statement here is that he will punish the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate him. At first glance that just seems unfair and God himself says that he will not punish the son for the sins of the father in Ezekiel chapter 18. What God means here though is that if the children of unbelievers continue to sin like their ancestors he will punish them on earth for the sins of their ancestors as well as their own. We also see that many times people do suffer because of the sins of their parents. For instance children of alcoholics have a much greater chance of being alcoholics themselves. Children that grew up in abusive homes tend to be abusive as well. Children of unbelievers also usually end up being unbelievers as well. So sin tends to be passed down through the generations.
The good news is that God promises to bless a thousand generations of those who love him. This command reminds us of the fact that God has called us to pass our faith down to the next generation, that if we train a child in the way that he should go those lessons will stay with him through life.
God has a reason for threatening this punishment. He wants us to fear his anger and to live according to his commandments. He want us to come to faith in his Son and to receive his mercy and forgiveness.
The number one thing we have to remember about all of this is that we cannot keep any of these commandments perfectly. We are all sinners. We cannot be saved by obeying the law. Therefore we come to God in confession and ask for his forgiveness and trust that Jesus' death on the cross paid for all of our sins. Through our faith in Christ we have complete forgiveness and total salvation.

Here are some verses for you: Psalm 5:4-5; Isaiah 42:8; Ezekiel 6:9; James 4:12; Leviticus 26:18; Romans 6:23; Galatians 3:10-11; Ezekiel 18:20; 2 Kings 9:7-8; 10:11; 2 Chronicles 36:17-21; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Matthew 10:28; 1 Timothy 4:8; Job 42:10-17; Leviticus 19:2; James 2:10; John 3:16; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:13-14

Later this week there will be a test over the 10 Commandments, so study up.

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 17 - The Ninth and Tenth Commandments

2007-06-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

I knew a guy in college that always had to have what everyone else had. If you bought a watch he would buy one just like it. If you bought a camera, he would buy a camera, even if he never used it. He coveted everything that everyone else had. He was a big breaker of the Ninth Commandment.
Both the Ninth and Tenth Commandments have to do with coveting. Coveting is having a sinful desire for anyone or anything that belongs to your neighbor. It is not wrong to want things and even to get things. But it is wrong to try to get things from your neighbor that you don't need. Coveting also involves a sinful desire. You just have to have it, even though you really don't need it and you will do illegal or immoral things to get it.
God wants us to be content with the things that he has given us and he wants us to help our neighbor keep his own stuff.
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments although talking about the same sin, stress different things that we covet. The Ninth Commandment which says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house", has to do with material possessions. It has to with things like our neighbor's house, his car or anything materially he owns.
The Tenth Commandment which says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor", has to do with living things that belong to your neighbor. You should not look for ways to have an affair with your neighbor's wife, or to steal his employees or other people that help him.
We also have to remember who our neighbor is here. It is not just the guy living next door, but everyone that we come into contact with in life. Everyone is our neighbor. God tells us to be satisfied with what we have and if we want more to ask him, and seek it in good moral and legal ways.

Here are some verses for you: Romans 7:8; Matthew 15:19; Micah 2:1-2; 1 Timothy 6:8-10; Philippians 4:11; 1 Timothy 6:6; Hebrews 13:5; 1 Kings 21:1-16; Acts 20:32-35; Luke 12:5; Colossians 3:5; 2 Samuel 11:2-4; 2 Samuel 15:1-6; Philippians 2:4; Genesis 3:6; James 1:14-15; Psalm 37:4; Psalm 119:35-36; Philippians 4:8

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 16 - The Eighth Commandment

2007-06-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

A professor once told my seminary class that Lutherans have a particular way of writing the 10 Commandments. To demonstrate he began to write the numbers 1 through 10 on the black board, yes when I went to seminary they still had black boards! So the professor begins to write the numbers on the board and the first five numbers representing the first five commandments are normal size then the number six is written three times the size of the other numbers, seven is normal size and then eight is written so small you can barely read it. He then finished up with nine and ten as normal size. He explained that most of the commandments were looked upon as equal except for the Sixth Commandment. If you broke that one that was big, real big! On the other hand if you broke the Eighth Commandment and spread gossip about your neighbor that was no big deal. Another unfortunate joke about breaking the Eighth Commandment is that in church we don't gossip, we just share prayer requests.
The Eighth Commandment is one of the most abused commandments. Simply stated it says, "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." In other words don't ruin your neighbor's reputation. That means you can't tell lies about your neighbor in a court of law or any where else. We see many examples of this being broken in Scripture. For instance false witnesses testified against Jesus and Naboth. The result was both of their deaths.
The commandment also requires that we not tell people our neighbor's secrets. If they tell us something in confidence we are to keep it that way. It also requires that we be truthful with our neighbor and that we speak well of him and put the best construction on all of our neighbor's actions.
The Eighth Commandment is the Second Table's version of the Second Commandment. Remember the First Table has to do with how we treat God and the Second Table has to do with how we treat others. The Second Commandment forbids us to drag God's name through the mud and the Eighth Commandment forbids us to drag other people's names through the mud. It is a very important commandment because once someone's reputation has been ruined it is hard to fix it. It is like the guy who was accused of the Atlanta bombing in the 96 Olympics. Later they found that he was completely innocent. After he was released he said, "So now where do I go to get my name back?"
Like I said this commandment is abused like on other. The lesson to be learned is that before we say something negative about a person we better make sure we have our facts straight and we better make sure we really need to say it.

Here are some Scripture verses for you: Proverbs 19:5; Ephesians 4:25; Matthew 26:59-61; 1 Kings 21:13; 2 Kings 5:22-25; Proverbs 11:13; 1 Samuel 22:6-19; Matthew 26:14-16; Matthew 18:15; Luke 6:37; James 4:11; Proverbs 31:8-9; 1 Samuel 19:4; Luke 7:4-5; Mark 14:3-9; 1 Corinthians 13:7; 1 Peter 4:8

Pastor Fred

Lutheranism 101 - Part 15 - The Seventh Commandment

2007-06-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

A pretty basic commandment, "You shall not steal." In other words, don't take your neighbor's stuff. Okay next! Wait a minute it is not quite that simple. Obviously taking someone else's physical property violates this commandment, but it is not the only way that it is broken. For instance a man was arrested and fined thousands of dollars the other day because he was sitting outside a coffee shop somewhere illegally using the establishment's wireless connection without paying for it. Was he stealing? Yes he was. Some college students were recently sent bills in the thousands of dollars from music companies because they illegally downloaded music without paying for it. Were they stealing? Yes they were. A few years ago a lawyer went to a scheduled medical appointment and spent so much time in the waiting room before he saw the doctor that he then billed the doctor for his time. The doctor laughed, the lawyer sued and won. Was the doctor stealing from the lawyer? Yes he was, in the law profession time is money and the doctor didn't keep the appointment time and wasted the lawyer's time. I included that last story because of years of frustration sitting in doctor's offices sometimes for close to two hours before seeing my doctor.
What are some other ways that people steal? Students cheating on tests are stealing from others and themselves. Workers not doing their work to the best of their ability are stealing from their employer. Christians not giving financially to God their first fruits are stealing from God. Christians not giving of their time and talents are also stealing from God. There are all kinds of way to steal. You can even legally steal from people. I knew of a church organization one time that existed to give out scholarships to seminary and college students. They had promised one guy four years worth of tuition. They paid the first three years but as he was about to go into his fourth year they didn't want to pay anymore so they just dissolved the organization, renamed themselves and stated back up again. They said they didn't have to pay the fourth year because the organization that promised the money didn't legally exist anymore. They were actually legally right and protected, but they were morally wrong and were stealing from God and the student. By the way I was not that student.
The basis of this commandment is simple. God gives other people their stuff and he gives you your stuff and he expects everyone to be satisfied with their own stuff. So be content with what you have and keep your hands off other's stuff.
There is a positive aspect of this commandment as well. We are to help our neighbor keep his stuff and when he doesn't have enough stuff to keep going we are to give him some of our stuff. After all at the end of the day all stuff is God's stuff.

Here is some Scripture: Leviticus 19:35; Psalm 37:21; Ephesians 4:28; 2 Thessalonians 3:10; Joshua 7:20-22; John 12:6; 2 Kings 5:20-24; Matthew 7:12; Philippians 2:4; Matthew 5:42; Hebrews 13:16; 1 John 3:17; Luke 10:29-37; Luke 19:8

Pastor Fred

New Neighbor Outreach needs

2007-05-30T15:58:00.001-07:00

As most of you know we have enrolled in the Lutheran Hour Ministry New Member Outreach program. They will send us names of all new move ins in a certain radius of the church. I am going to select a 3 mile radius, which should give us 12 to 14 new move-ins every week. We will send postcards out them inviting them to worship with us. If they come and visit then we will give them a welcome gift at the church. If they don't we will physically go their house to deliver the gift. That is all the visit will be. We will welcome them to the community give them the gift and invite them to join us for worship that is all. Then we will follow that up with another postcard.

We need a lot of help for this though. I need at least 2 people to address all the postcards by hand and send them out. I need at least 2 people to assemble the gift basket. I need at least 2 people to gather the stuff and community resource lists to go in the basket. I also need at least 10 people willing to go in groups of 2 to visit all these people. This will be a big on going ministry but a very important one for our growth. Call me.

Pastor

Lutheranism - 101 - Part 14 - The Sixth Commandment

2007-05-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

You shall not commit adultery. This commandment generates as much or probably more controversy then the Fifth Commandment. There are all types of of moral issues under this commandment. This commandment addresses sex before marriage, living together before marriage, extra marital affairs, homosexuality, divorce, and pornography among other things. The Sixth Commandment says that all of these things are sinful before God. Unfortunately many of these sinful actions are not looked upon as sinful anymore by society. For instance our society has no problem at all with sex before marriage. It is the way it is. The same thing with living together. Everybody seems to live together before they get married anymore. Extra marital affairs are still frowned upon, but recent polls show that a high percentage of people have had them. Homosexuality has been completely embraced by society as just an alternative lifestyle. Gay couples on TV are now considered normal. In fact a TV show without at least a guest appearance of a gay person is the exception. Divorce, although there are justifiable reasons for it in Scripture, continues to be taken advantage of. And with the Internet, pornography use had gone through the roof. No one is shocked or surprised by any of this. And in fact it is looked upon as okay, as long as other people don't get hurt, which they usually do.

Let's address these one by one. Sex before marriage is forbidden because it is a misuse of God's gift of sex. Sex is a good thing. It is as I said a gift from God to be enjoyed inside the marriage convenant. When it happens inside marriage it results in the creation of children and also the enjoyment of the marriage partner. It deepens the relationship between the two people. Outside of marriage it is just using the other person for your pleasure without any commitment to them.
Living together has become the norm. Some people do it before marriage to see if they are compatible before they take that big step. It is interesting to note though that secular study after secular study shows a significantly higher divorce rate for those couples who lived together before marriage as opposed to those who didn't. The underlying reason for that is a lack of commitment. Marriage is commitment. It takes more than love to hold a marriage together. When people live together before marriage they are not committed to one another, they are just trying it out. So when they do get married many times that lack of commitment gets hauled into the marriage as well. There are also big advantages to just getting married. There are financial advantages and there is more stability for any children born into the relationship. The marriage license is not just a piece of paper either, it is a legal contract recognized by the state and it is a public proclamation before others of a commitment to one another. The church has always recognized the authority of the state in these matters and does not perform marriages without a legal license. So a person cannot claim to be married in God's eyes if they are not married according to state law.
Extra marital affairs are also forbidden by this commandment for obvious reasons. The biggest reason is that it destroys that one person union that is established in marriage. That is why it is one of the justifications for divorce. The church never recommends divorce and tries to bring reconciliation and forgiveness to the relationship, but is the right of the offended party to divorce. Adultery also hurts both people involved and also any family members as well.
Homosexuality is very clearly against God's law no matter how accepted it has become. That does not mean that we hate or mistreat homosexual people, in fact we are called to love the homosexual but hate their sin. There has been a great argument through the years over whether homosexuality is a choice or not. Some say that there is a biological reason for it. There has never been any hard proof presented for this, but it really doesn't matter. Even if it is biological it is still sinful. Sin is not just a choice but also a condition that we are all born with. Just because someone is born a certain way or with a certain personality or disorder that does not make their sinful actions okay. If a person is born with a homosexual orientation then they are called to live a life of celibacy.
We have talked about divorce above, but to enlarge upon it, we teach that divorce is only acceptable for a couple of reasons. The first one is one of the people having an affair, the second one is desertion. That is when one of the people just abandons the marriage. In other words walks out the door and doesn't come back. We could also put abuse under that as well. When one partner abuses the other one there is a point when that person even without leaving the house, has deserted the marriage. In the end we try everything we can to keep all marriages together.
Pornography is another issue that has become normal in our society. Porn is a cheapening of the gift of sex that God has given to us. God calls us to have pure actions and also pure thoughts. Use of porn takes away from the marriage and also devalues women. Therefore we are called to avoid it.
What God wants in this commandment is for husbands and wives to respect and care for one another. He wants them to enjoy each other through sex and to be the basic building block of the church, his body.
Here are some Scriptures for you. Genesis 1:27,31; Genesis 2:24-25; Mark 10:6-9; Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 19:6,9; 1 Corinthians 7:15; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 18; Romans 1:24, 26-27; Matthew 5:28; Matthew 15:19; Ephesians 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Gensis 2:18; 1 Corinthians 7:4; Ephesians 5:21-23, 25

Pastor Fred