Blog Archives - St. Michael's Lutheran Church, School, & Childcare Richville, MI

Memorial Day

5/31/2021

Today we remember the Americans who fought and died to defend and protect the freedoms we have. Despite the difficulties and challenges that we face, I am thankful that I live in this great land.

This is also a good day to remember those who witnessed and died because of their faith. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us about the heroes of faith in the Old Testament. The Book of Acts tells us about Stephen, the first Christian martyr. John the Baptist was killed because of his faithfulness to God. The New Testament, writings of the early Christians, and tradition tells us that ten of the original twelve Disciples died for their faith. John spent the last years of his life in exile because of his faith.

Jesus died to set us free from sin, death and the devil. Jesus sets us free to be the children of God. Nothing can separate us from God's love for us in Jesus.

Today is a good day to remember, to give thanks, and to recommit to our Christian faith and life.

Fear?

5/28/2021

Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.” 17 And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside. (Luke 7:16-17 NLT)

What does the Bible mean by fear? Fear can describe the emotion of one who is afraid. But fear can also describe a response of wonder and awe. Jesus raised a boy back to life. That had to cause fear in those who opposed Jesus. But it also created a sense of awe and wonder for those who saw and believe. They could not keep the Good News to themselves.

How about us? Are we afraid of God or filled with Awe and Wonder because of who Jesus is and what He has done? My sin causes me to fear. But faith fills me with joy and thanksgiving for our Awesome God.

The Funeral Is Over

5/27/2021

Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” 15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. (Luke 7:11-15 NLT)

Jesus ended every funeral he attended. He brought the only son of a widow from the village of Nain back to life. I wonder what the people thought when Jesus stopped the funeral procession?

Jesus is still doing the that. Death is not the end. Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross. Faith in Jesus and His resurrection gives us new life. We do not have to live in fear of death because we know for Christians it is the gate to eternal life with Christ.

We personally mourn at the death of someone we love. But we don't have to fear death ourselves because we know that Jesus has defeated sin and death for us.

(Today's blog was delayed because I could not get on the internet this morning at the Intentional Interim Conference I was attending.)

Remote Control

5/26/2021

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” 10 And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. (Luke 7:9-10 NLT)

The Roman soldier was right, Jesus did not have to be physically present to heal his servant. There are no limits to God's power, no limit to what He can do. God promises to hear and answer our prayers. He doesn't have to be physically present to help, heal, comfort, forgive or encourage us. We can learn a lot from the faith of the Roman Centurion.

Amazing Faith

5/25/2021

Jesus went with them. When He was not far from the house, the captain told some friends to tell this to Jesus, “Lord, do not take the time to come to my house, because I am not good enough. 7 And I am not good enough to come to You. But just say the word and my servant will be healed. 8 For I am a man who works for someone else also, and I have soldiers who work for me. I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes. I say to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I say to my workman, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” (Luke 7:6-8 NLT)

The Roman Military officer sent his Jewish friends to ask Jesus to help his servant who was very sick. Before Jesus got to the house, the Centurion sent other friends with a new message, one of amazing faith. The Centurion was humble and realized he was not "good enough" to come to Jesus. .

The Centurion had enough faith to believe that Jesus could command his servant to be healed, and he would be, even if Jesus wasn't present. He had amazing faith. Do we? Do we realize that God has the desire and the power to help us even though we can't see Him. Jesus invites us to come into His presence in prayer. God does hear and answer our prayers. Do we have enough faith like the Roman soldier to believe and trust Jesus to answer our prayers?

Not All The Same

5/24/2021

When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. 2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, 5 “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.” (Luke 7:1-5 NLT)

This is the start of a fascinating series of events during Jesus' ministry about a specific Roman military officer. The Jews did not like having the Romans occupy their nation. Many of the Romans found the Jewish people rebellious and hard to deal with.
Sounds to me like there was prejudice on both sides.

But we have to be careful about prejudice because it puts a group of people into the same category that is used to justify poor treatment of them. But people are people. Prejudice against a group of people is wrong. The only category everyone fits into is "sinner," because we are all guilty. Jesus paid the debt for everyone's sins on the cross.

This Roman Officer broke down the walls of prejudice by loving the Jewish people and building a synagogue, a house of worship, for them. The Roman officer was not asking for help for himself, but for servant or slave. (Both translations of the New Testament word are possible.) Jewish Elders begged Jesus to intervene.

Prejudice is one of the results of our sinful nature. Jesus loves us all. He tells us to love our enemies. With God's help we can overcome prejudice and live in a way that gives glory to God by helping and serving others.

The Right Foundation

5/21/2021

46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” (Luke 6:46-49 NLT)

What are you building your life upon? Are you building for success, happiness, comfort, pleasure? These things are not bad by themselves, but they cannot be a good foundation for our lives because they don't last. They can disappear or be taken from us quicker than we realize. Think about all the things we lost during the Covid crisis.

The wise person builds his or her life on Christ. Jesus' Words, His forgiveness and love can never be taken away from us. He gives us help and strength to stand during the storms of life. The well built life is built on Christ.

Which Fruits?

5/20/2021

“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 44 A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thorn bushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. 45 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart." (Luke 6:43-45 NLT)

Jesus said that a good person produces good fruit. I am in trouble because on my own I cannot produce any good fruit. My life has been corrupted by sin that can only produce evil fruit. Galatians 5:19-21 tells us, "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these."

The Holy Spirit makes the difference in our lives. The Spirit leads us to faith in Jesus and helps us stay faithful. The Spirit leads us to humbly confess our sins and ask for forgiveness in Jesus' name. The Spirit bring the good fruit out in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 continues, "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Which fruits does your life produce? Because I am still a sinful person, my life does not always produce the best fruit. But with the Holy Spirit's help, my goal is to produce the good fruits that helps others and gives glory to God.

May 19th, 2021

5/19/2021

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 42 How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye." (Luke 6:41-42 NLT)

Have you ever gotten anything big enough in your eye that you had to have a medical person remove it? I got a piece of hot metal that went through the air vent in my safety glasses and landed in my right eye. It hurt like crazy and I could not see a thing. The eye was sore for a few days after the emergency room doctor took the piece of metal out.

Jesus warns us about the hypocrisy of seeing the speck in another person's eye when we cannot see the log in our own eye. It is too easy for us to magnify another person's sin without seeing our own. We want to address their problem before dealing with our sins and faults. It does not work. That is why Jesus tells us to deal with our sins and guilt before trying to deal with the other person.

When we see our own sins and repent, we can confess our sins to God and ask Him to forgive us. That helps us to see our part in the problem, our role in the strained or broken relationship. Then we can admit our part in the problem and work with the other person to resolve them. We can't see very well when we are wearing sin stained glasses.

Pay Attention

5/18/2021

Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher." (Luke 6:39-40 NLT)

Jesus was an incredible teacher. He told stories often called parables. He used examples from every day life. He made sense out of common sense. He challenged His listeners to hear and respond, not just to listen and walk away.

Jesus asked, “Can one blind person lead another?" Of course not. So do not let those who are blind, who have turned their backs on the Lord lead you. You'll both end up in a ditch.

Students need to learn from their teachers and not think they are better than their teacher. The Disciples had a lot to learn from Jesus. After Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension, the Disciples received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. They did not replace Jesus. But they "became like" Jesus by teaching people about Him in both the things they said and did.

We need to be careful who we choose to follow in life. Leaders who blindly turn away from God and His word will only lead us down the wrong path and our lives can end up in a ditch. If we let Jesus lead us, we can become more like Him every day.

Pay attention to the person in front of you, the one you are following.

Author

My name is Larry. Right now I am serving as the Intentional Interim or Transitional Pastor at St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Richville, MI. This blog is part of my daily personal time reading the Bible and talking with God. It is more of my personal thoughts than a deep theological discussion. Thanks for taking the time to join me in reading and thinking about what God has to say to us today.

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