pastor’s devotionals

 April 14:

Luke 24:29 'But they urged Him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over."'

Before the sun would set on Resurrection Sunday, two men would strongly, adamantly urge Jesus to stay and dine with them. There was a sense of urgency mixed with unsettled joy to break bread with this Man. Jesus said in Revelation: 'I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him.' Do you hear His voice? Are you keeping Jesus near and dear to your heart? Do you demand that He live within you and reign over you? Is it your strong and urgent desire to spend time with Him and invite Him to be with you in all of your undertakings? Strongly urge Him even now to be present in your life in power; to dine with you in love; to stay by your side till evening and into the night and with the breaking of dawn!

April 15:

Luke 24:27 'And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.'

"Johnny. What is going on in this Old Testament story?" asked his Sunday school teacher. "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" was his enthusiastic reply. How correct he was. The Gospels proclaim Jesus and his salvation. The rest of the New Testament explains so great a salvation in Jesus. And the Old Testament points to and prepares us for the good news of salvation in Jesus.

In Genesis, he is the sacrificial ram caught in the thicket. In Exodus, he is the Passover Lamb. In Numbers, he is the scepter that shall arise. Jesus is in every OT book. The Law and the Prophets testify to this. Jesus verified it to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus!

Let your reading through the Old Testament put you on a mission to find and see Jesus. May you be like Johnny as you read the OT stories and exclaim: 'Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!'

april 16:

John 20:19 'On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"'

The disciples' knees were knocking and fingers were fumbling with the locks. Those who were going to rule triumphantly with Jesus in his new kingdom were cowering behind barred doors. No longer filled with bravado, they huddled together, fearful that the Jews would come and arrest them.

At times we too may huddle in the dark and be paralyzed with fear. Or, we may retreat from others and hide for awhile. That is when you must meditate on the words of Christ: 'Peace be with you!' His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave brought about the greatest victory of all history. This victory brought peace. A peace that brings encouragement to the downcast and courage to the wounded. A peace that surpasses all understanding. For even in the darkest night, the bleakest coronavirus death count, or in the darkest corner of a locked room, the light will shine and warm our hearts with the comfort of an eternal peace brought about by the forgiveness of sins and the gifting of life forever.

April 17:

John 20:20 'After this he showed them his hands and his side...'

I have a small scar on the inside of my left forearm from trying to push a glass window open that was unfortunately locked very shut. My hand went right through resulting in a white jagged line surrounded by several white suture dots. I've had this scar for 35 years and though its fading, I will have it till the day I die. But one day my body will be raised up without any marks. We Christians will be transformed and glorified and made perfect. There will be no scars, no eyeglasses, no canes and no limps. No hurts and no bruises. Not a smidgeon of a hint of imperfection.

Not so with our Lord and Savior. The nail marks in his hands and feet remain for all eternity. The scar in his side where the spear pierced him will never fade away. These are marks of beauty. Our glorious salvation forever proclaimed by the scars on Jesus' body. No sin will ever be found in heaven. But the reminder of the great price paid for our sins will forever be revealed on the body of our risen and exalted Lord and Savior. Blessed be Jesus' scars.

April 21:

Philippians 2:6-7 'who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.'

The Incarnate God: In our Christian faith, we must hold in tension with our finite minds seeming paradoxes of our infinitely holy God becoming man. How can the Son of God who has always been in relationship with the Father, then be forsaken on the cross? How can the Son of God who is immortal, now die on the cross? How can the Son of Man, clothed in temporal flesh, withstand an infinite wrath from His Father? How can the Son of Man, praying in such passion, question His Father's eternal will to drink the cup?

We come closer to unraveling this paradox as we grasp that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, two natures but one person. Indeed, our faith rests on this irrevocable truth. Jesus as man can feel the coming horror and question the cup. Jesus as man can feel the abandonment and most certainly the torture that leads to a mortal death. Jesus as God can take the fierce wrath of the Father for our sin. Jesus as God can still in some mysterious way maintain the eternal unity of the holy Trinity while on the cross.

Though we understand so little of the mystery of our incarnate God, we can begin to understand the depths of Immanuel's love for us. What love that an infinite God would enter and be bound by a temporal world. What love that the invisible God took on flesh to reveal Himself as a servant. What love that our majestic Savior 'emptied' Himself of radiant heavenly glory and depended on the Spirit while in the flesh to be like us in every way, yet without sin. Give glory to our God who became man to love us unto death.

April 22:

Matthew 2:1-10 '...And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.'

Were there a few days, or even a week, when the magi had stopped seeing the star go before them? Did their time in the spiritually darkened capital of Israel led by an oppressive and wicked king blot out the light of the star? But, oh, when they pressed on, what joy awaited them; what light to greet them. Their concerned hearts were free again to rejoice.

Have you lost sight of your joy, your light, your very Savior, Jesus Christ? Have the oppressive times with all of its discouraging news blotted out the rays of hope? Perhaps, sad news has you bowed down, and you stare numbly at the ground rather than looking up to the skies with hope. Press on. Do not tarry with kings who are manipulative. Do not delay with the elite who have knowledge but no love. Stop spending time with those who shut out the light for you. Don't be paralyzed in the darkness. Step out again and look to the heavens for the shimmering light of Christ's love. Move forward into the scintillating grace of our Lord. And rejoice once again with an exceedingly great joy that your Savior leads you on.

April 24:

Matthew 5:48 'You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.'

'Good enough for government work,' the saying goes. So often, we see the bar lowered and the standards watered down in business, politics, academia and sadly also, the church. But Christ has raised the bar for His followers' conduct and character to dizzying and heavenly heights. Be perfect! Every believer must grow in Christlikeness, becoming mature in holiness and righteousness so as to reflect our Lord's very glory. The verb 'must be' admonishes us to pursue this perfection in three ways:

You must be perfect! It is a command from our Savior. We can do no less. We must always strive for more. We must never say 'good enough' but 'is it good enough for my God?'

You must be perfect! It is a goal to be perfect like our Father. The command is placed in the future tense because our merciful Savior knows that it will be a life-long process to grow into spiritual maturity. Yet, we will never be 'good enough' in this life. Our perfect perfection comes at the end of this age.

You must be perfect! It is a promise that our Savior will help us. Lest we think we are commanded the impossible, we must realize that Christ is within us and who is more than 'good enough' to help and empower us through the Holy Spirit. We may call upon Him to give us the grace we need for today to live holy and pleasing lives.

April 28:

Thought for the day: Noah and his family were 'sheltered in place' for a whole YEAR! The extended family of eight spent 365 days not being able to leave the ark. After about the 330th day, he sent out his first bird hoping that he would be able to go outside once again. He had to wait another 30 days (and three doves later) before the ark door was finally opened. We are about six weeks into our shelter in place. Some states have begun to loosen their restrictions. Our day will come and we won't have to wait a whole year. We all will get through this by the grace of God, and prayerfully sooner than later. Blessings upon you today!

May 1:

Matthew 14:36 '...and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.'

Was this sheer audacity of faith or faith constrained and tamed? Was it banging on heaven's doors, or was it tapping gently on a window pane? 'I beg of you to only touch the loose threads of the prayer tassels on the edge of your robe. I will not grab your cloak; I will not grasp your arm; nor will I dare to throw myself in your path and wrap my arms around your legs. If only I may reach out and brush my fingertips across that fine linen thread for the merest of a second.

O, Lord, that I might just hear the whisper of your voice upon the morning breeze. Have mercy, Lord, to allow us a glimpse of your majesty breaking into this new day. May we feel the brush of angel wings upon our cheeks. May we catch a glimmer of your glory and a smidgeon of your salvation power as we move through our Friday. May we sense the faint glow of a ray of your love breaking with the dawn. We beg of you to let us feel your presence passing by. We don't ask for much. But, indeed, we are asking for everything. We are asking to touch your healing presence.

May 5:

Ps.84:1-2 'How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.'

This verse, Psalm 84:1, is written in German on the stain glass window on the north side of our church sanctuary. How well our German forefathers knew of the importance and beauty of a church building for hearts to unite in worship. Churches around the world are not just missing the sweet fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ, but we are also missing our church buildings where believers congregate to worship our living God. I, too, yearn to gather again with you in the beauty of our sanctuary to give praise to our God.

Yes, some of you are saying that the church is the gathered body of believers who worship in spirit and in truth, neither on this mountain or in any particular place. However, as this passage states and so many other Scriptures attest to, God delights and approves of the believer attaching significant awe and desire to not only the spiritual worship of believers, but also to the physical place of worship. The two are tightly, spiritually, intertwined. You cannot worship without being in some place. And our church building is a special place where we have imprinted on our hearts and in our minds a beautiful sanctuary for our worship.

I long for the day when you can all pull up on a Sunday morning in front of our church with tears in your eyes and thanksgiving in your hearts. Oh, for that day when we will all see that stain glass verse again. Psalm 84 continues with this amazing verse: 'For one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.' Lord, end the thousand days elsewhere and hasten that one day to come again. How we faint to worship in your beautiful house!