Proclaiming the Lord to all nations

This is one of my favorite hymns. I think the reason why I like it so much is that we struggle day in and day out with this concept. I heard a devotion this week based on Daniel chapter 6. This talks about our real struggle here on earth. Daniel believed in the one true God. We all face our struggles here on earth yet God is in us, and with us. Our sinful self wants to cling to the ways of the world, but our redeemed self wants to cling to the righteousness of Christ.

What are you struggling with in your life today? We see in both the Old and New Testaments of how the Spirit of God works in each of us. We also see how temptation can lead us in the wrong direction. In Hymn 685 in the Lutheran Service Book we have the hymn “What I was Ever Walk With Jesus”. We sing phrases like this: follow is example pure, through a world that would deceive us, onward in his footsteps treading, left us through the Father’s bidding, and I shall follow where you guide.

Without the one true God there is no way we could do this on our own. Our sinful nature would overpower us, but God has leveled the playing field. It is in the cross of Jesus Christ that we have been made his dear children. This death crushed the power of sin, death, and the world as we know from Genesis 3:15. We can’t walk with God as Daniel did, like all the saints we read about in Scripture. We even pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “but deliver us from evil.” God has given us the His Spirit in the waters of baptism as we walk through our life. When we look at it, the one true God has done it all.

We can follow Jesus and walk with him daily because He has made this possible. Just like with Daniel, we can be true and faithful to the one true God, because he has made this possible. We give thanks and praise to him, not only on Sunday, but without ceasing every day. We thank God that he has send His only begotten Son into the world to take our place as he died on the cross for all of our sins. We also give thanks to God for giving us His Spirit in and through the waters of Holy Baptism. Thanks be to the one true God.

Put all of your struggles, your problems, your sins into the hands of God. For He will forgive you, He will lead you, He will be your fortress against all evil. It is a good thing that it is not up to us, for without God nothing is possible. Read through the Bible and see how God has made His people faithful and redeemed them from every evil.

In the last verse of hymn 655 we sing the following. “What us also live with Jesus. He has risen from the dead.” So go out and live your life in the one true God for he has promised to you that you too will live with him forever.

I believe the term, restored, has a much fresher meaning for us today. Things around us are being restored. We’re getting back to what life was like prior to Covid 19. We can again go to movie theaters, flying still needs the use of a mask but air travel is improving, going out to get a bite to eat is more common today, and family gatherings are now a reality. It is really great to have things restored to what it was like.

How about your religious life: Are you going back to church yet? Are you seeing more and more families back in church? Is this part of your life being restored or are you using the excuse of Covid to keep from taking your life back to normal? Let your light shine.

This weekend is a very big weekend for Trinity  Lutheran Church in Athens, Georgia. We thank our interim pastor for serving us for the past year and ½. This Sunday we look forward to having our new Pastor, Pastor Davis, lead us in worship. He really has had a rough time getting here from Colorado. The storms that hit the middle part of the country created many difficulties. They have arrived today and are sending up, the office and the rental home. I for one will be looking forward to Sunday’s worship service.

The second thing that is being restored is the Lutheran Women In Mission Fellowship. As far as I know they haven’t met since Covid struck. During the time of Covid we have still been collecting our mites, the first Sunday of every month. This has been a great that we have been able to continue our mission work for the District and also the National LWML. One goal I have is that we can establish mission projects for our church in our community and make a difference. We are now trying to shift gears so there is fellowship among all the women in the congregation. At this point, we would like to make this a monthly event.

Our topic for tomorrow is “restored”, but it will take a different approach that I am doing in this blog. You will have to come tomorrow to find out what it is about. If you were unable to sign up you are still more than welcome to come and enjoy our fellowship in God tomorrow. We begin with a potluck and then have a Bible’s Stud. We begin at 11 AM!

After all, isn’t this why Jesus came into the world and died upon the cross for each and every one of our sins. God has restored hope in us through Jesus’s suffering and death. Isn’t this why we come to church each Sunday, to receive God’s gifts of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We hear these in the words of Holy Scripture throughout our service and in our Bible studies. We are now restored like David and Peter.

Thank you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for restoring us.

^{Proclaiming the one true God to all 1 31 22}

¹¹When I was a child, I made use of a child’s language, I had a child’s feelings and a child’s thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child. First Corinthians 13:11 him

I apologize to all that I stopped writing this blog. For a while, I couldn’t think of anything to write about. Then I went traveling to see my brothers and other people. Soon after my vacations I got called by Red Cross to deploy in southern Louisiana for the hurricane where I worked as a disaster spiritual care individual. When I got home, I thought about the block but never could get started. The other day my son-in-law, George, as if I was still writing a blog. It hit me that all these things had been excuses for not doing.

No more excuses. I will attempt to do this every week. After all, this is what my children’s message in church is going to be about on Sunday. Here I use the Old Testament reading from Jeremiah about how he was called to bring God’s word to the nations. Isn’t this our job too?

While reading the New Testament lesson, I read First Corinthians 13:11. This was our graduation verse from Concordia Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. This gave me pause to think about how I have changed throughout the years. The excitement about sharing the gospel however has not been lost, for Christ and his death are the reason we share this good news with everyone.

I don’t even know if anyone reads this blog, but that doesn’t make any difference. If even one person reads it, it is still a great idea to put God’s Word out there. I no longer can’t speak like I used too or even type like I used to. But God is still being proclaim, and I know that God’s word goes out and it will accomplish his purpose.

We all have been given this job of telling how Christ has come into the world to fulfill the promises made by God in Genesis 3. Christ is the cornerstone on which our faith is based. Without Christ and what he has done for us there is nothing. His suffering and death means everything. I know that my sins and the sins of everyone who believe in the one true God have been forgiven. We need to speak about how in our baptism the Holy Spirit has sanctified us as he calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth. Here again is a message, that we as the children of God, need to speak loud and clearly in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

So let’s all put aside our childish ways of living and live daily in the Lord!

Child of God

This morning as I woke up, I was thinking of my 2 granddaughters and what I could say to them, about how they would live their lives proclaiming the one true s God to all. Then I started thinking about my life and I how God has led me. As a baptized child of God, I look at how this applies to my life. I would often say that living my life as God’s child was like a roller coaster ride, so fasten your seatbelts!

When I was in fifth or sixth grade, all I wanted to do was become a Pastor, serving God. As time went on, I graduated the from St. Paul Lutheran School from the eighth grade. I had the opportunity to go to Concordia Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. Here I began my training to become a Lutheran Pastor. In my second year I went to the Lutheran High School. I was somewhat angry that I couldn’t go back to my previous school, and I told my father how I felt. Little did I know at that time that God had other plans for me. I went back to the Academy for my junior and senior year. Then I went to college. After 2 years I changed from the ministerial program to the teacher training program. My intention was to go to the Seminary after graduating to continue studying for the Lutheran ministry. God had other plans for my life!

After 31 years of teaching in the Lutheran School and Public Schools, my life changed again. This is when I decided to go to the Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. After 2 hard years of school, I went to Vicar and then Pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Louisiana and Our Savior in Mississippi. I often thought to myself that God had led me in the way of proclaiming the Gospel first to his children and then to adults, but I had it wrong. All the time God was leading me to proclaim the one true God to all. Now I am retired but still proclaiming the love of God to all who will hear it.

This whole thought process of thinking about children, especially my two granddaughters, led me to see what the Bible said. Here is some of what I found.

¹⁶ “ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 5:16 ESV.

⁶  Train up a child in the way he should go;

even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 ESV.

¹⁵   Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,

but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. Proverbs 22:15 ESV.

⁶  For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

     and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

     Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 ESV.

⁴ Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:4 ESV.

¹⁵ Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. Mark 10:15-16 ESV.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 ESV.

For God So Loved the World

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:16-18 ESV.

Zoe and Ietta consider these Bible verses as you go into high school and college, and all the other children of the Lord as you walk with God proclaiming him to be the one and only true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The First Commandment

You shall have no other gods before me. Deuteronomy 5:7 ESV.

This was the second time the law was given to the people of Israel. The first time we remember how God called Moses upon the mountain and gave to him these 10 Commandments. Now the people have received God’s promise that they would have their own nation. We read in the book of Joshua how the nation was conquered by God and given to them.

If you look at the first commandment you realize that this is all we need. If you love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul, you will follow the other nine commandments. That seems real simple, if you look at it. But we know from the Bible, this first commandment is impossible for us to keep. We read how the great leaders of faith what at one time or another put their own gods in place of the one and only true God. This did not stop with the disciples, but it continues today in the Christian church.

I believe we all have our special gods that at certain times in our lives we put in place of the one true God. What are your special gods that you put first in your life and times? We also read in the Bible how God forgave those important leaders of their sin when they realized they were worshiping their own gods. One reference is when David realized he had said with Bathsheba, what did he do, he repented. You can read this repentance in Psalm 51. This is true of us in the Christian church today. When we realize that we have put our own gods in place of the one true God, then we go to God in repentance and receive his grace.

We know we are not saying through the law. Read Romans chapter 6 to find out how God’s grace saves you! Do not become slaves of sin for resident tells us in Romans that through Christ’s death on the cross we have become free and are no longer slaves. We all know the verse, the wages of sin are death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ has done it all for us for he has saved us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

For the Christian, the 10 Commandments show is our sin, but the cross of Jesus shows us our Savior. How many remember this from confirmation? We live our lives by following these 10 Commandments. However, we know this is impossible. If we put the one and only true God, professed through the Bible, first in our life we will follow the other nine commandments.

We all know of the man who came up to Jesus and said that he has kept the ten commandments. Jesus response to him was to give all that he had to the poor. The man walked away, for his possessions were his god. In our lives today we all have an internal fight going on. This involves our sinful nature, the world, and the devil, against the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are both Saint and Sinner. This battle will be fought in our lives until God calls us home. Fight the good fight.

Walk in the grace of our Savior who died for you.

Pray

¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. ¹⁵ See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5: 14-18 ESV.

These five have a lot packed in them, but I could avoid including more than versus 17. In fact, the whole Chapter is worth reading. This talks about how a Christian lives their life. I am interested in us examining our lives. Do we “Pray without ceasing?

In the notes for the Study Bible, it says the following: “We cannot verbally pray at all times, but it is possible to be in the spirit of prayer and ready to pray. The Lord’s Prayer has also been prescribed so that we should see and consider the distress that should drive and compel us to pray without ceasing” Large Catechism III line 24.

We can’t. It is impossible! But because of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, we have been promised that nothing is impossible with God. We also have been promised that the Spirit prays for us when we are not able. I was once asked by a person who had a terminal disease, “I am having trouble praying.” I reminded her of God’s great love and mercy and of God’s promise to her. We then had a prayer.

I ask the question again, “So do you pray without ceasing?” I asked a few people of strong faith. They told me they do, and not only when they are in trouble. Sometimes their prayer of thanksgiving or praise. I think prayer was common because of COVID 19 among those who proclaim the one and only true God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I’m reminded of an outside wall in Denver, CO which read, “Why pray when you can worry,” We should “¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This goes back to TRUST from Last week. It is what God has done for us, because Jesus died on the cross, taking upon himself all of our sins. Thanks be to God for His gracious gift of eternal life and salvation!

Pray without ceasing as you walk with God this week.

Trust???

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2 ESV.

Do you trust in in the one and only Lord God? What exactly is trust? For the Israelites at this time, it meant trusting in the one who freed them from Egypt. I am sure it took a great deal of trust in the Lord God as they marched out of Egypt. For the next 40 some years they would struggle with this very same trust. At times they face huge armies, sometimes they faced a lack of water and food, but God provided them with everything they needed. In their history we see how they struggled with trust as they became a nation with a king. God’s promise of salvation was always there, and it came as Jesus was born, lived, and died for all of our sins on the cross.

What about today? We have just come through the pandemic, Covid 19. How was your trust in God? Did it drive you to trust in the one and only true God more, or did you develop a lack of trust in God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Now things are different, people can get out of their homes and become more social. Our proclaiming the trust we have in the Lord God should be shouted from the rooftops, but are we strangely quiet?

When I was teaching, many times I would see this trust in God. In my first religion curriculum, it was called, Come Lord Jesus Come. You really saw the excitement and the trust in God grow as you went through the year. Those second graders really love and believed in the one and only true God. As I continue teaching through the years, I would witness the faith that children have in God. When the twin towers in New York City came down, I saw the trust they had in God!

While teaching confirmation over the years, I have seen the faith of the some of the students grow in God. One case in particular I remember. Her faith and trust in God was shown in her evangelism. She would take and bring her guys to church. She would tell them how important her God was. Some would even remain after she stopped dating them.

I am not unaware of how people are influenced by their own sinfulness. Like Israel, we all struggle with our trust in God which leads to fear. Sometimes we can be very strong while other times we trust in other things. I see this in myself and repent when I realize my trust is not in the one and only true God. While at the bedside of many parishioners, I have witnessed faith and a lack of fear as they trusted in God and I just marveled.

Anymore, when I see our money and it says, “In God we trust”, I often wonder whose God they worship in our country. It is truly Jesus Christ who took our sins and died for them on the cross, in order that we might be acceptable to God the Father. We give thanks to God the Holy Spirit in which we have received in Holy Baptism him who gives us this faith and trust. God has done it all for us. His Body and Blood he has given to and for us for the forgiveness of sins. The only thing we can do is to reject this salvation.

Thanks be to God for his continued love for us and we know our salvation is not of this world, but we look forward to his promise of eternal life and salvation in heaven with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!

Walk each day trusting in the one and only true God.

Our Calling

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

All those who worship and believe in the one and only true God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been called by God for this pu him him him him him him rpose. God has given to us this command in our life here on earth no matter what our vocation is.

Jesus, the Son of God, gave this command to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. This is not the only time that this command was given. God called Abraham to give him this very same command. He put them in a place where they would be exposed to many other nations. Reading through the Old Testament you see how the will of God was accomplished.

The New Testament is also filled with many examples of how the will of God is accomplished. We see this as we begin the season of Pentecost. Over 3000 heard this messagemessage on the Pentecost day and believe in the one and only true God. This message came to many in their own language on that day in Jerusalem. It did not stop there, but these people took that message they heard in Jerusalem back to their different homes in their different nations. One event I remember was when Philip was led by the Holy Spirit to an Ethiopian eunuch who was reading from Isaiah. Philip explained what the Scriptures said, he was baptized and believed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments we hear about people who proclaimed the one and only true God sometimes suffered for their faith. We all know that our reward is not in this world, but it comes in heaven. Suffering comes with being a follower of the one and only true God.

Does this make you feel like you are able to do what God has commanded of us? Don’t feel like you are alone and there is no way YOU can do. For God has given you a helper, the Holy Spirit. Be faithful in your study the Word. There is no way we can do it on our own. There are also books and classes you can take that will help you. We know that God’s word will go out and accomplish that which he purposes. Martin Luther knew this all too well as he stood up for his faith in the one true God, so you too can because the Helper is a part of you.

This is not easy, but we know God is our refuge and strength. Live your faith daily through your words, actions, and thoughts. If you are having doubts, like some of those followers of Jesus on the day he ascended, be led by the Spirit knowing Christ died for you and God has forgiven you. This is a struggle all Christians face!

The peace of God which keeps you in all your goings in and out in faith, bless you.

LORD, help us all to do your will. He promises to be with you.

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Confirmation

¹⁶ For I am not a six shamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17 ESV

In many Lutheran churches during this time of year Confirmation is being celebrated. I look back to an April many years ago when I was confirmed. Like with many of us it was a big celebration as it coincided with Palm Sunday. We were all dressed in our robes. In the early service we were questioned on the catechism and our faith. In the second service the Rite of Confirmation took place. I remember it being a very nervous day. As the pastor least his hand on my head and confirmed me, then he read my Confirmation Verse, Romans 1:16. On Maundy Thursday I received the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the first time. We went home that Sunday and there was a big party with gifts. My baptismal sponsors were there.

It was a great day for I remember getting my own Lutheran Hymnal with my name and date on it. I received a Thompson Chain Reference Bible which I use for many years. I was also given a portable typewriter for those numerous papers I would write in high school and college. The next year I would be attending Concordia High School in St. Paul, Minnesota to begin my studies for the Lutheran Ministry. This day was like a graduation, for I had completed my rigorous confirmation classes. Boy, was I wrong, for I was just beginning.

What was your Confirmation like? Take some time and ponder it. Do you remember your Confirmation Verse? What was the day like for you? Did you feel like you have finished your studies and that was all that you needed?

Little did we know that we were just beginning our life as a Christian in this world. Our life is a continual study in how we should live and tell the world about the one and only true God. Yes, over the years I have struggled to live as a Christian should. I have often gone back, remembering the many verses I memorized as the Holy Spirit led me to be holy. Many times I have fallen down from the vows I made at confirmation. My gracious God has forgiven me and built me up. If it were not for his suffering and death on the cross, I would have no hope!

What is confirmation? Is it graduation or preparation? If we think about it, we have been preparing since our baptism and will continue to prepare until the day our Lord calls us to our salvation. It is only through Christ that we have been redeemed. We go forward each day as the children of God, trusting in his grace and mercy telling the world of what the one and only true God has done for them. We have been made righteous through God’s work in us.

Walk each day in the light of Christ, sharing Him with the world, as you continue to prepare through the Holy Spirit for the coming of the Lord.

Praying the Lord’s Prayer at night.

¹¹   Give us this day our daily bread,

¹²   and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³   And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:11-14 ESV

This week we will complete the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.

I am so thankful dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for everything you give me each day. You know what I need and what is best for me. Thank you for continuing to build my faith in You. Thank you for all you have given me to eat, close to wear, work to do, and good works to do that praise and honor your name. Help me to proclaim You, the one and only true God, to all my friends, family, neighbors, enemies, and everyone I meet. Help me not to be timid but bold, weak but strong, and all my thoughts, words, and actions.

I lay before you my God, knowing all the sins I have committed, and ask for your forgiveness. I don’t fear, love, and trust you above all things. You know me completely. There are times when I see sin as a way to get what I want and do it, forgive me. Sometimes I hurt people with what I say, forgive me. There are times when I sin that I am not aware of what I have done, forgive me. In the parable of the Publican and Pharisee, lead me not to be like the Pharisee but rather the Publican as I confess my sin. Help me to forgive all those who sin against me. Let not vengeance or anger keep me from giving them, but rather love and care for those who hurt me. My forgiveness falls far short when I think of how Christ died on the cross for each and every one of my sins. Help me to be more like you in my forgiveness of others. I love to harbor thoughts that would work for all all those around, who have offended me in one way or another, forgive me. Hold the my sins against me.

I know that the one and only true God would not leave me into temptation, but rather keeps and protects me. So many times, I am like that lost sheep, who wanders off and gets into a mess of problems because temptation looks so good. Making wise to the ways of salvation that I may not fall into temptation. O Holy Spirit, the Helper, build my faith that I may choose not to be tempted. Help me to be on the straight and narrow path that I may not deviate and fall into sin. Sometimes, Holy Lord, temptation looks like the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that I want to partake of it. Help me to take the temptations in my life so I can resist those temptations and worship and praise you the one true God.

I know who is responsible for evil: sin, death, and the devil. Every day is a constant fight against this unholy trinity. Without you I could not stand. Help me oh Lord to remember Psalm 23. I know the gifts you give, how you take care of me, and you protect me from this evil force. Help me to change my life each day to be more like You, holy. There are times in my life that I feel like my enemies around me, but I have your promise. Truly I am both Saint and Sinner in this world, until you take me to live with you forever. I trust and believe you my one true God.

Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, being of one substance true God; yours is the kingdom, power, and glory now and forever.

Amen. Yay, yay, it shall be so.

These are just some of the thoughts that I have prayed to God. I am sure you have many thoughts in your life you can put into this prayer. This was an example of how we are to pray to the one and only true God. You might want to try and just let your mind, your heart, and spirit express their words to the God who has promised to hear you.

Talk to God daily for He promises to hear you!