Sunday Scripture and Sermon for February 3, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The scripture reading for this coming Sunday is Matthew 17: 1-9, the Transfiguration of Jesus. In this story Jesus' face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light, he is glorified by God, and visited by Elijah and Moses. The Sermon title is "Transition,' and will look at this passage as a transition in the ministry of Jesus from healing, teaching, etc. to the ministry of salvation through the cross. Hope to see you there. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 7: 36-50; Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believing Jesus is the Son of God is not enough. Faith is certainly a step in the right direction, but along with faith there must be worship. We all believe in Jesus every second of every minute of every day. We gather together each Sunday in the house of God to worship Jesus, but worship should be more than just Sunday morning. As we leave the house of God we should still be singing our songs of praise and thanksgiving for all Christ has done for us. He has given us our forgiveness. Like the sinful woman, we have all led sinful lives. But Jesus has taken care of that for us. Through his life, and his death on the cross, Jesus has made sure we are forgiven of our sins. In response to that let us all spend more time of every day worshiping and praising Jesus for all he has done for us. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Praise and Winterfest: February 2, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friends, I wanted to remind all of you of Praise and Winterfest which will be this coming Saturday at 6:00 p.m. I encourage you all to come to this event so that we can spend time worshiping God and having fun and fellowship with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope to see you there. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 7: 18-35; Jesus and John the Baptist

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospels are supposed to be read retrospectively. That is to say, we are supposed to read the gospels and look back at what has already happened to figure out what is going on. In this case, the disciples of John the Baptists come to Jesus and ask if he is the Messiah. Jesus responds by saying "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." And if we look back on the ministry of Jesus before this time we will find that Jesus has done all of these things. So, in short, Jesus is saying that he is the one who is to come; he is the one people have been waiting for. Jesus' answer to John's disciples is for us as well. We are told here to never forget who Jesus is and what Jesus came to do. We have all the 'evidence' we need to show us that Jesus is the Son of God, the one who has come to deliver us from sin and give us eternal life. Remember who Jesus is and what he came to do. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Ash Wednesday Service on February 6, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friends, I wanted to let you all know that we will be having an Ash Wednesay Service here at the church on February 6, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. Ash Wednesday is an important holiday in the Christian Year, as it marks the official beginning of Lent. Lent is the time when we remember and celebrate what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is also the time when we work toward our call to repent and turn from sin. Please come and join us as we begin the celebration of Lent. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 7: 11-17; Jesus Raises a Widow's Son

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her." Jesus performed a lot of miracles for a lot of people. And there have been people I'm sure who would want to label Jesus as a show-off. Some people see the many miracles Jesus performed and they want to point the finger and say Jesus was just showing off for all the people, trying to make his following even bigger by doing a bunch of magic tricks. But here, in this story, we find evidence that that is just not the case. Jesus was filled with compassion for the people he met. This woman, who had already lost her husband, has just lost her son. Now she will have no one to turn to, no one to love, and no one to love her back. Jesus knows this and his heart breaks for the woman. So, Jesus reaches out in compassion for the woman. Jesus cares. I cannot put it any better than that. We follow a Lord who cares about us. And in his compassion for us Jesus reaches out to us and eases our pain and suffering. Praise God! God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 7: 1-10; The Faith of the Centurion

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.


The stories in which Jesus heals people usually have something in them about the faith of the person being healed. Jesus says several times over 'your faith has made you well,' or something very close to that. The people Jesus met knew he could do great things for them. With so many inventions and advances in today's world we don't always believe in miracles these days. But miracles happen every day. Maybe people are not being raised from the dead every day, but God is still present and active in the lives of his people. Jesus is still among us doing great things for those who love and believe in his name. Some miracles may be harder to see, but they are there. Remember that Jesus is still doing miracles in all of our lives. Believe in the power of Jesus' name, and believe what Jesus can and will do for you. God bless you.

Pastor Josh

Luke 6: 40-46; The Wise and Foolish Builders

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8)." The world in which we live has many things to offer. The internet is a place where we can meet people and find out anything we need to know. Movies and television are a place where we can find happiness and joy. Books are a place where we can escape the troubles of this world and live as someone else. But the problem with all of these things is that they are temporary. Someday something is going to be invented to make the internet obsolete. Someday, they'll stop making movies. And someday we may just run out of enough trees to print books. There is only one thing that will stand forever, and that is God. God was in the beginning, he is now, and he will be in the future. Let us build our lives on the one thing that will always be there: God. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 6: 43-45; A Tree and Its Fruit

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a call by Jesus to do what he commands. The good fruit metaphor is used a lot by Jesus in connection with living a righteous life. Discipleship requires righteous living. We have the grace that comes form knowing Jesus and being welcomed into his presence, but there is also the requirement to be righteous. Jesus gives his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, a sermon largely devoted to living good. In the end of the sermon he concludes by saying 'be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.' These are not just idle words of Jesus, words to give us something to shoot for. This is a command. We are to be righteous, to be holy. We should bear good fruit. It is not easy to be perfect, to bear good fruit. But through faith in Christ, and the help of Christ, we can achieve holiness, we can bear good fruit. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 6: 37-41; Judging Others

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is right up there with loving others; showing other people mercy and forgiveness for what they have done. But it is also about recognizing that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one is perfect, except Jesus, and we would be fooling ourselves to think that on some level we may be perfect. We have all sinned, we have all disappointed God. And Jesus does not want us to turn around and start pointing fingers at each other. Jesus wants us all to be aware of the fact that we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Jesus would also have us remember that we are saved. The ministry of Christ revolves around salvation, and Jesus would have us remember that we have been saved from our sin through him. Yes, we have sinned. But it has all been erased by the work of Christ. Praise be to God! God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for January 27, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The scripture text for this Sunday is Matthew 4: 12-23, in which Jesus begins his teaching and preaching ministry after John the Baptist is thrown into prison. My sermon title is 'Spread the Word,' and it will focus on the message of Jesus that the kingdom of God is near, who that message is for, and how we are to go out and preach the good news. See you Sunday. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 6: 27-38; Love for Enemies

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is probably one of the most difficult commands of Jesus. Love your friends and family is easy. That is what we do; we love the people who are important to us. But to love our enemies is something very different. What makes it hard is the detail Jesus goes into here: if someone strikes you..., if someone steals your tunic..., if someone mistreats you..., etc. These are the kinds of things that make it very hard to love someone; when they have actively done something to try and hurt you. But Jesus tells us that we should love our enemies as God has loved us. We have all done things God doesn't like. But God still loves us. He loves us so much he was willing to send his one and only son into this world to give us life and forgiveness. Sometimes it is a struggle for us to love those who have mistreated us. When we do struggle with that, let us all remember the amazing love God has for us. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 6: 17-26; Blessings and Woes

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Note in this introduction to Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount the people who came to Jesus and who the blessings from Jesus are for. The people who come to Jesus are people who are suffering. And the blessings that Jesus offer are for the poor, the hungry, and those who are being persecuted. Following Jesus is not easy. There are trials and tribulations for all of us who believe in Christ and follow his name. We are told here, and in other places, that the journey of faith is filled with difficulties. But we have some good news. Someday we will be rich, filled with the bread of life, and we will be persecuted no longer. Though the journey of faith is hard, we have a reward waiting for us when we are done. If we stay true to the faith; if we continue to follow Jesus, we will be blessed beyond measure. The journey of faith is not a journey for the faint of heart. Much is required of us, and much will get in our way. But praise be to Jesus that in the end our journey will be worth it. Praise be to Jesus that we will receive our blessings when we are done. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 6:12-16; The Twelve Apostles

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The names of the twelve disciples differ in some of the gospels, but the spirit of discipleship remains the same. These were the ones whom Jesus called to share with others the good news. These men, and women, were not well educated, most of them were not from wealthy families; in short, the disciples were simple people. But that did not stop them from doing the work Christ called them to do. Jesus called these people and he sent them out to deliver the good news, to care for the sick and the poor. And they followed that call. We are not Disciples in name only. We are all disciples of Christ, followers of Christ, workers of Christ. Jesus has called us all to be disciples; he has called us all to go out and spread the good news and care for those in need. When you wake up each morning ask yourself the question, 'what can I do to serve Christ today, to be a good disciple?' In that spirit, go out and make more disciples. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 6: 1-11; Lord of the Sabbath

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a debate among biblical scholars as to whether or not Jesus supported the Law. On the one hand Jesus says the two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor. Those two commandments are a summation of the entire Law of the Old Testament. But on the other hand Jesus says here that in certain cases it is ok to break the Law, if you're going to do something good. And that is the point Jesus is making. Living a righteous life is not about taking only one thousand steps on the Sabbath. Living a righteous life involves the two greatest commandments. I think Jesus would agree with the statement that as long as you truly love God and truly love your neighbor you are living the life God would have you live. Righteousness, holiness, service to God, is about love. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 5: 33-39; Jesus Questioned About Fasting

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, "As long as I am with my disciples they will have no reason to be sad and fast." This is how I take the words of Jesus about fasting. For the disciples of Jesus everything is fine. They're with the Messiah, he's teaching them all kinds of useful information, and they're witnesses to God's glory in Jesus. Not to mention the fact that being the disciples of the Messiah must get some extra points (in their way of thinking). In short, the disciples are with Jesus so everything is ok. That is still true today. Jesus is still with us, which gives us a big reason to rejoice. Not only do we have someone with us everywhere we go, but that someone also happens to be the Son of God. If that is not good news I don't know what is. We will never have to fast in our sadness of being without Christ, for we will never be without Christ. He will be with us always. Go forth rejoicing in the eternal presence of the Lord. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 5: 27-31; The Calling of Levi

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Christianity started as a religion for the downtrodden and the outcasts of society; people who were seen as second rate by the rest of the world. It still is that today. We may not all be tax collectors, and we may not all have leprosy, but we are all broken in some way. And the good news Jesus Christ brings is that there is a place for all of us. We are welcome before the Lord, we all are invited into the Father's presence. No matter who we are, what we've done, or what we're going through, there is a place for us with God. Thanks to our Lord Jesus for giving us all a place where we are loved, accepted, and healed. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 5: 17-26; Jesus Heals a Paralytic

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Who has the authority to forgive sins but God alone?" the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked as Jesus forgave the paralytic of his sins. That is a fair question, and the answer is no one. No one except God can forgive sins. This, friends, leaves us with only one possible thought: Jesus is God in the flesh. In John's gospel Jesus says "I and the Father are one." Isaiah prophesied that the name of the child to be born will be Immanuel, which means God With Us. In the person of Jesus Christ God came down and lived the life of a man. No more calling of prophets, no more sending people to try and get the world back on track. God says 'I am going down there myself.' And that is the good news of the gospel. God did not send someone, he came himself. God has graced the world with his actual physical presence. God came down and walked beside us. He came down to give us life, to forgive us of our sins, to be with us. Praise be to God for coming down and living the life of a man, a man named Jesus, in order that we might have life and forgiveness of sins through him. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for January 20, 2008

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This Sunday the scripture text is from John 1: 29-34, in which John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God, and says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. My sermon is titled 'No More Sin,' and will be looking at both of these claims of John about Jesus and what they mean for our salvation. See you Sunday. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 5: 12-16; The Man With Leprosy

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

If there was ever a group of people who had a totally miserable life it was the lepers. Being sick was bad enough, but they were also kicked out of all the towns, forced to make their own colonies in caves and other primitive places. Jesus didn't really seem to care all that much that the lepers were outsiders. In fact, that is who Jesus spent most of his time with: the sinners and the outcasts. Jesus did not preach to the sinners and outcasts from a far off place. He spent time with them. As they were suffering, Jesus was with them. In their time of need they were not alone. We may not all have leprosy, but we are all suffering. We are all outcasts in our own way. And we have all sinned. And for those of us who need someone in our lives, we have Jesus. We will never be alone, for we have a Lord who will always be with us, no matter what the circumstances are. When we are suffering we know we have Jesus in our lives, and that he will give us the message we all need to hear: I am with you always. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 5: 1-11; The Calling of the First Disciples

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"I will make you fishers of people," said Jesus to the men who would go on to become his disciples. As a fisherman I have always loved all the fishing metaphors that go along with being a disciple of Jesus. In this sense, I like the idea that we are supposed to 'catch people.' Now, the idea in fishing, of course, is to throw something to the fish that they cannot resist; something that is so good they can't help but take a bite (usually, a nice fat nightcrawler works). And with that, you've gone and caught yourself a fish. We are called to be disciples, and therefore to catch people. Our words should be so good that people cannot resist. Most people Jesus met could not resist the good news he brought to them. It should be the same with us. As we go out into the world to bring people the gospel, let us give them a message they will not be able to resist: that we are saved and loved by God. That is the message we should bear; that is the message people cannot get enough of. As you go forth to make disciples, to be fishers of people, remember to share the good news with people that we are saved and loved by God. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 4: 38-44; Jesus Heals Many

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are never really told very much about Jesus taking breaks from his work. I'm sure he slept or sat down for a few minutes now and then, but based on today's passage, it looks like Jesus stayed as busy as humanly possible. And thank God for that. Jesus never quit working. He was always healing people, he was always preaching the good news. Why? Why did Jesus spend all this time doing the work he needed to do without stopping very much? Because Jesus was compassionate. Jesus cared about people, and he still cares about us. If someone needed healing Jesus healed them; because he cared. If someone needed some good news in their life Jesus gave them the good news of the gospel; because he cared. Part of Jesus' business revolved around the fact that he knew he only had so much time to do the work he was sent to do. But more than anything else, more than any other reason, Jesus kept healing and kept preaching the good news because he loves us. Jesus stayed busy because of his never ending love for us. Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for loving us enough to send us his son, who also loves us. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 4: 31-37; Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is easy sometimes to forget who Jesus is. We get so busy with all the things going on in our lives that we don't always remember Jesus, and that he is the Holy One of God. We get so caught up with who is right and who is wrong that we forget that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. But let us remember that even the evil spirits whom Jesus encountered knew who he was. They knew who Jesus was and what he could do. In our world of the internet and other sources of information and 'fulfillment' let us remember who Jesus is and why he came here. He is none other than the Messiah, the one who has come to save us from sin. This brief passage in Luke is, among other things, a subtle reminder that Jesus is the Holy One of God. Let us remember that all of our days. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 4: 14-30; Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ

Of course, Jesus was right. We have the benefit of hindsight, so we have the benefit of knowing that everything Jesus said about himself is correct. Jesus knew who he was. But Jesus also knew that what he said, particularly about himself, would cause a lot of people to be angry. He knew that saying things like 'today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,' would make a lot of people mad. That did not stop Jesus from speaking the truth. Even though he knew it would eventually lead to his death he still spoke. Not everyone wants to hear about Jesus. Some people don't believe in him, and some people just don't have the time. That should not stop us from proclaiming the name and good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus calls his disciples to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We, as Jesus' disciples, should follow that call. No matter what people say or do we should forever preach the name of Jesus Christ. God bless,

Pastor Josh
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Luke 4: 1-13; The Temptation of Jesus

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ

This passage has always been a favorite of mine, and the reason is simple: Jesus went through what we go through. On Christmas Eve, I preached on the phrase 'Immanuel, God with us,' which is what Christmas is really about. 'God with us' means everything to our life of faith. God, since he lived the life of a man, knows what we're going through when we face temptation because God, as the man Jesus, has faced what we face. When we feel tempted we can go to God and know that he will guide us through, because God has been through it all himself. Jesus, after being baptized, went out into the wilderness where he was tempted for forty days. What this means for us is that we have a God who understands what we face. We have a God who can guide us through anything because he has been through it himself in, through, and as Jesus Christ. We follow a God who knows what we face, which makes him better able to help us. Thanks be to God.

Pastor Josh
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Luke 3: 1-19; John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ,

John the Baptist has always seemed a little radical to me. What with his 'brood of vipers' and 'the axe is already at the root of the tree,' it is very hard to feel good about John. Nonetheless, what he says does make a great deal of sense. He is making the point that the Israelites are taking their relationship with God for granted. In other words, they were of the opinion that since they were chosen they did not have to live faithfully. John is telling them that is wrong. That message is true for us as well. Yes, we are saved. Yes, all of our sins are washed away by Jesus. But does that excuse us from living a holy and righteous life? No. We are called by Jesus to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. Jesus calls us to not take our salvation for granted, but to be blameless before the Lord. Our holiness should be done in response to what has been done for us in Christ Jesus. We have been given all we need through Jesus. Let us now in response, in praise and thanksgiving, be holy as Christ would have us be. God bless you,

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This coming Sunday I will be preaching on Isaiah 42: 1-9, which is the first of the Servant Songs, highlighting the work of the Messiah. My sermon title is "Christ the Mediator," and it will deal with Christ's work as the mediator of revelation. Hope to see you on Sunday. God bless,

Pastor Josh

Luke 2: 41-52; The Boy Jesus at the Temple

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I would be in my Father's house?" Now, this kind of talk may get you some kind of punishment from your parents. But for the moment let's put that aside and look at the boy Jesus. Even at the age of 12 he was dying to be in the House of the Lord. From the age of 12 Jesus was doing the work he had been sent to do. I think this story is very important because it tells us that Jesus knew who he was and knew what he was supposed to do from the time he was a small boy. From the time he was a boy Jesus was preaching the word, helping people to understand the word, and beginning the work for our salvation. This story is importnat because it lets us know that from the beginning of his life Jesus was doing God's work. What this means is that it is more than the cross that saves us; it is the entire life and ministry of Jesus that saves us. The boy Jesus at the Temple tells us that our salvation began with the child Jesus. Be thankful for the entire life and ministry of Jesus Christ, as he is the source of our salvation.

Pastor Josh

Welcome

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope you find this site useful. The main purpose of this site is to post daily devotions, which will include a scripture passage and a brief meditation. I will also be posting the scripture passage and title of my weekly sermon, as well as other thoughts and announcements of what is going on in the life of the church.

Luke 2:21-39: Jesus Presented in the Temple

Simeon's and Anna's words struck me the most as I read this passage. They had both been waiting for the Messiah for a long time, an entire lifetime for both, in fact. And neither of them had ever wavered in their faith, in their belief that the Messiah would someday come to deliver the people from their sins and reveal who God is. We, like Simeon and Anna, are in the habit of waiting, but we wait for something else. In this culture we are always on the lookout for something new, for the next big invention that will be even better than the last; waiting for that thing that will make our lives better. Friends, we don't have to wait for what we truly need. Jesus is here, he is among us, and through him we have all we will ever need. Through Jesus we have salvation, eternal life, and an eternal companion, someone to walk with us as we go through this life. As we begin this New Year, let us remember that we have all we will ever need through Jesus Christ our Lord. We don't have to wait for anything, for we have all we need through him. Praise God.


Pastor Josh