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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 24

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“O Give Thanks!”

READING: Psalm 100 – Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness to all generations. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Growing up in a farm community, I always looked forward to Thanksgiving. It was one of the most important holidays we celebrated, preceded only by Easter and Christmas. Farmers understand Thanksgiving in a way that city-dwellers would find difficult to duplicate. Every spring they till the land, almost literally bury thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in the ground in the form of fertilizers and seed, equipment costs and fuel. Tåhen, they trust that the Lord will provide for them a harvest in the fall. If they get too much rain in the spring, the planting comes late. If it gets dry early, the plants suffer and get stunted, decreasing their åyield. If the summer heat is too intense and the rains don’t come, the crop can quite literally burn up in the fields. And, even if a bumper crop has come with wonderfully timed rains and clement weather, the harvest time can still cause trouble if the autumn rains come early. So, when Thanksgiving comes, the harvesting is usually completed, the crops are sold or stored, and the farmers have a pretty good idea of the return they’ve received on their springtime investments. They usually have good reason to “Sing to the Lord of Harvest” and to belt out “Now Thank We All Our God”.

In Judaism, the faithful also had a thanksgiving celebration. It was called Pentecost, or The Feast of Weeks, or The Harvest Festival. It took place at the end of May or in early June after the barley and wheat had been gathered in. They brought burnt offerings and grain offerings in thanksgiving for the produce God had provided them, the produce that would see them through the coming year with bread for the hungry and seed for the sower during the rainy season to come.

Fitting then, don’t you think that Pentecost for the Christians became a celebration of the ingathering that took place on the day that the Holy Spirit came to rest upon twelve confused, reluctant, and hard-scrabble disciples of the Master who was slain but rose again. They preached the Gospel in multiple languages, sowing the seed of the Good News of Jesus, then watched in wonder as a harvest of righteousness and faith came to fruition right before their eyes. “First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear. Lord of harvest, grant that we, wholesome grain and pure may be.”

How “meet, right, and salutary” it is for us as God’s family to thank and praise him for all that he has provided for us in this year fast coming to its end. I know, I know! I’ve groused about 2020 just like everyone else. It has been a bitter year in too many ways. We lost loved ones, struggled with COVID-19 and all its attendant hassles, fears, and unknowns. We had riots in our cities, division in our streets, isolation in our homes, separation from friends and families, a fractious election, and scores of other disappoints and sorrows. But through it all, the Lord has been with us. He’s provided resources, led us to new understandings, and continues to strengthen us with his word and his sacraments. God is still God. The King still reigns. Advent starts next week, and Christmas is close behind. We will sing his praises and trust in his goodness. So with our brothers and sisters across the fruited plain, let us give thanks to the Lord our God, for his mercy endures forever and ever. A Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to each and every one of you! Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

THANKSGIVING EVE SERVICE: Wednesday, November 25, 7:00 P.M. This service will also be shown online live at glcna.com.

ADVENT SERIES: “Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with Your God” (Micah 6:8)
Wednesdays, 7:00 P.M. – December 2, 9, and 16

“GIFTS FOR KIDS” – Watch for announcements soon regarding the purchase, wrapping, and distribution of toys, games, and clothing needs for children in needy families – both within the congregation and in our community. I’ll need shoppers and wrappers. If you can one or both, write a little note and get it to me, or call Karen and ask her to put a note on my desk. You’ll hear from me.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/v8JGX63pMbE

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDNov24.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 23

Monday, November 23, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Giving Thanks in All Circumstances”

Happy Thanksgiving to you. Thanksgiving remains one of my favorite holidays. I love the simplicity of Thanksgiving: get together with family and friends, eat yourself into a turkey coma, watch the Detroit Lions snatch defeat out of the hands of victory, and enjoy the people you’re with. It’s wonderfully basic. No tree. No presents to buy. No eggs to hide. No costume to wear. No valentine’s flowers to bring. Thanksgiving is wonderfully without all the obligations that are associate with most other times of the year. And it focuses not on what we do not have but on what we do.

Today we turn to a passage from Luke 17:11-19 which talks about a thankful Samaritan. It seems that there are “Good Samaritans” and thankful ones.

“While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” (KJV) Luke 17:11-19

Leperousy had brought together Samarians and Galileans but as soon as they were healed they went their different ways. What was different about this tenth victim of leprosy? Its subtle but the difference is in two words “cleansed” katharizo (no longer having the disease of leprosy) and “healed” sesoken, (meaning to be “whole” or “well”). It carries overtones of “to rescue, save, or heal.” In other words, faith in Jesus resulted from the healing. The other nine ran to the priest so they could return to their families as soon as possible. Who could blame them? To be indefinitely separated or socially distant from the people we love has proven itself to be detrimental to our families during Covid. Isolation has bred loneliness and fear. Reports from families of our shut-ins report a high level of depression and sadness. These lepers probably felt this way in their isolation. Short of a miracle, none of them probably expected to hug their spouse or children ever again. But before going back to his family one man who comes to faith in Jesus makes it a point to thank the Lord before going home to his family. That’s the spirit of thanksgiving.

Nothing brings focused to what we have until it is gone. For this reason, I routinely encourage Confirmands to give thanks for their eyes, ears, and senses, good backs, strong legs and flexibility, hand strong enough to unscrew the Jiffy Peanut Butter, strong lungs, a healthy heart, a digestive system that works like it should.

My first, hospital call was to a 17 year old girl who had leukemia. She was laying in a bed powerless to move, bonnet on her bald head, with her mom on the side of the bed journaling for her because she was too weak to write that day. “Pastor”, she said, “I look forward to being able to take a shower and brush my teeth.” I thought, “I do that every day without a single thought but this young lady would love to have that simple little thing.” She gives thanks for it today. Thankfully she went on to marry and have kids of her own, a miracle.

This week I turn 51 already. Seems like I just celebrated my 50th. Half of a century of life I have lived. Some say, “It’s just another day.” Others say, “it’s a threshold of sorts.” AARP magically finds you and stalks you with invitations to the old-people’s club. Jokes are made about going over the hill. Doctors boldly go where no one has been before introducing a torture chamber of ways that would get normal people in other professions serious jail time. And they use strange tools that would otherwise be outlawed by the Geneva convention. Others who have crossed the threshold long ago speak of the golden years with a sinister smile as though some ominous thing is about to strike. They say that I get to look forward to new prescriptions and wondrous side-effects; aches and pains, along with specialists whose names I will not be able to pronounce. Many are the woes of aging and the humiliation that widdles away the dignity and strength of far too many. Time after fifty they say goes so much faster. Someone once said, “Getting older is like a roll of toilet paper—the closer one gets to the end the faster it goes.” The floor gets farther down, ladders get taller, and everything gets heavier from this point. It is a time of forgetting things and life getting faster than one can keep up.

On the day that I turned 50 however I found myself mostly grateful. Glad that my youth didn’t get me killed or overrun by the stupidity of my youth. I am grateful for just how far I have come and how rich my life feels. I am Grateful for Tricia and I am grateful for my boys becoming fine, hardworking, young men.

I am grateful that this year I now have two wonderful daughter-in-laws that I am proud to have as part of our family. I am grateful for this congregation, the people I work with, and the many I have known over the years—many of whom I miss terribly. The biggest lesson at fifty was that I am learning better to savor the moment whatever that moment may be. I encourage you to do the same.

Enjoy what you have. When you start listing your blessings you will find you already have a lot. This year even little things that were once taken for granted are worth noticing; like toilet paper. For the Leper that thanked Jesus, I will bet that he took stock of every detail of his life while he was separated with Leprosy. And if I was in his shoes, I would thank the good Lord for my life, and would make it a point never to waste another minute complaining about what I didn’t have.

That’s the beauty of thanksgiving. Giving thanks is the greatest antidote to complaining, envy, and discontentment. In Philippians 4:11-13 Paul writes, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” What Paul realizes is how much he has in any and every situation, well fed or hungry, in plenty or in want. He’s been healed in Jesus—made whole and therefore no longer limited by things he doesn’t have. He has what is needed most. And so do we.

So, let us say Happy Thanksgiving this week. Let us give thanks for all that good God has given in Jesus. Let us give thanks for the family we love, the car that gets us places, the home that keeps us warm, the table that keeps us fed, and for the humble basics of our lives that are often so subtle they may get overlooked. Hug your kids and take a breath. Enjoy and give thanks.

Announcements and Blessing

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDNov23.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/WKos3Vdb0Mg

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 17

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Time Out!”

READING: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 – “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

On the first weekend of this month it was time to turn back the clock and to shed ourselves of “Daylight Savings Time”, at least until the spring when we “spring ahead” again. It’s always during that task that I am reminded just how many clocks we have in our house: two in the kitchen, one in the living room, one in the dining room, three in the master bedroom, two in the master bath, one in the half-bath, four in the basement, one in the den, two in the upstairs bath, one in each of the bedrooms upstairs, and three watches! Thank goodness, the cell phones update automatically! Oh, and there’s also a clock to change back in each of the cars, and I always have trouble figuring out the one in Becky’s car. By my count that’s 24 timepieces plus the cell phones! What in the world are we doing with all those clocks?!!

Well, we are temporal beings. That means we are bound by time. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time to be born and a time to die.” We have a definite beginning and a well-defined end. Between those two events, “we have places to be and people to see.” And, many of those activities have an appointed time, a time requirement that we subdivide into days, hours, and minutes. We all have calendars and appointment books that do the same with the larger units of weeks, months, and years. We can’t help it; we are temporal beings.

The Writer begins the passage with, “There is a time for everything…” I wish! I can scarcely believe that I have arrived at a point in my life where I have more money than time. Time is my most precious commodity. I value it, try not to waste it, and never seem to have enough of it. We celebrated my 30 years at Grace a couple of months ago, and I couldn’t help but reflect upon how amazingly fast those years have flown by. When I think about it, with my 67th birthday the next one coming, 30 more years would put me at the ripe old age of 97! It could happen; probably won’t. But if the next 30 go by as fast as the last 30, old age is just a few breaths away!

I think the older we get the more we think about time passing and try to hold it back. My Grandpa Kischnick often said to me, “Wait until you get older! The years go by like months, the months go by like weeks, and weeks go by like days!” I would consider his words, but I had trouble with the whole concept. After all, when we were children the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to take FOREVER! We thought Christmas would NEVER get here. Now, Thanksgiving and Christmas nearly touch each other in my usual seasonal frenzy!

But here’s the Good News: Our God is eternal, immortal, imperishable; the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! God is the inventor of time. He stands above and beyond it. And, he has promised us in the coming of our Savior, that we, too, shall be eternal beings. Death will probably come for each one of us, unless Jesus comes back soon. (“Come, Lord Jesus, come soon!”) But Jesus has already shown us that death cannot and will not hold us. The day will come when “…the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God” will wake us from our slumber and the voice of Jesus will say, “Come out!” And we will come out of death into life, and that life will be immortal, eternal, imperishable. And we will find no clocks in heaven, no calendars, no date books! Time will be eternal time – no Daylight Savings Time needed. And we will have the time to adore, to praise, to marvel at, to utterly and thoroughly enjoy the company of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And what a time that will be!

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

THANKSGIVING EVE SERVICE: Wednesday, November 25, 7:00 P.M.

ADVENT SERIES: “Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with Your God” (Micah 6:8)
Wednesdays, 7:00 P.M. – December 2, 9, and 16

“GIFTS FOR KIDS” – Watch for announcements soon regarding the purchase, wrapping, and distribution of toys, games, and clothing needs for children in needy families – both within the congregation and in our community. I’ll need shoppers and wrappers. If you can one or both, write a little note and get it to me, or call Karen and ask her to put a note on my desk. You’ll hear from me.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/UrLOB2VzBFw

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDNov17.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 16

Monday, November 16, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“When Facing Uncertainty? Part 2: Using the Strength Within You.”

Last week we talked about the uncertainty that many are feeling in 2020. We also talked about the importance to lean on what is certain when uncertainty strikes. Our only true certainty in an unstable, sinful world, is an eternal Jesus who remains the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This week to begin our thoughts I would ask you to highlight Judges 4:14: “The LORD turned to him (Gideon) and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

What strength did Gideon have? First, we must realize that the Lord always sees potential before we see it in ourselves. The Lord saw potential in young David who was the youngest, the one with the least standing in the Jesse’s family. God looked at David’s heart and not at the outward strength of David’s brothers and eventually made David, a king. St. Paul was an enemy of the church but Jesus made him into an apostle to the Gentiles. Little children looked unimportant to the disciples who initially tried to prevent them from coming to Jesus but Jesus called them the greatest in the kingdom.

God saw potential in Gideon that he didn’t see in himself. Gideon knew the Lord and welcomed the visit from the Angel of the Lord. Gideon was also ready to humble himself before the Lord.

The Lord knew that Gideon also had courage as well as humility but that courage needed a chance to breath and to be let out to stretch its legs. The Lord broke the chains of fear by waking up that courage with the command to sacrifice to the Lord. In doing so Gideon first would to learn how to stand up to his own relatives and community for what was right in the eyes of the Lord. They were practicing idolatry. In the later verses of Judges 6 the Lord tells Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to idols and built an altar to the Lord. Still, instinctively cautious because his life had been lived in caution for so long, Gideon makes the sacrifice at night because we are told in verse 27 hat Gideon was afraid of his family’s reaction and the community.

Gideon sacrifices his father’s seven-year old bull (somehow, they had kept from the Midianites) to the Lord. In the morning many within his family want to condemn Gideon to death for destroying the altars to the idols. But his father steps up to defend Gideon, “’If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.’” 32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, ‘Let Baal contend with him.’” Gideon’s father loved his son and defended Gideon. So, another of Gideon’s strengths was his father who stood behind him in complete support. Perhaps a friend or family member stands behind us like this too. God was building within Gideon a courage in and through his father and especially through a successful sacrifice to the Lord.

Courage in truth is very rare. Very few have real courage. Like most of us, Gideon was always a work in progress. For example, the courage to confront family for the truth of the Gospel is a touchy one. Often it gets passed over to maintain peace. And usually the unbelieving, or non-practicing Christian acts “offended” and “put out” often to intimidate and avoid or skew the conversation away from the Bible. But courage that is mixed with shrewd wisdom, tact, and an ability to listen is very hard to match. Gideon was fearful but he had other gifts; love for God, putting his actions where his mouth was, and wisdom to apply the information at the right time. We all have some gifts. Many simply misuse them or misplace them. Gideon had gifts that God wanted to use at that precise moment and time. Courage is rare but when applied with God-given gifts can bring courage to others.

And so, one night the Lord promised Gideon victory over the Midianites. The Midianite army was intimidating because of its size and reputation. But again, the Lord gave reason to believe in victory that was promised. So, he instructed Gideon to sneak down among the Midianite camp and listen. Gideon heard his own name mentioned with a tone of fear. We learn quickly that the truly courageous are the ones who are feared most; they are the most inspiring, and the most effective. God was shaping Gideon to be a courageous leader of Israel who would by his actions teach others to trust in God. Gideon was routinely afraid but acted anyway in faithfulness to God’s call. Gideon’s courage took action in his obedience to God’s instructions and his trust in God. And when he heard the fear of his enemies his courage solidified. Gideon that very night went immediately to work while the fear was still fresh in the minds of the soldiers. Uncertainty was now certain. God was already fighting for Gideon and Israel. Likewise, long before courage or wisdom we remember that God is already fighting for you and me. God is waking up places/gifts deep within us that we may not even know we have.
So, Gideon divided his men into three companies (100 each). Armed with torches, clay jars, and trumpets they shouted at the edge of the Midianite camp, blew their horns and raised their torches. The thousands of enemies turned on each other; the fear had turned them against one another in confusion. Eventually those that were left retreated and were later slaughtered by the Israelites. The battle belonged to the Lord and Gideon was the agent to play it out. The greatest strength Gideon had was the Lord. He is our strength too. And like Gideon Jesus is already preparing the path ahead.

Isaiah 65:42 reminds us; “Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And Ephesians 2:10 says, ” For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” And in John 14:1-7 Jesus says, “I am going to the Father’s House to prepare a place for you. I will come back to get you so that you will be with me where I am.” All of these passages remind us our God and Lord, Jesus is always ahead of our enemies and in His wisdom far exceeds any of their schemes or strengths. He is always the reason for us to have courage and the reason eventually, all enemies, including death, are defeated.

Imagine, for argument’s sake alone; if the resurrection of Jesus is real (and it is) what enemy can stand up against the truth of the Gospel. None. Finally, Jesus gives opportunities for good works to wake up those deep places within us in a way that fortifies our own courage and trust in Him—which is the goal.

Like fear, courage is contagious. But unlike fear, courage is transformational too. Courage that acts will find strengths that we have, perhaps didn’t know we have. When we put to action what we say we believe it inspires and encourages others to have courage in the Lord and come out of hiding as it did when Gideon called Israel to arms. The gifts within Gideon shaped Israel for a generation. We too shape the next generation either by our courage or in our hiding. By grace may we therefore be courageous and bold to trust in Jesus. Speak and someone may listen. Act and someone may believe and follow. Do not underestimate the strength you have in Jesus’. Amen.

Announcements and Blessing

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDNov16.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/Vh4j6nIkj2g

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 10

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Veterans of the Cross”

READING: Revelation 7:9, 13-17 – After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands…Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and I want to commend all our military veterans with a “well done” and a “thanks for your service!” My dad was a Korean vet and proud of his service. He was, thankfully, never in combat (although he did get shot “just once” from long range), but he spent a long, cold winter in South Korea, not far from the DMZ. As a medic, he saved the life of a soldier who managed to accidently shoot himself in the arm pit with his carbine. The whole experience was one that was formative in his life, but also one he wouldn’t have taken a million dollars to repeat.

Last Monday we pulled bread for the Turkey Supper, and I was seeing “ghosts”. That was my 31st time pulling bread, and when I do that I think back and remember the faces of all those saints with whom I pulled bread in the years gone by. I see Chuck Osburn in the kitchen with a frilly apron on, wearing a tie, and sharpening knives. I see Roxie Minter and Joyce Appleby arguing about how best to do some task in that same kitchen. I see Frances Anderson, Frances Borkenheim, and Frances Conrad (“Frances’s A, B, and C”) sitting at the tables pulling bread and sharing the latest intelligence they had gathered from their network of friends. I see Irene and Chet Norton, Grace Martin, Mildred Lewellen, Esther Hilton, Pearl Croxall, Delphine Dunlap, and others who pop in and out of my mind. And, of course, I could hear the echoes of Ron Jenkins’ voice giving orders and teasing nearly everyone there!

On All Saints Day, when we commemorated those of our congregation whom the Lord called home to glory in this past year, I could picture each one in my mind. I’ve been here so long that when someone dies, I don’t mourn a parishioner, but a family member. Each death makes me sad; each passing causes me to mourn. If it were not for the promise of eternal life and reunion in heaven that the Father has given us through his Son, Jesus Christ, this would be a miserable calling. So many faces; so many memories; so many “Veterans of the Cross”. And that is what they are.

When we live our lives connected to Christ Jesus, we are connected as well to his cross. Life has its ups and downs; it has its hurts and joys and sorrows. But always we see them all through the cross and the Resurrection, supported and comforted by the promise that connected to Jesus, we are connected to each other and to all those who have already received their crown ahead of us. Those folks I was remembering are not lost to us, nor are they far from us. We will see them again. We will embrace them again. And we will worship our God and King together with them in glory.

So, a blessed Veterans Day to those of you who served our nation when she called. And, a blessed remembrance of all the Veterans of the Cross who touched our lives and our hearts. They live with Christ as will we, and we will see them again before the Throne and in front of the Lamb, wearing the white robes of Jesus’ righteousness, waving the Victor’s palm branches, and rejoicing to be in His presence forever. Amen.

Will you prayer with me…

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1) BLOOD DRIVE: Thursday, 3-7 in the gym.

2) THANKS: to all who made the Turkey Supper possible and successful. Special thanks to Joan Longest, Rick Fetz, and the Elders.

3) THANKSGIVING BASKETS and LOVE OFFERING: We intend to gift about 30 families with turkeys and the fixings for a Thanksgiving meal. We need the usual food items and/or financial donations with which to buy those things. You can earmark your gifts on the website or Push/Pay or mail in a check written to Grace and noted with “Thanksgiving Baskets”.

4) VOTERS ASSEMBLY: Sunday, November 22, right after the Late Service. Lunch provided.

5) THANKSGIVING EVE SERVICE: Wednesday, November 25, 7:00 PM.

6) ADVENT SERVICE SERIES: ”Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with Your God” Based on Micah 6:8 – Dec. 2, 9, & 16, 7:00 PM

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/sQ_fWCOHTA0

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: .PDFWeeklyDNov10.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 9

Monday, November 9, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“When Facing Uncertainty? Part 1: Confidence in Who is With Us.”

Well, here we are. It’s a week or so after the election and we have seen angst and division unlike any other time. As razor thin margins in controversial states are litigated and debated any result now will result in half the country feeling cheated. 2020 it seems continues to bring more uncertainty to an already difficult time. It’s this uncertainty that have endured all year I would like to address in these next two devotions.

A feeling of uncertainty often hits hardest in difficult times. For example, when we have lost a spouse, or when we lose our job, or when a divorce takes hold or a number of other things happen, familiar territory suddenly feels very foreign. On the other hand, when times are good, we are confident often in things that take us from the Lord more than draw us to Him. This is our sinful nature. Judges 6:1-10 reminds us that this was a problem for Gideon’s community. They trusted in idols over the Lord but blamed the Lord for the Midianites who bullied, abused, and dispirited the Israelites. The Midianites were allowed to raid the community and take all their food and livestock. People lived in caves because caves couldn’t be destroyed like homes. It was a desperate scene brought about because the Israelites did not listen to the Lord but allowed each person to do what right in their own eyes. And when we meet Gideon, he is secretly threshing wheat in a wine press. This was a job usually done outside so the wind could blow away the chaff. Gideon had learned to protect what little food he had so he meticulously separated the wheat and chaff by hand. But God is merciful.

For Part 1 this this week consider the conversation in Judges 6:11-16. The Angel of the Lord comes to Gideon, 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” (Here the tone of blame in Gideon’s voice—no doubt echoed by his family.)

14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (The strength you have. Gideon was hiding, fearful, doubting God but he is exactly the perfect candidate for God’s purpose to be accomplished. It would have been easy to underestimate Gideon. But that’s the way of our Lord. “Whoever is the least will be the greatest” (Luke 9:48).

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (Exactly, just like David would be just a rugged shepherd boy who brought down a giant.)

16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Up to this point we learn a lot about the nature of our Gideon’s humanity. Midian seeks power over Israel and exercises that power to destroy the spirit of those like Gideon. Midian is using starvation as a tool to control Israel. And Then there is Gideon. Fear of Midian has him working hard to protect what he has left. In upcoming verses God patiently gives Gideon a sign to help him overcome his doubts. But up to this point Gideon is not living up to his full potential. He is living as if Midian is against him rather than with the fact that God is with him.

How about us are we living more like something is against us more than God is for us? Something we need to realize and remember is that there is always something against us. The Devil’s goal is to use any means to make us desperate and stupid enough to give up our faith. Our sin has built within it a strange and powerful capacity for self-destruction. And our natural reaction is to hide, in order to avoid becoming a target. Israel hid and Midian came. Israel hid again and Midian took more. And so, it went. This was the wisdom; “Don’t fight back, just hide and complain”. But for Gideon and God’s people hiding only provoke the Midianite’s to keep taking things from them.

We always have something working against us but we have with us is greater that the world that is for us. The disciples once hid like Gideon, disillusioned and facing deep uncertainty. He hid for fear of the Jews behind a locked door. But when they met the resurrected Jesus they went before those very same religious leaders they once feared and preached Jesus openly. Their fearless preaching changed the world. Twice the Lord told Gideon, “The Lord is with you.” That’s something we need to be reminded of as well.

We live in a time where faith must be real. It is not a time to hide even when every instinct tends toward self-preservation. It is a time to listen to God’s Word, read it and follow it. It is a time to believe what we say we believe. The best way to meet uncertainty is to turn to that which is certain as Gideon eventually did. It is Jesus who promises, “I will not abandon you but will give you another counselor” (John 14:15-21). And in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:20 the whole book of Matthew ends with this phrase. “I will be with you always for all days.” Jesus is a certainty. God took a nobody in Gideon and made him into the very instrument who would inspire others, strengthen the weak, and defend the honor of His God. So, if God can raise you from the dead in and through Jesus’ resurrection as He promised, we will do well to remember to place our confidence in Him, who is with us rather than be afraid of what is against us. So, I encourage you to take courage in who is with you in these uncertain times. In Jesus. Amen.

Announcements and Blessing

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDNov9.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/HYCvQr3_zoA

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 3

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“We Don’t Want You to be Ignorant”

READING: I Thessalonians 4:13-18 – Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of god, and the dead In Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

So, I went running in the rain this morning. I have a firm rule for myself that unless there is thunder and lightning close by or moving in quickly, I run: rain or sunshine, snow or cold, windy or still. So, I went out there this morning in a steady downpour with gusting winds and all. And, I saw something foolish!

The Church on the Rock sits on the corner of Grant Line and Mel Smith. This summer they did some fresh landscaping in front of their main entrance, and in the course of that they had sprinklers installed to water the plants and flowers they’ve planted. Evidently those sprinklers are on an automatic timer because as I ran through their parking lot this morning in a steady rain, their sprinklers were merrily sprinkling away! In the midst of all that rain they were watering their landscaping. I thought to myself, “How foolish that is! They’re paying for water (and New Albany sewage charges based on their water use) that’s totally unneeded and unnecessary.”

This past Sunday was All Saints Day. We celebrated the victory of the saints who ran their race, kept the Faith, and have already received their crown of life. In Luther’s day it was the second most important and observed holiday in the Church, surpassed only by Easter. It’s a little less celebrated in many churches today, but we observe it because of the witness it makes and the comfort it brings to those who mourn.

St. Paul in our text above didn’t want the people of Thessalonica to be foolish in their grief. The unbelieving world makes a mess of funerals and mourning. St. Paul says it’s because they have no hope. Not so for the Christian! We have God’s word that assures us that when our loved ones die, that’s not the end of them or our life with them. St. Paul (and other New Testament writers) assure us that those who fall asleep in Jesus are not lost, not gone forever. He assures us that the day will come when Jesus in great power and full authority will call the dead out of their graves and will bring them to us for a glorious and joyous reunion.

So, while we certainly grieve, we do not grieve like the rest of men. We miss our loved ones, surely. We sorrow for our loss and are lonely for them. But we don’t grieve for THEM. They already are safe with the Lord. No more pain, sickness, sorrow, or death – those things are past for them. And, we are comforted by God’s words and promises that falling asleep in Jesus is a sweet homecoming and temporary state. We will rise again to joy and to life.

So, we don’t need to weep and wail for thirty days. We don’t starve ourselves, wear sack cloth and ashes, and make a big show of our grief. We trust in the name of Jesus. We celebrate the victory of the saints. And we believe God is in charge whatever the polls, pundits, politicians, and the rest of men say. “Therefore, encourage each other with these words.” God reigns, Jesus lives, and our loved ones in Christ we’ll see and embrace again. This is most certainly true! Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

TURKEY SUPPER is coming! A week from Saturday, NOVEMBER 7, from 4-7:00 PM. Drive-through only! $10 for adults, $5.00 for kids ten and under. White meat, dark meat, or ham – WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

With the Turkey Supper we also need help: Thursday, November 5, from 9:00 on – baking all the turkeys and breasts. Friday, November 6, from 9:30 on – slicing all the meat and making all the broth. And, the Elders can use help on Saturday to pull and fill orders starting about 3:30. Come work! Come eat! But, come!

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/JHIOIvGzHnE

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDNov3.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION NOVEMBER 2

Monday, November 2, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Safe and Secure”

Today I would like to draw your attention to Ephesians 1:13-14. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Have you ever forgotten your password? Everything online these days requires a password from back accounts to emails. Even ordering a silly pizza requires a password anymore. Everything online requires you to “create an account” which means you have to give your email and a password. The whole point of having a password is to make my account secure. I can’t remember my password for half of the things I have passwords for which is why I started writing them down over ten years ago. So, I spend a lot of time resetting my password all for the sake of security and safety.

But how safe are passwords anyway? It seems that there is always a breach of some big company where millions of costumers’ information have been stolen. Maybe you didn’t know this but there is actually an annual convention in Los Vegas that focuses on hacking called Defcon. They teach and promote the hacking of everything from computers, to high tech cars, thermostats, and anything that has a computer in it along with non-technical things like losing a police tail. Crazy thing is…Federal law enforcement agents from various intelligence agencies regularly attend this event and even lead some of the break-out sessions.

Security is a big problem especially when there are so many ‘roaring lions looking for someone to devour’ (1 Peter 5:8). The little country church back in Illinois were told by their insurance company that for the first time the church will be required to lock its doors if they want to remain insured. Locally, the dealership in Greenville, had to start locking all of their cars. Up until recently they were allowed to leave the keys in them and let people look inside. But their insurance company said the same thing as the little church in Illinois, “Lock it up.”
People look for security in relationships, in money, in social media, and elections. This week we are voting again for President. One or the other makes us feel safer. Generally, one or the other feels threatening when the topic comes up so people seem to want to vote for which every candidate makes them feel more secure.

Deep down however we know that security is not something this world can guarantee because there are too many little devils trying to dismantle our security. It’s a fall world. Ephesians 1:13-14 does however remind us one place that is so secure that nothing can hack it, undo it, block it, nor destroy it. It says, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession…

The Roman soldiers put a seal over Jesus’ tomb, most likely Pilate’s seal. Often those like Pilate would have a signet ring that would be stamped into wax, like the wax seal over Jesus’ tomb. The seal was a sign of authority. But Pilate had no authority over Jesus. The seal of the Holy Spirit marks us as God’s people by the highest of authorities. Not even death has authority to keep us.

What’s more the Holy Spirit is only a deposit, a pledge that Jesus will keep His promise in the resurrection to take with Him all who believe. And what a deposit! The Holy Spirit is the presence of God making us into His temples. And where God is present so is all of heaven. In Romans 8:16, Paul says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” And what do children of God get? An eternal inheritance to be in the Father’s House. 1 John 3:2 says this, “2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

So, take stock in this. Heaven is already unlocked for you in Jesus’ cross and resurrection because you already hold the key, which is faith in Jesus. Heaven doesn’t need a secret password to keep out the bad stuff because nothing that can hurt us can touch what Jesus offers. Not even the devil in all of his scheming and tempting can break heaven’s security. God has given us the greatest security in the presence of His Holy Spirit as a deposit. And that’s my favorite part. A deposit was not something we had to give but something we receive by God’s grace. It’s coming and not even death has any authority over us because of it. This is our greatest security—Jesus has overcome the world and in Jesus we have too, therefore we do not have to be afraid.

Announcements

And now the Lord bless you and Keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His Peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WDNov2.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/gFustPXYGcs

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 27

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Where Is Your Sting?”

READING: I Corinthians 15:51-57 – Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. BUT THANKS BE TO GOD! HE GIVES US THE VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

I love Halloween! I love it for my grandkids. I love it for my neighborhood kids. I love it for all that’s best about it. When else can our children go to complete strangers’ homes and get gifts of candy, smiles, and fake fear? I love to open my door and hear, “Trick or treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!” And while there are always a few kids, especially middle schoolers and a few high schoolers, who dress up in ghoulish and grizzly costumes with lots of fake blood and horrible wounds, most of the kids I see come as princesses, cowboys, superheroes, athletes, police officers, and the like. They love to dress up and pretend they are someone cool, unusual, or scary, and what’s wrong with that? We open the doors, recoil in “horror”, and hand out candy to them. It’s all about the kids and their enjoyment.

Now, when it comes to Halloween movies and “Haunted Houses” and occult behaviors – well, that’s a different thing altogether. There will always be people who will revel in darkness and the things of Satan. They’ll go too far. They allow themselves to act in foolish, sinful, even criminal ways because they have no sense of Godliness and what’s right. They celebrate what is sick and twisted, but that’s no reason to condemn Halloween as some churches and some pastors are wont to do.

Halloween gets its name from “Hallowed Eve”, the night before November 1, which is “All Saints Day” in the church calendar. It was that way in Luther’s day, too. In fact, that was the reason he nailed his “Ninety-five Theses” to the church door. He knew that the next day all the professors and learned men of Wittenberg would be coming to the church to celebrate what was then the second most important church holy day after Easter. He wanted them all to see and read the Theses, so a debate could be scheduled to consider what he was thinking.

Now in some towns in Europe, on Hallowed Eve young men would dress up like skeletons and ghouls (today they’re called “Zombies”) and run through the streets scaring children and adults alike. But they did this to make fun of death and the devil. Why? Because on the morrow they were going to celebrate the Eternal Life of the Saints, and on November 2, “All Souls Day”, they would celebrate the promise of the Resurrection and Everlasting Life for all of God’s people. So, they dressed up and ran through the streets, laughing and making jest of the very things Jesus has overcome in his death and resurrection. They weren’t celebrating the things of evil. On the contrary, they were celebrating Christ’s victory over those things.

In our text above, St. Paul does the same. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” He might just as well have said, “Ha! You can’t have me for long! And, your days are numbered! Jesus has already overcome you all, and at that last trumpet call, I WILL, TOO!” Paul assures the Corinthians and us that the day will come when those “who sleep” in death AND those living in that moment will be changed, “…in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye…”, and we will ALL be “imperishable” and “immortal”, never to die again.

So, I say buy lots of candy, keep the porch light on, recoil in “horror”, and then give those kids each a handful and tell them, “Happy Halloween!” For the great majority of them, it’s just an excuse to dress up, pretend, and keep the dentists in business! For those of us “in the know” it’s a night to reflect on the indisputable fact that Jesus lives, and because he lives, we shall live also, forever with him. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

TURKEY SUPPER is coming! A week from Saturday, NOVEMBER 7, from 4-7:00 PM. Drive-through only! $10 for adults, $5.00 for kids ten and under. White meat, dark meat, or ham – WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

With the Turkey Supper we also need help: Monday, November 2, 9:00 AM – pulling bread, cutting vegetables. Thursday, November 5, from 9:00 on – baking all the turkeys and breasts. Friday, November 6, from 9:30 on – slicing all the meat and making all the broth. I’m somehow in charge of this job, so I need, yea! I DEMAND help! (Please?) And, the Elders can use help on Saturday to pull and fill orders starting about 3:30. Come work! Come eat! But, come!

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/yZ4peKZHRgs

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDOct27.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 26

Monday, October 26, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Getting Good Advice”

Well, good morning all. Hope that this finds you well as you tune in. Some of you are asking how the Newlyweds are doing. They are well, and enjoying married life. Thanks be to God. And thanks to all you who have been praying and wishing them well.

And some of you have asked about mom. She is holding her own, sporting knitted caps, and working hard to keep her strength up. So far so good. She is half-way through her chemo and eager to have it behind her. Thank you to all who continue to pray for our family and send cards to mom. Special shout out to Jackie for the great hats.

So, lets talk about advice. By the time you view this I will have undergone my first colonoscopy. I was ready to go back in March but that’s when Covid moved in to kick our butt. So, I am finally checking that one off my bucket list. The mere mention of the procedure has strangely evoked a lot of reaction.

It all starts with the question: “Is this your first one?” I answer “yes” because I hit the Five-O last November. Lucky me. Then comes the smiles, an occasional chuckle, and then a story about that person’s experience, and finally the advice. And its been a riot hearing all the takes on such a glamorous procedure. For example: one person said, “You should really fast two days before” while another said, “You should eat a lot so that you have something to actually pass besides water” –to make it worth it, I guess. How about the fluids? One experienced voice said to me, “When it comes to that really sweet solution you have to drink–just drink the solution down rather than sip it so that you get it over with quickly.” Another experienced voice also suggested that I mix the go-juice that you have to drink with lemonade. I had numerous other stories and with each story I got another little piece of advice. I started having a lot of fun with it. Thank you to all who have enough concern for me to offer their advice. The best part is that when you summarize what was said it is clear that it all comes out all right in the end.

Scripture has a lot to say about getting good advice from reliable people. Proverbs 24:6 for instance says, “For by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” But I think the Proverbs 2 makes a very important distinction about getting advice and discernment; learning and applying what you have learned.

“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. 9 Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.”

Let me premise my next thoughts with a word of warning to those of us who are quick to give advice. I remember reading somewhere—wish I could remember where: “A need is not necessarily an invitation and a problem doesn’t always have a solution. Not everything is meant to get fixed by you.” Instead remember to listen more than speak. Weigh the matter carefully, before you speak as an expert on something. And remember that helping others is not about you.

The proverb is telling us however to seek wisdom when it can be found. I still enjoy learning from those who have much to teach me, especially from the ninety somethings that have lived a lot longer than me. My favorite professors are the little old ladies who read and reread their Bible. That Word saturates their experience and at their age the speak their minds freely which makes them a lot of fun.

But Proverbs 2 is not just advice, it is God teaching us about wisdom. Seek the Lord where He may be found we are told. Sometimes that is found in people that have lived long enough or been through enough to know something who are experiencing something they know a lot about because they have lived it. For instance, how many of us parents try to teach our children about mistakes in life we wish we could have avoided when we were younger. We do this because we have lived it. We know what direction something might go because we’ve been there and done that.

Ultimately good advice takes us in the direction of Godly advice. When the proverb says, “Store up God’s Commands”, it advises that godly advice works best when it is integrated into our life, when faith turns into action. In the end wisdom that comes from experience, when combined and tempered with God’s Word we will be better equipped to be discerning; knowing how and where to apply the advice we are given. Literally to take someone else’s experience and integrate it into our own for the purpose of deeper faith is the ultimate goal.

So, it says, “seek it as silver or a treasure hidden.” “Then you will be able to know what is right and fair.” “Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you.” When you put this altogether wisdom will keep your backside out of trouble. From buying the right car to learning how to care for a sick member of the family to experiencing a first colonoscopy. Wisdom will benefit where ever life may take you. So, seek the advice of godly people, and certainly of God knowing that path has been walked before. And on that path we will find our way.

Announcements

And now the Lord bless you and Keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His Peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDOct25.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/1nGGZWXJ86A

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 20

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“The Pizza Miracle”

READING: Mark 8:1-9a – During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand men were present.

Some many years ago, when Mitzi Lyon Schmelz was about in the middle of her tenure with us, she arranged for BOB LENZ to come visit us for several days. Bob, you might remember, was a very good motivational and evangelical youth speaker. Mitzi managed to get him invited to talk to the entire student body of New Albany High School. That was quite a coup! Bob addressed all those kids in a one-hour assembly. Because it’s a public school, he of course could not speak about Christ and faith then. But he issued an open invitation to all the kids to come back that evening for a session in which he would talk about those very things.

Now, Bob also promised that every person who attended the evening session would also be treated to a pizza party immediately following. Pizza soft drinks for everyone would be provided. Bob had told Mitzi that it had been his experience that the evening session would usually draw 200-250 kids, so she ordered enough pizzas from Papa John’s to feed 250 people two pieces of pizza each. When Bob opened his evening program, we had nearly 700 kids in the gym! How wonderful! How horrible! Mitzi was freaking out! It was too late to order more pizzas, and if all those kids came for the snack afterward, they were likely to be disappointed and feel lied to! What to do?

Mitzi got some knives from the kitchen and had her Leadership Team cut every piece of pizza into two pieces! Now they would get two pieces, only smaller ones. But that still would only feed maybe five hundred. She was pretty sure the last ones in line were going to be disappointed. So, she made another command decision: everyone got one piece on the first pass, and then they would be invited back for seconds.

When Bob dismissed the crowd, they came in their hundreds for pizza and pop. Everyone got a piece with the promise of seconds when everyone had received their first one. So, everyone went through the line, then Mitzi announced seconds, and a bunch of the kids lined up again. Then the most amazing thing became clear: Even though she had fed all those kids and offered seconds, we still had FIVE WHOLE PIZZAS left! I was there that evening. I saw Mitzi’s consternation when she realized we had so many more kids than we’d planned on. I saw the long lines for the first piece and the long lines for seconds. I saw the kids laughing, talking, eating and drinking. I saw not one who seemed to feel cheated or hungry. And, I saw with my own eyes those FIVE WHOLE PIZZAS left over! We can’t say for sure, but Mitzi and I and her Leadership Team will always think of that event as some sort of miracle. How we managed to satisfy all those kids and still have pizza left will always be amazing to us. All we could do was thank God for his mercies!

Imagine the amazement of the disciples when those 7 little loaves and a couple of sardines fed every single one of those 4000 people; fed them until they were satisfied, and then left them with 7 baskets of broken pieces, to boot! “Who is this man?” they must have wondered. “How did this happen?” they must have asked each other. They knew what they had started with. They knew what they ended up with. And, they watched those hungry people wolf down bread and fish with gusto because some of them had been without eats for a couple of days. They had to come to the only conclusion they could: Jesus did a miracle. And, remembering their Torah, they had to ponder on the One who fed the children of Israel in the Wilderness for all those years. He feed them bread and meat every day for 40 years. Who can do such an amazing thing? Yes, only Yahweh, the God of Israel, the Creator of all things, and the very one who fed 4000 people with 7 little loaves and a couple of little fish.

I don’t know that God produced extra pizza that night all those years ago. But he blessed us that evening. He took care of a potential problem and embarrassment for us and for Bob. Those kids went home feeling good about Bob, the Jesus he told them about, and the folks from Grace Lutheran who brought Bob, Jesus, and a pizza party to New Albany High School. That was a miracle in and of itself! Thanks be to God! Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

We’ll be celebrating REFORMATION SUNDAY this weekend. The annual Circuit Reformation Service was scheduled to be held at Grace this Sunday, but the COVID considerations moved us to hold off this year. A lot of Old Lutherans usually like to attend that service, and we just didn’t want to lure them into something that could potentially be serious for them. So come to church this weekend or tune us in at glcna.com.

TURKEY SUPPER is coming! A week from Saturday, NOVEMBER 7, from 4-7:00 PM. Drive-through only! $10 for adults, $5.00 for kids ten and under. White meat, dark meat, or ham – WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!
With the Turkey Supper we also need help: Monday, November 2, 9:00 AM – pulling bread, cutting vegetables. Thursday, November 5, from 9:00 on – baking all the turkeys and breasts. Friday, November 6, from 9:30 on – slicing all the meat and making all the broth. I’m somehow in charge of this job, so I need, yea! I DEMAND help! (Please?) And, the Elders can use help on Saturday to pull and fill orders starting about 3:30. Come work! Come eat! But, come!

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/en3OPlMOrXQ

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDOct20.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 19

Monday, October 19, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“The Greatest Fear”

It’s Halloween season again. About this time of year, old slasher movies, ghost stories, haunted houses, and other things try make us afraid. I’ve always thought it strange that people would celebrate a holiday that centers itself on fear. Cute little kids dressing up and getting candy is one thing but normally being afraid is not what people like feeling.

Back in my trick-or-treat days we would drive to town for trick-or-treating. One house always stood out from the others. The owner always went all out. He dressed up his porch with lightening flashes and decorations. He would even disguise himself as part of the decorations by dressing himself up like a scarecrow or something. He would sit perfectly still. But when the kids would come up on the porch and yell, “trick-or-treat” he would “surprise” them. It was always memorable. However, everyone understood that this was all in fun and not real.
It’s a different thing altogether when real life makes us afraid. This kind of fear is not what people like f

eeling. Fear of losing a job. Health fears. Fear of being alone. Fear of catching the Corona Virus. Some introverts I have known can be so afraid to step out that they refuse to join a sport or a group for fear of messing up. So, they just don’t even try. But we are not meant to live in this kind of fear.

Martin Luther’s summary of the first commandment simply states, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Fear by itself is not what God wants from us in this commandment. I would submit to you that fear is a good thing as long as it is coupled with love and trust in the Lord.

Psalm 111:10 says to us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have a rich understanding. His praise endures forever!” The pattern of arrogant people is that they have no fear of the Lord and they should. They also live in fear of being pretty enough, of losing power, of wealth, of getting enough likes, and of becoming irrelevant. Jesus will be the judge of all people in the end.

For our benefit here today, I invite you to reconsider Jesus’ approach toward humanity. He came to seek and save. He came as a human being to be Savior. He came as a Good Shepherd who calls us by name and lays down His life for the sheep only to take it up again. And then He promises us a resurrection so that we don’t even have to fear death but can welcome it when it comes to us knowing we will be with Jesus in paradise afterward. When we spend time in the Gospels, we discover that Jesus is seeking a saving relationship with us in His cross and resurrection. He is not striving to motivate us in fear. Nor does Jesus want us to live in fear of the world. Remember John 16:33? Jesus tells His disciples; “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Fear of the Lord is not a fear meant to destroy a person’s spirit. On the contrary it is filial fear, a family fear. It is a fear of respect of awe and wonder because in fact there is a relationship. “Like the Psalmist says, “who am I that you should think of me?” But He does.

Galatians 3 emphasizes the relationship that we have with our Heavenly Father. “26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Fear of the Lord is coupled with love and trust. The Love of the Lord is expressed in His cross. It is the greatest kind of love to have the love of Christ. And because Jesus keeps every promise, we also know He can be trusted over all other things that are temporal and limited.

Consider the contrast in Exodus 1. On the one hand we find a fear of God in the Hebrew midwives that actually propels them to courage, to life, and peace. On the hand we see in Pharaoh a tyrant afraid of losing his temporal power in the world. So, he instills a fear meant to oppress the Israelites and break their will. 15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

These were woman who loved the Lord, trusted in the Lord, putting their lives on the line to save the Hebrew baby boy’s. Their fear of the Lord, a deep profound respect for God above all other things, including what Pharaoh wanted, moved them to great courage and saved many lives. It can save lives when we are afraid to witness to Jesus. This is what faithfulness looks like. This is what it means to take the first commandment to love God above all things looks like.

See, fear that is meant to oppress and seeks to suppress courage. The fear of the Lord, because it is coupled with love and trust, will by its very nature propel us to great courage, and to even greater things then we can imagine. And when the fear of the Lord is our greatest fear the world can literally not stop what God can do, has done, and will do through each of us who believe. So, take courage in the Lord.

Announcements

And now the Lord bless you and Keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His Peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WDOct19.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/jNlzp0TkncM

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 13

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Let the Fields Be Jubilant”

READING: Psalm 96:1-6, 11-12; Psalm 98:1, 7-9 – Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary…Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy…Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him…Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

I love this time of year! And, what’s not to love? The temperatures are most pleasant: cool at night, sunshine and warmth in the daytime. The air is crisp and fairly dry. The skies are high and blue and often without a cloud. The sun is bright but not hot. You might need a sweater or light jacket in the morning, but by mid-morning shirt sleeves are all you need. I love it!

While I was going about composing this devotion, I looked out the window of our home office from where I have a lovely view of the Knobs. I can look up to Skyline Drive and see the forested slopes leading up to it. And here and there within all that green I already see patches of orange and yellow and crimson. In another week, those hillsides will be a riot of color. The change of seasons is one of the most wonderful things about living in northern latitudes. Those living in Florida don’t get to witness this much. Folks at the equator have pretty much the same weather year-round. Hawaiians languish with the same sun and breezes and weather nearly 365 days a year. But here we get to see nature with its paint brushes and its changing landscapes.

David and the other Psalmists often call on nature itself to declare the glory of our God. They recognized the Lord as the Creator, the one who made all things, set all things in motion, and provided a world that could reproduce and sustain itself with the cycles and systems the Lord had decreed and created. They saw in the thunder of the ocean’s surf, the clapping of its “hands”. They saw in the majesty of the mountain heights the awesomeness of God. They recognized in the vastness of the heavens God’s far-reaching providence. They realized in the fields of ripening grain and the blush of their vineyards that God was blessing them with sustenance and security. Even as they worshipped and praised their Maker, they called upon nature to do the same.

We live in a world and time that more and more seems to have devolved into the worship of nature. Rather than recognizing the Creator, they praise and laud the creation. When we set aside God, something has to fill the void in the heart that this causes. In order to have purpose in life, a reason for being, a sense that one’s life has value and meaning, something bigger than us has to have a claim on our time and talents. If that “something bigger” is not the God who made and redeemed us, a natural substitute is nature with all its grandeur. It was so in the Old Testament times, when every other nation and culture around Israel worshipped nature gods like the sun, the rivers, and the mountains. They looked askance at Israel, who worshipped only one God and declared him to be the One who had made everything and set all things in motion. How strange that modern, “sophisticated, scientific, enlightened” people would whole-heartedly return to the worship of nature! How sad!

We rejoice in nature and its beauty. We marvel at the colors in the sunset, the waving fields of grain, the incredible palette of hues in the autumn woods, and in the swirling snowflakes in our first winter storm. But we don’t worship nature for nature’s sake. We, like the Psalmists, call on nature to join us in worshipping and praising the One who made all of these things. We praise God for his awesome powers of creation and his wisdom in devising all the mechanisms of nature. So, let the rivers clap their hands, the birds sing for joy, the mountains declare His glory, and “let the fields be jubilant!” We will join them and worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the God who made them all and is ever worthy of our praise. Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

There will be another DRIVE-IN worship service WITH COMMUNION on SATURDAY, October 17, 5:00 P.M. Come in the safety of your vehicle, tune in to 87.9 FM, and worship the Lord with us. The service will conclude with Communion and the Dismissal Blessing to send you on your way. If it’s been a while since you last had opportunity to receive the Sacrament, come.

Emily and Eric Wenning’s daughter, Louisa, is going to undergo a corrective surgery soon. They are going to need some help with babysitting their younger son and daughter. They could also us some light housekeeping help while Eric is at work and Emily runs doctors’ appointments and attends to Louisa. If you could spare a few hours in either one or both of those tasks, they would be most appreciative. To talk to Emily, call (567-644-2545). You could be such a blessing to this family. Thank you.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/OFU-RaR2t60

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDOct13.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 12

Monday, October 12, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Post Wedding Gratitude”

Well, it is official. I now have a new daughter-in-law. After a year and a half of planning Kyle and Makayla finally had their big night over the weekend. It was so much fun to finally see it all come together. Oh, we had a couple of little hitches. In all the excitement Kyle got a little faint at the altar and had to sit down for a minute or two. The photo booth kept misspelling Makayla’s name with Makaya; leaving off the “L”. But let me say, the company was wonderful. The food was terrifi,c the cake was delicious, all the decorations worked like it was supposed to, and most of all, my youngest son, Kyle is married to a young lady who is absolutely good for Kyle, a true compliment to my son. In a year of Social distancing it was really nice to celebrate bringing two people together in marriage.

Ironically, this weekend’s Gospel was the Parable of the Wedding Banquet from Matthew 22:1-14. I’d like to read just the first 9 verses. Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

I can really appreciate this parable. 2020 has been especially troubling for wedding planning. Just ask any bride who planned to get married in 2020. In our case, we had booked a venue a year and a half ago. The owners decided in January of this year, before we even knew about Covid, to retire and sell the place. They did so thinking the new owners would pick up where they left off and take on current contracts but that didn’t happen. So, we went in search of a new place to celebrate our wedding. We looked at other places but ultimately settled on having it all at the church. But then we thought, “Who’s going to cater the thing? But the team we originally hired came through on that one and the food was great. We didn’t have to kill the fattened calf but I know they cooked up a mountain of food. I noticed in the parable that the King goes all out with the caterers. Not just a fatten calf (which we all remember is already enough for a feast for celebrating in the Parable of the Prodigal in Luke 15) but this king also serves up more than one. It’s “oxen and cattle” he serves. Its going to be a huge party.

And then there were the logistics of Covid. A few folks that were invited simply did not come out of caution. But most did. We were especially grateful for all those who made the journey from Michigan, Missouri, and Illinois, family who made a quick trip for the weekend and then had to get back to work on Monday. And we were thankful for all of our local friends that participated. The hardest thing about my son’s wedding was stepping back and leaving it to Kyle and Makayla to make the list of invitations. I wouldn’t have been able to draw a line. I would have liked everyone to be there but the Gym just isn’t big enough for that and besides, only one Turkey Supper sized event a year is enough.

In the parable the invited guests, which represented the people of Israel, made excuses not to come the King goes out into the neighborhoods and invites everybody. This party was going forward no matter what. He’s going to celebrate with those who will come. And who wouldn’t want to go to such a huge event. This king is going to celebrate regardless of Covid. We had people of all kinds at our wedding, even some I couldn’t even tell you who they were—I assume from Makayla’s work. I knew most of the folks but even if we only had Kyle and Makayla this wedding was going to be celebrated this weekend. And we did. Thankfully in our case I think most of the folks were ready to do something fun and celebrate.

But that’s the good news in our parable. The wedding is coming, nothing can stop it from happening, and we are invited. It has been advertised and made possible in the cross. Heaven’s gates opened up in the resurrection for all who believe to enter. The invitations have been sent out and your name is on it. We are welcome guests. And in spite of all the trouble of this year. Even though some of us are people who are barely keeping ourselves together we are considered welcome guests. This wedding is going to happen and its going to be a blow out. The Creator of the universe wants you to be there and not miss it. And I love the fact that eternal life is thought about in the light of a wedding party. Weddings are a lot of fun. And in heaven I might even finally learn how to do the electric slide on the dance floor. In thirty years of going to weddings I just can’t seem to get that thing figured out. It’s probably going to take another miracle from Jesus to make that happen. But with God all things are possible.

Congratulations to Kyle and Makayla. We love you and may God bless you with a long life filled with joy and faith in Jesus.

And now the Lord bless you and Keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His Peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDOct12.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/PvkDH5s9wH4

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 6

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Every Tongue Confess”

READING: Philippians 2:5-11 – Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Right from the start I want you to notice that St. Paul says, “…that at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow…and EVERY tongue confess…” EVERY knee and EVERY tongue – all of them, every single one of them in heaven, on earth, and in hell – they will ALL “…confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of the Father.”

When Jesus comes in glory at that last day, when the trumpet call of the Archangel is sounded and the dead are raised to life, when all eyes see Jesus coming in the clouds, Paul says EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue will confess. Believer and unbeliever, saint and demon, the Redeemed and the lost, ALL of them will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord.

Lord here is the Greek word “kurios” – the same word that was used when the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) was translated from Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek. God’s holy name, the name he gave to Moses at the Burning Bush, was “YHWH” (“I Am”). When the translators needed to translate God’s Hebrew name into the Greek, they chose the Greek word “Kurios”. Therefore, when Paul says every tongue will confess that Jesus is “Lord”, he is saying all of them will confess that Jesus is “YHWH”, the Almighty, Triune God.

When Paul says EVERY tongue will make this confession, he’s not exaggerating! He means that every single human being will make that confession, but, oh my, will they make that confession with a different intonation! They will all say the same words, but the way they say them will make all the difference. See, you and I, when we realize what we are witnessing and realize that it is Jesus coming to take us home, we will make that confession as, “Jesus IS Lord! (I knew it!)” We will declare that with joy and elation, our hopes realized, and God’s promises fulfilled.

For the unbeliever, especially those who heard of Jesus, maybe learned about Jesus, those who rejected Jesus, they will speak the same words, but they will say them very differently. When they realize what they are witnessing and who it is they see coming, they will fall to their knees and with their tongue confess, (“O, God!) Jesus is LORD!” They will realize in that moment that what Christians had said about Jesus, believed about Jesus, hoped for in Jesus was true and real and binding. They will realize that they have no standing before Him, and the things they had put their trust and hopes in were all just dust and falsehoods. They will despair even as they make their confession. It was all true, and they did not believe it. Too late!

To know Jesus NOW as our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer means that we ALREADY have eternal life in his name. It’s not just our future hope, but the reality in which we now stand. Having been purchased by his blood, baptized into his name, and living our lives in faith, we already know that at the moment of the final trumpet call, we will see Jesus and rejoice. We will see him as he is, and our joy will be made complete. “JESUS IS LORD!” Thanks be to God! Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

There will be NO Saturday service on OCTOBER 10. Pastor Woods’ son, Kyle will marry Makayla Robinson that evening, so the Sanctuary and both pastors will be unavailable.

There will be another DRIVE-IN worship service WITH COMMUNION on SATURDAY, October 17, 5:00 P.M. Come in the safety of your vehicle, tune in to 87.9 FM, and worship the Lord with us. The service will conclude with Communion and the Dismissal Blessing to send you on your way. If it’s been a while since you last had opportunity to receive the Sacrament, come.

Emily and Eric Wenning’s daughter, Louisa, is going to undergo a corrective surgery soon. They are going to need some help with babysitting their younger son and daughter. They could also us some light housekeeping help while Eric is at work and Emily runs doctors’ appointments and attends to Louisa. If you could spare a few hours in either one or both of those tasks, they would be most appreciative. To talk to Emily, call (567-644-2545). You could be such a blessing to this family. Thank you.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/o8yT7kPDXik

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDOct6.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION OCTOBER 5

Monday, October 5, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Pushing Back on Cynicism”

Weekly Devotion for October 5, 2020
Pastor Matt Woods, Grace Lutheran Church

Are you cynical? 2020 among other things may be the year of the cynic. Who could blame us? This year has given us many reasons to become cynical. We have faced more question marks than answers.

Say the word, “Covid” today and I hear lots of cynicism over the motives of the President, the agendas of congress, schemes of China. Parents are tired of being scared of it and many are very concerned that the online learning is not working for their child. Some doubt any vaccine that may come out. Some have voiced feeling manipulated by all of it while others have heightened their awareness of exposure to Covid. It’s the hospitals and nursing homes that have shut out family members from visiting, wedding venues that have cancelled at the last minute, and on and on and on it goes. Most are simply tired of all of it.
What is cynicism exactly? Back in 2012 a picture went viral showing Officer Lawrence DePrimo of New York City giving a homeless man a pair of boots to put on his bare feet. DePrimo saw that the man had no shoes on and simply decided to go buy the man a pair of boots; a purely humane gesture.

The Guardian did a story on the homeless man about a week later. The recipient of the boots, Jeffrey Hillman was a military veteran and worked in kitchens before living on the streets and told the New York Times that he had hidden the boots so that he wouldn’t become a target. He was scared someone would hurt him just to get the boots. So, he hid them and continued to walk barefooted.

The article asks, “Did Hillman even want the boots?” The picture that seemed so simple could not communicate all the complexities behind a man without shoes. Turns out the man isn’t necessarily homeless. It seems that he had an apartment in the Bronx paid by social security and veteran’s benefits and walks the streets barefooted by choice. Hillman as it turns out is what Jonathan Jones, the author of the article labels, “a willful eccentric”. Cynically, the article in the end questions the sincerity of the officer and the picture was argued to be terrible and cruel to Hillman who did not ask for the public attention. The author labels it all an illusion, “A warm tale that turns cold.”

The article is a good example of what cynicism looks like. It questions the motives of a police officer who felt compassion towards a man who had no shoes. We can all use a little more compassion, right? After all the compassion of Jesus brought Him to humanity to be our Savior, healed the sick, fed the 5000, and died on a cross for our sins. Jesus never said anything close to “Why bother, they’re just going to sin and hate me anyway.” Instead, we hear Jesus saying words of compassion from the cross—“Father forgive them.” And “today you will be with me in paradise.” Cynicism is by its nature a lack of trust—Jesus shows us what trust looks like, especially in the Garden of Gethsemane. Cynicism expects promises to be broken whereas Jesus excels in promise keeping. It is by nature pessimistic, sarcastic, and snarky. It generally shows a distain toward other people whereas in Jesus we encounter a Savior who leans into grace. Cynicism feeds division and cannot see others outside of the subjective framework of a group, a classification, or political agenda. It is the result of years of secularism that has pushed aside the compassion of scripture.

Why should cynicism be avoided? Consider the ministry of Jonah. None were as cynical. Listen to chapter 4, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee toPP==X Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Jonah didn’t think there was anyone worthy of God’s grace in Nineveh because of the terrible things they were known for. Jonah did not trust them to repent or to change. These were enemies of God and in Jonah’s mind should have been treated like Sodom and Gomorrah. He thought God was wasting his grace and compassion on such people. And perhaps there are people in our lives that we treat as a “waste” of time and resources at least in small measure. We may thing they will never change and they don’t deserve our compassion or help. In the end cynicism should be avoided because it leads to a sinful attitude. It makes us negative people. It divides a church. It can lead to doubt. But most of all it causes us to look at others negatively. That’s why cynicism should be avoided.

So, when we become cynical what should we do? First, remember that the cross and the resurrection are real. Romans 5:7-9 says, “……7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!…” Heaven and earth may pass away but not God’s Word and therefore neither does the promise of eternal life for all who believe in Jesus. That’s a strong reason to have joy in a cynical world.

Secondly, if someone has wronged you consider forgiveness. Forgiveness totally messes up a world of cynicism and holds the power to bring unity, save marriage, and restore friendships. 2 Corinthians 11:16ff says, 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view….18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Grace shatters the devil’s hold when regard others from God’s point of view.

Finally, be in the Word and pray. I put the two together because The Word of God is a conversation. Hebrews 11:11-12 tells us, 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Take it to the Lord in prayer—that is the hymn that we sing after all. Ask for help with those things we are cynical over. Pray for the Lord to help put your attention on good works and putting your energy toward loving people. It’s a lot more fun than be cynicism, a lot more encouraging, uplifting, and joyful. Prayer takes us to the person of Christ and opens our ears to hear His Word. Put such things into practice and you will be more able to endure the negativity that continues to flood our culture.

Today, we pray for the hold that Covid has had on us to be broken. We pray for our kids to overcome a difficult time to learn. We pray for you and your families to remain healthy and especially healthy and strong in the Lord so that the plague of cynicism doesn’t get any kind of foothold on our hearts.

And now the Lord bless you and Keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His Peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDOct5

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/MggZAMruEfs

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 29

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“My Gerber Daisies”

READING: Mark 11:12-14, 20-23 – The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to the mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.”

I love Gerber daisies! I love their big blossoms and their bright monochromatic colors. And, they blossom all summer long into the fall. Last summer I had two plants that I planted in the space in front of our house, and they were beautiful. Much to my surprise, they made it through the winter. This spring I noticed some green shoots coming out where I had them planted last year. At first, I thought they must be weeds, but, no, as they opened up, I saw they were Gerber daisies. I was delighted. I had no idea they were perennial.

So, they became big and lush. I fertilized them, made sure to water them when we got dry, and waited patiently for the first blossoms to open. I waited…and I waited…and I waited some more! I am STILL waiting! Those two plants have not put out a single blossom between them. I had planted two Gerber daisies in my planters by the front door, and they have been most fruitful, new blossoms opening up on a regular basis. But the two using up the soil are doing nothing colorful. They are green and healthy…and totally sterile. No fruit. No joy!

In our text Jesus makes an object lesson of a fig tree. He makes a show of looking for fruit on a leafy fig tree. When he finds no fruit, he says that it may never produce fruit again. Later in the day, as they pass that same tree, Peter notices that it is totally withered. When he says something to Jesus about it, Jesus responds by talking about faith, trust, and action. He wants his disciples to see and remember the lesson: they are to trust in the power of God to accomplish the mission he will soon send them to accomplish.

Did you notice that Mark tells us it was not the usual season for fig trees to bear fruit? Doesn’t that seem odd to you? Jesus had no earthly reason to expect to find fruit on that tree in the spring of the year. Figs have fruit in late summer, everybody knew that. But Jesus is impressing upon his disciples that by God’s power and purpose, they are to trust that when the odds are against them, when they seem weak and powerless before those who hold power and position, they should not be afraid. Rather, he wants them to be confident that the Gospel and the Holy Spirit together will cause remarkable things to happen. They will see and experience miraculous things, do miraculous things, and see the Church grow in spite of fierce opposition.

I’ve talked repeatedly to those two daisy plants in the last month or two. I urged and encouraged them, tried to shame them, and generally chastised them for being so boring. I’ve even thought about chopping them out. But I think I’m going to leave them be to see if they’ll make it through another winter. For all I know, it took all the energy they had to survive the winter. Maybe they just didn’t have the strength to put out blossoms, too. I’m going to wait and see.

God wants us to trust not in our own abilities and understanding. We won’t accomplish much in the Kingdom if we rely on our own power. But, if we trust in him and in his Word, we will see remarkable things. He urges us to love the unlovable, help the helpless, share with those in need, and to speak his name and his Gospel to those he puts in our paths. Nourished and nurtured by his love, we can bear rich and abundant fruit for Jesus, in season and out. God bless you in that pursuit. Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

There will be NO Saturday service on OCTOBER 10. Pastor Woods’ son, Kyle will marry Makayla Robinson that evening, so the Sanctuary and both pastors will be unavailable.

There will be another DRIVE-IN worship service WITH COMMUNION on SATURDAY, October 17, 5:00 P.M. Come in the safety of your vehicle, tune in to 87.9 FM, and worship the Lord with us. The service will conclude with Communion and the Dismissal Blessing to send you on your way. If it’s been a while since you last had opportunity to receive the Sacrament, come.

We would once again put out a plea for those who are “techies” to consider volunteering to learn from Ryan Dietrich the process by which we broadcast our service on the Internet. We need 3 or 4 people so everyone can take turns, especially Ryan! Consider it, then act!

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/P3Y1FhhtndQ

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDSept29.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 28

Monday, September 28, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“What Can Be Done When I Have No Control”

Recent days hold a strong reminder that much is not in our control. Currently we have some of our members in nursing homes with Alzheimer’s. We are still not allowed to visit them. One of them is in hospice care and still Pastor and I are not allowed to go in and see her. The hospice chaplain is allowed to but no one familiar. In spite of phone calls and efforts by the families nothing has changed. Last week when we wanted to see one of our members who was stat flighted to Lexington we were told not to come because we wouldn’t be allowed in to see her. For such situations standing outside of a window with a telephone simply won’t do. These people need the touch of a hand and a ministry of presence.

I’ve had the privilege of being at the bed side of many members who for various reasons remain in a state of unconsciousness. Such a condition often comes when a person is close to leaving this world and going to the Lord. It is my firm belief based on those many visits that being present, next to their bedside, holding their hand (Not even saying anything necessarily) brings comfort and confidence. Even in the most desperate of conditions I am convinced that those folks can sense not just that someone is in the room but who is in the room. To hear our voices and feel a reassuring hand holding theirs reminds them that they are loved and are not going to be alone. No one should die without loved ones being allowed in to see them not just for their sake but also for the family’s sake. What can be done if we are denied this opportunity?

It’s not just such things like this. What happens when one suddenly loses his or her job because of a Virus? What does one do when the doctor tells you that you have cancer or something else? What does one do when your spouse suddenly, decides to get a divorce rather than work it out? What do we do when the stuff that hits us is completely outside of our control?

Well, consider what Hezekiah did in 2 Kings 19 when he was threatened by Assyrians. The Assyrians were the super power of the day and had destroyed most of Israel; ravaging their cities, slaughtering the people without remorse. Times couldn’t be more desperate. Nor did it look like anyone would survive what was coming next. The Assyrians saved Jerusalem for last and had it surrounded and ready for destruction. Archeologists found a record of the event where Sennacherib was said to have Jerusalem couped up “like a caged bird”. Escape was not going to happen. Israelite traitors joined the ranks of the Assyrians and taunted the people to turn on Hezekiah; taunted the people to give up claiming he was leading them to death and should surrender; they proudly mocked the God of Israel as weak or none existent; All was laid out in a threatening letter. So, Hezekiah grabs that letter and goes to the Temple to talk with the Lord about it. 2 Kings 19:14-19 tell us…

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

17 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

This morning I would suggest that we take a note of what Hezekiah had done in the midst of the things he could not control. First, please note that Hezekiah made every effort to be a faithful King restoring the Temple and worship of the Lord. He also makes as many preparations as he could once, he knew that Assyria was coming.

Tunneling a shaft through 1,748 feet of solid rock to supply water to the city in time of siege (2 Kings 20:20).

Stopping up springs around Jerusalem that could supply water to an attacking Assyrian army (2 Chronicles 32:1-4).

Extending and strengthening the wall of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32:5a).

Increasing the production of shields and weapons (2 Chronicles 32:5b).
Organizing combat forces (2 Chronicles 32:6).

Once Hezekiah knew what he was dealing with he immediately did what was within his power to do. He knew that the Assyrians, who were known for showing no mercy, marched in the direction of little Israel it was not going to be good. Likewise, sometimes all we can do is make a defense knowing the damage is going to be major. For example, one of our friends knowing that her cancer would take her life eventually, did her best to make a defense—knowing that treatments were not going to work she wanted to hold back her cancer for as long as possible to be with her family. In another case, when one of our members knew he was going to be laid off started immediately looking for another job; even a job that paid less in order to keep things going. Sometimes we cannot prevent the damages that come but knowing that they are coming should inspire us to make a defense none-the-less for the sake of our loved ones. Sometimes that means getting our house in order. And sometimes we make the best stand that we can so that our courage may inspire those around us to carry forward. Sometimes we stand strong to inspire trust in the Lord above all else knowing that our resurrection hope is never broken.

Hezekiah remained vigilant. And even when it seemed most desperate Hezekiah didn’t panic. He saw a good reason to go to the Lord. He asked, sought, and knocked on God’s front door. Notice also that he took the letter and spread them out before the Lord and made his case. The point is that Hezekiah continued to trust in the Lord. He prayed to the Lord because he knew the Lord was with Him. And Hezekiah didn’t rely on his own strength even though he had made so many preparations. He knew that the Lord could save the city. But what disturbs Hezekiah most is how his enemies mocked the Lord. He knows the Creator and ruler over all things. Hezekiah share the details of his situation and then says, “Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

It’s the same confidence in the Lord that the three men in the fiery furnace had later on in Daniel 3. Remember what they said? 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” They didn’t question God’s love for them or God’ character but simply made a statement of confidence and faith. God can deliver us but even if he does not, we will worship only the Lord. Hezekiah did the same thing. “Lord let Your name be honored.”

We are all going to face things we cannot control. We can choose to surrender to them and live a very frustrated defeated life. Or like King Hezekiah we can make our stand; doing so believing and trusting in the Lord even when we just don’t know how its going to turn out. And even when we don’t know how its going to turn out we always know that our future is in the resurrection. We can do our best to be prepared with budgets, insurance, having an active prayer life, making a will, with tools that we have within our reach and building strong relationships. And yes, definitely, pray. Pray every detail, every emotion, every thanksgiving, every opportunity. Ask, seek, and knock often. And finally remember who we are talking to. Jesus, Creator, who alone is God over all things and in His love for us has seen to it that even death which eventually is way outside of our control is overcome in His resurrection.

Now I am not suggesting today that Hezekiah’s problems were not more complex. Nor am I suggesting that Cancer or Job loss, or even seeing someone in a nursing home is simple in a year of Covid. I am saying that we are never completely powerless to choose our response or how we will live out our faith in such circumstances. So, when you get the chance to see someone who has been locked down all these months without anyone allowed into see them – In my opinion ridiculously and unfairly… go; and go often. Hold their hand. Talk with them. Pray with them. Hug them. We are not designed to remain distant so do your best to close the gap. I know I try not to get too frustrated when it doesn’t get better right now. But I am prepared and eager to go when I get the chance and pray for that.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Later in verses 35-36 we are told; 35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDSept28.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/QD8Pp67UrCE

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 22

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“He Heard Me”

READING: Psalm 34:1-7 – I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him; and he delivers them.

I had a mean older cousin, his name was Bill, and he took great delight in teasing me. Bill was an only child, his mother, my aunt, died when he was nine or ten. It was just him and his dad, so when my mother’s side of the family gathered together, Bill enjoyed picking on us younger cousins. It seemed I was his favorite. Maybe that was because he and my three Enser cousins were roughly the same age, and all 7-9 years older than me. I was the oldest of the next set, and so I liked tagging along and being around the older ones because they seemed so “cool”. But, invariably, that meant I became a target of Bill’s attentions.

One Sunday just before Christmas, when I was 9 or 10, we had lunch with my Grandparents Kischnick. Grandpa noticed that I was sort of glum, and he inquired as to why I was so quiet. I told him that that evening we were going to an aunt’s house for the Mossner Christmas party, and I was sure Bill was going to be mean to me. I told him how Bill liked to pick on me, and that he was too much bigger than me to fight, and I knew my aunt’s house was too small for me to stay away from him.

Grandpa said, “Well, do you want to stay overnight here with us? Then Bill will have to pick on somebody else.” I couldn’t believe it! A reprieve AND the chance to spend the night at Grandpa and Grandma’s place! Dad was there at the table, and I immediately asked him if it would be okay. He said that was fine with him, Mom said okay, and it was settled! I stayed with my grandparents, and my younger brothers had to go face Bill on their own!

Oh, I had a grand time! Supper, dessert, snacks, TV, and NO BILL! When it was bedtime, Grandma fixed up the couch in the living room, and I snuggled in, said my prayers, and thought about how wonderful the day had been. Then, Grandpa said goodnight, turned off the lights, and retired to their bedroom. Then…it got quiet. I began to hear noises: strange creakings, floorboards popping, the windows gently rattling, the wind moaning past the eves…and I began to be afraid. I’d never spent the night away from home before. I began to cry. Grandma heard me and sent Grandpa to check on me. He reassured me. He said they were right around the corner. He said there wasn’t a thing to be afraid of. He went back to bed, and soon I was crying again.

The next thing I knew, it was morning. The sun was shining in the window, and the curtains shown white in the light, and…hey, wait a minute! Where am I? This isn’t Grandpa’s living room! I turned over and there was Grandma…asleep! I was in bed with her! Grandpa had carried me to his bed, left me with Grandma, and HE SLEPT ON THE COUCH! (I have since done the same for a number of grandchildren, and always smile when I think of Grandpa doing that for me.)

In our text for today, the Psalmist says he, “…sought the Lord and he answered me. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him.” But note one thing; first “he delivered me from all my fears;” and then “he saved him out of all his troubles.” The Lord first addressed the man’s fears, then he addressed his troubles. You have undoubtedly experienced this firsthand. Our fears often out-weigh our troubles. Our fears magnify our troubles, aggravate our problems, and steal our strength. Our fears make everything more difficult. Our fears sometimes threaten to cripple us before the troubles even arrive. And our Lord knows this. So, first he addresses the fears; then he leads us out of our troubles.

Fear of the unknown, fear of things imagined, fear of what might happen, fear of COVID, fear of perceived threats – these are all part of our landscape at present. The devil preys on fear. He feeds on fear. He knows that when we are afraid, we are tempted to jump to any conclusion, accept any rumor, take any compromise to alleviate that fear. The Lord knows this, and so he addresses our fear with his Word, with his promises, and with his grace. It was not coincidence that Jesus’ most used command was, “Do not be afraid!” First, he helps us overcome our fears; then he addresses our needs.

Grandpa addressed my fear of Bill, then he addressed my need for security. He gave up his place and slept on that couch, so I could rest unafraid and unmolested. God knows your fears and your needs. He says, “Fear not! I will deliver you!” Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

We would once again put out a plea for those who are “techies” to consider volunteering to learn from Ryan Dietrich the process by which we broadcast our service on the Internet. We need 3 or 4 people so everyone can take turns, especially Ryan! Consider it, then act!

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/0Yd9c-OmwrY

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDSept22.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 21

Monday, September 21, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“When the Body Gets to Work”

Let me start off this morning with a sense of gratitude for this last Saturday’s Drive In Service. The Lord gave us an absolutely beautiful day. And it was great to see so many faces that I haven’t got to see in many months.

When one plans for an outdoor event one always has to wonder about the weather. But this weekend was perfect. The who drive in thing was new also. I used to participate in Drive-in services at my last congregation but in our case there were a lot of unknowns. We had to acquire an FM transmitter that would broadcast throughout the parking lot. We asked ourselves, “How will the music work?” “How will communion work? We had to develop a whole new mindset in the way we did church. And we had to depend on a lot of people to make it a reality.

The day began with a couple of us putting up the platform for Pastor and I to stand on. It has to be high enough for everyone to see. Right on the heels of finishing that Ryan came in and started hooking up speakers and microphones and later ran the system that allowed us to broadcast the service over our FM transmitter. Then Jess brought in her keyboard and played for the music and Tom, Georgianne, Hanna, Carol, and Helen led the music. And Tim Bohannon helped hold the pages down for Jess as she played because a breeze mess with her music sheets. Out in the parking lot Sabrina handed out bulletins along with her son, Nicolas. Shawn, Kent, John, and Tim helped park the cars. Communion was set up by Lorna which took special care because we had to divide it on two carts that could be wheeled around. And let’s not forget Karen who put the bulletins together and Wendy who had to go through each bulletin to correct the FM frequency from 89.9 to 87.7 FM. Meanwhile on the inside Ed and Dan and Joan were installing another new faucet and water heater in the office. Yes, I know they didn’t directly influence the Drive-in service but they were there making things better for the church building. Thank you to these and the many others who do so much for Grace’s ministry. Many people of different gifts helped to create one reality—a Drive-in Church service. And that’s the point for today. Many parts of the body of Christ worked together to make Saturday into a blessing.

So lets consider again the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 as he talks about the body of Christ.
“4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Paul was writing to a very divided church in Corinth. They just couldn’t shake off the influence of their old life which kept haunting them. The Church had many problems with division, taking fellow members to court, immorality of some, and a contest of sorts in their minds about who the greatest in the kingdom is. Some bragged that they had certain gifts and because they had certain gifts they were somehow better than others who didn’t have that same gift. So Paul puts emphasis on the One Spirit that makes those gifts a reality.
Paul doesn’t deny that there were gifts of the Spirit but he does make special note on how to apply those gifts in chapter 13. “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

What good are gifts if we don’t use them to bless more than ourselves? What good would a drive-in service be if we only had musicians, or only preachers without the technology to broadcast them. Where would the communion be if all we had was parking guides. How would we hand out the bulletins if all we had were people inside working on a sink. Folks none of these people were here for personal gain but because by the One Spirit we were all led to offer what we could to make the Service a blessing while at the same time we were willing to lean on the others to do what they do best. Like a puzzle all the gifts came together create a larger picture that brought attention to Jesus rather than ourselves. And whenever we do that good things happen. And they did.

Oh we had our glitches. Even with all of those gifts we had some issues. The station we picked originally and advertised to our neighbors was the wrong one. Rosie and the High School had gone around and distributed cards of welcome to our neighbors. The next day when we realized the error she made the effort to go out again with the corrected information. And at the service itself we discovered our new frequency 87.7 could not be received in some of the newer cars which didn’t let their drivers tune into such a low frequency. Their radios could only go down to 87.9 (Two tenths). So, with the patience of all who worshipped in their cars we adjusted again to 87.9. But this little problem in the end didn’t derail all that was accomplished. Fact is, even the body of Christ can’t do everything perfectly. But perfection is not our calling—faithfulness is. Even when we face forces we cannot control God will accomplish His work and His grace will bless His people. And it sure did on Saturday. Thank you to the Holy Spirit who brought us all together.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDSept21

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/sufMKNfCImg

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 15

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Every Time I Remember You”

READING: Philippians 1:3-6 – I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

A week ago, Sunday, you folks mostly surprised me with a luncheon and a “roast” commemorating my 30th Anniversary of service to Grace, New Albany. Sometime around the 20th of August in 1990, my family and I arrived at Grace, and I started my learning experience as your vicar. Little did I know that I would still be here, serving as your Senior Pastor, after 30 years. And, little did I realize just how fast those 30 years would go! ZOOM! We’re here!

In my remarks on the 6th I mostly concentrated on thanking the congregation as a whole for their love, support, kindness, and friendship over these years. The whole bunch has become not just parishioners, not just friends, but very truly family. I thank God frequently for calling me to this congregation and giving me the privilege of being their pastor.

Today I want to take a moment to thank and laud individuals who have made this long pastorate possible. See, I don’t do everything around Grace. I am and have been assisted, supported, and challenged by some of the finest staff members any Senior Pastor could ever hope for. I started with Curt Peters as my “assistant” pastor, but he was a lot more than that. He was my mentor and my confessor, and he’s my good friend to this day. His wife, Pam, was our first Music Director and did much to make my life easier.

And then, there’s our secretary, Karen Meredith. She was here when I came, and she has pulled my bacon out of the fire a hundred times by reminding me of deadlines, dates, times, and procedures all with a marvelous sense of humor and tremendous patience and ability. I had a Youth Director second to none in Mitzie Lyon Schmelz. She did youth ministry exactly the way I always knew it should be done, and I’ve never seen anyone do it better. My second Music Director is still my Music Director! Helen Bohannon has so much talent, so much energy, so much love for Godly music, and she has taught me so much I didn’t know before I met her. And, I have some new help on the scene in our Children’s Minister, Sabrina Haug, and our Interim Youth Director, Rose Ebling. Both of them have already demonstrated creativity and a dedication to our young ones from cradle to young adulthood. I can’t wait to see what blessings they will be for Grace. And, not to forget, a treasurer in Bob Alles who has kept us on the straight and narrow while making himself available time and time again.

And, of course, I dare not leave out Pastor Woods. For over 19 years he has been my strong right arm. Not only is he a good, caring, energetic and creative pastor, but he is my good friend, my confidant, and the hammer to my anvil! We are kindred spirits in so many ways, yet complimentary in so many others. Team ministries are often either “made in heaven” or “smoldering in the pits”. I’m most happy to report that ours is decidedly the former!

You might also imagine that there have been individuals in the congregation over my years who have had a big impact on me by their involvement, their wisdom, their humor, and their companionship. Names come to mind like Jeff Olson, George Gebhardt, Ron Dietrich, Ron Jenkins, Frank Appleby, Mildred Lewellen, Erna McIntyre, Frances A, B, and C (Anderson, Borkenheim, and Conrad), Chuck and Elaine Osburn, Roxie Minter, Bob Hunt, and so many, many more. I’ve laid to rest so many of the family here. I look forward to when I can see and visit with them again. Each one left an impression on my heart. I miss them.

And finally, I must also laud my wife, Becky. Had she not given me permission I might never have come this way. Being a pastor’s wife, by its very nature, requires sacrifices of time and presence. She spent a lot of weekday evenings at home alone with the kids and by herself when they were all gone. She has always supported, encouraged, and been my sounding board, and I love her very much. Having mentioned the kids, Andy, Dan, and Christa also receive my thanks. When I attended the Seminary and then came to Grace, they attended three different schools in each of three consecutive years. New homes, new places, new friends and at an age when those transitions can be very hard. They all did well with it and always seemed proud that their dad was a pastor. I love them very much.

So, having started with Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, I understand EXACTLY what he was saying to them. Ministry is a partnership of pastor and parish in living out, proclaiming, and celebrating the Good News of Jesus Christ. Paul thanked God for their faith and their faithfulness. I do the same in my prayers. We have shared much together: births and baptisms, confirmations and weddings, troubles and tragedies, losses, reverses, and frightening diagnoses, and through it all we have kept the faith and trusted in our Heavenly Father through his Son by the work of the Holy Spirit. I don’t know just how many more years I’ll hold this seat, but trusting in His promises, you and I will walk in The Way together. God bless you all. I love you very much. Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

Saturday, September 19, 5:00 – we are planning a drive-in worship service in place of the usual Saturday night service. You’ll be able to park in the lot, see the pastors from your car, and tune in to the service on your FM dial. At the end of the service, Holy Communion will be celebrated and distributed as you drive out the exit past the gym. In this way we hope to give those who have stayed out of the building for five months for fear of COVID the opportunity to safely and meaningfully worship AND RECEIVE COMMUNION. More info will be coming, so stay tuned!

We would once again put out a plea for those who are “techies” to consider volunteering to learn from Ryan Dietrich the process by which we broadcast our service on the Internet.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/ldPkQkBFpXM

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDSept15.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 14

Monday, September 14, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Moving Day”

This last weekend we rearranged the house. My youngest son who is getting married in a month has moved to the basement which has been fixed up as a little apartment. Meanwhile my oldest and his bride have moved upstairs to his old room in anticipation of building a house in the Spring. What does all this mean? Good Lutheran question to ask. It means that we had to do a lot of moving—Saturday was moving day.

If you have ever experienced moving from one house or apartment to another (and most likely you probably have) then you will understand moving day. Tricia and I have had many moving days in twenty-five years. It always begins with a culling of old things—broken toys, forgotten clothes, wedding gifts that we only used once. “Who filled our closets with so much junk?” Must have been the garden Nomes. Moving from our house in Charlestown to an apartment, we quickly discovered that in only five years of living in one house we had accumulated a lot of stuff that we didn’t need to take with us. Then we began to move things to our storage locker. And by the way, in the future, if you have to use a storage locker, I am convinced that you don’t need that stuff either. All but a handful of things we ended up getting rid of anyway. We boxed so much stuff up and then unboxed them.

Our family has moved many times and each time I remember why I don’t like it. It’s always stressful. Something important always seems to get lost—especially screws and bolts for tables and bed frames. And worst of all it doesn’t take long to realize just how used our own dirt we have become. This last weekend was proof that even when we think we have things clean we don’t. We have plenty of dust and dog hair, and dirt that the vacuums miss. One might even be able to knit a whole new dog from the hair that we found this weekend. It’s a little embarrassing. If we had a sign with a phone number and sign that read, “How’s my cleaning?” I might have gotten a few calls this weekend.

The thing about moving day is that it always seems to end one chapter to begin another one. Moving day is a transition day. Old things have to be let go of. Things that were once important are replaced with something new. A home is replaced with another home in another location. This weekend’s move was a transition for both boys. They remain in the same house but not in the same circumstances. Soon both will be married. The oldest and his bride are poised to move into their own place soon. The other is getting married and stabilizing things until his wife finishes Pharmacy school and then they too will make a home together. Before too long the house will get really quiet.

Exodus 12 speaks of moving day for the Israelites. Listen to verses 31-42. 31 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron at night. He said, “Get up and go away from my people, both you and the people of Israel. Go and worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your cattle, as you have said, and go. And pray that good will come to me also.”

33 The Egyptians were trying to make the people hurry out of the land. For they said, “We will all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before yeast had been added. They tied their dough pots in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had done what Moses had said. They had asked the Egyptians for things made of silver and gold and for clothes. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. So, the Egyptians let them have whatever they asked for. And they took the best things of Egypt.

37 The people of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men on foot, and also the women and children. 38 And a mixed group of people went with them, and very many flocks and cattle. 39 They made the dough they had brought out of Egypt into loaves of bread without yeast. Yeast was not added to the dough because they had been sent out of Egypt and could not wait. They could not make ready any food for themselves.

40 The people of Israel had lived in Egypt 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years, on that same day, all of the Lord’s people left Egypt. 42 It was a night to be remembered for the Lord for having brought them out of the land of Egypt. This night is for the Lord, to be remembered by all the people of Israel for all time.

Passover night was also moving night. By morning the next day, the Israelites were on their way out carrying gold and silver and as much stuff as they could carry with them. Much of that gold and silver would later be material for making the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. But here again one chapter was ending in the history of God’s people and another chapter was beginning. Sadly, this generation would be exiled for forty years in the desert because they did not trust God in spite of all the miracles that God had done for them. However, this moving day would literally shape Israel’s history and its future for the rest of the its existence—even now. Even now Jewish folks celebrate the Passover as a memorial for all that God had done with Moses.

Going to college—moving into dorms and out of dorms for four years—going to seminary—going to vicarage—getting married and moving into an apartment with my bride—moving to our first call and into a rental house—then to our second call and into a parsonage—and then here to Grace and to a house in Charlestown—then to an apartment—and then to our current house. We’ve done a lot of moving. Not nearly as much as others I’m sure but plenty. All of our moving days have been memorable but not defining like it was for the Israelites who left he bondage of Egypt to become a nation. They became the nation of Israel, moved into the Promised Land, and fulfilled the promise to Abraham.

2 Corinthians 5:1 speaks of another move from an earthly tent to a house not built by human hands. The most definitive move anyone of us will make eventually will be when we change our address from this fallen world to the risen one. The new home will be permanent. It will define us because of who lives there namely, our Savior, Jesus. And the old things will disappear and the new things will take hold. We will Passover from death to life. Best of all we won’t need anything from this world and everyone we love who believe in Jesus will be with us in the Lord’s kingdom. This is a moving day unlike any other. One chapter will end and another will begin. That’s our hope in Jesus.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDSepT14

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/2GAGlHW0c0Q

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 8

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“SIGNS TO BE SPOKEN AGAINST”

READING: Luke 2:28-35 – Simeon took (Jesus) in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light to reveal you to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

I used to love the color orange. It was one of my favorites in childhood and one of our team colors at Vassar High (“Orange and black, fight! Fight!”). I loved big, sweet Navel oranges, orange Nehi, orange suckers, orange Popsicles, orange jelly slices, orange trucks, orange shirts, orange hunting clothes, etc. etc. No more! I am sick of orange! I don’t want to see anything orange for the next five months! I’m even thinking of buying only white pumpkins for Halloween!

Why, Pastor? you might ask. What has caused you to turn against the color orange? Well, I’ll tell you: orange signs that say, “ROAD CONSTRUCTION AHEAD 2 MILES”!!! I am sick, sick, sick, of orange road construction signs, and while we’re at it, I’m sick of orange barrels, orange cones, orange poles, orange vests, and most everything else associated with construction zones.

Now, I know: all that construction is necessary to keep our streets, roads, and highways safe and drivable. I know that, but with Blackiston Mill under construction and Slate Run under construction and I-265 being repaved and Grant Line earlier this summer, not to mention every single bridge in Indiana along I-69 and the work on I-65 and nearly the entire stretch of I-64 through the state of West Virginia, I AM SICK OF ORANGE SIGNS! I am speaking against those signs, revealing the thoughts of my heart.

Well, now you may have seen where I am headed with this! Simeon was moved to praise God when he held the infant Jesus in his arms. He was moved to bless Joseph and Mary. But he also warned Mary that not everyone would be as joyful at His coming as was Simeon. In fact, he tells her that, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”

This prophecy was fulfilled many, many times during the earthly ministry of Jesus. The Pharisees spoke against him saying, “This man eats with sinners!” The elders spoke against him saying, “He does these things by the power of Beelzebub!” The chief priests spoke against him saying, “By what authority do you do these things?” Caiaphas, the High Priest spoke against him saying, “Why do we need any more witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy!” And, the Sanhedrin and their lackeys spoke against him saying, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Even Peter spoke against him saying, “I don’t know the man!”

Jesus was a sign to be spoken against because he didn’t fit their mold. Most of the Jews were looking for a warrior king, a “Son of David” who would reclaim David’s throne, restore the kingdom, and drive out their Roman overseers. Jesus wasn’t remotely interested in such an earthly kingdom. His was a far greater cause, a broader mission: to give himself as the ransom for many and to call to repentance and salvation not only the people of Israel, but the Gentiles as well. This was unacceptable, even unthinkable, for the powerful in Jerusalem, so they spoke against Jesus. They did all within their power to take him down and silence him. And, finally they achieved their ultimate goal by speaking against him before Pilate, who acquiesced to their demands and sent Jesus to the Cross. Little did they know that at that very moment God’s gracious plan for the salvation of the world was being worked out as he had ordained it!

Soon the orange stuff will be stacked and stashed away for the winter season when construction takes a break. For a few months we’ll be able to drive without hinderance and delay. But, when the spring comes and the sun warms up the roads, the “orange flowers” will bloom again, and once more you’ll probably hear me speaking against those orange signs. Thanks be to God that the sign of his love for us, the sign of his justice, the sign of his mercy and grace did not falter nor fail when he was spoken against. Jesus kept his eye on the prize and gained for us forgiveness of our sins and eternal life in his name. That’s a sign that points our way to heaven. In Jesus’ name, amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

Saturday, September 19, 5:00 – we are planning a drive-in worship service in place of the usual Saturday night service. You’ll be able to park in the lot, see the pastors from your car, and tune in to the service on your FM dial. At the end of the service, Holy Communion will be celebrated and distributed as you drive out the exit past the gym. In this way we hope to give those who have stayed out of the building for five months for fear of COVID the opportunity to safely and meaningfully worship AND RECEIVE COMMUNION. More info will be coming, so stay tuned!

We would once again put out a plea for those who are “techies” to consider volunteering to learn from Ryan Dietrich the process by which we broadcast our service on the Internet. Ryan has been most diligent in being there for two service over and over these last five months. But it’s time we had some people who could spell him. Let us know if you’re interested.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/ZmEPKygMC9k

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDSept8.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 7

Monday, September 7, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Being Completely Honest About Ourselves”

Sam and his bride, Michelle were driving down the freeway on their way to the store a couple of weeks back. Michelle noticed from the passenger side that the needle was sitting steadily on E. When she made a mention of the gas gauge Sam confidently said, “I do this all the time. We’ll be fine. We’ve got enough to get home.” Famous last words.

Sometime later as they began their trip back home from the store the car began to stop working. Press the gas-nothing happened. Lights on the dash began to light up as the car shut down until finally Sam had to pull the car off to the side of the road.

Sam couldn’t think of what might be wrong. So, the AAA card was called upon and a tow truck was called. The car was hauled 13 miles to their regular mechanic. The next day Sam got a call from the mechanic and Sam and Michelle went over to pick up his car. When asked what happened, the smiling mechanic said, “We couldn’t find anything wrong with the car but we did figure out what happened. It ran out of gas.” Sam smiled and could feel Michelle’s smiling eye-roll without even looking. The mechanic went on saying, “We put a couple of gallons of gas in it. Turned right over. Runs well, but you may want to stop at the gas station on the way home. By the way that two gallons will cost you $38 bucks.” Sam hasn’t let the gas get that low since.

Consider today what James says in James 1:22-25 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Does the Word of God really shape all of your behavior? Or is there a little influence from somewhere else? Jesus says in Matthew 7 at the end of his Sermon on the Mount that anyone who hears His words and puts them into practice is like a man who built his house on the rock. Hurricane winds and tidal waves could not undo it. Most I know want a faith like that. I can’t think of any Christian that wants to be overcome or who willingly seeks out a weak faith. A misguided faith usually stops paying attention to the gas gauge.

Even as we believe in Jesus, we fool ourselves in sin. We want faith that moves mountains but often we settle for much less because we imagine certain sacrifices as too much. Peter loved Jesus but in Galatians 2 Peter had to be corrected for giving into peer pressure from Jewish converts who believed the Gentiles needed circumcision first. Paul had to remind him that even the smallest step towards the law is syncretistic. Peter as a pillar of the church needed to be corrected. Peter had imagined himself as a man worthy of the right hand or left hand in the kingdom of heaven; a strong man. However, as we know, Peter who loved Jesus, wasn’t really good with pressure from his fellow Jews. Before Galatians 2 Peter famously failed the Lord at the fire barrel in the court of the high priest when pressured to confess himself as a follower of Jesus. He denied Jesus three times, each time with greater intensity. Thankfully, Peter was ready to humble himself and set aside his pride as He returned to the Lord.

We don’t seek to be bad Christians but we tend to wander from the truth. Especially when we don’t actively seek to fellowship with other Christians, physically be present with other Christians, we can easily succumb to false ideas. Worse, we can grow very comfortable in false ideas. The Gospel doesn’t allow us to be half-hearted or lukewarm about Jesus or about Jesus’ way of doing things. Truth is we all could be doing a lot better with our faith then we are actually doing. We don’t run out of gas because we haven’t been warned but because we chose not to pay attention to it.

Have you heard of the Psychology of the modern gas gauge? In an article by Terry Shea for AOL Autos titled “How Does Your Gas Gauge Really Work? Why That First Half-Tank Seems To Last Forever” we learn how the gas gauge has been adjusted to fit our comfort zones. Shea writes:

Have you ever noticed that your gas gauge stays on full for quite a while before the needle even moves and then it moves faster and faster as it approaches empty? And then when it gets to “E” it sort of stays there for a while until the low warning light comes on …?
It turns out it’s partially your fault that gas gauges work that way.

The engineers calibrate them to do that. Why? Because you, the customer, have told them that’s the way you like it. We spoke with Phil Pierron, an engineer at Ford (his title is actually “Technical Expert for Systems Engineering in Core Fuel Systems), who told us, “Our customers really didn’t want to run out of fuel when they hit ‘E.’ Customers do want some amount of fuel when they get to ‘E.’”

Apparently, consumer surveys indicate that people don’t like seeing the needle depart from “F” right away either … . According to Pierron, “Customers want it to say on full for an amount of time.” This gives them the illusion that they are getting better fuel mileage or at least not immediately burning through that expensive tank of petrol they just bought, even if they quite literally are. …

And while customers want there to be a “reserve” of gasoline available when they reach the empty mark … they don’t want too much of a reserve. Otherwise, they will complain that their 20-gallon tank only takes 15 gallons when filling up from empty. Apparently, there is a sweet spot where customers are happy to be fooled by their gas gauges, but not too much. We customers sure are a fickle bunch.

The engineer’s job should be to make things more accurate and efficient, but in this case he has to play psychologist to keep customers happy.

Who would have thought the gas gauge would reveal human nature so well. Jesus says the truth will set you free but the truth about our sin is always uncomfortable. No likes to be corrected especially in front of others. It’s humiliating. And yet how much more humiliating was it for Jesus to be paraded naked, spit upon, mocked, beaten, nailed to a cross on full display in the most undignified way as a criminal and then die for sins not His own. Jesus held nothing back which means we don’t have to either. Our sins are disobedience to the Word. If we are ever to experience deep faith one has to stop being disobedient and be completely honest about their sins with Jesus. We can’t just correct the sins that are easy to get rid of like the clothes we send to Good Will. We are to be rid of the ones that are hard to let go of too. You know the kind. The sins that you don’t want others to see. Idols you are afraid of losing most and most likely to protect and be defensive about. The ones that when someone gets too close makes something inside rattle. Jesus already knows them. The gas gauge has been warning you that it can’t stay this way and still make it home. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But then another truth comes to light in this verse. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).

When our faith gets stranded on the side of the road God’s mercy in Jesus gets us back on the road headed in the right direction. By grace we are called trust in His Word, live that Word, and by that Word learn to give better attention to that fuel gauge of our faith. The Word is the fuel. The Word is our salvation and because of it we will make it all the way home. So, why would any of us just get by on E when Jesus invites us to have life in full?

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: weeklysept7

Youtube Video. https://youtu.be/dgh8ZfirAW0

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION SEPTEMBER 1

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“TOPPLE-GANGERS”

READING: Psalm 1:1-4 – Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Do you know what I mean by a “stand-alone” basketball goal? You see them in numerous driveways where young Hoosiers shoot hoops and dream of glory in Bloomington. They are basketball backboards mounted on an adjustable pole and attached to a large, plastic tank as its base. The tank is supposed to be filled with water or covered with sandbags to give the goal a solid base and to keep it from toppling over. Notice, I said, “Supposed to…”

My grandson Uri and I took a walk around our neighborhood yesterday. As we went, both of us noticed a number of such basketball goals that were in bad shape. We saw three that had large holes broken out of the backboard. We saw two more that had the rims bent backwards at a steep angle. In fact, we only saw one of those things that wasn’t beat up, and that’s a brand new one that our neighbors downhill from us just bought and set up. I’ll make a prediction right now that that one, too, will be in sad shape before next spring rolls around.

See, the problem with those “stand alone” baskets is their foundation. A good goal is anchored in the ground with about 600 pounds of concrete poured around its base. That kind of goal can withstand the wind and 220 pound, 6-foot-4 young men who like to show off their “hops”. The stand-alone types just don’t have solid footing. A windstorm comes along, catches the backboard like a sail, and over it goes. One of those big young men hangs a moment too long on the rim, and down it comes. Before you know it, the backboard shatters or the rim is bent at a crazy angle, and the thing becomes useless.

So it is with the human being who tries to “stand alone” in this wilderness called “life”. Scripture again and again uses picture language and outright pleas to call people to stand in God’s strength and under his wings. To be grounded in his Word and to set their hopes on his Gospel in Jesus Christ. So many people race through life chasing after their dreams only to find that on their deathbeds, those dreams are just so much dust. Others slouch through life with little joy and with large resentments, always sure that “somebody” has kept them from the ”good life”.

The Psalmist in his very first Psalm lays the groundwork for real joy and genuine hope and a life that truly is meaningful when he urges the reader to “delight in the law of the Lord.” He says that such a person “is like a tree planted by streams of water.” Their roots go deep into the wisdom of the Lord. They are sustained in times of trouble, in times of sorrow, in times of danger by their dependence and assurance in God’s unending love and his eternal promises. Their life choices are dictated not just by their own sinful judgments but by an obedience and an informed conscience that comes from a personal relationship with their Savior.

St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians talks about the foundation that holds us upright and firm against the storms and onslaughts of life when he says, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Like those “stand-alone” goals, people who stand in their own strength and achievements will, sooner or later, be toppled and broken. But the ones who stand upon God’s word, rooted in Christ Jesus, and trusting in his promises, will stand against the storm in this life, and stand before the Throne in the next.

You don’t have to take my word for it. See for yourself! Delight in his Word and be grounded in his Gospel. Don’t be a “Topple-ganger”, but the tree that bears fruit in its season and “whose leaf does not wither.” Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

Saturday, September 19, 5:00 – we are planning a drive-in worship service in place of the usual Saturday night service. You’ll be able to park in the lot, see the pastors from your car, and tune in to the service on your FM dial. At the end of the service, Holy Communion will be celebrated and distributed as you drive out the exit past the gym. In this way we hope to give those who have stayed out of the building for five months for fear of COVID the opportunity to safely and meaningfully worship AND RECEIVE COMMUNION. More info will be coming, so stay tuned!

A reminder to parents and their seventh and eighth graders! We have our initial meeting tomorrow evening from 6-7:00. Important for you to be there in the Sanctuary.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/tdT3ML0uKxw

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDSept1.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION August 31

Monday, August 31, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“The Blessings of Disappointment”

Shelby was headed for her Senior year of college. She was a hardcore softball player for her college. At that time the college she attended had a huge softball tournament in Orlando Florida which everyone one on the team looked forward to. Of course, to go on the trip required each member of the team to raise money to be able to go. This was a trip that Shelby looked forward to every year and always worked hard to raise what she needed long before the deadline. It was not only a chance to play other college teams around the country but also as everyone knows, Orlando had some fun things to do as well.

But something happened that no one saw coming. On a surprise call from her parents she received news that Shelby will not be able to finish her senior year at that college. A combination of problems had been building and finally collapsed. Her father had just gotten laid off after a string of health problems had finally prevented him from being able to do his job. And a letter had come that Shelby had allowed her grades to slip a little to far for her scholarship to be carried over to the second semester of her senior year. Shelby was devastated in disappointment.

Shelby tried at least to salvage her softball trip to Orlando since her monies had been raised and sent in. But since she was no longer going to be an enrolled student the coach couldn’t convince the powers that be to allow it. So, Shelby went home and eventually finished her senior year at a more affordable college closer to home. It was not the senior year that she had imagined for herself or had planned for.

Disappointment comes in many forms and my guess is that as you watch this today you yourself have felt as Shelby did. Whether it be something simple as a new car that breaks down, or something bigger like a divorce disappointment hurts. But having this experience as we do may actually make us strong enough and wise enough to be kind of person that can help someone like Shelby. Disappointment can lead to a kind of mourning process but it also can lead to blessings. Consider the scene in John 11.

Starting with verse 28: 28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. Jesus arrives to a very disappointed group of people, especially Lazarus’ sisters. When Mary runs out to Jesus she falls at his feet acknowledging Jesus as Lord but also in wonders says, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” One can easily hear the sting in that statement. Of course, we know from previous verses what Jesus had planned to do. Even so it should not be lost on us how Jesus handled the moment.

Jesus listened to both Martha and Mary and did not try to fix them. Jesus accepted the disappointment and met them there in that disappointment. Jesus also treated each of the sisters appropriately. With Martha who was practical, “the strong one”, Jesus does a little teaching and review. 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

On other hand Mary, is much more emotionally driven, and reflective. Jesus approaches her a little differently. Jesus effectively has a good cry with Mary. Jesus listens to her and then just joins her tears for a moment. Jesus doesn’t try to fix Mary either. He was deeply moved and loved her. And in Jesus being there He also reminded others of His love for Lazarus and that Jesus felt their heartbreak. And before raising Lazarus Jesus renewed their faith in Jesus being the Messiah and the source of eternal life.

When we meet someone who has been struck with disappointment consider this same path. We may not be able to remove someone’s disappointment or the things that have brought that disappointment to bear. The Lord doesn’t ask us to do that nor should we try to. We are not called to fix people but to love them.

Start by showing up and be present. When Lenard Nemoy died William Shatner decided not to attend his funeral saying he had contractual engagements to fulfill. At the time I thought to be a pretty lame excuse for a guy that Shatner had known and worked with for decades; and who as Captain Kirk and Spock were portrayed as the best of friends. Comforting people works best when we are truly and actually present. When we hurt we remember a friend’s presence much more than we remember what they said.

Be quick to listen and be available. Sometimes this means we learn to be uncomfortable. “Lord if you had only been here…” or “Why is this happening?” may not be question you have an answer for but still feel we should say something. Just listen and be present anyway. Let them express themselves. The best way for disappointment to lose its power over us is tell our story over and over again because as we do, we are processing it, accepting it, and allowing ourselves to mourn. Giving someone the same opportunity to process shrinks the emotional hold that disappointment may carry.

Encourage trust in the Lord. Pray. Talk with the Lord. Turn to the Lord. But then remember the Lord allows us to feel disappointment. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. Sometimes what happens has nothing to do we a specific plan as it did with Lazarus. Sometimes bad things happen. Jesus does not try to protect our feelings. The women were allowed to feel the full sense of loss. What followed were a deep sense of awe after Lazarus had been raised. That is a plan that John 11 spells out. But not everything is so clear or certain. That’s okay too. But we trust in the Lord anyway to turn what hurts into something good. And what is good may not be fully understood.

But disappointment has a way of making us a little tougher to beat and a littler more aware of our need for Jesus. When it comes to the death of a dream, or a marriage, or a brokenness that we were not expecting or something else facing disappointment with faith in Christ is certainly more productive than disappointment without Jesus. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not only your own understanding sometimes is the best course to take. In the end walking with the Lord is course that offers grace in corners of our life that we didn’t know we had need of it. “Do you believe this?” Jesus asks Martha. Are you ready to believe in the midst of disappointment? Faith finds a way.

People find out who they are in disappointment. But we also find out who are friends are when disappointment strikes. The blessings of disappointment are found with those who cry with us, listen to us, hold on to us, and help us process. Most of all in Jesus we find a friend who in ways only God can define can turn our hurts into a much deeper faith by His grace. You may be just the person who makes that possible as the Lord works through you.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDAug31.PDF

Youtube Video. https://youtu.be/PEjRNP6-IMY

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION AUGUST 25

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“The Perfect Picture of Grace”

READING: Ephesians 2:6-9 – And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.

Acts 16:29-34 – The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved – you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God – he and his family.

Last Saturday, a week ago, I had a wonderful experience. Having come home to Richville to perform my nephew Brad’s marriage to his wife, Kayla, I was asked by my nephew, John, to baptize his baby daughter, Hazel Rose, and I was asked by my goddaughter, Alyssa, John’s sister, to baptize her newborn son, Winston Leonard. So, on Saturday evening we gathered at St. Michael’s, my home church, to participate in a double baptism of my great-niece and my great-nephew. That was a new experience and a great joy.

What was not new was my appreciation for the beauty and graciousness of infant baptism. Many of our Protestant brethren do not believe infant baptism is appropriate or Biblical. I disagree. I believe the Christian church rightly baptized babies and children right from the start. Look at the story from Acts above. The words “your household”, “all the others in his house”, “all his family”, and “his family” give you the distinct picture that St. Paul did not single out the youngest children in that house from being baptized. When he baptized Dad, he baptized the “whole household”. In Greek the word is “oikos”, which was a word used in contemporary everyday speech to indicate EVERY PERSON UNDER ONE’S ROOF, old AND young.

More importantly, infant baptism is the most beautiful picture of God’s grace. Those two babies last week could not make any promises, take any vows, “give their hearts to Jesus”, or claim his blessing. They had no idea what was going on. The baptism wasn’t so much about them as it was about their heavenly Father who claimed them and named them to be his children for eternity. In that sacrament, the Father, for Jesus’ sake, declared Hazel and Winston to be HIS children. They didn’t earn that. They didn’t deserve that. They had nothing to do with receiving it. It was God’s grace-filled act of love, of his own accord, because of his love, in the name of Jesus.

Obviously, as they grow and mature, those two will be able to respond to God’s grace and learn to appreciate the great gift that baptism is. But even then, they will not be able to claim that they “chose to believe” or that they “found Jesus”. The passage from Ephesians puts the light on more of God’s grace. It says that even our faith is “the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.” Whether it’s an infant being baptized or an octogenarian, it is God who gives the gift. It is God who lays claim. It is God who makes the promise that stands for all time. Even if we reject that promise or wander from his grace, Scripture makes clear that when we repent and confess our sins, seeking his mercy once again, our heavenly Father rejoices that we have once again sheltered under the grace of our baptism. His promise of eternal life in Christ is still there, open and waiting for us.

Dr. Martin Luther, lying on his deathbed was heard to murmur, “We are all of us beggars.” And, he was right. None of us can claim righteousness of our own apart from Christ. None of us can make a promise, offer a vow, or receive God’s grace by our own strength and conviction. But the Holy Spirit, working through Word and water (and, later, bread and wine) brings us into faith and keeps us in that faith through God’s grace in Christ Jesus. So, keep those babies coming! Every time we baptize one of them, we see the perfect picture of God’s grace and a miracle that transforms a sinful child of man into a forgiven child of God!

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):
Saturday, September 19, 5:00 – we are planning a drive-in worship service in place of the usual Saturday night service. You’ll be able to park in the lot, see the pastors from your car, and tune in to the service on your FM dial. At the end of the service, Holy Communion will be celebrated and distributed as you drive out the exit past the gym. In this way we hope to give those who have stayed out of the building for five months for fear of COVID the opportunity to safely and meaningfully worship AND RECEIVE COMMUNION. More info will be coming, so stay tuned!

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/IYurAJO_R7Q

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDAug25

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WEEKLY DEVOTION August 24

Monday, August 24, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Taking Aim”

One of my favorite places to go as a little kid was to my great-grandparents house in Kingston, Michigan. On one occasion I found a sling shot in their garage. So, while grandma was inside I proceeded to shoot rocks across the road into a large garden directly across the road. Back then my grandparents had a half-acre garden and my vague memory of the garden across the road was that it was just as large. I should also add that back then kids were able to go outside and find things to do with constant supervision—although I probably could have used a little supervision on this particular day. Anyway, I knew what sling shots could do. So pulled back hard on that slingshot just to watch the rock sail in a big arch over the road to the garden. At first I aiming for the big tree next to the garden across the road. In truth, I mostly just liked shooting rocks.

Everything was fine until the neighbor lady across the road decided to work out in her garden-the very same garden that I was shooting rocks in. She wandered out in her long, very plain looking, country work dress, wearing tall rain boots. She was a bit heavy set and carried a basket. Did I stop? Not on your life.

When someone should have been yelling; “Get behind me, Satan” my mind was saying “Keep firing.” As this woman bent over to work in her garden I fired over and over. She was a lot more fun to aim at then the tree. The rocks landed all around her. I can remember her looking in the direction of the last rock that landed near her. Then another. Then another. The rocks kept landing near her. She, naturally got suspicious. It took her a while to figure out what that noise was. Finally, she stood up and looked around to see me holding the sling shot in the garage across the street. I remember her yelling out, “Are you shooting rocks? You better not be shooting rocks at me!” She was not very happy with me. I did what any child at that age does, especially a little devil that I was on that day. I denied any guilt. “I mean it!” she said before going back to gardening. Did I stop? Nope. I just took better aim

With the neighbor’s sizeable presence facing in my direction I saw a target I couldn’t refuse. I took careful aim. I pulled back hard and let that rock fly. Zing! The next thing I saw was that woman straighten right up with her hand holding her back left cheek. Bullseye! She marched right on over to straighten me out. I of course ran into the house and let grandma handle it. That poor neighbor didn’t have a chance with Grandma and I knew it. I don’t know what she said but whatever she said took care of it. Grandma was always quick to laugh pretty hard when the story was retold. She always said, “I don’t know how he could miss!” And laugh some more.

Whatever you take aim at is what you will shoot for. And what one aims at may either bring out the little devil in us or a faithful servant. Lord willing what we aim at is something that will bless us, bless others, and not…um…sting. Most of us want to leave our mark, but the right kind of mark on others—Hopefully our actions will leave a Jesus impression on others instead of a welt that wounds someone’s spirit or person. In Philippians 3:4-6 Paul talks about his previous life. It was a life that started with godly intentions but did great damage. It seemed that what he aimed at had great success, at least in a Jewish mind back in Paul’s day. But he later describes in verses 7-11 that meeting Jesus changed what He was aiming for in this world. Consider the passage.

“If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” Paul was top of his class and well on his way to being a powerful man. But it was bringing out the devil in Paul rather than good. In fact, we first meet Paul as a persecutor of the church. He believed at the time that he was protecting Judaism and honoring Yahweh. But then He meets Jesus on the road to Damascus and all of His priorities changed. He was aiming at the wrong things.

He goes on to say, “7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

Everything we take aim at in life whether it be a good education, a good job, a nice house etc. are truly a blessing when we keep our aim first and foremost on Jesus. Some of us may ask ourselves, “Is the job we are working glorifying Jesus or glorifying ourselves?” “Have we picked a spouse that will enhance a relationship with Jesus or make it harder?” “Have we chosen a lifestyle that is far too busy for Jesus?” “Are the things we are doing making us closer to our family or pulling us apart?” It’s important that if we take aim at something, we know what our target is. Its’ also important to know that if we hit our target, we aren’t going to hurt ourselves or someone else. The last thing we want is a pain in our back fender or to create pain in someone else’s fender. Faith in Jesus when exercised in His grace should produce fruits consistent with Spirit for example. You know those fruits in Galatians 5:23 “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control”.

In order for Paul to become the effective instrument that he ultimately became, Paul had to change what He was aiming at. He called those things that were once so important and sources of pride for Paul, garbage. Compared to knowing Christ crucified and the hope of the resurrection those things meant nothing. More than that, those things Paul held so much pride in were only bringing out the devil in Paul rather than something good.

That’s the interesting thing with Covid. For many it has been a time of reflection and personal evaluation. Many have lost their jobs and many have had to change direction; change what they are aiming at. Covid has forced many into change. But so doing it has offered a rare opportunity to reexamine one’s life and evaluate one’s priorities and to count up what really matters. This much is very true. Evaluating what we are aiming at once in a while to see if its’ what we should be aiming at, is important especially in light of the Christian faith.

So, consider some questions to ask as about our aims. “Is it good?” “Is it necessary?” “Would God approve?” “What do those that we love most say about it?” “Are we ready to refine or altar our aims to avoid becoming that little devil?”

In the end, godly aims should build up others and honor our Lord and by the grace of God they will. So, aim high and let the rock of your Salvation be something you stand on rather than something you slingshot at someone.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDAug24

Youtube Videohttps://youtu.be/spCth-19srU

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION AUGUST 18

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“I’m the ‘Old Man’ Now”

READING: Psalm 71:1-9, 12 – In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me. Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men. For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. I have become like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone. Be not far from me, O God; come quickly, O my God, to help me.

When Dad died last month, it occurred to me that I couldn’t think of a Kischnick male who is older than I am. My Grandpa Kischnick had three brothers, and they’re all gone. Dad was the oldest of the male cousins, and he had outlived them all. Not one of them had a son older than me, so I am the old man on the Kischnick side of the family.

In my mother’s family, the Mossner’s, I had two male cousins older than me, but sadly both of them are already deceased. When my Uncle Rudy died several years ago, I became the eldest male on that side of the family. (My cousin, Ruth Sullivan, is older than me by several years, so there’s that.)

I teased my brothers and my nephews when we were all together out at the farm. I told them I was now the “pater familias.” I told them that not so many centuries ago they would all have been expected to come visit me and to kiss my ring. They had a whole different take on that idea, and much laughter ensued! They just said I was now the old man with emphasis on “the old.”

As I reflected on my new status, I couldn’t help but be saddened by all the losses this represented: two grandfathers I loved and respected, all the great-uncles whom I saw frequently at church and at family get-togethers, all my uncles, cousins Ralph and Bill, and, of course, Dad. How quickly we go from being one of the kids to being, “the Old Man.”

Psalm 71 shows us King David in his old age. He has lived through countless adventures, survived tremendous dangers, had fame and fortune and power. He has been surrounded by enemies, within and without. He has written soaring and memorable psalms, been a man after God’s own heart, and fallen to low depths a number of times. Now he is an old man with health concerns and a sense that time is catching up with him. He has a collection of sons, and a number of them would like to be his successor. Absalom had even tried to hurry the process along. How quickly the years have passed. He went from fighting giants to being “a portent to many,” a portent of the changes that will come soon: a new king and a new era.

But to his credit David does what David has always done: he turns to his God and relies on God’s strength and protection. He goes to “the rock of refuge” on whom he has relied “since birth.” He trusts that God will walk the rest of the journey with him; that God’s blessing and favor are still with him. He seeks his protection from wicked and cruel men. He makes it his goal to praise and worship the Lord as has been his habit all his life long. “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone,” he pleads. That translates to, “I need you more than ever!”

So, I am “the Old Man” now. That’s ok. I’ll wear the crown for a while. I’ll do what David did and put my trust in the Lord. Our time here is fleeting. When we were children, time seemed to drag. Once Thanksgiving had come, it seemed as though Christmas would NEVER get here. Now when October 1, arrives we think, “It’s almost Christmas!” Everything changes save for one: The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is our Rock of Refuge, our constant hope, and the one who helps us. And, hey, at least none of my youngers is plotting to take my throne! Praise be to the Lord our God. Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/__MvvbYOs4s

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDAug18.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION August 17

Monday, August 17, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Remembering and Forgetting”

I don’t know about you but I forget things sometimes. I am singularly focused most of the time. I really only do one thing at a time. I’ll give you an example with my phone. Recently, I was focused on getting a tool from the barn to bring to church. The sudden thought popped into my head while I was loading the car and carrying my cell phone. So, in my haste I (for reasons I cannot understand to this day) I set my cell phone down on the top of the washing machine and then set some mail over the top of it. I hurried to the barn to find the tool I needed. I couldn’t find the tool right away because it wasn’t where it was supposed to be. I eventually found it ran up to my car with the tool in hand and then suddenly remembered another tool that I may need. Flustered with myself for not thinking about it while I was down in the barn, I threw the first tool into the trunk of the car and ran back down to the barn to get the next thing I needed. Finally, I think I got everything I need (with that little voice in my head telling me there may be something else that I was forgetting.) No matter! I hurridly hopped into the car and drove off.

About a mile from the house just as I turn onto Hwy 150, I remembered what I forgot. My phone. Ticked at myself for being such an airhead I found a place in busy traffic to turn around. Ten minutes later I’m back home looking for my cell phone. “But where did I put that thing?” By now I was getting pretty frustrated with myself. It was definitely one of those mornings. By now in my head I could hear my wife saying to me, “Why don’t you make a list?” And I end the conversation in my head with, “Yea, Yea, I probably should have. It would have saved me a lot of this chaos.”

So, I back-tracked my flustered morning retracing my steps. Yet I just couldn’t seem to remember where I put that phone. Worse yet, I couldn’t even call it because no one else was home. Thank goodness it buzzed from a text while I was in kitchen looking in places I had tried twice already. I looked in couch cushions and checked the bedroom. Then it buzzed again—thank goodness for texts. Sure enough, it was on the washing machine under some mail. Oh yea! Some distant memory jogged and it all flooded back. Thirty minutes later I was finally on the road again.

Does the Lord forget things? The good news is that He does. He forgets our sins in the forgiveness of the cross. Hebrews 8:12 says, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” The verse is very much in tune with Jeremiah 31:34 which states, “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘know the Lord,’ for they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.”

But how do we reconcile this with Matthew 12:36 which says, “People will give an account for every careless word they speak”? The answer is in the faith. Those who are in Christ are a new Creation in Christ—the old is gone and the new has come. Psalm 103:12 reminds us, “as far as the east is the from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Romans 8:1 starts of the chapter making the same point that “there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” And verse 34 repeats the thought when it effectively says, “Who’s left to condemn us since Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us?” Forgiveness in Christ wipes out our record because Jesus declares us righteous in His grace. We are treated just-as-if-I’d (Justified) never sinned—that’s justification in Jesus.

Let’s be clear. If God wanted to remember our sins He could. Jesus doesn’t have memory problems like Pastor Woods. He chooses to forget our sins because of the cross. When the Heavenly Father looks at us, He sees only the righteousness of Jesus which has been covering us since our Baptisms. Galatians 3:27 says as much, “Anyone who is baptized into Christ Jesus has been clothed with Christ.” The Lord forgets our sins.

On the other hand, however, the Lord always remembers His promises. I can still remember the last time I saw my grandma Woods in Michigan. By then she was well into the later stages of Dementia. She lay in her bed staring at my dad and me blankly. I don’t remember her saying anything to us but somewhere deep inside she was trying to connect to us—I’m sure of it. The disease had taken her mind and body away very slowly. It was our long good-bye. The last visit was nothing like the days when she would be made up, beautifully dressed, and always so happy to see us as kids. She wasn’t getting up to make us supper or walk with us on the beach or play in the sand.

On that day, back then, I didn’t know what to say, or how to approach it. I just missed her and she wasn’t even gone yet. I was relieved for her sake when the Lord finally called her home. She could not remember us but somewhere deep down inside a faith was there that had been so strong when she could express herself.

Faith says, the Lord will remember His own. He will not forget us nor let a broken mind prevent His promises from being fulfilled for Grandma Woods. I would only understand this many years later. Jesus is not limited by our limits. In fact, as a friend of mine said, Jesus can speak Alzheimer’s, as well as He speaks English. I take comfort in this for my brother as well who has autism. The Lord speaks Autism as well as he speak English too. God’s communicating to them on a level of grace much more profound than I am capable of comprehending. There is no where we can be that Jesus cannot be there also—Dementia, Autism, Cancer, or any kind of tribulation this world throws at us. That’s what God being with us means. It also means we are with Him. When death comes knocking the resurrection shoves the grave aside and new life comes overrules our grave.

One last thought and encouragement before I wrap this up this morning. You have probably heard me describe how much I love memorizing the Gospel readings for Sunday. I don’t have the greatest memory but I find that doing this helps me meditate on God’s Word. Memorizing takes me deeper than a quick read. Reading the scriptures can be more like a stone skipping across the water. But memorizing the Gospel feels more like a scuba diver discovering all the beautiful, vibrant colors of the deep, seeing all the amazing fish, and experiencing a place of wonder for the first time. Every time I memorize a passage, I am drawn into it and I see things within those words–so much more meaning. I can’t always retain everything I memorize for a Sunday—I’ll be honest. But when I return to those passages that I have memorized it feels like meeting an old friend for a visit. Memorizing scriptures is building within me a much deeper appreciation for just what a gift our salvation is.

So, I for one am glad that even though my memory isn’t that great all the time God’s is perfect. I for one am glad He chooses to forget my sins and remember them no more. Ironically our sins are forgiven and forgotten because the Lord remembers His promises in the cross and in the resurrection. And I hope that you might keep all of this in mind too.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDAug17

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/7EroQAtw9K8

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION AUGUST 11

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble!”

READING: John 16:29-33 – Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” “You believe at last!” Jesus answered. “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Have you ever had a week in which it seems every single thing you were involved in went south? A week where it seemed that no matter what you tried your hand at, it didn’t go as planned? A week when junk mail, solicitors on the phone, and even companies you trusted told you half truths or outright lies? Well, I had one like that last week, and am I glad that week is history and in the rearview mirror! I wouldn’t live it over even if the Lord offered me 3 bonus weeks of life for doing so! Let me tell you about it!

So, the Robinson family was suddenly bereaved the week before last, and they called me Monday to ask if I would conduct their father’s funeral on Saturday. Certainly, I said, and we began to make plans. But he died in a helicopter crash in Nevada, and Nevada is one of the few states that requires the coroner to complete and sign a death certificate before a body can be shipped out of state. The coroner sent it, but it was incorrectly completed and had to be redone. Then the funeral home taking care of arrangements had four employees go out on quarantine because one of them contracted COVID-19! It took until Friday to get all the kinks worked out of the situation, so the funeral is taking place today.

Then, Thursday we had a Red Cross blood drive at the church. So, since I was there and have been a long-time donor, I went through all the hoops and barrels you have to jump through in order to give a unit of A-. When I laid myself down on the table and met my blood tech, I could tell he was rather new at all of it. He was slow and apologetic, but very nice and talkative. Then, when all the prep work was done, he had trouble spotting a vein. He asked another tech for assistance, and she pointed one out to him. Then he came at me with the needle, tentative and obviously unsure. In went the needle, and immediately he was asking another tech to come because he wasn’t getting much blood. The long and the short of it, he went through my vein, and I developed a rather large hematoma which has now become a big bruise, and because he had collected a little blood in my bag, they couldn’t try the other arm. No nice, fresh A- from Pastor for someone who’s going to need it this week!

Then, Friday morning I had a plumber come to the house to replace the flush valve in the second-floor bathroom. He put in a brand-new valve I had purchased at Ace Hardware that week. It only took him a few minutes and he had it mounted. Then he went down into the basement to check on something else. Uriah, my youngest grandson, and I were playing wiffleball in the living room when I noticed the kitchen table was all wet. I wondered about that until I noticed a steady stream of water running off the light fixture above that table! The brand-new valve was stuck in the open position and had run over the tank, flooded the floor, and drained through the ceiling.

Add to that the notice from The Smithsonian Magazine telling me my subscription would soon be running out when I have only received the first two editions so far. Or, the “Special Offer” from Whirlpool telling me my water filter in the refrigerator is near the end of its life span and offering me new ones for much money when in fact we just bought that refrigerator in April! And, there’s dozens more irritations and troubles that come along on an all-too-regular basis.

But then, I’m not telling you anything you haven’t already experienced yourselves! Some things are small potatoes and hardly worth griping about. Other things are life-changing or even life-threatening. This world is full of trials and troubles, and sometimes we just want to pull out our hair and howl at the moon…and then Jesus speaks to us! “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Oh, how we need his comfort, his strength, his promises, his counsel. How much we need his reassurance that he has overcome every manner of evil, grief, loss, shame, sorrow, and aggravation! How good to know that after this sinful, broken world has served up its share of heartache, there stands Jesus, victorious, risen, and bringing us peace!

It ain’t always gonna be like this! Jesus, our Savior and Lord, has overcome the world! And, he is already preparing a place for us that we may someday be where he is. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S):

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/uVxIGZV0X5w

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407
 

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDAug11.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION
August 10

Monday, August 10, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“With Friends Like These”

I was watching a show the other day called Dr. Pimple Popper. This woman pulls things out of her patients that would make most people squirm. The episode I watched featured a man named Genner who flew all the way from the Philippines because he suffered from a very large cyst growing on the top of his nose. Of course, Dr. Lee (Her real name) was able to remove it and return the man’s nose to its former shape.

Prior to the surgery Genner spoke about how for fifteen years he had become extremely self-aware of this cyst. He even wore masks just so people wouldn’t stare at it. In the same episode, April, a mom of three had been living with a genetic condition that causes bumps to grow all over her arms. She found that it was genetically passed down from her father and was worried sick that her son may have the same problem along with the stigma that came with the condition. Dr. Lee removed 68 various sized globs of stuff that looked like raw chicken from both arms. Each time I have caught the show I have watch the patients like these express the same thing. They are very conscious of their flaws. In their attempted hiding from the public they become very lonely, guarded, and isolated. Thankfully, those like Genner and April are strongly supported by their families and their friends which makes their suffering slightly tolerable.

One finds out who their friends are when they face a long-term illness. And the best of friends are the ones that are still there when the worst of things come. With this mind I invite you to turn to Mark 2:1-5. “A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
One finds out who their friends are when they face a long-term illness. And the best of friends are the ones that are Jesus comes home to Capernaum and folks far and wide crowd the house to overflowing. Verse three starts off with “some men came, bringing to Jesus a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.” Who were these guys? First, look at their devotion to this man. Having had an uncle who was quadriplegic I have some idea of the level of care that is involved.
One finds out who their friends are when they face a long-term illness. And the best of friends are the ones that are From the moment that my uncle woke up he was dependent on a trusted aide or his wife to show up in the morning, get him out bed and into the powered wheel chair, cleaned up, dressed, and fed and later in the day reverse the process. The commitment was total. It was a lot of work for the aide and a lot of concern for the family. He did actually learn to drive again. I’ll share that with you some other time.

These four men were probably late to the party because they, no doubt, had to complete some kind of preparation to get their friend cleaned up, dressed, and out the door. Not only so but the man’s condition probably meant that the mat they carried him on was soiled and stale at best. This is an important fact because these men did not concern themselves with becoming unclean by touching the mat. These four dedicated men didn’t worry about that. They could throw the mat away if they could just get to Jesus. So, each one grabbed a corner and headed down the street.

So, they came carrying the paralytic to the house. Everyone is crowded in to see Jesus; no way those four guys are getting through the crowd and none are eager to make room for this paralytic. In a very real sense this man’s brethren willfully became an obstacle to this man. It’s a small town—everyone probably knows everyone else and everything going on. And remember this was an era where it was believed that if you were sick you or a relative probably sinned and therefore deserved your condition (See John 9). The teachers of the Law definitely believed this man was a sinner because of his condition and many others mostly likely did too. That was the thinking of the day. And it should not be lost on us that the first thing Jesus does for the man is forgive his sins and then He heals him to prove to the critics that the forgiveness has taken hold. This may be partly because the people in the town knew this paralytic and held a belief that the man or his parents had sinned to bring this on.

These four friends thought nothing of the sort. They knew him and they believed Jesus could help him. Their compassion for this man was unstoppable. They cared about the paralytic. They cared that he had their help. They cared and, in their caring, did something about it. And notice the paralytic trusted them to give it a try. All these four determined friends knew was that they just needed to help their paralytic friend. And that meant get him to Jesus at all costs. That is the best kind of friend.

We see the depth of their love, compassion, and their faith that Jesus could heal the man in their determination. They would not wait for Jesus to come out and chance missing Him. And if they couldn’t go through the crowd they would go over it. They muscled the man up to the top of the roof and began to dig. The roof was likely made of dried mud and sticks. They likely had to find tools to hack away at the hard, dried mud and the sticks that the roof was constructed of. And it must have been a bit disturbing for those inside who were no doubt having dust, mud, and stick fragments fall on their heads. They had Jesus’ attention now, totally disrupting Jesus’ teaching. Finding some rope or perhaps using their own robes they lowered the man through the hole right in front of Jesus, who I believe is smiling from ear to ear at their display of faith.

The effort is rewarded in full view of everyone who didn’t make room for this man and his four friends. The paralytic is forgiven and then healed. “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Now who’s carrying the mat? He carries his own mat much to the joy of his four friends and to the shock of the teachers of the Law. After that, every time those in Capernaum saw this man, they didn’t think of a sinner but of a miracle performed by Jesus. He was a witness to Jesus just by walking around.

Thank the Lord for good friends and family. Good friends gladly risk Covid to make a difference. Good friends are loyal in good and in bad. Good friends keep coming around when everyone else has faded back. They are initiators because the paralytic in us tries not to bother them too much. “I’m fine” doesn’t stop them from doing something for us. Good friends are willing to hurt our feelings if necessary and cut through our garbage and occasionally rip us a new one when we need it. Good friends never stop caring. They are supportive and make it a point not to miss important events. Good friends and family are a blessing and I would encourage you to stay close to them. Those like the four men in Mark 2 are the best kind. With these kinds of friends, we will know Jesus much better.

Of course, none is more of a friend then Jesus. Jesus’ death and resurrection go much farther and accomplish much more than we will fully realize on this side of creation. But we will soon enough realize just how good Jesus is to us once we cross over into heaven. No one needs a mat or wheelchair or a Dr. Pimper Popper there. Jesus loves us even with all of our flaws, sins, and problems but in heaven those are all removed because of the cross. He remains with us when all others would abandon us. He is a friend that gives generously. When you call Him, He is ready to listen. His love for us is eternally complete. What a friend we have in Jesus! May the Lord bless us with friends like those in Mark 2. And may the Lord bless us to be that kind of friend to someone who needs us to help carry them a little while too.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

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WEEKLY DEVOTION AUGUST 4

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Earthquakes”

READING: Psalm 16:1, 2, 7-8 – Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’ I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Weather forecasting has made great advances over the last 20-30 years. New technologies and new weather modeling make it possible for big weather events to be forecast with much more accuracy than in times past. They’re not perfect, but much better than before. Take hurricanes, for instance. Satellites allow for meteorologists to spot tropical depressions which morph into tropical storms that can spin up into hurricanes that threaten various places. They can give six, seven, eight days warning that something may be headed your way, and people can evacuate to safer places.

Tornadoes can be forecast with greater accuracy than ever before. Doppler radar allows for spotting “hooks” that can spawn twisters. The weathermen can warn people in its path to go to safer places. Blizzards can also be forecast and warned against. Heavy lightning the same. Big rains, ditto!

But there is one natural phenomenon that to this day has baffled every expert when it comes to predictions and early warning: earthquakes. One minute you are eating your breakfast; the next moment the ceiling falls on your head. There is no early warning. There is no predicting it. One moment, all is well; the next, “…all kinds of shakin’ is going on!”

In thirty years of ministry to people, I find the same is true for all kinds of trouble and affliction that can befall human beings. One moment, everything is fine; the next, someone runs a stop sign and T-bones you. One moment, you feel fine; the next, a terrible pain stabs its way into your consciousness. One moment, all is well; the next, the telephone rings and you learn someone you love has died. One moment things are normal; the next, nothing is ever “normal” again.

These things can’t be predicted or foreseen. They are life-altering events that shake us to our core and change everything. We couldn’t see them coming, but once they hit us, we find ourselves in the center of the storm. What do we hang on to? What helps us withstand the upheaval and its after-effects?

The Psalmist has the answer. He says, “I keep the Lord always before me.” To me, that has always meant that I keep the Lord in the very center of my life. I try to see everything that I experience, for good or for ill, through the lens of God’s grace, mercy, and promises. I try to keep the Lord in the center of all I do, not so much that I can reach out and take hold of him when my world shakes, but better that HE can reach out and take hold of me! I need him there, in the middle, as the center-pining of my life, as the support and the guidepost of my living. Then when something rocks my world, I have his assurance that he’s right there where he’s always been, in the center of my life.

The Psalmist goes on to say, “Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” That word, shaken, carries with it the connotation of “being shaken to pieces, being utterly undone” as when a terrier shakes the life out of a rat. The Psalmist says that whatever might come, because the Lord is there with him, he will not be reduced to hopelessness and despair. He will have the strength to deal with the “earthquakes” of life with faith, trust, and confidence in God’s providence.

Just this past week I met with or talked with three families and several individuals who had experienced just such “earthquakes” in their lives. Accidental death, sudden natural death, diagnoses of life-threatening ailments, and other challenges that suddenly appeared in their lives, changing the trajectories of their hopes and expectations. And, in every case my counsel was to keep the Lord at the center of their lives. To trust that even when they could not see the way ahead clearly, that God would be going into their future with them. Together we can say as the Psalmist does, “Keep me safe, O god; for in you I take refuge.” Amen.

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WEEKLY DEVOTION August 3

Monday, August 3, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Trust is the Hardest Part”

The Christian faith is formed by three main ingredients; knowledge, acceptance, and trust. Knowledge and acceptance, I may talk about another time but for today we will focus on trust because trust is the hardest of the three ingredients for a Christian. For now, let’s just say, we may know Jesus and the Bible. We may accept Jesus as Savior and His Word as truth. But trust requires action and a willingness to put ourselves in the Savior’s hands. All three ingredients are integrated and dependent on the other ingredients for faith to be healthy. All three ingredients are essential to following Jesus and all are directed by the Holy Spirit.

So, what happens when trust is strained or maybe even broken? What do you do then? To consider this question let us turn to Mark 9:14-29.

14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them.

15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

The boy’s father expresses a line I have used myself. “Lord I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” Doubts creep in because trust has been eroded. I believe this father has worked hard to help his son long before we meet him at this scene in Mark 9. Perhaps, as long as this father noticed the boy’s symptoms this father likely has done anything within his means to help his son. Nothing has worked and no solution has come from the religious leaders, the teachers of the Law, who only wanted to argue about the sinfulness that must have brought this about (See John 9). The disciples prove nothing either because they couldn’t drive out the demon. Everything seems to have flopped. This father is full of doubts and Jesus literally becomes his last hope.

“Help my unbelief” comes usually after many disappointments, some of them self-inflicted—imagined outcomes like I shared last week only to be punctured by the reality. Who could blame us for doubting? What do we actually trust in the news, especially in the realm of politics? Will science really flatten the fear of Covid? We hear about solutions to Covid but how many vaccines have cured a cold or flu? Or on a normal day how many unknown numbers pop up on our phones that we actually answer or trust? How many things that promise us better health actually want to help us or are we just getting another false advertisement? Recently I have been hearing about Johnson and Johnson being sued because their baby powder causes cancer. Baby powder? What!? That’s been on our shelf since I was a baby. Good grief! Can anything be trusted? Thankfully Jesus is not just anything.

As I share this with you, I have been given the sad news that my old Ford F150 has ended its 215,000-mile career as my faithful workhorse. That means we are looking for a different car. As I begin my search for a different vehicle (someday another truck) I am left with the same feeling I get every time I seek to buy a car. I wonder if the vehicle I end up buying will actually perform or will I just inherit someone else’s problems. Research always finds the horror stories and they plague my mind like peanut butter on the roof of a dog’s mouth. I can’t afford to be one of them. But here we go again. Doubt. My old truck was a trusted vehicle. I knew its problems. I was familiar with its issues and knew how to deal with them until I couldn’t anymore. A newer car is fun but also for me filled with uncertainty until I have driven the thing for long enough to feel it has proven itself.

The father of the boy has most likely made an investment of money and time to help his son to no avail much like the woman in Matthew 9. (Consider the woman with the bleeding issue. She went broke trying to get better. Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–48).

Ironically, the disciples couldn’t heal the boy either it seems for the same reason. Jesus seems frustrated by it when He says, “You unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” The disciples seem to doubt too. And when Jesus says, “only with prayer” we get a little inside scoop. The disciples may have relied too much on their own skills and their own authority to cast out the demon. We believe in Jesus but a little extra money won’t hurt. We believe in Jesus but more exercise will make me healthier. We believe in God’s Word but certain passages don’t really fit our lifestyle. We believe in Jesus but my future feels more certain with a good 401k. I believe in Jesus but working hard to be a “good person” will ensure I have a place with Him. We believe in Jesus but often try to subsidize our faith, help God help us, as Abraham once did with Hagar. In the end trust is a hard thing to have. But let us remember after the resurrection trust in Jesus was unshakable for those same disciples.

So, what’s the key to trust? It’s not a secret. Trust is built on relationships and reputation. The depth of our relationship with Jesus has the greatest effect on trust. While everything else that lets us down is of this world and flawed Jesus is not of the world and neither is the kingdom He is offering us. Jesus never tries to sell us anything nor force His will upon anyone. He simply invites us to follow Him and makes and hides nothing about the cost of being His disciple. Yet Jesus says, “Trust in me” to His disciples and to all His followers in John 14. The actions of Jesus on the cross and in the way He loved people of all angles of life reveals a person who wants us to trust in Him. His reputation is a 2000 year old message of love. The grace of God is unique from all messages or religions of the world. Jesus came to give His life for our sin that we might also come to know the resurrection. There is nothing like it.

After almost 25 years of marriage one of the most defining parts of the relationship I have with my wife is one of trust. She has demonstrated nothing but faithfulness to the care of her family, her devotion to me, and in the way she strives to expend her energy for all of our sakes. I watch the way she handles crisis and frustration and see the character of a godly wife. She is lovingly sacrificial and naturally puts us before herself. If I am to brag, I brag about her. I strive to do the same for her but she makes me feel like I am always getting the better end of the deal. I am literally the man I am today because of the relationship I have with her. She has chosen to trust in me and I in her. Love is certainly a big component to our marriage but trust is essential. Trust has been built through a life together.

Like a marriage, a life together with Jesus is what builds trust; built on the thick and the thin and in the better days and the worse. It’s the milestones and the epic falls. If you want to trust the Lord consider leaning in more than you have. The closer you get to the Lord the better the chance to overcome our unbelief. Start with prayer and be as honest and open as you want to be in those prayers. Start with the way you love others; try something sacrificial, something that is generous. And perhaps stop trying to define how God is supposed to behave and Let Jesus do what Jesus does. Let Him lead for a while and let the Word of God have a voice in the way we follow Jesus. Remember the disciples trusted Jesus with their lives and they went through a lot worse than most of us in the way they suffered for Jesus and died for the Gospel. They literally depended entirely on the Lord for the things they needed and received the kingdom of heaven. They trusted in God and so can we. So, if your trust has waived in Jesus I invite you to please try again. In Jesus. Amen.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: weeklydAug3.PDF

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matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 28

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Military Honors”

READING: Luke 7:6b-10 – He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

My father received military honors at his committal service. There was a sergeant and a corporal from the local recruitment office who folded the flag and presented it to me on behalf of the family. (That flag will fly on Grace’s flagpole sometime next year.) There were also five Legionnaires and a commander who fired a fifteen-gun salute. Becky was sitting next to me with our youngest grandson, Uri, (age 4) seated on her lap. I warned him they were about to shoot, but nevertheless, when the guns went off, he nearly jumped off her lap!

Then “Taps” was played. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the gathering. That song nearly always brings tears to my eyes, no matter how many veterans’ committals I have done. It indicates that someone who gave the country two or three years, at least, of his or her life, and in many cases put that life in jeopardy, is now at ease and at rest until the Lord gives his command to “Come out!”

Having been in the Army, Dad knew all about orders. Orders were given and orders were obeyed. When the commander said, “Go,” he went. When his officer said, “Come,” he came. Dad served as a medic in Korea during 1952 and 1953. He saved a couple of lives, he was shot at “only one time,” and he did a lot of tedious but necessary health and wellness procedures. Since he was assigned to an artillery company headquarters unit about four miles back from the DMZ, things were usually pretty relaxed. But when his Captain gave him an order, he hopped to it. And when the Colonel dropped by, it was spit and polish, stomach in and chest out! That was REAL authority!

In our text, Jewish elders have come to Jesus on behalf of a Roman centurion who has a very sick servant whom he values highly. They assure Jesus that this man is different than most of the other Roman soldiers and officers. They tell him he “deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” This was most unusual, to say the least. And Jesus agrees to come. But then, the centurion proves himself to be a surprising man once again by telling Jesus not to bother with coming to the home. He displays faith that Jesus can certainly say the word and his servant will be healed. He believes that Jesus has that kind of authority and that kind of power. He believes this without ever having met Jesus or even seen him in person. He believes on the power of the word alone; the word he has heard that describes Jesus. That word gives him all the confidence in the world that Jesus can do for his servant what is needed. Just the word. And Jesus marvels at him. “I have not found such faith even in Israel!” he exclaims.

Would that you and I might display such faith! We have only the Word, the Word of God contained in the Scriptures which assures us of the power of Jesus to do just what we need. It is only the Word. We have no videos. We have not seen with our own eyes. We were not present for the acts and actions described for us. But that Word is life for it convicts us of our sins, leads us to confess before God who and what we are. It points to Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection. And, it assures us that by believing in him, we already have eternal life. Just the Word, but, oh, what a Word!

Winston Churchill was a soldier, a commander, and a leader of his nation at the most dangerous time in her history. He was a Christian with many questions and a poor hold on doctrine. But at his funeral, which he himself designed and planned, when his casket was placed into its final resting place in St. Paul’s Cathedral, high up in the great dome, a bugle was heard playing “Taps” as a fitting end to his military honors. But, just as the last note was fading away, the bugle was heard once again. This time it was playing “Reveille” – as Churchill’s final affirmation of his hope in the Resurrection.

Someday my mom and dad will both hear that “Reveille” call when the trumpet call of God is sounded, the shout of the Archangel is heard, and the dead in Christ rise to eternal life. You and I will hear that call, too! Military experience or no, we will salute the One who sits on the Throne and the Lamb with shouts of victory, praise, and thanksgiving. Oh, come, Lord Jesus, come soon! Amen.

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 27

Monday, July 27, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“When Nothing Changes No Matter How Hard I Try…”

For today I’m going to start with reading from1 Kings 19. I would suggest you go back and read the whole chapter but for today I am going to read verse 9-18.

And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

15 The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Elijah felt beaten. Ever pour yourself into something or someone only to discover nothing has really changed? I have…many times. In the first few months of my first call I met a member named Donna. She was a thirty-something widow of a husband who was old enough to be her grandfather. Donna was certainly no beauty queen and not that smart. Yet, he was faithful to her and managed to father two children with her and left her the house. She was pretty lost without him. So, it only made sense that she had a live-in boyfriend when I met them. By the time I came along her kids were 10 and 8 and the house was pretty run down. I figured if I could get them a little help this would jump start them back to a financial stability.

In the next three months much of my energy went toward helping her and her kids. We cleaned up her yard, got her some resources, fixed whatever seemed broken, helped with groceries. We even called in favors and helped her live-in boyfriend get a job. I even drove him to work each morning—got him a lunch. I was mentally and emotionally all in. I was determined to love this family with all of me.

The job lasted only four days—each day with a new excuse why he couldn’t work the whole shift. When I found out he quit the job I confronted him. He was polite, grateful, and respectful but what he said to me I’ve never forgotten. “Pastor, I really don’t want any of that. That’s not for me.” I was shocked. I was crushed. “How can you not want to escape the way you are living?!” I had been very zealous but he didn’t want to work or change the way things were. Sadly, Donna didn’t want to risk losing him so things ultimately never changed. They continued to live in poverty getting help from us when they got real desperate. Since then I have helped some others to the same degree most of the time with the same results.

This is Elijah. He had poured himself out for the Lord. He believed that beating Ahab’s false prophets would surely bring the king to repentance. It didn’t. “So, why keep working so hard for little or no results? Isn’t that how the devil whispers in our ear.”

In Chapter 18 Elijah at had a great win over the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel on their home turf in the battle of the two sacrifices. Elijah thought that would be decisive. The King and a large group of Israelites witnessed how God sent fire down to devour the water-logged sacrifice, the rocks, the dirt and all the water in the trench around the sacrifice. The crowd that witnessed the whole thing bowed down and cried out, “The Lord—He is our God!” And then they helped kill the prophets of Baal. King Ahab was among the witnesses. Elijah was so confident in that victory that he ran empowered in the Spirit in front of Ahab’s chariot all the way back to the palace– I guess expecting repentance, something to change. Instead Elijah was met with more anger and determination from Queen Jezebel to kill Elijah in her hatred for the prophet and for the Lord. And so, verse 3 tells us Elijah ran for his life in fear probably thinking, “What in God’s name am I actually accomplishing?!” And so, with a mixture of fear, deep disappointment, and frustration, Elijah ends up in a conversation with the Lord at the mouth of a cave.

If you have stood next to Elijah, (metaphorically speaking) then please consider what comes next. The Lord is very patient with Elijah. If anyone has been working hard to save humanity it is the Lord. And yet at His cross Jerusalem turned on the Lord and crucified Him with the same venom that their forefathers poured out on the prophets they killed. The Lord is patient with us.
He understands that sometimes we just need to step back. Twice God asks, “What are you doing here Elijah?” (19:9, 19:13). Remember Elijah ran, afraid for his life but under the broom tree he prays to God just to take his life. “Elijah, what are you actually doing here?” I’ll bet Elijah came to that broom tree the same way many have, not sure why we are here, but we are emotionally spent, and at our wits end. We need a reboot of some kind.

And why not? Rest was integrated into creation—The first full day humanity in Genesis 1 was spent hanging out with the Lord. The Sabbath (Literally seventh for the seventh day of creation) was created for a day to be refreshed in the Lord. When we don’t get rest we become like Elijah, spiritually burned out. Sometimes we just need to step back from the people (family members or not) that are so resistant to us. And sometimes that means someone else may have to help them instead of us. In 1 Kings 20:13 God sends another prophet to Ahab to carry the message. In truth, someone else may relate better to those we desperately want to love and save than we can. A family member or a friend may just tune us out while someone else may be in a better position to tune in. Pray for that and remember we are just the prophet not the Savior.

Forty days of hanging out with the Lord at the luxurious Mt. Sinai cave in the desert refreshes his Elijah’s spirit. Then God speaks and gives us the second element to remember.

What does God tell Elijah? Elijah still serves the living God and He’s Got this. He is still at work even when what we are doing isn’t working. “So, go back Elijah the way you came. Anoint Hazael, Elisha, and Jehu—two kings and prophet. Under them none of your enemies will escape, not even Jezebel. And take note, I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” Your work is not in vain and you are far from being alone. The Lord redirects Elijah to the faithful.

Hanging out with the faithful will continue to refresh Elijah. Not only so but God is preparing for Elijah’s retirement by anointing Elisha who will replace Elijah. It is possible that even Elijah does not fully bounce back from this with the same energy he had at Mt. Carmel. But that’s a discussion for another devotion perhaps.

Just turn on the news however, and one may wonder “Is the church doing any good?” “Lord, your people ignore Your Word. Some have seemingly lost their minds and are burning down their own neighborhoods. Some have died unjustly. Authority seems to be broken. And Covid just seems to linger—more than linger—cause serious trouble to people’s health, to jeopardize people’s livelihoods, and no one knows for sure what we are actually supposed to do with our schools. We have been trying Lord, really trying to be faithful and consistent but nothing seems to be getting better!” Like Elijah we may not stop any of these things. We are not called to necessarily. We are called to be faithful. Sometimes faithfulness is the best we can offer. However, faithfulness is all the Lord is asking of us. “Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).

Most important the Lord is still active as much in our day as it was in Noah’s day, or Martin Luther’s Day. The world seemed to be going to hell in a hand basket but the Lord was moving in the hearts of humble people who God reserved to carry on God’s plan. The followers of Jesus probably felt hopeless on Good Friday. But even dead Jesus was doing something for His people. The point is this: Even when Elijah seems to be failing he wasn’t because He was very faithful. Even when failure is all his actions seemed to produce it didn’t. Elijah was the message to 7000 people, those like Elisha and Jehu, who’s knees had not bowed down to idols. Elijah’s boldness, and faithfulness, and the news from Mt. Carmel would no doubt inspire them just the same. God is still working even when the world is falling apart. Keep in mind that the world will be at its worst when Jesus returns. Even now in heaven Jesus is still working for us. So hang in there and hold on. Pray to the Lord. Maybe take a break. But don’t give up. Your Lord hasn’t.

And Now the Lord bless you and Keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with his favor and give you His peace. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: DevotionJuly27.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/BJsyfYzZpjs

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 21

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Bitter Roots”

READING: Hebrews 12: 14-17, 28 – Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears…Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

My nephew, John, bought Dad’s farm some years ago, and he is now growing organic crops of beans and corn. It’s sort of a kick for me, because when I was just a boy, we pretty much were doing organic farming and didn’t know it! We fertilized with manure and did weed control with cultivation and manual hoes. ( If you had told me then that farmers would someday pay hundreds of dollars per ton for manure, I would have laughed out loud and told you that you were nuts!)

Because John is farming organically, weeds cannot be controlled with chemical herbicides, so weeds are a problem. When we were out at the farm at the time of Dad’s funeral, the soybean field west of the house had a redroot problem. Redroots are a prolific weed that can get 3-4 feet tall, with a very deep tap root, and the ability to drink up water and nutrients at an alarming rate. And, were they ever thick! John had hired migrant workers from Texas to hoe that field, and all of us “older folks” felt sorry for them out in that field because we all remembered all too well doing that job in just that kind of heat and with just that many redroots on that sandy rise in that field.

We also commented on the hope that not only were they hoeing out those redroots, but that they were also chopping them into pieces! By long experience we knew that if you just pulled a redroot out or hoed it out with some of its roots intact, those dad-burned things would drive their roots back into the soil and keep right on growing and going to seed. They might be lying on their sides, but that would not keep them from continuing to cause trouble and spreading their seeds to plague the farmer the next spring, too. They have to be chopped into four or five pieces, especially the root ends. If you don’t eradicate them, they come right back.

In our text for today the writer to the Hebrews says essentially the same thing about immorality, ungodliness, and a lax appreciation for the grace of God. He says, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” He is well aware how sin sinks its roots into the souls of people and leads to all manner of defilement. Just like those redroots in John’s fields, sin is something that has to be mastered and removed, roots and all, or it continually reestablishes itself and continues to grow and spread its poison. That job is continuous, and one that we cannot rely on our own “goodness” to complete. It is a job that requires the Word of God, the Sacraments, and the work of the Holy Spirit to accomplish. Every day you and I confess our sinfulness before God. Every day we come to him in prayer and ask for his resources. And, every day he forgives us and aids us in striving for godliness. It’s an on-going effort, but one that produces the fruits of the Spirit that we and others might live in blessedness and thanksgiving.

Here’s the sad news for John: that field is going to look pretty nice for a time. The weeds will be gone, and with the rains they received last week, those soybeans will shoot skyward. But my experience tells me that before too long, something other than beans will start to show itself in that field. It’ll be redroots! Some of them will have been missed by the hoers, and some of them will have re-rooted themselves and made a comeback. He’ll probably have to hire those folks again to go back and hit them a second time. That’s the nature of weeds on the farm, and that’s also the nature of sin in our lives. We can never be complacent. We can never say, “I am holy.” We can never say, “What a good boy or girl I am!” Always, confession. Always, repentance. And always, leaning upon God’s grace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S): Pastor Ron Richeson, retired and former pastor at Faith, Louisville, will be leading the worship at this Saturday’s service. Becky and I will be heading back from a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I asked Pastor Richeson to cover for me so I didn’t have to be back on Saturday by a set time. One just never knows what the weather or road will bring. I’ll have the services on Sunday. Pastor Woods will be gone for two weeks on his summer vacation. God bless you all.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/sIYB-lrWDd8

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407
 

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDJuly 21.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 20

Monday, July 20, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“The Scent of the Saved—Do You Pass the Smell Test?”

On a visit to the hospital recently I was reminded that wearing a mask may stop my spit from getting out but it didn’t stop the smell of my surroundings from getting in. How important is it to smell good? It’s amazing to me how much we do our best not to smell like a human being. The odors that are actually human are not exactly pleasant. I could always tell when the boys had taken their shoes off their feet when we road in the car. It was amazing how sweating feet could engulf the car with so much potency. And BO? Being next to me after I’ve been working outside is not that pleasant. I once picked up a homeless person to take him across town. Let’s just say there was an unmistakable musk that lingered for a week—something of burnt coffee and BO. And let’s face it the smells that come from the attic and the especially the basement of our bodies aren’t exactly a bed or roses.

Ever consider this? We spend a lot of time trying not to smell like a human being. All one has to do is walk through a store and we are quickly reminded that smelling like a human being is not very welcome. Isles are filled with vast amounts of deodorants, body sprays, perfumes, scented shampoos, body washes, conditioners, hair products, by the hundreds of choices they all communicate that you stink without those things. I always get a kick out of my wife when we are picking out shampoos and such. The first thing she does is pop the top and take a sniff. I don’t blame her. If I’m going to where a smell it better be one, I like. It’s not just our bodies but it is also where our humanity may linger. We use our scented laundered clothes, our fabric soften sheets, our febreezed homes; our fresh towels, our scented candled kitchens, our baking soda carpets, all to keep the smell of our humanity to a minimum.

It’s not just our bodies that smell but our souls also have a scent. Consider our Bible passage from Mark 14:3-9. 3 While he (Jesus) was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

John 12 tells us who this woman was; Mary, Lazarus’ sister who only days before witnessed the raising of her brother after being dead four days in the tomb. I wish I wrote down the reference but I recently learned that Mary’s gesture was more than adoration but a total expression of her commitment to Jesus. Mary’s gift was equivalent to a whole year’s salary, apparently some scholars believe this was likely Mary’s dowry. Her hope for marriage … her hope for a future. She put her future into the hands of Jesus. Mary gave Jesus the most precious and valuable thing she owned, with no hope of any return in this life. The smell that wafted over Jesus must have filled the room and would certainly lingered with Jesus perhaps all the way to the cross. In a very real sense, the perfume that came out of that container was very representative of the smell of the divine working within Mary. The smell of faith was much more potent than her sacrifice. If heaven has scent Mary certainly passes the smell test.

Smells evoke connection. My Nana used to wear Nina Ricci Perfume. She’s been gone for many years but if I catch that scent my mind immediately remembers Nana.

It is well-known that when you walk down Disney World’s Main Street and smell freshly baked cookies or catch the scent of seawater by Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s not your imagination. Disney has “Smellitizers” all around to enhance the guest experience. It’s not just limited to the parks, either. Scents are used in hotel lobbies to make one feel at home.

The smell of the divine is also meant to evoke a longing for home; a longing for Jesus, a connection. Offerings in the Old Testament were routinely connected to Sacrifices for the sins of the people and often described as “a pleasing aroma to the Lord” (Numbers 15:3). Eventually, the people stopped caring and only went through the motions with their sacrifices and forgot that repentance was what made the sacrifice pleasing to God. It got to a point that God was more offended by the burnt offering then glad for them. Isaiah 1:11-13 speaks to Israelites of this. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams. . . . Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me”. Their offering simply didn’t pass the smell test. The people were not really connecting to the Lord. Instead of smelling like divine repentance the Israelites remained smelling like fallen humanity, and death.

With Jesus that’s all different. Ephesians 5:1-2 expresses it this way. 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Jesus’ sacrifice was a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God for our sins. In Jesus we no longer smell like sin, which saturates us down into our DNA, but like the divine. What Mary did lingers to this day. Jesus said she will be remembered. He remembers her. He will not forget us.

The divine aroma permeates our souls. And it has an effect on what is going on around us. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 Paul charges Christians to spread “the fragrance of the knowledge of [Jesus Christ] everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” What we do gives off a scent of the divine whenever we act in repentance, when we forgive, when our prayers rise to God as incense (Psalm 141:2), when we love, when we use gracious speech, when we don’t compromise the truth, when we act sacrificially, whenever we remain faithful to Jesus. For the godly it is a welcome reminder and connection to heaven but to the unbeliever it is an offensive odor—noted by Judas reaction to the waste of the expensive perfume.

The smell of the Saved is distinct from this world. And that’s good news. The smell of the divine is the absence of death and sin. Imagine a place incapable of smelling bad.

And that’s another thought. Ever wonder what heaven smells like? We hear a lot about singing. We hear about what is seen in Revelation. But nothing that I can remember talks about the smell of heaven which is interesting considering the Old Testament Temple was a place with incense, and burning of animals. But what does that matter really? In heaven the important part is that Jesus remembers us as He did Mary. In Jesus believers carry the scent of the Divine whatever that may be—Tell you when I get there.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace. In Jesus. Amen

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WDJuly20.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/EyshTwppif0

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 14

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“The Verse for Bob”

READING: Psalm 26:6-8 – I wash my hands in innocence, and go about thy altar, O Lord, singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all thy wondrous deeds. O Lord, I love the habitation of thy house, and the place where your glory dwells.

We buried Dad last Monday. He died peacefully in his sleep early on July 1st, 90 years, 11 months, and 18 days of age. That was after a busy day of telephone calls, orders for shrimp scampi for supper, and a game or two of Euchre! He was ready for the Lord’s call, and he had asked all of us to pray for just that summons. The last month was very difficult for him, and all of us can just give thanks for his release. We cannot say, “We lost our dad,” because we know just where he is, thanks be to Jesus!

At the funeral, Pastor Wes Gillaspie read the Old Testament lesson which is our text for today. It was Dad’s confirmation verse in 1942. As he read it, I took a pen out of my shirt pocket and underlined this portion, “I love the habitation of thy house…” I thought immediately that it reflected Dad’s attitude about worship for all the years I knew him. He seldom missed church on Sunday. Even as the years made it more difficult for him to take that long walk down the aisle at St. Michael’s, Richville, he was there. The Sunday after Mom, the love of his life, had died, Dad was there. Even when the walk required a walker, he was there. And, finally, when it took an Amigo electric wheelchair to make his way down front, he was there.

Pastor Gillaspie began his sermon by saying that in 32 years of ministry he had heard many excuses for missing worship, then he recited a number of them. Then he said, “I never heard any of those excuses from Bob,” and I began to cry. Yup! Pastor knew my dad well. I thanked him after the committal for thinking on the same wavelength as me. That verse fit Dad’s joy of worship so very well. It was where he wanted to be, needed to be, and aimed to be if at all possible.

Then Pastor Gillaspie surprised me by revealing again how well he knew Dad – he referred to verse 7, which reads, “…singing aloud a song of thanksgiving.” He said, “Bob loved to sing…loudly!” We all laughed because he did! Dad was a good singer, and he loved to belt out those hymns and the liturgy. Some of my favorite memories from childhood to my adulthood and right up into my grandparenthood were the times I sat next to Dad in church and we belted out those hymns together. Dad bequeathed to me a love for the Lord’s house, for the liturgies and hymnody of the Church, and the simple desire to trust and love the Lord for all the gifts He has given me. That’s part of Dad’s legacy, and every one of his children and his grandchildren know and love the Lord as well. That didn’t happen by accident. Dad led us to that grand House!

How about you? Is your love for the “habitation” of God’s house a strong and urgent desire within you, or something you sort of take for granted? Do you go often to his house, or now and again when it suits you? Do you children and grandchildren see its importance in your life, or are they learning that worship is something optional? These are things to ponder. The results of your habits may not be immediately clear, but eyes are watching you. Your legacy may not play itself out in your lifetime, but it may have its effect later in the lives of your family and even your friends. Singing loudly is not a requirement, but your constancy and faithfulness in worship are your very clear witness to the world about where your heart lies. If He is really your Father, you’ll want to be in his presence in his house often.

Dad was “just” a farmer. He had an eighth-grade education (He took eighth grade twice, but that’s a story for another time!) and became an Army medic in Korea at Uncle Sam’s behest. He raised five children who loved and respected him. He had 10 grandchildren who thought he hung the moon. And, his wife of 64 years seldom had cause to chastise him. He was a jack-of-all-trades, a problem solver, a self-starter and a hard worker. But, best of all, he “loved the habitation of (the Lord’s) house,” and now sees face-to-face the “place where (God’s) glory dwells.” And, I bet he’s singing those songs with the heavenly choir…loudly!
Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S): I want to personally thank all of you for your prayers, kindness, love, and cards during this difficult time in my life and the life of my family. For those who made Memorial gifts to Grace or St. Michael’s, again, thank you. Some of you had the chance to meet my Old Man when he and Mom were still able to visit us. He told me more than once how blessed I was to be pastor of such a great bunch of people. I always agreed with him, and never more than at a time when I need your comfort and your support. Thank you, and God bless you all. Yesterday would have been Dad’s 91st birthday, but he had already counted it done. He said, “I did the math. I already existed 91 years ago for nine months before July 13, so I’m counting it!” Couldn’t argue with the man there! He was good at math!

Today also marks my son, Andy’s, birthday, so “HAPPY 43rd BIRTHDAY, ANDY!” He was our birthday gift to Dad back in ’77.

And, today also marks the 29th Anniversary of my ordination into the pastoral ministry here at Grace. My! How the time does fly! Dad was pretty proud of his eldest that day, but always marveled how he could have produced a pastor in his family. He never fully realized how important his example was to me. But I sure do!

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/RZ9m-hHtSrg

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407
 

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDJuly14

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 13

Monday, July 13, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“A Life With Definition”

In the fourth grade I had a teacher, Mr. Rathburg, who was famous for his punishment if you acted out of line. He loved to have students write out of the dictionary the definition of whatever misbehavior we were accused of. For example, if you got caught fighting you would have to copy down by hand the definition of fighting during recess instead of going out for recess. If the definition was short, we had to write it out many times as necessary to satisfy Mr. Rathburg. In my case, I got caught running in the room during a couple of rained out recesses where we had to spend our time in the classroom playing games inside. So, I received the maximum sentence for a fourth grader’s capital offence. The definition of ‘run’ went on for a half-a-dozen pages or something like that. This was also Mr. Rathburg’s favorite definition to assign because it was very long. So, I got stuck writing through that thing for two recesses and never finished copying the whole thing because of its length. I managed about a page and a half of copying the small print that was in that dictionary. The punishment was effective.

A fourth grader’s world needs definition. It needs boundaries to be set, understood, and enforced if the fourth grader is to develop respect for others. Mr. Rathburg was up front and very clear about his expectations. Likewise, dictionaries tell us what words mean and what is intended.

As an adult I find that definition allows us to communicate and understand one another. Definition puts clarity on things like property lines and contracts. Definition teaches how to respect others and builds a common ground. Definition is critical if a person is to thrive and succeed. However, the absence of definition may create misunderstanding. An absence of understanding can lead to inaccurate information or to conclusions that are not true. Most of all a lack of definition brings confusion about self and having a sense of meaning—I’ve see this a lot in kids headed to college with no sense of direction. The need for definition is essential for an individual and a community to thrive. Definition enables a person to find meaning and purpose and understanding about oneself.

The Christian life is defined by God’s Word and is perpendicular to the nature of an undefined culture. Consider 2 Timothy 3:14-17. “14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In effect the Word of God is defining for those who are thoroughly acquainted with it. The reason for this is that the Word of God and Jesus are inseparable in their purpose and truth. To know one is to know the other. To distance ourselves from the Word then is what leads to things looking undefined and becoming seeming less relevant. Being away from the Word also leaves us feeling distant from the church, from other Christians, and from the Lord.

Here’s what I mean. Consider for a moment Genesis 1:26-27. “26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Much is expressed in this passage.

Humanity is fundamentally for bearing the image of our Creator. Humanity is designed to be as God is. He has a God given authority to rule over the created things of this world. Humanity is set apart in this image. I have recently discovered that when Jesus says, “follow me” to Peter in John 21:19 Jesus is literally saying, “Be as I am.” Be as Jesus and therefore made wise unto salvation. This is the call for all Christians to be as Jesus, to look like our Savior in the way we love our families, care for our neighbor, express our faith, even our obedience to the Heavenly Father. To be Christian is to cling to the image that sin had lost but Jesus returns. Also, it shouldn’t be lost on us how Jesus returns our divine image by taking on the image of sinful man and dying on the cross in the image of sinful man only to rise again in the image of a victorious Savior.

What we are up against is the notion that Evolutionists have been promoting—which is not a redefinition but in reality, a total absence of definition. Evolution, communicates humanity as an accident. It says we bear no image of anything or anyone and are only an organic wonder. Often humanity is reduced to an animal existence or less. An Evolutionist advice for solutions–we are told not to look beyond the self to the Lord or to His Word but within self. On the other hand, God expresses humanity in very specific terms, as image bearers.

One should also notice that the written Word is very specific about the binary nature of gender. God created them male and female. There are not endless classifications for gender in the written word. In Genesis 2:24 it is very specific in defining marriage as a binary union of a man and woman. Jesus repeats this formula in Matthew 19:5, “‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’”. This formula also defines what God intends a family to look like as well. Today such things are said to be ‘redefined’. However, I argue that in fact everything defined by the Word, most notably, marriage, sexuality, family, and humanity are much more undefined then ever as worldly wisdom is more and more taught and accepted even by many Christians.

It has always been the strategy of the Devil since the garden . He cannot destroy God’s Word or undo what God has done. So, the idea is to muddy the waters, distort the picture. You remember the words that the devil used in Genesis three. “Did God really say that?” If enough doubt, confusion, and broken wisdom can be thrown in then clarity may be lost.
For Christians the Word of God is meant to be the primary source of faith, wisdom, and connection to Jesus. What is written is the primary source that leads us to salvation and holy living. This Word is in contradiction to man-made notions of humanity, sexuality, and marriage just to name a few things. One may not accept the Biblical definition of these things but a lack of acceptance does not erase or undo that it is Written. In fact, it is also written that Jesus declared in Matthew 24:35 while talking of the end times that, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Faithfulness to the Word of God is what defined the Old Testament prophets even when all but 7000 bowed down to Baal during Elijah’s time.

A fascinating artist William. Utermohlen, an American who lived in Britain was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1995 and passed away in 2007. His last works from 1990-2000 are fascinating because he literally illustrated the inner decay of his mind. (Please look him up). He composed many self-portraits over that time period and over the years they became more and more undefined until his painting held no resemblance to him or even a person. This is such a great illustration of what happens when humanity forgets more and more how God defines humanity, family, marriage, gender, and much more. (http://boicosfinearts.com/exhibitions/william-utermohlen-a-persistence.html)

I see the same signs in so many Christians, particularly those in high school and college who have been told that the church, Christianity, and their parents have lied to them. Emotions grow stagnant, no joy or excitement or even sadness; no sense of fulfillment no matter how much is accomplished; everything as Solomon wrote is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Also, is a sense that feels like grass is greener somewhere else. One is restless and uncertain but just needs something else, but not feeling like one is getting anywhere. Too many, have no sense of purpose or direction. It’s as if they have no definition to their life—because they often don’t. The result is to look for purpose in causes, movements, ideas, to do something is better than feeling nothing. In the Old Testament people turned to idols. Today, people still turned to idols which are often undefining. To get angry—for what really? To Drift apart from a spouse—to drift where? To find happiness—just not where I’m standing? To make a difference—for whom exactly? For myself or someone else? A lack of definition always steals a person’s identity and leaves one feeling empty. And consider the Word of God then becomes harder when one is sifting through so much.

But consider something else that is defined very clearly in the Word of God. Salvation. The center-piece of Scripture is Jesus, His death on the cross and His resurrection. Many try to redefine all of those things including salvation. However, if you take Jesus at His Word one discovers how wonderfully invested Jesus is in saving Humanity from its sin. Most famous, of course, its John 3:16-17. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.” The Word defines our salvation in Jesus. It also defines heaven as one that is to be with Jesus such as John 14:1-7. Revelations 7 also describes Jesus as the centerpiece of heaven and defines heaven as filled with joy because of it. Granted there is much about heaven we don’t know but the Word clearly brings a believer to understand heaven to be filled with eternal life, with Jesus. It promises that those who believe will be found there because of Christ as new creations. And such a defined promise is meant to instill hope that propels us through this nebulous life, hard times or good. Countless passages are designed for us to know Jesus more fully in and through the way Jesus would define our lives and therefore fill us with hope. This is designed to be good news for humanity.

The contrast is stark really. The Word of God is defining in a very undefined world. Such a contrast is offensive to the wisdom of the world. Its almost madding that such an irrationality is built up against the Word. But this is the nature of sin and what evil does and how evil is defined itself.

I urge you to take courage. The most significant element that is part of the Lord returning for His people is that our enemies all fail to overcome the truth of God’s Word. Another significant element is that Jesus’ greatest desire is for all prodigals to come home with Him to heaven. He is eager for any and all human beings to be a part of His kingdom. Jesus’ forgives. Jesus loves. Jesus judges. Jesus saves. Jesus lives. Jesus will keep His Word. Therein lies a very defining good news for all who believe and love the Word of God.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on You with His favor and grant you His peace in Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYDJuly13

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/9RLHRqOjX8k

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 7

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“Noodle Soup from Krysiak’s”

READING: Matthew 20:20-28 – Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

My dad’s days lately have been all over the place. Some days he’s been very weary and uninterested in the regular things of life like food, T.V., or phone calls. Then there are the other days, where the “Old Bob” shows himself with a definite will and an obvious thought process. For instance, I talked to him last Friday a week ago about 4:30 in the afternoon. We talked until his arm ached from holding the phone. About 6:30, I received a call from my nephew, Brad. He said, “Grandpa just called me and wanted your cell number. He says he can’t find it on his phone, and he wants to talk to you.” While I was on the phone with him, my sister called the house and told Becky that Dad had just called her and wanted to talk to me. So, I called him. He obviously didn’t remember our earlier conversation, but he definitely had a purpose for getting hold of me. He said, “I want a quart of chicken noodle soup from Krysiak’s!”

Now Krysiak’s is a Polish restaurant in Bay City, MI. Fortunately, I have several times visited that establishment with Dad, so I knew immediately what he was talking about. I laughed and said, “Pa, you know I’m a very long way away from Krysiak’s.” He said, “Yeah, I know.” Then he went on to tell me that for dinner that evening they had given him a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. The soup had disappointed him and made him think with longing for the noodle soup at Krysiak’s. I told him I was sorry I couldn’t deliver on his wants, and he was okay for the time being. The whole thing made me a little sad, but it also makes me laugh. Dad’s always been good at giving orders.

I always have to chuckle at the lesson for today. James and John bring in the heavy artillery – MOM! She kneels before Jesus and asks a special favor of him, places of honor and prestige for her boys when Jesus establishes his “kingdom”. They’re thinking an earthly, hereditary “Throne of David” that would mean they would be King Jesus’ prime and second ministers. High stuff for the sons of Zebedee! Jesus says pointedly, “You have no idea what you’re asking. There is a bitter cup that comes with your request.” They want to be important. They want to be able to give orders. They want to be right near the top of the heap. Who doesn’t? It’s always heady stuff to give orders and have them obeyed.

Just think what these two asked for and did NOT receive: According to John, Jesus was enthroned the moment he was crucified. That means that the “one of your right and the other on your left” were the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. There places were those prepared by the Father, and they were decidedly NOT places of honor and authority.

When the other disciples heard about this conversation, they were indignant. “How dare those two make such a request!” they harrumphed. (“Why didn’t I think of that?” they probably thought.) But Jesus uses the moment as an opportunity to teach them all something most important about the Kingdom: The world seeks power and status, but the followers of Jesus walk in HIS way. Humility, service, and love are the true Way that follows in the Master’s footsteps. We are called to be servants, of God and of each other.

This past week Dad had one of those “Old Bob” days. He called my brother, Larry, and my sister and said he needed a clevis and a length of rope. “Whatever for?” they asked. He said he had the idea to affix the clevis to the end of his bed and then use the rope to pull himself up to a sitting position in his bed! Then, later that same day he called Sally to say he wanted shrimp scampi from Red Lobster for supper. He did not get the clevis and rope, but they managed to tag-team and got him the scampi! He’s Dad and he’s old; he can give orders and we try our best to fulfill them because we love him. But Jesus makes clear that in our everyday walk, humility and self-sacrifice are the mark of the disciple; servants and slaves of one another. Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S): Saturday services and the regular Communion schedule have resumed. And, remember that both Sunday services will be live broadcast on the Internet regularly from now on.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/3hlgDMTkA3Y

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407
 

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYJuly7.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JULY 6

Monday, July 6, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“Can’t Win Without Rules”

Consider a basketball game. I see that the NBA is coming back to finish its season this July when we would normally be paying attention to the baseball season. Why not… I guess. Most of us know the game of basketball. You have to dribble the ball to move. You can’t foul. The coach earns a technical foul if he gets on the court. If you make a basket it worth two points or if its outside the three-point line its three points and so on. In fact, today its almost annoying how meticulous calls by the referees have become especially in the world of college basketball. It seems like the game is stopped a lot more these days to watch a replay on the sideline just to see if the player’s foot touches the line; or shot the ball before the shot-clock ran out.

Imagine, not following the rules of the game. A player might think he deserves extra points for how stylish his slam dunk looked. Maybe they could tackle the opponent with the basketball. Maybe a player could have points taken away for mouthing off to the referees. The fact is without the rules no one knows where the boundaries of the court are; how much a basket counts for; what a foul is; how tall the basket should be off the floor; or anything. Without those rules no one can understand the game or win it.

The same can be said of God’s Law. If you want to win the Law is necessary. In Matthew 5:17-20 at the beginning of Jesus Sermon on the Mount Jesus say, 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Rules are not only essential for games and for a society to exist but also to win spiritually. Let’s understand what I mean. First, we Lutherans often talk about the three uses of the Law. The first is the Mirror, which shows our sins. Romans 3:20 says, “We become conscious of our sin through the Law.” We look into God’s Law and as sinners we realize that we cannot fulfill its demands for perfection. We cannot be saved by it because we can’t keep it. In and through the Law we realize our sin and therefore our need for Jesus.

Second, is the Curb or fence. Years back when Josh was just starting to walk, we lived on a busy street corner. Every time we went outside, he would run towards the road thinking it was fun to get us to chase after him. He had no idea of the dangers of the road. So, we put up a fence to keep him safe. The Law does something similar when God says for example, “You Shall not Covet Your neighbor’s house, wife, workers, or animals.” If David, whom God loved, didn’t covet Bathsheba all his other sins could have been avoided. The idea is to protect what is loved and treasured. In the case of the Law we are God’s beloved children that he wants to keep safe.

Finally, we know the Law to be a guide. It tells us what to do and what not to do. On our recent trip to Gatlinburg we did a lot of hiking on Mt. Le Conte. It was beautiful. Before hitting the trails, we made it a point to stop at the park office and consult someone who knew the trails so we knew what to expect. In the same way the Lord knows better than we do the terrain of life.

The Lord has seen it all and has given His people a guide in His Word to follow. “Your word is light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet” (Psalm 119:105). Those who follow His Word are called wise. In fact, as Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount, He is effectively teaching how to traverse this world under the Law. He also says, whoever hears Jesus’ words and puts them into practice is like a man who builds his house on the rock.” In the sermon on the Mount Jesus demonstrates how to follow the Law properly and not in a way that the Pharisees had been demonstrating.

The basics of sin is to replace God’s Law for another—usually with our own set of rules. You can almost hear the words of Satan in Genesis 3 each time this happens. “Did God really say…?” Adam and Eve knew what God said, but as soon as it was decided that the fruit was desirable for gaining wisdom, they ate it. Suddenly the Law was broken. The results were banishment from the Garden and death.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were very creative in their rule breaking. They tried to do so while claiming that they were keeping the Law. In Mark 7 Jesus confronts them about the commandment to honor one’s parents. Jesus reveals that they deliberately break this law in a tradition called, “Corban”. Instead of using their money to help with the folks and care for them as was prescribed by the Law they declared their income corban or holy, something belonging to God and could not be used for personal interests. Therefore, they were off the hook to help. Except they had no problem buying themselves fine clothing and nice homes. What’s more in Matthew 22:15-22 when the Pharisees challenge Jesus with whether its is Lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not Jesus exposes their hypocrisy. The money they were carrying around not only wasn’t corban but it had Caesar’s image on it. “Give back to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is God’s.” One set of rules for the people another for the Elites.

Without a willingness to keep the Law regardless of who is breaking them, no Law will ever work no matter how many are written. If a person will not humble themselves to submit to a Law because they do not believe in God, or if one hates Caesar they are a danger to everyone.

But Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law. The Law of God is not the problem, sin is. And not one least stroke of the pen will be erased from it. The Law is simply impossible for us to keep perfectly. So, Jesus comes into our world and does what Israel could not. Jesus keeps the Law perfectly. He plays by His Father’s rules and humbles Himself even to a cross. And when it is all finished Jesus is not just a keeper of the Law but the full expression of it. Jesus is the Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for our sins. 2 Cor 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus won the game dying under God’s rules that someone must pay for our sins. Those sins were laid on Jesus on the cross. The game was won and the resurrection is promised.

The Law establishes what is expected and why Jesus had to die on the cross. Without the Law we have no knowledge of sin. We also have no sense of the holiness of God. We have no sense of order and nothing works. We cannot win without the Law—that is because Jesus fulfills the Law just as He says. The Law by itself doesn’t work for us. But in Christ the Law becomes a way to identify ourselves with the image of God. All because Jesus has fulfilled the Law we are saved by faith through grace as a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). In Jesus we win.

Let us not forget love is the centerpiece of God’s Law. Love is also the driving force of our salvation in Jesus—for God so loved the world that He gave. Imagine how much better things would actually be if we loved the Lord our God with all of our being and then loved our neighbor as ourselves. Just think how different our neighborhoods would look.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyDJuly6.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/GxVGgH7T7E8

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JUNE 30

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Pastor Bruce Kischnick, Grace Lutheran Church, New Albany, IN

“The Windmill Farm”

READING: John 16:5-13 – Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.

While I was in Michigan two weeks ago to visit my father, my daughter, Christa, and her two youngest children stayed with me at my sister, Sally’s, house. About two miles northeast of her home is the start of one of the largest windmill farms in the state. It stretches over fifteen miles along the Lake Huron shoreline. Hundreds of towers some 90 feet tall, with huge rotors that turn in the slightest breeze to turn a generator that produces electrical current at the cost of the tower and some connecting cables. The wind is free…when it blows.

That Tuesday afternoon we took Eva and Uri to Port Crescent State Park so they could experience a beautiful sandy beach and the big lake. As we headed toward Caseville, there was no wind at all. All those huge windmills sat absolutely still. Without a wind, there was no movement, and without any movement, there was no power. They just sat there in the sunlight, waiting.

In our text, Jesus tells his disciples that unless he leaves (after the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Ascension), the Counselor will not come. And, until the Counselor comes, they will just sit around, waiting for Jesus to do something, but making no movement themselves. And, without movement on their part, there will be no power to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Jesus promised that when he had left them, the Holy Spirit would come to them and power them up!

I do not much believe in coincidences. That’s why I am always assured of God’s actions on our behalf. For instance, in the Old Testament the Hebrew word “ruah” can mean “wind” or “spirit” depending on the context. In the New Testament the Greek word “pneuma” can mean “wind” or “spirit” depending on the context. How marvelous that the two words that describe the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures should also describe the wind. Because when the Holy Spirit goes to work, you cannot see him, but you sure can see his works. Think about the first Pentecost Sunday! These disciples, a motley crew, prone to argue and strut and run away and hide out in fear, suddenly become effective preachers and teachers, fearless and focused and faithful. Why? Because the Holy Spirit blew in, quite literally, and sharpened their memories and organized their thoughts. He came and guided them “into all truth”, and they were never the same again. They became dynamos! They were powered up, and the Church grew in leaps and bounds because they were moved to action. And, the Spirit still does his work on and in us. Every time we are moved to some Godly work or Godly word, it is the Spirit “blowing” through us and moving us to action that the Father’s will might be done and the love of Christ might be given.

When we came home at the end of that wonderful excursion, the wind had picked up dramatically. And, every single one of those scores of windmills was cranking out the voltage and sending power through those connectors to homes and businesses far and wide. The wind blew, the rotors were moved, and power resulted. That’s how that works. And, that’s how the Holy Spirit works, too. He “blows” through us and within us, and we are moved to action, powered up by his gifts to accomplish God’s purposes in our lives. We’re moved by the “ruah”, by the “pneuma”, by the Counselor Jesus promised to send to ALL his disciples, you and me included! Amen.

PRAYER:

ANNOUNCEMENT(S): Saturday services and the regular Communion schedule have resumed. And, remember that both Sunday services will be live broadcast on the Internet regularly from now on. This coming Saturday and Sunday we will give thanks for the gifts God has given to America, and through it, to its citizens and the world. Join us in church or online.

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/9cT8PG0uiuw

pastork@glcna.com — (502) 797-7407
 

PRINTABLE PDF: WEEKLYJune30.PDF

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WEEKLY DEVOTION JUNE 29

Monday, June 29, 2020

Pastor Matthew Woods from Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, Indiana

“A Welcome Worthy of Our Savior”

Sometime during my first year of seminary I was driving home back to Michigan from St. Louis. The car I was driving, had been very faithful. Ultimately I drove that car from high school all the way through my first year of marriage—just about a decade. My trusty little Dodge Aries had gotten me to California and back, and taken me on numerous trips back and forth to Seminary in St. Louis but this trip something happened. Besides being what my mother-in-law called an “unfortunate color” the gold, “little car that could” also had a hard knock in it. For years that knock had gotten so noticeable that most people thought I was driving a diesel. “No, it just does that…” I would tell them.

About forty miles from Fort Wayne, the knock stopped and the car lost power then quit. I was still rolling so I threw it into neutral and tried starting it up and eventually learning to keep pushing on the gas to keep it running. By the top of the exit ramp I barely limped along turning into the only gas station at that exit at the time. I crawled into a parking spot, as if to grasp on last breath and then died. I would later find out from the guy that replaced the engine that one of the pistons broke inside.

Strange thing was I don’t remember feeling anxious about being stranded but perfectly at peace. I called home—on a pay phone—didn’t have cell phones back then. Before I knew it my former youth director back home called her best friend who happened to live on the south side of Fort Wayne. Within hours she and her brother showed up with a trailer and we were on the road again to their place in Fort Wayne. They were wonderful—perfect strangers to me but any friend of my youth director was a friend of theirs. They drove me and my car to their home, gave me a place to sleep for the night, place to clean up in the morning, and when I offered them some money, they refused it. Their hospitality made the whole event into a blessing. By the next morning my cousin showed up with her truck, my mom in the passenger seat—a four-hour drive down and then back with a car dolly—me and my unfortunate gold car made it home. It was trip filled with grace—and it’s the grace of many and their hospitality that makes me remember it so fondly.

Jesus says in Matthew 10: 40 “He who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

In the context of battle and division between father and sons, mothers and daughters comes this discussion of hospitality. You remember back a few years when young Rifqa Bary, Muslim teenage girl from Pakistan, living in Ohio came to faith in Jesus her father and family rejected her, even threatened her life. She became famous for going to court to escape her parents. The sword, that is the Gospel will have this effect. And yet Rifqa found welcome among other Christians who in their welcome fostered a greater faith in Jesus and the courage to choose Jesus over her family. Here in this context of division Jesus talks of welcome in verses 40-42.

But this welcome is to share more than food or water. Perhaps a welcome in Christ is to share in faith’s rewards…and even its consequences. Those who receive a Muslim girl who converts to Christianity may also share and receive the same threats and burdens—a prophets reward. If one was to harbor a prophet in the time of Jezebel, who sought to end all prophets, especially Elijah, you as one who welcomed Elijah to your home back then could have suffered her wrath for doing so. The same can be said of a righteous man’s reward. But Jesus says, he receives you will receive Jesus. And whoever receives Jesus receives the One who sent Him, namely the Heavenly Father.

If I was the parent of a child who was stranded, but helped by a stranger, that stranger also gives help to me as a grateful parent. By welcoming my child you have welcomed me. To give a child of Jesus a cup of cool water is to receive Jesus in the same way because you shared in their circumstances and assumed a role in their life.

Scripture says a lot about hospitality. 1 Peter 4:9 says, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” Leviticus 19:34 even goes so far as to say to love a stranger is to love yourself—interesting because we hear the same language in the context of Marriage in Ephesians 5 when it says for the husband to love his wife as if he takes care of himself. But probably the most interesting verse is in Hebrews 13:2 which says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so some have unknowingly entertained angels.”

Hospitality is fundamentally an act of kindness; Offering a cup of coffee with a friend; A place to stay when someone gets stranded or lending your skills and talents to help; a ride to work when their car is busted; or just some time getting to know them.
When my car finally got home it was hauled over to a friend and member of our church back home—to his house where he had a garage out back. He was a car guy and worked at the factory where my car was made. Seeing an opportunity to help he voluntarily found a slightly used engine for a very low cost and helped replace my old one. My only price for his labor was a piece of advice—“Matt, you let me work on your car and I’ll promise not to get into the pulpit.” He used his skills and connections to help a young seminary student get back on the road—gave my car several more years. I am still grateful to him for that.

With the fourth of July coming up this week consider the story of a very young 17 year old Lucy Floocker who left her family to marry Major Henry Knox. She left behind her family who remained faithful to the British during the revolutionary war—more like they disowned her. Lucy married young Henry, a soldier in the continental army. When the British surrounded Boston she and her husband escaped the city. It is said that Lucy concealed Henry’s sword that he wore through the war, by having it quilted within the lining of her coat. If caught they would never have suspected her of having it.

Lucy loved Henry Knox and stayed as close to Henry as possible when he was camped but often during the war they were separated for many months at a time. Henry Knox eventually became a General and close friend of General George Washington who recognized his skills as a tactition. After the war Henry Knox became the first secretary of war for the United States. Lucy in that time became a leader within social circles and a friend of Mrs. Washington—the first lady at the time. Knox would also go one to found the first veterans association.

Eventually the Knox’s retired to the estate once owned by her family and build mansion called the Montpellier in Maine at the head of the St. George River. They had ten children and enjoyed retirement. It was here that Henry’s hospitality became legendary to his friends and even to squatters. Some of the letters of the time speak of the hospitality of Knox at his superb mansion. It was not unusual for him in summer, when visited by great numbers of his friends, to kill an ox and twenty sheep every Monday morning, and to have a hundred beds made up daily in the house. He kept for his own use and that of his friends, twenty saddle horses and several pairs of carriage horses in his stables. This expensive style of living encroached greatly on his means. But Madam Knox, as she was called, held it all together with her usual powers of conversation, a great memory of people and details, and an instinct for society. She was described as a woman with much tact, quick and ready for sympathy, and good judgment, combined with great good-nature and a love for fun.” After her husband died, she remained charitable and continued her hospitality in spite of debt and the disrepair of the house in her 18 years of widowhood until she died in 1824.

What we learn from Lucy is her ability to meet and relate to people and make them feel welcome. In so doing people were naturally encouraged to return frequently. Yes, the generosity did help, but long after the noble days of war, long after the splender faded, she kept up a spirit of welcome and remained consistent and is well-remembered because of her nature in this regard. The ones that make us feel most welcome are those who stand out most. By God’s grace may we be good hosts, make people feel welcome, and by our time together encourage a stranger to know Jesus in the way we love them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with His favor and give you His peace. Amen.

Pastor Woods — John 3:30

PRINTABLE PDF: WeeklyJune29.PDF

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/PokLKtb1n3E

matt.woods@glcna.com — (502) 523-9327