Free in Christ!!!

This video is absolutely fabulous!!!  I wish we would be comfortable to share our pain and past without fear and show how God has changed us!!!

LifeChurch.tv NW Oklahoma City Campus: A powerful and vivid video illustration showing that we worship a God that truly changes lives.

Sermon 10282012 Reformation Sunday 21st Sunday After Trinity

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Let us pray!  God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You created the heavens and the earth and all of the beasts of the land the birds and insects of the air and the fish and creatures of the deep in six days.  Yet, the greatest creation was making man in Your image.  May we who have been created in Your image and by Your hand gathered  here today understand You have called us to a greater purpose and understand the New Philosophy You gave to us through the salvation of our souls by Your Son Jesus Christ.  For we are offered this freely and without cost because of Your great love for all of mankind including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

When God had created the heavens and the earth , animals of each kind and man, God rested from His labors on the seventh day and made it holy.  Hence, as we gather here this morning, we are honoring not only the Sabbath that was made by God for man, but also the Creator of all things and the day His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  What God also has inspired and instilled in each of us is the ability and opportunity to celebrate God’s wondrous creation and understand the offering of a New Philosophy for our lives.

This new philosophy isn’t the latest fad in secular society, like Kai-Lan on television for kids, a comic super heroes reboot like Green Lantern or Star Trek or the movie the Hobbit remade by Peter Jackson or the latest trailer for Iron Man 3.  The new philosophy is about the salvation of mankind.  It is about how God calls us to account for our actions as we live “in this world”, but are not ‘of this world’.

We who come to church have the opportunity to resolve to do four simple things.  First, every single person sitting in the pew this morning should resolve to work in God’s kingdom.  Now all of us are not hands, feet or heart, but all of us are part of the body of Jesus Christ that makes up the church.  We need to use our individual gifts and talents for God’s Glory and Honor.  Last week we had the Fall Clean-up here at the church and lots of activity occurred from cleaning windows, mopping floors to cleaning gutters to washing down the pews to vacuuming each pew to having fun as a church while taking care of God’s house.  But it does not end there.  Our work in God’s kingdom includes our work outside of the four walls of the church and the church property.  How many of us have taken the inserts about this sermon series and invited someone to attend?  How many of us have taken one of the posters for the next “Films of Faith” and put them around town, in school, in a business or at the local restaurant?  How many of you have resolved to ‘leave it on the field’, ‘prepare for rain’ or ‘trust God for the results’?  God wants to bless us, and in order for us to be blessed we have to step out in faith and action.

In stepping out in faith and action, we therefore are seeking God’s Will, which is the second opportunity we have.  God’s will is that all of mankind would be saved, though this is accomplished on the Cross of Calvary by Jesus Christ, life, death and resurrection, we as Christians through our baptism are called to seek His will in our lives by spreading the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ.  We are called by Jesus Himself since we are made in God’s image to not only be taught God’s ordinances as the Psalmist reminds us, but perform God’s “statutes forever, even to the end”.  And we will as Paul says, are to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”

We can then in and with Gods strength give glory to God in everything which is the third opportunity we have.  Remember Coach Taylor telling the players about the New Philosophy, ‘when you give everything to God, praise Him when you win and especially praise God even when you lose.’   For in giving God the glory in everything it models for others around You Who your God really is and what your God is capable of doing.  Even if you do not get what you want, God has a greater plan in store for all of mankind and His Glory will be revealed when in true humility and obedience we trust Him.

When we give God the glory in everything we therefore are exercising our muscle of faith given to us in our baptism and we can finally and fully trust God for the results.  For God blessed the coach who ‘prepared for rain’, the team by their being in the State Championship because of their faithfulness in ‘trusting God for the results’ and David who trusted God with everything and enabled him to kick an impossible field goal all because each of them trusted God and gave God the glory.   And Coach Taylor saw this as a reality in his own personal life when his wife announced that he had ‘made the team…the Daddy team’.  For Brooke had finally trusted God and professed her undying love for God no matter the outcome and God honored that trust by enabling in a true miracle to occur of having children of their own.  That was truly God’s divine plan and will made manifest because of the Coaches New Philosophy of working in and for God’s kingdom, seeking God’s will, giving God the Glory and trusting God for the results.

Truly there is no better example of these four opportunities than the life of a man we honor today.  You see on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a parish priest and learned scholar wanted to nothing more than have a conversation with the church about some abuses that were occurring in the church.  But when Martin Luther pounded the 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Door, he knew he was working in God’s Kingdom, seeking God’s Will, Giving God the Glory and trusting God for the results.  As has been appropriately said, Luther did not want to split the church, but what occurred was a result of God’s will and work.  God used Martin Luther to reform the church and set in motion the great protestant reformation that has impacted the entire world.

It was not a New Philosophy, but a return to what God had intended.  In the same way, we have the opportunity to return to God’s original divine plan to spread the message of salvation for all of mankind.  For in our spreading this message we have our mission field of Goodland, KS.  God has called us by the Gospel and equipped us for this ministry so we can work in His kingdom, seek to do God’s will by spreading the message of salvation by giving God the glory, and trust God for the results.  In doing this we are empowered, equipped and can enrich the lives of our country, our community and our church with the Gospel of Jesus Christ for all of mankind, especially all of us saints here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

Sermon 10212012 20th Sunday After Trinity

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Let us pray!  Lord Jesus Christ, it is clear, You chose us.  We have not done anything that would warrant our redemption, but out of Your great love for us You came to save us from our sins.  Enable us to have faith in You and Your plan of salvation and accomplish the God dreams that You place on our hearts.  For this only occurs because of the promises made to us in our baptism into Your life, death and resurrection for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

When Coach Taylor in “Facing the Giants” had two seconds left on the clock in the State Championship game he decided to attempt a field goal.  Everyone around him thought he had lost his mind.  But the response he gave to the assistant coach was clear, he was “preparing for rain”.  Reminiscent of Mr. Bridges coming to him and telling him the story of the two farmers, Coach Taylor placed all his trust in God by sending in David to attempt a field goal and was in true faith and obedience ‘preparing for rain’.

Coach Duke of the Giants wanted to ice the kicker and cause him to doubt his ability.  Thus in response and in clear faith and obedience Coach Taylor told David, the second string kicker a clear truth we need to hear today as well.  If you doubt from the beginning then you are defeated, but if you give it your best and trust God for the results God can do some amazing things.

How are we any different today?  Today we stand at a crossroads, do we continue in the old habits of a congregation that celebrates 90 Years of Ministry to the people of Goodland, or do we embark upon a new adventure that God has in store for us?  Clearly this is a question which has divided many congregations throughout the country and world and allowed Satan to dance in victory, just as he did on Good Friday.  Or is this the opportunity we have here at Emmanuel to embrace a new reality?

For Coach Taylor it was clear that after losing the first three games of the season, it appeared as if nothing was possible.  But with trust, determination and Mr. Bridges speaking a word of truth in his life, Coach Taylor was now on the verge of a State Championship and was going to prepare for rain.

I want to prepare for rain as well.  I want Emmanuel Lutheran Church to be a healthy congregation that isn’t known for dysfunction, distrust and division in the church or in our community.  I want an Emmanuel Lutheran Church that is a pace setting church ready to encounter Satan head on, not worried about ‘how many people attend’ church on Sunday, but how many people are ‘changed by the Gospel message of Jesus Christ’?  Not worried about ‘what it costs for a project’, but dreaming God dreams for our community and church to have had a lasting impact upon the people of Goodland, KS and the entire world.  Not worried if the doors will be open or the money will be in the offering plate, but seeking to serve by ministering to those who have not heard what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary for all of mankind.

This encompasses not only trusting in God, leaving it on the field, but especially preparing for rain.  When we take ownership in the message of Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary for all of mankind and live, eat, and breathe this message, we lay claim to God’s purposeful action in our lives.  Just as Jesus said in the Gospel this morning, “For many are called, but few are chosen”, we have been chosen for this task of spreading the Gospel message here in Goodland, KS.  Through our baptism into Jesus Christ, life, death and resurrection, we have been chosen to spread the message of salvation for all of mankind.

When the waters of Baptism were poured over our head and heart, we were changed.  In a moment that time stood still, God reached down in our collective lives and touched each and every one of us.  We no longer were mired in sin, mauled by the assaults of the devil or mangled by the oppression of sin in our lives.  We have been set free by God.  We though still simultaneously saint and sinner are set free by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to prepare for rain.

Consider if you will earlier this fall, the farmers who have experienced a drought reminiscent of the Dust Bowl years prepared for rain.  Though moisture was not in the forecast the farmers still went and drilled winter wheat.  And God in His wisdom and time has given us moisture for the wheat crop we anticipate next spring.  They were ‘preparing for rain’.

So to in our church, God has empowered each of us by calling us through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our baptism to prepare for rain.  And God will provide us what we need, not just to survive, but ultimately to flourish so His Glory may be revealed and we are empowered to spread the Gospel of Salvation.

In “Facing the Giants” David after being iced by the opposing coach, is ready to step up to do his best and leave the results to God.  Previously he had doubted, but in faith he takes the field, measures his starting position sees that he is kicking into the wind and prepares for rain.  And God mysteriously puts the wind at David’s back and ‘makes it rain’.

This is what God does every day.  All that we as a church need to do is ‘prepare for rain’ and allow God in His infinite wisdom and mercy to reach down like at our baptism and touch our lives with His unending love.  For the promises of God are sure and certain, He sent His Son Jesus Christ in to this world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  And this promise is revealed to each of us today, not only through the Word of God proclaimed, but in the meal we are about to receive.  As we come and receive His precious Body and Blood, Jesus Christ will strengthen each of us not only to receive His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins, but also in faith to ‘prepare for rain’ in each of our lives.  God’s glory will be revealed and we as a congregation and as individuals will receive the greatest blessings.  Blessings not only meant for a select few, but like ‘preparing for rain’ prepared for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  So let’s ‘prepare for rain’.  AMEN.