07052015 5th Sunday After Trinity - We are to be a blessing!

Sermon Audio (Will be posted soon!)

July 5, 2015

We are to be a blessing!

When Emmanuel built the Education Wing, the congregation was busting at the seams with adults and kids.  Every imaginable space was being used from the loft here in the sanctuary, the rooms behind the stage downstairs, the overflow where a lot of people love to sit to the fellowship hall that bustled with Sunday School classes with dividers.  At the time building on a new addition to Emmanuel seemed the only thing that could be done in light of the fact that the sanctuary of our church had been built only 20 years earlier.  Pastor Clifton Osborn wrote the following in the booklet for the Dedication of the Educational Unit:

“God has blessed us.  We pray that this building will be a blessing to those who follow us….I thank God for the great unity displayed in this program.  Truly the love of God is at work in this congregation.”

Pastor Osborn clearly embodied the belief of Peter as he wrote our Epistle this morning.  Emmanuel was on the verge of large growth and needed the room to grow, expand and offer more for the ministry to and for the saints here at Emmanuel and for all of Goodland.

When Sky Ranch was here we used the educational wing, we channeled our forefather’s and followed the call Pastor Osborn clearly spoke of as we did exactly what Peter calls us to be.  “We are to be a blessing.”

And the blessing we are to be not only began with the building of the church in 1948, the education wing in 1968, but continues even today with our current state of our congregation.  We are a congregation that is different from 1968.  Some of the people are the same, a few more miles on each of us, some have entered the Church Triumphant, but we are ultimately the same.  For our identity is not in our outward appearance that for some like me is graying, but our identity is in what God has done for each and every one of us.

When we were baptized into the Body of Christ, the church, we were changed, reformed, reshaped and reborn as Children of God.  We identify with Jesus Christ and what He has done for each and every one of us.  We can then identify, emulate and be what Peter says, “Be a blessing”.  Our identity as followers of Jesus Christ not only connects us through our baptism to Jesus Christ, but changes each and every one of us.

Our identity also connects us to each other.  Not only are we identified with the church when we are out in the community.  We carry Jesus Christ with us where ever we go and in whatever we are doing.  As I have stated since Pentecost, God is love and we are to love one another.  Whether shopping at Wal-Mart, eating at McDonald’s or Steak and Shake or even playing cards with our friends.  People are watching what we do, what we say and how we act and this is why Peter says clearly we are to be a blessing.  When we are cursed, bless.  When you are talked bad about, bless.  When you have the opportunity to minister, bless.  For in our blessing others, we show our connection not only to Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 222 West 13^th, Goodland, KS, but especially to Jesus Christ, in Whom we have been baptized.

Why should this matter?  Well this weekend is a prime example of why it should matter.  Last night our country celebrated July 4^th with all the pomp and circumstance, fireworks going til even midnight, comradery with our family, friends and neighbors and a clear identification of our heritage.  Today we sing songs of our native land.  Our identity as American’s is clear, why can and do we not have this same identity as Christians, heirs of Jesus Christ and our baptism into His life, death and resurrection?

Peter inspires us clearly, we need to be a blessing and God can do this through each of us, we only need to fulfill what Pastor Osborn said since we are the legacy that can be a blessing for countless others with our church, our educational wing, but especially the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for all of mankind.  For our God is a God of love and we can share God’s love for each of us and with others as we bless each other and our community for God’s Glory.  Let’s be the blessing and love as Jesus Christ loves each and every one of us.  AMEN.

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06282015 4th Sunday After Trinity - We are adopted as sons and daughters!

Sermon Audio (Will be posted soon!)

June 28, 2015

We are adopted as sons and daughters!

The year was 2002.  Having been married for nearly three years and trying to have children the news we heard on September 13, 2001 from the fertility doctor was still raw.  It would cost us upwards of $40,000 to attempt to have a child.  And with a job in education, the cost was way more than we could afford.

We prayed after that faithful day and determined there may be other ways of having a family.  We thought, there are plenty of children in the world who do not have parents, why not adopt and create an instant family?  It would be easier we thought, but then it happened.

After filling out all the paperwork, making sure all the required forms were complete, the medical exams were complete and the background information about our past lives was complete, we thought we were ready for the next step.  Then it happened that faithful day in April 2002.  I was rushed from a routine doctor’s appointment and instantly put into the Intensive Care Unit.  For the next three days I was hooked to blood pressure cuffs, oxygen sensors, pulse and heart monitors and had more blood taken than I can imagine.  I walked on a treadmill and was stressed to see what was wrong with me.

With that one stay in the hospital the hope Michele and I had of having a family of our own was dashed upon the rocks of reality.  During some of our preliminary information sessions, they said, if one was ever hospitalized, for other than routine procedures, that would be an automatic disqualifier.  So we even by adoption would not be able to have a family of our own.  It was a tough pill to swallow and one that wasn’t fully and completely resolved until March 14, 2009 and you know the rest of that story.

During those next seven years, I was reminded of the passage we have heard this morning from Paul in our epistle.  Paul, writing to the Romans explains a truth we need to hear and clearly understand as Christians.  We are promised that in our baptism, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ claims us and since we are adopted we become children of God in and through our baptism through Water and Word.

With the Water connected to the Word of God, we are intimately connected to the love that Jesus Christ has for all of mankind.  Just as we have been reminded since Pentecost that God is a God of love and He loves us unconditionally, Jesus Christ as God’s Son loves us just as much even to giving Himself on the Cross in order that we might have eternal life.

Since we who gather here today are adopted into the family of God, we are also heirs of eternal life.  And as heirs we cannot earn God’s love, nor can we earn our salvation, but each of these are gifts freely given unto each and every one of us without cost.  God’s love for us is clearly shown by Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection.  What we get to do is share it.  Not just share it with our friends, but share it with everyone we meet.

This week we have had Sky Ranch here at Emmanuel for our Vacation Bible School.  Like in years past the staff has been high energy, high octane and high impact upon the kids we have coming for Day Camp.  This year 54% of the kids here for our day camp were from families of members of Emmanuel.  That’s 20 of the 37 who attended this year, both pre-school and school age kids.  The theme for this year was “A Love That Never Ends”. 

In one sense all of the kids that came this week were adopted and loved by the leaders, counselors and you the people of Emmanuel and have been taught about God’s Love.  This sharing of God’s love is not only clear and manifest in the children, but has impacted our church.  We have had fun and have made fun of ourselves, from my being given the gift of a cow bell to help people know I was coming, to enjoying the kids faith development, this has been an awesome week.  But the greatest opportunity is adopting each and every one of these kids and each of us gathered here and showing all of us the love of Jesus Christ.

May we as a congregation continue to show love for one another and share what Jesus Christ has done for all of mankind.  For God’s love never does end as we are adopted into His family and feel and share the love of God with everyone we meet.  AMEN.

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2014 VBS at Emmanuel Sunday Videos

Here are two videos from Emmanuel Lutheran VBS 2014 with Sky Ranch.  There were more kids during the week, but these are the kids who came on Sunday!

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07062104 Third Sunday After Trinity

Sermon Audio

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.

Driving between Goodland and Sharon Springs or St. Francis or Colby or Burlington, there are plenty of places where you can see out in the fields that surround the highway.  Currently a lot of farmers and wanna-be farmers are looking at wheat crops, how the corn is looking or what they have to do next to prepare for the rest of summer.  When not looking at crops, there are places for animals to hide, not just in draws, but even some places where in by gone days, the animals could pounce upon unsuspecting prey that would happen by.  When this would happen, the animal being hunted was not only surprised, but easy prey.  Here on the Great Plains when the buffalo ranged as far as the eye could see, the Native American people would start a stampede in order to get buffalo to go certain directions.  Because, the Buffalo were the main source of meat and it was easier to push them into a deep ravine that bottlenecked in order to get a lot of meat at one time with very little effort and it was an easy way to get their meat supply for the winter.

Unlike the buffalo stampedes of the Indians our epistle this morning speaks clearly of the need of we Christians to “be on the alert.”  We like the days of the Cold War always needed to be on alert and as Christians we need to watch.  For our “adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  And that someone is us.  The devil is very near to us waiting for us to question God and doubt and deny what God has done, is doing and will continue to do.  The devil wants us to like the buffalo run into the deep ravine and be easily captured and killed and become the treat of the victor.

For the devil, our capture isn’t like in ‘capture the flag’, because the reality is in life we are dealing with an eternal consequence.  The devil is trying to get us to fall victim to him and be devoured by him for eternity.  For the consequence of an eternity without God is what the devil is trying to gain.  The reality is that God from the beginning of time through His great love for each of us has been trying to prevent the devil from overcoming us.  This is why Peter clearly says, “be on alert…resist him, [be] firm in your faith”.

When we are firm in our faith, given to us by God in our baptism, we change the landscape of the battle that is daily being waged in our hearts, souls and minds.  No longer are we enslaved to sin for eternity, but through our claiming God’s mark on us in our baptism, we are freed to be the children of God He has made us to be.  We like the children in the Pre-School program learned can be a ‘FROG’ or “Fully Rely On God”.  We can trust God to not only care for us but empower us to be the children of God He has endowed and made us to be.

But what about the suffering we encounter in the here and now.  From our wheat crop being wiped out.  Tragedy that strikes our schools, businesses or even our families.  And even church members lashing out at each other in the name of the church.  God makes it very clear through Peter, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”  God will shower His grace upon us and His love will be manifest in and for each and every one of us and His glory will be revealed as He perfects us and establishes us as no other.  This is when we will enter His kingdom and receive the gifts of God for the people of God.

This week I had someone in my office asking me why God was allowing the dysfunction in life, the hurt feelings, the pain of broken relationships and the loss on a mental and emotional level that was happening in their life.  It was not just the issues in her family, but also in her church that she was brought to and raised in as a child.  Why were people not standing up for what was right?  And why was God not sending a sign to tell or show the people what they were doing was wrong or how they were treating others was wrong.  The story that came to mind was the Rich Man and Lazarus.  We recently heard this story in our lessons.  Only after the rich man was in hell and thirsty and could not change did he understand the need to change.  He pleaded, send Lazarus to warn my brothers.  Evidently his brothers were just as derelict in not acting or doing what they needed.  But the response Jesus told is very telling in this story.  They, the rich man’s brothers have the prophets, meaning the writings of the Old Testament, but even if someone were to rise from the dead they would not listen to him.

Ironically this is exactly what happened with Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha.  Even though he was raised from the dead, and Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead, the leaders of the synagogue and some of the people would not listen to Lazarus nor Jesus Christ.  Today our society is no different, people would rather gossip, make false accusations, not put the best construction on all things and hide behind platitudes and places of ‘authority’ and seek to pounce from hiding rather than be held accountable or even have a conversation one on one in true humility.  Where is God in this?  God is right here in Emmanuel with us as we experience this, in you the people of God and you can stand up and by the power of God through the Holy Spirit be the people of God that do what is right, necessary and called for in your vow you made to be the Body of Christ.

Recently, I saw how God can and is active very clearly here at Emmanuel.  I am proud of our Emmanuel Family.  Our Vacation Bible School was a great success because people came together to not only love the kids and serve the Lord, but be the church.  During our Preschool VBS the kids inspired me by not being afraid to pray, but relishing it and being prayer warriors.  We had multiple kids not afraid to offer a short prayer to God.  This is how we as a community of faith, not only shared our faith, but also and more importantly empowered the children to lay claim to their faith.  They are not only the future of our church, but they are the church now.

It is in their hands that not only do we entrust the teaching of what God has done and continues to do in our lives, but by our showering our love for each other and upon the kids and showing it to and for each other as we the congregation of Emmanuel learn not only about God’s unending love, but our love for them as well.  I am extremely proud of our church for our efforts, not only in years gone by, but this year for the commitment to a God sized vision and clear expression of the love of God that has overcome the devil who awaits to pounce on us.  Thank you for being the church and ministering to the saints in the kids that have been here for our vacation bible school this summer!  Thank you for being the church and thank you for supporting Emmanuel as the saints God came to save, including all of us gathered here this morning and those unable to be here.  AMEN.

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06292014 Second Sunday After Trinity

Sermon Audio 

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.

“Love, love, love, all you need is love”.  This lyric by the Beatles ran through my mind as I read this week’s Epistle Lesson.  Yes it dates me, but it is a classic that I know Jesus Christ and John would agree with.  And this is exactly what we here at Emmanuel have shown this week.

Thank you to the congregation for the love and spreading the Gospel message of Jesus Christ by supporting Sky Ranch.  This week, we as a congregation opened up our doors, our hearts and our love for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ here in Goodland by sharing the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  By providing a place to stay for the staff, giving of food for the snacks for the kids, donating your time and effort for God’s message of ‘Growing in Christ’ and ‘Fully Rely On God’ we have honored God.  Thank you!!

What we have committed to with our bringing Sky Ranch here to Emmanuel is a Kingdom Commitment!  We as the congregation of Emmanuel have stepped up and out and made a commitment to not only the community but to ourselves as well that we will not be silenced about the message and the mission of Jesus Christ!  I am proud of Emmanuel Lutheran Church!

The message of love shared this week of Sky Ranch Day Camp is extremely clear from the singing of the songs, the sharing in the bible studies and the kids being kids, but learning about Jesus Christ.  John in the epistle from this morning shares this as well.  At first John warns us that the world will hate us, why, because it takes commitment for a program like this, it takes time and it takes investment.  John writes, “Do not be surprised, bretheren, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.”  By our not only sponsoring Vacation Bible School, but opening our doors, we will be ridiculed, even questioned by some who wonder if the output of money is worth the cost.  But the questioning and ridicule is worth it, because what we are doing is kingdom work here at Emmanuel and for Goodland.

John says, “We know love by this, that He [that is Jesus Christ] laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  Yes, this is about what Jesus Christ did on Calvary and He did that not only for the kids we invited to come, but also for each of us here today.  God came in order that we might be set free from that which binds us and lead kingdom lives as we have this last week with Sky Ranch.

Some of you may have heard about the man who saved a little child from certain death.  While performing his duty as of all things a tow truck driver, this man saw a little baby crawling and about to enter the highway.  After stopping and insuring this little girl would not be harmed, he spent the next four hours cuddling, caring for and being exactly what John wrote about for this little girl.  When she would get antsy and not want to settle down, he played gospel music on his phone for her, because it helped him settle down and the same was true for this little girl.  This self-sacrifice was clearly a gift from God for the little girl, but it was a result of God in this man’s life.

Previously, he had been a drug addict, been in jail and did not have anything to look forward to in his life, but one day through the work of God in a strange and mysterious way, he was set free from his former life.  And on this one day, he understood why God had freed him from his former life.  It was so he could be the angel looking out and seeing and rescuing this small, fragile little girl who would have certainly become the victim of certain death if it were not for him.

This is the impact that we with our Sky Ranch Day Camp and counselors have had upon Goodland this week.  Unknown to us right now is the impact we will have, but we have definitely followed God’s plan for us and John’s ending statement in the reading this morning.  John concludes, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”  We have done that for countless children this week here at Emmanuel and thank God for the gifts He has given us, especially of His Son Jesus Christ who died for all of mankind, but especially all of us saints gathered here to celebrate Sky Ranch this week here at Emmanuel.   AMEN.

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06222014 First Sunday After Trinity

Sermon Audio

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.

“Greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his brother.”  This was epitomized so clearly from the movie “Lone Survivor” how the main character Marcus Luttrell was willing to fight to the very end to save and protect not only his Seal Team Unit, but the very village that protected him.  This act, not only of bravery, but also love is exactly what we have heard this morning from our epistle reading.

The love that one has for his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is something that God calls us to be.  God has this love for us which is clearly manifest through what His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary.  Jesus Christ loves us so much that He gave Himself up so we might live.  John wrote, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

God is in each of us daily, sometimes we choose not to show our love, we hide it, not only from our family, our spouse, children and even our parents, but even our church and community.  Yet God is still present in us and through us, He still loves us and daily impacts each of us.  We are the result of the love of our parents and God honors us with His sacrifice.  John goes on to explain that “We love, because He first loved us.”  The love God has for us is manifest not only in the world we live in that is provided oxygen for us to breathe, food to eat, a government that protects us by soldiers like Luttrell, but also here in the church that we are a part of and worship with weekly.

Today we the people of Emmanuel show our love for our community by welcoming Sky Ranch into our midst and providing them not only a place to lay their heads, the means to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also the opportunity to have a kingdom impact here at Emmanuel and in Goodland.  By our congregation stepping up and bringing water, snacks, meals, a place to minister, and coming to the program on Thursday night, we show our love for one another.  All because God first loved us and died for each of us.

There are times when we cower in fear of saying something to our brothers and sisters in Christ, because we are fearful of the ramifications upon our relationship with them and the history we have had from raising kids, watching sporting events together or even spending the evening or weekend together or in Denver, but what we harm is our relationship with Jesus Christ.  John says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”  But God offers us daily the opportunity to become perfected in love.  God wants us to ‘abide in love’ and overcome evil with love.  God sees the love in each of us.  I don’t say it often enough, but I love each of you sitting here in the pew and our brother’s and sisters that are not here this morning.  You are my brothers and sisters in Christ and I not only love you as your Pastor, but especially your brother.

We need reminded that the love we have for one another can overcome and has overcome evil in our world through Jesus Christ.  And this is what we the church of Emmanuel can do through God working through us, in us and enabling us to stand together in love.  In recent months we have had numerous deaths within our congregation.  Yet, as a congregation we have stood together loving each other hugging each other and holding each other up in prayer, serving the funeral dinners that minister to the family and even attending the funerals of our friends, neighbors and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Just as in the Old Testament before Jesus came into Bethlehem, God inspired people to show the love and grace He was offering for the Israelite people.  We are not just their ancestors, but we have Jesus Christ among us and we remember His coming and sacrificing for us here at Emmanuel and we can show the love.

Recently at one funeral, I saw a long-time member of our church, instrumental in many behind the scenes ways, who does not currently attend regularly, but they felt it was important to come and not only pay respect, but love and support the family during their time of loss.  This is huge as a congregation.  We are showing our love and our true nature by being the body of the CHURCH, being the Body of Christ, being ‘perfected in love’ as we are in this world that we live in as God’s Children of Emmanuel.

Not only have we supported each other when death knocks at our door, but we also support one another in life.  Specifically I was witness of someone here at Emmanuel not well known for compassion, showing or revealing themselves when faced with a most difficult situation.  A very intimate part of a members life was shared and they not only did pastoral ministry and I was proud of them, but they showed their love for this person and their family.  This is the beauty of we the body of Christ here at Emmanuel.

There was once a little girl who lived in an orphanage.  She wasn’t liked by anybody and even the administrators wanted to get rid of her, because she wasn’t from the local area.  One day she was seen by another little girl writing a note and leaving it outside of the premises, which was against the rules.  The administrator immediately ran to where the note had been hidden and found the ‘illegal note’.  What the little girl had written in fact wasn’t what the administrator imagined.  It was a simple note with the following:  “To whoever finds this….I love you.”  That little girl epitomized what we as a congregation are doing this week, spreading the love we have from our Savior Jesus Christ for all of Goodland.

Just as Paul and John both wrote in Holy Scriptures, this is a commandment from God to love.  John ends saying, “And this commandment we have from Him [Jesus Christ], that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”  And this is exactly what we do as a congregation here at Emmanuel.  We are living this out, not just individually, but collectively this week with our Vacation Bible School, supporting each other in our troubles and being the church of God for all mankind.  Including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning preparing for a fun filled week of Vacation Bible School, loving our community and showing the love of God that resides in each of us.  AMEN.

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