Getting Ready for Sunday: Genesis 22:1-14 The Old Testament Reading for Sunday, February 18th, 2024

2 Kings 2:1-12

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, February 18, comes from Genesis chapter 22, verses one through 18. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac. And he cut the wood of the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the plays from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the fire burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand, the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father, and he said, Here I am, my son. He said, Behold, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son. So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him. For now, I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, on the mound of the Lord, it shall be provided. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, by myself, I have sworn declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you. And I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven. And as it stands on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Here ends the reading, or reading begins with a weighty phrase, after these things. That helps us see that we're looking back and a lot of has happened in Abraham's life. God came to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, he called him and gave him promises. He would make his name great, he would give him a land, he would make his name his children, like the sand of the seashore, that all nations will be blessed through him, that whoever blesses him would be blast, whoever curses him would be cursed. Lots of cool stuff. Abraham tested God's promises over and over again, he put himself in terrible situations. When there was a famine in the land, he goes down to Egypt, and marries his wife off to another man who then gets in trouble with God and God uses it to enrich Abraham, instead of getting Abraham killed. Crazy, right? Things like that happen over and over again. He runs into conflicts with people, and then God shows up and saves him he there's Sodom and Gomorrah happened and God speaks with him and Luke go back and forth and God protects lot in this destruction. One more time, Abraham marries off his wife to another man and And the man gets in trouble. But Abraham gets enriched instead of being killed. It's all sorts of crazy stuff happens. But the best part is that after all of the years of waiting, God came through on his promise to give Abraham and Sarah, a son named Isaac. And his birth is what is told right away in the chapter prior to this, the promise of the son comes, Isaac, Isaac, is there, he's ready to go. And then we get these words, after these things. Now, we don't know how much time passed between the story of the birth of Isaac, and what is happening in this story. The chapter 21 ends with and Abraham sojourned amongst the Philistines many days, which is a great phrase, that means a long time, but we don't know how long could have been a week could have been a couple of months could have been several years. We don't know. There are some clues, though. We have a suggestion that the Isaac is old enough to carry a lot of wood, because Abraham gives Isaac the load of the wood to go up to the top of the mountain. And so it seems like it is likely that Isaac is a like a teenager, to be able to carry enough wood to be able to haul it up a mountain, that they can do a burnt offering. So God comes to Abraham after years, maybe of life with Isaac and says, sacrifice your one and only son. Now, the Abraham, of many years ago, would have freaked out at this request. The Abraham who decided that God wouldn't protect him when he went down into Egypt. So he gave his wife as to be the wife of someone else. He didn't trust God's promises, the Abraham who married off his wife again, in a different place, the Abraham who, who hedged and tried to have a baby with his servant girl, that Abraham would have freaked out about this. But after years and years of God proving himself of God coming through, it doesn't say anything. There's no question. It says. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac. So they take the burnt offering the wood, and they bring Isaac and they go to the mountain, and they leave the two young men behind, and they go up to the top of the mountain. And there, they took take the wood of the burnt offering, and he lays it on Isaac, his son who carries it. And Abraham gets the fire and the knife and they go up together. Isaac has a worthy question. Here's the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb? Abraham says, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son. So they go together. Isaac is, you know, confused, as you would be to we're going up to the top of a mountain to give a burnt offering but we don't have an offering. That's what you think, Isaac? Abraham knows what's going on. So they get to the place. Abraham builds an altar. And then it says, And he lays the wood down and it says, And he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. We have to remember, Abraham is a very old man. He is likely about 100 years old at this time. And Isaac, if he is old enough to carry a whole pile of wood up a mountain means he is probably stronger than Abraham. Which means that either Abraham drugged his son or Isaac was bound willingly carried the wood up willingly got onto the altar willingly. So Abraham reaches out, takes the knife, and the angel goes, Stop. Don't kill him. I now know that you trust God. This interaction gives people some pause. God didn't really want his son, Isaac to be killed. Why did God put Abraham through all of this? Isn't this kind of, well, a little abusive? Almost.

What we see here Is is Abraham is finally displaying the trust that God's plan is always good. In fact, what he trusts is that when Isaac goes to the sacrifice that even should Isaac die, he will come back from the dead. And here Abraham is expressing the kind of faith that says, no matter what God wants, God, His promises will come true. And so it's not just a test of faith, but it is a place for Abraham to prove that he has learned from his life and experience of receiving God's promises and hearing it over and over and over again and actually seeing it come to fruition. And so what what they get then is a ram gets continents, they get in, in a thicket by the horns, and they offer that as a sacrifice. Now we see in this, an expression of Christ here, Abraham offers his son whom he loves his one and only Son, as a sacrifice. And God allows him to come out. But in Christ, we see a one and only Son on whom the wood of a sacrifice was laid, as he carried his cross up to the top of a different kind of Hill, outside of Jerusalem, where he wasn't spared, where the Father gave up his one and only son. Abraham could offer Isaac because he was he knew that God could raise someone from the dead. That's what it says in Hebrews chapter 11. It says, By faith when he was tested, offered up Isaac, who had received the promise, in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named, he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead. So Abraham, he knew that no matter what would happen, he would actually come down with his son Isaac, because Isaac was the son of the promise. And similarly, Jesus could go to the cross and willingly die, just like Isaac willingly climbed up to the top of that, that altar, and willingly die, knowing that God would raise him from the dead, to give him life, so that we could have life too. And so now the angel says, in response to Abraham, by myself, I have sworn declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you. And I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven. And as the sand that is on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. So here, God repeats the promise that He has given Abraham over and over again, and will multiply our offspring, stars of the heaven, sand of the seashore, your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Same thing that God promised him in Genesis chapter 12. And so the Abraham is simply showing trust in the promises that God has already given him. Trust in the promises that God has carried out and kept this whole time. And we see, we can look at what God has done in Christ, and have trust in the promises that God gives us. Because we had a Savior who obeyed the voice of his father and gave up his life, gave himself up so that he could possess the gate of his enemy death itself. Those roll the stone away over the tomb, and give us life that lasts forever. And because Jesus is raised, we know that we are raised to that Jesus was the sacrifice for us so that we can be like Isaac and not have to die forever. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The Office of Prophet and the Office of Preaching

2 Kings 2:1-12

Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Over the epiphany season, we looked at a number of Old Testament stories that have had something to do with the prophets. A while back, we looked at the calling of Samuel, oh, God came in a vision to Samuel and gave him a message for Eli. We asked ourselves, when we talk about the Word of God, do we tell the whole story like, like Samuel asked whether he should tell the story of judgment that God gave Him to Eli. After that, we looked at the prophet Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh with a message, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And this message brought repentance to the city. And we realized that God's message of judgment, always comfort comes with an offer of forgiveness, that it's a call to turn to him. After that, we looked at Moses, when he said that God would raise up a prophet like him, who would speak the Word of God to His people. And we saw that this message, this office of Prophet was given to the people for their good. And today, we're looking at a story about Elijah, passing on his office of Prophet, both to Eli Shaw, as well as to the sons of the prophets that we see. Which is an interesting aspect of this story that is often overlooked. And we'll interpret this understanding of this office of profit in light of Christ, to help us see what it has to say about the Office of the pastor, the preaching office, in the church. So this is a fascinating story in the Old Testament. Seems kind of weird, right? Most of the action is Elijah saying to Elijah, stay here, I'm gonna go over there. And Elijah says, Nope, I'm going with you. And then they show up, and they go to this place, and you get this phrase called the sons of the prophets. They come out and they say, you know, Elijah is going away. And Elijah says, Yeah, but keep it a secret. Super weird, right? What is going on here? And then it happens again, Elijah goes to a different place. And he says, Elijah, stay there. And Elijah doesn't know, I'm going with you. And the sons of the prophets come out again. And then Elijah says, well, let's go to a third place. You stay here, Alicia. And he goes, No, I'm coming with you. The cross the Jordan River. And you see this very weird thing. Elijah asked, Elijah, what do you want from me? And the lie, Shah says, give me a double portion of your spirit. odd things. And then Elijah is separated from Elijah by this chariot of fire. And Elijah is taken up in a whirlwind. And then we're done. Weird, right. What our reading doesn't give us is what happens next. It says, And he that is Elijah took up the cloak that had fallen, a cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water saying, Where is the Lord the God of Elijah. And when he had struck the water, the water was parted from one side and to the other. And Elijah went over. Now, this helps us to understand what is going on in this story. Remember, Elijah, he smacked the water with his cloak and it split and they walk through. Then he goes up into heaven, and he lives Shaw gets the cloak, walks over smacks it, and the same thing happens right? This is an inheritance moment. The double portion of the spirit. What's going on here is the line Shah is asking Elijah For the inheritance of a firstborn son, ancient Israel, inheritance was split amongst the family and the firstborn got the double portion. So you have five kids, you split your inheritance up six ways, firstborn son gets two of them, the rest each get one. And so we're seeing inheritance. And this points us back to the sons of the prophets. That's a weird phrasing for this group of people, sons of the prophets are this order of prophets that have been building up under this new era of Elijah. Eli SHA, gets the double portion, they get the single portion. This office of Prophet has been handed down through this group of people called the sons of the prophets under this new era in Elijah. Now, we have to take a moment to recognize how crazy that is in Elijah's life. If you remember, in earlier in Elijah's life, the king has been going after him so hard, that he is the only prophet left. And he goes out into the wilderness in despair, curls up on the ground and says, God, just kill me. It's all over. And then by the end of his life, he goes from town to town, and in every place, prophets of God come out on mass to meet him. Isn't it amazing what God can do in only a short period of time? Isn't it amazing how God can raise up faithful people from desperation? What can God do? It's what we see with the sons of the prophets. It helps us to understand the office of pastor in the church, because interpreted through Christ, and after his death and resurrection, this preaching office is a whole lot like that office of Prophet that was handed down in the church, and established and trained by Elijah is the the office of Pastor like the office of Prophet is handed down. These sons of the prophets were the inheritors of Elijah. He is this new model of profit. That happens as as the Kings turn away. And so we see town after town, place after place, these new proclaimers of God's word are there and raised up. In the church, the proclaimers of God's word were handled very similar. The office is given and established. And we see that from very early on. In the book of Acts, it talks about people going from town to town, appointing elders, otherwise known as pastors in the church. Similarly, St. Paul writes to both Titus and Timothy, about appointing elders in the churches where they the God preserves this office of proclamation and preaching in his church that is handed down through his church as well. Which I think is an amazing blessing. That the church passes down this office of proclamation and preaching in clear and obvious way. Because what it means is you don't have to wonder whose job it is to proclaim God's word to write. See, we don't have any questions about that. God doesn't come down in a vision and anoint someone and say, I have chosen you like you did with Isaiah, or Samuel. You get to see it happen right in front of you. When pastors are installed and chosen, and the Holy Spirit works through the church to give them a call. It happened just over two years ago, here in this place, I kneeled right over there. And was installed.

And it's not just me, of course, this happens in any church. With the Holy Spirit calls a pastor for you, so that you can have God's word proclaimed. You don't have to wonder who God has chosen to give you this, this blessing. You don't have to go, Oh, I hope he is anointed by the Spirit. Because the church has done it. The Holy Spirit works through you to give a call to a preacher. What a blessing that is. That you know whose job it is, with the Holy Spirit has appointed you to give you God's grace, and call you to faithfulness in Christ. And pastors, just like the prophets, their job is to proclaim God's Word through the office of preaching. One of the big differences though is after Christ has died and rose, the source of that proclamation is a little different. Old Testament prophets, they received visions, right. And we've seen many stories like that stories of Samuel and Moses and Jonah, and the Bible is filled with them. Elijah himself gets all sorts of messages from God. But pastors are a little different. Hebrews starts out this way, in many in various ways, God spoke to his people of old by the prophets. But now in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. Our gospel reading emphasizes this. And one of the things that the Gospel reading is we get caught up in all the amazing things that happened, the shining face, the clothes, the Moses and Elijah, but the heart, the center of what is going on, is what the voice says, This is my beloved son. Listen to him. And so pastors, we don't receive visions for our messages. We hear from the word of Christ. Now, personally, I would love it. If I could be like, on Saturday night, sit in front of my computer and be like, okay, Jesus, give me a message. Wouldn't that be nice? All the hours of study, all of the the reading and the prayer and the outlines, and then the deleting, which often happens, and then the editing and then I would love it. If God simply said, Preach this. And then I did. But that's not where it comes from. The Word of Christ has been preserved for us through the preaching of the apostles. And then their preaching preserved for us in Holy Scripture. And so pastors, our job is to listen to him, and then proclaim, which means we have to spend a lot of time in God's word. So we can speak it to you. We listen to Christ and do our best to speak what he would want us to say, on mornings like this. So you can hear the Word of God preserved for you. And it's a temptation for every pastor in every place, to substitute to their own word for what Christ has called us to speak. Which means you have a job to do as well. Right? To hold me accountable, to ask me, Pastor, is that really what the Bible says? Is that really what God wants from us? It's your job, to make sure I know what I'm doing and to hold me accountable to the proclamation that Christ has given us. Because the word I am called to speak is not my own but Christ's, which is filled with the power of the Spirit and there for you to guide him. And I need you to keep me on track. To help me understand. Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, Wait, wait, I didn't go to seminary. How can I do that? actually really easy. When I say something you think is weird. Say to me Hey, Pastor, can you show me where why you said that? Can you explain to me from God's word, what you meant? I need you just as you need me. Because I am supposed to hear from Christ and speak to you. But I'm just as much a human being as you. It's your job to help. Lastly, the Office of Pastor much like the office of profit is here as a gift for you. Prophets were not designed to be people who were just there to be glorious. I mean, we look at Elijah, and we see the miracles. And we think, wow, wouldn't that be kind of cool, right? I think it'd be pretty amazing to be able to call fire down from heaven, which he did on a couple of occasions, right. I think it'd be pretty cool to be like Elijah, and heal the warrior of a foreign king from his leprosy, like, walk around and be all like, yeah, prophet of God over here. But that's not what they're for. The burden of preaching, and proclamation is designed to be a gift for you. Because it's a joyful, joyful gift, to be able to speak God's word to you, to help guide you and turn you back to Christ. Because we all need to hear it right. Every week, every day, our sinful nature wants to draw us away. And we need to hear God's word proclaimed to us, so that we can be pulled back again. That's what Elijah and Elijah did. Right? They were always called to go out into the world and say, return to the Lord your God, come back to him. For every person who would stray. And through most of Elijah's ministry, it was because the king was doing the opposite. And within the church, I am blessed that I do not have King Ahab's or queen Jezza bells, running around in my congregation. I have the faithful people of God, who come desiring to hear the word, who come wanting to be told of their sin, needing to be told about repentance, and craving, the forgiveness and healing that comes from Christ. And what a joy it is to be able to give it and speaking, just as you I hope, find it joy to hear it. It's a gift. Because it's through these words that God has preserved the message of Jesus Christ and calls you again and delivers the gift of salvation. What a joyful gift that is. God has preserved this office of prophet like he did with Elijah and the sons of the prophets. He continues to preserve it in this proclaiming office of Pastor which God gives you as a gift to give you the word so that we can remain faithful. In Jesus name, Amen.

Getting Ready for Sunday: Mark 9:2-9 The Gospel Reading for Sunday, February 11th

Mark 1:29-39

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, February 11, comes from Mark chapter nine, verses two through nine. After six days, Jesus took with him, Peter, and James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them, Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are here, let us make three tents, one for you, and one for Moses and one for Elijah. For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified, and a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud. This is my beloved Son, listen to him. And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Here ends the reading. Now, this is a short story of the end, a famous story of Jesus's transfiguration. So what I want to do is, I really want to slow down and take a look at it. Because sometimes when we read stories that we hear every single year, we don't always pick up on the new ones nuances. So let's do it. So, and after six days, Jesus took with him, Peter, and James, and John. So six days after what had been going on before this, Jesus takes his three inner core apostles, Peter, James, and John, and he takes them up to a high mountain by themselves. And it goes. And so going up this high mountain, this sort of retreat thing is something that Jesus frequently did. We just had in our gospel reading, this past Sunday, a time where Jesus God does His healing thing, and all the people come to his house. And then early in the morning, he rises and goes out to a desolate place to pray. So Jesus does this a lot, he goes off by himself, or he takes a few with him. And this time, he takes Peter, James and John, go up the high mountain. And then it says, And he was transfigured before them. So Jesus was changed, and he was right in front of the apostles. It continues, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. Now, we live in a world where there's white, all over the place, where the prevalence of really nice cloth of washing machines of dyes and generally a clean world compared to the world of Jesus's day, and so we get things, things can be pretty white. In fact, right now I'm surrounded by white paper, it's almost glowing. But that was not the world of Jesus's day. White did not stay white, for very long, when you were walking on dirt paths out in the wilderness where you had all of these these difficult challenges, like dusty animals everywhere. Traveling was tough. You didn't do it in a car with air conditioning. You walked. And so nobody wore white. It was not white. And if you did, it did not stay white for very long. So Jesus is closed change says they become radiant, intensely white, so white, that no one could make them that white in a natural way. It continues, and they appear to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Of course, the perfect question. The one everybody asks is, how in the world did the apostles know that it was Elijah with Moses? Like did they have picked have pictures in their wallets? Was there a traditional like, name tag? A, like a lanyard? You know, hanging around their neck? Hello, my name is Elijah. Or it was Moses carrying stone tablets just to be like, Yeah, you know what, these are nuts. That's how we have no idea how they were recognized him. It seems to me likely that the the way they? Well, I don't know, nobody really knows, we'll just leave it at that. And so they were talking with Jesus. Mark doesn't tell us what they're talking about. And so it's just a conversation. And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Now this this address rabbi, is for a teacher, right? Teacher, it is good that we are here. So he's excited. Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Okay, so Peter proposes an action, he's going to set up three tents, these are probably not the pup tents you think of from Boy Scouts, or Girl Scouts, these would have been the kind of tents that you lived in, like in ancient Israel, you know, when they were wandering through the wilderness with Moses, and they make tents. Or as they do in the Feast of Tabernacles. Every year, they would build this big tent that you could live in. And so Peter says, well, let's put up some houses here. They're movable houses, but houses nonetheless, one for each of you, Moses, Elijah, and for you. What did Peter want to do with those? We have no idea. And maybe he didn't either, because the Bible says, For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And our man Peter, he never lets not knowing what to say, stop him from saying something. He just put it out there. Hey, you know what, sometimes you just got to speak and let let your brain catch up afterward. Well, this is of course, weird. They were terrified. They had no idea what was going on. Then it says, in the cloud, overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud.

So the cloud overshadows them. And then there's a voice. Now, this cloud on the top of a mountain, it doesn't describe it. But it is reminiscent of the cloud that would have gone on the top of Mount Sinai. That was a vision of the presence of God. And so we see this cloud on the top of Mount Sinai as the way that God spoke to Moses. And maybe it's something like that. And don't we know that a voice comes, and it says, This is My beloved Son, listen to him. And then suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only. Now, this is the moment, that should be the center of the story. The cloud comes and you get a voice. This is my beloved son. Listen to him. When we think about stories, especially stories, because we have them visually, right, we see TV shows, we see movies, and even when we read books, what we really care about is the plot, what are the characters doing, and you can understand the characters best by their actions. And that's what we might expect from ancient literature. And if we come at it with that lens, then we're looking at all the stuff that's going on, the really important things are the Moses and Elijah appearing in the clothes, intensely white, and all this amazing stuff that's happening. And then the words don't mean so much. But in ancient literature, the words meant more and the actions meant less. And so all of the stuff that happened up until now, the close becoming intensely white, Elijah and Moses appearing Peter, not knowing what to say, but speaking anyway, leads to the moment where the voice from the cloud says, listen to him. That's the core of the story. Moses and Elijah, come down to tell Peter, and all of us, just listen, don't speak. Don't make stuff up. Don't try to tell Jesus who he should be and what he should do. Just listen. And that's what God calls us to do. Right? To hear the Word of God. Listen, and believe and obey. The reading ends with the follow up, it says, And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from Dead. So there we go down the mountain. He says, don't tell anyone until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. And you got to wonder, do you do you think they understood what that meant? I don't, because they didn't it. That's what the Bible says, right after the reading it says, so they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And so it seems to me likely that they really needed to listen to Jesus and be ready to just wait. Because they didn't understand what he might be saying that he would rise from the dead. We to need to just listen. Oh, Jesus tells us all about who he is. But so often, we want to say no, no, no, no, we really would like you to be like what we want. And all that does is it covers up the truth. And we need to understand the reality of who Christ is because only a real and true Christ is going to save us. And so when we can turn to Him and hear his word, we know the truth. And he teaches us and guides us and gives us life. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18; 4:1-6 The Epistle Reading for Sunday, February 11th, 2024

2 Corinthians 3:12-18, 4:1-6

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit…

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, February 11, come from Second Corinthians chapter three, verses 12 through 18. And chapter four verses one through six. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face, so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day when they read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains on lifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord has the spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. From this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning, or to tamper with God's word. But by the Open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as Your servants for Jesus's sake. For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Here ends the reading. So this reading begins with a reference to Moses, who had to put a veil over his face when he went up to see God. And so it says, since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. So the story is a story of when Moses would come down from the from talking to God, His face glowed. It was so bright, that it terrified the people. And so he had to put a veil over his face, so that they wouldn't be scared by his glowing face. And their hearts and their minds were hardened so that they did not see Moses and understand what was going on. And they still don't in Paul's day, he says, For to this day, when they read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlisted. Because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. So when synagogues would read the law of Moses, Paul says that the Jewish people, there was a veil over their hearts, preventing them from seeing the glory of Christ, just like the veil prevented people from seeing Moses's face when it was glowing. And what that is, is when when you don't have Jesus Christ, to unlock the key, to be the key to unlock the Old Testament, you never truly understand and see the glory of what God is doing. Without Christ. The law is just a series of rules and an old covenant that people have to obey or else. But in Christ, what we see is that this Old Covenant has become a promise that through Christ, God would save the world, and that all of the things that were requirements and rules and laws have been fulfilled by a Savior, who came to reveal the true heart of God by dying on a cross and rising from the dead. And with that key, you can finally unlock the treasure chest of the Old Testament to see God's love for the whole world. And that is why Paul says, But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. He continues is now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. So similar to Moses, who would go up and see God with his unveiled face, and then would come down in Vail, Paul is saying that we who are seeing the glory of God through the Word through the proclamation of the gospel, and and by understanding Christ in the Old Testament, are being transformed, like Moses was to have the glory of God reflected in us that into the same image from one degree of glory to another. That's what he's talking about. So then he goes to the word, therefore, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. So we have this glorious transformation in us so we don't lose heart. And then, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning, or to tamper with God's word. But by the Open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. Isn't that the best way to do ministry, right? He says, We do not lose heart. But we also don't try to trick people. He says, We do not tamper or with God's Word or practice cunning. Now there's, there's lots of, of people who kind of lost confidence in the power of the proclamation of the gospel, and the power of God's Word. And we act like we have to dress it up, we have to, we have to coat it with something else, we have to tamp it down, we have to hide it, we have to feed it to people with a spoonful of sugar, or maybe just the spoonful of sugar, without any medicine to go with it. And we act like the the world just is unable to accept the true Word of God, the full power of the gospel. And I think that's why the Christian church is where it is, or dithering about all sorts of things. And we just don't seem to be willing to preach the full gospel of Jesus Christ. And St. Paul is, he says, We do not tamper with God's word. We commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And you know, what happens if there are people who hear the word of God in the proclamation of the gospel, and they don't believe that's not the church's fault. St. Paul says, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. And so if the gospel is veiled, it's only veiled to the people who don't understand it and don't believe it, that there is a barrier that keeps them from understanding, it's not a problem with the Word of God, it's a problem with the hearer. Now, sometimes people take that too far. And they use that as an excuse to be cruel and mean with God's word. And then they act like well, it's not my fault, I'm being a jerk, you're the one who's supposed to be better. Now, we can't do that either. We can't be jerks with the gospel. There's other passages that talk about that. But what it does say is that when the gospel is proclaimed, sometimes people just aren't going to believe. And that's not a problem with the Proclaimer. Or a problem with the gospel. It's a problem in the heart of the person who hears it. Because the God of the world has blinded their mind, so that they cannot see pogos for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as Your servants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So we don't proclaim ourselves but Jesus Christ, and the God who said, let the light shine out of darkness. He brings the gospel, the light of Christ into our hearts. And isn't that enough? I know I know. Many people who may be listening to this many people who grew up in the Church lived in a time when the church had so much respect and power, and there was money and kids and we were building buildings and everything was great. And it might not seem like that now But

isn't that the sort of the side beside the point of the church? Maybe it's just enough that a God who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of a son of the face of Jesus Christ. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 50:1-6 The Psalm for Sunday, February 11th 2024

Psalm 50:1-6

The Mighty One, God the Lord,
    speaks and summons the earth
    from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
    God shines forth.

Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
    before him is a devouring fire,
    around him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above
    and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
“Gather to me my faithful ones,
    who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
The heavens declare his righteousness,
    for God himself is judge!

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, February 11, comes from Psalm 50, verses one through six, the Mighty One, God, the Lord speaks and summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth, our God comes, he does not keep silence. Before him is a devouring fire around him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth that he made judge his people gathered to me, my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself, is Judge hearings, the reading. Let's dive in the mighty one God, the Lord speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. So the psalm begins with a title for God, the Mighty One, God, the Lord, he speaks and summons the Earth. This is talking about the power of God's voice to bring the creation into reality. But I think it's also as it's talking about the rising of the Suns to its setting and the gathering of people, he speaks, and he causes things to happen. In this part, in particular, it's summoning the earth that is summoning all the peoples of the earth, from everywhere from when the sun rises to the sunsets to gather together, probably heading towards Jerusalem, because that's what it says next out of Zion, the perfection of beauty. God shines forth. So Zion is a way of talking about the mountain on which Jerusalem sits. And so Zion is Jerusalem. It's the place where God chose to put his name. And we know that through the temple that David built, that God would be there he would dwell amongst to peep his people and be their God. And that is why it calls this mountain, the perfection of beauty. It's not because Mount Zion is anything special. It's lower than other mountains, and it's not particularly beautiful. But it's the perfection of beauty because God has there. As it says, later, God shines forth. Next, it says, Our God comes, he does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire around him a mighty tempest. So this is our God it comes. So it's expressing faith that God is coming. This could be for people who are looking in exile or worried about dangers or problems they're facing and saying, God comes, we know it, and he does not keep silence. God does not sneak when he shows up to judge, he is not a ninja to hide and dash and come out and strike when no one is watching. God does not keep silence. He is not trying to fool the enemy. He comes with a devouring fire, and around him a mighty tempest. This might be the image that you would think of with Moses and Mount Sinai, where there's fire and lightning and clouds and devouring Tempest. This is the image of the true God. It continues, he calls to the heavens above and to the earth that he may judge his people. So this is a reference to the the Old Testament and the making of the covenant. When when God made the covenant with His people, Israel, he made heaven and earth, the witnesses of the covenant. And so they were the ones who would witness the terms of the covenant, and they would they would be the ones who would testify whether God's people have kept it or not. And in fact, I forget exactly where it is. But there is a scene where one of the prophets holds a trial. And he calls on the heavens in the earth to bear witness about the ways that Israel has broken the covenant. And so this is a reference to that. So the heavens and the earth are gathered together so that God may bring about this judgment. And what does he do? He says, gathered to me my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And so God gathers together the ones who remain faithful, who make this covenant and stay within it with the sacrifice. And God wants to bring mercy on them. And God gathers together people today through a sacrifice with a new covenant. Jesus, Jesus says, This is my blood of the new covenant, which has shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, and we partake of that sacrificial meal, when we eat Christ's body and drink his blood, like the great sacrificial meals and fellowship offerings of the Old Testament, like the Passover Lamb that was sacrificed in memory of the Passover covenant that God had made when he brought his people out of Israel. We too, are gathered together as God's faithful ones around the covenant meal of Christ's Body and Blood. The psalm finishes with the heavens declare his righteousness for God himself is judge. And so again, we see the heavens being witnesses in this trial, and they declare God's judgment on the on the covenant people as righteous because they are the witnesses, and God Himself is the judge. And we know that God does judge with righteousness. Even when when people are condemned or hurt or bad things happen. God is a righteous judge. But his righteousness also comes with mercy, mercy through His Son, Jesus Christ. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: 2 Kings 2:1-12 The Old Testament Reading for Sunday, February 11th, 2024

2 Kings 2:1-12

Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.

The Old Testament reading for Sunday, February 11, comes from Second Kings chapter two verses one through 12. Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elijah were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elijah, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. But Elijah said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And he said, Yes, I know it. Keep quiet. Elijah said to him, Elijah, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho, the sons of the prophets who are at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And He answered, Yes, I know it, keep quiet. Then Elijah said to him, please stay here for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on 50 min of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them. As they both were standing by the Jordan, then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Eli Shah, asked what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elijah said, Please, let there be a double portion of your spirit on me. And he said, You have asked a hard thing yet, if you see me as I am taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if you do not see me, it shall not be so. And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elijah saw it, and he cried, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and its horsemen. And he saw him no more than he took a hold of his own clothes and tore them into pieces. Here ends the reading. This is such an interesting story, really dramatic and powerful. The idea of Elijah the prophet going up into heaven. And it begins with Elijah taking his apprentice, Eli Shah, all around the area. He Elijah takes Eli Shah, and they go to Bethel. And he, he tells a lie show stay behind. And Elijah says, No, I'm going with you. And they get there. And it's really interesting. So it says, And so they went down to Bethel, and the sons of the prophets who are in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, now I'm pausing there, because I want you to think a little bit about Elijah's life. That phrase, the sons of the prophets should strike you a little bit. Remember what Elijah's early Prophet prophetic ministry was like, Elijah goes up against the king, and his wife Jezebel is out killing all the prophets of God. And it gets so bad that Elijah ends up curling up in the wilderness and asking God to kill him because he's the only prophet left. And everybody is out to hunt him and kill him and find him and make him dead. He's like, just kill me. It's over. And now, within the same lifetime, Elijah is going from town to town, and every where he goes, the sons of the prophets, which are prophets themselves, like the local prophets of God, are coming out of the town to meet them. He goes from being the last of his kind, persecuted almost dead, ready to call it quits. And now there are prophets everywhere. Amazing, right? It's amazing what God did in one man's lifetime to go from what looks like terrible defeat to all the sudden seminaries are springing up everywhere and producing pastors all over the place. Just an interesting note. So when they get there, the sons of the prophets come out and they go to Elisha, and they say to him, Hey, do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And Alicia knows? He says, Yes, I know. Keep quiet. What is that about? I actually have no idea. I'm trying to figure out why is a lie, Shah, trying to keep all this quiet. So I should take some again. So they go down to Jericho. He says stay here. But Alicia says nope. As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they go on the tour. This time they come down to Jericho. And the same thing happens, another group of the sons of the prophets comes out. And they say the same thing. Do you not know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And Alicia replies, again? Yes, I know it. Keep quiet. So Elijah does it again, stay here, I'm going to the Jordan. They go down to the Jordan 50 Men of the sons of the prophets, so just a portion of the sons of the prophets also come. And they stood at a distance and they see this. And then Elijah rolls up his cloak strikes it in the water, and they go across. And here's where you get some very interesting things. Elijah then turns to Elijah and says, asked me what you want from me? What should I do? And Elijah says, give me a double portion of your spirit. Oh, here, I'll quote it. It says, Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me. What is Elijah asking? What we see here is a, an inheritance language. When a man dies, and leaves his sons in inheritance, the inheritance is spread out amongst the sons equally except for the firstborn son, who gets a double portion. And so this is inheritance language. Elijah has been going out to all the quote unquote, sons of the prophets, and showing off Elijah and they're seeing everyone. And now that Elijah is going up into heaven, Eli Shah is asking to be the firstborn son of the Prophet, not to receive like twice Elijah spirit, but a double portion as in to be the chief, the firstborn, the double portion of the inheritance. And so as the Office of Prophet is passed down from Elijah, who's kind of the stereotypical prophet Elijah becomes the main Prophet with all the sons of the prophets are also inheriting a portion of that office in spirit as it's been passed down to them. And so Alicia becomes kind of the key one, as we move into the next set of stories in Kings, while Alicia passes that inheritance on, and there are other prophets, but Alicia is the main one. So he says, You've asked a hard thing, yet if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if you do not see me, it shall not be so. So what they do is that he says, if you see me when I'm taken up, you'll get the the double portion. If you don't, you won't get the double portion. So Elijah sees it, he cries out this, this chariot of fire goes in between them preventing Elijah from getting near Elijah, and then Elijah is taken up into heaven in a whirlwind. What comes after this is is a big deal, because it shows what the result is. Eli Shah, he tears his clothes. And then he goes to the Jordan, the place where Elijah took off his mantle and rolled it up and slapped the Jordan River. So he like shot does the same thing takes off his mantle slaps the Jordan River and it parts and he walks across on dry ground. And this shows that Elijah has power has been passed on. He's received Elijah spirit. And Eli Shah is now the main guy. What I take from this is that this office of Prophet is passed down in the history of Israel. similarly to the way we have the office of pastor and that there's this proclamation element of the Prophet If that is passed on to the people, and then now that Christ has come we have something very similar in every congregation and in every place a, a prophetic ministry of preaching that goes out into the world. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Is God Like Us? Sermon from Sunday, February 4th 2024

Isaiah 40:21-31

Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
    and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The season of epiphany is all about revealing the identity and person and work of Jesus Christ. We see today in the Gospel reading a savior going out and freeing people as God's anointed. By casting out demons, preaching the gospel and healing the sick. We learn who Jesus is. And it culminates in next Sunday's story of the Transfiguration, where Jesus appears at the top of a mountain with Moses and Elijah. And the voice says, This is my Son, listen to him.

People have a lot of weird ideas about God.

This should be no surprise, you live in a culture where you get to hear all sorts of crazy ideas about God. You may read about them in books, you may hear people on radio, or online or in podcasts or whatever media you consume.

There's some strange ideas about God out there.

And that's actually no different than any time in history. People have always had weird ideas about who God is, and what he does. Ideas, not based on any sort of Revelation, but whatever it is, the culture suggests.

It's true today. And it was true in ancient Israel.

And one of the main problems that the book of Isaiah tries to deal with are the common problems with the understanding of who God is, amidst all of the craziness that the rest of the world thinks.

And so Isaiah, chapter 40, today helps to correct some ideas of who God is, and how he fits in creation, that the people of that time we're dealing with.

And oddly enough,

many of the ideas that our culture has about God, are pretty similar to the ideas that the ancient Israelites might have had. Because human beings haven't really changed. I know, not a big surprise, right?

Most of us, when we think about God on our own, we imagine God being a little bit like ourselves, just bigger and better. When you think about God,

most people have this image. It's the Santa Claus in the white robe, right? There's the big bearded man in the sky long and gray, and he looks down on the world.

That really isn't all that different from the old pagan ideas of Baal, and Asherah, that the ancient Israelites used to believe in.

And it's not all that different than say, the Greek gods with Zeus and Athena, and all of those things.

In fact, human beings have always imagined God, basically, as a bigger and better version of us, stronger, more powerful, but kind of like us in that way.

And Isaiah, his message to ancient Israel, and to us today is God is not like that.

So what I'd like to do is make a comparison, using Isaiah chapter 40. To compare the true God on one hand with the guy that may be, you know, best Zeus, right? If you can reach back into your elementary school Greek mythology lessons and remember, who is Zeus is, what I'd like to do is make a comparison between that old idea of Zeus and the true God, and see how that sort of fits in with the way people think about God and mix the two.

So let's take a look.

I think one of the best ways to understand who Zeus really is is not through all the mythology, but to take a look at the Iliad. The Iliad is has much more conversation back and forth between Zeus and the other gods and Zeus and the heroes. And so one of the things that we see in the in the Iliad, is that Zeus has limited attention.

In fact, I think one of my favorite stories from that is z

looses decided that in the Iliad that the Greeks and the Trojans, he has a favorite, he knows who he wants to win. And he's declared it from the beginning. And the other gods are not so happy about that. So what does Hera do? Hara goes in and dresses in her nicest clothing, she puts on her best perfume. And she seduces her husband, Zeus,

to distract him, so that the other gods can do stuff. And he is so distracted that he, well, eventually he falls asleep after enjoying her company. And then Poseidon can go out and fight at the head of the battle, and turn the tide against what Zeus wants.

Now, none of us imagine our God to be like that, right? He doesn't get distracted by pretty ladies and good smelling perfume.

But I do think sometimes we imagine him as having limited attention.

That is,

if he's paying attention in one place, he can't in another.

Or that may be if a whole bunch of people are praying about really important things, his queue fills up. And so it's the minor things that just don't get listened to. As if God has limited attention.

Or even

that you might get lost,

that you might not be seen by him.

And if God is just that bearded man floating in the sky, who's just a bigger version of us, it means that maybe he's looking in one place

and not another.

This is not how God works.

God does not have limited attention like us, he does not have a a narrow gaze, because God is not a bearded man floating in the sky.

He is the foundation of all being the creator of the heavens and the earth.

As it says, It is he who sits on the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings princes to nothing and makes rulers of the earth as emptiness.

God does not have limited attention for his creation.

He sees all things and knows all things.

And you're never outside of his sight.

Which can be a little scary when we sin.

But it's pretty great when we pray. Right?

Because there are some times when people think God isn't listening. In fact, I've had people come to me and say, Pastor, I just don't want to bother God with you know, this minor thing, right? I mean, he's really, he's a busy guy. He's got more important things to think about.

But that's not the case.

I once had a person, I scheduled a time to go visit with them. And it's always funny, when I go visit, they people often will have a burning question in their heart. And they'll say something to me, like, Oh, Pastor, I know you're busy. I don't want to bother you with and then they bring out this important question in their spiritual life. And I think you should have asked me that six months ago.

And this was one of those questions. I went to visit a couple and they brought me in and we did the chatting and we visited.

And they said that thing it was pastor, you know, I have this question, and I just didn't want to bother. I know you're busy. I feel like God doesn't listen to my prayers.

Right? That's a big question, isn't it?

Maybe God was too busy. Maybe he just didn't look on them. Whatever. That wasn't a minor problem. That was a big problem. And

the answer is course. God, here's all our prayer. He does not have limited attention. He does not have to go over to Ukraine because there's a war there and ignore the United's

dates. He does not go to the hospitals and like, okay, all of these people are sick, so I can't worry about the family over there.

He hears and knows, and responds to all things.

He listens to you.

And we know that because our Savior Jesus Christ promises that through him, all of your prayers are presented to the Father, our Great High Priest brings everything to Him.

And God promises to hear.

He promises to respond and answer every prayer.

Whether you feel like they're being heard or not,

whether your heart is overjoyed or sad,

in all circumstances, your prayers go to the Father.

Now, he may or may not always say yes.

But know that he is there, and he hears and he cares.

Another way that our understanding of God sometimes is limited, is that we think of God as if he is limited in action.

Zoo Zeus in the Iliad, he is limited to the in the things that he can do, because he is can only be in one place at a time.

He can be up in up with Hara, or hanging out with the gods. But then he can't be down around Troy.

He's off galavanting are having fun, his eyes aren't on a place where he is he wants to do stuff.

He can only be in one place at a time.

And while we don't think of God, like the Greek god, Zeus, if we do think of him as that man, bearded man floating up in heaven, sometimes we think that God's action in the world is limited.

Because if he's up there looking down, it means he's not down here, in control of all things, and doing things.

It means that his fingers only reach down and touch in one spot or another, and that he's limited in his ability to intervene in creation.

And we know that that is not true.

God is not limited in the amount of multitasking he can do.

I certainly am limited in the multitasking that I can do. I have one of those brains that once I switch from one task to another, the previous task is as if it never existed.

And my poor wife knows that because I walk around the house going, where did I leave my even though I set them down 30 seconds ago? Of course, she's always got the answer, because she's so much smarter than me.

And

God isn't like that, right?

He can be doing all things in all places, isn't a man floating up in the clouds, who just sort of reaches down every once in a while, which is how we know that Jesus Christ can be present in every congregation, in every sanctuary, all across the planet earth, all at the same time.

Because we're not the only place that has Christ's Body and Blood with us today, right?

There are hundreds of 1000s, maybe millions of congregations that are gathering together where God has come to be present in a unique and amazing way.

That isn't limited in action. It's not like he can have 100,000 pieces of his body and blood. And then he says, Wait a second, I'm full. You'll have to wait till next week. Right?

He couldn't be here in this place. With us doing things by his mind and his power, and there is no limit to it.

And that's the same wherever you are.

That you don't leave God's protection when you go home. You don't leave his area of activity when you're out at work. And

he is always there.

With you, he is always there to guide and protect and be with you.

And you can't leave that.

God isn't like Zeus, or the bearded man in the sky. He's unlimited in his ability to act in the world.

And even more than that He is unlimited in his power to act in the world.

The Zeus is quite limited. In the Iliad, even though he is more powerful than all the other gods, he spends a lot of time threatening them to try to get them to do what he wants. And there's in one book, there is a long thing about how if they all teamed up against him, he could still fight them all. And even if they they had the strength of them all, they couldn't lift the things that he can lift,

which is really kind of petty for God, right? But no one accused Zeus, of not being petty.

We don't imagine God to be like that guy that threatens the other gods into obedience.

But sometimes,

when we imagine the bearded man in the sky and the white robe,

we act as if creation is sort of running on its own. The natural world just sort of happens. And every once in a while God intervenes. And that sometimes

things happen that are out of his control.

And we do that often to try to get around the bad things that happen in creation.

As if God could not be there with his power and his action. When a car accident happens,

or cancer,

or tragedy, and

sometimes we say that God withdraws his hand over us, or no, that wasn't God, that was Satan.

And that's what the Israelites are kind of thinking at this time.

That maybe God isn't everywhere doing all things. When he says, Why do you say, oh, Jacob and speak, oh, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God. Have you not known Have you not heard, the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, he does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young man shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

God is in control of everything.

Even Satan, right?

God is there in all things. Now you might think, Wait, wait, wait, God is there in the bad stuff too.

But which is worse, God being in control of everything,

or not being in control of everything.

Right? We want a God who can be there with us in the tragedy, who we can say, I know that this is part of your plan to bring me to the resurrection, and that there is nothing that can take me out of that plan, not even Satan, himself.

And the best way to know that even Satan is under God's control is to realize that without Satan,

Jesus's death and resurrection wouldn't have happened.

Right?

All Satan would have had to do to win

was just not do anything.

Not tempt Judas to betray Jesus, not go into his heart and cause the him to take the blood money, not act with the Pharisees and tempt them to react against Jesus. If he had just backed off and said, I think I'm gonna go over to Asia instead.

None of it would have happened.

But the devil is God's devil.

And even he was part of the plan to bring Christ to the cross, to put him in the ground and raise him from the dead.

Even that was under God's control.

Which means that we can trust that when these bad things happen

They are still part of God's plan to bring us to eternal life. And they're still part of a loving father, providing for his children.

That nothing can take us out of that. No act of Satan is no spiritual force. No tragedy can pull us out of God's salvation, and out of his power.

So we can be sure that God will bring us to this resurrection, and we will not be lost.

People have weird ideas about God, whether it's the old gods, Baal and Asherah, or Zeus, or the floating man up in the sky,

but they're not at all the true God.

It's good for us to notice and understand that our God is not like us. He's not a bigger and better version of us. He is so powerful and so mighty, and so unlimited. That it really kind of hurts our brains to recognize it.

But it's good.

It's only that God can save us the way we need him to.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Getting Ready for Sunday: Mark 1:29-39 The Gospel Reading for Sunday, February 4th

Mark 1:29-39

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, February 4, comes from Mark chapter one, verses 29 through 39. And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now, Simon's mother in law lay ill with a fever. And immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. And the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place. And there, he prayed. And Simon and those who are with him, search for him. And they found him and said to him, everyone is looking for you. And He said to them, let us go on to the next towns that I may preach, they're also for that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons, here, hence the reading. So there are a couple of stories that are happening in this reading. It begins with a story of Simon's mother in law. Now Simon is also known as Peter. So they leave the synagogue and they go to Simon's house with Andrew, and James, and John. And Simon's mother in law was sick with a fever. And it says, and immediately they told him about her. And love, John of the gospel of Mark has lots of immediately, and immediately he left the synagogue, and immediately they told him about her. And so what Jesus does, he comes and he took her, took her by the hand, and lifted her up, and she was healed. I love it. And what's the response of a healing from Jesus? Service, Jesus heals the woman, and she begins to serve them. Isn't that how it works? God comes to us to give us healing, and then sends us through service. So the next story is what Jesus does in that town. That evening at sundown they brought to him all who are sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And they would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. Now, of course, if you didn't have modern medicine, and somebody who was there who could miraculously heal, we would all line up, wouldn't we? I think even with modern medicine, we probably would, all the all the people who have sores on their legs that just won't heal all the diabetes stuff that does terrible things to your feet, all of the long term illnesses that just won't go away. Yeah, I'd line up to, maybe he could get rid of my epilepsy. But it was more than that. He also casts out demons, and he wouldn't allow them to speak because they knew him. Now, the demons and the diseases all have something in common. They're oppressing people, there are people who are feeling the weight of the sinful world, whether it's the kingdom of Satan coming in with demons, or the results of a world that is filled with sin that brings disease to people. And that's just weighing down on them. And Jesus, the Son of God comes to bring the kingdom of God by driving away the sickness and the demons. And he doesn't allow the demons to speak, which often confuses people, like if the demons know who he is, why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't Jesus want them saying you are the Son of God? Well, cuz they're demons, silly. Who's gonna take the word of a demon? Now, even if they are testifying the right thing, you don't want them on your side. And so he does not let them to speak. He lets his actions speak for him, casting out demons and healing the sick. Now in the next moment, he goes to bed and then he rises early in the morning while it is still dark, and he departed and went out to the desolate place and there he said, he prayed. So we see Jesus over and over again goes out to pray. He takes the time to pray to his father. Jesus is the prayer perfect human being. And even though he's also the Son of God and divine himself, he fulfills the role of perfect humanity for us. Just like when he was baptized by John, he repented for us. And he didn't need to. But he did it perfectly for us because we can't. He also prays, even though perhaps maybe the Son of God, who was perfectly united with his father doesn't really need to pray, the humanity of Jesus to live as a perfect creature does. So that's what he does. Now, everyone wants to get round two of healing. And Peter goes out, Simon goes out and says, Everyone is looking for you. But Jesus says, Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach, they're also for that is why I came out. So Jesus was not there to set up a little mini healing kingdom in this one town. He goes out to all of the towns and everywhere he goes, he preaches, he heals and he casts out demons. Because his message and his job was not to set up a little healing kingdom and gather together a base of support out in any of the one towns, but to go to all the people of Israel and tell them that the kingdom of God is at hand, Repent and believe the gospel. And that's what he does. And his his travels, his journeys and his preaching end up leading him to the cross, where he finally relieves us of all of the oppression, not just casting out demons from town to town are healing the sick, but ending the power of death forever, where he dies and rises to give us life. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: 1 Corinthians 9:16-27 The Epistle Reading for Sunday, February 4th, 2024

1 Corinthians 9:16-31

For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday February 4 comes from First Corinthians chapter nine, verses 16 through 27. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me, Woe to me, if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this of my own, well, I have a reward. But if not of my own, well, I am still entrusted with a stewardship, what then is my reward, that in my preaching, I may present the gospel FREE of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them, to the Jews, I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak that I might win the weak, I have become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some, I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control. Lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Here ends the reading. This comes as part of a chapter that is talking about the the extraordinary measures that St. Paul and Barnabas did when they came to Corinth to refrain from putting a a barrier to the preaching of the gospel. The passages before this, talk about what it takes to how other apostles have traveled around and received support for their missionary work includes Sefa, Sir Peter, and the and their wives, that they would receive support in order to focus on preaching the Word. Paul and Barnabas, however, are arguing that they have not taken that right, they have not required that the Corinthians support them while they are there. Because they don't want to use that as a barrier to the Gospel. And they're not trying to take the right of apostles, but simply be open and free to give the gospel FREE of charge. And that's what Paul is talking about in the beginning paragraph of this where he says that he is giving the gospel FREE of charge, he goes What then is my reward, than in my preaching, I may present the gospel FREE of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel. And that's what he's talking about there. That as a pastor, an apostle, he has a full right to be supported by the church, his job is to go around preaching and teaching the gospel so that all people can hear it. And he has the right to be supported in that. And yet, he gives up that so that he can not put a barrier for the people who would have to do the supporting. And that's what he why he goes into this section right here. He says, further, I am free from all I've made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings. So Paul was talking about ministry tack tic that he is using to build connections with people who are different than him. So he says to them, to the Jews, I became like a Jew. So well, he already was a Jew. But this means that he he adopts some of their culture and their their actions and their ways. And then he goes to those under the law I became as one under the law. And we can see this, that when he goes back to Jerusalem, he goes through all the cleansing rituals and all the things that he would need to do to go into the temple, as if he were under the law again, even though he had been out and about with the Gentiles, all of this time, doing all sorts of things, eating all the wrong things being just like everybody who's outside the law. When he gets back to Jerusalem, he takes on the rituals and practices again, so that he can enter into the temple and reach out to those people. Because the same reason why when he went out to the Gentiles, he lived and behaved as a Gentile. It probably would have been weird, the first time eating pig for Paul, right? Do you think that would be crazy? That would be a little odd. I bet. He was a little like, oh, I don't know what this is about. But he does it. It actually kind of reminds me of some of the things they used to do when I was in band in college, we will go on band tour when you go all over the country. And every time we would play a concert, we would stay with a host family. And so the host family, they were great. They would invite people in, and you'd stay the night there. And they always told us the same thing. When you go into the house, if they offer you food, you have to eat it. It doesn't matter how gross it is, it doesn't matter what it looks like, you have to eat it. And then you say thank you and you smile. I think that's kind of what St. Paul is saying is that he was using every every means at his disposal to build a connection with the people to say, this is how you learn about Jesus. And that's what we did, we were supposed to show how thankful we were for being housed, how thankful we were for their hospitality, and that even if we thought what they were serving was kind of gross, it still came from a generous heart. St. Paul is trying to do the same thing. He's saying I'm gonna be like you so that you there is no barrier between the gospel. And we do this in all sorts of circumstances where we take the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and we wrap it up in different cultures and music and ways of being so that it makes sense to the people who hear it. Paul finishes up he says, do not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control and all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control. Lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. I love the athlete metaphors. St. Paul uses them occasionally. And especially I love the running ones because you know, I run and he goes Do you not know that all the runners run but only one receives the prize? Yeah, I get it. It's every once in a while someone will talk to me. They'll say I'm going to do a marathon and they'll be like, Oh, are you gonna win? And I go, No, there are 3000 other runners and about 5000 About 1000 of them are faster than me. No, no, I'm not gonna win. I know exactly who's gonna win, not me. But I still train like it. I still train like I want to be as fast as I possibly can be. And St. Paul was talking about this, he says, athletes train to be the best they can be and they put aside all of these things and discipline their bodies, and they're only doing it for a perishable reef. You know, that laurel wreath that they would put on their heads. For us marathon runners, it's those metals that they hang around our necks that go up on the wall and then you never look at him again. What more how much more discipline should we have as we chase after eternal life, the gift of Jesus Christ. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 147:1-11 The Psalm for Sunday, February 4th 2024

Psalm 147:1-11

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre!
He covers the heavens with clouds;
    he prepares rain for the earth;
    he makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the beasts their food,
    and to the young ravens that cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, February 4 is Psalm 147, verses one through 11. Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. The Lord builds up Jerusalem, he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars he gives to them all of their names. Great is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble, he casts the wicked to the ground, Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, make melody to our God on the liar. He covers the heavens with clouds, he prepares rain for the earth, He makes grass grow on the hills, he gives to the beasts, their food, and to the young ravens that cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man. But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him in those who hope in His steadfast love. Here ends the reading. Let's dig in, shall we? Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. This is of course, a great statement about how worthy it is to sing praises to our God. But we know that we know why God needs to be praised, because of all his blessings that He gives us in Christ. But the psalmist is going to go on and explain a little bit about the blessings that God gives Jerusalem. He says, the Lord builds up Jerusalem, he gathers the outcasts of Israel, He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. So this passage begins focused on Jerusalem and Israel, that God builds up Jerusalem and his people gathering together. Jerusalem is a bit of a synecdoche, key for all of Israel. It's the capital city is representative of the whole country. And God gathers the people in, and he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. And then it shifts to talking about his power. And they're connected. He determines the number of the stars he gives to them all their names, great is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble, he casts the wicked to the ground. So he it says he binds people up, he gathers together, he heals their wounds, and he can do it because he has abundant and mighty power. He numbered the stars, he gives them names, he has power to save. And he lifts up the humble and cast the wicked to the ground. The idea here of the humble, we use the word humble to mean an attitude that you have the attitude of humility, like, I'm not all that great. But that's not really what the humble means. Just like when Jesus says, Blessed are the meek, he doesn't mean somebody who has an a meek attitude, or is is humble when they're complimented. What he means is the lowly, the outcasts, the broken, the needy, the hurt the people who are who are truly on the bottom rung. This doesn't always mean economically. But it can be just anybody who is just crushed by something. And in particular, I think it's people who are crushed by the reality of sin and death. And by the judgment of God's law. He lifts them up through Christ, but he cast the wicked to the ground. The people who don't need God, the people who are, who believe they can do things on their own. The people who commit great and grievous evil and don't care, God lifts up the lowly and he cast down the crowd. It's a common theme throughout Scripture. And we see it especially in the Magnificat where Mary sings about this, how he scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and he lifts up the lowly. He fills the humble with good things and the rich he sends away empty then it moves on singing to the Lord with Thanksgiving make melody to our God on the liar. Of course we respond to that with praises, right? If God is the God who builds up Jerusalem who heals the brokenhearted who comes to us through Christ, and lifts us up from our lowly estate to give us salvation, what else can we do then sing with thanksgiving, make melody to our God on the liar. Then it goes, he covers the heavens with clouds, he prepares rain for the earth, He makes grass grow on the hills, he gives to the beasts, their food, and to the young ravens that cry, and so now moves on to other blessings of God, not just his focus on healing the outcasts of Jerusalem and gathering them together. But now it's the general provision that God gives to the world, the rain, the grass, the food for the beasts and the Ravens, and of course, for his people, a food that is for us as well. And if he cares about the ravens and the grass, and as Jesus says the sparrow, of course, how much more does he care for us? His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of man. But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, and those who hope in His steadfast love. Our delight is in the strength of the horse or in the legs of a man. I mean, we are just about ready to have the Super Bowl. And all sorts of church programs get cancelled, to make way for the Super Bowl, like youth groups in church activities and meetings. And our second service is probably going to be a little light because everybody wants to make sure that we get to see all the strong legged men whack each other, and throw a football around, right. God doesn't care about these things. What God cares about is, the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him in those who hope in His steadfast love. And that's what the humble and the lowly do. We know that we have nothing that we can bring to our God. We know that our only hope is to wait for him for salvation for the day that Jesus returns to raise us up and give us new life. What a joy that will be. That's all I have for today. We'll see you next Sunday. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Isaiah 40:21-31 The Old Testament Reading for Sunday, February 4th, 2024

Isaiah 40:21-31

Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
    and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, February 4, comes from Isaiah chapter 40, verses 21 through 31. Do you not know Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He Who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness? Scarcely are they planted scarcely sown. Scarcely has their STEM taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him, says the Holy One, lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. He who brings out their host by number, calling them by name, by the greatness of His might, and because he has strong in power, Not one is missing. Why do you say Oh, Jacob, and speak, oh, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God. Have you not known Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young man shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Here hence the reading. Let's dig in, shall we? Let's start with the beginning. Do you not know Do you not hear has not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He Who sits above the circle of the earth and its habitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwelling, who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. This passage helps us to see how different our God is from us. That God is not someone who is in the middle of creation like we are. But as far outside it, it uses this idea of sitting above the circle of the earth, you know, when you look out and around you see a circle right there horizon acts like a circle. He's way above that. He looks down on the earth and its habitants are like grasshoppers to us. That's what you and me are like, like human beings are nothing when compared to God. Even so much that the mightiest of us is nothing, right? Who brings Prince's to nothing, as it says, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. The idea is that God is so much greater so much, far outside of our experience, that is difficult to truly understand who he is. Even this language doesn't quite get it right. It talks about God sitting above the heavens and stretching them out like a curtain. God doesn't have arms and the heavens don't stretch like stretchy pants. God is so far outside of creation, that all creation is contained there in and this is trying to give us the idea of the immensity of his vastness, the infinity that is so much beyond our minds that we can't even understand it without using language that falls far short of the real reality. It continues stalking about people now. Scarcely are they planted scarcely sown scarcely has their STEM taken root in the earth when he blows on them, and they wither and then Tempest carries them off like stubble. This is using a farming metaphor to help us understand. Farmers will plant sow seeds and it'll grow and harvest time will come and then the fall wind will, will come and they will all die off. And it seems like nothing to the farmer happens every year, season after season, year after year and we go out that's just normal. And God looks at human beings like that. were planted, sown. We take root and we die and It's all like nothing to him. And it goes on to continue you, it says, To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him, says the Holy One, lift up your eyes on high and see who created these, he who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name by the greatness of His might. And because he is strong in power, Not one is missing. So then God says, What in the world can you compare me to? Actually nothing, that's what in the world, right. And so he calls us to look up to the stars, and see who created the stars, only God, even the stars, are his creations and under his power. And that's an important thing to remember is that in the ancient world, they would often worship what they would call the starry hosts, as in all of the gods and goddesses that were floating up in the sky, the starry hosts. And even God says, All even these I created, nothing is outside of my power, and none of them exists without me. Now, this thing can be pretty scary. Having a god that's this big, and this powerful. He is everywhere, he created all things. He's connected to everything. And so it continues. Why do you say, oh, Jacob, and speak to Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God. What this is saying is that God's people are looking up at the God who is almighty and all powerful, and they're saying, God doesn't really know what is going on with us. He's not around to make right his promises. And for people who's facing enemies, and poverty and sadness, and people are going to invade, you could say, Yeah, that might seem like that to them. But God does not disregard. God can't be tricked, his attention doesn't doesn't wander, he doesn't get to be too busy. He knows everything, and is involved in everything. And that's what Isaiah says, Have you not known? Have you not heard, the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, he does not faint or grow weary, he is understand his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. So this begins by saying, God does not grow faint or weary, like we do. God is almighty. And this helps us to see a problem that we often have with our understanding of God. Because God is so different, so alien, so other to us, we almost always imagine God as a bigger and better version of a human being. And usually what that ends up looking like is something like the Greek gods, who are big and strong and powerful, but still, kind of, they've got problems and their attention wanders, and you know, they have needs, and they're a little bit like us, just big. But that's not what God is. God is not like us, but bigger. God is different. He is all powerful. He is everywhere. And he knows everything. He does not weary or grow faint. He understands all things. And that means that God knows where you are, and what you're doing all the time. And he cares about everything that is happening. And he knows where everyone is, all the time, and what they're doing. And he cares about what is happening. His understanding is unsearchable. Now for people who are wondering where their God is, and why his promises aren't coming true, that might be a bit of a what? It's God should be doing better things for us. For people who are a little scared of God, he is almighty power could be a little scary, right? God knows exactly what you're doing. But for Christians, a God who is everywhere and knows all things, it means that a god that's the same God who is always able to come through on his promises. It means that God is never too busy to listen to our prayers. He never gets distracted by the events of politics in Washington, DC. He looks down on us and knows all things. He is there to hear all prayers. He is there to provide Christ with his body and blood to every church on every Sunday no matter what. And he is there to give us His Word in every moment and pass out his Holy Spirit through the means of grace all the time.

And that's what he does for the people who believe in Him who Love Him who have faith in Jesus Christ. It says he gives power power to the faint. And to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary. And young men shall fall exhausted but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not be faint. God sustains us, doesn't he? That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Jesus, The Prophet: Sermon for Sunday January 28th, 2024

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning's Old Testament reading is a well known story for for many people. It's a popular one for kids. We often tell this is a big feature strongly in VBS curricula, or in Sunday school curricula, because it's got a kid in it. Right? We've we've heard this story over and over again. And you imagine Samuel is in the temple? Well, that would have been the tabernacle at the time. Usually in our imaginations. He's like an eight year old boy, about that tall. And he hears the Word of the Lord and responds with joy. Pretty great, right? This story is one of those stories. There are lots of them, where we forget about the details. And imagine the story in our heads. We have lots of stories that have the traditional way of learning them have covered up with the Bible actually says, I think the most important one is the Christmas story from Luke. Do you know that story, right? Mary and Joseph, go to Bethlehem. Mary is giant. She's like nine and a half months pregnant. She's riding on a donkey. And just as they see the city of Bethlehem she goes, Oh. And Joseph goes banging on every Motel Six in the town. Right. John, just about everything I told you in that story is not in the Bible. No donkey. No in no rush to the pregnancy. You're like, wait, wait, wait. The Bible says in their word hotels back in the day. They didn't exist. That word is just, there is no room in the upper room of the house. Just about everything that we imagine in that story comes from tradition. And the retelling. What the Bible says is they went to Bethlehem, and the child was born. And that's it. And they placed him in a manger, because the guest room was full of other stories like that. And this one that we read today, sent about Samuel is like that. Samuel was likely not an eight year old boy. He was a young man, having served Eli in the tabernacle for many, many years. After Hannah, his mother had dropped him off. And the history of Samuel goes like that. So Hannah comes to the tabernacle, she can't have a baby. And the other wife of her husband is teasing her because of it. Because that's what happens when you have two wives. They fight over that kind of stuff in the Old Testament. So she's depressed, she's upset. She goes to the temple and she prays give me a child and I will give him to you, Lord. She has a baby Samuel. After the baby is weaned. She brings him to Eli and says here to take the child. And I want you all to know that the Punic household is not taking children as offerings.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've had something of a mini sermon series, all about the prophets. We began with Samuel, who was called to be a prophet as a young man in the temple. God came to him with a message of judgment concerning his, his surrogate father, Eli, we asked a question, do we tell the whole story? Did Samuel tell the whole story about judgment, Eli? And what about us? And we were reminded that the salvation we have in Jesus Christ doesn't make sense unless we also talk about the judgment of God on sin. You need to know what you're saved from, for a savior to make sense. Last week, we talked about Jonah, God sent the prophet Jonah to Nineveh with a simple message, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And what was amazing is the people heard that message of judgment and said, Let's repent. Show showed us that God's message of judgment always comes with the offer of forgiveness, just as Jesus proclaimed repentance, and believe in the gospel, so you can receive forgiveness. Now, today, in our Old Testament reading, we are seeing Moses established the Office of Prophet in ancient Israel. The Book of Deuteronomy comes at the end of Moses, his life, God's people have been wandering through the wilderness for 40 years, they are now at the edge of the promised land. And Moses gives them a series of instructions before they cross over. One of those instructions is about the prophet. He says, The Lord your God will raise up for you, a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to Him you shall listen to Moses actually had kind of a unique relationship with God. He was the one who spoke to God on a regular basis. If you look throughout those stories, it's almost like he could go to God and kind of have a conversation. Strange, right? But Moses, his main job was to hear the Word of God and speak it to the people to guide them through the wilderness, and call them back to the way of life. And now that Moses is about to go up to the top of the mountain to die, he says, God is going to raise up someone like me, for you, for your own good, a prophet that would give them the word of God. And he talks about what will happen, why they need this. He says, just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not hear again, the voice of the LORD my God, or see this great fire anymore, lest I die. You might go, what? This is a part of the story of Moses and God's people at Mount Sinai, also called Mount Horeb, where they get there, and God calls a sacred assembly. We are used to reading in our lectionary, the part where Moses goes all the way up to the top, and he speaks to God and he gets the 10 commandments, and he's there for 40 days and 40 nights. We don't always read the part where God speaks to the whole of the people gathered around the base of the mountain. He is up on the top and there are clouds and fire and lightning, and it is super scary. And he says the 10 commandments to them, and all the people go don't talk to us again. We're so scared. Which I would be too, right. You're at the base of the mountain. And this like fire and lightning and crazy stuff has happened all that and the booming voice of God calls out I would Pareek out. I bet you would too. So God says that He will raise up a prophet. And what that means is from that moment on, God doesn't speak to His people generally. He speaks to them through the voice of someone he calls to give them the message that he sent. And that's the second Part of being a prophet is that there is a message that God wants that person to speak. He says, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth. And he shall speak to them all that I commend him for. So part of this is that God will choose someone from among the people of Israel, to give this message to, and they will speak everything that God sets. And we see that men like Samuel, men like Jonah, Elijah, who was the chief of the prophets, the example that all the prophets would follow, after the Kings start going the wrong direction. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all of the 12, at the end of the Old Testament, each one of these was a person like that, someone that God chose to speak His word to Israel, so that they could hear the Word of God. There's one more thing. He says, and whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. So what that means is, God's people were supposed to listen, the word of the Prophet was binding on them. God threatened all those who would turn away from those words. Now you can ask, Why does Israel need a prophet? Doesn't that make sense? That kind of question. Especially if you are one of those people at the base of that mountain, right? You're looking up at the mountain, and at the top, you see the fire of God and the clouds and the lightning, and you hear the booming voice, and you're so scared that you say, never talked to me again. Wouldn't you remember that? Wouldn't you be like, That guy is pretty powerful and kind of scary, I should do what he says. You would think, right? And facts. They don't do over and over and over again. The people of God and Moses, go through this dance, they complain, God sends a punishment, and Moses has to get has to deal with it. And then God takes it away. God would redo things like give them manna bread on the ground every morning, and feed them quail that would fall out of the sky. You give them water out of Iraq, and over and over again, they would turn away. And the same thing happens for us. I think. That's because the same thing that infected ancient Israel does the same thing that's in every human beings heart, the desire to be like God, not creatures, not people who accept their role in God's place of creation. But people who want to forge our own way, who think that we know what's right. Because we all have a little bit of Adam and Eve in us. You know, the word that God gave them. He said, You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for on the day that you eat of it, you shall die. And what happened? Not too long later, Adam and Eve are at the tree. And the serpent says, Did God really say? God really tell you that they kind of want to be like God. So they both go for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of evil, because they want that knowledge and they want to be their own masters, to make their own decisions, to turn away from God's path. Israel needed a voice to constantly call them back. Because they had that same Adam and Eve inside them, calling them their own way. And so God sent them the prophets gave them Moses, when they were wandering through the wilderness. It gave them Samuel when they needed a leader and finally chose a king gave them Elijah when those kings had that Adam in them, turn them away from God and lead the people after a false god. ads.

And he kept doing it over and over and over again. Until finally it came to Jesus. Jesus, the ultimate and true prophet. Because that's the one that Moses was really thinking about. When he looked ahead to find a prophet among us, from our brothers. It was Jesus, the Son of God, who became one of us to speak God's word to all of humanity. Hebrews one says, Long ago at many times, and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. That final ultimate prophet is Jesus, the only one who was there with a father who came to earth to let us know everything we need for salvation. Because Jesus, this prophet is here for our good to give us this message of life, and hope. John one says, no one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father side, he has made him known is the son, who is from the father's side, was sent into the world to proclaim a very simple message of grace and love, and the Father's will. Now, one thing that our lectionary doesn't give us is a simple task to understand who is a prophet it, Moses tells the people right after our reading, in verses 21, and 22, it goes like this. And if you say in your heart, how may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass, or come true, that is a word the Lord has not spoken? Well, that seems pretty easy, right? If a false prophet predicts something, and it doesn't happen, then they're a false prophet. Plain and easy. Nothing that the God says, falls flat. Everything that God says, comes true. And what we see, in Jesus Christ, are words that always come true words of a prophet who teaches with authority. And that's what happens in our gospel reading. Jesus comes into the Sabbath, and he teaches with authority, the message of God, and then he backs it up with the power of His words, a demon comes before him. And he casts it out, very simply be silent, and come out of him. That is 1234567 words. And the demon can't handle it. The power of the Prophet, the power of the Son of God. But even better than that, Jesus predicts something that would happen. He tells his disciples throughout the gospel, that the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over and crucified. And after three days rise, and then it happens. Isn't that amazing? If someone came to you and said, Hey, I'm gonna go die, be buried and come up after three days. You think they were crazy? To say No way. But Jesus said it. And it happened. And his message is for us, to guide us back to eternal life. Every time that little Adam or Eve in US causes us to pull away to say to ourselves, I am my own true Master. I don't need the word of God. And I think that's what we do. Each of us has something that pulls us away from that little bit of our sinful nature that wants us to make our own decisions to forge our own path, to turn away from the call of God. And I think for us, it's not that we chase after the false gods that the Old Testament people did. I think for us, it's that we want to be Gods ourselves. I mean, none of us would say that we wouldn't be like, Oh, my God today, but we do have a lot of control over our lives, more than any people at any time in history, think about your home, like my home, it can be 40 degrees outside, and 75 degrees in my house. Do you know how crazy that is in the history of the world? How nuts that is. And I could hit a button and drop it to 74 degrees or the other direction and make it 76 degrees. It can be 105 degrees outside. And you can have your house at 75. Or if you're really, really rich 60. Right? Isn't that crazy? What about what about this? How many of you have or know someone who has a joint replacement? Isn't it kind of weird? Like, our joints were out. And the doctors are like I have a new one. No big deal. Right now, we have so much control over our lives, so much control over our bodies, and we think I can do whatever I can manage my world create my life. And when we do it our sin can pull us away from Christ. As our hearts say, Well, maybe God didn't say that. And so we hear the message of Jesus again and again, to call us back to him to call us back to His love and His grace, because he gives us forgiveness, and life. Because Christianity isn't really a knowledge thing. It's a constant pull back to the message of Christ, a constant calling back to the way that Jesus wants us to be to receiving His grace and hearing His word because our hearts are constantly trying to pull us away. And we need to hear that voice of the Prophet with His love and His peace, to fight against that little atom and that little Eve and turn us back to him. And what a joy, that we have a Savior who comes to speak that word of God to us all the time and turn us back to life. In his name, amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 The Old Testament Reading for Sunday, January 28th, 2024

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, January 28, comes from Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 15 through 20. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers, it is to him, You shall listen just as you desire to the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire anymore, lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I commend him, and whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my Name, that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. Here ends the reading. Deuteronomy is a long sermon that Moses gives to the people right before he goes up to the top of the mountain overlooking the Jordan River and dies. It's like a farewell address. And he tells them all sorts of things that they need to know gives them guidelines about what they're supposed to do in the Promised Land, sets up the blessings and the curses that God will give them if they follow the covenant, or break the covenant. And in this section, he is telling them about the Office of Prophet, the the idea of a prophet, we often think about a prophet like someone who predicts the future. And prophecy is all about knowing something that you shouldn't, or knowing the future or getting a word that comes from God. That is, it's about things that are mysterious. But the offensive Prophet throughout the Old Testament was just someone who proclaimed God's word to the kings, mostly, and to the people. And Moses, what he did is he simply spoke for God. And so that is the office of Prophet, and he says, The Lord God will raise up for you, a prophet, like me, from among you, from your brothers, it is to Him you shall listen. The Office of Prophet is for you. It is a voice of God, revealing God's will for the good of the people. Now, Moses goes on to say, just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not hear again, the voice of the LORD my God, or see this great fire anymore, lest I die. Moses is referring to what happened at Mount Sinai, or otherwise known as Mount Horeb. God spoke directly to the people when he gave them the covenant right before Moses went up to the top. And the people were terrified, they were like, I don't want to hear the voice of the Lord. And so from that moment on, God speaks to Moses, and Moses speaks to the people. And so the people cried out, they didn't want to hear directly from God. So God shows prophets, from Moses on to speak to the people. And so God sets this situation up. And he says, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all than I commend him. So this office of Prophet is the person who speaks God's word to the people. And we see this over and over and over again, throughout the Old Testament. People like Samuel who spoke God's word to the people, and then the prophet like Nathan, who spoke to David, and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and Elijah and Jonah, and all sorts of prophets, who weren't just predicting the future, but who were proclaiming what God said to them, to the people, as he says, Thus says the Lord was their message. And so God gave this amazing office of profit for the good of his people so that they could hear God's word and listen. And he says, Whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will rock wire it of him. When we hear God's word, there's only one response, right? We're supposed to listen and obey. So when a prophet comes speaking in God's name, what are we to do? All we can do is listen and obey. And that's it. The problem in Israel was over and over and over again the story goes, a prophet would come, and people would not listen, they would not obey, and they would turn back to the false gods, and God would have to send some form of judgment. And it happened over and over and over again, until finally he sent in Babylon, to conquer them and carry them off into captivity. And it wasn't until he sent Babylon, that the people finally started to hear. And they returned to they returned from the from exile, and began to really dedicate themselves as a nation to God. So then he says up, whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. And so God knows that he puts his own power, and his own his own requirements, behind speaking the Word. But there's a duty on the prophet as well. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my Name, that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. So there were was pretty aggressively punished. Those who would presume to speak for God, when He did not speak, or to speak for other gods, they were supposed to die. false prophecy was a really major crime in the life of Israel. And that ties into the command previously, right. If you do not listen to God's words, he will require accountability. Now, when you pair those things, it means that anyone who presumes to speak for God has an amazing requirement. They must speak only the words that God has spoken, only what God says. So there's no no wonder that God puts up this penalty for speaking. Now we in the Christian church, we look back at what Moses said, and we we know that we have the great Prophet, God raised up a prophet like Moses, in fact, greater than Moses in Jesus Christ, who is God's Word made flesh and revealed everything about, about the Father that we can know. And so the Hebrews tells us that God spoke in many in various ways through the prophets, but now in the last days, he has spoken to us through His Son. And so this great prophet is giving us all of God's Word. And so the church since then has been pointing back to Jesus and and listening to him as the basis for our proclamation as well. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 111 The Psalm for Sunday, January 28th, 2024

Psalm 111

Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
    studied by all who delight in them.
Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
    and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
    the Lord is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him;
    he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
    in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
    all his precepts are trustworthy;
they are established forever and ever,
    to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people;
    he has commanded his covenant forever.
    Holy and awesome is his name!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have a good understanding.
    His praise endures forever!

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, January 28, is Psalm 111. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. In the company of the upright in the congregation, Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them, full of splendor and majesty is His work and His righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him. He remembers his covenant forever. He has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the inheritance of the nations, the works of His hands are faithful, and just, all his precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness, He sent redemption to his people. He has commanded His covenant forever, holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And all those who practice it have a good understanding, his praise endures forever. Here ends the reading. Let's dig into the Psalm. And I think we'll go through it verse by verse to see what's going on here. It begins with praise. Praise the Lord, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright in the congregation. This psalm begins with a proclamation of praise, and pointing us to praising God together in the congregation. And what I love about the way the Psalms praise God is very often most of the time when they praise God, they don't just say, you're amazing, you're awesome, you're powerful, you're super cool. What they do is they point to God's actual works. And so they say, they talk about what God has done. And that's what this psalm is going to do. It says, in the congregation, I'm going to praise you. And it points to his works. It says, Great are the works of the Lord studied by all who delight in them, full of splendor, and majesty is His work and His righteousness endures forever. So this points to the works of the Lord. And these are things that the church remembers, and the church at that time would have as well. When Israel looked back at the works of the Lord, they would have thought primarily of the Exodus, pulling God's people out of the out of slavery in exile, they would have then thought about all the ways that God has saved them as they went to the Promised Land, how he carved out a nation for them, and how he protected the judges and the kings and all this time. And so that's the splendor and majesty is God's work to protect them. And it goes on. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. Again, it points back to the history of Israel and all the ways that God has protected his people. And we can look back and say that God has caused his works to be remembered amongst us as well, of course, the great work, the most amazing work that God did, is the work of sending His Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who comes to be among us and live among his people, and then die and rise and ascend into heaven, and promised to return. Ancient Israel looked back to the days of the Exodus, and the wonder, the wandering through the wilderness and the conquering of the promised land and the kings, we look back to our great King, Jesus Christ, whose throne was a cross with a crown of thorns on his head, and is now seated on at God's right hand in heaven. And we remember that amazing wondrous work to give us eternal life. Verse five, He provides food for those who fear him. He remembers his covenant forever. One of the things that God promised in the covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai, and with Israel as they entered into the Promised Land, was that when they followed the covenant God would provide for them. The Promised Land was this place that was flowing with milk and honey supposed to be this amazing place filled with great produce. And when God's people came to the Jordan River and sent spies into it, that like yes, it is an amazing land flowing with milk and honey. And the promise in Deuteronomy that God gave in his blessings curses was that if they went in, they would have plenty of food, if they kept the covenant, and if they served other gods, God would send famines and enemies. And so here, this is recalling that He provides food for those who fear him. He remembers his covenant forever. Now for us as Christians, the amazing food that God provides for us is Christ's Body and Blood, which is not a food that sustains us for tomorrow or the day after or the day after that. It's not something that fills our bellies, but it st sustains us to eternal life, so that God's covenant is remembered even through death. When he raises us up on the last day. Verse six, he has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the inheritance of the nations. So again, we point to in Israel, the inheritance that he had given was the the land, the promised land that they had conquered, taken from the nations around them and given as God promised Abraham. And that land was expanded in God's promises through time until Israel expected to inherit the whole earth, which we see in Christ, who is our king, who comes on the last day, to remake the heavens and the earth and provide resurrection for his people so that we live forever with Him. Or seven, the works of His hands are faithful and just and his precepts are trustworthy, they are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. So God's works are faithful and just, and his precepts, the ideas that he commands are trustworthy. Now often we think of the precepts and the commands of the Old Testament, the things that are performed with faithfulness, and uprightness, just to be God's commands. But the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah, the covenant that God made with his people, is not just about what he said, tells Israel to do. It is also about his love, and His promises to his people. And so there is this back and forth between the law and the covenant, and the sacrifices and the sacraments of the Old Testament system, where God delivered his grace and brought them back from their sin. And so you get even in the Old Testament, this law gospel dynamic going back and forth between Israel. And sometimes we think about Jesus as just someone who gives us commands. Like, we're supposed to be good people we're supposed to serve, and we're supposed to love and that's at the heart of being a Christian.

But the precepts are not just that, but also God's grace. That He gives us His love. And that's the foundation for our relationship, so that we serve not to please God, but out of God's love for us, it flows into other people. And his his works are faithful and just his priests reps are trustworthy. We know that we can trust this promise. So we don't have to worry about God's love for us. We let that love flow into the lives of others will continue with verse nine. He sent redemption to His people, He has commanded His covenant forever, holy and awesome is His name. Here again, we see the pairing of the the covenant commands with redemption. So He sent redemption to his people, he pulled them out of Egypt, he gave them this covenant, he gave them a land and protected them. But it is also then paired with God has given them command. This is what you are to do as my people. And so God's law and gospel was given to ancient Israel, just as God's law and gospel is given to us that in our baptism, we are redeemed by Christ pulled out of the power of sin, death and the devil, and given a joyous duty to serve Christ and everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness. Holy and awesome as his name is right, the last verse, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it, have a good understanding, his praise endures forever. We've seen this phrase, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom in other places. It is one of the one of the chief lines of Proverbs. And what it reminds us is that if you don't have faith in God, all the wisdom of the world doesn't matter. The only way to truly understand reality is to begin with the the knowledge of God and the fear and faith in him. Which means that if we don't know Christ, if we don't understand who he is and what it means that he came and died and rose, you can never truly understand reality. You can measure the effects of gravity and figure out how much electric how electricity works and you can learn how to build bridges, but reality still is outside of your grasp. Because behind it all is our Savior, Jesus Christ who died and rose and is coming back. And without that, you do not have true wisdom. Without that you do not truly understand your role in creation. And you might think that you can make it up on your own. That is why all prayer all those who practice it, have a good understanding. So we need to know Jesus to truly under understand who we are. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

They Did What? Sermon from January 21st, 2024

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them…

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

The reading from last week and the reading from this week, both kind of deal with the same subjects. They give us almost a mini sermon series on God's message of judgment. They also both have Sunday School stories that mess up our understanding of the text. Last week, we looked at Samuel, and we have a Sunday School message that said, the call of Samuel was to this little boy who had this marvel experience of hearing God. But the real story was this grown man, probably about a teenager hears the voice of God who tells him to bring a message of judgment to Eli, who was basically his surrogate father. A very different story. We asked the question, do I tell the whole story? Samuels question when he didn't want to tell Eli what God had said. And we realized that we Christians to have to speak the whole word of God to the world. Because the cross of Jesus Christ does not make sense. Without a message of judgment for sin. You need to know what you're being saved from, to reach out to a savior. That's what we talked about them. Today we have a story about Jonah. A message of judgment for the city of Nineveh. Jonah's message is yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. God sent him to this city of Nineveh. Now, if you remember from your Sunday school days, there is a story that goes behind it. It begins with God coming to Jonah and saying, go to Nineveh and tell them the message. You had 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And Josh Jonah says, No, thank you. He goes the opposite direction. He heads to Tarshish hops on a boat and out in the middle of the water a storm comes up on the boat, they figure out that the problem is Jonah. And Jonah says, Yep, it's me. Throw me over the boat and the storm will stop and the storm stopped. I'm glad they didn't try to do that when I worked on a boat. Jonah splashing around in the water and a huge fish comes in eats him. And he prays a prayer of repentance inside the animal before it spits him up on the shoreline. Then we get then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. And he follows through. Jonah goes to Nineveh one of the enemy's cities, a violent city full of evil men and proclaims yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So he goes, Nineveh, enemy of God's people conquering city. And he proclaims this message of judgment. And the people respond they all gather together and they kill him. No, that's that's pastor. You're not supposed to lie about the Bible. Okay, so maybe I'll get it right this time. They ignore him. No, that's not it. They laugh at him. No. They do. What did they do? They repent, or that's weird. Right. Jonah goes and he says you're all gonna die in 40 days. And they repent. Not only do they believe him, but they respond to the judgments with repentance. It says and the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, to the least of them. And then you get three dots. Because for some reason, our lectionary pulls out of few verses that are really important in the story. It goes, the word reads the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything, let them not feed or drink water. But let man and beast be covered in sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. Wow. What a response. And this is from the people who do not know God, who are enemies of God's kingdom and will eventually fight and attack them. Wow. Someone came up, maybe in Main Street, alcohol and that nice big paved area where they have all the events, put on one of those old school signboards back in front, the end is near and shouted. 40 days and alcohol will be destroyed. What would you do? Would we send the police after him? Probably not. You can say whatever crazy things you want on the streets, can't you? We laugh? Probably. Would we ignore him? Probably. Would you gather together all the people maybe get the mayor, he would come out and say, nobody can eat anything for three whole days, put on a potato sack and dump ashes on top of your head? I doubt it. Right? That would be kind of crazy. But Nineveh they believe that? What would you do? If someone came up to you when you were assured that they were right, you have 40 days left to live? Would you pull out the bucket list. Now we don't remember this maybe. But the phrase bucket list comes from a movie. Things you want to do before you kick the bucket. Right? The list of all the experiences you want before you die. And if you've got 40 days that you quit your job, pull out that list and get it done. Look at your bank account and think, hey, I can spend this many dollars every day until I die or the credit card and say once I die, this is gone. Some people would probably take that time and use it for their family. Would you dig in your firepit? Lay it out on the floor, put on the potato sack and rub it in your hair and say I repent. I doubt it. But that's what the people of Nineveh did. It's kind of crazy, right? Why? There was no message of grace or forgiveness No, or else it was just 40 days, and none of it will be overthrown. But what we're missing is some of the context from the ancient world. And what Jonah himself says about God's message. In the next chapter. Jonah says, oh, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country. That is why I made haste to flee. Tarshish for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. Jonah says that God relents from disaster, merciful, full of steadfast love. Which is why when he says yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and the people repent. God does not destroy the city. Because when God sends a message of judgment, He always follows it with the option of repentance

is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and unrelenting from disaster. And this is where our Sunday School Story messes up the story of Jonah. I bet many of you when you were told this story heard it like this. God calls Jonah. And he's scared. He doesn't want to go to Nineveh because they'll be mean to him. They might laugh at him or hurt him or kill him. So he runs away. That's not the story. What does Jonah say? Oh, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country. That is why I made haste to flee. Tarshish for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love unrelenting from disaster. Jonah didn't want Nineveh to repent. He wanted them to be destroyed. That's why he ran away. God's message of judgment was not a message of judgment. It was an offer for repentance. And when the people heard, they believed, and they turned to God and they asked for mercy. And God gave it that is the kind of God we have. When he sends a message of law, a message of judgment, whether to Nineveh to us or to the world. It always comes with the option of grace. I think this is why our lectionary pairs it with the story of Jesus, who goes out to the world and says The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. The message of repentance comes with the message of forgiveness. God always sends it that way. Jonah's day and the days of ancient Israel, the story of Jonah was a lesson for the kings. The question was, if God so loves the enemy, Nineveh, not the promised people of God. What would he do if his people put on sackcloth and ashes and commanded a feast and returned to him and turned aside from their evil way and worshipped the true God. Of course, you would forgive them. He would remember His covenant He would turn from them and give them peace. But the Kings over and over and over again, they had prophets come to them and say, turn to God or be destroyed, turn to God or be destroyed. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And they refuse to over and over again. And so this important section where it talks about what the king ordered everyone. That's what the kings of Israel were supposed to do, is put on sackcloth and ashes and repent. Because every time that message of judgment goes out, every time someone hears about their sin, God follows it up with an offer for forgiveness. Repent, and believe in the gospel. Same for us. We all know this. We Christians, we hear this message of judgment knowing that God is a forgiving God. We know that God condemns sin, which is why He sent His Son Jesus to take that condemnation on himself. We know that every time we hear that God brings judgments on all of us or for the evil that we do. We just need to turn to a savior and ask for His love and His mercy. Because we know like Jonah, we know that God is a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. he relents from sending us to disaster because he sent that disaster on Jesus himself when he died on a cross When we hear the message of God's law, it is always calling us to turn from our sin and trust in our Savior, to repent and believe it. God always gives you life. He always follows it up with his promises, because that's who God is. Someone who loves you enough to send His Son to die for you, and give you His salvation. And it's the same when the message goes out into the world. When we send out this message of judgment, God's law on sin, it always comes with the gift of repentance, and offer of forgiveness. Because the purpose of God's law is not judgment. The purpose is to turn people to the Gospel. And that's what happened when John the Baptist was out on the Jordan River, right? He goes out and he preaches repentance, and everybody comes out confessing their sins and being baptized for forgiveness. They hear the words and they repent. And the same thing happens when Jesus preaches it, repent and believe. The world sees Jesus, not as a judge, but as someone who calls them out for their sin, and offers forgiveness when sinners turn to Him. For the purpose is to drive people to the Gospel. And that's where the difference is between the church's proclamation of judgment and the world's. Because when the world proclaims a message of judgment, they just want to strike people, cut them down, punish them, cast them out, divide the world between good and evil, between powerful and oppressed between the horrible and the good. And we see it more and more every day. Judge judgment is just there to punish the wicked and establish the righteous. And I think many people when they hear this when they hear the word, that is all they know. They're trying to make me cut me down make me feel like a bad person cast me out. We always have to remember that our message for sin comes with forgiveness. Repent and believe. Join Jesus receive His forgiveness, whether it comes to us or it goes out into the world because our message is always an invitation. Turn from your evil ways and receive received the gift of life that Jesus offers because it's always there. In Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Mark 1:14-20 The Gospel Reading for Sunday, January 21st

Mark 1:14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, January 21, comes from Mark chapter one, verses 14 through 20. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boats, mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father's Ebody in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him. Here ends the reading. So this begins with a notice about what Jesus is doing. So it says, After John was arrested, that means that there's a gap of time between the baptism and the, and Jesus's time in the wilderness. And what is going on here, there's a gap somewhere. So Jesus comes into Galilee then, and he proclaims the kingdom of God, he's got this, this proclamation. The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. So Jesus is doing this thing in an ongoing basis, he's got a proclamation that he does. And so there's there's sort of like, a pause almost in between what's going on here. And what happens next. It assumes almost that Jesus is out doing some of the preaching. And then while he's doing that, he ends up going alongside the Sea of Galilee. And he sees Simon Andrew and says, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. The same thing happens with James and John. Immediately, they follow Him, there are a couple of things I think we need to note. First, it is amazing that Jesus comes up to these two men in the middle of their work. And he says, Follow me. And they do it. That's it, right? He walks up, follow me. And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. What a crazy thing. The power of Jesus to call people to follow him in this instance, is outstanding. Now, we do have to say that it is likely that Simon Andrew and James and John, all had heard Jesus preach, had been connected with Christ during this time, this gap, where he is preaching in Galilee, and the beginning of his calling to them. And so it's not like they didn't know who Jesus was like he's a stranger. In fact, the Gospel of John tells us that Andrew and Simon were disciples of John the Baptist. And John goes, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then he does it again, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and Simon and Andrew, follow Jesus, and come to Him. And so there's this, they do know who he is, before this, this call is made, and yet, they don't say, Sure, Jesus, let us first fill in the blank. Immediately they're left their nuts and followed him. How wonderful life changes when Jesus calls. I think another thing we need to note about this, is that the saying follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. Now, I think many of us when we read this passage, we immediately jumped to And so Jesus makes us all into fishers of men. But I think it's important to note who he is calling. This is Simon or Peter, Andrew, James and John. They are apostles. The call of Jesus is different for them than for all Christians. They are called to be witnesses, one of the 12 witnesses that goes out into the world to proclaim the resurrection and begin the new family of Abraham in the 12 tribes of Israel, their calling is different from your calling. They were called to become fishers of men in a way that normal, regular Christians are not. Now, that does not mean that Christians aren't supposed to witness or even that Christians are supposed to let their pastors do all the work. But still, this is not a passage that lays a burden on every Christian to look into their metaphorical net and see how many Christians they've caught, to lay that burden on themselves and be like how I truly become a fisher of men. That is not what this passage is about. Mark is showing how Jesus came to call the very first apostles, Simon, Andrew, James, and John, and how they left their nets and followed. At best, what this can teach us is what it's like that when Jesus calls, we begin a new life. They began a new calling as apostles, like a seminary following Jesus around we when we are baptized when we come to faith, we also became a begin a new life, but it's certainly a different calling than the calling of one of the 12 apostles. That's all we have to say today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 The Epistle Reading for Sunday, January 21st

1 Corinthians 7:129-31

This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, January 21, is first Corinthians chapter seven, verses 29 through 31. This is what I mean brothers, the appointed time has grown very short, from now on, but those who have wives live as though they had none. And those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing. And those who buy as those they had no goods, and those who deal with the world, as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. He rents the reading. What a weird reading, right? This is the kind of thing that is super confusing for people. He's like, let those who have wives live like they had none. And if you're not, if you're mourning, as if you're not mourning, what is going on here? Well, it begins with the appointed time has grown very short, that's an important passage to put this in conflict context, is that God, he is talking about God coming, the end of the world is soon and we need to keep our eyes focused on that the appointed time has grown short, it is time to come. And so then we have so let those who have wives live as though as they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, those rejoices, they were not rejoicing, etc, and cetera. Now, you could take that to mean, St. Paul is saying, Get rid of all your worldly connections and focus just on God. But of course, that would be not not consistent with other parts of Paul's message, where he talks about loving and serving and husbands caring for their wives and serving each other. Another thing you could take this to mean, and sometimes people say this is that St. Paul here is saying, God is gonna come back anytime so we can abandon stuff. But then later on, he realized that, that God would come back, Jesus is coming back, but maybe in a little while. So we still have to do our work. But that is also not something that we can support. Because that would mean that Paul was wrong about something and something in the Bible is incorrect. And that just isn't doesn't work out with the way we approach this. What can this mean? Well, I think what St. Paul is saying is revealed in this what comes after this, he says I want you to be from free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrayed, woman is anxious about things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. So what I'd like to suggest is what St. Paul is saying here, is not abandon all things and focus only on prayer, or that he's expecting Jesus to come back any moment now. And you should just leave everything behind and just wait. What I think he's suggesting is that when we are in Christ, we ought to focus on God. Above all things. Jesus said something that is could seem just as crazy as what St. Paul is saying. He says, If anyone would come after, who does not I hate his father, and mother, and even his own life cannot be my disciples. And if it took that literally, you would have to say, Wait a second. Jesus wants us to hate people. But that's not what he means he's using a figure of speech. And I think St. Paul's doing something similar. We who are married, like I'm married, I need to please my wife. But what's more important than pleasing my wife, pleasing God, making sure my my efforts and my hope and my life are focused on Him, which includes taking care of my wife and the people around me. But when God is first, and when God is most important, sometimes those two things come in conflict. And I need to be focused solely and wholly on God and and His will for my life. So I think that's what's going on here. It's a tough reading. But you know, we got to try to work through it. That's all we have to say today we'll see you on Sunday bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 62 The Psalm for Sunday, January 21st, 2024

Psalm 62

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
    from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

How long will all of you attack a man
    to batter him,
    like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
    They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
    but inwardly they curse. Selah

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us. Selah

Those of low estate are but a breath;
    those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
    they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no trust in extortion;
    set no vain hopes on robbery;
    if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

Once God has spoken;
    twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
    and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
    according to his work.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday January 21, is Psalm 62. For God alone, my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation my fortress, I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence. They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehoods, they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse for God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation my fortress, I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory. My mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, oh, people pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Those of lowest state are but a breath. Those of highest state are a delusion. In the balances they go up. They are together lighter than a breath. But no trust in extortion, set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken, twice, have I heard this, that power belongs to God, and that You oh Lord, belong steadfast love for you will render to a man according to his work. Here hence the reading. Psalm 62 is a Psalm of David. And he begins by saying confidence about God and His salvation. It goes for God alone, my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation my fortress, I shall not be greatly shaken. Now, this is an image of God that we use throughout the Bible, the idea of God being a rock, a foundation or a fortress, we have the hem A Mighty Fortress is my God right now, this is compared in the next statement to the trustworthiness of human beings and the threat that they take. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall a tottering fence, they only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure and falsehood they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. This is an expression of the human humanity that is all around us. How many of us know people who are are just always on the hunt for you? Like they're always looking to peck at you in some way. They they want to take you down somehow. Usually, it's not an aggressive thing like, like violent, like it might have been in David's day. But it's the people who are as he says, they blessed with the miles but in really they curse. They take pleasure and falsehood. They're just hoping for you to fall. What a contrast is that between humanity and God, who is a solid fortress, a rock and salvation. And that's what David says in the next section. For God alone, oh, my soul wait and silence from my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation my fortress, I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory, my mighty rock, my refuge is God. So he says this again, he repeats this image of salvation and the mighty Rock says For God alone, oh my soul wait and science from my hope is from him. This is a reminder that human beings we just can't trust each other. I mean, we there's trust that we can share, and it comes back and forth. But at a certain point, only God is the one that we can truly trust. People will always fail us. People will always hurt us. Even the people who love us most, there will come a point where they just can't live up to their promises. They their weakness means that they won't support us the way they said we should. And it's the same for us, right? Every one of us does that same thing to other people. Which is why David says For God alone, oh my soul, wait and silence from my hope is from him. And it's so funny that David has so much confidence in God that he can say I will just wait. I'll just wait in silence. God knows what I need and he'll give it to me. He is my rock and my salvation. and David makes it even more clear. He says, Trust in him at all times, oh, people pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. So not only can we trust God, but we can also pour out our hearts everything that we are before God because we have so much trust in Him. And we don't have to worry about what we say. What a contrast is that between the people in high position who want to take you down, the people who take pleasure and falsehoods who blessed with their mouths, but in really they curse. They're always looking for an in, you can't trust them. You can't trust them with your confidence, you can trust them with their hope. And you definitely can't pour out your heart, because all they will do is use it against you. But not God. You pour out your heart to God, He returns with love only. Next, those have low estate or butter breath. Those of high estate are a delusion in the balances they go up they are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust and extortion set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. So again, this is a contrast between humanity and God. People of lowest state. They're just a breath, people of highest state of delusion. It reminds me of what Solomon says when he says Vanity, vanity, everything is vanity, or emptiness, emptiness, everything is emptiness. It's nothing. He says that riches, power, wealth, humanity, pleasure, all that is nothing. And David goes, people are like that, too. They are worth nothing compared to God. Don't trust an extortion or robbery. Don't trust enriches. None of that will get you ahead only God. He finishes. Once God has spoken twice have I heard this? That power belongs to God, and that You oh Lord, belong steadfast love for you will render to a man according to his work. So this phrasing once God has spoken twice have I heard this is saying it's emphasizing in a lyrical way, what God says one that God has power and steadfast love. And that rendering according to his work means that God has judgment, but he also has grace for all those who follow him. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 The Old Testament Reading for Sunday, January 21st, 2024

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.

The Old Testament reading for Sunday, January 21, comes from Jonah chapter three, verses one through five and verse 10.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.

So Jonah rose, and went to Nineveh, according to the Word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days journey in breath, Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey, and he called out yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

And the people of Nineveh believed God, they called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them, to the least of them.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. He did not do it. Here, hence the reading.

The story of Jonah is rather famous, because it is pretty amazing. God comes to Jonah early in the book, and he says, go to Nineveh and tell them the message that they will be overthrown. And Jonah says, No, thank you. And he goes as far away from Nineveh as he can. He heads out of the city and goes to tries to get on a boat to go to Tarshish.

While he's on the boat, a great storm comes up, and they figure out that the storm is Jonah's fault. And he goes, Yes, it's me. And they throw him into the water and the storm stops.

While Jonah is in the water, giant fish comes up and eats him.

And then eventually, Jonah is spit out on land. And we get to this, this part where it says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. That covers up a lot of plot, doesn't it? A lot of story is happening between, in those words, the second time.

So Jonah is back out, out of the fish alive and well. And the Word of God to him comes again. This time, he goes and goes to Nineveh, and says exactly what God would do. He says, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

The message is a message of judgment. God is going to punish Nineveh, an evil city, a city filled with violence and terrible things.

What's amazing, though, is in response to this judgment, the city reacts in repentance. It says, they called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them, to the least of them. Now our reading skips over the details of that story. What happens in between verses five and verse 10, is this. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne removed his robe, covered himself in sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles. Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything, let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered in sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands, who knows, God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.

Now, this makes us realize that the proclamation that Jonah gave was not just simply those words, yet 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown, but a lot longer saying that is about what God would do and what he calls on them to do. There was a repent and believe kind of aspect of this. And so they all respond from the greatest to the least it goes all the way up to the king of the Nineveh who makes a law that everyone has to fast no food or water.

When God sees their repentance, he turns away from his disaster. he relented from the disaster that he said he would do to them, and he did not do.

The proclamation that Jonah had, is a proclamation

that leads towards God's grace. It doesn't look like it though right? You see, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The funny thing is that looks just like judgment when the people heard it, though. They heard it as an offer for forgiveness, that if we turn and repent, we can receive it. And that's the funny thing about what Jonah says in Jonah chapter four. Now, when Jonah sees that the city is not destroyed, he gets kind of angry. He praised the Lord. He says, oh, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country. That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.

Jonah knew that the proclamation of judgment from God was not a condemnation, but an invitation to repentance.

Jonah's mission wasn't go to Nineveh and tell them they're all about to die. Jonah's mission was go to Nineveh and tell them that there's judgment unless they repent, and the people turned.

That's an interesting way of looking at this preaching of repentance is that it's not just look how evil those people are. What it is, is, God wants to save you from yourself. Repent and turn and believe the gospel.

That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Do I Tell The Whole Story? Sermon for Sunday January 14th, 2024

1 Samuel 3:1-20

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.

Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.

And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lordwas calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”

And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning's Old Testament reading is a well known story for for many people. It's a popular one for kids. We often tell this is a big feature strongly in VBS curricula, or in Sunday school curricula, because it's got a kid in it. Right? We've we've heard this story over and over again. And you imagine Samuel is in the temple? Well, that would have been the tabernacle at the time. Usually in our imaginations. He's like an eight year old boy, about that tall. And he hears the Word of the Lord and responds with joy. Pretty great, right? This story is one of those stories. There are lots of them, where we forget about the details. And imagine the story in our heads. We have lots of stories that have the traditional way of learning them have covered up with the Bible actually says, I think the most important one is the Christmas story from Luke. Do you know that story, right? Mary and Joseph, go to Bethlehem. Mary is giant. She's like nine and a half months pregnant. She's riding on a donkey. And just as they see the city of Bethlehem she goes, Oh. And Joseph goes banging on every Motel Six in the town. Right. John, just about everything I told you in that story is not in the Bible. No donkey. No in no rush to the pregnancy. You're like, wait, wait, wait. The Bible says in their word hotels back in the day. They didn't exist. That word is just, there is no room in the upper room of the house. Just about everything that we imagine in that story comes from tradition. And the retelling. What the Bible says is they went to Bethlehem, and the child was born. And that's it. And they placed him in a manger, because the guest room was full of other stories like that. And this one that we read today, sent about Samuel is like that. Samuel was likely not an eight year old boy. He was a young man, having served Eli in the tabernacle for many, many years. After Hannah, his mother had dropped him off. And the history of Samuel goes like that. So Hannah comes to the tabernacle, she can't have a baby. And the other wife of her husband is teasing her because of it. Because that's what happens when you have two wives. They fight over that kind of stuff in the Old Testament. So she's depressed, she's upset. She goes to the temple and she prays give me a child and I will give him to you, Lord. She has a baby Samuel. After the baby is weaned. She brings him to Eli and says here to take the child. And I want you all to know that the Punic household is not taking children as offerings.

She brings the child to the temple and gives him to Eli and he serves in the tabernacle for the rest of his life. What happens before this reading is every year Hannah comes to the sacrifice and she brings a new piece of clothing for for Samuel to wear as he grows. And we get a sentence that says And Samuel grew and became strong and was filled with wisdom before God and man, which is that way of saying and the boy grew up. And so Samuel is now a young man, about the same age as David was when he went to fight Goliath. And, like a teenager, is likely the timeframe. He has been serving Eli basically Eli is his dad now. And now Eli is blind. And he has been serving Eli for many, many, many years basically his whole life. God comes to him and says Samuel and you get the drama. Samuel rushes over to Eli. And he says, I'm here you called me and he like goes, Why did you wake me up? It happens again. And finally Eli knows what's going on. He says, it's the Lord. When you hear the voice, say, speak, your servant hears me goes back and he lines down, he hears the voice, Samuel, Samuel. Speak, your servant hears. And that's where our lectionary says we should end the story. In our lectionary, there's a number of readings that have a suggested end. And then there's a parenthesis with optional readings afterwards. Right. And so what they say is pastors, if you really want to take a shorter reading, you can, if you want to take the longer reading, you can as well. And I think it's really fascinating the way the lectionary divides this up, I mean, take a look, the Lord came and stood and called at other times, Samuel, Samuel, and Samuel said, Speak for your servant hears. And if you end the reading there, it is a wonderful and beautiful moment. you've imagined that in your head when they told it to you in Sunday school, the boy, he looks up and he says, I am here for you, Lord. And that's it. And we tell them, you two children can be used for God, this wonderful, beautiful moment of calling. There's a reason people don't like what comes next. What's yours yourself, in the place of this young man? When you hear these words, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two years of everyone who hears it will tangle This is about to go viral. On that day, I will fill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. And I will declare to him that I am about to punish his house for ever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. And therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. And the next thing goes, Samuel lay until morning. I can imagine he lay until morning staring at the ceiling. Right. Speak Lord, Your servant here. Go tell your dad I'm about to punish him for what's been going on in the family of Eli? Well, a lot. Eli's sons, their names were Phineas and Hockney. They were also priests of God in their tabernacle is that office is passed down from father to son. And they have been bad guys. Samuel earlier, this book tells us that they did not know the Lord. And they were doing pretty awful things. On one part, they were stealing portions of the sacrifice that were not allotted to them. The order of God's sacrificial system allowed for the priests to take particular pieces of the sacrifices as the way that they would eat. But these guys thought they needed the better pieces, not the pieces that were assigned to them. That's only the beginning. They also were sleeping with the ladies who served at the front of the tent of the meeting. Also not so good. And in fact, then they were threatening people with violence if they came to God's temple and didn't listen to them. And Eli knew about it. How could he not since it would happen right in front of him. He even told them Hey, guys, you gotta stop this. But he didn't actually stop them. Not too long before this story. It says no, a man of God came to Eli and said to him, this is what the Lord says, Did not clearly reveal myself to your father's house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh. I chose your fan Lay Out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your father's house all the offerings made with fire by the Israelites. Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do your you honor your son's more than me, by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering I made by my people, Israel. Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel declares, I promised that your house and your father's house would minister before me forever. But now the Lord declares, Far be it from me. Those who honor me, I will honor but those who despise me will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your father's house. Yikes. So God sent a prophet to Eli to say, What's your son's is doing is not cool. I'm going to cut off your house. And then he says the same thing to Samuel. This is what's going to happen, Samuel. So Eli comes to Samuel, who obviously doesn't want to say anything? I wouldn't, either. And he says, You better tell me all, May God punish you if you don't. And so Samuel will die. What a position to be in. How much pain must have caused Samuel to go from hearing the voice of God for the first time. And the message you get is this message?

What's the question? He would ask himself all night as he stares at the ceiling, when Eli comes to him and says, Tell me everything? And it's a very simple question and the title of my sermon, how do I tell the whole story? Do I tell everything? Or do I make something up? Samuel told Eli the whole story. He told him everything that God had said. And I think it's a good question for us when we're put in a position where we have to ask what do we tell? When we tell the story of God to people? We ask ourselves, do we tell the whole story? When God gives a word of judgment for the world? How do we speak it? When God has a message for sinners, how do we say it? That's a tough question isn't? Most of us can actually imagine being in the situation that Samuel is because we have relatives and friends weren't Christians, right? We have friends who are not in the salvation of Jesus Christ. We have family who have left the church and are looking forward only to judgment on the day Christ returns. Do we tell them the whole story? Or do we let them know what God says about our sin? That's a hard one, isn't it? Because we ask ourselves, I don't want to get them upset. I don't want them to turn away from the church. I don't want to hurt their feelings. But the story of God, the story of Jesus Christ doesn't make sense without a word of judgment, does it? Let's think about Jesus Himself. Right? We talk about Jesus is the Savior of the world. He came to show God's love for the world and to give his love for the people. But the cross doesn't make any sense without judgment on sin, right? Jesus the story of Jesus is he comes down he becomes a child he grows up and then he dies. You don't need to die on a cross. Just to love right Without God's judgment on sin, the cross makes zero sense. Jesus could have come down and hugged a whole bunch of people that would have been easy. Right? Pat everybody on the head and say God loves you just the way you are trophies for everyone. Then the cross wouldn't make any sense. Jesus wouldn't have had to die to take away the sin of the world. He wouldn't need the whips and the note the the nails through his wrists and feet, the crown of thorns on his head, he wouldn't have had to cry, Oh, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Only make sense. If God actually judges sin. If God threatens the sinner with eternal death, forever, we can look at the cross and we can say, that is what I deserve. And that is what was supposed to be for me. And he took it instead. How amazing. I am not judged like Christ because He was judged for me. I will not be cast into hell because he was judged for me. And now I have the life that he deserves. The cross only makes sense when you know about the judgment that was placed on Christ instead of on you. And the same thing is true when we look at our confession and absolution, right? Think about how that works in our lives. What happened if you took only one part of that story? Let's start with what has happened if we just had the love part, right? I forgive you. And everybody's like, Yay, everything's great. Jesus just loves me. You tell people that over and over and over long enough? And they just say, well, great, isn't this awesome? I don't have to worry about this stuff anymore. Jesus just loves me. And I can go and do whatever I feel like. What happens if you just have the confession? I am by nature, sinful and unclean. I've sinned against you thought, word and deed by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. And then you stop. That would be kind of depressing to right. And so if you just give them the grace, that doesn't work, and if you just give them the law, that doesn't work. But when you bring it together, I'm a sinner, I justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. And then the pastor says, I forgive your sins. What we get is the whole story. I'm a sinner. On my own, I'm going to hell. But Christ came to die for me to give me like, there's a reason that I gather around Christ in His Word, is because I need that salvation. I need the whole story to be saved. My sin, his grace. And it's the same for those who are not a part of the church. If we just tell them if God loves you, and Jesus came to give you His love, they will say that's awesome. Thanks a lot. I'm gonna go do my own thing. Because it's not the whole story. For those who are outside the church, those who are happy in their sin, they need to know that God threatens judgment for all who turn away from Him. That our sin places us outside of God's grace and threatens hell.

That's the only way to point them to the Gospel. And then when they go, oh, yeah, that's right. It's easy. And Jesus came to die for you. The story doesn't make sense without both pieces. What I think is fascinating about First Samuel, and this story is how Eli reacts to the word that Samuel gives him. This is really interesting for me. Samuel tells him everything it goes. So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from of from him. And then Eli said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.

Eli just heard that his sons are going to die, and so is he, and it's his family is going to be cut off, they will never be priest, all that terrible stuff is going to happen. He's like, Oh, yeah. Okay. God does what he wants. And I can accept that. Eli is still a faithful priest, even if he can't control his sons. When he hears the word of judgment, He accepts what God is going to do. And sometimes, when the word of of judgment is told, when we explain God's law to people, they go, Hmm, that makes sense. Maybe I do need Jesus. That's the way to gather them into the faith. We can tell the whole story because that is what is necessary to become a Christian. It's necessary in your life. Because you need to hear about your sin, to receive forgiveness. And it's necessary for those outside the church to we have to tell the whole story, or else Jesus doesn't make sense. In his name, amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai