Dec 24, 25 & Jan. 1 A VERY Merry Christmas & a Happy BLESSED New Year!!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Merry "CHRIST"mas!! We are almost at the end of the Advent Season and on Sunday we will be celebrating Christmas! I wanted to write to you all and share my heart on how much I love serving you as your pastor! I want to thank you all for your prayers and support as we come to the celebration of our Savior's birth at Bethlehem! On behalf of my family and the staff I wish to thank all of you for the amazing support you give us throughout the whole year and for your gracious gifts this Christmas! From our family to yours we wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and wherever you are this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day may the Lord richly bless you as our whole nation pauses to celebrate the greatest gift of all time JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD, EMMANUEL!

Please Remember:

DEC 24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Service 7:00 pm AT THE EMU Site OF CROSS AND RESURRECTION.
DEC 25 Christmas Day Service 11:00 am at EMU Site (last Service of 2011! no New Year's Eve service this year)
JAN 1 New Year's Day Service 11:00 am at EMU Site, Holy Baptism for Joseph Walter Distelzweig

LOOKING FORWARD

Please watch for the new electronic sign coming out front soon! Planning for the Dedication of the New Fellowship Hall in Feb. Exciting study on "Kingdom" coming this Epiphany Season! Continued studies for all ages and experiencing the KINGDOM Power of Healing etc... in the ministries at Cross and Resurrection EMU and ALIVE! Tecumseh in 2012!

Again a huge "THANK YOU" to all of those who have been faithful in keeping their pledges to the Building Fund, as of this week we have received all but one of the pledges and many gave even more than they pledged! We even have people who did not pledge, giving to the Fund as well! We are so grateful for the many gifts of charity given through the Agape Fund, Giving Tree, special offerings etc...Well done good and faithful servants!

I know I don't have the time to thank all of you who use your gifts as volunteer staff, Council and Elders and so many others who teach, serve and bless so many in our family BUT KNOW THAT I LOVE YOUR FAITHFULNESS AND THAT OUR LORD KNOWS HOW FAITHFUL YOU ARE IN SERVICE!

SO: I know you have gotten a lot of Christmas Cards, emails etc.. But I wanted to share with you the wonderful words fulfilled by the birth of JESUS the CHRIST born in Bethlehem so long ago:

FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN AND THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE UPON HIS SHOULDERS AND NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, ALMIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE! (ISAIAH 9:6)

BUT THAT IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY: "Of the increase of his government and peace THERE WILL BE NO END! He will REIGN on David's throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM THAT TIME ON AND FOREVER! THE ZEAL OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY WILL ACCOMPLISH THIS!" (ISAIAH 9:7) Praise the Lord, Alleluia! AMEN!!

Have a VERY Merry Christmas and a HAPPY BLESSED New Year!

Love in Jesus, the one who saves us,

Pastor Bryan

More Power! 2nd Sunday in Advent Dec 4, 2011

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today we celebrate the truth of St. John the Baptist's words in Mark 1:1-8 specifically vs 7: "After me will come One more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie!" As we prepare for Christmas, in this Preparation season of Advent, we can be forgiven for tuning out the hype of the sales, sears: amazing one day sale, JC Penny, Kohls. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday...it is too much. I laugh at the "REGULAR" price because I wonder if things ever really cost that price? It should therefore catch our attention when someone like John, the Baptist, shows up in the second week of Advent. He is not the norm. What he eats, what he wears, what he says all stand out and his ministry is certainly "SUCCESSFUL!" Yet John understands something that also stands out: that his ministry is to prepare the way for Jesus. I think it is brilliant that Mark starts his gospel with this promise of Mal 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3 "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way 'a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" This was specifically "Elijah" or otherwise known as, "John" who understood after living, since conception, as the one who prepares the way. We remember his leaping in the womb when his mother Elizabeth was greeted by Mary in Luke 1. We remember his Ministry starting 6 months before Jesus as Numbers 4:3 states at 30 years of age. We see him serving the Lord by Baptizing him. We recognize the that even with the shock value of his clothes, eating habits, and his words, he was successful in the work of Repentance. After all it says all the people from Judea and everyone from Jerusalem.

What we learn from John is that we are all called to prepare the way for the Lord. We are called to be used to reach up, in and out in order to direct people to the Mighty One who has the Power, Love, Grace, Hope, etc... Jesus Christ. We can learn from John that as he shares in John 3:30 "He (Jesus) must become greater, I must become less!" This is consistent with the humility he showed when Jesus asked him to Baptize him, and John in Matthew 3:14 says "I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?" He states in Mark 1:7-8 today that: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I baptize you with or in water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” When he describes his position of not being worthy to stoop down and untie his sandals, in Matthew it says "carry" them, he is helping us understand the posture for us to have as we prepare for the coming of Jesus this Christmas. If we want to experience the power that our Lord wants to pour out on us His Children we can prepare our hearts and minds by repenting of pride and humbling ourselves before the Lord. Then we will understand what it means that we celebrate the truth of the one coming with more power, to lift us up, carry us through and help us to fix our eyes on the prize of HIS SALVATION won on the cross of calvary, by His precious Blood and proven in the empty tomb! More power is always my prayer and it does not come from bettering ourselves but by humbling ourselves. That's preparation!

Love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Bryan

Nov. 27, 2011 "Happy New Year 2012: Lacking Nothing!"

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy New Year! Last week we spent time looking at all the Lord has done, is doing and will do as we ended the Church Year,  A.D. 2011. Today we celebrate the First Sunday in Advent, our 4 weeks of preparation for the Nativity of our Lord, and the New Year of the Church.  This Sunday we will contemplate the words of St. Paul which he shares with the followers of Jesus Christ in Corinth: 

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank God for you because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in Him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

This is an amazing introduction to the church that St. Paul spent 18 months with, as recorded in Acts 18. He shares with them how thankful he is for them! He reminds these Christians, who live in an extremely affluent community that is 5 times the size of Athens and is extremely important because for centuries it has been the city between the ports connecting western Greece with the East, what is truly important. Corinth, this 4 miles of isthmus that when crossed saved 200 miles of sailing from East to West, is a very important city. It was also a very cosmopolitan city with the multiple temples in the market and the Acrocorinth, the hill that historically was known for the worship of many gods, for it is no mistake that one of the Greek verbs for fornicating comes from the name of Corinth. It is said that there were over 1000 prostitutes for the worship in the temple of Aphrodite. I only reference this because as I watched Black Friday with the lines, sales, etc.. pepper spray used in Walmart. I thought we have so much to be thankful for in North America. Probably the way the Corinthians thought of their place in the Empire. From a worldly perspective they had it ALL.

Yet the Apostle Paul brings them back from the contemporary perspective of the world around them, to focus them on the truth of how they should recognize what is really important. More important than the deals on Black Friday, more important than the victory of our U of M Wolverines over Ohio State (I have been waiting for this since I moved here!), more important than even the birth of my first grandson "Levi Timothy Schindel" this afternoon!!! It is hard to imagine that even as I feel so thankful I could bust, the Lord speaks and shares the most important words for us as we enter into the next year of the Church: we have been "ENRICHED" in every way and do not "LACK" any spiritual gifts! We enter into this New Year knowing what Mordecai shared with Esther, (which I read in my devotions this morning) in Esther 4: ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" This was a huge eyeopening event for Esther. We know that it helped her to do the right thing and gave Esther the opportunity to put things into perspective and appreciate God's plan!

Brothers and sisters do we know that even when we put too much emphasis on those things that seem so important to us from our human, sinful, worldly perspective; because of his love for us, the Lord is constantly calling us to repentance. Today the Lord has given us the opportunity to confess this sin and receive the grace and forgiveness won for us on the Cross of Calvary and freely given to those who belong to God. We can then recognize the privilege of serving him NOW, rejoicing in the opportunity to appreciate and celebrate that we have been enriched in every way and lack nothing as we move forward in HIS ministry. We have the gift of refocusing and prioritizing what is TRULY IMPORTANT! We know we belong to God and believe in his plan and his power because we were created for such a time as this! May we become who the Lord wants us to be and move forward with confidence and boldness knowing we lack nothing and are called to work together as the Lord directs us. St. Paul says that the Lord will keep us STRONG to the end as we eagerly wait for His return. It is fascinating to me that the Lord sent two disciples to get the colt in our Gospel Lesson in Mark 11. He understood the importance of us working together as a family to support one another and see what the Lord will DO! St. Paul reminds us that we are in fellowship with God, as well as one another. He reminds us that "God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, is faithful!" The point is God is faithful and He has called us to this moment to do what He wants to be done and He is faithful to keep us strong and enrich us with all we need! What a way to enter this New Year of the church!
May we pray: "thy kingdom come among us and your will be done on earth, among us, as it is in heaven!"

Nov. 20, 2011 Christ the King: "Those who belong to him!"

Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday and the New Year's Eve of the Church Year. It is the day to celebrate the truth of the final days! Today we celebrate and contemplate the urgency of Christ's command to be ready for the end and to share the truth with all the time we have left.

St. Paul shares what the essence of this day is in

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all. 

The truth of this text is for us to CELEBRATE that we are the "firstfruits" as St. Paul says we are "those who belong to HIM!" This is why as we gather in this last Sunday we hear of the future, the victory, heaven, judgement and the destruction of Sin, Death and Satan! We look back at what the Lord has done in this last year: new fellowship hall, new small groups, new work with students and our partnership with UCO, gas buy down, many many meals, new color sign on order, 3 full time and one part time paid staff as well as great volunteer staff and so many faithful partners in the gospel! We are the priesthood of all believers and we know the our God reigns!! We look forward to the New Year of the Church and that the Lord has left us here while HE "puts everything under his feet" so that we have more opportunities to build relationships, UP, IN and OUT, knowing Christ and making him known by belonging, believing and becoming who our Lord wants us to be! I am excited to be in ministry here at Cross and Resurrection to see what the Lord has done, is doing and will do! I pray that we look forward, if the Lord doesn't return before next Sunday, to ringing in the Church Year of our Lord 2012 next Sunday! 

May we never forget that the day of victory is coming soon! We will be there celebrating as Jesus states in our Gospel lesson: Matt. 25:46, how those who were hypocrites and did not belong, believe or become will receive punishment in contrast to us who belong to HIM: "the Righteous" "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Praise the Lord! Alleluia! Amen!

FREEDOM!

Today, we celebrate a very important event in history. The day, that started the Reformation: October 31st, 1517 when Dr. Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the Wittenburg Church door. 
Today we look at a discussion between the Jews and Jesus. Jesus shares with the Jews who are following him in John 8:31-36

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can You say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We as believers should listen very carefully to these words. Jesus shares with them the meaning of true "freedom". First he shares that when we are believers and followers we belong to him and therefore know the truth and are set Free!

It is always amazing to me that they respond the way we do. They say they are not enslaved! These people who have been enslaved by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and now Romans only to mention the big ones. These people who are born sinful and continue to sin. Jesus says they are slaves to sin! Paul in Romans 3 makes this very clear when he states "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We are all in need of forgiveness. None of us are really "free." In the United States we like to talk about "Freedom" and "Liberty." On November 11th in British countries and here we will remember the sacrifice of Veterans and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Jesus would say to us "what about the sin of putting other things before our Lord, of coveting more things we don't need, pride, other gods, etc.....?" We have liberty and freedom as believers but the COST was and is huge! Just as so many have given their lives for our political freedom so Jesus shares that we are his family and therefore through Christ we are "sons" of God and because of Christ's death and resurrection we have been set free and we are free indeed! This is TRUE FREEDOM! It is as Romans 3: states 

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

This word "freely" is the greek word "dwrea"= dorea meaning free, undeserved, unpaid, GIFT! Freely given!

This is one of the founding principles of the Reformation and this is what our Lord is trying to share with the Jews who are believing in him!

Do we this day understand that our TRUE FREEDOM is the gift of grace, forgiveness, redemption and adoption as Children of God to become the people God wants us to be as we live for him? I pray that today we would boldly live as we boldly proclaim THE SON HAS SET US FREE AND WE ARE FREE INDEED!!

"Vocation not Vacation" Oct. 16, 2011

Today we look at the introduction to St. Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. We hear St. Paul sharing his thankfulness for these Christians and their faithfulness:
Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
 ² We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. ³ We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.  ⁴ For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷ And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, ⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

These words are so encouraging because they remind us of the importance of living out our faith. The gift of faith given to us; leading to work, labor and endurance. We know that our relationship with God in the covenant he has made with us leads us to know who we are in Christ. This then leads to us moving forward by the power of the Holy Spirit and deep conviction, with authority and power! We are so encouraged by the example of the Thessalonians. The most important part of what we see in this triad of verse 3: "Work produced by faith, Toil or labor prompted by love and endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" is the theology of "vocation," or "calling" that Martin Luther introduced during the Reformation. Before Luther only the Vocations of the church were honored. These were the works that mattered. Luther reminds us Kingdom people that our calling, no matter what it may be, is our chance to glorify God and be imitators of Paul and of the Lord! It is so important that we live out our faith, not seeing grace as a call to vacation, although rest is extremely important, but vocation: our calling to do everything to the Glory of God. Then we will work, toil and endure by His power and not ours! Our whole life is living as part of the kingdom! As we pray "your kingdom come, your will be done!"

God richly bless you as you live out your faith every day!

Pastor Bryan

Out: Are you envious of the Father's Mercy? Pentecost 14: Sept 18

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations to Eric and Sarah Morgan on the arrival of their new daughter "Gianna" yesterday! Sarah shared that "Gianna was born Friday at 4:19pm! 7lbs 15.5 oz and 20 inches. After being at Mott's Hospital for 44 hrs we had an emergency C-section; not what we wanted or planned, but God kept her safe and she's healthy!" We are so thankful for the Lord's protection and pray for both Sarah and Eric to get rest and enjoy their first few days with Gianna!

Tomorrow is going to be a great day for us to celebrate the amazing Love of our God shown to us in Christ Jesus! I look forward to worshiping with all of you tomorrow!

At 9am we will begin with the Christian Education for all ages. At 9:15 I will lead the Adults and Parents in a really cool study by "True U" looking at the truth of the Bible as God's inspired historic book.

At 10:15 we will have a great worship time and we will be looking at the words of Isaiah, the prophet whose name means "the Lord SAVES," sharing with us how simple the message we are asked to share with the world is to share with others as we grow in our UP, IN and OUT.  Isaiah 55:6-7 states the GOOD NEWS: ⁶ Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. What simple and yet powerful message! It is so hard for many to understand because they do not understand the ways and thoughts of our God: Isaiah 55:8-9 ⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. We will look at the Parable of the workers to try to explain the Love and Grace that the Lord has for us and all for whom Jesus died. Check it out in Matthew 20:1-16. It is not fair and yet we belong to this wonderful God, we believe in HIS mercy and grace and want to become more like HIM each day!

At 10:30 Norma Polk will lead a study with College Students in the fellowship hall.

At 11:35 we will have the Congregational Meeting to elect our Council members and introduce to you David and Beth Marshall who are being called to Cross and Resurrection as Family Life Ministers, in partnership with the Word of God who is going to provide their salary (a very small part time salary), so that they will be part of our team. We will benefit from their work with Warriors (Middle School on Thursdays) and Mission Christ (High School on Fridays) as we encourage our young people to join in these great ministries just as we partner with University Christian Outreach for College Ministry.

We will have lunch, thanks to the Zuelligs and Chris Stauffer at 11:45. We will have the 12:15 (ish) service and then the ALIVE! Tecumseh service at 4pm.

It is going to a full day but I look forward to seeing what the Lord will do!

Just a note if you want to join me for the Lutheranism 101, proposed for Monday nights starting soon, please let me know if you wish to attend because with construction actually started we will be need to decide if we will meet on Mondays and where? Please send me an email or talk to me after services. THERE WILL BE NO STUDY THIS MONDAY.

Love in Christ Jesus our risen Lord,

Pastor

August 28, 2011 "Become: Have in Mind the things of God!"

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well we are back from the Lake Charlevoix and looking forward to Worship and Praise with our Church family tomorrow. Thanks to Paul and so many others who helped this week, so that we could take Bruce up on his invitation to visit Boyne City again! It was AWESOME!

This Sunday we continue our journey through Matthew 16 as we hear Jesus explain things to his disciples; after St. Peter confessed the truth of who Jesus is: "the Christ, the Son of the living God!" St. Peter was praised by Jesus and told that "upon this confession" Christ would build his church and not even the gates of hell would prevail against it! Jesus said Peter was blessed and that this "confession" came from His father in heaven.

Peter is definitely more confident as we hear him disagree with Jesus, as Jesus lays out the truth of what is going to happen to him in the near future:

 ²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. ²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” ²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
As a matter of fact Peter is so confident that he rebukes Jesus, his friend and rabbi? Jesus then calls Peter "SATAN?" Why? While he just said he was blessed for his confession given to him by His Father in heaven. Peter is now being told that his worldly desire and his "will" is satanic and a stumbling block. This had to be really hard to hear from the person you love and respect but listen to why he is a "stumbling block" akin to "satan." It is because he does not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Wow! How many times have we done extremely good and nice things because we feel that they are the right things to do or say, yet have we asked the question: "is it God's will?" In order for us to ask this question we will prepare to look at becoming more in tune with the Word of God and what the Holy Spirit wishes us to say and do. As we continue our relationship UP (Belong), IN (Believe) and OUT (Become) we will learn to be sensitive to discerning the things of God and the WILL of God. We will look at the remaining verses of Romans 12 that explain how we can be transformed and by the renewing of our minds, have in mind the things of God. Our challenge is to let the Holy Spirit help us to be living sacrifices, motivated by love and living as R12 (Romans 12) Christians! So that we are a blessing, following the will of our Father in heaven and not a stumbling block! Isn't that our petition in the Lord's Prayer when we pray "thy will be done"?

Please continue to pray for what the Lord wants you to share during the worship time, after the distribution of the Lord's Supper. This is the time to pray and to share what the Lord is putting on our hearts for us and HIS church!

Remember this is "move in" weekend at EMU so let's make a great first impression for the new students.

See you all tomorrow.

Love in Christ Jesus our Risen Lord and Savior,

Pastor

Believe: GREAT faith! August 14, 2011 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am writing this after just experiencing the wonderful wedding ceremony of Mr. Matt and Mrs. Brenna Behnke here at Cross and Res! Tomorrow we will be experiencing the amazing love of God in Christ Jesus our risen Lord as we look at the faith of the Canaanite women in Matthew 15 where Jesus comments on her "GREAT faith." I think we can learn a lot from her posture in approaching our Lord, her persistence and her humble request of Jesus. At first Jesus seems uncaring, even unkind, as he ignores her. When the disciples ask to send her away, Jesus explains that his mission is ONLY to the lost sheep of Israel, yet because of her persistence and her faith, Jesus grants her request.

As children belonging to God, do we approach God with pride of position and almost demand things? I think I have been guilty at times, because of our consumer culture, to almost give a shopping list to our Lord and demand that "IF YOU Truly love me then....." I believe if we understood what this lady understood, the heart of our God, then we would humbly ask with expectation not because we deserve it but because of God's mercy, grace and love!

Please pray for GREAT faith! Please pray for the newly married couples Josh and Sarah Brudi, last week, (thanks again for all your prayers and support it went really well!,) as well as Matt and Brenna Behnke today! Please keep Rachael Kleimola and her family in your prayers as she is in hospice care! Please keep Joann Woodward and her family in your prayers as she recovers from a very difficult and stressful surgery!

See you tomorrow! It is going to be an awesome praise and worship time! I can't wait to worship our AWESOME LORD! Please remember to bring God sightings, or the Word at the end of the Worship after Communion.

Love in Christ,

August 7, 2011 "Believe: How do you learn?" Pentecost 8

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Just had a moment, while everyone is doing hair and getting ready all around me, to write a quick reminder and a big "Thank You!" to everyone who has been praying for me and my family in preparation for Sarah and Josh's wedding at 1pm! We are so blessed to have a great "extended" family in Cross and Resurrection! I hope if you are in the area and forgot that you can join us at St. Luke Lutheran Church for this joyous occasion!!

Tomorrow we are going to hear about Peter getting out of the boat and quickly realizing the fleeting nature of faith or belief when confronted with the storms of life! The text for the message is from Romans 10 where St. Paul tells us that faith comes through the Word! I look forward to sharing this wonderful teaching on "learning styles" with everyone who is here tomorrow at the 10:15 Service. Johannes is back, Thad Polk will continue his study on the St. Paul's letters at the 12:15 service and Paul Knickelbein is going to be in Tecumseh since we are have family over in the afternoon.

Also please check out the announcement that Paul puts up on the website www.crossandres.org under newsletters. You will notice that we are being blessed with multiple babies in our church family. A shower is coming up this week.

Since I truly believe that we are a church "family" I want to invite anyone who able to join us on Monday, yes in 2 days:) at our home 7382 Fosdick Rd Saline for a baby shower for our first grandchild. My wife, having only a million things to do, realized that Meagan and Tim will probably not be back in Michigan until Easter at the earliest. So with our family here for the wedding and with a quick invite to our extended family she is hosting a baby shower at 7pm on Monday. Please don't feel bad if you can not attend, this is short notice and there is so much going on! I just wanted to make sure to invite our whole family!

Love in Christ, our risen Lord and Savior,
Pastor Bryan

July 31 Pentecost 7: Believe: Telling the TRUTH?!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow we continue on our journey through St. Paul's letter to the Church meeting in Rome. At the beginning of chapter 9, St. Paul struggles with the challenge of telling the truth, out of love, for people who do not wish to hear it. He is lamenting over the unbelief of his Jewish brethren. He states:
 ¹ I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— ² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

I remember a movie a few years back titled "A Few Good Men" when Tom Cruise, a JAG officer, is asking the Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson) in charge of the United States military base in Cuba, about his behavior. He demands to hear the truth while the Colonel states "you can't handle the truth!" (check it out, if you can handle the anger and language, @ www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hGvQtumNAY )

I think in some ways, with all of the "relative truth" and "political correctness" in our society we want to believe that we can't handle the truth and look the other way when the opportunity to share the Truth of Christ comes our way. I know in my own life I have had opportunities to share, as St. Paul is doing with his fellow Jewish family, relatives and friends, and instead of sharing the truth; even if it caused me "great sorrow and unceasing anguish" I have changed the subject! I have noticed that the Holy Spirit has grown the desire in me to find the "person of peace" who is open to the truth and share it. Jesus told his disciples, as he sent them out with the TRUTH, to find these people in Matthew 10:¹¹ “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. ¹² As you enter the home, give it your greeting. ¹³ If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.

Tomorrow we will look at the importance of telling the truth in love and looking for the "person of peace" so that we can bring truth to the nations!

It is true for us that with the Debt Limit Crisis and politics in general, truth seems to be a  matter of perspective. Truth seems to depends on who asks the question, the words used and the context and way it is asked. We are fortunate that the Lord Jesus has given us HIS WORD to keep us grounded on the TRUTH as the Jesus' Disciples said when challenged with the idea of Jesus as the "Bread of Life" in John 6:⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”   May we believe and know the TRUTH and the Holy one of God each day and tell the truth! Jesus also prayed in HIS high priestly prayer on the night HE was betrayed in John 17:¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

See you tomorrow as we worship the HOLY ONE OF GOD!

Reminder we will have the time of sharing each week following the worship after the Lord's Supper! Please ask the Lord if HE has something for you to share. Check the announcements on our website at www.crossandres.org.

Please remember all of our Church family is invited to our daughter Sarah's wedding next Saturday at St. Luke Lutheran Church at 1:00pm. If you have missed the invitation, please join us for this wonderful celebration of the gift of marriage between Josh and Sarah!

Love in Christ,
Pastor Bryan

July 24, 2011 "Belong: More than Conquerors!" Pentecost 6

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow we will share in the worship of our amazing Lord and hear the Word of God from Matthew's gospel and Romans 8. In Romans 8, St. Paul writes: "³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." These words are often heard at Christian Funerals. This is a very comforting passage of Holy Scripture for us each day!

Earlier in Romans 8 we hear "²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. The point of this is not that God automatically predestines some for heaven and some for hell through election (as our calvinist brothers and sisters believe) but that as Jesus said in John 12:32 "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” He, God in Christ, will draw everyone to himself. Does this mean therefore everyone has to go to heaven? No, it means that our Lord, through the Holy Spirit draws, calls, gathers, justifies, sanctifies and glorifies! We hear this in Luther's explanation to the 3rd Article of the Apostles' Creed:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

If people do not respond to the call then they are not justified, even though Christ died for all sins, once and for all! But God is faithful and will call, justify, glorify those who receive this free gift of grace! St. Paul wants us to know who we are when we receive the gifts that the Lord offers to us, as the Creed states: our adoption as children of God, our redemption in Christ and Sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what makes us more than conquerors and what makes Satan tremble when we live by the Spirit and know to whom we belong and what it means.

We are going to change a few things in worship tomorrow. Because we love to hear from the Word of God, prophecies and testimonies, sharing what the Lord has done and is doing, we are going to add a sharing time in the service each week. We are going to begin with our worship and prayer time as we normally do. We have the Gospel reading and then Children's message. We will read the text from Romans 8 which I will share from. After the Sermon we will share the peace and then confess our sins and enter into the Lord's supper. We will have the Lord's Supper and while we offer prayers during the worship time following the distribution, while we pray for people, healing etc... we will also offer time after the worship for people to share at the microphone at the side. An Elder will stand on the pulpit side at the front and everyone who wishes to share may come up and we will have sharing time every week. This will allow us to have "God-sightings" and other sharing on a regular basis! The Elders will be responsible for assisting the people who feel led to share by helping them in keeping good order and time. The Elder's and I believe this will facilitate an even greater appreciation for what we know the Lord is doing in the midst of his family here at Cross and Resurrection!

I look forward to worship tomorrow, giving our Lord all praise and honor!

Love in Christ Jesus our Risen Lord and Savior,

Pastor Bryan

July 17, 2011 "One TRULY Sent: Belong as Children of God"

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Sunday is the 5th Sunday after Pentecost, in this "teaching season" of the church year. This week we continue to look at what it means to "be one truly sent by God" specifically looking at Romans 8 where St. Paul states in verse 19: "the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed."  This refers to the end of time but we as "Children of God" are able to share what has been revealed to us in Holy Scripture. We therefore are talking about what it means to be the "Children of God" revealing to the world what our Lord has done, is doing and will do. Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 44:8 where Isaiah quotes the God of the universe saying to us: "Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.” We have the privilege of being His witnesses. The Gospel lesson are the very words of Jesus when he declares in Matthew 13:43 "then the righteous (us) will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear!" We are going to make the sermon time a "God-sighting" time. I am asking everyone to prayerfully consider as you have experienced God, as His child, over the last few months doing amazing things that you would feel comfortable sharing with us. My sermon will be short and we will have the time to share! Also we are going to move the prayers to after Holy Communion, during our worship time to experience the intimacy of the "real presence" of Christ and pray, praise and give thanks during this time of worship. We are hoping to set up a training time to have more prophetic words in worship and this will better facilitate this experience of the Holy Spirit moving in the midst of Christ's body, the Children of God, in worship together. Holy communion is an "altar call" of sorts when we come to the Lord to know with all of our senses the forgiveness of sins and the power to live as Children of God!
See you on tomorrow!

Thanks in advance to those who help lead the worship and serve every week! If you want to share on Sunday please let me know!

Love in Christ,
Pastor

July 10th, 2011: Fourth Sunday after Pentecost "Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ"

This week we continue our journey of discovery into what it means "being one truly sent" which we first heard from the prophet Jeremiah. We will hear from Isaiah 55 about the power of God's Word as it is goes forth! We will hear Jesus sharing in the Matthew 13 about the seeds and the soil, those who received the Word. We will be looking specifically at our identity as ones who are truly sent in Romans 8. In Romans 8 St. Paul tells us of the importance in living by the Spirit and knowing we are Children of God and "heirs!" It is important to understand the way the Roman world looked at adoption and being heirs! Tomorrow we will look at the tremendous gift it was to be an "heir!" It also came with responsibilities especially if your "Co-Heir" was Christ!

Let us understand who we are as Children of God in Christ Jesus and recognize the privilege, power and responsibility we have a free people and slaves to righteousness. It is awesome to know to whom we belong and relationship our Lord wants to have with us!

June 26, 2011 "One who is truly sent by the Lord!"

Tomorrow we celebrate the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. We are focusing on Jeremiah 28:9 where Jeremiah states: "But the prophet who prophecies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true!" With predictions of the end of the world a little over a month ago, changed now to November??, it is understandable that people like myself who want to see prophecy alive and well in the 21st Century church cringe at these false prophets!

Jeremiah had a real difficult task, telling people the truth when the false prophets were telling them what only what they wanted to hear. Why is it that people think that telling the truth has to be negative. If we look at history the truth could have been a great help to the people in Jerusalem. They may not have rebelled against Babylon again and ended up with everything destroyed in 586 BC. I am not a fan of "positive thinking" which overlooks the truth, but I am a great fan of "thinking positive" which takes into account the truth of what is happening but remembers that the Lord is king and we serve him!

May the world have less false prophets who tell people what they want to hear and more prophets like Jeremiah who reluctantly told people the truth, sometimes in dramatic fashion, to point them to repentance, life with God and freedom in the truth of redemption!

May we all honor God first and let everything else fall into the right place in our life! May we look at the world with truth as our perspective and Christ as our lens!

May we all be one who is truly sent!

June 12, 2011 Pentecost Sunday & Confirmation Celebration

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow is Pentecost!! I can't wait to see what our God, through his Holy Spirit, will do! Tomorrow is also Confirmation and we rejoice with the Angela Knickelbein and her family, as well as Randall Schliebe and his family on this very special day!

Pentecost is the special festival, 50 days after the Resurrection, 10 days after the Ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God. In the Hebrew history of Exodus 19, Pentecost, the festival of weeks, harvest or firstfruits is 50 days after the great Sabbath of Passover. The first Pentecost is 50 days after the Sabbath because it is 7 Sabbaths after the first day following Passover.  This is the the giving of the Law! It is the time in Exodus 32:38 we see 3000 rebel against Moses and God and at Pentecost we see 3000 given the Holy Spirit.

This is a great day and I expect wonderful things. Confirmation is the affirming of the gifts given to us in Baptism. It is the public confession of what happened in our Baptism. Last Sunday our newest son: Bryan Emanuel Noah was given the gift of faith, eternal life and the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. When he was Baptized, as we were, he received the Holy Spirit like the Apostles received the Holy Spirit in John 20:20-23 "¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Even though they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Resurrection, the day of Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit has them! We pray over our Confirmands and ask that the Holy Spirit gets a hold of their whole life and that they live for him each day!!

Please join us to partake in this great and awesome celebration! We will be praying over Angela and Randall, as well as asking the Holy Spirit to manifest his presence and gifts among us, his family!

If you are away you will find the announcements @ www.crossandres.org

Also a note: We will have the 12:15 service again starting next Sunday! Many talked to me, following Matthew 18, sharing their concern that this is unique service and so we will continue it through the summer.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Bryan

June 5, 2011 The 7th Sunday of Easter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Sunday we rejoice in joining with our High School group of youth as they lead the Worship Service!

At the beginning of the 10:15 Service we look forward to the Lord bringing Bryan Emanuel Noah Schindel (Ben) into his family through Holy Baptism! Please plan to join us for great cheesecake following the Service.

For the months of June, July and August we are NOT going to have a 12:15 Worship Service. I personally will miss this amazing time of worship but we hope everyone who is around, and not at the lake etc, will attend the 10:15 Service! It is important even when it so nice out to spend time in Worship and partake of the Lord's Supper.

Check out crossandres.org for the Announcements for those who are away! I am asking everyone to pray for Paul Knickelbein, Drew Maybee, Johannes Stauffer, Jeff and Marsha Comella who are in London and Sheffield England this week. Please pray for safe travel and a great immersion experience as they join other believers in seeing what the Lord is doing and reaching people with message of his salvation, love and power in a very secular culture! Sheffield has been blessed by having an exciting renewal of the Acts church in a former blue collar mining and milling area that has transformed to a multi-cultural, high tech and university area. Sounds familiar to where the Lord has placed us, so I am very thankful that when these 5 return on the 10th we will have had 12 people immersed in what the Lord is doing and asking what the Lord has in store for us in the future!

NEXT Sunday we rejoice in having Angela Knickelbein and Randall Schliebe affirming what the Lord did in them during their Baptism and being Confirmed into the Church. Yesterday we celebrated Ascension Day and so we are counting down the 10 days that our Lord Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Power that he would give them. Next Sunday it is Pentecost so please join us to experience the Holy Spirit and His Power!

Love in Christ our Risen Lord and Savior,

Pastor Bryan

Memorial Day Weekend

Today we celebrate and remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for our freedom! We are excited at Cross and Res. to be able to acknowledge our VETERANS! We do this on Veteran's Day on November 11 and we remember specifically the fallen on Memorial Day.

With the arrival of our 3rd Son: Bryan Emanuel Noah Schindel, otherwise known as BEN, last Sunday night at 11:48 brought a time of rest and reflection to our home as we have enjoyed this last week bonding with the "little B!" Boys time will never be the same for Jeremiah and me:) 

This Sunday we have the pleasure of hearing from a true Missionary: 
We welcome Rev. J. Lawrence Jayapalan, who is preaching today. He is from India and works with Bethania. This will be great and I think we will grow to appreciate how the Lord is at work all around the world as well as here at Cross and Res.

Next Sunday we will have the youth lead the worship service and I will be bringing BEN into our Church Family through the waters of Holy Baptism.

May 15, 2011 4th Sunday of Easter: the Voice of the Shepherd!

May 15, 2011 4th Sunday of Easter: the Voice of the Shepherd!

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow is going to be a great Celebration of God's Grace! It is the 4th Sunday of Easter and we are blessed to have Pastor David Andrus and others sharing with us the ministry to the blind and seeing impaired.

Pastor Andrus will be sharing the children's message and sermon. Aaron Weaver will be sharing his gift of music.

We will have an exceptional "Connection and Growth" time at 8:50. Jim Fry shares the next installment in the Covenant Study in the Sanctuary and Pastor Andrus shares with anyone who is interested on Lutheran Blind Missions http://www.blindmission.org/ in the Fire Side area. Childcare is provided. Sunday School is happening as usual.

We will also have a guest sharing about a mission to Jordon coming up with Antioch ministries.

Don't forget that we are recognizing our Graduates tomorrow!

After the 10:15 Service we will be having a BBQ lunch and during the 12:15 Service time we will have the Groundbreaking ceremony for the new Fellowship Hall addition! Please join us for the lunch, bring a dish to pass, the church will provide the meat and buns!

What a great and glorious day this will be! Christ has Risen! He has risen indeed!! Alleluia!!

Pastor Andrus will speaking on the "Voice of the Shepherd" from John 10:

Jesus said: "The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

Love in Christ our RISEN Lord and Savior,

Pastor Bryan

May 8, 2011 Third Sunday of Easter & Mother's Day

The New Covenant of Transforming Power! 

Today we conclude our sermon series on Covenant. It seems appropriate to end with the realization of what the "New Covenant" really means to us who are living in it, by celebrating the special places mother's have in the nurture and faith of children.

St. Paul celebrated Mother's and grandmother's in 2 Timothy 1:
 ¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, ² To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. ⁴ Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵ I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 

St. Paul recognized the special place of encouragement and nurture given by Mother's. Today we look at the Gospel from St. Luke 24 where Jesus appears to the men on the road to Emmaus:
 ²⁵ He (Jesus) said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
 ²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
 ³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
 ³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Today we want to have our eyes opened to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit who is given to us in Holy Baptism and "who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith" (Luther's Explanation of Third Article of Apostles' Creed in Small Catechism) We are called to live a life of faith and sanctification and therefore as Romans 12: 
 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I believe this is the desire of every parent, but especially our heavenly father's will, that we experience the transformational power of the New Covenant and His Holy Spirit in our lives each day. The Holy Spirit is the encourager and nurturer in the Old Testament and New Testament let us experience this transformation today. THEN OUR HEARTS WILL BE BURNING!

Texts to look up for more information Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 29, Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 11, 2 Corinthians 3, Romans 8, Galatians chapter 3-5 and Hebrew 12:18- the end of chapter 13. Check them out.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! CHRIST HAS RISEN! HE HAS RISEN INDEED HALLELUJAH!! 

May 1, 2011 Covenant of Marriage & a TRULY ROYAL WEDDING

On Friday, over a million people crowded London streets to see the Royal Wedding. It was called the wedding of the century? Over 2 billion people were said to have watched it!? I thought it was pretty interesting that the future King of England, Canada, Australia.....etc... was actually followed around and mobbed by other countries most especially the United States of America?? I thought it was interesting to hear people speculate about why things were done a certain way. For example: why was President Obama not invited? Why did he wear the "Red Coat"?...etc. Growing up with the monarchy and having been commissioned in the Canadian Armed Forces I appreciate the pomp and circumstance but this was not even a state wedding. Although William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are someday going to be the King and Queen, the heir apparent is still Prince Charles the Prince of Wales. For this reason it is not a state wedding, just a royal wedding. I also thought that the USA had problems with "Red Coats" yet William wore this color, not as an afront to the people across the pond, but because he is a Colonel in the Irish Guard, which is his highest rank in his Military service at this point. But the fairytale of a commoner, albeit a rich commoner, marrying THE future King is pretty exciting for many worldwide.

Today we look at the truth of the Covenant the Lord has made with us HIS people. In 1 Peter 2:9-10 the Lord says through Paul: 
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So we should pay attention to Royal Weddings but ours is with the Lord. Christ used marriage to explain the relationship he has with His Church in Ephesians 5
²² Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 

Or in Revelations 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready". 

This is not only in the NEW Covenant. God in the Old Covenant used the marriage relationship to express His relationship with His people.

Isaiah 54:5 "For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth."
Jeremiah 3:14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion."
Hosea 2:19-20 "I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD."


He really wants this relationship with us and that is why Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our redemption and the empty tomb we celebrated on Sunday proved God cut the covenant with us through Christ's Blood.

God is not pleased when we do not appreciate the love and relationship HE has done everything in order to establish. He speaks quite clearly about how important this Covenant is to HIM in Malachi 2:13-16: Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring^. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith. 
Or in the Gospel of St. Matthew 19:3-6 "Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”


It is a reminder of Genesis 15 where Yahweh "cut the covenant" with Abram even while Abram was sleeping! Now it is time for us to appreciate the relationship and covenant HE has made with us and walk in the oneness of the marriage covenant with our LORD! "One flesh" is the biblical language of Marriage. In the Royal Wedding on Friday it was interesting that William said everything I am and have is yours to Kate. I think that is soooo important for us to appreciate in our relationship with the God of the universe that we "Yaddah," "know" in Hebrew, the intimacy that our God wants to have with us in Christ and that His love is everlasting and more amazing than we will ever truly understand. I know in the Lutheran Church we do not have Marriage as a sacrament (latin for mystery) because it does not offer the forgiveness of sins, although there is a lot of forgiveness in marriage all around:) but I think we should always appreciate the intimacy of being ONE! I know I love being married and the relationship I have with my wife and I know the Lord desires this to be an example of the relationship he wants with each one of us!

May we as the Royal Priests, a HOLY nation, a people belonging to God, understand the Covenant of Love the Lord has made with us! May we walk with the confidence, love and hope that comes from knowing the Lord and walking in His love, grace, mercy and power!!

Palm and the Passion Sunday on April 17, 2011

Today (Palm Saturday) we experience a preview of Holy Week, the Passion and Resurrection for our families! It is awesome to see the children learn what this is all about, make pretzels, crafts etc...

Tomorrow (Palm or Passion Sunday,) we celebrate the experience of the Procession of Palms and Balloons remembering the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in John 12:
 ¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,    “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”
 ¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: ¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
   see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
 ¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
 ¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

We continue the service after processing in with palms and balloons to the song HOSANNA, with the reading of the remainder of John 12 hearing specifically of the words:
 ²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.  ²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
   ²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”
   Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
 ³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up^[g] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. 

The prayer we have for everyone as we enter into Holy Week, with the conclusion of our reading through the New Covenant (Testament) is that we have gained a much better understanding of the Covenants God has made with us in the Old Covenant as well as the New. Starting in Gen. 3:15, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to King David and today Jeremiah 31 looking at what GOD does in Covenant with us and how HE gave us these promises and now we prepare to see life through the NEW Covenant we have in CHRIST JESUS through our relationship with HIM and in our Baptism. That we would see, feel and hear JESUS!

I have the privilege of sharing this message at ALIVE! in Tecumseh at 4. But if you are not joining us there please remember:
On Palm Sunday, April 17th come celebrate our Lord at Hosanna!  join with Christians for a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic but ONE LORD from 5:00 to 6:30 at the  Michigan Theater for HOSANNA 2011!  This promises to be a fantastic time!

This HOLY WEEK we celebrate the truth and celebrate Christ's giving of HIS NEW COMMAND on MAUNDY THURSDAY (Maundatem: meaning mandate) in the words of John 15: (During the Last Supper which we will celebrate on Thursday in the Passover Seder Meal at 6pm)
¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

After we celebrate the Passover Seder we will Strip the Altar as a reminder of Jesus' journey to the Garden of Gethsemane and HIS State of Humiliation. 

On Friday evening at 7 we will have a Good Friday service where we leave in silence and contemplate the BLOOD of the NEW Covenant shed on the cross of Calvary!

On Holy Saturday we will not have a Vigil this Easter, due to the Pastor's health but we will spend this time in prayer! 

Sunday morning we will Celebrate a late Sonrise Service at 7:45am with Easter Breakfast from 8:15-10:15 with Resurrection DAY Service happening at 10:30! There will be no Christian Education Hour on Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday. (There will be NO 12:15 Service this year.) We are going to Celebrate "Living life through the perspective of the NEW Covenant and the Cross and Empty Tomb" It will be awesome! 

Please pray for the Palm Saturday celebration, Holy Week Services, as well as the students finishing up at EMU, Washtenaw Community College, Concordia University and U of M. 

Please keep the Saturday after Easter (April 30) to join us in Spring cleaning at the Church. The Saturday after Easter, April 30th, we will have a Spring Cleanup Day inside and outside the building.  We will start around 9:00 and have a cookout at noon.  Bring your tools, rags and cleaners and lets make our Lord's House look extra nice! 

On Sunday, May 1 we will have a shortened 12:15 Service with Worship, Prayer and Testimonies then there will be the BLESSING of BIKES with a BBQ and Fellowship time at 1:10. 


May God richly bless you all as we prepare for HOLY WEEK and look forward to what the Lord will do and how HE will change our lives!


Pastor Bryan

Third Sunday in Lent March 27, 2011 Abraham Covenant "Name Change, Heart Change, Game Changer"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Tomorrow is the Third Sunday in Lent. As we strive to celebrate this reflective season of Lent I want to encourage you all in the continuation of your reading through the New Testament! If you are doing the Gospel and Letter portions each day, which is what I am doing, you are finishing Luke 5 and Ephesians 6 today. I hope in the next few weeks to have people share what the Lord has been revealing during this Lenten discipline.

Tomorrow we will have JIM FRY LEADING THE COVENANT AND KINGDOM STUDY that was on Wednesday, following the Lenten Service. It will start in the sanctuary at 8:50am and THERE WILL BE CHILDCARE PROVIDED! We want everyone to take in this class to better understand where we as a church family are journeying to Share Christ: BELONG, BELIEVE, BECOME!

Tomorrow we continue with our Series on Covenant and Kingdom looking at the Covenant God initiates with Abram/Abraham. This is a unique covenant in that we see Abraham receiving a remarkable gift of the "Royal Land Grant (unconditional) Covenant" in Gen 15 where God does it all! Then in Gen 17 a restating of this Covenant with a Name change, a Sign (Circumcision/heart change) and then a game changer which is the promise of land and multitudes of descendants! The difference here is that in Gen 17 God gives Abraham and his descendants an "out" if they do not want the blessings. Don't be circumcised and then you will void the covenant. This is unique and in Old Testament, of which I studied as my major in my BTS and MDiv, and is called a Suzerain-vassal where there is an act of love and total consecration to the King, ie: circumcision of the heart as God will later explain.

Tomorrow please join us for the AWARDS CEREMONY FOR THIS UPWARDS SEASON at 4pm at the EMU Convocation Center. Our own Abbie Stauffer will be sharing her remarkable gift of music from 3:30-4 so arrive early! It is free and the presenter is awesome!! She will be worshiping the Lord with us tomorrow morning! Please come and bring friends!!
As I have spent most of the week in bed wrestling with the multiple viruses that I received, I want to thank those who have faithfully continued to serve in the many ministries happening at C&R! Special thanks to Paul for taking over on Wednesday and for those who help with Ladies Bible Class, Wednesday meal, small groups, college outreach and Covenant and Kingdom. Thanks to all those who helped out with the Soaking Prayer time on Thursday, I really wish I could have been there! Thanks to Jim and Marsha for coming to pray with me and for all your prayers!

This Thursday at 11am there will be a Funeral Service for Stephen Masch, son of Gary and Betty Masch. I will be leading the Service Liturgy and Pastor Ron Zehnder will be preaching. The service will be at St. Luke with a lunch following. Contact Joanne at the office if you wish to help or find out more information. Please keep the Masch family in your prayers during this time. Stephen passed away in North Carolina from a automobile accident and this has been a long two weeks for Gary, Betty, Mike, Laura, Bethany as they said "goodbye" to their son and brother. They look forward to celebrating the gift of everlasting life that we have in Christ on Thursday! Gary also has been recovering from surgery.

Next week my Discussion Huddle on Thursday will not be happening but anyone who desires can join me and my daughters at Winter Jam 2011 at the EMU Convocation Center from 6-9 for only $10 you get great Christian Entertainment! Come early, last year people were turned away! check out Winter Jam on facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=112630005468913

Please remember to pick up the parking pass tomorrow for Wednesday so you can park in EMU parking and join us for the Dinner @ 6 :15 and our continuing study @ 7 on "Sometimes a great defensive is the best offense!" a study of the armor of God in Ephesians 6 this week: FEET fitted with readiness! Remember that the small group, College group and Covenant & Kingdom study is on right after the half-hour Lenten service Childcare is provided for the Study.

Tomorrow and Monday please take advantage of the Answers in Genesis workshop at St. Paul's Lutheran School. Answers in Genesis Conference: Not Ashamed Sunday, March 27 & Monday, March 28 St. Paul Lutheran School (495 Earhart Rd) Dr. Terry Mortenson from Answers in Genesis will address: Sunday evening 7 PM Genesis: Key to Evangelism Today 8:15 PM Noah's Flood: Washing Away Millions of Years Monday evening 7 PM Origin of Species: Was Darwin Right? 8:15 PM Ape-men: The Grand Illusion No cost & no RSVP necessary, open to the public Questions contact 734-665-9117 or visit the AIG website for more details.

Personal note:
I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. I am feeling better and the Dr. has let me stop taking the immune suppressant drugs  for the next two weeks so that I can get over these bugs. I believe the Lord has already healed me of two, so I look forward to being with you all tomorrow! Our daughter Sarah is engaged to Joshua Brudi as of last Tuesday! We are very excited as this spring and summer is filling up!

Love in Christ Jesus, our amazing Lord,

Pastor Bryan

"Exposing the motives of the heart!" 8th Sunday after Epiphany Feb 27, 2011

1 Corinthians 4: ¹ This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. ² Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. ³ I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

 Today we look at the words of St. Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth. He is defending the true nature and faith of the Apostle. He tells the folks in Corinth that he, Apollos and Cephas are not leaders of parties, but are servants. He also states that they are "stewards of the mysteries God has revealed" and are REQUIRED to be faithful with these. He indicates that we who have been given this trust will be judged in three ways. 1)in the court of public opinion, by the human courts or by votes in the assembly. It disturbs me that in many congregations and among many Christians they think that that if a congregation votes to do something this is equal to Scripture and thus is legitimate even though it is out of line with Holy Scripture. This is what caused the Lutheran Church I grew up in to adopt un-biblical ideas about the roles of men and women, approve of acts of homosexuality, becoming so politically correct that they have become totally irrelevant. The saying that comes to mind is: "if you stand for nothing, you fall for everything." St. Paul says he will not be judged by the congregation in Corinth or by human opinion or courts. 2) The second "court" is our conscience, St. Paul says his conscience is clear. 3) The third "court" is the righteous and holy Court of our God! This is the final judgment and therefore we who are saved by grace through faith have nothing to "fear", but we should have a sense of "awe" and "reverence" in the fact that we are going to stand before the God of the universe and He will "bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart!" I think we are called to think about the fact that Christ may return at any moment and we will be called to account. I truly believe we are saved by grace and as we live out our lives we are to remember to whom we belong. Jesus in the Gospel lesson from Matthew 6:33 in the Sermon on the Mount says: "But seek first His Kingdom and HIS Righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well!" I saw a survey this week that said "Born Again Evangelical Christians" have a higher divorce rate than atheists, 27%-21%. (probably because Atheists don't get married) 35% don't tell the truth on a regular basis etc.. from Wallbuilders Ministry. I am not saying that we are saved by works but the public is watching us and we do have a responsibility to be found faithful. The Lord tells us NOT to worry but to live out our faith and show forth His love and power and we will not fear the truth of His promise to expose the motives of the heart. For in Christ these will be forgiven and are true! I think there is tremendous freedom in knowing that the Lord, our loving savior will be our judge and that He is faithful and true! We should have great JOY as we move forward into a world that fears the public opinion rather than the final judgment, that the Lord has chosen us to be HIS body during these trying days with much trouble! I look at the way things are going in the world with teachers getting sick leaves excuses from doctors on the street corner in Madison, WI, not to be home sick, but to protest? These are the people who teach our children and next generation?! Their union president did not have a problem with this??? Deception and lies! I would be fearful of the "exposing of the motives of the heart." We know that with the Middle East in flames and the Radical Islamists working behind the scenes it would seem that the things are out of control?! Yet we take great JOY and PEACE in Jesus' Words in Matthew 6 and "do not worry about tomorrow!"

Demonstation of the Spirit's Power! 5th Sunday after Epiphany Feb. 6, 2011

1 Corinthians 2: "When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power."

Today, we look at the truth of St. Paul's words in his 1st letter to the Church in Corinth where he explains how we are to be "Salt and Light," as we hear in the Gospel lesson. I love to hear what Paul shares about how he preached the good news in Corinth. He says, "I did not preach with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." This is what I so long for, with a passion, to see this happen in our 21st Century church as in the 1st century church! Paul says that we will be much less effective if we just use words! His challenge is for us to model his behavior and rely on the Holy Scriptures and the promises the Lord makes to us in John 14:11-13

¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

This is what we hold on to as we share the good news from our HEART and not just our mind "so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power." May it be so among us!

 

"PRIDEXTOMY" Boasting in foolishness? 4th Sunday after Epiphany, January 30, 2011

The 4th Sunday after Epiphany, January 30, 2011: "Pridextomy!" Boasting in foolishness?
This week we will study St. Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth. The 1st chapter introduces St. Paul's purpose for writing. In the first part of this chapter verses 1-17 he really shows how foolish it is to see the Body of Christ, His Church, divided. He then goes on in the lesson for verses 18-31 to show how foolish our message is to the world. The Cross: a "stumbling block" to the Jews who were waiting for the amazing Messiah that would come to conquer and bring in a great age of victory to the Jewish nation over Rome and every other nation. A perfect time of peace and prosperity. They did not see the "suffering servant" of Isaiah as a picture of the Messiah.The Cross: "foolishness" to the Gentiles. People who look at the world by the level of wisdom, strength and money etc..They can't understand how people could see victory in this despicable gross torture of the crucifixion? So Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, reminds us that our God's foolishness is wiser than man's wisdom. His weakness stronger than man's strength. This is from God's words to Isaiah in

Isaiah 55:8-9(New International Version, ©2011)

 ⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,”
            declares the LORD.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

May we understand that we have nothing in which to boast! I get so tired of churches and christians who make Baptism which is totally God's work as in Genesis 15 when He makes the first Covenant with Abram, be about the amount of water or what we say and/or do! We can see in 1 Corinthians 1 that St. Paul is helping us to have a "pridextomy" so that we may in humility confess: "It is all about God, as is everything we do!" So "Therefore it is written: 'Let the one who boasts boast in the LORD'" 1 Cor 1:31
Tomorrow we will receive all that we boast about from our LORD, HIS presence, HIS promise, HIS power, HIS Supper! Praise that Lord and GLORY (boast) in HIM! 

The Final Life Shape #8: The Octagon: the 8 "P's" of Mission

Life Shape # 8 The Octagon: The 8 “P’s” of MISSION

The octagon has an evangelistic meaning: “evangelism” the sharing of GOOD NEWS will take on a new perspective as one learns to discover the Person of Peace and how the process works from God’s perspective.

The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road. “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. –Luke 10:1-6

The destiny of the church is directly tied to how passionate she remains to her mission. We are to participate in Jesus’ command to go into all the world and make disciples according to the model Jesus has given. In the gospels we see Christ evangelizing, but He did not look like most people do it today.

As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” –Mark 10:17-25

In the story of the rich young ruler, Mark tells us that Jesus genuinely loved him, but He also let him walk away. Michael Simpson in Permission Evangelism has an interesting point… Why did He not try harder to win this man that at first seemed so eager? Jesus could have discussed with him the area of riches that kept him from Jesus. Jesus did not run after him because He already knew the man’s heart. Jesus knew and let him walk. Jesus never ran after anyone, but made Himself available to those who were willing to seek the way to God, the truth about God, and the life found in God.

In John 4:35, Jesus tells His disciples to look up for the harvest is plentiful. Disciples through the ages have made the mistake of thinking that if they just work harder that harvest will come sooner. Look back at the circle and find a kairos moment, then go through the steps of observation, reflection and discussion to find out where the harvest is. Find that place where the greatest level of receptivity is present and spend your time there. Sounds a lot like Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God, to find out where God is working and join Him there.

Person of Peace – Finding the Open Person, or the Gatekeeper:

As the disciple enters a house, the Person of Peace is the one who is prepared to hear the message of the kingdom and the King. Our prayer needs to be that God would bring across our path the Person of Peace. No amount of coercion on our part can make someone a Person of Peace. This is the job of the Holy Spirit; He alone prepares the heart for the message of Christ.

The Third Article of the Creed in Luther’s Small Catechism Of  Sanctification.
I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy Christian (catholic, meaning universal) Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
What does this mean?-- I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.
Paul found the Person of Peace in Acts 16. Unable to go to Asia or Bithynia, they heard the Macedonian call toward Philippi. While there he found Lydia, the dealer in purple cloth, who turned out to be a gatekeeper to many others in the area. While in the Philippian jail, the jailer became a Person of Peace and his whole household, probably including children and infants, were baptized. This is someone whom God has prepared for that specific time. We can’t force the door open, but we must not be distracted so that we miss the doors that are open.

These are things to keep in mind as you look for the person of peace:

Time – There are specific times and places where the harvest is ripe. Not all people of the culture are ready, keep looking. Ask God to help show us when and where the people are ready. Become involved in sowing and reaping. We are to discern the condition of each person’s soul.

Team – Our inward relationships lead to our outward ministry. We are not called to go it alone. The mission-minded church will develop a team strategy for evangelism. Paul had Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Luke and Titus.

Target – Jesus was strategic in His outreach. He knew His disciples could not be in all places at once, so they focused on the lost sheep of Israel. Concentrate on receptive peoples and not force ourselves on those not willing nor ready.

Task – How do we accomplish the task of finding the Person of Peace? The Person of Peace will 1) welcome you (if not you are to shake the dust off your feet), 2) listen to you (those listening to you are listening to Jesus), 3) serve or support you (we must allow this person of peace to do this). Start within your existing circle of influence and relationships. (sometimes those who are being drawn don’t sound welcoming at first)

Trouble – If the teacher is not welcomed, don’t expect that the students will be welcomed either. Expect trouble in our lives. It is not “if” but “when” trouble comes. Our mission into the world has not changed.

As you continue toward the mission God has called you into, keep in mind these issues:

1.      Presence: Jesus is Where You Are – we are to act as Jesus would act and speak as Jesus would speak. We are Jesus “with skin on” for the people in a situation. We model Jesus in every situation. BECOME: our desire to grow in sanctification and Christ-likeness. Being Christ-like at work may help you identify the “Person of Peace” who may be speaking in a positive way while others are complaining.

2.      Passing Relationships: The Sprint – these relationships are those we meet in passing, only once or twice; the gas station mechanic, the store clerk, the stranger in line at the bank, the waitress or waiter at lunch. We must realize that not all relationships lead people to profess Christ as their savior. Allow some to plant, others to water, and others to reap the harvest.

3.      Permanent Relationships: The Marathon – these are family members and close friends with whom we may spend extended periods of time. It is still important not to force the gospel on this group, but we all too often leave this group out of our intentional witness. Jesus in Nazareth. (Mark 6:1-6 and Luke 4:16-30)

4.      Proclamation as Identification: Many pastors have the opportunity to present the gospel at events like weddings and funerals; there are often non-believers present. This is fine as long as we understand that it will not convince anyone that is not ready to receive the message. Proclamation works to help identify the person of peace, then enter into relationship with them. LOVE YPSI, gentle words about the Kingdom being near. Wearing a cross and sharing the gospel if necessary, use words.

5.      Power: Feeling the Presence: Jesus often used the power of God to produce what we see as miracles to find the Person of Peace. Praying for the sick and seeing a miraculous healing may reveal a Person of Peace, whether the one prayed for or simply someone watching. Our God is an awesome God. He will do things to create awe in those who have yet to commit their hearts to him. Luke 4 Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law and then in verse 40: “Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.” We want to be a healing place and we believe and expect it! Talk with people and add Jesus to the conversation. John Wimber: Power Evangelism and Power Healing.

6.      Perception: Feeling the Temperature – we must be spiritually sensitive to situations and circumstances. After relational encounters, ask the temperature of the people in this setting. What may be the signs that someone is interested in learning something about the spiritual realm or about eternity? We should pray for more of the gift of discernment for us and those who are around us in ministry.

7.      Preparation: Moving People Along the Scale of growth– this is like cultivating soil and planting seeds in advance of the harvest. Our words may help turn someone else’s soil, then someone else will come to water or harvest. We must learn to identify the role of pre-evangelism, the events that help move someone toward a positive response to the Holy Spirit drawing them to Christ.

8.      Person of Peace: the final “P” is the Person of Peace. On the symbol it is the Place ready to receive the KEY. Christ is the KEY! The Church is given the Office of the Keys. This is the way Jesus taught us to live and share our faith in the one task we are given in Matthew 28:18 “to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES.” This is the person who the Holy Spirit is working on and who is waiting for us to “Be” Christ’s ambassadors and witnesses in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Tecumseh, Lenawee County, Michigan and the World. It is not dependent on us, but the Lord is asking us to walk through our life with our eyes open and our ears listening to the Spirit as he reveals to us the Person of Peace.

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE OF PEACE IN YOUR LIFE??