The 6th Day of Christmas, 1st Sun of Christmas Dec 30, 2012

Merry CHRISTmas! We are still in the Christmas Season. Next Sunday we will celebrate Epiphany on January 6th. Even though the world has moved on we have 12 days to remember a number of important events in Jesus' life as Emmanuel born in Bethlehem. We hear about His Circumcision and His naming on the 8th Day which is on January 1st. We just celebrated the remembrance of the Holy Innocent's on Friday and we remember the Purification sacrifice this Sunday in our Gospel Lesson as well as the Holy Families journey to Egypt etc... A lot to do in 12 days!

This Sunday we hear about 2 wonderful saints who were faithful and had been faithfully waiting for God to keep HIS promise of a MESSIAH! We meet Simeon and Anna when Joseph and Mary go to the temple to sacrifice for the birth of their firstborn son who they will, by old testament law, dedicate to the Lord...We hear the joy and peace of Christmas in the words of both Simeon and Anna:

Luke 2
²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
²² When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”^[b]), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”^[c]
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you now dismiss^[d] your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
³⁶ There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.^[e] She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
³⁹ When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

We will celebrate the truth of these confessions of faith as we look to the end of Colossians 3 as St. Paul is concluding his teaching on the Supremacy of Christ and the truth of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ and Christ dwelling in us! He is dealing with a heresy of Judaisers who are trying to tell the Gentiles (non-Jews) that they have to become Jews in order to fully and completely be Christians. St. Paul has fought St. Peter, the church in Jerusalem etc.. to keep this from becoming the truth of Christ's Church. The Gentiles are to be grafted into the Vine by being who they are and not become Jews in order to be accepted by Christ. Just as the Lord welcomed the Samaritans and others in His earthly ministry HIS Church should be a reflection of HIS Grace and MERCY! So we hear a great theological exhortation in chapter 1 and 2 of this letter to the Church in Colosse. In chapter 3, St. Paul is concluding his exhortation by telling us that since we have Christ in us we therefore cast off the earthly things and know who we are. We have been teaching this in the Covenant lessons the Father gives us our identity and therefore we are obedient because of who we are in God not in order to gain our identity! Listen to his conclusion:

Colossians 3
¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

What a wonderful conclusion! He then goes on to show some practical application for the word of Christ dwelling in us in regards to how we act as husbands and wives, in all our words and deeds. It is an amazing understanding that we are saved by grace and therefore because of we are chosen and the word of Christ dwells in us we live thankful and faithful lives.

May we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and the word of Christ dwell in us richly! Merry Christmas!

Love in Christ, our Emmanuel (God with US)
Pastor Bryan 

Merry Christmas! December 24, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

From our FAMILY to YOURS: “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Tonight we celebrate the truth of the Coming of the KING in Bethlehem! We recognize the gift of our Savior born this night! We hear the words from Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.⁷ 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.

This is also a time to celebrate what the Lord has done, is doing and will do! This year has brought a great amount of wonderful gifts to our Cross and Resurrection Family. As we strive to be A FAMILY FOR YOU! BELONG, BELIEVE, BECOME! We recognize that the Lord is building us to be who HE wants us to BE…

Our Church Family has many things to be thankful for on this Christmas Eve. First, the new Fellowship Hall has added a tremendous blessing to our programs! Second, the New Kitchen is a huge improvement. The sign is wonderful! New things are happening and the Lord is blessing us! We have the work by all of our GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANTS: our Elders, Church Council, Trustees, Sunday School/Confirmation teachers, Nursery Workers, 12:15 Sunday Bible Study Leaders, Prayer Teams, Healing Ministry leaders /volunteers, Soaking Prayer Team, Youth/College Ministry leaders, cleaners/kitchen volunteers, Altar Guild workers, Lectors, Acolytes, Ushers, Children Sermon presenters, Worship Team members, Greeters, AVL Volunteers, Ann Street Music Room Team, Lunch providers, ESL Teachers, Ladies Retreat Leaders, Homeless Shelter week helpers, Care givers for our sick and homebound, UPWARD Camp coaches & volunteers, Bible Study Leaders (Laura for the Women’s Study and Steve for the Men’s Breakfast), ALIVE! Lenawee County Site small group Leaders and volunteers etc… (I did not try to name everyone, lest I miss someone, although I believe I could as I pray for you all and am SO very thankful for your faithful service!) For our Staff: Vicar Paul has started the Specific Ministry Pastor program and has now, with Jet taking the admin work, thrown himself into the Family and College Ministry area. This is a huge task when you consider that the responsibilities of the job are full time (50-60 hours) plus his SMP (15-20 hrs), plus family with a new baby girl arriving in March, plus Upward etc… Johannes has gone part time working here as well as at Superior Text. He serves faithfully with our Worship Teams, AVL, Ann Street, IT, etc… We had a transition happen when Johannes went part time and Paul started SMP we brought on Jet Whiting as our Administrator. This meant we restructured and replaced my assistant Deaconess Joanne with Jet. We are so thankful for Joanne’s faithful service and are VERY thankful that she continues to serve as a faithful volunteer mentioned in the list above. We are thankful for Norma Polk as our intern with the EIIT Deaconess program. She is taking a few months off, but I hope we will see her finish the program. We are so thankful for Beth and Dave Marshall, our Family Life Ministers for their wonderful service. Thanks to Joe Kosel who is setting up the Prayer Team. We are thankful to Jim Ross and Marsha, Rosemary Fry and others who help us with healing ministry. This means so much to me as I am a thankful receiver of miraculous healing. With the Family of Christ nights on Wednesdays, we are thankful for the work that is done with the studies and the ESL class led by Carol Hart and the volunteers. Thanks so much!

The Lord has been guiding us to change things this year. We have had a good year including: 1 Confirmation, 2 weddings from C&R, (others who were students) 5 new members, 0 transfers out, and 7 baptisms. We had a full year with many additions to the family, not included in these stats. We were blessed with many new additions to our worship services and other activities! We have a new confirmation class that is large for us. The Christmas Pageant has the largest cast yet and we continue to see growth in our Sunday School Classes! We are seeing growth as a church family and we are so thankful for all the servant leaders! We will have our first Huddle for our Servant Leaders group on Feb 8^th and 9^th. May God richly bless us as we move forward aligning our will with HIS WILL!  We have really exciting opportunities before us in the next few years!

We continue to pray for our Lord’s will in the work HE is doing at ALIVE! Our site in Lenawee County. We meet at least once a month. This changed in the summer when we went away from every Sunday services to emphasizing the desire to be a missional community: putting our time and energy into small group studies and service. We go out monthly to have a time together called MASS: Motivation, Accountability, Sacrament & Sharing. Please pray for the Lord to show us what HE wants us to do with these faithful servants who want to impact their county.

On our personal family side of things we are very thankful for the support, prayers and love we receive from our church family! We are so thankful to be serving at Cross and Resurrection. I was telling someone at Rotary that I think I was born to serve here! I have loved serving the Lord in the harvest fields as a youth pastor around Camrose, then a Vicar in Dryden, ON and my first Call in Saskatchewan and then in British Columbia! There has always been amazing faithful servants and loving people of God in these parishes. I just always wanted to be able to share my Spiritual gifts in an environment where all of us ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE ARE COVENANT PEOPLE:  (our Father has given us our identity and we are obedient because of who we are) and WE EXPECT THE KINGDOM: (we know our King has come and HE gives us HIS authority to EXPECT signs and wonders as we walk by HIS POWER!) At Cross and Res I feel completely free to exercise the “Charismata” or “manifestation gifts” of 1 Cor. 12! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING A SAFE AND FAITH FILLED FAMILY FOR US!

We also have gone through exciting and challenging experiences this year. We rejoiced as our NEW grandson JOSIAH JOSHUA BRUDI was born on my birthday, Sept 3! We had a great time at Lake Charlevoix with Bruce and then in St. Ignace after Josiah was born. We just celebrated our first grandson LEVI’s first birthday in November! What an amazing boy, I got to babysit him in Sept when I went to Alberta and BC. This was a joy filled time but also sad since I left the Bible School Board of Directors on which I had served for over 15 years! But I am helping with SEND North America in Indiana, so I am just changing to a closer opportunity to serve. I taught there this year and will in 2013. Patrick Tincher and Peter Comella are the students from Cross & Res, so we hope to have a SEND Unit here at EMU in the future.

We have had other losses this year as we lost a member of our family, Peter Campbell, in October. Laura, BEN and I were at the Pastor’s Conference on Mackinaw Island so this was a traumatic experience for everyone as Josh found him and we were away! Thank you to all who served us in this time of loss! We expect it to take this next year, as we go through all of the family events without him for us to get back to a sort of normal.

Timothy, Meagan and Levi are doing well in Golden, BC. Josh, Sarah and Josiah are going to be around for at least the next 4 years as we rejoice, that even though Josh was accepted at 3 Dental Schools as of now, he is going to go to Detroit Mercy. Sarah will still teach Music for Young Children in our house. Annaliese continues to be busy with music, home school coop and she had a great mission trip to Costa Rica. Annaliese has finished her driver’s education and in the spring she will be able to drive herself and Bethany to music lessons, Bright lights and IFire, as well as run errands. Bethany and Hannah are busy with school, community band, as well as many other activities. Hannah just started to take gymnastic classes. Charity, Trinity and Mercy are doing well, with them all having birthdays around Christmas, we are going to be doing a lot of skating and celebrating! Charity, Trinity and Jeremiah are in Music for Young Children. Charity is in Art Class and the older girls help with MOPS at St. Luke. The boys: Jeremiah and BEN are growing fast. Jeremiah and the younger girls got to go hunting with Josh, this made them very happy. BEN is crazy about any type of ball that he can throw. The girls are busy sewing and Jeremiah is enjoying lego and play mobil. It is a very busy time at Christmas. We were so proud to have all of the children from Sarah to BEN and Josiah in the Christmas Pageant yesterday. Josiah was Baby Jesus! Laura and I are so BLESSED! Thanks again for your prayers, help, support and encouragement! We truly love serving our Lord at Cross and Resurrection!

From both our Church Family and the Schindel Family to all of you: “A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED HAPPY NEW YEAR!!”

As the Angels declared outside of Bethlehem so long ago: “Let us Celebrate the Savior of ALL and be reconciled to God!!” Luke 2:⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Please join us to Celebrate the 12^th Day of Christmas and Epiphany Eve for a skating party at Burr Park on Packard Road in Ann Arbor, 12 noon on Saturday Jan. 5!

Love in Christ, the true reason for CHRISTmas,       

Pastor Bryan, Laura and Family

Anticipate the Prophecy! 3rd Sun in Advent: Dec. 16, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we begin the week in our Anticipate Devotion looking at Zephaniah, whose name means "the Lord hides" or "the Lord protects" who prophesied during the 640-600 BC times. He is a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah and is called upon to proclaim judgement on the unfaithful people in leadership of Judah and those reigning in Jerusalem. It is important to note even though his first two chapters of prophecy are spent in condemnation he does not hear from the Lord only hopelessness. He ends his prophecy with a declaration for all of us to hear as people who belong to God in Christ Jesus and know the redemption and promise of the King who came in Bethlehem and will come again to take us home.

We hear in the lesson from Zephaniah chapter 3:

¹² But I will leave within you
    the meek and humble,
    who trust in the name of the Lord.
¹³ The remnant of Israel will do no wrong;
    they will speak no lies,
    nor will deceit be found in their mouths.
They will eat and lie down
    and no one will make them afraid.”

¹⁴ Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
    shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    O Daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm.
¹⁶ On that day they will say to Jerusalem,
    “Do not fear, O Zion;
    do not let your hands hang limp.
¹⁷ The Lord your God is with you,
    he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
    he will quiet you with his love,
    he will rejoice over you with singing.”

¹⁸ “The sorrows for the appointed feasts
    I will remove from you;
    they are a burden and a reproach to you.^[c]
19 At that time I will deal
    with all who oppressed you;
I will rescue the lame
    and gather those who have been scattered.
I will give them praise and honor
    in every land where they were put to shame.
²⁰ At that time I will gather you;
    at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
    among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes^[d]
    before your very eyes,”
says the Lord.

What an amazing vision for someone who has only seen hopelessness and sin! This week with the massacre in CT we can look at this time of the year when Darkness seems to reign as a time for little hope. I was appalled and grieved by what happened and is happening in our society. The lack of the fear of the Lord, the low regard for LIFE and the desensitization of people toward violence, evil and demonic influence can leave us hopeless. Yet even in the midst of tragedy and sin, satan and true human nature manifest we can look to the prophecy of our God and have HOPE!

May this season of Advent remind us that the way to change the society, the culture, our world and the nation is to have a change of heart. This comes because the KING came in Bethlehem and HE alone can forgive, bind up the brokenhearted and heal! HE alone can give us the vision of HIS KINGDOM! May we see not only the prophecies fulfilled in HIS Birth, Death and Resurrection but HIS promise to be REAL HOPE and bring REAL CHANGE now and in the future. Today we light the Shepherds candle, the pink one, the Candle of JOY. This HOPE in the promise knowing the incarnation of LOVE in Bethlehem leads us to be filled with JOY even in this Dark world. We like John's disciples who were sent to Jesus to ask him if he was the one, need to see and experience what our Lord is doing in order that we may know HE is still in control.
Listen to the response He gives to these seekers in Luke 7
²⁰ When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
²¹ At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. ²² So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy^[b] are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ²³ Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

This is a list of what the MESSIAH was prophesied to do in Isaiah 29, 35 and 61. He is fulfilling scripture and prophecy. HE just wanted John to know HE does what the prophecy says. This is why we ANTICIPATE the PROPHECY!

Let us pray fervently for all the families of those who lost loved ones in CT and that the KINGDOM of God will come quickly as we pray in HIS prayer "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"

Let us anticipate the prophecy so that no matter what we will know that the Lord is with us and the HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE!

Love in Christ our victorious Risen Lord and Savior,

Pastor Bryan

 

Advent 2: Anticipate the KING! Dec. 9, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ our KING,

Today we continue our journey of Advent where we take time to contemplate the meaning of "Christ's Coming," Advent meaning "coming" and his promise to come again to judge the world.

It is very difficult as Christians to really keep the season of Advent. The world wants to move to Christmas on Black Friday, if not before. We seem to rush for Christmas and then start to take down the tree on December 26th, or the latest on the 1st of January, even though Christmas doesn't end until the 5th of January. Unfortunately, when we want to take time to prepare the way for the Lord as we are instructed in Malachi 3 and for which John the Baptist was called in Luke 3 we find that it is a dichotomy of advent to be both preparing for the final coming of Jesus and judgement while also preparing for the great joy of remembering the baby in Bethlehem.

We can spend all of Advent in great JOY of Anticipating the King in Bethlehem! Emmanuel: "God with US" and forget about the tremendous responsibility we have to remember and let others know that the Lord will return at anytime for judgement. Not wanting to be a scrooge I tend toward the JOY part. But there are some, especially this year with the Mayan calendar ending on December 21 who tend toward the fear of the return of Christ, judgement and the end of the world. Both extremes lead us to miss the beauty of both the manger in Bethlehem and the return of our Lord. Both events are a call to refining, washing and preparing!

In Malachi 3:

3 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

⁵ “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁶ “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. ⁷ Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

Malachi is calling us to prepare for the Day of the Lord. He is telling us to prepare and that the Holy Spirit will refine us with fire as gold and silver are refined and wash us clean with alkali, a strong bleaching agent or launderer's soap. This sounds painful and yet we know the Lord disciplines those he loves. We recognize that we are preparing since our Baptism to live as a covenant people knowing the Father has given us eternal life though Christ and named us as his own therefore we are obedient to him because of who we are. Now as we look from the perspective of this side of the Cross we see the empty tomb and our Lord at the right hand of God so we know that the Kingdom of God is near and here. We are already living as kingdom people, for our King has sent His Holy Spirit to refine and purify us, giving us the authority to speak the gospel into this world and the power to live as HIS chosen people. We walk as KINGDOM people. This is what it means when the Lord says "He does not change and he will return to us." He will go on to tell us that we can test him with money and he will show us that if we believe in him for our salvation then our lives, money, possessions etc.. are nothing to worry about.

May we, during this Advent Season, both ANTICIPATE THE JOY OF LOVE THAT GOD SHOWED WITH CHRIST'S BIRTH AS "EMMANUEL" BORN IN BETHLEHEM AND CELEBRATE THE PROMISE OF HIS (THE LION OF JUDAH) RETURN TO JUDGE US. 

Yours in Christ Jesus our Risen Lord and KING,

Pastor Bryan 

Anticipate! Happy New Year! 1st Sunday of Advent Dec 2, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today is the beginning of the Year of our Lord, 2013 in the Church Year Calendar. It may be the only time we get ahead of the world. So HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you think as I do "how privileged we are to be chosen to serve the Lord in His church for this time in history!" We may think it would have been easier in years passed when the culture was more open to Christianity. But if you share my personal vision: "to be a 1st Century Christian in the 21st Century" then you would also be excited to serve the Lord during this pluralistic and relativistic time in history. When we look at the culture into which St. Paul and the other Apostles were called to serve we see a lot of similarities to our time. This should allow us to have an appreciation for how to do ministry today. We have the book of Acts and the Epistles that give us a guide. We recognize that the early church helped people to understand first, that they belong to God in Christ and,as part of HIS Body, belong to the Family of God. The fact that the Lord feels we should represent his body and be his family here in the year 2012-2013 is quite a vote of confidence by our Heavenly Father. So for this reason I can honestly say I ANTICIPATE what the Lord has planned for us!

We at Cross and Resurrection are the family of God both at our EMU site and at Alive! in Lenawee County. We have the privilege of helping all those whom our Lord has called, ALL for whom our Lord died on the Cross (EVERYONE) know that because of Christ's death and resurrection we now belong to the FAMILY! We are "A FAMILY FOR YOU!" So what does this mean as we start the devotion and the Advent Season?

We starting at dinner yesterday (Saturday Dec. 1) with our ANTICIPATE! devotion. The questions in our devotion were "How do you feel about our family? How did Jesus feel about his family? Who did Jesus say was part of HIS family?" These questions led us to appreciate our family. Understand Jesus' respect for his earthly parents, his brothers and sisters and yet loving his Heavenly Father, so much that he gets left in Jerusalem when he is 12 as he is in HIS FATHER'S HOUSE. He will later say about His mother, brothers and sisters: "who is my mother, brothers and sisters" in Matthew, Mark and Luke 8:
¹⁹ Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”²¹ He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

By actually comparing those who were following him to his real family, he acknowledges that this is HIS REAL FAMILY and that we who hear God's word and put it into practice ARE HIS FAMILY!

This helps us to understand, as we start this new year, that we have a covenant relationship with God through Christ. The Covenant means we BELONG to God our FATHER and therefore we have our IDENTITY and we trust and BELIEVE in Christ and then because of our identity and what we believe we are OBEDIENT and BECOME more like HIM.

This is why we ANTICIPATE THE PROMISES. We will use our Jesse Tree to study Jesus' family tree and understand Isaiah 

11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of power,
    the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—
³ and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

We will look at God's original plan in the Garden of Genesis 1-2 then Adam and Eve with his promise to care for them. We will look at Noah and God's promise to protect (Gen 9). We will look at Abraham and Sarah with the promise of blessing in Gen 12 and 15. We will see Isaac as the promise provided in Gen 22. We will hear about Jacob (Israel) in Gen 28 as the promise affirmed and Joseph as the promise of providence in Gen 37. 

We ANTICIPATE THE PROMISES FULFILLED so that we can understand the Kingdom to which we BELONG where the KING of KINGS gives us, HIS Chosen, the AUTHORITY AND THEN HIS POWER by his HOLY SPIRIT to live as HIS family.

Our text today is from Jeremiah 33

⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

¹⁵ “‘In those days and at that time
    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
    he will do what is just and right in the land.
¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved
    and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it^{[or he]} will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteousness.’

This is the WHY we anticipate not only the past and present fulfillment of the gracious promises but also the future as we live as the Family of God in 2013.

My prayer for us is that we would celebrate that the Lord is at work and has great plans for us. Today we will hear a testimonial from a young couple who is preparing to go to Egypt to work and share.

We look forward to seeing what Lord will do!

Love in Christ Jesus the fulfillment of the Promises and the promise keeper who wants us to move forward knowing that we BELONG, trust and BELIEVE in him and BECOME more like him each day,

Pastor Bryan

The Alpha & Omega! Christ the King Sunday, November 25 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we celebrate Christ the KING Sunday! The last Sunday of this church year and the time to celebrate the sovereignty of our amazing God through Christ our KING! As we come to the end of this year we think about how privileged we are to be left here as we continue to serve our KING today. We may have lost loved ones this year who are celebrating with the Lord in Heaven today. As we receive two new members into the family today through HOLY BAPTISM we are reminded how Jesus stated in Luke 15 ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. I know Jesus is referring to lost sheep and lost coins but I believe when parents understand that we are all born sinful and are in need of redemption, then bring their children to be marked with the cross of Christ on their forehead and heart to make them as one REDEEMED by CHRIST THE CRUCIFIED! This is the amazing and awesome truth of who we are in the covenant God makes with us in simple water and HIS mighty Word!

I believe the sermon reading for today is very appropriate as we hear St. John, the last living apostle on the island of Patmos share a Revelation or Vision of who redeems us here in Revelation 1:4b:



Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits^[a] before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

⁷ Look, he is coming with the clouds,
    and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
    and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.
So shall it be! Amen.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

What an amazing sight! He is trying to put into words what he experiences with all his senses. He uses titles that are extremely loaded with meaning: "who is, and who was and who is to come, faithful witness, firstborn from the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth"  I can hear the enthusiasm with which St. John is trying to relay to us his experience. Have you ever had a moment with the Lord that is just hard to put into words? I love how he continues to explain: "to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and father." St. John explains how he is in the presence of Jesus Christ our savior and LORD before the throne. St. John can only cry out "To him be glory and power for ever and ever! AMEN!" He is truly En Theos "in God!" He explains how Jesus is preparing to judge the world and all peoples. 

Then we hear how JESUS describes himself:

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

For us to hear that there is nothing outside of HIS Authority, Power and KINGDOM and time when HE calls himself the Alpha and OMEGA which is the beginning and the end of the Greek Alphabet. It is all inclusive! Then he uses the words that start this introduction "Who is, Who was and Who is to Come." This is all inclusive! In the Old Testament we hear God referring to himself with language that explains him as almighty and Holy, thinking about the calling of Isaiah and the way the we hear HOLY HOLY HOLY IS the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY in similar enthusiasm to what we hear now. When God introduces himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob etc.. he helps us to understand he is eternal and faithful.

May we as God's people understand who we are in the covenant relationship with God through Christ and our identity as well as understanding that we are in the KINGDOM established by God through Christ and HIS blood which gives us HIS authority and the privilege of living in HIS POWER!

May we celebrate this CHRIST THE KING Sunday with enthusiasm and great joy as we join with all of heaven rejoicing that our LORD God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the one who is, who was and who is to come!!

AMEN! COME LORD JESUS!
 
Love in Christ,
Pastor Bryan  

"LET US!" November 18, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today all of heaven rejoices as Charlotte is brought into the KINGDOM as a child who belongs to God. Through simple water and HIS mighty WORD our God puts HIS name upon her forehead and upon her heart to mark her as one redeemed by Christ the crucified and risen Lord and Savior.

Today we also have a "SALAD" sermon. We are talking today about "LET US." We are coming to the end of our study of Hebrews as the author of this letter writes the conclusion of what it means that we have Christ as our great HIGH PRIEST, great Mediator, and our once and for all sacrifice for all the sins of the whole creation: past, present and future! In this section of chapter 10 we hear what it means to have Christ's name written on our hearts, the forgiveness of our sins by the sprinkling of his blood on us for our total cleansing.

We hear this in the Lesson from Hebrews 10:
 ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I always believe when we hear the word "THEREFORE" we know it is time to pay attention. Then when a hebrew writer uses a word three times in a row it tells us that this is very important. He tells us to "LET US" draw near, hold unswervingly and consider how. These are extremely important as we live out the justification won for us on the cross of calvary! We are then told in another "LET US" but this time a warning NOT to give up, but to encourage. He concludes with a reminder not to waste time since the Day of our Lord is closer each day.

May we in appreciation of our salvation by Grace through faith in the work of our Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, spur us toward love and good deeds. LET US draw, hold and consider so that we will have no time to grow apart but to work together, encourage one another and be a family of believers moving together in unity and following the will of our great God.

We are KINGDOM people and I think we need a good diet of roughage or SALAD. May we be a people who are full of LET US:)

I love the fact that we are a family who really does desire the Lord's will to be done among us.

May the Lord bless us each day as we draw near, hold unswervingly and consider how to encourage each other!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Bryan

Jesus the Great Mediator of the NEW Covenant. Veterans Day Nov 11, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today is Laura and my 23rd Anniversary. In Canada it is "Remembrance Day" which helped me never forget my anniversary. Here we celebrate Veterans Day. Today we are looking at the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who voluntary, freely, morally and intentionally gave himself and HIS Blood for our sins to redeem us, save us and sanctify us! We are thankful for the sacrifice of our Veterans and their willingness to put their lives on the line.

The passage we are looking at is the continuation of our journey through Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews is taking us through the long history of the Old Covenant with its rules and law.

The change from the Old Covenant to the NEW shifts in Chapter 9 as the author reminds us that the purpose of worship is to bring us into the presence of the King of Kings. We are not only ushered into the Holy of Holies but we are invited to fellowship with the God of the universe as we had in Genesis. We hear in this lesson the most important truth about the New Covenant:

The Blood of Christ

¹¹ When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here,^[b] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,^[c] so that we may serve the living God!
¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
¹⁶ In the case of a will,^[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷ because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. ¹⁸ This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. ¹⁹ When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”^{[e] 21} In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. ²² In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
²³ It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. ²⁵ Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

We see that as Jesus said to the man in our Gospel lesson "you are not far from the Kingdom of God" we now know that we are being ushered into the REAL TRUE Presence of God through the blood of the NEW Covenant in Holy Communion and in the worship and fellowship we share as the Body of Christ.

It is amazing that the Lord not only cleanses us but HIS blood also gives us the power to live as HIS Children.

May we join together in celebrating the truth of Jesus' last will and testament the truth of the NEW Covenant and the invitation to rejoice in the presence of God, forgiven and free from our sins under the law and filled with the Holy Spirit to live each day as NEW Creatures and people of the KINGDOM.

Praise the Lord that He is the Great Mediator between God and US!

Pastor Bryan 

October 28, 2012 Reformation Sunday: Freedom!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we celebrate the 495th anniversary of the posting of the 95 Theses on Church door in Wittenberg Germany by Dr. Martin Luther. (check them out at: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html ) Even though we will have a Reformation celebration on this Wednesday, October 31 at 6:00pm we are celebrating this important date this Sunday.  It was a strange change that happened over a simple academic exercise that was designed to inform the debate that would happen on All Hallows Day or as we call it today "All Saints Day" on November 1st when many would gather around the relics on this high feast day. The theologians would debate doctrinal issues. This was not supposed to change the world of the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church. It was because of the Gutenberg Press (1450) that allowed these statements for debate to be copied and sent out to so many.

Martin Luther was not trying to start a new church but reform the Holy catholic (universal Christian) Church. His points have to do with his understanding of Grace and undeserved mercy that he had been discovering more and more in Holy Scripture and how this was inconsistent with the selling of indulgences etc...

Here is how the History Channel summarized the event:

On this day (October 31st) in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.

In his theses, Luther condemned the excesses and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the papal practice of asking payment—called "indulgences"—for the forgiveness of sins. At the time, a Dominican priest named Johann Tetzel, commissioned by the Archbishop of Mainz and Pope Leo X, was in the midst of a major fundraising campaign in Germany to finance the renovation of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Though Prince Frederick III the Wise had banned the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg, many church members traveled to purchase them. When they returned, they showed the pardons they had bought to Luther, claiming they no longer had to repent for their sins.

Luther's frustration with this practice led him to write the 95 Theses, which were quickly snapped up, translated from Latin into German and distributed widely. A copy made its way to Rome, and efforts began to convince Luther to change his tune. He refused to keep silent, however, and in 1521 Pope Leo X formally excommunicated Luther from the Catholic Church. That same year, Luther again refused to recant his writings before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Germany, who issued the famous Edict of Worms declaring Luther an outlaw and a heretic and giving permission for anyone to kill him without consequence. Protected by Prince Frederick, Luther began working on a German translation of the Bible, a task that took 10 years to complete.

The term "Protestant" first appeared in 1529, when Charles V revoked a provision that allowed the ruler of each German state to choose whether they would enforce the Edict of Worms. A number of princes and other supporters of Luther issued a protest, declaring that their allegiance to God trumped their allegiance to the emperor. They became known to their opponents as Protestants; gradually this name came to apply to all who believed the Church should be reformed, even those outside Germany. By the time Luther died, of natural causes, in 1546, his revolutionary beliefs had formed the basis for the Protestant Reformation, which would over the next three centuries revolutionize Western civilization.

Today we will look at Jesus' words 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.

These words really summarize what Dr. Martin Luther was discovering. We know that his study of Romans 3:9-28

 

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Righteousness Through Faith

²¹ But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 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. ²⁵ God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,^[i] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
²⁷ Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

As well as Ephesians 2:1-10
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It became evident through Dr. Luther's study of these passages and more that we should not need to go through "purgatory or purification" and that we do not have "infused grace" rather as he discovered complete true grace is "total." He used the 95 Theses to jump start the discussion of the love and grace of God "who is rich in mercy" as we see our justification, or "salvation" as a gift not something we pay for or receive from re-sacrificing Christ in the Mass, or buying indulgences to release us or our relatives from Purgatory. 

Why is it that we have so much trouble with getting this gift, rather than working for it? Well I have experienced this my whole life. We want to work our way to God. We want to do things our way! This is why the selling of indulgences, the treasury of Merits (bank that the indulgences were drawn on) and the need to do things to please an Angry God made sense to the human nature of mankind in the 16th century as it does in the 21st century. It is that faith or "trust" we have been talking about that is counter to our human sinful understanding. We are called to be known by God and to intimately know (Yada) HIM! Dr. Luther would later say that there are only 2 religions in the world 1) Where we worship a God who we must do things to reach and is only transcendent and we need to appease which summarizes almost the entire human understanding of religion. 2) the true religion that understand God came to us and died for us this is true faith and trust in the GRACE of our Lord.

Martin Luther came to conclusions at the end of his 95 Theses summarizing them in this way:

82. To wit: -- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial."

83. Again: -- "Why are mortuary and anniversary masses for the dead continued, and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded on their behalf, since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"

84. Again: -- "What is this new piety of God and the pope, that for money they allow a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God, and do not rather, because of that pious and beloved soul's own need, free it for pure love's sake?"

85. Again: -- "Why are the penitential canons long since in actual fact and through disuse abrogated and dead, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences, as though they were still alive and in force?"

86. Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?"

87. Again: -- "What is it that the pope remits, and what participation does he grant to those who, by perfect contrition, have a right to full remission and participation?"

88. Again: -- "What greater blessing could come to the Church than if the pope were to do a hundred times a day what he now does once, and bestow on every believer these remissions and participations?"

89. "Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks the salvation of souls rather than money, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons granted heretofore, since these have equal efficacy?"

90. To repress these arguments and scruples of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and to make Christians unhappy.

91. If, therefore, pardons were preached according to the spirit and mind of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved; nay, they would not exist.

92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Peace, peace," and there is no peace!

93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no cross!

94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell;

95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations, than through the assurance of peace.

  
May we understand the truth of GRACE by SCRIPTURE through FAITH the words that define the Reformation and lead us to understand the FREEDOM we have a Kingdom people who KNOW and TRUST our God to give us the gift of salvation (100% Justification) so that we are empowered by this GRACE to live a life worthy of our calling. We will then pursue "the works prepared beforehand for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10) 

May you celebrate the anniversary of the Reformation/Transformation of the Christian Church on Wednesday as the rest of the World celebrates Halloween. (All Hallows EVE)

Please remember to bring candy to hand out on Wednesday. We will start our Reformation Celebration at 6:00pm, as usual for our Family of Christ night every Wed, with food. We will worship from 6:45-7:15 and then have the LUTHER movie at 7:20. Please join us for this celebration!

Your brother in Christ,
Pastor Bryan