The Season of Prayer and Reflection Lent 1 Feb 26, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

On Ash Wednesday we began our 40 days of prayer for the City. Today we celebrate our first Sunday in Lent, which is not in the 40 days of Lent, because Sundays are not counted since we remember the Resurrection on this day. We are focusing our Sermon Series for Lent on "Prayer" specifically the petitions of the Lord's Prayer as a model for HOW we are to pray. In Matthew 6, our Gospel for Ash Wednesday Jesus continues where we left off by sharing HOW we should pray:
⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.    ⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.^[a]’ (*Jesus goes on to speak on fasting, seeking and asking which makes sense in this wonderful Sermon on the Mount.)
In the other Gospel, Luke 11:  ¹ One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” ² He said to them, “When you pray, say" it is because the Disciples want to pray as John's disciples did. 

Either way when we see the Disciples in our Gospel lesson today, Matthew 26:36-44

Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.” When He came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So He left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. 

The disciples get an example of HOW to pray with passion and not just the words. In our second lesson from Acts 4:23-31 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.’ Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable Your servants to speak Your word with great boldness. Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. We can see that they have been taught well and not only understand HOW to approach God but HOW to pray!

Today we are going to look at the Introduction and First Petition of the Lord's Prayer from Luther's Small Catechism:

III. The Lord's Prayer

As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household.

Our Father who art in heaven.

What does this mean?--Answer.
God would thereby [with this little introduction] tenderly urge us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children, so that we may ask Him confidently with all assurance, as dear children ask their dear father.

The First Petition.

Hallowed be Thy name.

What does this mean?--Answer.

How is this done?--Answer.
When the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we as the children of God also lead holy lives in accordance with it. To this end help us, dear Father in heaven. But he that teaches and lives otherwise than God's Word teaches profanes the name of God among us. From this preserve us, Heavenly Father.

We are so thankful that the Lord Jesus modeled prayer for us in our Gospel, and the Apostles modeled prayer in Acts 4 and then in our Old Testament we see Abraham approaching God about the situation in Sodom and we can see Abraham understood the importance of knowing WHO we are in relation to OUR FATHER and HOW we should pray!

Today we will be celebrating the New Life that God is giving to Cameron Barker in Holy Baptism and therefore the relationship we have with the Father is really evident when we see the Water and the Word used to claim Cameron as the Lord's own and we will join in celebrating as Jesus explained in Luke 15:  ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 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.

Today we celebrate and rejoice that we are God's Children, redeemed by Christ's blood and chosen in the Covenant of Baptism! I look forward to celebrating why we start our prayers with Adoration of the name of our God and our relationship with this Holy and Almighty God, our creator, in Christ when we can call him OUR FATHER or ABBA! Awesome way to start our season of prayer and reflection.

See you tomorrow.

Love in Christ,
Pastor 

 

Kingdom 701: Kingdom Transformation on Transfiguration Sunday Feb 19/12

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today we celebrate the end of the Epiphany Season with the Sunday of the Transfiguration. We hear the amazing truth of our Lord TRANSFIGURING before his closest disciples, as well as Moses and Elijah. This is truly a great ending to the study that we have been following. As we began the "Kingdom of Heaven" Series with the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday and the words of God saying to HIS SON: "This is my son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased!" we hear the book end to this amazing ministry of Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration. We hear in Matthew 17: After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”  When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.  But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Don’t be afraid.”  When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
This Sunday we close the series with the words of God again, as the cloud envelopes them, he says: "This is my son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased! Listen to him!" What do we hear in these proclamations of God the father, exactly the same, but with these very important words added: "Listen to HIM!" The exhortation is what we take away as we have studied who we are as Kingdom People, Children of the KING, A Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation, A people belonging to GOD! We know we belong, we know we have been called, we know we have the authority over demons, disease, death and nature because Jesus does, we know we have authority and are SENT to be his apostles, as well as disciples! We know that the Lord wants us to do even greater things than he did (John 14) we know that we live out the Authority and Power as we share the secrets of the kingdom (Matthew 13). It is in the final words of Matthew 7 that make the words of God on the Mt. of Transfiguration so important. The truth of the Trinity at the Baptism of our Lord, the ripping of the heavens in Mark's account, the picture here on the mount of the discussion of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem and the CROSS in Luke's account, harken back to Jesus' words at the end of his Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7: ²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”  ²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. 
"Listen to HIM!" is what Jesus is referring to when he states that we are wise when we hear his words and put them into practice. Last Sunday we heard in Matthew 13: ¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” ¹¹ He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:   “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’^{[Isaiah 6:9-10]
   16} But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
May we be amazed by the story of our LORD "turning inside out" on the Mt of Transfiguration and may we like Peter want to stay there but my prayer is that we will hear and see, listen and understand....
The KINGDOM is HERE and NEAR may we walk in Christ's Authority and Power as we live out the truth of who we are and what we are called to do! I hope we walk in the Power of the Holy Spirit and maybe we will be blessed as Elisha, when he saw Elijah taken up in the chariot, to be given a double portion (2 Kings 2) so that we can really do what the Lord asks of us trusting is HIS POWER! It is a great reminder that we are called to be "R12" Followers of Jesus who do as St. Paul says in 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.

What a great way to go into the Lenten Season of prayer and reflection. This year we are doing 40 Days of Prayer and the gift of the LORD'S PRAYER which will be our Sermon Series, as well as the evening services on Wednesdays @ 7:01pm studying the Feasts of the BIBLE by a Messianic Jewish Rabbi. The Children will be having a study on the Animals of Lent. Every Wednesday we will have a pot-blessed dinner at 6:15. This WEEK: We are going to be having a pancake lunch and supper on FAT, (SHROVE) Tuesday for the Students. We are also going to have Pancakes and sausage for the meal from 5:30-6:40 on Ash Wednesday with the Service starting at 6:45pm ending at 8. We will have an Ash Wednesday Lunch Hour Service from 12:10-12:50.

May we continue to live in this Covenant with our Lord and in His Kingdom Power even as we enter this Lenten Season!

Love in Christ our Transfigured, Crucified and Risen Savior and LORD,
Pastor Bryan

601:Kingdom Power: Go Sow! Let God Grow!! Feb 12, 2012

Hello Cross and Resurrection family!

Today we will be having a great celebration for the Dedication of our New Fellowship Hall and the New Sign out front at the EMU Site!! There will be no 12:15 Service this Sunday and the "ALIVE! Lenawee County" site will be joining us.
Pastor Roosevelt Gray will be sharing on Matthew 13 and the parable of the Sower as we continue to learn about the Kingdom and the Power to live it out. He is sharing on our planting the seed and God growing it. The Old Testament Lesson from Jeremiah 17 reminds us that we are cursed if we rely on our human strength and St. Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians in 1 Cor 3 that we plant the seeds, we help water but GOD makes it GROW! Please join us to hear a great preacher and friend of our Cross and Resurrection family!
Below is what Paul Knickelbein sent out for us to remember what is happening! See you at Church!
Pastor

From Paul: I wanted to send a quick update out to our Cross and Resurrection Family!

1)  Celebration Time  This Sunday - at our 10:15 service, Pastor Roosevelt Gray will lead us in celebration and dedication of our fellowship hall.  Come and celebrate with us and stay for the meal afterwards!

2)  True EMU Faith and Family Day  Are you interested in seeing EMU play basketball?  If so - there are vouchers for a ticket, hot dog and pop for only $3 on EMU's faith and family day (February 25th) on the table near Joanne's desk.  Help yourself!

3)  Red Cross Blood Drive  On the podium just outside the sanctuary - a sign-up sheet is waiting for your signature!  In order to have the red cross come out - they need to see that there are at least 45 people that are interested in donating blood.  You are NOT committing to donating - just stating that you are interested.  If you are - please sign up!

4)  Meal Sign-up  It is a huge blessing for students and for our congregation to be able to fellowship and enjoy a meal together between services.  Starting next week, however we have some holes.  Please prayerfully consider signing up to host a meal!

5)  Lenten Wed Evenings Schedule  Wednesday, February 22nd is Ash Wednesday.  We will gather together as a family and share a pot luck meal in the fellowship hall starting at 6:15.  Right at 7:00, we will move to the sanctuary for a time of worship and praise (about 15 minutes)  The adults will stay in the fellowship hall and have a bible study about the feasts of the bible.  Books are $8 each and we encourage you to sign up for one at Joanne's desk.  The children will move back to the fellowship hall to have a study on "Let all creation Sing!"  Lenten Lessons from the Animals of the Season.  This should be a great family time!  Please plan on attending!

6)  Lent devotion books  There are lent devotion books on the table for you to take home and enjoy.  There are a number of different types.  Find the one(s) that apply best to you or your family and take one home.  (they are free for the taking!)

7)  Prayers for me  I covet your prayers right now...  My sister's 38 day old baby girl, Eva passed away early yesterday morning.  We will be leaving to be with them in Wisconsin Saturday night / Sunday morning and spending the week with them there.  Please pray for the peace for my sister Carrie, her husband Christopher and their 5 boys that can only come from the Lord and knowing that Eva is up in His arms!

Thanks for being a part of our family here at Cross and Resurrection!

-Paul

Kingdom 501: Kingdom Power: Living out HIS Authority! Feb 5, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today we continue our journey through Jesus' teaching on "Kingdom." Last week we looked at "Kingdom Authority," what it meant and how Jesus showed us His authority, as the "author and perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12.) Now we enter the phase of Jesus' teaching were we see in action what we talk about in the leadership and discipleship square phase 4: "you do, I watch." This is where Jesus take his disciples (learners, following a rabbi) who are following him as he teaches by example how to know the Kingdom is at hand, near and here! Now Jesus takes these disciples "followers" and calls them forward to SEND them out: "Apostles (sent ones or messengers)!" In Matthew 10 we see Jesus calling his disciples to him in verse 1. He then gives them AUTHORITY to drive out evil spirits (demons) and heal every disease and sickness! Just as we talked about last week, the exact things that HE WAS DOING! They were being ordained, set apart, commissioned to go out and do what the author had been doing. They were to be HIS "AMBASSADORS" or HIS "Representatives!" You see in verse 2 that the word changes as Matthew lists their names from "Disciple" to "Apostle."

Matthew 10:1-20
¹ He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil^[a] spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
 ² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
 ⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. ⁶ Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. ⁷ As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,^[b] drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. ⁹ Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; ¹⁰ take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
   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. ¹⁵ I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. ¹⁶ I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
   ¹⁷ “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰ for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

How many of us does the Lord want to call out today and send forth into all the world as his messengers or "apostles?" ALL OF US!! I think it is telling that the Lord warns them of the dangers. Gives them strict boundaries but expects them to do what he has been doing when he states in verse 7-8 "⁷ As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,^[b] drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." I think we should expect to have the same message because we serve the same Lord! Hebrew 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!" It is time for us, his followers, to see the Holy Spirit at work and live out the authority that we have been given in Matthew 28 and preach the message the "The Kingdom of heaven is NEAR!!"


I can't wait to see what the Lord will do as we live out the calling he has placed on our lives expecting to do what He has done! I am really hoping to see what Jesus meant when he said to Philip and the twelve in John 14: " ⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 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 miracles themselves. ¹². ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." Living out HIS AUTHORITY is the power of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at work in HIS People!


May we see now, what we pray "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!"




Love,
Pastor Bryan

*For those who were planning to come to the Lutheranism 101 class tomorrow the SuperBowl seems to be happening at the same time so it is postponed until next Sunday. The nerve of them putting it at the same time as our class:)