Author: Evangelism

September 21, 2025                                                                                    Text:  1 Timothy 2:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Were you aware that in the United States there is Museum of Peace and Quiet?  I looked it up this week and it said, “Closed until further notice.  Thank you for your patience.”  How ironic is that?  I saw a picture of the museum, but I have no idea in what city it is located.  Museum of Peace and Quiet closed until further notice.

            Those are two words we often put together – peace and quiet.  Maybe you said to a group of people, “Can I get a little peace and quiet around here?”  Or you tell your spouse, “What a stressful day, I can use some peace and quiet.”  What are we requesting?  Distance.  Non-disturbance.  Relaxation.  Calm.

            Like the disciples on the Transfiguration mountain, we can’t stay in a state of peace and quiet.  We have to face the world.  We have to go to our job.  We have to bathe the children.  Peace and quiet is transitory at best.  Jesus knew this quite well.  Surrounded by crowds, but needing space at times.  He relished peace and quiet.  What did Jesus usually do with His peace and quiet?  He prayed.  He found calmness in a posture of prayer.  Today St. Paul leads Timothy to the same thing  . . .

“QUIET TIME IN CHRIST BRINGS PEACE”

            The text begins, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (v. 1-4).

            Our hands make supplication for everyone.  A “supplication” is a humble and earnest entreaty on behalf of someone else based on thoughtful awareness of another’s need.  Hands that pray for others.  Hands that pray for those who have authority.  We pray with thanks for everyone.  People, even problem people, fit somewhere in God’s plan for our lives.  To give thanks for everyone then is to trust that everyone in my life somehow fits into God’s greater plan for His life and mine.

            Paul even here includes “kings.”  Paul was a citizen of Rome.  Historically Paul is asking the church to pray for Nero, a notorious emperor of the Roman empire.  We are taught that governing authorities are instituted by God and put in place by God.  We then honor and respect and pray for them.  When we pray for a stable civil government, it allows us as Christians to carry out our vocations unhindered and without harassment.  The uncommon peace and prosperity of the Roman Empire, the so-called Pax Romana, opened many doors for Paul to carry out his ministry throughout the Mediterranean world.

            God desires that all people be saved.  Peace and quiet can occur when we are praying for each other.  Prayer changes the way we look at one another.  In Christ Jesus we are no longer content to remain at odds with someone we have just prayed for.  Now we want them to have the best – Christ Jesus.

            Prayer changes the way we think about the world and our place in it.  In Christ the universe is not some hopeless place.  It is God’s world, He has and still does great things in it.  Prayer transforms the heart into a peaceful, quiet place that wants everyone to know the peace and quiet God’s love brings in Christ Jesus. 

            Our text reminds us of this, “There is one God, one mediator between God and man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” (v. 5-6a).  So many miss this teaching of God’s Word.  Christ is the only Mediator,  Atoning Sacrifice, High Priest, Intercessor.  We do not call on saints for help.  We pray to Jesus, the Savior from sin and death.

            In the peace and quiet of Christ we are given opportunity for personal witness.  We join our prayer with the prayer of our brothers and sisters around the cross and altar that one day all people may be saved and “come to a knowledge of the truth.”

            I’ve shared this before, but it is worth repeating today.  I had one grandpa living when I was born, and he died two year later.  One of my grandma’s re-married my senior year of high school.  I had a grandpa – Grandpa Dan.  He taught me how to hit my seven iron around the green and to kick my ball to the fairway if under a tree.  He was a faithful Christian man.  He lived past one hundred, but was ready to go long before then.  He would question me about this.  I reminded him God had plans for him.  On his 100^th birthday his son got up with a similar story and told him, “Dad, you can be praying for all of us.”  I’m sure he did.  In peace and quiet times, he went to the Lord in prayer for his family.  The gathering that day was a room full of Christian believers.  Grandpa Dan’s prayers have helped us to stay that way.  Quiet time in Christ Brings Peace.

                                                                                    Amen.  

September 14, 2025 – Christian Education     Texts:  Ex. 15:22-26, 1 John 4:1-6, Matt. 17:1-5

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Communication.  A couple of months ago Toni, Holden and I went down to Decatur to take my dad out to eat for his birthday.  We then went and had his favorite dessert, and he opened his gifts.  As we were enjoying the dessert my dad was gushing with thanks for everything we had done for him.  Toni then piped up and said, “Doug, we want you to remember this when we have to take your keys away!”  I just about choked on my strawberry shortcake I was laughing so hard. 

            Have you ever been in a situation like that where somebody says something that just totally surprises you?  You may even ask, “What did you say?”  Today is our Christian Education Sunday and we are focusing in on three texts that all have to do with listening.  Are we hearing God’s Word?  Are you ever surprised by it?  Can the writers of Scripture catch you off guard? 

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

            Listening is a skill.  When it comes to listening, there are mainly two types of people.  One is the person that is listening to what you have to say.  They then follow up with a question and take an interest in you.  The other person is the guy or gal who half hears you but as soon as you say something that relates to them, they have their own story, and they leave you behind.  Many are a combination of the two.

            In the Old Testament Book of Exodus, the Israelites had a lot of moments when they said to Moses, “What did you say?”  They never really listened to him or the message he was bringing from the Lord.  The grumbling in our text was the first of many.  Their water was bitter, and they could not drink it.  Similar to our Bloomington water this year. 

            Anyway, Moses took action and the Lord made the water sweet.  The Lord then told them, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” (v. 26)

            Isn’t the Lord’s timing, right on?  What was big in the news this week?  The health of our nation.  Our life experiences lead to certain assumptions.  Former generations thought first about priests and prayers when they got sick, we think of doctors and drugs.  That our lives are in the hands of God seem remote – even irrelevant.  Missing meds is a bigger problem than missing church.  It seems that what I do, more than God, determines my present and future well-being.  As this mindset grows across the globe, religion declines.

            The Lord tells us he is our healer.  What did you say?  We look to Him for our health and sustenance, using the gifts He has provided.  He sent the greatest healer ever into our lives.  The one who could heal body and soul.  It is right here in God’s Word.  Jesus Christ. 

            The apostle John writes in our Epistle, “By this you know the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” (v. 2-3a). To confess the man Jesus Christ as Lord and God in the flesh is the confession of the apostolic eyewitnesses.  The apostles saw, heard, and touched the resurrected Christ.  John then writes, “Whoever knows God listens to us.”  We recognize and listen to the true teaching of Christ.  In worship, in a bible study, in Sunday school, in a devotion.  Instead of “what did you say?” we rejoice in what was said.  How many times has the Lord of life comforted you with his Words?  How many times has a verse spoken to you?  How many times during your day do you recall the reminder that you are loved and saved by Jesus?  Forgiven by grace.  Heard through prayer.

            In our Gospel not only were disciples thinking, “what did you say,” they must have also been thinking, “what is going on here.”  But they heard this, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (v. 5b)

            Moses had foretold that God would raise up a prophet to whom the people should listen.  Jesus was that prophet.  He alone knows the Father, who has handed over all things to His Son.  Our Lutheran Confessions state, “All who want to be saved ought to listen to this preaching.  For the preaching and hearing of God’s Word are the Holy Spirit’s instruments.  By, with, and through these instruments the Spirit desires to work effectively, to convert people to God, and to work in them both to will and to do.”

            So, how did you listen today?  Was it “What did you say?”  Or “I heard God’s Word through the Holy Spirit.”

 Amen.         

September 7, 2025                                                    Text:  Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

            This morning, we will sing as our closing hymn, LSB #738.  It is titled “Lord of All Hopefulness.”  The first line is this, “Lord of All Hopefulness, Lord of all joy.”  The rest of the hymn has the theme of what the Lord grants to us through different parts of the day. 

            The hymn was written by Jan Struther.  She was an English poet who also wrote the book Mrs. Miniver which became an award-winning movie.  Ms. Struther lived next to an Anglican priest and knowing her poetry he asked her to compose words that could be made into hymns.  Nothing unusual about that, except Jan Struther was an agnostic.  While I did learn she attended church, it seems she didn’t believe any of what she was writing for the priest.  Later in life she would suffer depression, be in a mental institution and she died in her 50’s from cancer. 

            In Adult Bible study now, we are studying hymns.  Scripture used, reason for the writing, learning about the authors.  It has been interesting.  The studies have penetrating questions.  With this hymn we might ask:  Does knowing the hymnwriter is agnostic make a difference when you sing it?  Will the words of hopefulness and joy be lessened because Ms. Struther was so depressed?  I would answer it “no” and “no.”  God uses all his people in ways he sees fit and maybe just maybe, before she died she remembered what she had written about Christ and what He did for her.

            Jan Struther is a picture of life in this world.  The competing forces of good and evil, life and death.  Don’t we all know someone struggling in their faith?  Someone looking for answers who is outside the church?  Let’s walk the path and see . . .

“THE LORD IS YOUR LIFE”

            In our existence as human beings we make choices.  What Moses has written here today is a text full of choices.  Worship the true God and follow His ways and live or worship other gods and perish.  Pretty simple, really.  Who is in control of your life?

            What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.  Look at your world.  Everything man does is to the glory of man; to satisfy personal comfort and greed; to honor mother earth and humankind; to feed man’s desires for money, things, power, lusts; to exalt himself with honors in the here and now; to use language that has no place in a civilized society.

            It surprises none of us that we are surrounded by death and evil.  Let’s be clear:  the mass killings are not a recent phenomenon.  I read this week about a family in rural Iowa killed by a hatchet in 1912.  Look at the killing in the Old Testament.  Multiple deaths and what precipitates it has always been in the heart of man.  Evil?  Don’t you think some people get up each day and think to themselves – how can I screw with society today.  Let me use words and depravity and leave my common sense at the door.  If there is a God, He owes man.  Yes, it is rough, let us not deny that.

            It’s a constant process – a check on life – which voices are guiding, comforting, and preparing us?  God warns, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6a). Lack of knowledge comes from ignorance of the Word.  God help us to think, pray, and act on the truth:  “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Ps. 119:105)

            Our text, “The Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” (v. 20)

            I know we are not headed to an earthly promised land.  Everything in the Old Testament pointed to concerning Christ’s First Coming has been fulfilled.  We are looking forward to the eternal.  But the truth of what Moses speaks is relevant today:  The Lord Is Your Life.  The words of Jesus, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

            Martin Luther wrote this about Jesus in a sermon from 1540:  “He sacrifices himself on the cross, becomes a sinner and a curse…he dies a shameful death, all for the benefit of the whole human race, to redeem it from the eternal curse.  All who believe that their sin and the sin of the world are laid on our dear Lord, who was baptized and nailed to the cross for our sin…receive forgiveness and eternal life.  Christ’s baptism, cross and blood become their own.”

            What is the crucial issue of life?  Standing next to the casket of a loved one, it isn’t hard to figure out.  Let’s hear it again:  “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

THE LORD IS YOUR LIFE.

                                                Amen.