Sermon Texts

April 28, 2019                                                                              Text:  Revelation 1:4-18

Dear Friends in Christ,

            It is that time of year when different media outlets try to question who Jesus is, what He did and if He was really resurrected.  A few shows I saw just this past week were “The Real Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Lost Years of Jesus.”  With church attendance going down and down at least they are still talking about the Savior.  The debate continues to prove that the Lord is alive and well. 

            The disciples’ witness of Acts 5 proves that even under threat of death and prison they could not stop telling what God had done.  Peter and the apostles answered the authorities with this, “We must obey God rather than men.  The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.  God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior…we are witnesses to these things.”

            Today with John’s Book of Revelation as our backdrop we take comfort in knowing that Jesus is . . .

“ALIVE FOREVERMORE!”

            Some 60 years after the witness of the apostles only John still remained alive.  Almost 100 years old he was exiled to the island of Patmos because of his testimony about Jesus.  Here is a portion of our text:

            “Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.  To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood . . . ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (v. 5 & 8)

            Why does the world have such a hard time believing the resurrection even after all the eyewitness accounts?  Because people know that the resurrection of Jesus calls for repentance.  They don’t want to admit or recognize that someone died in their place or had to die in their place.  They don’t need Jesus and feel like they are doing o.k. on their own.

            What about us?  We too would like to think sometimes that we are o.k. on our own.  I can handle this.  I can take care of this.  Is it a family problem?  A health problem?  A recurring sin problem?  We have experience and know that this type of thinking just makes things worse.  We need the One who has freed us from our sins.  We need the One who is the Alpha and the Omega.  Like our culture we can’t fit Jesus into a box of our own thinking.  We can’t reduce Him to a category we can explain.  The Jesus of Scripture will not allow Himself to be limited by us.

            The apostolic witness is clear:  Jesus bodily rose from the dead.  That fact supersedes everything.  When John saw him, he said, “I fell at his feet though dead.  But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’” (v. 17-18)

            Have you ever had the opportunity to watch a funeral director crank shut the lid of a casket?  Jesus has the key that opens every casket.  He will speak, “Come out of there.”  We will rise, just as He said. 

            Yes, we die a real death.  Jesus also truly died – no one took His place.  He rose from the dead and is alive forevermore.  He will raise us and give us life that never ends.

            What proofs do we have of this resurrection?  The continued existence of the Christian Church for over 2,000 years.  The apostles who were martyred for their faith.  The eyewitnesses who touched him, saw him, ate with him.  It is a matter of public record that the grave was empty (Matt. 28:11-15).  No one went looking for the body.  None of the disciples ever changed their testimony.  Saul the persecutor was turned into Paul the Preacher.  The explosive growth of Christianity in the face of constant opposition.

            There is another reason and it is what we are doing right now.  Gathering for worship on a Sunday.  For centuries, Jewish believers gathered on the Sabbath, on Saturday.  Suddenly and without turning back, Jewish believers in Jesus began to worship on Sunday – the Lord’s Day.  What changed their deeply held practice?  Only something as fundamental as a real Sunday-morning resurrection from the dead.  Also, as we gather on Sunday believers for 2,000 years have been acting on the Lord’s command, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”  You and I join today that long line of believers who trust that behind forms of bread and wine there will stand, by the power of His Word, the living Lord Jesus Christ, giving us His body and blood.

            As the Church of Jesus Christ continues to be persecuted around the world and close to home we hear our Lord’s Words:  “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died, and I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hell.”  In the name of this Jesus.

                                                                        Amen.     

April 21, 2019 – Easter                                                                   Text:  Exodus 15:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Do you like to play the odds?  Odds of winning the multi-state power-ball?  One in 185 million.  If you are a high school baseball player the odds of making the majors?  One in 6,600.  Odds of being struck by lightning?  One in 3 million.  Odds of you listening to most every word of this sermon?  One in 10.  Take a look around who is that attentive human being?

            The most important “what are the odds” question is this.  What are the odds that a man, brutally beaten and then crucified by the Roman Empire, would come back to life?  No one is going to let you lay odds on that because it is astronomical.  But get this – it happened.  It really happened!  Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!

            The goal of this sermon is for us to profess Easter and to possess Easter.  Easter happened.  That’s profess.  Easter is happening in me.  That’s possess.

            We wrap our Lenten sermon series today as we come to Exodus 15.

“AGAINST ALL ODDS!”

            The drama begins in Exodus 1:11 when we are told the Egyptians would be the slave masters of the Israelites.  They would make their lives bitter.  But it gets worse.  You may remember from the sermon on Ash Wednesday that the quota per day for the Israelites was 3,000 bricks – in the heat, all day, every day.  It gets worse.  When they flee the powerful Egyptian army chases them – there is going to be hell to pay.  It gets worse.  They complain to Moses, “Did you bring us out into this desert just to die?”

            Just when they are up against the odds our text states, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.” (v. 4)  No wonder the Israelites sing in verse 2, “The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation.”  This is the first Hallelujah.  All of this is just a prelude and preview into the Bible’s greatest against all the odds story.

            People opposed Jesus early in His ministry.  Pharisees plot with Herodians.  Detractors think he is demon possessed.   Scribes test with Torah trivia.  His brothers ridicule him.  It gets worse.  Christ will have hell to pay.

            Once arrested, Jesus is bound, accused, blindfolded, and mocked.  But it gets worse.  They strip him naked and beat him into a bloodbath.  But it gets worse.  He is spiked to a tree for six hours.  He is crucified, dead, and buried.

            Just when everyone thought is was all over, the angel announced, “He is not here.  He has risen just as he said.”  Thomas for the ages, “My Lord and my God!”  Against all the odds, Jesus lives.  Hallelujah!  Again our goal is to profess Easter.  Easter happened.  That’s profess.  Easter is happening in me.  That’s possess.  What are the barriers to us possessing Easter?

            Maybe you grew up in a family that didn’t work.  Childhood is a haze and you are broken inside.  Your parents divorced or one had a mental illness.  Maybe you had a dad not around or a mom who controlled you.  You feel the odds are against you.

            Maybe you experienced a devastating loss.  Your spouse died.  Your marriage died.  Your child died.  Your mom died.  Maybe for some of you your dreams died.  You feel crushed.  You feel as though the odds are against you.

            Maybe you are crippled by a destructive habit.  Always on your phone.  Always critical of others.  Gambling.  Drugs.  Work.  Play.  Your problems have you looking around and thinking the odds are against you.

            Lee Capps knows about having the odds against him.  He was flying with a pilot friend when that friend had a heart attack.  It was Lee and the plane and an air traffic controller who told him, “Would you be interested in a flying lesson?”  Lee Capps brought that plane in like a drunk duck.  He was all over the place.  He hit it hard.  But Lee Capps walked away with only a few minor cuts.  Later, the air traffic controller was interviewed and asked if he thought Lee would walk away alive.  His answer, “Folks, Lee Capps made it against all odds.”

            I know.  God knows.  You have a lot of stuff going on in your life.  You are circling the runway and trying to land and your greatest fear is that you will crash and burn.

            Let me remind you of two honest-to-God facts.  Against all odds, Israel made it out of Egypt.  Better yet, against all odds, Jesus Christ is risen today.  We profess Easter with all our being.  We also long to possess Easter with every ounce of our being.

            Paul says we can.  “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Rom. 8:11)  Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, Easter can happen in us.  God promises resurrection for everything that looks so lifeless, so hopeless, so dead!  May the Holy Spirit make all of this real for you.

            In John 14:19 Jesus puts it this way, “Because I live, you also will live.”  Easter happened.  That’s profess.  Easter is happening in me.  That’s possess.  We live now and we will live forever.  We have a word for all of this.  What word would that be?

Hallelujah!

                        Amen.    

April 14, 2019 – Palm Sunday                                                        Text:  Exodus 34:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Jimmy Wayne learned never to trust a soul.  That’s why he never unpacked his bag.  We can’t blame him.  He didn’t know his father; his mother was in jail more than out of jail.  When he was small, his mother was in trouble again and he lived out a car for a year.  He learned not to trust and Jimmy Wayne never unpacked his bag.

            After a year in the backseat of a car, Jimmy Wayne was dumped off at a train depot in Pensacola, Florida.  His mother and her boyfriend sped away in their Delta 88.  Jimmy Wayne desperately needed a new beginning.

            Today, Palm Sunday, we have the 7^th sermon in our series Let My People Go!  Today is Exodus 34 and Aaron, Israel’s high priest, needs a new beginning.  So does Israel and so do we.

“A NEW BEGINNING!”

            A new beginning is necessary.  Why is that?  If you were here on Wednesday evening you know that Aaron had led the Israelites in worshipping a golden calf when they thought Moses wasn’t returning. 

            Like it or not, in a crisis, the IRS knows what to do.  I quote from the IRS Handbook, “During a state of national emergency, the essential functions of the IRS will be as follows:  assessing, collecting and recording taxes.”  While everyone panics, the IRS knows exactly what to do.  Get our money!

            Faced with not having Moses, Aaron and the Israelites didn’t know what to do.  They build a golden calf and worship it.  Moses comes down the mountain smashes the Ten Commandments, grinds up the golden calf, mixes it with water, and makes the people drink it.

            Verse 1 of our text, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.’”  The Ten Commandments are smashed.  A new beginning is necessary.

            We are not much different than Aaron and Moses.  What do we do when faced with a crisis?  We become angry, impatient, faithless, and selfish.  We turn to our golden calves and look to them for salvation.  Our holy and righteous and perfect God has every right to dump us off at a train depot in Pensacola, Florida.

            But God doesn’t do that.  A new beginning is possible.  “The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.” (v. 5)  Yahweh – God frequently comes down in the Book of Exodus.  He came down in the burning bush and Mt. Sinai and to the tabernacle to fill it with his glory.  Get it?  We can’t go up to God.  That is why God comes down to us, right where we are – in the basement of our broken commandments.

            What does God do when He comes down?  Scold us?  Berate us?  Reject us?  No.  Our compassionate and gracious God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.  A new beginning is possible.

            That brings us to Palm Sunday.  Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey because the following Friday He is going to lift up the huge mess and place it where?  Upon Himself – all wickedness, rebellion, and sin.  Jesus is God in the flesh.  Jesus teaches and lives this love.  Jesus demonstrates this love by shedding his blood on the cross for you.  Palm Sunday announces it.  Good Friday shows it.  And Easter Sunday celebrates it.  Amazing!

            One day, while aimlessly walking around Pensacola, Florida, Jimmy Wayne – remember Jimmy Wayne? – little Jimmy Wayne spotted a man named Russ working in his garage.  Soon Russ and his wife Bea invited Jimmy to live with them.  This home was like heaven with a hot bath, hot meals and even TV.  Jimmy Wayne learned not to trust a soul.  Jimmy Wayne still wouldn’t unpack his bag.

            We can refuse to unpack our bag and reject divine love.  That is not Moses.  “Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped.” (v. 8)  I invite you to follow Moses.  Trust that God is who He says He is.  His love surpasses your fear, shame, and guilt.  Throw yourself before God.  Be a sponge not a rock.  Put a rock in the ocean and the outside gets wet.  Put a sponge in the ocean and what happens?  It absorbs water.  The ocean saturates the sponge.  God’s abounding steadfast-love surrounds us like an ocean.  Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday.  Totally amazing.  What is our response? Rock or sponge?

            Jimmy Wayne had been rejected so many times that he was a rock – a hard, unmoved rock.  We get that.  That is why Jimmy never unpacked his bag.  It took another month before Russ and Bea convinced Jimmy that their love for him was real.  Finally, Jimmy Wayne unpacked his bag.  Jimmy Wayne is now a famous country music singer and songwriter.  But his new beginning started when he learned to trust – when he finally unpacked his bag.

            It’s Palm Sunday.  Hosanna!  Hosanna in the Highest!  Our past is behind us.  God’s grace is before us.  A new beginning awaits us.  So now what?  It’s time to unpack our bag.  Why do we do that?  Because we finally have a home.  Where?  Where?  With Jesus!

                                    Amen.     

March 24, 2019                                                                             Text:  Ezekiel 33:7-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Do you realize what you just sang?  I hope and pray when we sing we also concentrate on the words.  You just sang in stanza 3 “Assist my soul, too apt to stray, A stricter watch to keep.”  You just asked God to help keep watch over your spiritual condition.  If you were God, how would you answer that prayer?  Send a memo?  Weekly e-mails?  Have a drone deliver a warning?  Why the warnings?  Because you just confessed you would rather have it your way than God’s way.

            Because you are also a baptized child of God, your new nature desires to live a God-pleasing life.  You want to be told when you’ve wandered from the truth.  So, you’ve asked God to help you.  I am standing here to tell you that God has answered your prayer.  I, as your Pastor, have been . . .

“CALLED TO BE A WATCHMAN”

            God called Ezekiel to be a watchman.  Not a watchman perched on the city walls looking for an invader.  Ezekiel was called to be a watchman over the spiritual condition of God’s people.  “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel.  Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.  If I say to the wicked, O wicked One, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.” (v. 7-8)

            I, like every Pastor you have ever had, also have a call to speak God’s warning.  I have been called to pull you back when you turn sports or patriotism or money into idols.  If I see you steal or live unfaithfully.  If your words or posts go beyond the 8^th commandment or when you despair and see no way out of the mess you have made.  I remind you that God gets no pleasure seeing you in this condition.

            I have also been called to remind you that you can’t do enough good or procure enough credit on the good deeds side of your ledger to get out of your mess.  You can’t make up for the wrong you did to a neighbor or a friend or a family member.  If you listen to my words of admonition and repent and receive Christ’s forgiveness and then live His words then my job as a watchman can be an answer to prayer.

            But that is not always easy in this moral cesspool we live in.  When we are shown our faults, even by the Pastor and God’s words, our sinful nature thinks, “Does Pastor think he’s better than me!”  Then some leave the church because they make it personal.  God addressed Ezekiel as “son of man.”  I’m mortal too.  A few years back I said from this pulpit that I had done and am capable of doing some horrible things.  Someone who was there that day said that bothered them.  They just couldn’t believe that about me.  Believe it.  I don’t stand up here Sunday after Sunday as the Holier-Than-Thou guy.  I don’t preach law to put you in your place.  The warnings I preach are not my own, they are God’s.  I’m the messenger.  Furthermore, if I don’t call you out when you need it, then the Lord is holding me accountable for your fate.

            I am also called to point you to a way out of your predicament.  “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live,” says the Lord in our text (v. 11).  I am called not just to have you turn from bad behavior but to turn to someone.  Another “son of man” and that is Jesus. 

            Jesus came in mortal flesh and He too was tempted by the same things that capture us.  They did not capture Him.  He overcame them and through His obedience to the Father He kept the Law perfectly for us.  That righteousness has been credited to you.  As we make our way to Calvary we know what we will find at the top of the hill – A Savior dying for us.  As a baptized child of God you have the power through the Holy Spirit to walk away from your bad behavior and bad choices and bad attitude and I am here to help.  I know you fail.  I fail.  But each week we gather here to be picked up again through God’s Word and God’s Sacrament.  This is why we don’t walk away from the church.  The watchman cannot do his job if the subjects are sitting at home, or having brunch, or at a ball field. 

            The American Heart Association in their materials and commercials would like us all to know the warning signs of a heart attack.  Why do they do this?  So if we see these signs we can do something about them.  In a similar way, then, I serve as a watchman, called to be alert to the signs of spiritual danger in this congregation.  To sound the warning from this pulpit or in my office or at your home.  Then to let you know that something can be done about it through Jesus, the Great Physician of our soul. 

            I pray that with God’s power, I will continue to be that blessing to you.  Called to be a watchman.

                                                Amen.     

March 17, 2019                                                                                 Text:  Luke 13:31-35

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Have you ever had someone tell you “where to go?”  I don’t mean the directions you get from the local gas station or the GPS that keeps telling you to turn around so it can recompute your route.  I mean someone telling you “where to go” as in a not so friendly manner.  Maybe it was a co-worker telling you “where to go” when you felt they weren’t doing their part of a project.  Could it be a son or daughter who didn’t appreciate your advice and they told you “where to go.”  How about a spouse who didn’t like your tone of voice and they suggested “where to go” which ended up being the couch or the basement for the night.

            Don’t take this the wrong way but I am going to tell you “where to go” this morning.  I pray I do it in a Law/Gospel way and if this makes you feel any better, I am using the words of Jesus in our text to get the point across.   Lord and Savior please tell us this morning . . .

“WHERE TO GO”

            Our text seems to begin with some care and concern.  Can it be?  Pharisees?  “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” (v. 1)  They are telling Jesus “where to go” and it is not Jerusalem.  Let’s not be duped this morning.  The Pharisees weren’t concerned about Jesus’ welfare as much as they were tired of Jesus’ being there.  Jesus was gathering a large following on their turf…and they didn’t like it, so they are going to tell Him where to go.

            It is just like the world to not want Jesus around.  Herod even wants to end His life.  Amazing how someone so perfect can stir such hatred.  But we see it around us.  Jesus please leave the school and the marketplace and the courts and the government and we, the worldly wise will tell you and your followers “where to go.”  Where do they want us?  In our homes, with our mouths shut.  Or gathered in our churches with a social gospel.  They don’t want God’s Word or to hear what Jesus the Savior has to say.

            Jesus is going to speak in spite of this as He does in our text.  “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.” (v. 2)  Let’s not degrade the Savior into some wimp who is just all about acceptance.  He calls out Herod for who he is – deceitful, sly, tricky, a psychopath.  Herod will be one of the engineers telling Jesus where to go.

            The thing is Jesus knows where He is going.  In our text He must be on His way because He still has miraculous work to do.  But He will return.  He must die in Jerusalem.  Jesus knows where He has to go to get us to where we need to go.  The Pharisees took Jesus’ talk of a “third day” seriously because you may remember they posted a guard at Jesus’ tomb until the 3^rd day.

            Where to go?  Where to go?  Everyone is always looking where to go for answers.  They are right here.  In our sin, the devil would like to escort us down the path of “where to go.”  That is someone we don’t want to follow…it might get a little hot.  Jesus instead would like to have us go to quiet waters and golden streets.  He made it possible when He returned to Jerusalem.  He knew He was in a long line of prophets that had been killed and would be killed in Jerusalem.   His death and resurrection would open up for us the “New Jerusalem.” 

            Out of the billions of people on this planet Jesus gathered you and me together as a hen gathers her brood.  We are His.  And somehow, regardless of what’s going on in your life this morning – somehow, if you’re really thinking about it – His gathering you under His wings has to make a difference as you live in world that doesn’t want Jesus.

            As those saved by the cross do we just stand there admiring it as a work of art?  No.  We depart because the Lord wants to tell us “where to go.”  “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  (Mt. 28:19)  “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)  Christianity is not a stagnant faith.  It is a moving faith.  A faith on the move in our actions and words.  The next time you want to tell someone “where to go” point him or her to the cross or to the Bible or to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. 

            See, I told you it would not be so bad.  Where to go?  You know and I know now let’s tell the unbelieving world “where to go”.   Then when we get there let’s look for them on the path laid down by Jesus our Savior.

                                                                                                            Amen.        

March 10, 2019                                                                               Text:  Psalm 91:1-13

Dear Friends in Christ,

            In 2012, Jamie Coots, a “snake-handling” Pastor in Kentucky, died of you – you guessed it – a snakebite!  Coots was the star of a National Geographic TV reality show called Snake Salvation.  He believed he had a special anointing from God that protected him from any harm from the snakes that he handled.  Why not?  Doesn’t God promise that in today’s psalm?  In verse 13, “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.”  Isn’t God telling us in this psalm that He is our refuge and fortress?  Yes, but that doesn’t mean we become reckless.  In fact, I just saw this week a man who was mauled to death by a lion he kept as a pet.  

            Were the snake-handler and lion pet owner showing faith or were they testing the unpredictability of animals?  Did this Pastor misunderstand the promise of God?  Psalm 91 is not an invitation to “test” the Lord by seeking out danger at every opportunity.  Satan uses the words of this Psalm to test Jesus in our Gospel.  He is using them for evil as he foolishly tried to ensnare Jesus.  That is his game plan for you and I too.  We need the Word of God as he attacks us. 

“THE LORD . . . IS MY REFUGE”

            Yes, the Lord indeed promises protection in the midst of dangers.  He promises us that nothing can separate us from his love in Christ Jesus.  But nowhere in these verses do we find an invitation to put him to the test.  Jesus outsmarted Satan with a right understanding of Scripture:  “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Luke 4:12)

            Examine yourself.  In what ways have you tested God with your reckless behavior, rather than trusting him with a confident faith?  Let’s use our winter weather as an example.  Did you get out on the roads when it was not safe to do so?  Yes, you trusted the Lord for safe travel, but was it the smart thing to do?  Experience has taught me to stay home, the exception being Sunday mornings.  Where else do we test God?  Our behaviors can be reckless figuring we have forgiveness.  Why not spout off or not listen to our parents or twist God’s Word to fit our lifestyle.  Faith doesn’t work that way.  There would be no reason for Christ and Christianity if we all just lived the way we wanted.  Satan would be the victor and we would have no hope.

            Repent.  Recognize the satanic ploys that so easily ensnare you.  Confess your sins of weakness.  Admit defeat.  But don’t walk away defeated.

            We don’t always walk away the victor.  We suffer defeats in life but we are not defeated.  In baptism we were baptized into the death and resurrection of our Lord.  We share in his victory no matter how many times our sinful behavior has ensnared us.  Living in daily repentance and faith, we can enjoy the refuge of his victory as we receive his gifts of Word and Sacrament.

            Satan and the words of this psalm tempted the Son of God for real.  But Jesus took refuge in the promise of His Heavenly Father.  He held fast to God’s promise and did not fall prey to the roaring lion and slithering snake.

            But that wasn’t the ultimate victory.  The devil left Jesus “until an opportune time.” (Lk. 4:13b)  Wasn’t the most opportune time when your Savior hung on the pinnacle of the cross?  Remember the shouting, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” (Lk. 23:37)  Oh, that would have been so easy to do.  Why die for these knuckleheads who are shouting at me?  Why die for us who make Satan-inspired decisions in our life?  Thankfully, the Savior knew He wasn’t there for himself.  He was on that cross to save you.  To save you from bad winter weather decisions.  To save you from opening your mouth when you shouldn’t have.  To save you from not listening to the God-ordained authorities who are there to guide and love you.  To save you from forming an opinion not based on the words of Jesus you have learned your whole life but on a friend or a show or some knucklehead at an awards show.  The Lord knows Satan’s tricks.  He understands the deception.  He trusted, even then on the cross, even giving up the shelter of his Heavenly Father, so that you would dwell in the shelter of the Most High forever.

            Enter this season of Lent with confidence, dear Christian, the confidence of a God who grants you refuge in the victory of His Son.  Isn’t it fitting to begin the Sundays in Lent with this glorious psalm?  The psalms are prayers.  Pray them as God’s people have always prayed them.  Pray them with confidence that through the work of Jesus you have a refuge and a fortress and a shelter.  You live in Christ’s victory.  Call upon Him in temptation and daily defeats.  His salvation is your salvation.  The refuge we all need.

                                                            Amen.