Reaching the Lost. Discipling the Saved. Sharing the Love of Jesus with Everyone.
EASTER SUNDAY!!
The men said to them, “Why do you seek the Living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
Luke 24:5b-6a
This Sunday marks the highest, most Holy day of the year; because the Resurrection of Jesus changed our eternity!
It is the quintessential pivot point from despair to joy; from no future to an everlasting one; from death to life!
It is also the culmination of our journey this Lenten season “from GENESIS to JESUS“.
Join us as we celebrate!
On Friday, March 18, 2025, at 7:00 PM, we will worship and “celebrate” Good Friday with a form of a “Service of Darkness.”
It will be a meaningful, but difficult service. We pray you will attend.
The term “reparations” has become extremely loaded and controversial in our time in society right now. What it means is simply trying to make amends for a wrong. How those amends are done, for whom, why, etc.; those have become very politicized. But the fact is there are circumstances where reparations are proper, appropriate, and even necessary.
Our sins and those of the world are a wrong that exceeds comprehension; are too immense to fathom; that reach beyond our understanding. Our sins are a wrong that needs to be corrected. They have created the need for amends – payment – to be made.
And we couldn’t do it. We wouldn’t do it.
The enormity of the gap between what we owed and the perfection God demands can never be accomplished by anything that we do.
God demands perfection. We aren’t perfect. Jesus is.
Jesus is the only acceptable payment for our sins. He is the amends for our wrongs. He is the solution to our problem. He is the Savior for our sins. He is the victor our defeat. He is the life for our deserved death. He is the ultimate reparation – the only preparation – that could happen.
That matters. He is everything.
His painful, brutal, willing sacrifice on that cross means forgiveness, life, and salvation for us that we couldn’t achieve, didn’t deserve, or could even imagine.
The darkness and depth of Good Friday is a part of the reality of the need for reparations for the fall and sin. And because Jesus – the only satisfactory sacrifice – willingly and painfully died for us, it is the only reason that today can be considered “good.”
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for enduring the cross, scorning its shame, for us and our salvation. Thank You, Lord God, heavenly Father, for accepting Jesus’ sacrifice as a reparation for our wrongs. Forgive us when we continue in our sin and move us by Your Holy Spirit to seek Your ways in everything that we think, say, and do, from here on, to the best of our abilities. In Jesus name in sacrifice; Amen.”
More information on “Good Friday” and a “Service of Darkness” from
lifebridgesealy.com/ministries/worship/good-friday/.
“Good Friday.” Such a strange name for the day when the innocent Savior of humanity and God’s Son died horribly. Yet, for us, the day marks a pivotal event in history. A holy and unbelievable imbalanced exchange: His perfection and innocence for our sins and guilt.
And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him and led Him away to crucify Him.
Matthew 27:29-31
Lord, have mercy!
And He did. Have mercy. For us. When we were still in sin and rebellion.
We worship and “celebrate” this event and exchange with a form of a “Tenebrae” service. Tenebrae means “darkness” and the service takes its name from the ceremony of extinguishing the worship candles in such a way that the Church is gradually cast into darkness, except for the light of a single candle. The focus of the Tenebrae is the consequence of sin and the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice. The worship ends in darkness and silence, symbolizing our Savior’s death upon the cross. The single candle symbolizes the hope of our Savior’s resurrection. At the completion of the Tenebrae service, the worshipers are asked to leave in silence, in order to maintain the spirit of the Good Friday commemoration of our Savior’s crucifixion.
Experience the depth of God’s love for you on Good Friday so that you can sour with the news of His resurrection on Easter Sunday!
You will be blessed.
Slaughtered lambs and sacrifices are not something we are used to. The whole concept of a lamb being killed and its blood being shed to cover our sin seems odd…
Being a “rebel” today is a badge of honor for some. Star Wars had the Rebellion. Billy Idol had his “Rebel Yell.” (Ok, I know both of those references are dated!) When we call someone “a rebel” it’s usually a term of endearment or respect rather than of scorn or derision.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:6
That may very well work for culture and today’s world – especially if you’re talking about rebelling against an unjust, unrighteous, or immoral system. But it doesn’t work when we’re talking about rebelling against God and what He has given. What He has commanded. What He calls us to do or be. We are called to be obedient, not rebellious. Follow, not lead. Submit not subvert.
The third stop on our journey “from Genesis to Jesus” and reason for the need of a savior comes to “rebellion.” The rebellion of Adam and Eve by taking the forbidden fruit. The numerous rebellions that we commit against God every day. Rebellion directed toward God. Directed toward His plan, His will, His way, His Word. A rebellion that wasn’t content with paradise and thought we could do better.
Nonsense!
The choice is simple. The choice is binary. Right or wrong. Good or bad. God or us. When put in these terms the answer is clear: it’s God’s way or there is no way.
How blessed are we that when we chose the wrong answer, when we chose our way, when we rebel against God and His perfect way, He forgave us. Jesus came, suffered, and died so that our rebellion would be no more. Not only defeated, but invalidated. Reversed. Through faith in Jesus our way – our sin – is forgiven and forgotten. Only His way remains. Only His perfect way remains. The rebellion is done. The rebellion is conquered. The rebellion has failed. Christ is victorious over it – over all of it.
Thanks be to God!
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being victorious and putting our rebellion to rest forever. Thank You for overcoming our reckless rebellion and oversight. Grant us Your Holy Spirit to live, breathe, desire, and share Your perfect way from here on out. In Jesus name, Amen!”
So many requirements can be made for joining organizations or applying for grants or completing forms for the government – even for some churches for their membership. There can be long lists of requirements that have to be done or fulfilled in order for something to happen.
In creation, when God put Adam and Eve in the garden to care for it, He didn’t have a huge list of requirements. He didn’t have a ton of laws that needed to be fulfilled. He had one requirement: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” (Genesis 2:17)
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-17
That was it! Nothing else. No other rules, laws, ordinances, statutes, or anything else. One simple requirement: not to eat from one singular tree when countless others were available to them.
How did things go so wrong? How is it that they couldn’t keep that one solitary requirement?
It seems a bit preposterous to us. Such a simple requirement. Such a simple thing to do – or in this case not do – to continue living in a garden of paradise while being able to walk with and commune with the Lord daily. It’s hard to conceive of what that temptation must have been like to put all of that into jeopardy. Almost inconceivable to fathom what could possibly be better that would jeopardize that situation and relationship by breaking that one requirement.
Yet if we try to get too high on our horse and judge Adam and Eve too harshly we should remember: not only do we break the requirement to have Him as our one and only God, our pinnacle of focus, our ultimate desire, but we break so many more of His requirements, too. And we also have a fellowship with God, an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and a friendship with our Lord Jesus that is paradise itself through faith in Jesus. That is to be envied, sought, and desired beyond everything else in our lives. And we, like Adam and Eve, put aside God’s requirement and seek our own satisfaction.
How utterly foolish. How arrogantly small. How ridiculously myopic.
We are so blessed that God wasn’t satisfied with Adam and Eve breaking His one requirement. We are so blessed that He wasn’t satisfied with our breaking of His requirements. We are so blessed that He is satisfied with Jesus fulfilling all requirements on our behalf. Because we didn’t. Because we wouldn’t. Because we don’t. Because we won’t.
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for fulfilling all the requirements for us so that we would be forgiven, saved, and have eternal life. Grant us the Holy Spirit so that we are strengthened, not just to do what You require, but desire it as well. In Jesus’ name; Amen.”
Today is Transfiguration Sunday when we hear of a literal “mountain-top experience” that had to be far beyond the descriptions we get in today’s and the parallel accounts.
A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!”
Luke 9:35
In all of the accounts we hear of Peter’s (misguided) suggestion to build three tents; one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
Also in all three the disciples do not tell anyone of the event for the time being. (Jesus commands this in Matthew and Mark.)
So, Peter seems to want to stay on the mountain and, when he does have to come down, can’t talk about it right away. Hmmm.
Perhaps we have more in common with Peter than we care to admit!
We like to have the “mountain-top experiences” and don’t want to come down from them and we don’t seem to want to share the majesty, glory, beautiful, reality of our life because of Jesus with others.
Ugh!
We have been to the mountain-top through faith in Jesus, God’s Son, and are to “listen to Him,” share Him, and live in that reality.
We are to live the transfigured lives we have been given – a life where we have been forgiven of all our sins, share in the Sacraments of the Lord, have joy, comfort, and power through the Holy Spirit, and the reality of eternal life in God’s presence!
God wants us to realize that reality daily; share it constantly; live it confidently!
Our decent from the ‘mountain’ isn’t so that we are relegated to the valleys as a kind of torture after having been to the Top; it’s to live in the joy we have knowing what is ours in Jesus forever, sharing for others to ascend, and knowing our eternal reality will climb even higher than we can imagine!
We are to live transfigured because we are transfigured! We are share Jesus who transfigures so others can be transfigured!
Let’s “shout it from the mountain-top!”
“Thank You, Jesus, for dying and rising for our forgiveness and everlasting life! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for filling us with peace, joy, power, and love! Thank You, Father, for sending Your Son; help us ‘listen to Him,’ share Him, live in Him! In Jesus’ name; Amen!”
“Bad company corrupts good morals.”
That’s in our text for today, and anyone who has lived for awhile knows it to be true.
Of course that doesn’t mean that those with good morals can’t or don’t have a positive influence on those where morals are lacking. Fair enough. But many a godly people who have seen themselves as being the self-appointed ‘savior’ of folks who will ‘win then over’ have seen their heart, mind, and actions be perverted instead.
Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.
1 Corinthians 15:34a
Of course we need to be the Light of Jesus to the dark world around us. But we should not deceive ourselves into thinking the dark world has little or no influence on us.
Our Scripture today tells us to “wake from [our] drunken stupor…and [not to] go on sinning.”
We need to be ever watching; ever cautious; ever vigilant. We need to remember that the enemies of the Devil, the world, and our own sinful nature seeks the downfall of our morals and, ultimately, our faith. We need to continually be fortified in the Word of God, the gathering of believers, the in the living of the Holy Spirit, in the good deeds of our lives, and in the saving Gospel of Jesus. We need to stand firm in our Scriptural beliefs and in our sanctified living around all.
We will never be the savior for those who are “bad company,” but we by our careful, consistent, living and sharing of the Savior Jesus, we can and will shine His light to those who need it.
It is through Christ all shall “be made alive.” When we focus of being and remaining in Him, knowing He is the one who saves, the Holy Spirit uses us to affect His will and change for others.
Watch yourselves, brothers and sisters! Focus yourselves on the Word; on the Holy Spirit; on the Gospel of Jesus! Stop sinning and placing yourselves in “bad company.” Be in HIS company and He will use you for His will and ways!
The Lord has saved you. Remain in Him and trust Him to be the savior of others.
“Thank You, Lord, for saving us. Forgive us when we try to save and instead fall into sin. Strengthen and uphold us in Jesus and let us share Your Light in Your way according to Your plan. In Jesus’ name; Amen.”
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
1 Corinthians 15:19
Jesus affirms again and again the truth of the resurrection of the dead. And in His rising from the dead He places this doctrine as central and to who He is and what it will look like in the hereafter.
Many Christians act as if the resurrection and the hereafter isn’t really a thing. Or they just play lip-service and don’t take it to heart.
Our text clearly tells us that “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.” It says we are “false witnesses of God” if there’s no resurrection. It says if Christ has not been raised our “faith is empty” and we “are still in [our] sins.” That if Christ has not been raised then we are to be pitied as ones having no hope.
Those words are quite an endorsement of both the resurrection and its importance both in this life and in that to come.
Yet so many times Christians live as if this isn’t either true, important, or applicable to life. They live like there is no hope. They cling onto this life because they are unsure of what is to come. They fear the hereafter because they don’t really take to heart that there is one. But “Christ has been raised from the dead” and that is what gives us hope. Not just hope here, hope for what is to come. All that is to come. That there is a time to come. That what happens here is not the end of us. It is not the end of life. It is the beginning of new life. New creation. Full hope. All this because Christ has been raised from the dead is at the right hand of the father and goes and prepares a place for us that He might bring us to be where He is. Forever. With new life. With resurrected life. With full hope. With glorified bodies. Jesus came to suffer, to die, and to rise so that we would rise. He came to conquer death so that death wouldn’t be the end for us. We don’t know what our new, glorified, resurrected bodies will be like, but we know that it will be beautiful, incorruptible, perfect. We know that it will be in Him and be forever. And that’s a hope that we can take to the grave – and beyond. That’s something worth living for and not fearing dying for. Because that’s not permanent. Our time with God forever in resurrection is.
“Thank you, Lord, for conquering death and giving us resurrected hope forever. Help us to live in this life in that resurrected hope now because we have that to come. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
May our evil ways, by God’s mercy, be left in the ash heap and may we be ever recipients of His loving goodness!
The purpose of repentance is not to be swallowed up by guilt. It is to be freed from a dark and destructive direction by God’s wakening Word, and to be sent on a new path by the sin-conquering Savior. It’s what we all need.
THE REV. MIKE NEWMAN
PRESIDENT OF THE TEXAS DISTRICT OF THE LC-MS
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our Lenten journey, which culminates on Easter Sunday with the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
On that night at worship we mark our foreheads with an ash cross and, as that cross is marked, we are reminded of our sins. As we are marked by Jesus’ sacrifice; we are drawn to the realization that “[we] are dust, and to dust [we] shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
On Ash Wednesday and throughout the season of Lent, we also focus on our sins, on repentance, and on our broken world; seeing how we and all of creation has fallen far short of God’s intention and glory.
But we do not despair because we look to the certain hope that is ours through the forgiveness of our sins given to us freely by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.
Everything we experience in life is
finite and temporal, including our own lives. As the Scripture reports, we came
from the dust of the ground and we will return to the dust of the ground. (Genesis 3:19 & Ecclesiastes 3:20)
For many centuries the use of ashes has symbolized repentance. Imposing ashes in the form of a cross on the forehead of the worshipper on Ash Wednesday is a vivid reminder that such a person has been redeemed by Christ the Crucified. It is a symbol, not primarily of our sins, but upon the forgiveness of them through faith in Jesus.
As Ash Wednesday is a somber time as we remember that Jesus willingly suffering and death come as a result of our sins and His love. As such, at the conclusion of worship that day, we exit the church in silence.
“Repentance slays selfish pride, turns us from sin’s siren call, quiets arrogant arguments, tames out-of-control egos, pulls us back from distraction, leads us to restoration of relationships, places us on the pathway of walking with God, and restores our hearts with compassion and grace.
We need this personally. We need this as schools and congregations. We need this as a District. We need this as a Synod. We need this as Christ’s Church.”
The Rev. Mike Newman
Former President of the Texas District of the LC-MS
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt…
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
Luke 5:10b
The disciples had to have a lot of those times. Time after time Jesus was making the unexpected happen. You would think that after a while they would get used to it and actually start expecting those types of things. Well, if that ever happened, we don’t see much evidence of it.
In today’s gospel lesson we get one of those situations where the unanticipated happens and it has a consequence beyond what was expected. It’s a familiar story that most of us probably know. It culminates in Jesus going out with some of the disciples to fish even though they had been there all night. Jesus tells Peter put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch and Peter, after explaining that they had already tried this all night with no results complies, taking Jesus at His word, almost resigned to the fact that he needs to do this because of his Teacher’s request, but he isn’t expecting anything different.
But what he gets is vastly different! Not because of the large number of fish that they end up catching, but the realization of why they caught that many of Who it really is that was with them. The fact that Jesus commands fish and waves and boats and weather and everything. The fact that this Jesus – Who is right there in the boat with them – is holy; and he isn’t. The unexpected realization and encounter with his own sinfulness and Jesus’ holiness. “Depart from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man,” he says. That was unexpected. We were just going out and doing some fishing and hanging out. “Depart from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man.”
But the story doesn’t end there. The story ends with Jesus comforting Simon saying “Do not be afraid! From now on you will be catching people!” Another unexpected twist! Another different – wonderful ending! It doesn’t end with Peter’s sinfulness. It ends with Jesus using Peter despite his sinfulness because of Jesus’ holiness.
God uses us too. Even when we’re unholy; when we’re sinful; when we’re far away: He makes the unexpected expected. Because of Jesus’ holiness, we are forgiven and no longer sinners. We are no longer stuck with an unfruitful bounty, but rather bountiful in His harvest, in His catch, and what He desires of us.
Jesus has saved us and forgiven us and now He uses us to share Him for unexpected results for everyone else. Praise the Lord!
What would you be willing to give up? What is your level of commitment?
Most of us, if pressed, would say that we would die for Jesus and our faith (I hope!). That’s good. That’s as it should be. But sometimes there are other commitments – smaller than death – that we don’t seem able to, well, commit to; Work through; play through. They seem too much; be they financial requests, time commitments, or requests to volunteer. Or maybe they are helping someone out when it’s inconvenient.
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12
In our Scriptures for today we hear about a young Christian, Timothy, who is “all in” on his commitment. This is someone who was – as an adult – circumcised in order to be a better witness of Jesus to the audience that he was going to.
That is a commitment! That’s putting yourself on the line; “out there” (literally)!
In our lesson from First Timothy we’re told to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patient endurance, and gentleness.” We’re told to “fight the good fight of faith.” That’s not just in the big things, that’s not just our life and death situation, that’s for our living situation as well. It’s for the little things. It’s for all the things. It’s for the small commitments and the big. It’s “all in.” That’s what God wants of us – all of us: our heart, mind, soul, strength – everything. He wants us to be “all in” because Jesus was all in. He didn’t just come and give His life. He came and gave us living. He lived so we might live abundantly. He died so we might live forever. He desires and wants all of us because He gave all for us.
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being “all in” for us. Help us in our commitment to be all in for You in everything; for You and others. Amen.”
What rule book do you base your life upon? What do you use as the basis for the decisions that you make? What foundational tool do you use as the basis for right and wrong?
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
Psalm 19:7-9
The answer for this is the Bible. Holy Scripture. The Word of God.
It is the only rule, source, and norm for our basis of right and wrong, good and bad, godly and ungodly, dos and don’ts. Everything else comes from the mind and aspirations of man. But the Bible is truly the Word of God.
Scripture testifies to this about itself. That might seem contradictory, but it’s not. Everyone has a foundation, and every other foundation is wanting; every other foundation is fallible; every other foundation changes with the times, with the culture, with attitudes and desires.
But God’s Word is the same as God — the same yesterday, today, and forever. God doesn’t change and His Word doesn’t change.
There may be some different applications depending upon the world, our environment, and the culture. But God’s Word remains the same.
It still tells us about God and His desires, His plan, His salvation. It still points us to the Messiah, to the Christ, to Jesus. It still tells us what is objectively right and wrong, not subjectively changing by what is desirable and undesirable.
God’s Word still saves, because God’s Word still tells us about the Savior. It tells us of our need for a savior because of sin and that this Savior died for that sin. It tells us about life that is to come and a new creation that awaits. It tells us about a future that is certain. What better foundation do you want as you live your life? There is no better!
“Thank you, Lord, for Your Word which is unchanging; which is edifying; which is helpful; which is loving; which is perfect; which is right. Help us to read it, to learn it, to live it, and to share it. Through faith in Jesus and in His name, Amen.”
Peter is a fun and interesting character. His mouth always seems to be getting him into trouble. But you have to look up to the guy for his boldness and his courage.
In our lessons for today, we hear about the confession of Peter. In one of the readings, he’s dragged before rulers and elders because He dared to heal someone in the name of Jesus. And he didn’t back down when they asked him “what happened.” He boldly pointed to the name of Jesus as the reason that a man was healed.
[Jesus] asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
Mark 8:29
In the other lesson Jesus asked the disciples who the people say that He is and Peter is the one who steps up with an answer. The right answer. “
You are the Christ!”
In a parallel passage, we’re told that Peter wasn’t able to answer this because he was just that much smarter than everyone else,.but he was given that answer by God.
That’s pretty impressive!
We have all of Scripture and the Holy Spirit to be able to point us to Jesus as the Christ. And yet sometimes we fail to make that confession. If not in Word, then often in action. We fail to act like Jesus is the Christ, the Chosen, the Anointed one of God. We act in ways that put other people or other things or other ideologies in front of Jesus. We act in ways that don’t set him as Lord and Savior in our life; for all of the world. We have in mind our things instead of God’s things. We need to deny that and everything that puts us at odds with God and His ways; His plan; even if that means suffering.
We need to see – and share – Jesus as the Christ. We need to see in Jesus as the answer to everything that is needed – in our life and that of the world.
“God, thank you for showing us through the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the answer to all of our needs through the cross and empty tomb. Help us now to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him no matter what. Give us the boldness of Peter to step up and step out in faith. Because Jesus is everything. In His name, Amen.”
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