God is on our side

As we approach the Christmas season, one of the themes that sticks me is God with us, Emmanuel.  God is with us and for us.  He is on our side.  He is not out to get us, rather He deals with us in love.   Psalm 30 says: With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes."   God was the ever present help of old for the people of Israel.  He was the ever present help for the people of the New Testament.  He alone is our ever present help today.   With Him we shall overcome our enemies of sin, Satan, death, and despair.   How?  Why?  Because of Jesus.   Jesus has come to beat down our foes.   And as we enter Advent, we look forward to His coming again.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!

The Church is not a buisness

The Church is not a business.   Don't let anyone tell you differently.  Businesses exist to turn a profit   Churches, however, exist to serve people by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   When the Lord Jesus returns, He won't be asking how much money is in the Church account.  He will say that what we have done to the least, we have done for the Lord.   Yes, good business practices MUST take place in the Church, that is called being good stewards and managers of God's gifts.   But the Church is not a business, it is a ministry.   We as members of the Church are called to serve the Lord sacrificially, we love and serve because Jesus first loved and served us.   We are called to love the Lord with all of our being, and then manifest that love by showing love to our neighbor as ourselves. This is the purpose, dare I say, business of the Church, to serve others in the name of Jesus.   In other words, this is the ministry Christ has given for us to carry out.

Walking in wisdom

I try to read a chapter from Proverbs a day.   Today I read Proverbs 28 and as I was reading, my attention was focused on verse 26: "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered."  My Grandpa Davidson wrote a note to all of his grandsons when he was alive, encouraging us to all read a chapter of Proverbs a day, he also encouraged us to read the Psalms regularly (hence my little blog post yesterday).  Grandpa said that if you want to walk in wisdom, you need to read God's wisdom, which is revealed in the Bible and the book of Proverbs.    To be truly wise is to have the wisdom of God, leaning not on your own understanding but receiving God's wisdom as a gift.   That gift is Jesus Christ, and whoever trusts and focuses on the words of Christ will become wise in the eyes of the Lord.   The world may think of this as foolishness (the Apostle Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 1) but true wisdom is found in Christ, His Cross, and His Word.

The Psalter

Praying the Psalms has been an important part of the life of the disciple of Jesus.  To pray the Psalter is a way of praying the Psalms by using the very words that the Spirit inspired back to God.   It is something that I have done over time that is beneficial in that it allows the Spirit to plant the Word into the heart of the one who prays.   Take a few minutes a day and begin to pray the Psalms.  There are plenty of helps on the web.   I believe that when you try this you over time you will find that God will use His Word in your life in ways that you could not have imagined.

Giving Thanks

From Psalm 54 we read: "With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.  For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies."

The Psalmist says that he will thank the Lord, for the Lord has delivered him from every trouble and his own eye has looked in triumph over his enemies.   I am reminded when I read this that Moses and the people of Israel were pursued by their enemies as they fled from Egypt.  And the Lord delivered His people from their enemies.  The Lord fought the battles for them and the Lord achieved the victory.  

In the same way, Jesus delivered us from the power of sin, Satan, and death.    By His sacrificial life, death, and victorious resurrection He has won an overwhelming victory for all who believe in Him.  And that is not all.   He continues to be with us, to be our ever present Help in time of need.  No matter what problem we face the Lord is on our side.  He calls us to trust in Him, for He will deliver us from every trouble.  And because of what the Lord has done and continues to do to help us, we can and will give thanks to the Lord.  He is good.  His mercy lasts forever.

What God wants

God does not want our money, our good intentions, or anything that we have.   What does God want? A broken spirit.  He wants us to repent, turning to Him in faith for forgiveness and His gifts.  Note what He says in Psalm 51:16-19.

"For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart O God you will not despise.  Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar."

So build up Your Church, O Lord, grant us Your gifts, so that we might delight in giving You the thanks and praise You deserve.

The Work of a Pastor

I ran across this quote from Herman Sasse in the Treasury of Daily Prayer (TDP).  It is outstanding and even though it was written in the mid 20th century it speaks to the challenges of ministry and expectations today of a pastor in the US.

“The Church administration in Europe follows the pattern of the administration of the state, while in America the great buisnes organization seems to be unknowingly imitated by the churches.  The consequence is that the parish minister becomes more and more of an administrator and organizer who rushes from meeting to meeting and has not enough time for his proper calling as a shepherd. “

Do Good to Zion

Psalm 51: 18 says : "Do good to Zion in Your good pleasure, build up the walls of Jerusalem."   Here the Psalmist reminds us that it is God who builds HIs Church.   He requests that God would be gracious and merciful to His Church.  It is God's good pleasure to fill His Church will love, to build it up in love, forgiveness, and the peace that surpasses all understanding.   Jesus says that He will build His Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.   Jesus is speaking about the Christian Church, the Church Catholic.   In our day and age when we see churches closing and the Church losing its influence in society, it is good to be reminded of God's promise.   We tend to rationalize and think that the Church can only move forward and succeed due to our planning, efforts, and works.   But God reminds us that He alone builds the Church.   And so we pray that God will continue to build His Church, rooted in the teachings of the Apostles and Prophets (the Word of God, the Bible), so that the Spirit will be living and active in and through the Word.   May God so grant to the Church, and each congregation, the refreshment and life of the Holy Spirit, leading people to Christ, through the preaching and teaching of the Word, and the use of God's Sacraments.

My DNA

I recently received a gift from a member that researched my DNA to determine my ancestry.   After submitting my saliva sample, the results came back that I am 75% Scotch-Irish.  Tell me something I don't know (insert LOL smily face here).   I was told by my parents that this was my background and it is good to know that they weren't lying, although my grandma McCormick insisted that she was part American Indian (and this didn't show up in the DNA test, so sorry, Grandma Mac).   While it is interesting to see the results, my thoughts turn into thanksgiving, not just for my ancestry, but for the godly influences I have had from my family over the years.    I am a pastor because I had parents and grandparents who were Christian and who influenced me to enter the ministry.    So while my roots are from Scotland and Ireland (and part Scandinavian) my spiritual roots lie in ancestors who believed and lived for Jesus.  Thanks be to God.

Hope for the future

"You with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; for not my their own sword did they win the land nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm and the light of your face, for you delighted in them." Psalm 44: 2-3.


Here our Lord reminds us that God delivers His people.   In the days of old, God chose Israel and saved Israel from all of her enemies.  God drove out the nations that were in the Promised Land, God planted Israel in the Promised Land, He saved them and won an overwhelming victory for them.  He delighted in them, giving them everything they needed.   The response God wanted from them was to love Him and follow Him.

Even today God reminds us that He delivers His own.   He chose us in Baptism, we are chosen in Christ.   He forgives us and leads us to the Promised Land in heaven.   He has won an overwhelming victory for us in Christ and delights in forgiving us and providing for all our needs.  And what is our response?  Do we worry, fret, and have anxiety over the future and what we do not have?  Or do we thank and praise God for what He has given us and how He has blessed us?  Will we live in faith trusting in God to lead and provide, as He has shown in the past?   Seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness.   Trust and follow Christ.   God gives us hope for the future when we trust in Him.

An Abomination to the Lord

"There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him...one who sows discord among the brothers."  Proverbs 6: 19

On the Festival of All Saints, the Gospel reading is from Matthew 5.   Jesus says "blessed are the peacemakers."   Who is the true Peacemaker among us?   His name is Jesus!   For the Devil stands before the Lord God accuses God's people, and Jesus stands to advocate for sinners.    Even as Jesus advocates for us and has made us at peace with the Father, so now our joyful task is to seek peace with one another.