Quote of the Week: Psalm 12

Psalms 12:8

The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Jesus' Love Empowers Us to Be Generous

Proverbs 11:24

One man gives freely, yet gains even more;

another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

What an appropriate message for Christmas...and Solomon never even got to celebrate Christmas!

Do you ever wonder why people become so generous at Christmas, but the rest of the year they won't even share the crust of a piece of bread?

Is it because they bury themselves in credit card debt at Christmas, and then they're miserable the rest of the year trying to pay it back?

My encouragement to you this year is this:  Pay attention to how it feels to give to others.  Pay attention to how it feels to do something amazing for someone else...something they never expected.

Then try relive that memory often, at least once-a-day.  This is how you create the habit and desire to "give freely".  This is how you fall in love with blessing others.  God wants us to be generous.  He wants us to help people out when they need it.  This is what Jesus meant by "storing up your treasures in heaven".  If you can break the emotional attachment to stuff, you will find true joy in giving.  You will actually start looking for new ways to give, and new people/organizations to give to.  

A spirit of giving is born out of trust for God.  Trust that He is faithful and will provide in the way that He has promised, and you will never hesitate to give when the opportunity presents itself.

Ultimately, our motivation for giving freely to others is the incredible gift that has been given to us:  Eternal life through faith in Jesus!

It is this gift from our Heavenly Father that fills our hearts and overwhelms us to the point of wanting to share all of our blessings with the world!  Everything that we have, including our faith and salvation, is a gift from God.  We have done nothing to earn or deserve any of it.  "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17)

If God has given us everything- everything that we have, and everything that He has- why wouldn't we want to share that with the world?  This Christmas, and every other day as well, let's show the world God's love and generosity through our love and generosity.  And let's share the most important  gift of all:  Jesus!

God bless!

Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week- August Pieper

And now I tell the Synod in the name of God:  If we do not take an entirely new attitude toward our mission work, our work in the congregation, in the school, and in the home, as well as in the operation of the educational institutions for the training of pastors and teachers which God has placed into our hands, and apply ourselves to this task with greater zeal than heretofore, then our Church, and particularly our own Synod, is an unfaithful servant, who has failed to recognize the time of his visitation, and whose future lies not ahead but behind him.  My God!  Until now it was still true of us here in America what was said to the church at Philadelphia in Asia Minor, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." (Rev. 3:8)
(August Pieper, The True Reconstruction of the Church, p. 24)

Your Life is an Open Book to God

Proverbs 5:21-23

For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and He examines all your paths.

The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.

For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.

This can be a little scary to think about.  Everything we do, everyday, is in full view of God.  Even the things we think we are doing in secret.  There are no secrets with God.  He knows it all.  He sees it all.  This even means our thoughts, what's going on in our heart and our head.  How does that make you feel when you take a moment to reflect on your day?  God saw all of those sins that know one is supposed to see or know about.  You may be able to hide those things from your spouse, your boss, your co-workers, and the rest of the world; but none of it has been hidden from God!

I don't even have to list out secret sins.  You are already thinking of yours.  

For most of us the majority of our secret sins occur in our thought life.  How would you feel about having all of your thoughts for a 24-hour period recorded and available on YouTube?  It would show words and video.  Would you have any friends left after that?  Would you still be married after your spouse saw it?

Many of these sinful thoughts we're not even aware of.  Judging others.  Looking at someone lustfully.  How about all of those thoughts you have while you are driving?

God sees, and hears them all.  Our lives, thoughts and actions, are like a never-ending YouTube video to Him.  He never turns it off, and we can never block Him from it.  Every aspect of our lives is lived out in full view of Him.

This is how the wicked are ensnared by their evil deeds.  They think that they are "getting away with it" so they arrogantly don't repent.  Their sins bind them tighter and tighter.  They think they are smarter than God- somehow they can trick Him and hide their wickedness from Him.  

The more they think they are getting away with their sins, the more they push the envelope.  They get bolder.  They get more wicked.  They get more extreme.  

This is the lack of discipline that will destroy them.  Their pride and arrogance is their great folly.  It will destroy them.  Unrepentance kills.  They continue to reject Jesus' free gift of salvation because they truly believe that they don't need it.  They believe that they are fooling God.  Even when they are confronted with their sins, they harden their hearts and dismiss the person who loves them enough to confront them. 

It is for this reason that they will die.  They reject eternal life and salvation, and instead fight for their sins.  Sadly, God will let them keep them.  It's too bad that their pride and selfishness has blinded them to the fact that Jesus has already freed them from those chains.  They are free to live a life of freedom and joy.  Instead they choose to remain shackled by the chains of sin.  They choose to remain a slave to Satan and their sinful flesh.

This is why John the Baptist came preaching his sweet message:  Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!

And then after we repent, we have the message of hope from Peter on Pentecost:

Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call.-Acts 2:38-39

God wants everyone to be saved.  That's why He sent Jesus to pay the price for ALL sin.

He wants us to turn from our folly and wickedness, and "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"

Happy Advent!

Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week- August Pieper

A reconstruction that endeavors to make various external changes in the Church or to introduce various external innovations, without correcting the basic damage of the Church, the indifference in spirit, is worth nothing.  What we teachers and hearers need above all is a new and right spirit.  The zeal for our own soul's salvation and the zeal for the house of God must consume us, as it once did the Lord (John 2:17) and Paul (2 Corinthians 11:2), to the degree that we--to use only one example--do not rest until we have filled Saginaw, New Ulm, Watertown, and Wauwatosa with students who wish to become pastors and teachers, so that the walls burst.  If God gives the pastors and teachers of the Church above all a new and right spirit, a new burning and consuming zeal for their own soul's salvation and for the salvation of the Church, then all necessary and wholesome external arrangements become insignificant details.
(August Pieper, The True Reconstruction of the Church, p. 12)