Grace, peace and mercy be unto you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus.

In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will give us faith and guide us.

Dear friends in Christ,

A lot of people have told me that they wished they had lived during Jesus’ earthly life. They say it would have been great to hear His teachings and witness His miracles. Maybe those people think that, if they could just see Jesus stilling a storm or healing a sick person, then they would be able to have complete faith in Him.

But, many people who did see Jesus perform miracles did not believe in Him. Some people who saw Him raise the dead said, “Well, maybe He is a prophet” and some people who saw Him feed 5,000 people just said, “I hope He will make some more.” Why didn’t they jump for joy and shout, “God has sent our Savior”? Because they lacked one necessary ingredient for faith; they didn’t have the Holy Spirit.

God tells us that faith comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ but by the Holy Spirit.” And, “No one can enter the kingdom of God except by the power of the Spirit.” So, it is only when the Holy Spirit guides us that we can have faith and serve God.

But the world around us seems to be rejecting God the Holy Spirit. People reject the Holy Spirit when they deny that Jesus is the Lord. And people reject the Holy Spirit when they insist on seeking pleasures and possessions instead of discovering and following God’s will for them.

There is so much unbelief in the world today because people continue to reject the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspired the Holy Scriptures, but people are rejecting it. And the Holy Spirit tries to guide us to know and follow God’s will, but many people would rather follow the latest fads and trends in our world.

The importance of the Holy Spirit can be seen in the life of the apostles. They were common people not great public speakers or famous leaders in the community. Even after three years of traveling with Jesus they still did not really understand Him. They all fled on the night He was arrested, and they were still wondering, even after His resurrection, if He would establish an earthly kingdom.

But then something happened that completely changed them. What changed them was the Holy Spirit entered them and filled them with power. On that first Pentecost the Holy Spirit granted them the ability to proclaim the gospel. Then 3,000 people believed in Jesus because the Holy Spirit gave them faith.

Now the Holy Spirit is giving us the same gospel message and is asking us to proclaim it. The message the Holy Spirit leads us to share is that Jesus is our Lord. The Holy Spirit assures us that God’s plan for our salvation has been accomplished. God’s eternal Son has come out of eternal paradise and lived as our brother.

Our Savior Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life and fulfilled all God’s prophecies. And Jesus went to the cross to take the punishment for our sins. And Christ’s resurrection proves that all of this is really true. This is the message that the Holy Spirit is now leading us to believe and to tell.

The Holy Spirit also enables us to understand and follow God’s Word. It was the Holy Spirit who inspired the authors to write the scriptures. Now the Holy Spirit guides us as we read God’s Word. He helps us apply it to our life and live according to it.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit completely changes our lives. The Bible says that we are no longer controlled by our sinful nature. God the Holy Spirit will lead us to produce the fruit of the spirit. That means we will be filled with things like love, joy, peace and patience.

When the Spirit of God is guiding us we will not be filled with hatred or jealousy. We will not be motivated by selfishness and greed. The Spirit will help us to serve God with kindness and compassion. The people in our life will see the love of God in our attitude and actions.

But I still wonder if we could do what the apostles did. They went from being average people to being great evangelists for God. They stood up and risked their lives to proclaim God’s message. What would we do if we were told to reject Jesus or die?

We do not have the strength and courage in ourselves to serve God under those conditions. But, if the Holy Spirit filled us with courage, then we could obey God in any conditions. And we need the Holy Spirit, not just when we are about to be killed for our faith, but also in the everyday decisions that we make.

When we need to know how to witness our faith, the Holy Spirit will guide us. The Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. The Holy Spirit will lead us to the right decisions. And the Holy Spirit gives us the confidence we need to serve in God’s kingdom.

Today (at our 11:00 a.m. service) five students will confirm that they know Jesus as their Savior. They will declare that they intend to live their life in accordance with the Word of God. They, like all of us, will need the Holy Spirit to help them and guide them to keep that promise. We pray that God will bless them and guide them to grow in their faith and service of the Lord.

So, finally, on this Pentecost Sunday, we don’t need to see a mighty miracle to believe in God. The fact that we believe in Jesus shows that a miracle has already happened. God the Holy Spirit has entered our heart and given us faith. May God the Holy Spirit continue to strengthen our faith and lead us to serve Him. Amen.

On Saturday we held our men’s breakfast and fellowship event. After a
delicious breakfast we completed our study of the Book of Job. It is always
interesting to consider how God gave Job patience and endurance to keep his
faith even through horrible difficulties. Our men’s group will meet again
on Saturday, June 8th. We will consider the Sacrament of Baptism and why
some Christian churches wait until a child is old enough to understand what
is happening before baptizing them. This will lead us to talk about our
ability to make a decision for Christ and our freedom of the will. All men
are encouraged to join us on June 8th and each month for this time of good
food and fellowship.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day on Sunday. We had a special
bulletin cover and special prayers for all mothers. It was great to see so
many families coming to church to honor the mother in their family by
worshipping God together. We continue to pray that all mothers would be
given good health and strength as they witness their faith and share God’s
love to all people.

Sunday afternoon we continued our Adult Instruction Class. We still have
two more sessions on May 19th and May 26th. At those sessions we will be
looking at prayer and the sacraments. If you know anyone who would like to
learn more about what we believe, please invite them to this class. We meet
from 1:00 until 2:30 on Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday we held the funeral for Lee Fields at our church and then had a
committal service at the Bakersfield National Cemetery. Lee had never been
married but he was a well respected and trusted member of our community. He
shared with me his faith and he knew that when his life on earth was
completed he would be taken to be with God in heaven. We will miss Lee and
we pray that his life will inspire us to serve God in everything we do.

When I got back from the cemetery I gave the Confirmation students their
final exam and read their two page essays. All five of them have now
completed their confirmation work and are ready to publicly confirm their
faith during this Sunday’s 11:00 a.m. service. The five students who will
be confirming their faith this year are: Kyle Bryan, Garrett Mathis, Ingrid
Sanchez, Braeden Searl, and Savannah Self. We pray for God’s blessings and
guidance for them.

This morning our Lutheran Women’s Missionary League held their monthly
meeting. They are doing excellent work helping the ladies grow in their
faith and service to God. This afternoon we have the Houchin Mobile Blood
Bank at our church. If you are able to donate blood please consider coming
to the church and giving this gift of life. Tonight we will hold our
monthly Preschool Board meeting. Our Preschool is running smoothly and
continues to have enough income from tuition and gifts to cover their
expenses and put some money in savings. We praise God for all of our
ministries and ask for His continued blessings.

This Saturday, May 18th, we will hold our monthly hour of prayer. We gather
in Sunday School room 6 and offer praise and thanksgiving to God. We also
bring our requests to God concerning those who are sick or facing difficult
situations. Then we pray for our nation and our world that God would bring
peace and bless those who are sharing the Gospel message. You are welcome
to join us this Saturday from 9:00 until 10:00 for this hour of prayer.

This Sunday, in addition to being Confirmation Sunday, it is the festival of
Pentecost. The Old Testament says that the Feast of Pentecost was to be
celebrated 50 days after the Feast of Passover. Pentecost was a celebration
of the harvest, like our Thanksgiving. Believers gathered in Jerusalem to
offer their sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving during the Pentecost
festival. It was in Jerusalem, during a Pentecost festival, that the Holy
Spirit gave the disciples the ability to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus in the
native language of all the people who were there. On that day 3,000 people
came to faith in Jesus.

Now Christians celebrate the festival of Pentecost by remembering the power
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills us with faith in our Savior Jesus
and He gives us abilities to serve in God’s kingdom. To some He gives the
ability to teach, to others the ability to encourage, and to others the
ability to give generously to the ministry of the church. Every believer is
empowered by the Holy Spirit with the ability to witness for God and to
share God’s love. All Christians hope to discover how God the Holy Spirit
has gifted them, and to use those abilities as they serve Him.

My sermon text is from the Gospel of John where Jesus tells us that He will
send the Holy Spirit to teach us the truth. Jesus said that when the Holy
Spirit testifies to us about the Savior we will be able to testify to others
about Him. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Counselor” and promised that
He would come and remind the apostles of all the things He had said. Jesus
kept His word when, on Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit. Suddenly the
apostles had confidence and courage. They boldly spread the good news about
Jesus and the church began to grow.

Now the Holy Spirit is our counselor and guide. The Holy Spirit comes to us
and strengthens our faith and encourages us to serve God. When we read the
Bible, the Holy Spirit helps us understand and trust God’s Word. When we
need to discover God’s will, the Holy Spirit shows us which path to take.
When we witness our faith, the Holy Spirit gives us the words to say. The
Holy Spirit has given us blessings and abilities and now He enables us to
use them to the glory of God. We pray that God the Holy Spirit will
continue to bless us.

On Sunday afternoon, beginning at 12:30, there will be a special prayer
gathering for Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American pastor from Idaho who is
being held in a prison in Iran. It will be held in our Sunday School room
6. Everyone is invited to come and pray. If you would like more
information about this prayer gathering you may call Erin Bassett.

Next Tuesday, May 21st, will be the monthly meeting of our Church Council.
All council members are asked to pick up their council packets at church
this Sunday and look them over before the meeting. All church members are
welcome to attend our Church Council meetings which begin at 6:30 p.m. and
are held in our Fellowship Hall.

Here are four things I learned this week:

1. Shotgun weddings are a matter of wife or death.
2. People who look at the moon must be optimists because all they can ever
see is the bright side.
3. A little boy couldn’t tell his mother that he had eaten some glue
because his lips were sealed.
4. Don’t ever buy one of those decorative sheets that’s supposed to go on
your pillow because it’s just a sham.

Here is my joke of the week:

As an Elementary School choir director was teaching his young choir a new
song he was showing them which notes are the high notes and which notes are
the low notes. He was also showing them which notes are the whole notes and
which are the half notes. Then he said, “At this point in the song you must
rest.” A student asked why they must pause at that point in the song and he
became frightened by the director’s answer which was, “because at that point
in the song you’re under a rest.”

May God bless you as you serve Him this week.

Pastor Daniel Alsop

Today workers in Oklahoma are searching through immense devastation looking
for survivors and victims of the massive tornado that struck the Oklahoma
City suburbs yesterday. Please continue to pray for healing and comfort for
everyone who has been affected. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod’s
Disaster Response has set up a web site to receive donations that will be
used to help people affected by the tornadoes. It is here:

Sunday was a very special day for our congregation. We held the rite of
Confirmation and five students confirmed their faith in Jesus as their Lord
and Savior and promised to serve Him all of their lives. They have been
studying Luther’s Small Catechism, memorizing Bible verses, taking exams and
writing papers to complete the Confirmation Instruction Class. It was also
very special for me to be able to serve each of them the Sacrament of Holy
Communion for the first time.

Last Tuesday our Preschool Board held their monthly meeting. Our student
enrollment is now up to 45 and God is blessing us with the opportunity to
teach all these children about God and help them learn about God’s will for
them. Our Preschool was also blessed to be able to put another $1,000 in
savings and still have enough money to keep all their bills paid and
current. Our Preschool is also working on improving our emergency plan and
installing smoke detectors in all of the classrooms. Please pray that God
will continue to bless our Preschool.

On Sunday afternoon we held our third session of the Adult Information
Class. There are two people who will be joining our church by Adult
Confirmation on Sunday, June 9th at the 8:30 a.m. service. There are also
some people who will be joining our church that day by transfer of
membership from other Lutheran churches. If you would like to become a
member of our congregation please let me know as soon as possible.

Yesterday we held another meeting of our Vision Committee. They are still
gathering and organizing information about the values, strengths and
weaknesses of our congregation. They plan to conduct some interviews with
randomly selected members of our congregation, study the demographics of our
congregation and community, and eventually develop a strategy for improving
our ministry. We look forward to learning about their findings and their
suggestions.

Tonight we will hold our monthly Church Council meeting. We will continue
discussing painting our Sanctuary and installing a projector mounted from
the ceiling of the Sanctuary. Our various ministries have submitted reports
to our Church Council which show that they are staying busy and serving the
Lord. Our Sunday School reports that they will be holding classes for all
ages of students during the Summer and offering them special activities.
Our Spirit Force group asks everyone to check out the photos on the board
across from the library to see what the kids have been doing lately.

Tomorrow, (Wednesday, May 22nd) at 6:00 p.m. we will hold a meeting for
anyone who is interested in helping with our Vacation Bible School this
Summer. Our VBS will be held July 8th through 13th. Brian and Melissa
Barcelona will again be our VBS directors. They will tell us about the
curriculum they have chosen and talk about the volunteers that will be
needed. Please consider coming to this meeting and helping with our VBS.

This Saturday our High School youth group will get together for a brunch and
Bible study. They will be learning about Memorial day, enjoy a fun event
together and study God’s Word. If you would like more information please
contact Andy or Bunni Freels. Please encourage all the High School students
that you know to participate in this event.

Since last Sunday was Pentecost, next Sunday will be the First Sunday After
Pentecost. Each year on this day we consider the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity. We study the fact that God has revealed Himself to us as three
persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. My sermon will be based
on John 16:12-15 when Jesus tells us about the work of God the Father and
God the Holy Spirit.

Although the word, “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, the doctrine of the
Trinity is taught throughout the Scriptures. When the Son of God was being
baptized, the Spirit of God descended upon Him in the form of a dove and the
voice of God the Father was heard from the clouds. Saint Peter was inspired
to write about the Trinity in 1 Peter 1:2 when he wrote that God’s people,
“have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ.” And
Saint Paul was inspired to write the Trinitarian benediction in 2
Corinthians 13:14, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Each of the three persons of the Holy Trinity have divine attributes. The
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each called eternal, unchangeable,
almighty, all-knowing, everywhere present and perfectly holy. The Bible
also tells us that each of the three persons of the Trinity do divine works.
They forgive sins, create things, judge people, preserve the world and
answer our prayers. So, each of the three persons of the Trinity are true
God. Of course, we do not worship three Gods, we worship the one true God
who has revealed Himself to us as three divine persons.

The doctrine of the Trinity has become a stumbling block for some people who
have used it as an excuse to reject the Christian faith. However we should
not expect to fully understand everything about God, we are only called to
humbly trust Him. We need to place our faith in God like a small child who
has faith in his parents even when he does not understand everything they
do. We are not always going to understand God or what He does, but we know
that He loves us and we place our faith in Him.

Next Monday will be Memorial Day. It is good for us to take time out to
remember and pay tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for
our nation. In Old Testament times, God taught His people to set aside
several days each year for rest and for remembering important events from
the past. As we take time to remember those brave men and women who fought
and died for our freedom we seem to be following a tradition first
established by God Himself.

Here are four things that I learned this week:

1. The term “common sense” will soon need to be changed to, “the sense
formerly known as common.”
2. To do his job well an electrician always needs to know what’s watt.
3. One person said, “I always avoid funerals because I’m not a mourning
person.”
4. If you always get your way by pretending to be sad then you are an
expert is sigh-cology.

Here is my joke for this week:

One day a group of four retired plumbers got together to play poker. They
had a great time discussing the challenges they faced as plumbers. But
then, as two of the plumbers showed their cards, there was an argument. One
of them had three kings and two jacks. The other had five spades. The
first man, with a full house, insisted that his hand was the winner. But
the second man said, “Sorry, but for a plumber, a flush always beats a full
house.”

May God bless you as you serve Him this week,

Pastor Daniel Alsop

Grace, peace and mercy be unto you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus.

In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus prayed that believers would have complete unity.

Dear friends in Christ,

In the Bible God tells us that prayer is powerful and effective. Many people have shared with me that, when they were sick, what gave them great comfort, was knowing that people were praying for them. In fact, when we are going through any difficulty, or when we are celebrating a blessing, it is wonderful to know that other people are keeping us in their prayers.

In our congregation we have many prayer chains getting the word out about prayer requests. We also list prayer requests in our bulletin and we encourage people to keep each other in prayer. I think the words, “I am praying for you” are very encouraging. When someone is praying for us we know that they care about us and they are taking the time to bring our needs and concerns to the Lord. And we know that God is listening to those prayers and that He is answering those prayers.

How would you feel if the all powerful Son of God said to you, “I’ll be praying for you”? Well, that is just what our Lord Jesus is doing for us today. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God pleading our case before His Heavenly Father. The Bible says, “We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense.” Our Lord is called our advocate and He is asking God to bless us and to guide us.

On the night Jesus was arrested, He took time to pray for all future Christians. He prayed that we would all be united just as He is united with His Heavenly Father. He prayed, “May they be one as we are one.” Then He said, “May they be in complete unity.”

But, it seems difficult for Christians to be unified in doctrine and practice. We are quick to divide from people who have the slightest differences from us. There are Christians who refuse to worship with others, and who refuse to pray with others or who even refuse to do social ministry with other Christians. Maybe it is easier to argue about doctrines than to do the Lord’s work.

I think the evil around us wants Christian churches to remain divided. It is difficult to tell someone about the love of Christ, when those who follow Christ continue to bicker and quarrel amongst themselves. Our sinful society that enjoys its evil behaviors encourages churches to remain divided so they’ll not join together and promote God pleasing behaviors. Plus our own sinfulness leads us to want to always be right and not to admit that people from another Christian denomination may be just as faithful as we are. So the church might remain divided because of our pride and our prejudices.

But Jesus is encouraging us today to work together in His kingdom. Jesus prays that all Christians will be united in their efforts to spread the Christian message and share God’s love all around the world. Christians can come together as we work to send missionaries to every nation. And Christians can work together as we provide for the needs of the sick and the poor.

Christians should unite as we pray for our nation and for peace in the world. All those who know Jesus died for them can share that good news with others. All of us who have saving faith in our Lord are on our way to heaven, so we can work together to accomplish God’s will while we are on this earth.

I think it is interesting that Jesus prays that Christians would have the same kind of unity that He has with His Heavenly Father. The relationship between the Father and the Son is our model of oneness. Of course, God the Father and God the Son are perfectly united in every goal and desire. The Bible says that the Father and the Son are equal in power and importance although they differ in their functions and in their work.

So Jesus is praying that Christians would have that same kind of unity. He prays that we would see ourselves as having the same mission and the same purpose. And He prays that, although we may be doing different things, we have the same goals. Christians must not let insignificant matters tear us apart. We should still be able to work together to accomplish God’s plan for our lives.

What Jesus wants is for all of His people to be united as we are serving Him. I wonder what we can do to help Jesus get what He wants for His church. We can be praying for all Christians to grow in their faith and service of God. We can be encouraging all Christians to witness their faith and share God’s love. And we can be working with all Christians to show compassion and kindness.

Christians being united will not make us all look or act identical. We will not suddenly all enjoy the same style of music and we will not suddenly all like the same type of worship service. Unity does not mean uniformity; in fact variety is good for God’s people. God is using different people to get a wide variety of tasks accomplished.

So, being unified does not mean we are all doing exactly the same thing, but, unity will mean we are all passionate about serving the same Lord. It means we all want to discover and follow God’s will for our life. We will each be using our own talents to serve Him in our own way. We will all praise God that He has brought all of us together to serve Him.

I am teaching an adult instruction class and we will soon receive a group of new members. We praise God for bringing them here and guiding them to serve with us. And we know that each of them, like all of us, have their individual blessings and abilities. We pray that God will guide each of us to serve Him in ways that please Him. Then we will be united as we are all serving our Lord however He is directing us.

God continues to grant Jesus’ prayer request each time we come together. Whenever we unite as believers and serve God this prayer is being answered. We praise Jesus for this prayer and we praise our Heavenly Father for His answer.

So, finally, we all appreciate it when someone says, “I’ll be praying for you.” How wonderful to know that this is what our Lord Himself has said to us. He is praying for us and He is asking God to guide us. He is praying that we would be united as we grow in our faith and service of Him. May we stay united as we serve our Savior. Amen.

Grace, peace and mercy be unto you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus.

My text today is where the Book of Revelation describes what heaven is like.

Dear friends in Christ,

Some things are very difficult for us to explain. For example, you may have seen a beautiful sunset and then try to describe it. Sometimes you just have to give up and say, “Well, I guess you just had to see it.”

This also happens when we try to understand what heaven will be like. Heaven is different from what we are used to, so we can’t compare it to anything we know. The Bible even says that, “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” Since we are sinful and our world is filled with evil, it is impossible for us to imagine a place where we live in a perfect relationship with God and all people.

In fact, heaven has often been described by what it does not have. We are told that heaven has no pain, no sorrow, no sin and no death. In heaven there is no more sickness, no more tears, and no more suffering. So we know heaven is a place that does not have all the bad things earth has. But that does not tell us much about what does happen in heaven.

One day a pastor asked his youth group what they thought heaven was like. They began by saying it was a place where people never get sick or die. In heaven, they said, we will always be happy and there will be no problems. They knew that life in heaven will have no difficulties, no challenges and no surprises.

Then they said, in fact, life in heaven will have nothing new, and nothing interesting. There will be no excitement. It will just be constantly worshiping God. Those high school students finally decided that life in heaven, with its constant happiness and peace and unchanging comforts, may actually be boring.

But I am convinced that heaven is not going to be boring. The problem is not that something is wrong with heaven. The problem is that we are unable to describe heaven. God has said that, in heaven, every day will be new and wonderful.

There will never be a dull moment in heaven and we will have everything we want. We will always be surrounded by breathtaking beauty and joy. We will never grow tired of being in the presence of the all powerful Lord. There will be an eternity of exciting and fabulous things to do in heaven.

The Bible pictures heaven as being beautiful beyond our comprehension. John uses the most precious and perfect things on earth to describe heaven. He says it is a city made of gold with precious jewels for its foundation. Heaven will constantly be shining because of the glory of God.

So, we should certainly all look forward to being in heaven. But, we need to ask ourselves, “am I sure that I am going to heaven?” The Bible says that the wages of sin is death and separation from God. And the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, what we all deserve is to die and be eternity separated from God. What makes any of us, who have sinned, think that we will be granted eternal life with God?

Well, John tells us that the Bible was written so we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, by believing, we may have life in His name. So, we can know that we have eternal life because we know Jesus is our Savior. We also know that God’s Word is true and that God will keep His promises. And we know Jesus took the punishment for our sins and won the victory over death. So, we know that heaven is our eternal destiny because God has given it to us.

Jesus promised to prepare a wonderful place for us to live forever. It is just like when grandparents are getting ready for a visit from their grandchildren. They may purchase food and prepare a room for them with toys and games to play with. Because of the grandparent’s love for their grandchildren they want their visit to be wonderful.

God loves us even more, so, of course He is preparing a place in heaven for us. The Bible says, “If you know how to give good gifts for your children, how much more good gifts will your Father in heaven give to you.” God knows exactly what is best for us and that is what we will have in heaven.

So, in heaven there will be no hatred or anger, but there will be excitement and joy. There will be no loss and sorrow, but there will be great pleasures and success. And we will have a perfect relationship with God with no shame, no guilt and no fear. We will see God face to face and we will rejoice and praise Him.

Knowing that we will live in heaven forever changes the way we act today. We know that this world is only a temporary home. All of our possessions and worldly pleasures will soon pass away. Material things are something we use while we are here, but they have little eternal value. Our life is an opportunity to grow closer to God and serve Him with whatever time He gives us.

Now our purpose in life is not to accumulate wealth or power. Instead we strive to witness our faith and share the love God has given us. We want to discover why God placed us here and what is our real mission. Our greatest joy comes when we know that God is working through us. Knowing we are going to heaven because of God’s grace and forgiveness, takes away our arrogance and selfishness and fills us with humble praise.

So, finally, as we think about our eternal life in heaven, we must realize it will not be boring. We will not be sitting on a cloud wearing a halo and playing a harp forever. We will be filled with peace and joy and love as we worship and serve God. May our heavenly future encourage us to praise and serve God now and forever. Amen.

Grace, peace and mercy be unto you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus.

In the reading from Acts Paul came back to the synagogue in Antioch a second time to teach.

Dear friends in Christ,

Last week my sermon was about a time when Saint Paul went to a synagogue in Antioch and told the story of Jesus to those who had come to worship. The synagogue rulers had asked him to give a message of encouragement, and he told them the greatest message of hope ever told, the story of Jesus. Paul’s message was good news. He said that the prophecies about the Messiah were fulfilled, God’s plan for our salvation has been carried out and all of God’s promises are true.

The people in the synagogue that day were interested in hearing more from Paul. Maybe for some it was just curiosity; maybe some just wanted to see if they could prove him wrong, but it seem like they all wanted him to tell them more. So, they invited him to come back the next week and share more of the gospel story with them.

The people who heard Paul’s first message spread the news of his words all over town. During that week, Paul’s teachings must have become the talk of the town. News was spreading both amongst the Jews and the Gentiles about his story. Today’s text tells what happened one week later when Paul returned. We are told that, at Paul’s second visit, almost the whole city gathered to hear him.

It was as if we had a guest speaker come and preach in a new, exciting way. We are so thrilled to hear his message, we ask him to come back the next week. Then, on the following Sunday, the church is more crowded than ever. The guest speaker has drawn a much bigger crowd than the regular preacher. How would we feel about that? Would it make us rejoice, or would it make us feel jealous?

Well, the members of this synagogue reacted to the crowds by being filled with jealousy. These people who had encouraged others to believe God’s Word and worship the one true God were upset because so many people were coming to hear a guest speak about the Messiah. These synagogue members had tried to evangelize the community and not been successful. Now this stranger was stirring up large crowds with his new teaching.

Why would this fill them with jealousy instead of joy? I think their religion had been more of a religion of pride instead of a religion of peace. They had worried more about fulfilling laws than sharing God’s love. Their religion just made them feel superior to anyone who didn’t worship their way. So, as other people were coming to God and hearing the good news, it was hard for the long time members of this synagogue to accept them.

This makes me wonder how we feel as we see new people worshiping with us. Do we praise God for the opportunity to share His love with more people, or do we worry that these new people might want to take over and change things? If our religion was about having pride in maintaining rituals and traditions, it would be difficult to welcome a lot of new and different people. But our faith is in a loving God who leads us to share His love with all people.

We would act like these synagogue members if we became more concerned about our reputation and about our pride than about our witnessing for Christ. We are sinning when we care more about ourselves looking good, than about serving the Lord and helping others grow in their faith.

Paul was always bold to witness his faith even in the midst of threats and persecution. Paul’s mission was to tell people about the risen Savior, and he would not let some jealousy, or even some abuse, stop him from carrying out his mission. Paul told them again, on this second Sabbath day, about Jesus Christ.

Paul again said that Jesus is the eternal son of God, who lived as one of us, but without sin. Paul also told them about Christ’s victorious resurrection and how He continues to live amongst us and guide our lives. This is the same gospel story that we must now tell people in our life.

God knows that we are sinners who have fallen short of His will. Even the people that God led out of slavery have doubted Him. The king that God placed on the thrown of Israel committed murder and adultery.

And the Old Testament believers who were sent prophets often rejected them. So, now, God knows that we will have our doubts, our selfishness and our jealousy. But God comes to us in love and reminds us of His grace.

When the people that Paul spoke to heard about God’s love and grace, they began to praise God in their words and in their actions. They spread the good news of salvation in Jesus.

They wanted to tell all their friends this wonderful story. God is not a cruel, punishing judge that makes us feel hopeless. God actually reaches down to us repentant sinners with love and grace.

We need to, not only tell the story of God’s love; we need to live out His love. People experience God’s grace, not only from reading about it, but from seeing it. So we must stand by people and help them, even if they sin against us. We need to be patient with people and not act out of immaturity and selfishness. We praise God for teaching us about love and for leading us to love others.

We can share God’s love and grace by telling how the Savior has lived and died for us. We admit that we need God’s forgiveness and we need God to continue to guide us. We must not be filled with pride or jealousy.

We must set aside our selfishness and our greed. God will lead us to see that there are more important things than money or power. Now we must work to maintain our loving relationship with him.

May we continue to hear the word of the Lord and grow in our faith and service of Him, now and forever. Amen.

On Thursday of last week I went into the four-year-olds classroom in our
Preschool and talked to them about the Bible. I shared with them that God
tells us in the Bible how much He loves us, what He does for us, and how we
can serve Him. After speaking to the four-year-olds, I took Holy Communion
to Ethel Hagenlock, who is 99 years old. I was able to share with her a
verse from the Bible and talk about how much God loves us and what God does
for us. All of this reminded me that, no matter how old you are, the Bible
is the most important book for you and it is important to remember that God
loves you.

On Saturday afternoon we held the wedding of Cecil Blackford and Gloria
Imera. The Sanctuary was full as people from our congregation and the
entire community gathered to share in their joy and express our
congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple. We praise God for
bringing Cecil and Gloria together and we pray for God’s continued blessings
and guidance for them. Like I said during the ceremony, the two of them are
an inspiration to all of us and a reminder that God’s plan for us may have
some fascinating and unexpected twists and turns. We do not always know
what will happen in our future but we can be sure that God will be with us
and will continue to bless us.

After the wedding and the reception on Saturday I went over to the home of
Phyllis Coogle where her friends and family had gathered for a memorial
service. Phyllis died on February 25th and this was the first time we could
get together to share memories of her life and pray for everyone who knew
her. Phyllis had served on our Church Council and was an active member of
our church for several years. We pray for God’s blessings and comfort for
everyone who misses her and we know that we will see her again in heaven.

This Thursday, May 2nd, will be the National Day of Prayer. President
Obama, as he did last year, will sign a proclamation inviting all citizens
of the nation “as their own faith directs them, to join me in giving thanks
for the many blessings we enjoy, and I call upon individuals of all faiths
to pray for guidance, grace and protection for our great nation as we
address the challenges of our time.” We praise God for the blessings that
He continues to give us and we pray that He will bless our nation and guide
more people to trust Him and serve Him.

Here in Tehachapi we will be holding three events to celebrate the National
Day of Prayer. The Kiwanis Club of Tehachapi is sponsoring a Prayer
Breakfast at the Roman Catholic Church’s dining hall at 6:45 a.m. At noon,
in front of the City Hall there will be a prayer rally. Then, at 7 p.m., at
the Church of the Nazarene, there will be a church service especially
designed for youth which will include a skit by local High School students.
I hope you will participate in at least one of these events.

On Saturday, May 4th, we will hold our annual pre-Summit Singers Concert
Spaghetti Dinner at 5:00 p.m. There will be spaghetti, salad, bread and
spumoni ice cream. This is always a fun fellowship event where we can get
to know more people in the congregation. If you come and enjoy a delicious
spaghetti dinner you will also be able to make it over to the First Baptist
Church to hear the Summit Singers Concert which will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Many of the members of our church are in the Summit Singers and they always
put on an excellent concert.

This Sunday my sermon text will be from the Book of Revelation, chapter 21,
where the Apostle John is inspired to tell us about heaven. He says heaven
shines with the glory of God and its brilliance is like that of a very
precious jewel. He says that heaven does not need a temple because the Lord
God Almighty and the Lamb of God are its temple. And it does not need any
lights because the glory of God gives it light.

The Book of Revelation is a difficult book to understand. It includes many
visions and symbols and figurative language. People have disagreed for
centuries about the correct interpretation of the seven seals and the seven
trumpets and the seven bowls. Various persons are described in prophecy and
people debate when the events described occurred, or if they are still in
the future. But, in Revelation 21, God gives us a clear picture of heaven
that provides much hope and encouragement for us today.

What heaven is going to be like is difficult to imagine, but we know it will
be fabulous. We can look forward to it and praise God for what is coming.
In my sermon this Sunday, I will say that heaven may be hard for us to
explain but it is definitely something that changes our life. Knowing that
we are on our way to heaven gives our life meaning and purpose. Our life is
but a brief moment compared to the eternity we will spend in heaven. We
pray that God will fill us with faith and enable us to serve Him and tell
other people about the glory that awaits them in heaven.

This Sunday afternoon I will start another Adult Instruction Class. The
class will meet each Sunday afternoon from 1:00 until 2:30 for four weeks.
I will share with the class how Lutherans interpret the Bible and what we
believe about the Ten Commandments, Prayer, Baptism and Holy Communion.
This is a great class for anyone who is interested in the basic teachings of
the Bible. It is also for anyone who might be interested in joining our
church. If you know someone who might want to learn about our faith please
invite them to join this class.

Please pray for God’s blessings and guidance for Grace Lutheran Church in
Lancaster. They will be holding another call meeting on Sunday to call a
new Senior Pastor. We pray for God to guide them to know and follow His
will.

Here are four things that I learned this week:

1. When the man who invented the Thesaurus died he was fondly remembered,
commemorated, memorialized, recalled and recollected.
2. To be a good historian you need to have extra-century perception.
3. The ancient Romans only went once a week to their marketplace where
public business was conducted because that was enough forum.
4. If someone made a movie about a hot dog it would surely be an Oscar
wiener.

Here are two jokes for this week:

At a men’s clothing store a customer asked an employee to help her pick out
a tie that would make her husband’s blue eyes stand out. “Ma’am,” he
explained, “any tie will make his eyes stand out if you tie it tight
enough.”

A boy at a shopping center told a police officer that he had lost his dad.
The police officer asked, “Okay, we will find him, what’s he like?” The boy
replied, “Well, he likes beer and football.”

May God bless you as you serve Him this week.

Pastor Daniel Alsop

Grace, peace and mercy be unto you from God our father and our Lord Jesus

In today’s lesson from the Book of Acts Paul went to a synagogue and told them about Jesus.

Dear friends in Christ,

Have you ever tried to tell someone about your faith? You may have mentioned that you go to church and that you try to serve God. But those things don’t really tell them about the love of God or what Jesus has done for us. So what is the best way to witness your faith and tell people about God?

In this text Saint Paul had to decide what he would say about his faith. He was in a Jewish synagogue, and they asked him to speak to them. He did not use any long words or try to explain any difficult theological concepts. He simply told them the story of what God has done in the world.

The history of the world is God’s story of how He relates to us people. Again and again Paul, when telling the story, says, “God did this and God did that.” God brought the people out of bondage in Egypt. God raised up David to be the king. God sent John the Baptist to prepare people and the Son of God became a man to save us. And, after the Savior died for our sin, God raised Him from the dead. So Paul just told the history of the world as the story of God carrying out His plan us.

Paul even saw his own life as a series of events that God was leading him through. His faith was not so much a set of doctrines and church teachings, it was trust in the risen Savior who continued to change worldly events and guide His people. So, God was not just someone he read about in a book; God was Paul’s ever present guide.

If our faith was just about properly practicing a religion, and correctly interpreting difficult Biblical passages, we could lose our connection with the God who created us and guides us. The Bible should not be seen as a text book of Christian doctrines and theological beliefs. The Bible is full of stories which are true, historical events in the lives of God’s people.

These stories show us God’s love and how He rescued us from the power of evil. To be a believer means to see how God is working in all the events in the world. It means to trust in His guidance and protection, just as He has guided and protected the people whose stories are told in the Bible.

This week our nation has been shaken by explosions in Boston and in Texas. We have been shocked to read about so many people being killed and injured. We may wonder what the Bible has to say about terrible events like these. And we can learn from the stories of the Bible how God is with us even through tragedies.

The Old Testament stories tell us God made promises to His people and He kept those promises. In the four Gospels we read the story of Christ’s life, and how God’s love was seen in Him. And in the Book of Acts we are told the story of Paul’s life and how God guided him. All of these stories guide us and give us peace and joy as we live our daily lives.

The stories of Jesus healing a sick person or Jesus calming a storm teach us about His compassion and His power over things in this world. The story of Jesus going to the cross and dying for our sins teaches us about our salvation, and gives us a desire to serve our loving Lord.

The Apostles and missionaries went out telling the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. The primary focus of the early church was not on doctrines and proper ways to practice your religion, it was on telling the story about Jesus. Belief in the resurrection of Jesus changed people’s lives completely.

Now it is up to us to tell these same stories to the world around us. The story of how God has carried out His plan for our salvation brings comfort to people going through struggles and sorrows. When someone asks us how we survive in this sin-filled world, we can tell them the story of Christ’s life and death and resurrection and this gives us hope and joy as we serve Him.

If someone wants to be sure that they are going to heaven, we can tell them about Jesus. When the story of our Lord’s life is believed the Holy Spirit has placed faith in our heart. It may seem like foolishness to a heart untouched by God’s power, but it brings peace and joy to the hearts of those in whom God is working.

This story is not just for pastors to know and tell. We have all been called to tell the gospel story to people around us. God will bring people into our lives that we can tell about Jesus.

We can talk about how God has worked in the history of the world. We can talk about how God has fulfilled His promises and sent a Savior. And we can talk about how God gives us strength and guides our life. So when tragedy strikes in our nation or in our own lives, the story of Jesus comforts us.

Now our mission as a church is not to invent lots of rules and rituals to obey. Our mission is to bring Jesus into the hearts and lives of all people. Following laws may make us feel pious and devoted, but it is knowing Jesus and worshiping Him that actually changes our life.

We want to show by our words and actions how much knowing Jesus changes us. The gospel story helps us show the same compassion and kindness that Jesus showed. We are filled with praise as we hear about how God broke into history and guided events so that we could live with Him forever in heaven.

Finally, we want to hear the story of Christ’s life again and again. His story gives us peace and true joy and His story guides our life and gives our life purpose. Just as Paul simply told the story of how God works in this world, now we tell the story of what Christ has done, and continues to do for us. May we be telling that story by all the things we say and do. Amen.