St. John's Lutheran Church Red Bud

We have been blessed with wonderful freedoms which we celebrated on the 4th. How do we, as Christians, use our freedom?

Jesus brings a sword, kills our sinful selfs and gives us a new life and new way to live. This creates division with those who do not live that life.

When fear arises, we turn to God. When fathers want to protect their households, it is done best by bringing them daily to Jesus - their eternal refuge.

King Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream. Only Daniel can interpret it because God gave him the vision and the meaning. What we learn is that God controls even the pagan nations and knows the future. Realizing this, we can rest in His care no matter if the kingdoms are shaken or who is "in charge" because behind it all is God in full control for our good.

God, in His compassion, reconciles us to Himself. This compassion also moves us to extend God's peace to those around us - that's our mission.

The prophet Daniel was taken away as a youth, but remained steadfast in the faith, trusting in the God of Israel to fulfill His promises. We find ourselves in similar situations, surrounded by a pagan culture that would seek to change our identity. May we remain steadfast in our faith, remembering our identity as children of God and resting in His promises to us in our baptism.

Do our good works produce faith? No! God desires steadfast love, mercy, covenant faithfulness. This all flows from His gift of faith, creating a new heart in us.

Our Lord ascended to the right hand of the Father. He chose us, catechized us, fed us, sent us

Prepared to make a defense

We dive into Psalm 23 as we celebrate Jesus as our Good Shepherd. What comfort we find in the details as King David reveals our Good Shepherd to us.

Have you found yourself staying in Spite house? Christ welcomes us to move out and move in to Grace house.

What a. wonderous gift Christ gives!!

We need someone with skin on, a resurrected Savior, to walk us through this dark hallway of life.

Jesus has authority to forgive sins...and he gives it to us!

Palms waved - victory, complete & total victory is ours

A good pilot knows how to get people safely through the storm.

Looking at the prophet Ezekiel we see that while he spoke the words, it is God's Word that brought life. So also with pastors - they are called to speak God's Word, but it is God who gives the power to give life.

If God is all-powerful and loving, then why do we, His people, suffer? The discisples asked this assuming it was punishment for sin. Jesus points us in another direction - God uses our suffering to draw us closer to Him, to display His glory in our lives, to bring us salvation.

I messed up the timeline of the Israelites and when they came to Mt. Sinai, but the heart, the truth of the message, is unaffected. No one called me out on it, but I caught it as I listened again.

We encounter Job chapter 3 and learn that we must endure suffering by going through it. How? Listen in.

Are we saved by having all the answers? No. But we continue to draw closer to Jesus as we dig deeper in His Word, like Nicodemas. Beginning at John 3, then John 7, finally at John 19, see how his journey can be a model for ours.

When we experience suffering like Job - how do we respond?

We sinful humans are excellent excuse makers. We hate guilt and shame and do all we can to push it off. Jesus came, endured the same temptations but overcame, has no guilt, but was pleased to take ours. So, when we are tempted to make excuses for our sin, we are called rather to admit our sin and take it to Jesus who removes it from us.

We begin our journey in Job. We are flying blind...but God has not left us, He is guiding us by His Word.

Fear? Not when we have the one who calls us to "Rise and have no fear", the one who knows all things, controls all things, comes to us, take us into His arms and calms our fears.