When the Earth Shakes…: Have you ever felt an earthquake? I did this past week. I was blessed to be at a pastors’ conference in Puerto Rico. I felt the earth shake—four times! Thankfully, there was no damage where I was. But it was eerie. Unsettling. To wake up in the dark and have everything moving. Suitcases rolled across the floor. Water swished in water bottles. Just a few seconds of the earth shaking is enough to make you feel completely helpless. Completely out of control.

But it doesn’t take an earthquake to make you feel that way. As proud and self-confident as we like to be, moments in life powerfully remind us that we’re not in control. We can’t do everything. Often, we can’t do anything. We’re completely helpless. Completely out of control. Felt that way lately?

Good. It’s good for us to feel that way, because then God can remind us whom to trust in: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (Psalm 46:1-3 NIV).

Even when the earth isn’t shaking, your life doesn’t depend on the strength of the ground or the strength of your legs or the smarts of your mind. It depends on our Refuge and Strength—our Almighty God and Savior. When the earth shakes, God reminds us, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NIV). What a promise! Even when the earth shakes, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog. 

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More Than Watchmen Wait for the Morning: My brother is in the special forces of the U.S. Marines. He’s gone through all sorts of strange and unusual training exercises. Like the week he had to go without sleep. There was an entire week in which he was not allowed to sleep at all. He got up on a Monday morning and didn’t sleep again until the next Monday evening. I can’t imagine that! I remember asking him if it was hard. He said, “No, it wasn’t that bad.” But he admitted what the hardest part was—the last two hours of each night. After their activities were done, as the night dragged on, the worst part was struggling through the last two hours of each night, longing for the sun to finally come up.

That makes me think of this phrase: “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” Can you imagine an exhausted watchman just longing to see the light? That’s the way the Bible describes a Christian’s longing for God. Maybe you’re not a night watchman, but it doesn’t have to be dark for your life to be dark. I bet your heart is longing too. Maybe you can’t put your finger on it. Maybe you don’t know exactly what words to use to describe it, even when the tears come to your eyes. But your heart is longing. Your heart is longing for something even more than watchmen wait for the morning.

If you ever feel that longing, then you know just what a man in the Bible says today, “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.” To put it another way, “God, help!” This man was in the depths. Everywhere else in the Bible, the word “depths” is used to talk about the deepest part of the ocean. That’s where this man felt he was. Drowning in water way over his head. Wave after wave of life choking him, pushing him under. He was completely incapable of saving himself. So he screamed, “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.” “God, help!”

Is that where you’re at today? In “the depths”? I bet many of us are. From military bases to high schools in Wisconsin, this week showed how many people are struggling. If that’s where you’re at today—the depths!—know that you’re not the only one. This man was there too. I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. We’ve all hit rock bottom, only to find there’s no bottom. We just go down even further. Maybe it’s a sickness. Or depression. Or a death. Or rejection. “Out of the depths.” Like you’ve been plopped in the middle of the ocean. Waves and wind pounding you. Nothing to stand on. No one to save you. Alone, except for God. Is that where you’re at today?

That’s exactly how this man felt, except he wasn’t thinking about violence or loneliness. There’s an even deeper depths than all of those things. Know what it is? “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” What’s the deepest, darkest place? Our sin. “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” More deadly than cancer. Darker than depression. Sin hurls us into a hole we can’t climb out of. You can’t make sin right. You can’t take sin back. Trying to dig yourself out of the depths of sin is like trying to keep from drowning in the middle of the ocean. “Out of the depths.” All you can say is, “Help!”

If God were to actually keep a list of our sins, how long would it be? I tried to figure it out. Let’s say we sin about five times an hour. I bet it’s way more than that. The sinful thoughts. The harsh words. The selfish actions. But if we sin five times an hour, that’s about 80 sins a day. 80 sins a day equals 29,200 sins a year. The average person lives about 75 years. Do you know how many sins that would be in a lifetime? 2,190,000. To put that into perspective, about 50 lines of text fit onto one page. That means my sins would be a list 43,800 pages long. All those pages would stretch for 7.6 miles. Just my sins. “If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”

Can you imagine having all your sins unrolled before you? It’s starting to get uncomfortable, isn’t it? You saw that scantily clad woman pop up on the screen, so you clicked on it. You smile every time you see that person, but in your heart you hate them. Can you imagine having all those sins unrolled before you? People love keeping a record of other people’s sins. What if God were like that? Isn’t that terrifying? You talk about depths. Our sins plunge us into the darkest depths from which we could never escape on our own. What can we say? “Help! Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.”

Why would God hear? Because he promised. The phrase “let your ears be attentive” is only used in one other place. When King Solomon finished building the temple, he prayed, “Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place” (2 Chronicles 6:40). The same prayer! Know how God responded? “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place” (2 Chronicles 7:14-15 NIV). Why would God hear? When people repent of their sins, God hears and God forgives. That’s God’s promise!

This guy in the depths remembered those words, and he clung to God’s promise. “But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” All that math about sin that I did? You don’t need to know that. Because God doesn’t keep track of our sins. There is no long list in heaven. “With you there is forgiveness.” When we are in the depths, we need to look outside of ourselves. Forgiveness comes from Jesus! “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 NIV). “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2 NIV). With God there is forgiveness. For you. For me!

Here’s how big God’s forgiveness is. Remember how long a list of sins we have? We said about 7.5 miles long. Experts say that in the history of the world there have been about 107 billion people. So when Jesus died on the cross, how many sins did he carry with him? 802.5 billion miles worth. That’s 430 trips to the sun and back. Jesus piled all those sins on his back when he died for us on the cross. People say, “I love you to the moon and back.” Jesus loves you so much more! It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but Jesus says to you, “I love you 430 trips around the sun and back.” Or, “I love you to the cross and back.” With God, there is forgiveness!

So, “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Can you hear this man preach to himself? He’s preaches these words into his own soul: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Even when you’re in the depths, there is hope. Preach that to your soul! Forgiveness comes from God. We wait for the Lord and put our hope in his Word. How much do we wait for the Lord? Remember where we started? “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

When my brother told me about the week he didn’t sleep, he said the last two hours of each night were the worst. But then he added this: The moment the sun started to come up, everything was good again. When he saw the first streaks of light stream across the sky, relief would flood his body, and he would be okay for another whole day. This is what Jesus and his Word do for you and me. When we’re in the darkest moments of life, it might seem like it’s never going to end. But Jesus and his forgiveness and love are new every morning. It’s Jesus’ Word and Jesus’ promises that fill our bodies and our souls with hope for another day. Are you in the depths? You’re not alone. “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”

Remember the story I told on Easter Sunday? No? Then I can tell it again! A man once told a story about his Navy SEAL training. In the middle of Hell Week, the recruits had to go into the mud. Mud up to their necks. For 15 hours. Cold. Exhausted. Groaning. In the depths. The instructors offered a deal: If just five of you quit, we can stop. The groans increased. Some men were ready to give in. Then suddenly a voice in the back started singing. It wasn’t singing on key. In fact, it sounded downright awful, but it was singing. And then another voice joined in. And another. And soon every single man was singing. The instructors yelled and cursed at them. They threatened that if they kept singing they’d never get out of the mud. But the men kept singing. And as the now admiral later described it, “Somehow the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer and the dawn not so far away.” Do you know what that was? Hope.

That hope is what God’s Word calls out to you today. Hope. You might feel in the depths. You might see your sins piling up. The devil is going to tell you to give up and give in. But there’s a voice that’s singing. “With God there is forgiveness. In his Word I put my hope. With God there is forgiveness. In his Word I put my hope.” The devil has tried, but he can never silence that song of hope. “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”

That song of hope isn’t just for us. It’s for everyone! “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” When everything else fails, the Lord’s unfailing love never does. When everyone points out your faults, Jesus points you to his cross. Jesus’ redemption forgives every one of our sins. Let that hope ring out. To those in the depths. To those in darkness. “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” There’s hope!

So why do we still have to wait? Why will our lives get dark again? Because we’re not in heaven yet! I hope you leave today on a spiritual high, but I guarantee there will be more lows. You’re going to sin again. You’re going to be in the depths again. That’s the life of a Christian. Sin. Repentance. Forgiveness. Hope. Repeat. So when you find yourself in the depths, remember:

“Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” (Psalm 130 NIV)

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog. 

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Boasting in the Cross: We love boasting. We don’t like to admit that, but we love boasting about ourselves. There’s an NFL touchdown dance living in every one of our hearts. We want to stand out. We want people to notice what we do. There’s nothing worse than doing something great (at least in our opinion!) and not receiving any praise for it. We are so self-centered, aren’t we? We love boasting.

So go ahead and boast, just not about you. By God’s grace, let’s learn to say with Paul, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). If you like boasting, if your heart loves talking about what’s great in your life, then boast about Jesus. “Jesus is great.” “My God is the best!” “Our God is an awesome God!” If you want reasons to feel good about yourself, remember, “Jesus died on the cross for me.” “Jesus forgives me.” “Jesus loves me!” Go ahead. Keep on boasting—boasting in the cross of Jesus.

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog. 

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Christmas Promises: The Place -- It’s hard to predict the future. Weather forecasters remind us of that all the time! We can understand – it’s hard to predict the future!

That’s why the Bible is so amazing! In the Bible, God allowed people to predict the future in incredible ways. Many of those predictions – or prophesies – had to do with Jesus and his birth. A full 700 years before Jesus was born, God had the prophet Micah write down these words, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).

If you were to try to predict today where the world leader 700 years from now would be born, how do you think you would do? Or, if someone in the year 1300 had tried to predict what the world would be like in 2019, how do you think those predictions would have turned out? Yet, 700 years after Micah’s prophecy, the wise men followed the star to Jerusalem and asked where the Savior was to be born. They were told, “In Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what the prophet has written” (Matthew 2:5). They went to Bethlehem and found Jesus the Savior, just as Micah had said 700 years earlier!

If God got that place right, do you think he’s got your life under control? Christmas convinces us of the truthfulness of God’s promises in the Bible. Christmas assures us of the certainly of God’s plan to save us. Christmas reminds us that our future is in God’s hands. As you continue your Christmas preparations, remember that Christmas is the season in which we rejoice that God keeps his promises.

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog.

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The NOW of Your Savior’s Birth: I’m finding it difficult to keep track of time - and Christmas is compounding the problem.

Between all the services, the sermons, the decorations, the hymns, the shopping, the candy canes, and the cookies (not to mention TV specials), time is flying past me like a falcon on fire and I simply can’t keep up. I grasp at it, with a hand weak and wanting, but catch only mist. 

And Christmas is compounding the problem.

The reason is that Christmas is the one Holiday of the year that categorically refuses to firmly plant its feet in the NOW. It simply won’t do it. You can try and grab Christmas with your mind, try to pull it to your ‘now,’ try to lay it at your feet and sprawl it out on your living room floor…and it won’t cooperate. It will only wink at you and then dance off into the innumerable mists of other whens.

I’m finding it difficult to keep track of time - and Christmas is compounding the problem, for it will never plant its feet firmly on NOW. 

And we all know this. When Christmas Eve comes we will all think of the past, of Christmases from our childhood, of family and friends who have long been in Heaven. Christmas will not keep its feet planted on now - it will always conjure up the past. The carols and hymns we sing add to this temporal disorientation. Singing a carol I once sang with my Grandmother rips me back into the past - I lunge in my heart back through the years to her kitchen table on Christmas Day. I grasp at that moment, with a hand weak and wanting, but catch only mist. 

Christmas will not stay in the now, it always throws you into the past.

You put a live tree in your living room. You decorate it. You do this thing of a ritual. You know you will do it again. The smell of pine and the sight of a candle flame. It absolutely reeks of timelessness. I don’t know what they were doing in Mexico in December, 1943, but I know they were celebrating Christmas. I don’t know what they were doing in Southern England in 1672, but they knew Christmas. The same goes for Saxony, 1145. And while we’re at it - Lombardy, 750. Keep going back. Farther and farther.

You will find Christmas.

In fact, you’ll find Christmas before it even showed up at all: the Old Testament certainly thinks so. Christmas hadn’t even come yet - and the prophets didn’t care. Always they spoke of the Messiah to come, the one who would appear on earth, the promised Seed and Servant of the Lord who would visit and rescue his captive people. For them, Christmas was not in the now - it was always throwing them into the future.

I’m finding it difficult to keep track of time, and Christmas is compounding the problem.

For Christmas will not stay in the now. 

And I think I’ve figured out why that is. I think I know why Christmas is so timeless, why it’s always lurching us forwards and backwards through the thens, whens, and nows of our lives. It’s because of the one who is the true meaning of Christmas - and I’m not talking about some fat guy in a red suit who has a strange obsession with scampering down smoke ventilation shafts holding a bag of whatchamacallits. No, I speak of someone else.

The Son of God. The eternal Word. Through him all things have been made. Without him nothing was made that has been made. He stands at the center of Christmas. 

And HE is timeless.

He stands apart from time. He is not bound by it. There is no past, present, or future for him - no, no. He is totally and completely beyond time. Time cannot grasp him. It reaches, with a hand weak and wanting, but catches only mist. He is beyond time.

And yet he came to earth. He was born in time. Christmas is the day when the Son of God - the one beyond time - entered into our world and stepped into time. Today we celebrate when God grasped the NOW of our salvation. For that is what Christmas is, that is what this all means. That is what the babe in Bethlehem says to you: “NOW I step into your world. NOW I begin your salvation. NOW I march towards the cross. NOW I aim myself like an arrow at sin and hell. NOW I claim you as my own. NOW the Sovereign Lord has sent me to save you” 

Christmas is timeless, for it is at Christmas that the timeless One stepped into time. It is when our Savior grasped the NOW of our salvation. It is when past, present, and future all became wrapped up into the huge, exultant “NOW!” of God’s promise fulfilled. 

The boy in Bethlehem. 

It’s Christmas, and I’m finding it hard to keep track of time. But that’s OK. All I need - all you need - is a great, big NOW. 

The NOW of your Savior’s birth.

“And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me with his Spirit.”  (Isaiah 48:16)

Merry Christmas!

We thank Good Shepherd's pastor, Reverend Joshua Zarling, for this week's blog post.

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No Other Gospel!: “It’s all really the same, isn’t it?” “Sure, there are lots of different messages in our world, but ultimately they all end up in the same place, right?” That’s the message we hear so often today. “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe something, right?”

Wrong! Not every message is the same. Not even close! Listen to Paul in the Bible: “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8). There is only one message that saves. There is only one way to salvation. It’s the message of Jesus Christ and how he died for our sins and rose to give us eternal life. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus. There is no other gospel!

So what message are you following? Listen closely. Evaluate what you’re hearing. There is nothing else that compares with Jesus’ love for you. There is no one else who has done what Jesus has done for you. There is no other message that promises free forgiveness like God does. There is nothing that gives peace like knowing God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus. That’s the gospel—the good news. This is urgent! Even if an angel preaches something different to you, don’t believe him! Salvation comes from Jesus. There is no other gospel!

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog. 

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I Could Do That!: “I could never do that!” How often have you said that? You watch the news describe the shocking fall of another famous celebrity. Bankruptcy. Drugs. “I could never do that!” You hear of another pastor resigning in scandal. Adultery. Embezzling. “I could never do that!” Except here’s the hard truth from the Bible: You could. I could. I could absolutely do “that”—whatever the sin is. The Bible gives us this warning: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Don’t ever underestimate your sinfulness. You could do that. I could do that. The root of every sin lies in every human heart. But by the grace of God, there go I. Be careful that you don’t fall!

How can we not? The Bible continues, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). If we’re that sinful, how could we not fall? “God is faithful.” We are weak, but God is strong. We are unfaithful, but God is faithful. Stay connected to God and his Word. Stay connected to Jesus and his forgiveness. Live with an honest recognition of your sinfulness: “I could do that, so may God in his grace keep me close to Jesus!”

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog. 

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Speak Up!: There’s a lot of hot air in our country today. People aren’t afraid to speak their minds about anything! Everywhere we turn, we hear more complaints, more anger, more opinions, more accusations. Lots of hot air. You and I are part of it. We’ve had a thing or two to say too, right? It feels good to speak our minds. To put people in their place. Think about this, though: When you speak up, how often aren’t you defending yourself? Promoting yourself? Arguing for yourself? It hurts to say it, but we’re pretty selfish, aren’t we? Our selfish hearts are so focused on ourselves. We use a lot of hot air speaking up for us.

So God calls us to change our focus: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8). Do you know whom God loves? Everyone! Jesus died to take away the sins of the world. And God in the Bible spends a lot of his “hot air” speaking up for the poor, the widows, the foreigners—those who can’t speak for themselves. Can we? For unborn babies and homeless veterans, for fleeing refugees and struggling immigrants, for single moms and lonely kids. “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.” Whom can you speak up for today?

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog. 

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Giving Thanks For God's Unique "Hobby": You know, in some way or another, God has built pockets of nerdiness into everyone’s personality.

There’s no use denying it, we’ve all got it - that little bit of ‘nerd.’ One guy likes cars, another one likes hunting. One lady collects Christmas ornaments, one of her friends likes a certain kind of pottery made in a certain way. This person is really into cooking, that person loves hiking. One guy loves Science Fiction, while his wife is big into Western Romances. I could keep going on this (here’s looking at you comic book collector), but I won’t. I don’t need to.

It’s the simple, beautiful truth that God has made each one of us unique. And our personalities are really just the total summation of our likes, dislikes, loves, hungers, pursuits, passions, interests, disinterests, strivings, longings, hopes, fears, and dreams. All of them rolled into one, all of them put together in the exact specific arrangement that God wanted - and peppered with some pockets of nerdiness.

You know God has pockets of nerdiness too. (Well, kind of).

I know, I know. I can hear you asking, “What kind of hobby can the infinite, all-powerful, eternal one have?” Well, the answer is: You.

Always You.

You’re his hobby, his pursuit, his treasure, his love, his child. He saw you from eternity, he loved you, and he was passionate about acquiring you. So he went after you. He sought you. He pursued you. He purchased you at the astronomical price of his Son’s blood. He collected you with the saving waters of Baptism. And he’s always looking at you, treasuring you, protecting you from the dust and wrinkles and damage of sin.

What a thought!

So during this season of Thanksgiving we don’t just give thanks for food and home and warmth and fun. We do give thanks for all those things (as we should). But that’s not all. We give thanks that we are his passion, his pursuit, his treasure. We give thanks that he has purchased us with his Son’s blood. We give thanks that he took the eternal, unstoppable, unbeatable arc of his love and focused it on us.

So have a happy, joyful Thanksgiving!

And feel free to nerd it up once in a while.

We thank Good Shepherd's pastor, Reverend Joshua Zarling, for this week's blog post.

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Forgiven: People are digging up dirt on everybody. Every day brings new accusations from the past. It’s a little scary, isn’t it? If people were to search, what sins could they dig up from your past? What secrets that you hope no one ever finds out about?

God’s people in the Old Testament a had a lot to hide too. That’s why it’s remarkable to hear what God told them, “‘In those days, at that time,’ declares the LORD, ‘search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare’” (Jeremiah 50:20). God says, “Go ahead. Try to dig up dirt on my people! Search all you want, but you won’t find anything. Because everything is forgiven.”

That wasn’t just true for them. That’s true for you too! When Jesus died on the cross, he died for every one of your sins—past, present, and future. Our world loves digging up dirt from the past. But not God. When he looks at your past, he says just one word: Forgiven!

We thank Pastor Nathan Nass and https://www.breadforbeggars.com/ for this week's blog. 

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