Theme: “Learn to Pray” (1Timothy 2:1, 8)

S-1382-18SAP/C 9/22/2013 Hymns: (O) #454 vv1-6; (S) #457; L.S. #458; 459; (C) # 454 vv 7-8

Texts: Amos 8:4-7; 1Timothy 2:1-15; Luke 16:1-15

Theme: “Learn to Pray” (1Timothy 2:1, 8)

Question: “How do you make your prayers count?” Armour, SD

Faithful followers of the Savior, Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! The text is from the Gospel lesson: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling” (1Timothy 2:1-8).

INTRODUCTION: In Nomine Iesu.

Beloved in Christ, the Psalmist David wrote these blessed words: “O Lord, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You! Let my prayer be counted as incense before You, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” (Psalm 141:1-2). These words of the Psalmist may well have been ringing in the ears of St. Paul as he instructed his young seminarian Timothy in the art of prayer in the words that serve as our sermon text for today. By that same Holy Spirit, we too, today, will get a lesson on prayer.

Perhaps you have heard the joke “When all else fails try prayer!” While that may get a chuckle, it really is a sad and sinful commentary. Many, even among us followers of Jesus, either are ignorant of or just plain dismissive of the power of prayer. Our society teaches us to be self- reliant and self-supporting saying, “You can do it! If there is a will there is a way!” We buy into the devil-authored lie that we are captains of our own destiny! That’s fine when things are going well. But what happens when we can’t stop the cancer from growing? What do we do when you get the pink slip? What happens when your son is in deep legal trouble or your teenage daughter gets pregnant? Where do you go and to whom do you turn for help? The bottle, drugs, anger, or fishing? We make a mess out of our lives and then turn to prayer to let God clean it up!

Let’s be honest! This is exactly what happens when the situations in life get out of our control. When you can’t see where to go from where we are and nothing has worked, we think, “Well, after we have done all that other stuff, let’s try prayer.” But in doing this we fail to see the value of prayer and then like the divine fire alarm box, “in case of emergency, pray.” We act as if when we fall to our knees and rub our hands together God is going to come out of the bottle like a Jeannie and give us our desires. But oh, how mistaken we are! When we do this we cheapen this tremendous gift we have in the privilege of prayer. We underestimate its power and we don’t take the Lord to whom we pray seriously either!

But aside from all of the joking, prayer has power! It is a conversation with the King of the Universe! We bring our prayers and petitions to the Lord with the promise that He will hear and answer every one of them! James, the brother of Jesus said this: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). PAUSE.

Indeed, the prayer of the saints ascends to the throne of Grace and God’s ears are attentive to them. Yet, we don’t pray often. We don’t go to the Lord with our requests. Some people consider it a waste of time. But not Paul! This man of God knows the value, benefit and the power of prayer and for this reason in the text before states: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling”

The life of God’s child is a life of prayer. The one who follows Jesus will follow Him on their knees because that is what Jesus did. Our lives are called in Holy Baptism to reflect that mentality because our hearts have been opened in faith. In faith, we plead with God to hear us and answer our every prayer.

Having said all of that let me say one more thing: All of the prayers we send up to God should mean nothing. Every one of them wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans, if the Holy Son of God had not be willing to bear His cross on Skull Hill and lay down His life for the sins of the world. Because of that suffering and death you and I can come to God’s throne to pray. We have this privilege because Christ did what we couldn’t do. He was willing to be cut off from the Heavenly Father so as to open our line of communication with Him! Through His death and resurrection we can know for certain and come boldly and trustingly to God in Jesus’ name and God will give us what we need.

Study the life of Jesus, and you will see Him at every interval of His life and ministry on His bones. He prayed all night before He chose the disciples. He prayed before He broke the bread and fish and gave them to the people. He prayed before the Passover Meal. He prayed in Gethsemane before He went up to skull Hill. He prayed from the cross. In what is called the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, Jesus teaches us by example when He prays for Himself, His disciples and even us! In this we can say, “The heartbeat of Christ was a life of prayer.”

Since we are the redeemed children of the Heavenly Father, we are called to emulate Jesus. This is a call to be faithful prayer warriors. We want to be men and women on our knees for our brothers and sisters in Christ, our often pagan and sinful leaders, those who don’t know Jesus, our neighbors and ourselves.

If, when you hear this and reflect on your spiritual life and find that you are not living the life of prayer, you are in the right place! It is here in this place that we return to the font, drown the non-praying or selfish praying old Adam and live the new and redeemed life of thanksgiving and prayer. This Spirit led new life we learn from Jesus and set aside times to get down on our knees and ask God to forgive us our sins, open our eyes to His precious Word and live under His grace.

This new life is what will shift your stuck in neutral spiritual life into high gear. The Spirit will lead you into that deeper connection with the Lord. When we hear words like this we can take them seriously knowing that God wants to hear and answer our prayers.

Today, the Savior leads you in a way that will make a difference in your life and others. Pray in the morning, at noon and at night. Pray when things are going well and when things are going bad. Pray at all times and for all people because Christ has made it possible to address the heavenly Father as OUR dear father! He is waiting for us to ask Him for all of our needs!

Why pray? Because prayer is good for us and others! Prayer changes lives. I share with you an event that happened that changed someone’s life—it’s a true story.

In his book “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes,” Ken Bailey tells a profound story about the blessings and value of prayer. Listen to Dr. Bailey speak: AFTER THE FALL OF THE SOVIENT UNION, I was privileged to lecture in Riga for the Latvian Lutheran Church. Most of the participants in the seminar were between the ages of 25-35. This meant that all of their education had been in the communist state system, which was determined to indoctrinate them in atheism. I asked one of the young women about how she came to faith.

“Was there a church in your village?” I asked.

“No, the communists closed all of them,” she replied.

“Did some saintly grandmother instruct you in the ways of God?”

“No. All the members of my family were atheists.”

“Did you have secret home Bible studies, or was there an underground church in your area?” “No, none of that” came the answer.

“So, what happened?” She told me the following story:

At funerals we were allowed to recite the Lord’s Prayer. As a young child I heard those strange words and had no idea who we were talking to, what the words meant, where they came from or why we were reciting them. When freedom came at last, I had the opportunity to search for their meaning. When you are in total darkness, the tiniest point of light is very bright. For me the Lord’s Prayer was that point of light. By the time I found its meaning I was a Christian. (p. 91).

Through a funeral in an atheist land the power of prayer—the Lord’s Prayer was on display. This young woman attended church and heard the simple words of Jesus in the prayer He taught us. And through that prayer she came to faith and followed the Eternal Light of salvation.

Today, you and I are those points of light. We pray not because we have to, because we want to converse with our Savior and Lord. We pray because we believe and know that Jesus hears and answers prayers. We pray because it doesn’t matter what you say, or how you say it, as long as it is directed to Jesus who answers every prayer.

It has been said that prayer is a school for amateurs because being led by the Holy Spirit is all that matters. That’s the only expertise you need. Pick a time and place for prayer. Make a list. If you don’t have a particular list, St. Paul gives one in the text. Then just pray! Do it over and over again, day after day. You don’t need new words. Just use the ones that the Holy Spirit gives you. Trust that familiarity does not breed contempt in your prayer life. Familiarity just makes it all the easier to reach out to the One who answers every prayer—Your Lord and Savior—Jesus Christ.

What a blessing to exercise daily on our knees and be in prayer. Prayer is special time spent with the God who blesses us for the sake of His Son, who prayed “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He has forgiven us. He has given us all things. Now, child of God, JUST PRAY! Amen.

Now the peace…

SOLI DEO GLORIA

“A Godly Desire.” (1Timothy 2:3-4)

S-1210 17SAP/3C 9/19/10 Hymns (O) #383; S#347; (C) #441

Texts: Amos 8:4-7; 1Timothy 2:1-15; Luke 16:1-15

Theme: “A Godly Desire.” (1Timothy 2:3-4)

Question: “What’s your desire?”

SOLI DEO GLORIA, Armour, SD

Faithful followers of the Savior, Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! The text for The 17^th Sunday After Pentecost is from the Epistle lesson: “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Timothy 2:3-4).

Introduction: In Nomine IESU

People of God, chosen and beloved, a young woman from Yonkers, New York was madly in love with her fiancé and desired more than anything else to be married to him and have a BIG fancy wedding. However, they didn’t have a lot of money to have a big fancy wedding. But she still desired to have an elaborate wedding with all of the glitter and glamour that comes with it. AND SHE DID!

Her wedding was one of those rare weddings that brides-to-be dream about. She got a $1,200 wedding dress, a big diamond ring and flowers galore. She had the best of everything she desired. The problem she got it all through deception and lies. 23-year-old Jessica Vega, of Yonkers, N.Y., faked cancer to get a discounted wedding.

After claiming she had leukemia and less than a year to live, Vega was the recipient of sympathy and good will from members of her community. Vega said she wanted to marry her fiancée and be with the couple’s baby daughter before she passed away. Generous strangers donated the wedding ring and wedding flowers in addition to the dress.

After about 6 months, Michael O’Connell noticed that his wife was not getting ill or getting worse. He became suspicious and contacted the doctor she was supposed to be seeing. Dr. Dan Costin’s told her husband that Vega was “NEVER A PATIENT HERE.”

Upon his discovery, Michael filed for divorce and is seeking full custody of the couple now 1-year old daughter. Once the world found out about it many felt hurt and betrayed. The owner (Gina Verdes) of the shop who gave her the wedding dress stated: “You can’t help but to feel betrayed and you know scammed by someone who would say that they are dying from a terminal illness.” PAUSE.

Deception, scheming, planning, lying, betrayal and Scamming produces hurt and harm for too many people. But that is the nature of man—sinful to the core. Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Mt. 15:19). When we look to man, to ourselves, all we see is death, corruption, fear, isolation, in short... sin! Sin is the norm and rule of what we do, because we are selfish and self-seeking, for it is part of who we are. You see that clearly in the Gospel lesson we read today (Luke 16).

But there is another picture, another angle, another story that we need to see and hear. Today, the Holy Spirit teaches us a very important lesson—what God does for His saints and cherished ones. In Paul’s letter to his son Timothy, Paul reveals what God desires. “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” God’s desire for you His beloved and beautiful bride is to be saved. Saved from pain, deception, hurt and harm. He desires to have YOU in His protective and pierced hands. He desires for YOU to know Him intimately, and grow gracefully in the truth that sets YOU free. God desires for YOU to see Him as the ALL merciful and compassionate God who gives His all so that He may right the wrong the world is in.

There are many Jessica Vegas in our world and in this building. We deceive, we lie, and we scheme and plan our personal desires at the expense of others. We promote ourselves to get the most of life. We may face Leukemia, but we live a double life. In Church we are the most holy people, but in the privacy of our homes or alone from people we are men and women who succumb to the will and desire of the devil.

How many of us have habits that we don’t want people to find out? How many of us have secrets that we don’t want people to know? How many of us pretend to be something we are not? There are many who are addicted to alcohol, dirty magazines, or dirty movies that enter our homes through the TV and still others spend plenty of money down at the Casino—to fulfill one’s desire. PAUSE.

This is who we are if the truth be told. But we don’t want to tell the truth all the time. We don’t want to correct the wrong. We want God’s grace and still live in sin. But the Apostle Paul challenges us with these words: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we...?” (Rom. 6:1-2a). Yes, how can we? How can we do what we do, just like Jessica did? Simple, within us is the sinful nature. And as long as we live in this flesh we will sin, even when we try our best not to.

BUT, I am so glad our Good, Gracious and Righteous Lord is not like us. He is holy, just, pure, and loving and desires to do what we can’t do. In His grace He covers your sin, and in His righteousness, He pays for and absorbs that sin. We all stand guilty in His presence. Listen again to the apostle Paul. Yes listen to the condemnation! “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by HIS grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by HIS blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in HIS divine forbearance He had passed over former sins” (Rom. 6:23-25). Yes, we are all guilty, and... and He is our Gracious and Righteous Savior. This Gracious and Righteous Redeemer and Mediator gives us the truth—that in Christ, and only in Christ Jesus, that is, in Him alone, Him plus nothing, are we all saved.

This is the absolute truth that you take with you today and every day as you leave this holy ground. Yes, you enter here a sinner, but leave a saint. You enter here dead, but leave alive. You enter here blind, but you leave seeing. You enter here deaf, but leave with ears open. You enter here lame, but leave whole—all because God desires for YOU His beloved and beautiful bride to be with Him eternally.

Study Scripture from its beginning to its last Word and you will know that God’s desire that His grace be poured abundantly upon all people. From the Paradise of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane He lovingly and passionately gives us His mercy to forgive our sins.

On three occasions, God proclaimed His decree of GRACE to all people without exception, calling them into His Kingdom of grace. The first time was in Paradise, through Adam as the root and head of the entire human race. The second proclamation was through Noah, the second ancestor of humanity, and the third was made by the apostles, who were commissioned to go into all the world, teaching all nations and preaching the Gospel to every creature.

And now that grace—the Divine Grace has come to us through the Lamb’s shed blood on the altar of the cross right here in this garden we call, Redeemer Lutheran Church; we realize how blessed and loved we are. Sunday after Sunday, the Lord God Almighty reveals His desire to us—forgiving us our sins, feeding us His sacred meal and showering us with His Sea of unending love. But He doesn’t stop there, He sends us out with changed hearts, armed by His Spirit and His Word to share the Gospel with those who don’t know Him as the eternal and merciful Lord.

What a privilege this Mediator and Redeemer Jesus Christ blesses us with every minute, hour, day, week and month to the end of our lives. Yes, you get to have the grandest wedding with the grandest ring and all of the glitter and glamour that goes with it.

Here the Lord dresses YOU with the fanciest wedding DRESS stitched with golden thread and purchased by His blood. Here, He places on YOUR finger the signet RING of His love. And here He provides YOU with His healing touch from the leukemia of sin.

Oh, to know the desire of our groom Jesus who wants nothing better than to spend an eternity with His holy bride—YOU. Amen and Amen.

Now the peace…

SOLI DEO GLORIA

“He Came To Save ME.” (1Timothy 1:15)

S-1208 165SAP/3C 9/1205/10 Hymns (O) #32; S#342; L.S. # 377; #311; (C) #400

Texts: Ezekiel 34:11-24; 1Timothy, 1:12-17; Luke 15:12-17

Theme: “He Came To Save ME.” (1Timothy 1:15)

Question: “If you are in danger, would you want to be saved?”

SOLI DEO GLORIA, Armour, SD

Faithful followers of the Savior, Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! The text for The 16^th Sunday After Pentecost is from the Epistle lesson: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1Timothy 1:15)

Introduction: In Nomine IESU

People of God, chosen and beloved, 9 years ago yesterday was a Black Day in the history of the USA. Early on Tuesday morning of 9-11, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked Flights number 11, 175, 77 and 93. Flights 11 and 175 crashed into the Twin Towers, flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, VI, and the fourth flight—93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Within a couple of hours, there was mayhem and misery, death and debris, fire and fumes and dust that filled the skies over New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. When all was said and done the total death toll of the attacks was 2,996, including the 19 hijackers. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries.

On that tragic and terrible day many gave their lives to save others. On Flight 93 few people did a heroic thing—Todd Beamer and Mark Bingham began a revolt saying, “LET’S ROLL!” By their brave efforts they stopped the plane from reaching its destination—The White House, and crashed into a wooded area thus saving more lives. Others gave their lives that day to save the wounded and trapped. 23 NYPD, 341 NYC Fire fighters, 2 paramedics and 37 Port Authority officers died in the line of duty.

Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham and the many faithful Police Officers (PO), Fire Fighters (FF), Paramedics, Port Authority, woke up that Tuesday morning, not thinking about this being their last and final day. The PO, FF and other agents new there might be a possibility to die in the line of duty, but they didn’t count on it. Certainly our hearts ache over the events of 9-11 PAUSE.

Unlike these brave men and women who gave their lives to save others, Pastor Paul tells of another who came for the specific mission of saving the world. Listen to Pastor Paul’s own words: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

Paul is saying here, that Jesus’ main mission didn’t just happen as a last resort, but was planned before the foundation of the world. In the Garden of Eden we see the plans of God unfolding. It was a Black Day unlike any other in all of Creation. The hijacker was not Al-Qaeda terrorist, but a fallen angel who attacked the beauty of God’s creation and crashed the lives of Adam and Eve and their descendants; and were destined to death and destruction, mayhem and misery, and fire and fumes that burn without end.

But God’s plan was put in motion. He promised saying: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15) and in John 3:16 we hear God’s great promise: “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and ONLY Begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life”.

It is as clear as a crystal why Jesus came. Jesus left heaven, entered a virgin’s womb, laid on a bed of straw and came into our world of sin and sorrow foe one reason. Only one reason why He lived in this world, died in it, and rose again. That was to save sinners. He came not to judge, but to seek and save the lost. And He came not just for the world—not for Paul, but for ME—the sinner.

But why did He need to save us? There was no other choice to save humanity. Saint Paul tells us here that the Son of God came into the world and became a man in order to save sinners. It seems implausible, but a few moments’ reflection on this great mira­cle should convince us how highly believable it is.

God’s nature is made up of two glorious qualities. On the one hand, He is absolutely holy, just, and true. On the other hand, He is full of unending love, grace, and mercy. What was God to do when man transgressed His holy Law? Should He, perhaps, have forgiven man his sin and received him into heaven without anything further? No, never! For if God had done this, He would have had to ignore the part of His nature that is holy and just. God wrote His Law into the heart of man at His creation, and He threatened man with the punishment of temporal and eternal death if he should transgress that Law. If God had pardoned fallen man without anything further, He would have declared before all creatures that He is not faith­ful. He would be just like a poor earthly father who com­mands and threatens his children, but who follows through on neither his orders nor his punishments.

But God is also full of unending love, grace, and mercy. He is an eternally overflowing sea of love with which He embraces all of His creation. By virtue of this love, He could want nothing less than to rescue the human race from its sin. How could God do this without compromising His holiness, righteousness, and faithfulness? He determined to become a man and to suffer Himself the consequences of man’s sinfulness. Already, as a newborn child, we see Him in deepest humility, covered in miserable swaddling clothes, lying in a stall. This is the Lamb of God, who bears the world’s sins, and in Him, holiness and love, righteousness and grace, and faith­fulness and mercy are reconciled.

But Pastor Paul in today’s text goes further. What he says is not only “trustworthy,” or exceedingly believable. It is also “deserving of full acceptance.” If the great Christmas miracle were only true, if we could not or would not be able to receive it, it would only have called forth a passing amaze­ment. It would, then, have brought us no salvation and have worked in us no joy. But God be praised! This miracle is wor­thy of acceptance precisely because it happened for the salva­tion of all people, all sinners. Paul writes “of whom I am the foremost” to show that he applied the Christmas miracle to himself.

How blessed we are to be in the same boat with Pastor Paul, poor miserable beggars who need the unending sea of love from God that showers us with mercy and forgiveness. We the foremost sinners have been touched by the pierced hands of the One who came to SAVE us—Jesus the Christ.

The Hymn writer penned it well when he wrote: “Chief of sinners, though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me; Died that I might live on high, Lived that I might never die; As the branch is to the vine, I am His and He is Mine” PAUSE.

On Tuesday morning of 9-11 many PO, FF, Paramedics and others ran towards the fiery inferno to save the hurting and dying. Some carried 100 pounds of weight on their shoulders as they climbed the tower to reach their destination. Yet in all of this they didn’t know they were going to die.

When the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, woke up early on that Friday of 34A.D; He knew full well what was going to happen to Him. None-the-less He continued on His climb—not up the Twin Towers, Not to the Pentagon, Not to Washington, D.C. or Pennsylvania, but to a small hill outside of Jerusalem—Calvary. And as He did so He was carrying more than 100 pounds of weight on His shoulders—He carried the world’s sins including yours and mine. With Joy He ran forward to save the world—and ME—the Sinner. The author to the Hebrews declares: “Looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). Here it is: “For the JOY that was set before Him”. What joy? Certainly not the pain and punishment of hell, not being forsaken by God, not mocked by the people; but saving YOU and ME—the SINNER.

Join me in thanking the Lord who loved us with the overflowing sea of love to save you and me the foremost sinner in the world. AMEN.

Now the peace…

SOLI DEO GLORIA