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The preacher I heard last Sunday quoted part of Jeremiah 29 as part of his sermon. That prompted me to read that chapter again this week.

This chapter has the prophet writing to those who had already been carried off to Babylon. He had long prophesied that this was coming because of the nation’s refusal to live as God’s people. They would be punished, and now was the time. They would be taken from their Promised Land and live in exile. But Jeremiah reminded them that this would not go one forever. God would be faithful to them, be with them, and eventually return His people to the land He had sworn to give them as a lasting inheritance.

Jeremiah 29:4-7 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

The Children of Israel had brought this on themselves. They had been warned, but they did not repent, did not clean up their act, did not stop chasing after other gods. So God carried out His punishment. It was meant to discipline them. And please notice that God was not abandoning them, not washing His hands of them, not giving up on them. He was still their God. He would be with them in their difficult time. He was still their God and would be faithful to His promises.

That is why He encouraged them to go on with their lives. Build homes, plant gardens, have children and grandchildren. And then in verse seven He said, “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  The English Standard Version says “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.”

As the disciples of Jesus, we are not in our homeland. We look around and realize that we are in a hostile environment. That is becoming ever more obvious as we see the depravity and corruption that has become accepted behavior. But we know that our God is still with us. The one who has already paid for all sin and conquered death for us gives us this assurance over and over again.

Just before He ascended, Jesus commissioned His followers to spread the news about Him, making more disciples by baptizing and teaching and said this:

Matthew 28:20  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The writer of Hebrews quoted Deuteronomy 31 when he penned this:

Hebrews 13:5 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

No matter what is going on in this world, because of our faith in Jesus, we can be assured that our God is With Us.

At the LCMS Youth Gathering last month, there was a fabulous concert by the group “for King and Country.” Here are some of the lyrics from their song “For God Is With Us.”

Can you feel your heart begin to race?
Can you see the tide begin to change?
With all of our futures rearranged
The world will never be the same

For God is with us

Live with that certainty.

I’ll share more thoughts on Jeremiah 29 tomorrow.

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In case anyone is interested, Cheryl and I will be co-hosting a trip to Greece next year with Donna Snow:  Walk in the Footsteps of Paul.  The links to the brochure and registration form are below.

https://www.artesianministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/10-Day-2023-Greece-Tour-Brochure.pdf

https://www.artesianministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/10-Day-Greece-3-Night-Cruise-Registration-Form-SnowG23.pdf

My daughters were visiting recently and I was reminded of an incident that happened at the movie theater. Cheryl had my brother’s two kids on one side of her. Our youngest, Leah, was on the other side of Cheryl, and Rachel was next to Leah. Leah was about 9 or 10, which means Rachel would have been 14 or 15.

Cheryl had brought a bag of Starburst candies to the show. As the show progressed, every so often Cheryl would hand one to her niece and one to her nephew on her left, and two to Leah on her other side. This went on the entire movie.

After the movie, the kids were talking about the candy. Rachel said, “I only got one!” Leah had a look on her face that is hard to describe. She was half smiling and half thinking she was in trouble. She said something along the lines “I didn’t know I was supposed to share. I was just happy with how many Starbursts I was getting.”

A lot of Christians act that way. They are happy for the good news they have heard and all the blessings they have for Jesus sake. They are grateful to have God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. They are happy in knowing Jesus died and rose for them. They rejoice in the certainty of the forgiveness they have and the guarantee of everlasting life for Jesus’ sake. But they are not sharing as much of it as they should.

The faith we have as followers of Jesus was never intended to be something we kept all for ourselves. After His death and resurrection, and just before His ascension, Jesus reminded His followers of that.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

A witness is simply someone who tells someone else what they know, what they have seen and heard. If you know and believe that Jesus is your Savior, that is what you need to share. Don’t be afraid of not knowing all the answers or not being sure where to start. Just share what you know. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide and direct you, and He will.

It is good to rejoice in the knowledge of the forgiveness, life and salvation Jesus earned for you. Just don’t forget to share.

Acts 2:1–4, 22-24, 36  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. …  “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. … “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

God poured out His Holy Spirit on his disciples on Pentecost. That same Spirit works in people still today through the Bible. Luther’s Large Catechism states it this way: “The Holy Spirit reveals and preaches the Word, and by it he illumines and kindles hearts so that they grasp and accept it, cling to it, and persevere in it” (Tappert, p. 416, #42).

Some people look at the Bible as an instruction manual. And you know what people typically do with instruction manuals, don’t you? They lay them aside without ever looking at them. Yet I have learned that instructions are worth reading. Especially the instructions we find in Scripture.

Others will say God’s Word should be a guide for our lives. You must put complete confidence in the Bible as the place where God speaks to you, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you with His Word. His promises are sure. His Word has never failed you, and it never will.

Another important thing to remember when looking at the Scriptures is that it is God speaking. Over and over in the Old Testament we come across the phrase “Thus says the Lord…” In the New Testament we have the actual words of Jesus. All the books of the Bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit, which means all of it is the Word of God Himself.

The Bible is all those things, but it is more than a book of moral platitudes or rules to live by. The Spirit working through the Word will reveal and explain to you the wonderful arrangements God has made for your rescue from sin. Without the Bible, you would never know that you have a loving God who sent His Son to be your Savior from sin and death. You would not know about the death of Jesus in your place. You would not know about His resurrection from the dead, through which He has won eternal life for all men. All of this is contained in the Good Book as God’s Revelation of Himself to men. You need to listen to it.

When you think about people who have been heroes of the faith, you will find that they have a common thread: they were all people of the Word. They were people who would say with the Psalmist: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)

• Luther would never have rediscovered the truth that man is saved by grace through faith if he had not been studying the Scripture.
• John Wesley, founder of what became Methodist Church, traveled over 100,000 miles on horseback to preach, always reading as he rode. In that way he read through the Bible several times. And his witness for Christ is still heard today.
• William Tyndale, first man to translate the Bible into English, was put into prison for doing just that. While there, in the dungeons of England, all he asked was a candle, His Hebrew Bible, and Hebrew Dictionary so that he could continue to study God’s Word.
• When Paul was imprisoned, he asked for his “books”, a reference to what we now know as the Old Testament.

These heroes of the faith studied God’s Word and listened to what He said. They rejoiced in the knowledge of all God did for them through Jesus Christ. They knew and believed that He was their Savior because that is what they found in the Word. You have that same word at your disposal. All of you have the promise that the Holy Spirit will work through the Word to bring you to an understanding of God’s Will for you in your life. That is in addition to the treasure of eternal life as a free gift.

A congregation looking for a new pastor was interviewing one of the candidates. A committee member asked, “Which part of the Bible do you like the best?” He replied “The New Testament.” Another committee member asked “Which part of the New Testament.” “The Book of Parables” the candidate answered. One of the pulpit committee members said, “I don’t believe I am familiar with that book. Could you share part of it with us?” This is what the candidate said:

“Once upon a time Samuel went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves. Part of him fell on the path, part of him fell on the good soil, and part of him fell on the rocky ground. And the thorns grew up and choked that man. So he cut off the branches and threw them into the fire. As he went along, he saw the Queen of Sheba taking a bath, so he called her Bathsheba. And she gave him a thousand talents of gold and a hundred changes of raiment. He got into his chariot and drove furiously to get away from her. As he was driving along under a tree, his hair got caught in the branches and left him hanging there. And he hung there forty days and forty nights, so the ravens of the air brought him food to eat and water to drink. Then one night while he was hanging there, his wife, Delilah, came along, cut off all his hair, and threw him into the fire. As the king walked past, he saw that the man was in the fire but not being burned. So he took off his sandals, thinking that was holy ground. Then it began to rain. And it rained for forty days and forty nights. In order to get out of the rain, he hid himself in a cave. While he was in the cave, a bright light knocked him to the ground and cried out “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” But he did not answer because his name was Samuel. And as he was sleeping, the voice cried out “Samuel”, so he got up and went out of the cave and met a man and said, “Come and take supper with me.” But the man said he couldn’t come because he had just married a wife. So Samuel went out into the hiways and the byways to compel him to come in. As he was on the hiways and byways, he found himself back in Jerusalem. When he looked up, he saw Queen Jezebel sitting high up in a window. When she saw him she laughed. So he said, “Throw her down.” And then he said, “Throw her down out of there again. And they threw her down seventy times seven times. Samuel said to her, “Go and sin no more.” Then they picked up her fragments, and they filled up twelve baskets. Now whose wife will she be in the day of judgment?”

After hearing this, the pulpit committee agreed that this man’s knowledge of the Scripture was far beyond their own, and immediately hired him to be their new preacher.

I hope you know that while what that man said is in the Bible, that is not what the Bible says. God’s Word is to be our guide for faith, life and living. In order for it to be that, you and I must know what it says. While it would be difficult to be as mixed up as that man in the story was, I think it is safe to say that none of us, myself included, know what the Bible says as well as we could or should.

John 7:37-39a On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

When we spend time in the Word of God, we find Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads us to Him. That is what the Word is for, to point us to the Word made flesh, the one who died to pay for the sins of the world and rose in victory over death for us all. We need to believe in Him to have those streams of living water.

More on this tomorrow.

Four years ago today I watched my son-in-law put some water on his son’s head. As he was doing so, he called his son by name and said “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And just like that, Simon became part of God’s family. God’s name was placed on him, and the Spirit of God was at work. God did some amazing things that day, just as He does every time someone is Baptized.

Romans 6:3–5 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

Baptism connects us to everything Jesus did to accomplish life and salvation for us. It joins us to His death that paid for sin. It links us to His resurrection that gives us victory over death. That is God’s promise to us in His Word. It does not give us something other than what we receive through faith. Rather it is an extra added assurance in our lives that we are redeemed. Scripture tells us very plainly that Baptism saves us.

1 Peter 3:21 and this water [the flood of Noah] symbolizes baptism that now saves you also— … It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Titus 3:5–8 [God] saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  This is a trustworthy saying.

The comfort of Baptism is that it is something God has done for us, not something you do. God gives you His name in Baptism. God makes you part of His family. God washes your sins in Baptism. God promises you forgiveness, life and salvation.

I don’t know if you remember the day you were baptized or not. But you should always remember that you are baptized. I had a sign on the bathroom mirror of my office at church with a quote from Martin Luther:  When you wash your face, remember your Baptism. Remembering your baptism is remembering all that God has done for you in Christ.

Happy Baptismal Birthday, Simon!

I have written about our barn cats before. They are semi-feral cats that we feed and they hang around to keep the mice and snakes away from our house. It works fairly well. Until there is an extended drought and a resurgence in the coyote population.

When we came home from the Youth Gathering in mid-July, the one we called Mama Kitty who had been with us for years and had several litters of kittens had vanished. We had another cat who had her first litter of kittens about 4 weeks earlier, but we had not yet seen any of them. A few days after we returned home, that cat quit coming around as well. A couple more day and I discovered two little kittens down in our barn crying. The next day, I found a cage and went to find the kittens who were still down there crying because their mother had not returned. It turns out there were four of them. I managed to catch three that day, and we started bottle feeding them kitty formula, which they devoured. We brought the cage into the house to keep them safe. Unfortunately, the next morning one of them had died. I then managed to catch the last one, so we had three we were feeding again. But the next day, despite our best efforts, another one died. The other two – the first and the last one I caught – seemed to be doing great. A week later they were playing and purring and it looked like all was well. But the next morning another one had died. The last one living is also the last one I was able to catch. I know he will never be a barn cat now that he has been brought into the house, and we have found someone who will adopt him.

As I said, we did the best we could for all four of them. We treated them all the same.  We gave them the same kitten formula. We tried to care for them. Some responded well, some did not.

That’s how it is with our sharing of Jesus, too. We share the same message with people, and some will respond to the Spirit’s invitation to believe and live. Others will turn away without receiving the life Jesus has for them.

Thinking about this reminded me of the Parable of the Sower.

Matthew 13:3–9, 18-23 ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.” … ¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. ²² The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Our job is to keep sowing the seed, keep sharing the life-saving message of who Jesus is and that He has paid for the sins of everyone, so the Spirit can do His thing and lead them to faith. We need to show love and care and Christ’s love, even when it seems to be unsuccessful. It is our task to share it and let the Spirit of God work through our witness.

There will be those who respond, believe, and live.

Cheryl and I were driving home a few days ago and had the radio on a station that played Country Music from the 80s and 90s. We heard one we had not heard in a while, a song by Paul Overstreet entitled “Seein’ My Father in Me.”

When we got home, I looked for it online. As I was watching the music video, it started with these words: He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. While the video did not say where those words were from, I recognized them as part of the last verse of the Old Testament, Malachi 4:6. It was speaking of Elijah coming before the Lord’s return, calling people to repentance so that they can be forgiven instead of receiving the destruction their sins deserve.

Getting back to the song, this is the refrain.

I’m seein’ my father in me, I guess that’s how it’s meant to be
And I find I’m more and more like him each day
I notice I walk the way he walks I notice I talk the way he talks
I’m starin’ to see my father in me.
And I’m happy to see my father in me…

The music video I saw showed fathers and sons and grandsons all together, many of them bearing strong physical resemblances. But the lyrics refer to a different kind of resemblance. Walking the way he walks and talking the way he talks. When men have a loving and morally upright role model to follow, it makes a difference. Those of us who are fathers and grandfathers need to take that to heart and be sure we are setting a good example.

But I went even further as I was reflecting on this song, and I’m sure you already know where I am going with this. The world needs to see our heavenly Father in all of us who are His disciples. That’s how it’s meant to be. We should be more and more like Him each day. Our lives were changed when we were led to faith in Jesus as our Savior. Knowing that His perfection covers us and His death has paid our penalty, we want to respond with lives that let others know about Him, too.

Each of us should pray that the world will be “Seein’ My Father in Me.”