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Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

As a child in New Orleans, my family lived through the devastation caused by Hurricane Betsy. We had taken shelter in the train station. While our home was not flooded, a large tree fell on it, causing considerable damage. And the flood near the train station did claim the family car.

In 1991, my home in Sherman had a large portion of its roof pulled off by a tornado. Thankfully, our kids were in Dallas with my mom, and no one was injured. However, it rained a lot than night, and we had a big clean up and lots of repairs after that.

I have seen the aftermath of more storms than I can remember. Many times, I have been among those helping with the cleanup. You encounter people from all walks of life coming together to help each other after a disaster, people who want to help those who have fallen down. There are always plenty of folks in those situations who have no one to help them.

I have loved being able to help with Disaster Response. It is a way to show the love of God to those who are hurting. Unfortunately, for many people, that is the only time they are intentional about sharing God’s love. People who have experienced devastation are certainly in need of assistance. But so are those whose sufferings are less visible. All of us need to be thinking of ways we can show God’s love and care and concern to the people we encounter every day of our lives.

Jesus spoke about this with His disciples the night before He would be crucified.

John 15:9–17 ⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus showed His love and care and concern by laying down His life for us, His friends, appeasing God’s anger over sin and earning forgiveness for all people. Everyone who believes that Jesus is his or her Savior receives the benefit of what He did.

But that is not the end. He tells us to “bear fruit” by loving the world the way He loves the world. That is certainly seen in things like Disaster Response, but it is also seen in being a friend to others in the little things of everyday living.

How can you be a friend and share the love of God in Jesus today?

I saw something on the news the other day about “Christmas in July.” That inspired me to share this devotion today.

In Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol,” the ghost of Jacob Marley visits his former business partner, Ebenezer Scrooge. As a stern warning, he says this to Ebenezer:

“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”

What weight are you carrying around? What pet sin is a constant burden to you? Do you even know all the load you are bearing?  We do not do the good we want to do and do the evil that we try to avoid. And what will happen in the coming years? Can we change our future? After his encounters with the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, Scrooge asked:

“Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be only?  … Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”

Scrooge wanted to reverse the damage he had done with his own actions. Could he? Can we? We have the desire to turn our lives around, just as Scrooge did. And perhaps we can make some amends to those we have hurt or harmed here on earth. However, our efforts will never be enough to atone for all our wrong, our sin, our misdeeds and our failures before a holy and righteous God.

That is why it is important that we know and share the original Christmas story. Angels announced that peace had come. They told of the one whose birth would bring joy to the world. God has provided an eternal escape from your chains. The Savior was born for you. He lived for you. He died your death to pay for sin and lives still as the assurance of your forgiveness. He calls you to live a new life, not to make amends yourself, but to thank Him for doing it for you.

In Christ Tomlin’s adaptation of “Amazing Grace” he added this refrain:

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing Grace

Christmas is all about God’s gift to us: a Savior who removes our chains.

Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:19–25 ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Consider a few key phrases in this passage.

Let us draw near.  No matter what, we are to draw near to the Lord. “No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).  We draw near to Him when we receive His body and blood in His holy supper and when we remember our baptism. The sacrifice of Jesus opened heaven for us. He invites us to come to Him with a sincere (true) heart. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Because we have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, we draw near to our God “in full assurance of faith.”

Let us hold unswervingly. This could also read “let us continue to hold fast.” Christian hope is ours. We should not be silent or deny the confidence that comes from faith in Christ. There will be times when it is difficult, times of testing, pain and distress. The danger is there to deny our Savior, to lose sight of the hope that is ours. If this were to happen, it would not be God’s fault, but our own, “for He who promised is faithful.”

Let us consider how we may spur one another on. How will my attitude and my conduct affect other believers? Will it stir others up for my own ends but not for the Lord’s? We must be careful not to isolate ourselves from other Christians, but to remain in fellowship with the Church. How else can we encourage each other? We need to be in and contemplate on God’s Word as we see “the Day drawing near.”    His Word will lead us “toward love and good deeds.” We encourage each other as we are part of the  body of Christ and make use of the means of God’s grace, the Word and Sacraments.

Romans 12:1–5  Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Some of us remember when the Army recruitment slogan was “Be all that you can be.” The commercials pictured a life of adventure and promised they would have the training and skills necessary to succeed in life. Another promise was that those in the Armed Forces would learn how to be a part of a team, all working together. All you had to do was enlist. There was a commitment on your part, but those were some significant promises.

Paul reminds us that God has made even better promises to His people. He encourages the followers of Jesus to “Be all that you can be.” We are to think of ourselves in terms of our faith, what we have become through the cleansing that Jesus provided for us. He died to enable us to be forgiven. He earned our entry into life everlasting and gives it to us as a gift. Life is an exciting adventure for us, even if we don’t always see it that way. We know that we have a Savior and we await a far better existence with Him in heaven. Until then, we live by faith, knowing that Jesus does all the giving and we do all the receiving. He even gives us the guidance we need to make our way through this life.

One of the best things God does for us is to remind us that we are part of a team, His team, the body of Christ. We all have different skills and abilities that we are to use for the glory of God. Just as a body is healthy, able and strong only when all the parts of the body work together, so it is with the body of Christ, the church here on earth. We need to work together, each doing his or her part. We need to be concerned for the other members of our body. At the same time, we will offer help to those who need it, comfort to the bruised or injured, the stronger parts helping the weaker ones.

This is a beautiful picture of how we should be working together for Jesus, who gave His all so that we could be forgiven and restored and redeemed. Be all that you can be.

Back in March I wrote a devotion that began this way.

I have a 4-year-old grandson – Simon – that is quite a character. He has the ability to immerse himself in things totally. He gets a lot of joy out of just being a kid. His wide range of facial expressions crack me up. But he can also be a little pill at times. On a recent trip, we were on a hiking trail with him, his sister and his parents. At one point, he was tired of hiking and started whining, complaining and misbehaving. His dad told the rest of us to go ahead so he and Simon could have a “conversation.”  They caught up to us a few minutes later. Simon was not happy, but was behaving himself better after their “conversation.”  Later that day, at the dinner table, Simon was acting up a bit again, and his dad asked, “Do you and I have to have another conversation?” Simon looked down and said in a whiny voice that was loud enough for everyone to hear, “I hate conversations!”

Yesterday I was the guest preacher at his church, where his dad is pastor. At their late service, the children are dismissed for “Kid Time” during the sermon, where their Children’s Minister shares a message with them. It was also Simon’s fifth birthday, so we stayed for the party.  After the meal and the presents and the cake, we were all talking and it came up that I had shared the sermon that day. Simon was at “Kid Time,” so he did not hear me preach. But he said, “A sermon is like a conversation!”

Wow! In some ways, he nailed it. A sermon often tells people things they don’t want to hear. It points out sin that is deserving of punishment and condemnation. It confronts people with things that can make them uncomfortable. That is the Law doing its job. But if that is all that is in the sermon, the preacher has not done his job.

In every message I share, my goal is to point people to the cross and the empty tomb. The message that needs to predominate is not Law, but the Good News of salvation as a free gift that we have for Jesus’ sake. He paid our debt. He accomplished our forgiveness. He opened heaven for us. He did it all. And He did it for everyone.

We need to hear the “conversation” part, because It reminds us what a wonderful thing Jesus has done for us all. It helps us see what a tremendous gift we have in being declared “not guilty” as a free gift from God because we believe in Jesus as our Savior. Our response to that should be living a life a gratitude that seeks to conform to God’s will. Paul put it this way:

Ephesians 2:8–10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

One of my favorite object lessons is one I learned from my dad. It involves chemicals, which always seemed to go over well with the kids and the adults. I am preaching in my son-in-law’s church today and using this with the children. Here is the usual script I use.

Props:  Iodine & Sodium Thiosulfate crystals, clear glass of water, cross with jar lid on bottom to hold the crystals.

Today I want to share what Jesus has done for you in a way that might help you remember.

When God first made the world, it was without sin, it was pure. Do you know what pure means? It is like clean. Like this glass of water. This water is clean, it is pure, with nothing in it. I am not afraid to drink it.

(Drink some of the water)

But what if the water was not pure? What if it was dirty and polluted?

(Add iodine from bottle labeled “sin”)

Would you drink it now? I wouldn’t!

That is how sin makes us: not pure! And God was not happy with that. So He sent Jesus to help us, to make us clean again.

(Dip cross with crystals in lid into water so that it clears up.)

Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sin. He makes us pure, and wants us to live that way by having nothing to do with sin.

That is the Good News you and I have. It is the Good News we need to share with others.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you for making us pure by dying for us. Help us to live pure lives. Amen.

Most people say they don’t like change. For the most part, we like things to stay the same, to remain constant. The only time any of us really like change is when it is our idea to change something. Otherwise, we rebel and complain when someone suggests a change.

So here is something that should be comforting:  God’s Word does not change. If God makes a promise, He remains faithful to that Word. It also means His laws remain the same. As I said, that should be comforting. However, lots of folks want to change the message of God’s Word. That has been true ever since God spoke.

• The devil asked Eve, “Did God really say…?”
• False prophets have always been declaring “Thus says the Lord” when God said no such thing.
• People will try to convince you that passages condemning certain sins no longer apply in our world today.

The list could go on forever. Those who want to change the message of God’s Word have made themselves the authority rather than letting God’s Word be the authority. They don’t take God at His Word.

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

Peter quoted this in his first letter.

1 Peter 1:23–25 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

Jesus is God’s Word made Flesh (John 1:14).  He does not change because the Word does not change

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Again, that should be comforting. The message of God’s Word is all about God not wanting our sin to separate us from Him. He took action to make sure we could be restored and forgiven. He paid the penalty so that we would not have to die forever. It is a message of love and reconciliation that we could not accomplish, so God did it for us. Listen to how Paul described it in one of his letters.

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

That message does not change. And those of us who know this to be true need to lovingly share that message with the world, including those who are trying to say God’s Word says something different than that.

Lord, help us to be salt and light so that we can share Your Word with the world.

Soon after same sex marriage was legalized in the United States, I had a phone call from a local television reporter at. She asked if any same sex couples had requested to be married in our church. I said they had not. She then asked if I would officiate at such a wedding or if I would decline. I told her I would decline. As soon as I said that, she thanked me and hung up. At the time, I never thought I would be placed in the position of having to answer that question. And things have been getting progressively worse, with more and more perversions being declared acceptable by our society. But I have no problem taking my stand on the Word of God. I am led by what God tells me in His Word before I am obligated to the laws of this land or a ruling of the Supreme Court.

In Luke 4 we have the account of Jesus going to the synagogue of his hometown, Nazareth, and reading from Isaiah (61:1) The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… After He read that passage from the scroll, Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21). The people wanted to stone Him because they didn’t understand or believe him. They were looking for a different kind of freedom, an earthly freedom. But Jesus brought something better. He was accomplishing freedom for those broken by guilt, freedom for those in bondage to sin, freedom from the darkness of their disobedience. He was the one who came to give spiritual and eternal freedom. That is Good News, the best news you will ever hear, but many fail to recognize it for what it is. That is why you and I have been told to tell them about our Jesus!

So many hear “freedom” and think “I can do anything I want.”  They treat freedom as though it is a declaration of independence from God, saying they don’t need all of His restrictive rules and regulations and commandments. And that is when the trouble begins. There is fallout from that “independence.” When people rebel against God and the laws that He gave us for our own good, they invite trouble into their lives.

All because we think we know better than God and try to do things our way rather than God’s way. Then we cry out to God, demanding that He do something about the problems we have brought on ourselves, and some will react by saying, “I could never believe in a God who allows so much suffering!” And yet the suffering is all because we have not listened to Him and lived according to what he has told us! So listen to what He says now:

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

1 Peter 2:16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

It is for freedom that Christ has set you free, but not man’s warped definition of freedom. It is not the freedom that this world gives, it is not the freedom to sin, but Jesus gives the freedom of knowing that all your sins were covered by His blood so that you can stand before Him as blameless and clean and forgiven. You have the freedom to live your life as His child and servant. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Use that Freedom to follow Him and share Him with others. We need to be that city on a hill, shining the light of God’s truth and mercy and forgiveness and life that is found only in Jesus Christ.

A few years back, the ACLU’s posted on their website: “It is probably no accident that freedom of speech is the first freedom mentioned in the First Amendment.”  Is freedom of speech the first thing mentioned in the First Amendment? Absolutely not. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The ACLU is so agenda driven that it often ignores the facts. Freedom of speech and the other freedoms listed in the Bill of Rights all flow from the understanding that an individual’s freedom is first and best expressed in freedom to worship God. Conventional wisdom thinks freedom leads to truth, but the Bible says, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

Of course, freedom of religion continues to come under attack. All three branches of our government seem to be trying to remove any vestige of Christianity from the lives. I know this is disturbing and troubling to many of you, but let’s try to keep it all in perspective.

Christians should stop expecting the government to be the teacher of Christian values and morality. I think that is a big part of the problem. People thought that the government would always follow the teachings of the Bible and impose those beliefs on everyone. And because they believed that to be true, the followers of Jesus became lazy and complacent. But our nation’s laws are not based on the Bible. They are based on what the people say they want. When Christians were the majority of those in control, thinks went well for us. That is no longer the case. And what people want is constantly changing. We are seeing more and more that people are following their sinful nature and desires. They are looking for happiness and peace and contentment by pursuing lust and greed and sin, and they will come up empty. Going down that road will continue to bring disappointment.

We are witnessing people indulge in all kinds of depravity and having it be labeled as acceptable. We are right to pray, “The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide.” We know that God will remain with His people. But when people are not following God’s Word, Satan is there to fill the void. He promises pleasure and satisfaction, but brings pain, conflict, hatred and cruelty.

The message is not all doom and gloom. While it may not be what we would like to see, the government declaring yet another sin legal does not spell defeat for the followers of Jesus Christ. He is still risen from the dead and He is still in control. He has purchased us back from sin and death to give us forgiveness and life, and He wants only the best for us.

The government is not responsible for getting God’s Word out. You and I were given that task. It is our job – as the followers of Jesus Christ, those who know the truth – it is our job to proclaim the whole counsel of God to the world around us, those in far away lands and those living on our street. And the Word of God we have to share is more than Commandments, more than the Law of God, more than pronouncements of condemnation. You and I are called to share the precious, priceless Good News of Jesus Christ as Savior, the only hope for anyone to be saved from sin. You and I have in our possession and must share in our words and actions the message that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, and He did that by living a perfect life and dying to pay for the sins of all men. You and I know that He rose again in triumph on the third day to open heaven for all who will believe in Him, and that is what we have been called to share with our neighbors. We are to announce the freedom that Christ brings. That is our job, not that of the government.

We rejoice that we live in a land that still has religious freedom, and we want to safeguard that freedom so that we can continue to worship God and share Him with others. But don’t confuse your freedom to worship and the government’s responsibility. The government grants you earthly freedom. Your job is to use that freedom to share Christ and the spiritual freedom He offers.

Earlier this week Cheryl and I took our boat out for the first time this year. We had a lovely day on the lake. While the temperatures soared to triple digits here in North Texas, we stayed under the shade of the Bimini top on our pontoon boat and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing across the top of the water. We got in the water for a swim. And we fished. For hours. We came across several schools of small fish, but after several hours of trying, we only caught one fish big enough to keep. It wasn’t that we were not trying. We used several different tactics and lures and techniques, but at the end of the day there was only one sand bass in the live well.

A day like that may seem discouraging, but we were still happy we had the chance to be together and on the water. And we did catch fish, which was what we were trying to do.

At least a third of the disciples of Jesus were fishermen:  Peter, Andrew, James and John. They were not recreational fishermen, but people who did it for a living. And they also knew what it was like to have a “bad day” fishing.

Luke 5:1–11 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

They fished all night and caught nothing. We fished several hours and caught little. But we kept trying. I wonder if I have been as persistent in being a fisher of men?

Lord, forgive me for the times I have not been faithful to my calling to be a fisher of men. Help me to be as persistent in my efforts to let other people know about what a wonderful God and Savior you are as I am in my efforts to catch fish on when I am on the lake! And thank you for loving me and dying in my place to make the payment for all my sin and shortcomings.