ASLC Devotions - Thursday

2 Timothy 1:14 Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

This would be a great theme verse for the whole concept of biblical stewardship if you were looking for one. It's all about recognizing that the things we have are not really ours. They are treasures (gifts) entrusted to us for a time. This includes all the money and physical things we usually concentrate on. But it also means our talents - your kindness and love are gifts entrusted to you by God. Your faith itself is a gift entrusted to you by God. God calls on you to guard that treasure - to use it wisely.

The second clause is equally important - "with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us." This is an acknowledgement that a life of Christian stewardship is hard. It's hard to remember that God has given us all these gifts and that God has given us enough. It's hard to remember that it's not our doing. And it's hard to remember that we're never alone. We need God's continual help, not just one time at baptism. So the Holy Spirit lives within us, continuing to help and guide us.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

This message is a ministry of All Saints Lutheran Church. If you wish to be unsubscribed, please send us a message. Visit our website for full calendar and information about our ministries.  This Sunday we worship at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour at 9:45.

ASLC Devotions - Wednesday

Mark 11:24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Sometimes I think we Christians aren't bold enough in our faith. Let me correct that and own it: sometimes I think I am not bold enough in my faith. Do you ever pray and TRULY believe that you've already received what it is that you're praying for? Do you ever pray "forgive us our trespasses" and really believe that you've already received forgiveness? Even harder, do you ever pray "as we forgive those who trespass against us" and really believe that you've received the ability to forgive?

So much stress and heartache could be avoided if we truly believed that we received all the good gifts contained in the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
     hallowed be thy name,
     thy kingdom come,
     thy will be done,
          on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
     as we forgive those
          who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
     but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
     and the power, and the glory,
     forever and ever. Amen.


In Christ,
Pastor Seth

This message is a ministry of All Saints Lutheran Church. If you wish to be unsubscribed, please send us a message. Visit our website for full calendar and information about our ministries.  This Sunday we worship at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour at 9:45.

ASLC Devotions - Tuesday

Habakkuk 2:5 Moreover, wealth is treacherous;
   the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol;
   like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves,
   and collect all peoples as their own. 

If you listened to popular culture about Christianity, you'd think the Bible was obsessed with sex and defeating other religions. Those things are in the Bible. The Bible has something to say about them. But really, the things the Bible condemns MUCH more strongly are wealth and greed and arrogance. I wonder why we don't talk about that more often? I wonder if it could because they hit a little more close to home for most of us.

The problem with wealth or pride isn't in and of themselves. The problem is that they are unsatiable desires and they turn our attention from the source of every good gift. The desire for wealth feeds a desire for more wealth. Out-of-control pride feeds on itself and quickly becomes arrogance. And we forget that everything good does not come from us, but comes undeserving from the God who made us all. Every good thing you have in your life is a free gift. Thank God for that!

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

This message is a ministry of All Saints Lutheran Church. If you wish to be unsubscribed, please send us a message. Visit our website for full calendar and information about our ministries.  This Sunday we worship at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour at 9:45.

ASLC Devotions - Monday

Habakkuk 1:5 Look at the nations, and see!
   Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days
   that you would not believe if you were told. 

What is going on around here!?! What is it with people today? Or with politicians - what is going on? I've never seen anything like this before? I wrote this message last Friday, but I am going to guess that the federal government is still in shutdown and we still don't know what's going on or when it will end. "A word is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told."

Except that Habakkuk means this positively. God speaking through Habakkuk means this positively. God is doing amazing things you wouldn't even believe if you were told. And they are good things. Life-giving things. Children are being fed. Lives are being saved. All over the world. And in your neighborhood. Those are the amazing things of your God. Thanks be to God!

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

This message is a ministry of All Saints Lutheran Church. If you wish to be unsubscribed, please send us a message. Visit our website for full calendar and information about our ministries.  This Sunday we worship at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour at 9:45.

ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday, October 2

Matthew 19:20-22

²⁰The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ ²¹Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ ²²When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

It could be said, probably of all of us, that we have many possessions. One of the projects I undertook this summer was our basement, that unfinished storage space that had become the dumping grounds for anything we wanted out of sight over the past seven (or more) years. We often read this passage as the young man was grieving because he loved his things and didn’t want to get rid of them. After my experience this summer? I think maybe he was grieving because he knew the hard work that awaited him. I joke. Sort of.

Truly, what Jesus asks of the young man is the hard thing. Evidently keeping the commandments was easy for him, but giving up his possessions would be difficult. I wish we knew what happened to the young man. Did he do what Jesus asked of him? Or did he make a different decision? What do you think?

Peace,

Pastor Jenn  

ASLC Devotions -- Tuesday, October 1

Hosea 10:12

¹² Sow for yourselves righteousness;
   reap steadfast love;
   break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
   that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

I don’t know many farmers who sow righteousness in their fields. Corn, soybeans, sunflowers, wheat, yes. But not righteousness.

Of course this is meant to be an analogy. We sow the righteousness in the world – or in our hearts – and we reap the steadfast love. It is time, Hosea says, to break up the fallow ground. Fallow ground is land that has been allowed to not be planted for a period of time, in order to restore its fertility. It is land that has rested and not been productive. But now it is time to plant the seeds of righteousness so that steadfast love might flourish. It is time to seek the Lord.

Peace,

Pastor Jenn