St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church and School

AUGUST 2008

Crave Pure Spiritual Milk

     "Crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." - I Peter 2:2

     It starts slowly. we had such wonderful weather in May and through most of June. It wasn't too hot. The moisture was plentiful. The hills, prairies, and fields haven't looked this green and lush in many, many years. Even the middle of July the color green the color green was still prominent.

     But now, ever so slowly, things are beginning to dry up. It's been a while since we've had measurable precipitation. It's getting hotter, and not cooling down as much at night.   Sprinkler systems are being turned on. Plants have to be watered. You can begin to see some yellow and brown making an appearance in the fields, prairies, and hills. The change is slow, but the change is occurring. We need and pray for more rain.

     That's the way it is with our faith in Jesus. As long as we're craving pure spiritual milk (God's Word) our faith will continue to grow and remain strong. God's Word will direct us and motivate us to do what pleases Him. We'll live with the peace that all our sins have been forgiven. We'll be confident that God will supply all we need in life. Family relationships will be stronger. Fear, doubt, and worry won't plague us. God's Word is the steady moisture that keeps our faith alive.

     But as soon as we remove ourselves from that life-giving, life-preserving Word, things slowly begin to change. We fall more easily for temptation. Serving one another in love declines. Guilt ruins relationships - with God and our family. Worry consumes us. Fear upsets us. And it's not something that happens all at once. Just like lawns and fields dry up, our faith deteriorates slowly. And before we know , it's not only is our life on this earth in shambles, our eternal home in heaven is at risk as our faith withers away.

     God's Word of encouragement to us as the devil turns up the heat of spiritual heartache in our life is to "crave pure spiritual milk." In other words, continue to faithfully hear and read God's Word. Just like we water our lawns to keep them alive and healthy, water your faith with the water of life, sot hat your faith ("of greater worth than gold" -- I Peter 1:7) may continue to survive and even thrive no matter how great the temptation, no matter how difficult situations in life may become.

MONDAY NIGHT SERVICES

     Our Monday night services are held at 6:30, and will continue through October. It is our prayer that these extra services will make it possible for all of our members to worship on a regular basis.

July 2008

God, Bless America

Can it get any worse? The drought that we’ve experienced for 8 years has turned into unrelenting flooding in one quick year. Tornadoes have done more destruction and taken more human lives than in decades. As fuel prices rise, so does the cost of just about everything else. House foreclosures have had a crippling effect on our economy. It might not be far fetched to wonder if anything is going right for our nation right now.

      And our reaction? We’re all probably grousing about it, waiting for “them” to fix the problem. But have any of us stopped to ask ourselves what we can do to address the problem? Here are three things that we can do:

1. Pray. Our Lord tells us, “I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority.” Pray that God grant our leaders the wisdom and courage to do what’s right and best for our nation. Pray, remembering that “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

2. Live a God-pleasing life. We do that first and foremost out of love for our Lord, to express our thanks to our Lord for the gift of our salvation. But consider these words of the Lord, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” It’s so easy to join in the foul language, foul morals, foul-joke-telling people of society. But those sins bring God’s just anger on a sinful nation. But right living, for the right reason (love for God), will bring God’s blessings to a nation. So let’s put away the smut, the cuss words, the drunkenness, sexual sins, the lies, the disobedience, and enjoy the blessing of the Lord.

3. Share the good news of Jesus’ love with the people in your life. As the Spirit works through the Word that we share, more and more people will be led to embrace Jesus as their Savior. That means eternal blessings for them and rich blessings for our nation as more people pray and more people live a God-pleasing life.

      Can the situation in our nation get worse? Yes it can. But it doesn’t have to. Not if we take to heart and put into practice these words of our Lord, “Come, let us return to the Lord, He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us, but He will bind up our wounds.” As we turn to the Lord we pray for that He will bless our nation, the United States of America, just as he promises.

JUNE 2008

    NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION

II Corinthians 6:2

      How many times have we kicked ourselves because we waited too long? - the sale ended, the item was sold out, we missed our flight, the kickoff, our child's solo. Lord-willing, we learned a hard lesson and realize there's no time like the present to get things done.

     That's what God tells us with these words, "Now is the of Salvation". You know we can find a million and one reasons to put off time for God - work around the house, the fun to be enjoyed in life, the company that comes. But just think about what's happening in our world these last weeks - tornadoes, earthquakes, typhoons, airplane crashes, bridge collapses, ferries sink.

     Chances are those disasters will never affect us. But don't you think the people that the people that died as a result of those disasters thought the same thing? God has given us the present time, right now, to know Jesus as our Savior. We don't know how long our "now" is. But what we do now could very well dictate what our eternity will be like.

     Eternity is a long time. It's not like missing out on a sale, the flight, the child's solo. It's either being in heaven forever or being in hell forever. To avoid eternal suffering and to enjoy eternal glory our Lord reminds us. "Now is the day of salvation". Right now is the time to solidify our relationship with Jesus, to hear His Word so that we get to know Him better and love Him more.

     Take that into consideration when making the choice to feast on the Word of life ot take a rain check. Remember that "Now is the day of salvation". What you do now may determine your eternal destination. Please don't take a chance. Take advantage of the "now" that God gives you to hear His Word, to grow in your faith and to remain an heir of eternal glory.