Make Straight Your Priorities.

“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,”‘” (Mark 1:2-3)

The prelude to the ministry of Jesus was a messenger who would prepare God’s chosen people for His work of salvation: John the Baptist. His mission was to announce that the long-promised Messiah was about to appear and to prepare the people of Israel to meet Him. The people needed to repent and be baptized as a sign of their repentance: the Messiah was coming to judge sin and wickedness. Redemption would come in Jesus Himself who took upon Himself the judgment of God. All those who by faith accepted Christ’s sacrifice as their own would find mercy and eternal life. Yet that same sacrifice would fall as condemnation upon all those who rejected the Messenger, the message, and the Messiah.

Today the situation is the same although now the Messenger is not one person, but the Church of Jesus Christ. The Messiah is coming again, but this time His judgment will fall upon and condemn those who reject the Messenger for they will also reject the message of the gospel. They reject Jesus Himself, which they do to their destruction. So as we approach the feast of Christmas, we the Church need to have our priorities straight especially as we face the chaos of the pandemic. The thoughts of many these days will be on returning to normal. This means that, despite social distancing, they will focus on materialism, gifts, over-indulging on food and sweets, Santa Claus, toys, and children rather than on Jesus and why He came into the world. We Christians, however, are called to have our eyes and hearts on Jesus, the Savior of all mankind. As we celebrate His birth we are reminded that He is our redeemer and King. We are His servants. He calls us to preach His gospel of faith, repentance, and mercy to all. Trinity Lutheran Hicksville

Jesus our High Priest.

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:14-15)
At this point in His farewell to His disciples Jesus offered a prayer for His disciples. This prayer is often called His High Priestly prayer since in it He acts as intercessor with the Father. As High Priest Jesus would offer a sacrifice that would make possible the unity He has prayed for. His sacrifice was the ultimate in atonement, the one that the Old Covenant sacrifices prefigured. The sacrifice was to be His body. His blood, not the blood of bulls or goats, would be poured out and sprinkled on the mercy seat for the sins of all mankind. This sacrifice would be performed once for all time. 
In the light of that sacrifice He prayed now for those He loved. He asked for courage and faith for the disciples that none of them would fall away from faith though they would be sorely tested. In some ways, Jesus’ prayer can help us to pray for others. For one thing this prayer is filled with confidence and trust in the face of the unimaginable suffering Jesus would endure. Thus when we pray we ought to be confident that God hears us even when we are filled with fear. No matter what happens, the Lord will be with us.
In addition Jesus did not pray for Himself but for others. This does not mean we should never pray for ourselves, something which few of us neglect to do but that we should intercede for others. We should follow Jesus’ example and pray for the blessing of faith not just for our brethren in Christ but for the unsaved and the un-churched that they may come to Jesus and find faith, truth and redemption.
 Trinity Lutheran Hicksville

Preaching Redemption.

“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,”‘” (Mark 1:2-3)
The prelude to the ministry of Jesus was a messenger who would prepare God’s chosen people for His work of salvation: John the Baptist. His mission was to announce that the long-promised Messiah was about to appear and to prepare the people of Israel to meet Him. The people needed to repent and be baptized as a sign of their repentance for the Messiah was coming to judge sin and wickedness. Redemption would come in Jesus Himself who took upon Himself the judgment of God. All those who by faith accepted Christ’s sacrifice as their own would find mercy and eternal life. Yet that same sacrifice would fall as condemnation upon all those who rejected the Messenger, the message, and the Messiah.
Today the situation is the same although now the Messenger is not one person, but the Church of Jesus Christ. The Messiah is coming and judgment will fall upon and condemn those who reject the Messenger for they will also reject the message of the gospel and the Messiah. So as we approach the feast of Christmas, we the Church need to have our priorities straight. The thoughts of many will be on materialism, gifts, over-indulging on food and sweets, Santa Claus, toys, and children rather than on Jesus and why He came into the world. We Christians, however, are called to have our eyes on Jesus, the Savior of all mankind. As we celebrate His birth we are reminded not only that He is our redeemer and King but that we are called to preach His gospel of faith, repentance, and mercy to all.
Trinity Lutheran Hicksville

The Coming King.

“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 23:28, ESV)

Jesus teaches a lesson about the coming dark times to His disciples that serves as a warning to the leaders of the Jews. Because the Jews showed disrespect for the poor and were religious hypocrites, the Lord was going to punish them as He had done centuries earlier. The Lord had sent the nation of Judah into 70 years of exile for their idolatry and selfishness. He was going to do the same shortly because of their continued disobedience and because of what they would do to their Messiah, Jesus. But the destruction and devastation would so far exceed what had occurred under Babylon that it would seem like the end of the world. And for the Jewish nation it was.

Jesus warned His disciples of the signs that would precede the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans so that they would be prepared and so avoid the punishment that would fall on the Jews. The warning is for us as well for the signs He described will also occur at the end of the age, when the Lord returns. But when that will happen we do not know, nor do we need to. We should not even speculate about it. Instead we Christians should continue to live in righteousness and shun the dissipation and materialism of the world. We must be ready at any moment for the return of our King, Jesus and to preach the salvation found in Him alone.