The Holy Trinity is not doctrine for the sake of doctrine. It encapsulates the way that the Lord has revealed Himself to us. And this is in no way random, because inherent in this revelation is what makes sense of life itself: we were designed for relationship; we were designed to love.

The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father. In love, the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit so that we would know the love of God.

To know God the Holy Trinity is to know love. This is why 1st John 4:8 & 16 both say, "God is love." We know we were not created nor designed to be alone. We were created out of love to know love and to share His love.

Let us gather tomorrow to celebrate The Holy Trinity! Let us gather tomorrow as the Father draws you to Christ (John 6:44), as the Son gives you His body and blood (1 Cor. 11), and as the Holy Spirit leads you to confess Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3b).

In Jesus' Love,

Pastor Espinosa

p.s. Members, please attend the important voter's assembly meeting after divine service. We don't have very many of these each year, but when we do we cover important information and conduct important decisions. Please come to support your church!

The red color of Pentecost represents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit given to Christ's Church and the tongues of fire which rested upon those first disciples gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2). This gift of the Holy Spirit is given to all Christians who are baptized into Jesus. The gift is yours.

In our Gospel tomorrow from John 15:26 we hear that the Holy Spirit is "the Helper" and "the Spirit of truth." Furthermore, we learn about His mission and work: "he will bear witness about me."

There is a lot packed in this verse, and it is so important to our Christian lives. We have received forgiveness, salvation, and new life, but remaining and growing in these are vital concerns. How will we remain in this faith? How will we grow in it? We need the Holy Spirit. Without Him, we are lost.

He is the only way Christ is kept before our eyes of faith. Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit!

Let us gather to be fed with the Word and also the Holy Sacrament. Let us gather to be blessed!

A note about one of our members: Dr. Eleanor Pettus has moved to Atlanta, GA to begin a new position. We were greatly blessed to be in fellowship with Eleanor. She was and is an example of Christ's salt and light. She is a woman of faith who has always conducted herself as a holy one of Christ, bold and deliberate about walking with God in all purity of conduct and life. She served our congregation on the altar guild and one year worked hard for us to enjoy what turned out to be an outstanding children's Christmas program. Of course, she was regular in Divine Service and lived out the ministry of mutual encouragement. We will miss her and we pray that the Lord will richly bless her next stage of service in the Kingdom!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“He Will Testify About Me”

(John 15:26)

Pastor Espinosa

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. So what exactly is “Pentecost”? This is not an incidental thing. For our lives of faith and for truly knowing God, it is a big, big deal! We need to know about Pentecost and the great gift that was given!

“Pentecost means ‘fiftieth day’ and refers to the Hebrew...Feast of Harvest (Exodus 23:16), [and the] day of First Fruits (Numbers 28:26)....” [Lueker, ed., Concordia Bible Dictionary, 108] “It was named Pentecost because it fell on the fiftieth day after the offering of the barley sheaf [a bundle of cut stalks of grain presented] during the Passover celebration. [That first offering of Passover led to the Pentecost] offering of firstfruits [50 days later].” [Tenney, ed., The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopdia of the Bible, vol 4, 692]. First fruits are signs that what was originally presented has led to great blessing! If you have a good planting, then you will have a good harvest!

In very simple terms: Passover brought forth God’s richest blessings (the necessary grain) and 50 days later, Pentecost was the proof that these richest blessings led to an ongoing blessing or harvest (symbolized for example by loaves of bread brought forward during Pentecost). First the grain, then the bread...there was a pouring out of more blessings from the first blessing.

This is beautiful imagery: just as you must first have grain to make bread, you must first have a Savior to know salvation. Jesus is the Passover Lamb of God. He was the great offering – giving His very body and blood – to save us from sin and death. And 50 days later there is a great harvest! Just as grain leads to bread to eat; Jesus’ death and resurrection lead to a real life to live. But for that life to happen, a harvest must occur; a pouring out of the blessings that follow the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And sure enough! 50 days after His death and resurrection, Jesus poured out His first-fruits gift; His resultant real-life blessing for you and for me: Pentecost shows the result of what Jesus “planted” when He won for us the forgiveness of sins through the great harvest of the Holy Spirit. What has come from Jesus’ great saving work? The blessing of the Holy Spirit. He is the grain turned to bread. He is the One who fills us so that we may know Jesus, the Bread of Life.

There is no Christian life, no faith, no peace, no salvation, and nothing good apart from the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to be alive in our spirit like our bodies need air to breath. Without the Holy Spirit, we are spiritually dead, but with the Holy Spirit, we live...Christ’s harvest of eternal life is within us. That’s how important the Holy Spirit is.

With the concept of harvest comes a very basic and vital realization: we get to live. Harvest means life is given. Without a harvest, we starve. Without a harvest, we die. With a harvest, we live. The Holy Spirit is our Christian harvest. With Him, we live. With Him, we do not die.

But we continue to learn about our Christian lives and the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament. Never let anyone ever tell you that the Old Testament isn’t important. In so many ways, we just can’t understand the New Testament without it. The Old Testament is the foundation of the Gospel itself.

In all of these blessings from God at Passover and Pentecost, the Lord led His people to be in worship. They were active in the worship; they were active in the receiving (if nothing else). They were offering themselves to God, even as God was coming to them to bless them. They were gathered to receive the blessing; they were gathered to receive the harvest. Nothing has changed.

This is why we worship. This is why we come to Church: to receive the blessing of Jesus...and to know the harvest of the Holy Spirit. Jesus who has won your salvation gives you His first-fruit gifts: in Holy Baptism you receive the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit feeds and nourishes your faith as you hear the sermon; and the Holy Spirit leads you to receive the body and blood of Christ in a good and proper way as you come forward for Holy Communion. The Holy Spirit is the harvest of God who “calls, gathers, and enlightens” the Christian Church on earth. Again, we can’t have faith without Him!

But our offerings of worship don’t just take place here. They continue as we go out into the world and live in it 24/7...and guess who is guiding and sustaining you Christian? The Holy Spirit! And as He does, you are experiencing what it means to have a new life, but this is where as your pastor I am especially eager to describe the new life harvest the Holy Spirit is giving to you.

What is this new life like? Some would have you believe that if you have this new life, this harvest life of the Holy Spirit that you become some sort of super Christian; full of astounding and spectacular spiritual gifts; and living in such a way as to avoid the common struggles of the rest of humanity...perhaps having better health, a better attitude, and knowing all kinds of extraordinary benefits. This is how the world sees the harvest of true spirituality. And our flesh sees it this way as well. If you were really filled with the first-fruit harvest of the Holy Spirit, then you would be a much better Christian. You wouldn’t struggle so much with doubts, fears and temptations. Life would be easier. This is, however, not the true faith, but a form of triumphalism, utopian imagination, our “theology of glory” image of the Christian faith. When we convince ourselves of these images, then we don’t attain this life, we are tempted not to believe at all. These are gross misunderstandings of what it is like to know the harvest ministry of the Holy Spirit.

So what is this harvest ministry? It is put forth very simply in the first verse of our Gospel in John 15:26: “[Jesus said:] When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

[come to worship tomorrow and hear the rest of this sermon!]

I hope to see you tomorrow morning in God's house.

In Jesus' Love,

Pastor Espinosa

This past Thursday, May 14th, was the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, the 40th day after the Lord's resurrection from the grave. Tomorrow, Sunday, May 17th, we will observe this feast and celebrate it.

It might seem like this is a formality: the Christian Church is supposed to mark the special days of Jesus. This is a very religious thing to do, etc (though I'm not sure how this makes a difference in my life today)!

This thought-line misses the significance. The ascension of our Lord assures you of God's presence in your life. He is not far away even though reason wants to say, "Well if Jesus was taken up into heaven, he's far away." No. The result of the ascension is the direct opposite of this idea. Christ entering into heaven in glory means that He lives for us with no restraints. He has entered the position of glorious reign while He remains more than interested in helping you, in saving you, and in guiding you. The ascension means that we have assurance that God -- in Christ -- really is with us!

*** Tomorrow is also a day of a special offering. We will do something that we do not do very often: after the regular offering, there will be a secondary special offering to raise funds for military BibleSticks (with the digitized New Testament) for our U.S. troops. For every $100.00 we raise, we will sponsor four (4) troops. A squadron represents 12 troops; a platoon has 40 troops. Let us ask the Lord to lead us to see how we might give God's Word to the men and women who defend our nation.

*** Please keep in prayer: today, Saturday, May 16th, is the funeral of Ray Hulett's brother Ryan. Please keep Ray's family in prayer and pray that the Gospel would be powerfully proclaimed.

Also please keep Chris Panichi's mother, Janet Panichi, in prayer. She had surgery for an aneurysm this past Tuesday. She is still recovering in ICU.

In addition, please keep Don Cittel in prayer as he has now been in hospice for about two weeks.

*** We all carry many burdens and tomorrow the Lord will give us His body and blood. He will give us the greatest resource in the world by doing so. Of course, I understand why so many have no thirst or urgency for this gift. To them, it is only bread and wine. It is nothing but a remembrance and to remember is something one can do anytime. But to others who know the truth: Jesus keeps His word. He says it is His body; it is His blood. These pour out continually our life-line; they give forgiveness; and this relieves the soul of the terrible loads we bear. Come to the feast; come and receive your Savior in what gives healing and strength. I rejoice to offer it to you!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

Ascended...and Closer Than Ever Before

(Luke 24:44-53)

Pastor Espinosa

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Ascended Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen! Alleluia! Christ is ascended! He is ascended indeed! Alleluia! Yes, it is good and right to say “alleluia” on this great feast of the Ascension which we observe today (though it officially landed on the 40^th day of Easter, this past Thursday). And even though this day of the Ascension of Christ is so important in the Word of God and in the life of the Holy Church, it is a day that many are confused about. What is this ascension all about?

 

Well, what it is clearly not about is any inference or idea that the Lord Jesus is now further away from us; that He was taken far, far away to observe us from His heavenly throne that is totally detached from us His people. No way! Much to the contrary, the ascension of our Lord – when He ascended on high in glory – is a day that has established that our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ is now closer to us than ever before!

 

I would like to point out some important Scriptures from the book of Acts which were events that occurred after the ascension. So Christ indeed ascended into heaven, but notice how He continued to interact with His people still on earth:

 

The first example is the stoning/the martyrdom of St. Stephen. He had proclaimed the Word of the Lord and convicted those he was preaching to. Those who heard him were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him (Acts 7:54) and were on the verge of stoning him, but note what is recorded at Acts 7:55:

 

“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

 

Stephen had proclaimed the Word of Truth, he was full of the Holy Spirit and He saw the Lord Jesus right before he died! Jesus was there. Jesus was with him!

 

Consider also Acts 9:3-5. In this Scripture St. Paul in his pre-converted state was known as “Saul;” he was actively persecuting the Church. He was on his way to arrest Christians on the road to Damascus, but this is what the Word of God records:

 

“...and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are persecuting me?’ ⁵And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’”

 

Jesus – the King of Kings who ascended into heaven – was right there speaking to Saul who was in the process of being converted into the mighty St. Paul. It was Jesus Himself conducting this great work for Paul’s re-birth!

 

Finally, consider Acts 23:11. St. Paul was before the Jewish council and witnessing to Ananias the high priest and the other chief priests. The meeting got violent and so soldiers were commanded to take Paul away into barracks (Acts 23:10). Then, the Scriptures record this in Acts 23:11 which reveals when the Lord Jesus came to Paul again:

 

“The following night the Lord stood by him and said, ‘Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.’”   

 

But this evidence from the book of Acts is just the icing on the cake and it might be argued that the “cake” itself is our Gospel this morning from Luke 24! Our Lord demonstrates that He is always with us as we glean from verses 44-52 in Luke chapter 24:

 

1. By virtue of the Holy Scriptures “written about [Him].” To have the Word of Christ is to have Christ. Our Lord comes to us through His Word!
2. By virtue of His power to open our minds to understand the Scriptures. He is working on you to this day to increase your understanding of His healing and liberating Word!
3. By virtue of the power of the Gospel itself which proclaims that He had to suffer and then be raised from the dead to convert people to God through what is conveyed by this Gospel: namely the forgiveness of sins.
4. By virtue of the powerful ongoing ministry of Christ’s Church with and through which our Lord is always working repentance in the lives of people through His proclamation in His office of the ministry. That is the Gospel works in us to turn us from sin and towards God. Christians are serious about leaving sin behind...this is a sign of Christ’s presence!
5. By virtue of His sending His disciples out to be His witnesses who according to the Word are “clothed with power from on high.”
6. By virtue of His lifting up His hands to bless. He did so for the original disciples and He does so to this day through His office of the ministry.
7. By virtue of being here with us as we worship Him to this day...worshipping Him with joy even in the face of our many trials because we know He has not left us alone.

 

But finally and most importantly is the ascension itself. It means as the Scriptures teach in our epistle from Ephesians that Christ “fills all in all.” One example of this is the fact that the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Christ and where the Holy Spirit is, Christ is. If the Holy Spirit fills you, then Christ is with you. You who are baptized...you know who you received: you received the Holy Spirit; and that means you also received Christ! This is for all intents and purposes beyond our capacity to grasp and yet is true. The Almighty God who is uncontainable – and this is a deep mystery – has at the same time chosen to be with you and to be in you (John 14:20).

 

So Christ has ascended and it means quite simply dear Christian that He has never been closer to you than He is now. You are never alone. Jesus is with you. His ascension guarantees it. He who is ascended can do anything, and He has chosen to guarantee and to promise that He is with you always! And after this sermon is done, He will demonstrate this promise again in the intimacy of the Holy Sacrament in and through which He gives you His very body and blood. These are no mere signs; they are the guarantees that the ascended Lord has given us ways to know God is with us!

[and to hear the rest of the sermon which emphasizes and applies the Gospel]

In Jesus' Love,

Pastor Espinosa

Tomorrow we are in John 15:9-17 and the Lord elaborates from last week: we are to abide in Him...and tomorrow He proclaims "Abide in my love." His gift of love -- the best love in life -- is His way of keeping us in His life...it is our faith in Christ that knows how much we are loved. This love leads us and directs us. It is the way to live!

Come and receive the Lord's love through Word and Sacrament!

We will also distribute a special gift to our moms!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

Abide in My Love
John 15:9-17
Pastor Espinosa

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Alleluia! Christ is risen! [Response: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] In Jesus’ Name. Amen. Last week we studied and received into our hearts the magnificent Gospel from the first part of John 15: Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. In that Gospel He commanded: “Abide in me.” The Lord is looking out for you dear Christian in revealing to you how to remain in life, not death; in the peace of God that He has won for you, not alienation and separation from the God of peace. And while we had a clue last week in terms of the signs that we do indeed abide – remain with and in – Jesus Christ namely, 1) His words remain in us (His life-giving teaching, most especially that you are cleansed and continue to be cleaned or pruned); and 2) The fruit, more fruit (15:2), and much fruit (15:5, the good works that God has prepared in advance for you to do), there is more to be said. We certainly praise God for these great signs and assurances...these are indeed great consolations that you abide in Christ the Life of the World. These are signs that the peace of God is in your life. We need such signs along the way, because life is very hard.

This past week I was in the hospital with one of our members who was anxious about her upcoming surgery so I shared with her Isaiah 26:3: “You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Going into the surgery, I compared our anxiety to the winds and waves that buffeted the disciples on the boat when they saw Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:22f.), but when Peter had his mind and eyes stayed on Christ nothing else mattered. His fear from the wind and waves was canceled out and indeed for a short time, even Peter walked on water. The great encouragement though continues: even when in our sin we take our mind and eyes off of Christ and permit ourselves to be driven by the restless wind and waves of the world again (when the devil seeks to sift us like wheat), and we begin to sink, what did the Lord do? He rescued Peter and pulled him back up. So keep your mind and heart on Christ and if you begin to sink, know that the One who died and rose for you will lift you back up and then keep your mind and heart upon Him again (and this cycle of grace continues).

But our Lord Jesus loves us so much that He elaborates on this cycle of grace. He does not want you to be ambiguous or unclear about how you remain united with and connected to Him. We need to know this dear Christians. How easy it is for us to feel that God is far away and to feel as though we have no idea as to how to abide in Christ, to remain in His life for us.

He has won for you His peace. His blood covers your sins. God the Father now sees you as a forgiven and holy one in His Son: you have peace with God! We want desperately, however, to remain in this peace. We want desperately to remain in Christ our Savior.
This makes sense because our sin makes us insecure. It raises the worst doubts in us and tries to convince us that we are unable to go on. That is our sin is daily trying to pull us away from abiding in Christ and needless to say this is the goal of the evil one. So Christ your Savior pulls you close to Himself and says with the most compassionate love and mercy, “Abide in me.” But then our sin, the world, and the devil grab our attention and tries to yank us out of the Savior’s arms. This “tug of war” is the normal Christian life, so needless to say we need additional resources, more ammo in this battle, more encouragement, and great clarity about how we are going to in fact abide in our Savior so that we never leave Him; so that we are never pulled away from Him! This is what our Gospel today is for.

So Jesus continues His teaching for your great security and what he is doing is giving you a fortress of security. Going into John 15 the Lord had already assured you of peace. How is it that the Lord would even approach me, a terrible sinner? It is because He has brought peace through His blood. His blood covers your sins. Now you have peace. So in John 14:27 the Lord says:

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

This is the impetus behind knowing that the Lord gladly holds you with your warts and all; with your doubts and all of your struggles. In-spite of these and by covering these with His blood, you have peace with God, but He knows that you should have even more assurance in your abiding in Him. So in what follows from today’s Gospel in John 15:9-17...

1. Your peace is complemented with...
2. Love which is further complemented with...
3. Joy

Not just any love or joy mind you, but with a very specific love and a very specific joy. This is what our Gospel is about. And be clear, these give answer to, “Exactly how do I know that I abide in Christ?” Again we already know that this is partially answered through His words that abide in you and through the fruit, more fruit, and much fruit, but we need more and so He gives you more. He wants you to be confident in your faith Christian!

I hope you take this the right way. The sinful skeptic wants to criticize what has been said thus far, “What’s the matter, does God have trouble getting it right?” Don’t go there. There are actually good reasons as to why the Lord goes this extra step for us. Our good works – while being a sign of our abiding in Christ – can never be the basis for our abiding in Christ. We compromise our confidence regarding our good works, because how often we do other works that seem to cancel the good that we do? On top of that even our good works are grossly tainted with sin and in the end, in themselves, are as unclean rags. (Is 64:6) Furthermore, the words of our Lord are certainly efficacious and produce faith...we are to rejoice that His words abide in us, but how often we look away from His words and listen to other words...the words of our flesh which lure us not to live for God, but self; the words of the world which lure us to deeply desire things that will turn to dust; and the words of the devil which lure us to seek the things of pride and power...in our sin we permit words of death to cover the words of life.

These impact our peace. These make us restless. And when that happens, we doubt.

This is why our Lord takes the next step.

1. Not just His peace, but
2. His love, and not just His love, but
3. His joy

Why are these so important? Because dear Christian these put you in the life of Christ itself. The love and joy of the Lord will not permit us to be bystanders to the faith. The love and joy of the Lord will not permit us to treat the faith as this theoretical thing to be thought about and merely analyzed on a comfortable rocker on our front porch as we sip tea or lemonade. The peace of God and the actual presence of our Savior through His Word and Sacrament compel us to live. To be people of action who know the Lord’s action in and through us...our faith must be active; it can’t help but be and when this happens the Lord takes away time from the skeptic; takes away the doubt from the casual observer, but because the casual observer is transformed into an active doer. His or her peace is extended through love and joy.

In Christ,

Pastor

John 15 is truly a great Scripture. Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ identifies Himself as the true vine and that we -- the people of God -- are His branches. It is hard to think of a better description of what it means to be a Christian. In a world in which we are bombarded with that which takes from you, extracts, exhausts, weighs down, weakens, etc., we are led to the One who lifts up, adds to, invigorates, restores, heals, revives...He is our Vine, the true Vine, the genuine Vine. This is our theme tomorrow; this is His Word for you!

Also come to receive the Lord directly in the bountiful and powerful gift of the Holy Sacrament. Through this means of grace we "bear much fruit." (John 15)

Let me switch gears and share a very important announcement with you:

Today (Saturday, May 2nd) our organist Karissa Lystrup graduates from Concordia University Irvine and not too long ago she was offered a truly fantastic full-time position to serve a very large LC-MS congregation (St. John's) in Bakersfield, CA. This is a golden opportunity for her and she has decided to take the position.

Karissa has been a fantastic servant of God in our midst. And the timing of it all...when we needed to have a strong start (in a re-start congregation/like a mission church) and when we needed a strong musician, the Lord sent Karissa to us. For almost four years she has been that perfect musician for us. She was instrumental (no pun intended) in helping us build a strong foundation for the church. I can't think of anyone who could have done a better job!

Karissa will continue to serve us throughout this month and the month of June. Her first day in Bakersfield is July 1st. The leadership will of course begin the process for a new organist.

In the meantime, please reach out to Karissa sharing the love and support of Christ and thanking her for her heart-felt service to us. She will be missed!

Here is a little excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

Abide in Me, and I in You
(John 15:1-8)
Pastor EspinosaGrace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Alleluia! He is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]. In Jesus’ Name, Amen! How often dear Christians – and how easily – do we feel completely drained? Most assuredly our cares and concerns weigh us down and our actual deficiencies due to our true weaknesses and limitations make us feel wholly inadequate. It is like we are always running out of power.

Our contemporary technology reminds us of this. My laptop has a battery, but it only lasts for about an hour and -- you know the routine -- before you know it, you’ve got to plug it in because it is about to die. How often do we do this with our phones? Just the other day there I was repeating that all-too familiar scenario: there is an important call coming in, but my phone was about to die. In that particular instance, my phone charger wasn’t in my car. The whole episode raised the stress-level and produced a fair share of anxiety. The I-Pad needs to be plugged in, the coffee maker needs to be filled with water, the car needs gas...even “the Engergizer Bunny” (if you remember those commercials) doesn’t really go on forever...the “going, going, and going” eventually stops going!

Our Lord Jesus teaches us as much, but in application to infinitely more important realities. He says bluntly – and with the greatest love for you – that “apart from [Him], you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) We need to hear this and we need to believe it. It isn’t easy for us to do. In-spite of all the examples of limitations all around us, we behave as if this really isn’t true of ourselves (even though there is so much evidence to the contrary). But why do we act this way as if to live in a state of denial (even though we know that our limitations are as real as real can be)? Our sin of course makes us behave as though we are totally self-sufficient. It is our sin that drives us to live as if we do not need the one and only power source, even the Lord.

Jesus here in John 15 is using this rich imagery of the vine, but we should understand that when the disciples heard the imagery, they most likely already knew that Jesus was using the imagery in a new and different way. You see the Jews had heard about the vine before, but in the Old Testament it was in reference to the people of Israel. Israel herself – the apple of His eye – was God’s vine.

Israel, however, in Psalm 80:9-19 was a vine that stopped flourishing. They too experienced their sinful limitation – their rebellion against God got them “unplugged” from the Lord and they lost their power -- and in this Psalm there is begging to God to restore His people; to re-energize them again.

The Lord had and has compassion. He saw Israel’s true state and He sees ours and He knows that we do not have what it takes to be our own vines, our own sources of life and power. So in the greatest love and mercy He came to the Jews; in the greatest love and mercy He comes to you:

1[Jesus said:] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

I hope to see you in God's house tomorrow morning!

In Jesus' Love,

Pastor