To say I'm excited to encourage you to attend this Sunday is an understatement. The Rev. Mark Jasa has become a good friend of mine and I've come to know my brother in Christ, Pastor Jasa, to be especially gifted in the realm of sharing the faith with those who do not know the Gospel.

Over the years, I've sought to serve countless Christians who have admitted their fear, anxiety, and intimidation about sharing the Gospel. Pastor Jasa has met this situation head on and has come to the conclusion -- and I agree with him -- that we need to back up and simplify!

His approach is very simple. Step one: be 100% clear in your own mind and in your own heart as to what the Good News (Gospel of salvation) IS; Step two: visualize it and conceptualize it so as to be able to put it into your own words.

Pause here. What do I mean? What we are saying is that at step two don't make it about memorizing 101 details (including the memorization of several Bible verses), but make it a personal picture for yourself that you'll never forget. Think of how St. John pictures Christ through his great "I AM" statements. Jesus says, "I Am the Bread of Life," "I Am the Good Shepherd," etc.

And then simply permit yourself a level of comfort to share your biblical vision of Jesus and how it conveys the Gospel.

In other words, Pastor Jasa makes sharing the Gospel easy for us!

Neither he nor myself by the way are suggesting that we don't invest in the rest of the story: namely, investing in relationships. This is paramount. Get to know people. Show them that you care. Never treating others as an object of a religious agenda. No way! But living in 1st John 1:19: "We love because He first loved us." The true Christian loves people just because. We care because we're received the highest love and care in the universe from Christ...and who wouldn't want to share this? This is our reason for investing in relationships: to share the love of Christ.

This evening from 5-7 pm we are offering Part I of our Witness Workshop at my residence. Then tomorrow in worship Pastor Jasa will preach on the powerful parable of The Prodigal Son in Luke 15 through his sermon entitled, "The Good Father." Why this sermon? It presents the Gospel itself with fantastic clarity...and if you know the Gospel, then you can share it! Then, from 11 am to 1 pm we will continue the Witness Workshop (Part II) in the Conference Room at Crean Lutheran High School.

Also, we are providing yummy food at both events tonight and tomorrow! You are most cordially invited and please invite a friend!

Let us gather in God's house tomorrow to receive the gifts of Jesus. We will be filled with God's joy as we once again are affirmed in the forgiveness of all of our sins and as we receive the powerful medicine of Christ's body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine in Holy Communion. Divine Service begins at 9:30 am!

I look forward to conducting the entire liturgy as well as the children's message. Tomorrow promises to be an uplifting Sunday!

Hebrews 10:24-25: "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Here is an excerpt from Pastor Jasa's sermon:

Verse 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.

 

We have barely begun the story and he is already lost. Why? Because he has Broken his relationship with his father. I am probably in my parents’ will. I am due to get some money, when?  When they die. So if I ask for it now, what am I saying to them? You are worth more to me dead than alive. I actually know someone who asked his brother “what is going to happen to the family house when mom and dad die? Can I live in it? And his brother snapped him into shape and scolded him. He said how dare you even think such a thing. If and when something is coming to you, you will be notified. And that is what the older brother in this story was supposed to have done. But apparently he did not do it. In our society with entitlement mentality something is definitely lost, but Middle easterners who hear this story are shocked. They realize just how offensive this is. The younger son’s behavior is Outrageous. And everyone should be horrified.

 

This story went wrong with the younger brother asking the question in the first place, then it went wrong with the older brother not stepping in as an intercessor between the father and the son, saying father don’t listen to my silly immature little brother. He’s mad he doesn’t know what he’s saying. Let me talk some sense into him. But now the story really goes south as the father divided the property. Does he have no shame at all? In a real situation, in the middle east this happened and the father and the son didn’t talk for 5 years. And only after the rest of the family pleaded were they able to be in the same room.

 

But this father is no ordinary father. Jesus is defining what a father is and his definition is different from the culture’s definition.

Thus far the manuscript, come tomorrow and receive a really good sermon to the glory of Jesus and to the blessing of your soul!

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor

Thank you for your prayers and support for our older youth (and myself and Elizabeth Snyder) to attend the 2013 Higher Things Conference in Tacoma, WA this past week (we returned home late last night). We had a fantastic time as our youth attended daily Matins, Vespers, Evening Prayer, and Compline (this last one is a service conducted at 11:30 pm).

I was given the privilege at the conference to present two breakaway sessions. One on Individual Confession and Absolution and the other on the Full-Armor of God (this one was advertised with the intriguing title of what Tae Kwon Do and the Saving Faith have in common)! I am attaching both powerpoints to this email [we will also try to get them set up on our website] so that you can get a taste of what I presented. The highlight for me was preaching on Wednesday. It was exciting to preach to so many youth from all over the country!

Tomorrow in Divine Service at 9:30 am we will consider Luke 10:38-42 on Jesus in the home of Mary and Martha. I feel for Martha, as she gets a bad rap here. I mean think about it: if Jesus was coming to visit your home in the flesh, wouldn't you be a at least a little mindful of your hospitality?! As a matter of fact, it could be argued -- and I will -- that Martha was also trying to be obedient to other aspects of Christ's teaching about how to welcome God's servants!

But alas, we will see that the Lord had good reason to admonish and correct...we are like Martha and we will be made more aware of our sinful manifestations and be led to the "one thing necessary." We will also sing a hymn that is dedicated to this theme right before the sermon: "One Things' Needful" (LSB 536).

After receiving this proclamation, we will then RECEIVE the One Necessary Thing: the Word of Life in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins and the powerful assurance that to receive the Sacrament -- and to be in Christ and to have Christ in you -- is to have the remedy for all that we busy folk (like Martha) struggle with!

What a joy it is to be able to look forward to being fed and nourished once again with that which is necessary to keep our faith in Christ alive as you and I are daily bombarded with the attacks of our own flesh, the world, and the evil one to rob you of faith.

Why church? Simply because the Lord commands it (though that too is a reason)? No, but to be kept alive in the faith...to be kept confident that the Lord is for us and that our sins will not envelope and condemn us; to remain certain that Jesus' blood covers all your sins and that through this sacred medicine of Word and Sacrament the Holy Spirit is active to impart unto you the peace of God which surpasses all understanding!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“One Thing Is Necessary” (Luke 10:38-42)

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The story in today’s Gospel about Mary and Martha with Jesus is very popular and appears to be one in which Martha gets all the bad press. This can be a little confusing. After-all Jesus had already taught in Luke 9 (v 4) and 10 (vv 5-7) that missionary travelers would be provided for by their hosts. In Luke 10:7 Jesus tells his disciples, “And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.” It seems that Jesus is basically doing what He taught his disciples to do when we read in Luke 10:38: “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.” In effect this was exactly according to script. Martha was doing a fantastic good work. Imagine being able to host the Lord Jesus Christ! To give Him rest, food and drink.

 

Martha was focused on this task. It was a wonderful task. She wanted to help Jesus. How can this possibly be a bad thing? Not only does it appear that she was being obedient to Jesus’ prior teaching about missionaries being welcomed, she was serving Christ who had said (as recorded in Matthew 8:20) that He didn’t even have a place to lay His head. Martha wanted to make sure that the task of hospitality would be done properly and be made more efficient. She was flabbergasted by the fact that her sister Mary was not helping. There was work to be done. Jesus had taught about this very scenario. It was now their call to be faithful in supporting Him and serving Him. So Martha was bold and interrupted Jesus speaking to Mary and said as recorded at verse 40: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

 

Martha had been missing something that is easy for us to miss as well. Let’s back up. There is no question that Jesus taught about how the disciple missionaries were to be received. They were to look for and expect kind souls who would open their homes and replenish them; take care of them and keep them strong in their missionary journey. These people would take care of God’s servants! This is -- for example -- what all of you do for me here at Saint Paul’s. You provide generous hospitality for me and my family! As a result, I get to conduct what I consider the best work in the world as you, God’s people, bless us in so many ways! It doesn’t get any better than that. However, there is a goal behind taking care of the servants and missionaries of God. That goal is not simply to give you the opportunity to do good in caring for others (which is obviously very important), but there is an even greater goal which is to receive the message of the saving Gospel from those missionary servants of God. Thus Jesus never contradicted Himself.

 

The disciples were most definitely blessed to have a host take care of them, but even more the host was blessed, because the host was supposed to become a guest; and the guest was supposed to become a host. The missionary would become the host of God’s Word proclaimed in order to feed the souls of those providing lodging and food. That is, the missionary was the spiritual host giving spiritual food; while the person giving lodging was the physical host giving physical food. They would be blessed to receive the missionary by receiving the Word of God from that same missionary. In this way, the Lord continues to accomplish the Great Commission, and equips His Church more and more with the saving Gospel.

Hope to see you in God's house tomorrow! Invite a friend!

In Christ,

Pastor Espinosa

Hospitals are named after this story told by Jesus in Luke 10, civic awards recognize exceptional citizens with this same name, and our highest praises go to the ideal of this concept: "Good Samaritan." What was Jesus describing when he told this story (which Scripture does not actually designate as "parable")?

As you know context is everything and we will explore the fact that Jesus is speaking to a lawyer who was disturbed by what He heard Jesus teaching. To answer the lawyer, Jesus tells the account of the Good Samaritan.

Tomorrow, I will present why this designation is really only properly designated to one and only one person. At the same time, this is not to say that we are not in the story Jesus tells. We are. Come to church to learn more about this amazing lesson which proclaims the depth of God's love for you.

Furthermore, those who confess the true body and blood of Christ in the Holy Sacrament will live out the account of the Good Samaritan and this truth will also be demonstrated tomorrow. But come and be refreshed. The one who receives God's forgiveness receives all of the gifts of His kingdom!

(1) We are conducting a special offering tomorrow morning for our 2013 national convention to support "Together as Synod," global missions, Lutheran Malaria Initiative, the joint seminary fund, and the global seminary initiative. Please prayfully prepare your offering for the important work the Lord is conducting in and through the LC-MS.

(2) Tomorrow at 12 noon is our parish council meeting for all current members of the council (newly elected members do not start until their installation in September). Lunch will be provided.

Also our Higher Things youth group is headed off for Tacoma, WA this coming week. Parents thank you for providing the medical release forms. Please ensure that you have also provided us with Individual Registration forms. I have attached this form to this email.

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

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

But the lawyer’s pride would not allow him to shut up! Again, the truth came out and he thought, “There must be something wrong with the Law!” So He asks, “And who is my neighbor?” And here again we must think about the words being used. We are too general with our basic answer. We want to give the easy answer. The easy answer is “everybody;” “everybody is our neighbor!”

 

Here is the danger with that answer: it puts us in the position to play games with God. We can reason: “because ‘everybody’ is my neighbor, I can be kind and loving to all kinds of folks and that list is indeed very impressive; that’s a lot of people, because ‘everybody’ covers a lot of ground!” But as we play this game and keep ourselves astoundingly busy, the game of “everybody” lets us have good reason to exclude some and of course the moment we exclude anyone, we become sinners and liars.

 

“Neighbor” per biblical definition is more precise than “everybody,” it is rather the person who is nearby and close at hand. Your neighbor is per time and place. Your neighbor is in accord to where God puts you in a given moment in time. In that moment and time, your “neighbor” is the person right there! But my goodness, can you just imagine the implications of all of this? In a given moment in time, you might be around HIM! You might encounter HER! Or you could even wind up in the presence of THEM!

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

Tomorrow is an exciting and extremely important Scripture on the Christian life: Galatians 6:1-2. We will discuss what is perhaps the most importantly fundamental occupation of what Christians are called to actually do through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our lives are depicted as lives dedicated to love, but the Word of the Lord will not permit us to turn this (love) into an ethereal, abstract emotion...this love extends itself in service to the neighbor...and this service to the neighbor is willing to bear up under the load of your neighbor's burdens. It is a costly love, it is a sacrificial love...and it is one which emulates the Lord's love for YOU! You are saved from sin, death and the power of the evil one on account of the fact that Jesus bore your burdens -- willingly, lovingly -- and now you have eternal life. Our response in true faith is to live in Galatians 6:1-2. This is the life of the Spirit.

There is no huffing and puffing about claimed "spirituality"...the faith is one which is one of action and that action serves the neighbor period. Here, actions really do speak more loudly than words. The one who sits around to "feel right" before they move themselves to act might very well be sitting until Jesus comes again in glory. Crucify that which holds you back and live your faith: love, serve, and bear as Christ did for you!

I hope that you will not miss this important sermon tomorrow, but for now I will share an important quotation from Luther:

“Therefore [the Christian] should be guided in all his works by this thought and contemplate this one thing alone, that he may serve and benefit others in all that he does, considering nothing except the need and the advantage of his neighbor…This is what makes caring for the body a Christian work, to acquire, and lay by funds with which to aid those who are in need, that in this way the strong member may serve the weaker, and we may be sons of God, each caring for and working for the other, bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ [Gal. 6:2]. This is a truly Christian life. Here faith is truly active through love [Gal. 5:6]…[when] a man willingly serves another without hope of reward; and for himself he is satisfied with the fullness and wealth of his faith (Luther’s Works, Vol. 31, 365).”

 

Just remember dear Christian that Christ's service -- His enabling and empowering service to you -- has not ended. He continues to serve you in order to fortify you with His life, His love, and His Spirit. This comes through your faithful reception of Christ's body and blood, because to receive Christ and the forgiveness of sins is to once again be recipient of all His kingdom gifts, most especially the filling of the Holy Spirit which is known when Christ Himself fills you. Where the King dwells, there the Kingdom is in your midst (Luke 17:21).

 

Come and receive His Word and Sacrament and be blessed!

 

Remember, this Divine Service is only for sinners and only sinners will benefit.

 

Here is another excerpt from the sermon:

 

if your flesh, the sinful distractions in this world and the attacks upon you by the devil are anything, then they are aimed to take you out of the present. What is in the present? What is in the present is your neighbor. Who is your neighbor? Anyone: friend or enemy. Your child, your spouse, your co-worker, the person ahead of you in line at the grocery store, the guys you play softball with, the gals you meet at lunch, the homeless person on the corner in front of you, the woman who took your ticket stub at the movie theatre, even the salesperson whose phone call just interrupted what you were doing, the Jehovah’s Witness who comes knocking at your door [imagine: God brought them to you so that they would meet a true disciple of the Lord Jesus and perhaps for the first time hear the pure Gospel!] and most certainly your neighbors are the people sitting around you right now.

To live in the present, and to live for the neighbor – and remember: nothing is random; the Lord controls all things – is to be called to serve that person and to love that person. But be warned, because in that split second of opportunity to live in faith and love, your flesh will complain and resist, the world will try so hard to rip your attention away and the devil will try his best to disrupt any expression of faith and love.

 

Your flesh will do what it always does and will say to you: “You don’t have time. Just think about how busy you are. If you take the time to give this person attention, you are going to miss your deadlines. You can only do so much. You can’t be all things to all men. And furthermore, you have your own problems; you have your own projects; and you have your own needs. What about your resources? They are limited. There is only so much you can do. If you’re not careful, you will run yourself down and if you do that, you won’t be of any use to anyone. You can’t serve this person.”

 

How often has this tape run through your head? I am not saying that what I just described doesn’t contain elements of truth (even in our Galatians’ text today God says at Galatians 6:1: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you to be tempted.”). But consider this: this is the way the devil works…he loves to mix the truth with his deception. That is what He does. When he tempted the Lord in the wilderness, the devil was quoting Scripture for heaven’s sake (Luke 4:9-11)!

 

My point is this: at the end of the day, the goal of your flesh, the world, and the devil is to keep you from loving and serving others. That way, you will always have a “good excuse” to keep you from being your brother’s keeper, because it’s just so darn inconvenient! We don’t want to be our brother’s keeper. We want to be like Cain who rejected the notion (Genesis 3:9) and who murdered his brother instead. We would rather in our flesh use our neighbor for what we want, instead of serving our neighbor according to what they need.

 

To confront us, however, God is good. He doesn’t mince anything: we either serve God with faith acting in love which serves the neighbor; or we serve ourselves (which is to serve the devil…he’s all about self…he wants you to be about “me, myself, I,”…the devil doesn’t so much care about tendonitis or colitis or bronchitis, than he does about you having a lethal case of “I”-itis [thanks to Rev. Matthew Richardt, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Escondido for this descriptor of sin]. That way, because you’re so wrapped up in yourself, you will never have time or love or service for anyone else, because you’ll always be busy taking care of yourself. But God makes it clear that we are not here for ourselves. He makes it clear – as clear as day – in Galatians 6:1-2.

 

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

 

Pastor Espinosa