ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH
(The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod)
Alma, Kansas
A family united by faith in Christ gathering around God's Word and Sacraments.
To reach out in Christ-like concern and Christ-borne love to each other and to those without Christ!
In This Month's
St. John Witness
JUNE WITNESS
Pastor's Message
“Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants. Deuteronomy 32:2
Years back, a grown man awaiting surgery in the hospital was talking with his father. “Dad,” he said, “I sure hope I can be home for Father’s Day. I felt awful years ago when I was ten, because I never gave you a gift that year.”
The father replied, “Mark, I remember that Saturday before Father’s Day. I saw you in the store. I watched as you picked up some cigars and stuffed them into your pocket. I knew you had no money, and I was sad because I thought you were going to run out of the store without paying. But as soon as you had put the cigars into your pocket, you pulled them out again, and put them back onto the shelf.
“When you stayed out playing This is similar to King Saul, when he presumed to do something he was told not to do. Samuel the prophet chided him, and told him that was an error that would prove costly; he would lose his kingship. God seeks for us to acknowledge, follow, and trust Him.
Samuel told him:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. (I Samuel 15:22)
It is not a sin to not have all that we want. It is a sin to not want what we have. It is evil for us to plot wrongs and carry them out in order to have something which we did not receive in a godly manner.
God’s will and plans are good. He remains God. Our priority is to trust Him and His commands, because He has commended Christ to rescue us. That is the foundation of our faith. Like a Father who wants his children to do what is right, God takes the burden upon himself when He must. He calls us to live in faith for what is right and good.Live as holy children of God!
Pastor Grimm
