DEVOTIONS

Listen, people of God: you have been SO blessed. And, with the Spirit of God living within you, you have something that many others are not so blessed to have. Do not let your extreme blessing turn into arrogance over those we meet who act in wicked ways.

Instead, treat them as Christ has first treated you:

Look upon them, and have mercy. Look upon them, and speak to them the love of Christ.

In many of these situations, what is RIGHT to do may be hard to see. But when these times come upon you: STOP; pray; and seek God’s Will. He will present to you opportunity to serve him. For he is with you.

And look at these people and think not contemptuous thoughts, but think instead: MAN! THESE PEOPLE NEED JESUS SO BADLY! Then: Give them Jesus!

Let us so serve this poor broken world, by the power of God’s Spirit, until every knee shall bow and every tongue proclaims: “Jesus is Lord.”

Amen.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

One of the best ways to save money with your baby is by making your own baby food. It may sound daunting at first. But really it’s super easy, fun, fast, healthy and cheap!

Pictured below are baked sweet potatoes and acorn squash. Baked for 1 hour on 350 degrees. Take the skin off and put into blender and blend for a few seconds. If you do not feel like getting out your blender you can simply use a fork and mash up the vegetables! It’s so easy!

In the blender are boiled organic carrots in 1 cup of water. Boil until soft and then to the blender they go!

Ahhh….the finished product! We made green beans, carrots, mango, acorn squash, corn, apples and sweet potatoes. We made this for 4 babies that’s why there is so much. The amount for each baby should last a month.

The awesome thing about making your own baby food is that all of the veggies and fruit cost less than $20 and will feed 4 babies for a month! Not only that but, it’s SO much healthier. You made it yourself. You know exactly what’s in it!

Thanks a ton to Keri and Tiffany for all of their hard work!

“YOU, you yourselves were dead in sin,” Paul says. “You were sons and daughters of disobedience. BUT BY GOD’S GRACE, you have been made new: God’s grace, which you have not worked for, but is a gift.”

So if you look at this, your neighbor, and think that they HAVE had every advantage you have had, think again. For you have been given the proclamation of Christ, and the Spirit of God, which dwells within you. And then, thinking on such things, turn to these neighbors and give them this same gift you have: SPEAK to them the love of God. RETURN to them the love that Christ has given to you first!

Be patient with them, even when they are rude and contemptuous.

Be kind with them, when they are cruel.

Be compassionate with them, even when they themselves prey on the weak like vultures.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

And this, then, is what is important to remember:  there is only ONE who is the TRUE hero of the scriptures.  All others fall short.  All others miss, on their own, their “happily ever after” ending.  But God was not content with that.  He wanted the happily ever after.  Only he knew that we couldn’t do it on our own.  And he knew that no earthly king could provide it.

“I will send a new king,” Yahweh promises.  “I will send the King that is also God.  I will send a King that will reign over you forever and ever. I will send a KING in the mold of David, only he will be called prince of peace, and King of kings, and David himself will call him Lord.  I will send my anointed one.  I will send my suffering servant.  I will send… Jesus Christ.”

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

WE ARE REDEEMED CHILDREN OF GOD. We know what is to come. We know the truth. And we know that there may be consequences for sharing the truth. But let us not be selective in proclaiming the Lord’s will. It doesn’t mean we don’t be tactful, knowledgeable, and cunning when situations warrant it. But it DOES mean that we do NOT sit on our tongue for the sake of practicality, or uncomfortability, or “because we’re okay either way”.

No. It should just be COMPULSION, because you have a message the world needs so badly. The world needs Jesus. YOU HAVE HIM. What can the world do to keep you silent?

I say let there be NOTHING. Just as their was nothing for John the Baptist.

“WE PRAY THAT YOU WOULD HAVE US COMPELLED TO NEVER BE SILENT LORD; BY THE POWER OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.”

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

You know what ELSE happens in Baptism? What ALSO happens is that we become CONSECRATED to God.

We are given to God. We are set aside by him for his special purpose. Every single one of us. God declares to us, just as he did to the people of Israel, that we are CHOSEN BY HIM, and set apart as his cherished people in all of creation. As our creator, Jesus claims each of us as his own.

And I think that this really helps us to look at our own baptisms in a helpful way. Why?

Because of what CONSECRATION means to God, and what we understand it to mean for us. As we have said, it’s to be set aside for a special purpose. Now the special purpose that you have been set aside for is salvation through Jesus Christ, and a place in the Kingdom to Come. In other words, you are set aside to be a recipient of God’s grace, and so, you are set aside to be a recipient of eternal life. And THAT is awesome. And it is something that YOU don’t do, but that GOD DOES FOR YOU. REALLY, it’s something that God does TO you.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Check out http://www.rightathome.com they have LOTS of giveaways! I recently received a Pledge dust cloth in the mail. Whoohoo for free stuff!

Check out the awesome Winn Dixie coupons! $5 off a $30 purchase or more. Remember you can take this coupon to a store that accepts competitor coupons. Ex. Publix! Also, there are three Winn Dixie coupons in the redplum mailer. They expire 5/30/11.

What does God promise us in Baptism?

Well, God promises us the forgiveness of sins! He promises us his Holy Spirit! He promises us faith! He promises us that we are united to him! He promises us that this makes heirs to his eternal kingdom. He promises us that with this mark of the cross, and with this power of HIS WORD, he stamps us as his own, in order that NOTHING might ever take us away from him. He promises us rebirth; he promises us that we will be a new creation; and that we will have salvation. He promises us eternal life.

WOW. That is a LOT that God gives us in our baptisms. And all of that is stuff that CANNOT be taken away from you, because it is GOD that GIVES IT TO YOU!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

 I’ll tell you:

This child, born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, is God. This child is forgiveness. This child is the destruction of Satan. This child is the death of death. And this child is the Kingdom to come, so that all who trust in him will NOT die, but have eternal life.

This child is Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Lord. Brothers and sisters in Christ, ask yourselves, and ask honestly: do you believe it?

May God send his Spirit into your hearts that you do; and so believing, have eternal life. Amen.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

When it comes to diapers and saving money it can be tricky! I recently purchased the above for $17.49 before taxes. Which sounds expensive…but, keep in mind that the box of 82 diapers alone retails for $19.99. I had a total savings of $5.49. I’ll try and see if I can get this down even lower!

Remember, that for us the proclamations of Jesus are our greatest joy! We are redeemed. As you sit there, right now, you are a reconciled child of God, who has but time separating you from the eternal bliss that is the presence of God.

But what God calls for from us is now that we share this joy with others!

Let our resources go to this mighty task which has consequences that last for eternity. For if all of our resources; if every single thing we had; if ALL the resources of the ENTIRE WORLD; were to be spent, and a single person would be redeemed for an eternity, what a great joy that would be!

It will be for us, most assuredly! May God use us to have it be so for others! Put what God has given you to work in his field! He is with you as you do! Speak the Word of God! Give of what he has given to you! For what joy there is in heaven when you do! And you do so with the comfort and freedom of having already received even more than you could know to ask for.

Thanks be to God, from whom ALL blessings flow. Amen.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

And let NO ONE say, “I have bit one talent, and can do nothing with it.” You are not poorer than the Widow with her mites. And you are not more uninstructed than Peter and John, who were both called “ignorant and unlearned men”. For even though they were called so, they went out with zeal and passion for the Lord, and many were saved because of what had been given to them.

What a strange and wonderful group we are: WE PEOPLE OF GOD! For WE are God’s instruments that he uses to SHAKE UP THE WORLD! He selects the strangest, and often enough, the most lowly to do so, AND HE SELECTS YOU!

So do not hear Jesus’ words this morning and hope that OTHERS take it to heart, and put their talents to work. Instead, YOU YOURSELF realize that this very morning God is calling for you to use what he has given YOU, in order that YOU might be his instrument in the destruction of the Kingdom of Men, and the furtherment of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

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Today one of Target’s daily deal’s is an awesome tote that can be used as a diaper bag! It inclues a changing pad and is super cute with polka dots. Regularly $30.79 on sale for $19.99 + free shipping!

So many times people complain of not being able to have faith: but then we can ask them, and find that they do not participate in the things which God tells us grows faith! Their faith is dying from spiritual anorexia: they don’t feed it! Instead, they bury their faith in the ground, and then wonder why it does not collect interest! PUT IT TO WORK, God says to us, AND SEE IF I WON’T GIVE YOU FAITH! SEE IF I WON’T GROW IT! SEE IF YOU WON’T BE TRANSFORMED!

So THAT is the first way he asks us to put the talent of his word to use: in our own lives, that we may be transformed children of God.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor