DEVOTIONS

You have to be willing to LISTEN when the Scriptures speak. The truth is presented here. God speaks it to you. Jesus walked and talked and taught and lived it. But you know, there’s this expression he keeps saying as he does, that he says to us as well:

“He who has ears, let him hear.”

And he says that because he knows that our tools of self-delusion are strongest when we don’t like what the Lord is telling us.

But today, let us take a moment for a spiritual gut check. Let us listen. Let us be self aware.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Don’t wait to trust God; and to put yourself in his hands. Life is too hard if we add the anxiety that comes from us not being able to comprehend God’s plan. Just trust in him. He will not disappoint.

Do not worry. Do not be anxious. And when you do doubt and misunderstand, remember that God your Father sees you, sends His Spirit to comfort you, and forgives you for the sake of his Son.

He is patient and forgiving with you. Just as he was… with the people in Bible before you. Thanks be to God. Amen.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Remember this principle: hindsight is 20/20. It is easier to see from the end the plans of God from the beginning. From John the Baptist to the disciples to Elijah and Moses, ALL of them began to question God when things got rough. But you know what? They certainly understand what he was up to from their vantage point now. Hindsight is 20/20 indeed.

And remember that it applies to you too. Why? Because I’ll tell you this: our moments of doubt, and our moments of confusion, and our moments where we question God and don’t understand what he’s doing in our lives or in the lives of our loved ones; and those moments where we wonder if he cares, and we wonder if everything will eventually be ok; All THOSE moments that all of us have?

Well, there will be a day; a glorious day when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns again with power and glory; a day when death itself will cease; And on that day we will look back on ourselves and say: MAN. Was I fool. What was I thinking? How could I have doubted? How could I have worried? Where were my concerns?

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pas

Many people have difficulty, and many fall away from faith in the Lord, because their questions of “why” go unanswered. Many fall away because God’s ways are too beyond our own to be able to accept. But when you are having difficulty swallowing the reality that the Lord presents to you, ask yourself this question: Is it more difficult a thing to try and accept and grasp than a virgin having a baby? Or more difficult than the concept of God becoming human? Or more difficult than the fact that you are SAVED by God SACRIFICING his Son; who was righteous and innocent; for YOU.

You are asked, perhaps, to accept much in this life. But FAITH is believing in those things which we can NOT understand. And what the Lord asks from us is faith!

How good it is for us to be faithful, and to trust in God! For he will NOT disappoint!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

 What blessed and marvelous sinners we are! How strange and wonderful that Jesus loves us sinners so! How strange it is that there are those that reject and flee from that love and sacrifice to stand on their own!

But we will never curse him or doubt his deliverance. And we will never be discouraged because of our own failings. For it is not by OUR strength that we are saved!

YOU ARE SINNERS, saints of Beautiful sinners! And you live forever. What a wonderful God we have! One who comes to save not by ninja sais and hockey sticks, but by the power of the death of his Son Jesus Christ. And when things get dark, remember his promises, and hear his words. For I tell you truth: one day you will be with him in paradise. Thanks be to God. Amen.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

And even in your darkest hour, HAVE JOY, and hear Jesus turn to you, even as he dies for you, as he turns to YOU; TO YOU; you sinful and redeemed saints redeemed by the blood of Christ; in your darkest hour, hear the Word of God come to you. For on the day of your death he says to you:

“I HAVE REMEMBERED YOU. I have died for you. And I tell you the truth: today you will be with me in paradise.”

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

we will not be the self righteous thief. WE will see our need. We will acknowledge our sin. In moments of hurt and pain, we will not cry to God for the injustices that have been heaped upon us. We will not hold ourselves ransom from him. We will not turn to him and blaspheme and cry, “You do not save me, so I do not love you!”

NO. We will be the other thief. We will see the justice of our punishment. But even more: EVEN WHEN OUR ROAD IS DARK; even when our enemies surround us; even when we are fastened to a cross and lifted up;

We will turn to Jesus, and say this prayer: Right it down. Make a mental note. CLING TO IT with your heart: say this prayer:

“JESUS. Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

You see, despite what the world may tell you, you are NOT fine on your own. And despite the language of tolerance and self worth for all that we do and all that we are, on our own we are an affront to God because of the sin that we have done and continue to do.

On our own, we are ash, blown in the wind, and clamoring as we head to death to be scattered that we are valid and have worth just because of who we are. What a colossal lie. We are worse than a two year old running away from home in order to fend for herself; picking up poisonous caterpillars, leaping into traffic, having no discernment or strength to face the things of this world or the judgment of the world to come. We act like we have nothing to be saved from; that even our screaming at the sin of this world is just noise; and when God appears, we FLEE from him, not wanting his intervention or salvation.

BUT NOT US. We acknowledge our need for a savior. We have FAITH.

You see, faith in Jesus IS acknowledging that without him, we deserve nothing BUT brokenness; nothing BUT heartache and pain and sickness. Nothing BUT death and damnation.

Do you believe that? Or when bad things happen do you stick up for yourself, and justify yourself, and turn to God and say to him, “WHY? Why when you have the power to stop this do you not? You saved yourself, NOW SAVE ME!”

For if you do, hear the warning of the other thief: “Do you not fear God?”

And in the darkest moments of your life; in the moment that you are being hoisted up on a cross to pay for the crimes that you DESERVE, is it THEN that you can still say these words; these words of FAITH: “I am under this sentence of condemnation justly, for I am receiving the due reward for my deeds.”

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

We must remember this: yelling at Jesus “Save me! Save me! Why aren’t you saving me you jerk!” as though we have EARNED deliverance is NOT faith in Jesus. Defiantly saying “You have the power to do what I want you to do, but you don’t do it, so you must either not exist or not love me,” is not faith in Jesus. And on the flip side, acting as though we do not DESERVE the bad things that happen in our life, and that it is unfair that we have to deal with the brokenness of a creation which WE OURSELVES CONTINUE TO BREAK with OUR sin … is not faith in Jesus.

This is something that is so contrary to all that we hear out there from our culture. It is a culture that wants to DO AWAY with the failings of humanity. To do away with the concept of sin; to do away with the idea that there is a God who requires JUSTICE.

But God DOES require justice. It’s why he sent Jesus. And if we are okay on our own, then what in the world is this terrible death of God’s Son all about anyway? If we are fine on our own; if we are good enough; why did Jesus die?

To be continued in tomorrow’s devotion…

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

Do you ever deny that God will save you?  How often do we give in to looking at our surroundings and surrendering to despair, as if Jesus’ promises mean NOTHING, and the powers of the world are too much for him!  Do you think that he is either powerless or indifferent?  For that is not faith.  That is doubt.  And doubt is the ENEMY of faith.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

THIS (pat self) THIS is who I am. This is not a shell. This is not a prison my spirit is trapped in. I am fearfully and wonderfully made! And though this body is broken because it is full of sin; though it fails me because it is full of evil, and because I abuse it, and because our world is NOT YET eternal, and so I age, and this body will DIE;

Despite all those things I know that my God has come in the FLESH. And he has done this in order that this body that I am might be restored to the way God intended for it to be! A righteous body! A temple of the Holy Spirit! A body that will never know defilement or decay or sickness or harm or DEATH ever again, once it has been raised up in glory.

And so too with you.

I will see you when we are restored, and the world with us. I will shake your hand, hug, run, play, work, sing, eat, and sing right along with you. And the same thing for your loved ones who have gone before you in faith! What a comfort! They will be much more recognizable, and much more THEMSELVES, than you could imagine! They will just be themselves unbroken; restored; RESURRECTED!

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

That time when we are raised up, and when our physical world is restored to its original glory; to be “good” as it was originally designed? THAT is the ultimate promise, and our ultimate destination. That time when we die is, in fact, nothing BUT the separation of our bodies from our spirits. But it is a separation that is TEMPORARY. Yes, when we die our spirits then go to be with Jesus. But that is a place where we WAIT IN PEACE for Jesus to return to earth, and to make it anew. We wait to be how we were supposed to be. We wait for the day of the resurrection to come.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor

You see, we say that the promise of Christ is the GOSPEL. Another word for that is the “Good News”. But we have to make sure that we’re proclaiming the RIGHT Good News; the Good News that is really gonna happen!

Here is, unfortunately, what we end up saying a lot of times: “Hey! Good news! God came to earth! So when you die your spirit floats around forever in heaven! THAT’S the promise of Christmas!”

But that is not it! That’s some sort of influence of the world sneaking in to the Christian message. The promise of God is so much more! The promise of God is that you will one day BE THIS BODY AGAIN; only it will be the body it was designed to be. And the promise isn’t that you’re going to float around as a Spirit forever in some place. It’s that God will make THIS place where he is; he will remake this world through fire; and it will be the world it was originally supposed to be!

GOD COMES IN THE FLESH. God DIES, in the flesh. And God is RAISED AGAIN IN THE FLESH. As he is the first fruits of the resurrection, he will raise US up again too! IN THE FLESH.

-Aj Neugebauer LCMS pastor