Ezekiel 15 - Useless Branches Burned

Ezekiel continues to warn Israel. They, as a whole, no longer worship God. They are likened to a dead vine that ends up being burned in the fire. It is good for nothing except to be used for fuel.

We have just finished a small remodeling job in our home. A lot of old wood that ended up as starter for evening camp fires. It was no good for anything else.

We spent last evening cleaning out our son's shed of old tin and other metals. We dropped a truck load off at the church's recycling bin. It will all be hauled to the recycling center soon. Not sure where it goes from there or the exact steps that will be taken in the recycling process. This much, I know, in order for old metals to be made into something useful, they will have to put into the fire for refining. They will be melted down so that what was, no longer exists and something new and fruitful can be created.

Faithless = Fruitless = Useless = Heading for the recycling bin and will someplace along the line enter into the fire.

The useful and fruitful branch stays connected to the vine, who is Jesus, the Christ. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." (John 15:5-8 NIV)

God's Peace - Pr. J 

Psalm 9 - Thank the Lord and Sing His Praise

"Thank the Lord and sing his praise; tell everyone what he has done."  Remember these words?  We use to sing them all the time in worship.  The words of the psalm today remind us that we are to lift high our thanksgiving and praise for this God who has saved us from our enemy (sometimes our enemy is us!).  I think that I also remind people quite often that we have much reason to thank the LORD and sing His praise and and encourage you all to tell everyone what he had done.

God has been tremendously good to us.  Yesterday, at worship, we heard our third and final stewardship talk for this month.  The first one was on creation and recycling - a project a couple of our members at Zion have taken on.  The second stewardship "table talk" was on stewardship of Word and Sacrament, by me.  And... the third one was on tithing.  This one on stewardship of finance was actually a testimony on how God has worked in and blessed one of our member's lives. It was a few moments of thank the Lord and sing His praise. It was a time of sharing with the congregation of all that God has done for them.  He and his wife are two of the most faithful people in all areas of stewardship, that I know.  I am most grateful that he spends so very much time on stewardship of the Word, as he studies the word of God and shares the Word faithfully with others as he expresses His thankfulness for all that God has done in so many ways.

I thank the Lord and sing His praise; for He has sent us many faithful witnesses to share the good news of the kingdom with us and many around us. 

May God grant that we should at all times and in all places remember who our God is and give Him thanks and praise, extolling all that He has done for us.  (I know that you have had God work in miraculous ways in your lives - share those stories with others - that they may hear and believe!)

God's Peace - Pr. J