Update – Due to the Storm we are going to cancel VBS tonight (Dec. 16th).
December 2nd, 9th, 16th from 6:00-8:00 PM.
Drop off your kids, get some Christmas shopping done or have a date night!
Kids will learn the Christmas Story, make their own nativity set, eat cookies, play games, sing carols and basically just have fun!
Register by calling 715-450-2968 or email at david.m.ude@gmail.com or just show up!
We are excited to announce that we are buying a new church building. The closing date is set for this Thursday. Lord willing, we will be holding our first service in the new church this Sunday, April 17th 2016. Come join us at 3100 East Calumet Avenue, Appleton WI, 54915 at 9:00 AM!
In Christ
Pastor Ude
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…
Ahaz was in a heap of trouble. Not from bill collectors or bad grades but from his neighbors to the north. In jealous anger Syria and Israel came down upon Judea, surrounded Jerusalem and were about to besiege it. All of this was allowed by God as punishment for Ahaz’s unbelief and idolatry, leading the people away from God. When they heard of the attack against them, they were afraid – so afraid that, “their hearts shook like the trees shake before the wind.” Really, they should have known better. All the times that God had delivered them, all the times that He had shown His mighty hand to save. In fact that is exactly what God wanted them to do – to remember, to repent. But they didn’t, they just shook. Still, God came with a promise for Ahaz and the people in verses 7-8 “It shall not stand and it shall not come to pass…” In fact, God said, within 65 years both of these menacing countries would be nothing but ashes. This might have seemed very hard for Ahaz to believe but God in His mercy offered to give him a sign. While Ahaz’s response might seem very pious and trusting, God’s answer reveals his heart – it was nothing but hypocrisy. He thought to say what God wanted to hear but still he doubted. So God Himself chose the sign, one higher than the heavens and deeper than sheol, the greatest sign that has ever been given: “Behold the virgin pregnant and bearing a son and she will call his name Immanuel.” Usually, if you want to assure someone of something that will happen in the future, you give them something now, like a downpayment on a car. That’s what God did when Gideon asked for a sign – he performed the miracle of the fleece to assure Gideon of His word. But here God has it flipped around – the sign that He gives was not to happen for about 700 hundred years. We aren’t told what Ahaz’s reaction was but I can imagine he well might have thought Isaiah was nuts – “what are you talking about you crazy prophet? the virgin pregnant? What does that mean? What good is that? How does that help me against Syria and Israel.” Isn’t that typical? How often do we, in unbelief think that God’s answer cannot help me with my problems. Perhaps it was so for Ahaz. If so, he was wrong. This was the perfect sign to behold, to cure him and all Judea of their shaking hearts because it is the surest promise of scripture.
God had been pointing his people to the promise of the savior for thousands of years. It was to this sign that He pointed Adam and Eve on the day they left the Garden of Eden. This was the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This one promise was the sign for all people. It was their hope, their confidence and their joy. This sign was the best proof God could give to Ahaz because there never was nor ever would be anything more sure than the miracle boy – Immanuel, He who would save his people from their sins. In God’s eyes it was as good as done. This is why Isaiah says “if you are not firm in faith you will not be firm at all.” This is the sign to behold for shaking hearts because it cannot be shaken.
Isaiah 5:8-30 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…
These verses describe the spiritual bankruptcy of the nation of Israel at the time of Isaiah. How sad that this was the case among God’s own people! How sad that they had forgotten the Word of the Lord and turned to these things instead! And isn’t it familiar? The condemnation spoken in these verses applies in our world as much as it ever did which shouldn’t be surprising. There is nothing new under the sun after all. And the sinful nature is ever the same.
Still people make the focus of their lives getting stuff and having a good time. Everything has to be fun it seems, everything must be entertaining. And we always have to have more. People think it’s fun to go out and “get hammered.” People think sex is some toy to be tossed around and used however it best pleases me whenever I want.
And perhaps worst of all people call good, evil and evil, good. People call abortion good. People call homosexuality good. People call sex-change operations good. And people call God and His Word bad or irrelevant or outdated. They call anyone who confesses this Word a “bigot” and tolerate no discussion to any view contrary to their own.
As Isaiah says (verse 21) “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes.” And that wouldn’t just be “people” and “those guys out there” that would be you, dear reader, and me. Because we love to be wise in our own eyes. We love to think we always know best, always have the answer. And our sinful nature loves to call evil, good and good, evil.
So what’s the answer? For you, for me, for all the people of this morally bankrupt world? God’s Word. God’s Word shows us that we are not wise but He is. It shows us that He alone knows what is right and what is wrong, what is true and false, what is beautiful and what is not. Most of all, it shows us that Christ is our Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30) – the wisdom of God for salvation. The one in whom we find peace, forgiveness, joy, and all the answers we need. God grant it. Amen.
In Christ
Pastor Ude
The Seventh Commandment
“You Shall Not Steal”
What Does This Mean?
We should fear and love God that we do not steal our neighbors money or possessions, nor get them in a dishonest way, but we should help him to improve and protect his property and way of making a living.
Do you treat something differently if it doesn’t belong to you? Are you more careful when you are driving your parents’ care than you would be if it was your own? Are you more careful to be clean when eating at a friend’s house than you are at your own?
In this commandment, we are really taught to do two things. First, to respect our neighbor’s possessions and Second, to properly understand how to treat our own. Even if you’ve never stolen something, you can probably think of a time where you didn’t do everything you could to improve and protect his property and way of making a living. It’s pretty easy for us to justify ourselves in this kind of behavior because we naturally think that we should do everything we can to improve and protect our property and way of making a living first and only help our neighbor afterward. Picture yourself with two friends watching the football game. You’ve ordered a pizza which has 8 slices. Each of you is currently eating a second slice, there are only two left. You want one. So what do you do? You probably start eating faster! That’s our natural way isn’t it! Instead, we should be going out of our way, even putting our own property and way of making a living at risk in order to help others. Anything less is, really, stealing!
The second thing we are taught here is how to treat our own money. Remember how you tend to treat stuff differently if it belongs to someone else? Truthfully, we should treat all that belongs to us that way because none of it really belongs to us. Everything is God’s! He made it all. And what we have, we only have because He has given it to us. We are stewards left to take care of what the Master has given until He returns. And He has left us in no doubt about what we should do with it. 1. We should use it to take care of our family. 2. We should use it, generously to help the poor, especially the poor in our own congregations. 3. We should set aside the first fruits as a gift to God’s Church so that the message of forgiveness and salvation might be proclaimed to the world! We should do all this out of love for all the many gifts He has given us – especially the best gift: His Son, our Savior who delivers us from the death our sins of greed and selfishness deserve. 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
In Christ
Pastor Ude
Job 38 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+38
Have you ever found yourself saying something to someone and then realized that they already know it? Like a patient telling a doctor about some “medical fact” they read on the internet or when an atheist tries to lecture a Christian on what the bible really says. That’s what has just happened to Job. After Elihu gets done berating Job for going too far and reminding him of the God’s justice, God decides it’s His turn.
“Where were you?” Is the basic question God asks Job. With scathing sarcasm He humbles Job. It’s as if to say, “Remember Who you’re talking to!” There is nothing that you know as well as God knows. And what you do know is as nothing compared to God. His power, wisdom, and might are obvious in creation in so many ways. You should remember that when you are talking to or about God. Remember it and fear. Also, remember it and rejoice. Because this God, the one in the heavens who has done whatsoever He has pleased is also the God who has become your Father by giving His Son for you. Remember that when you’re talking to God or about God too.
In Christ
Pastor Ude
“You Shall Not Commit Adultery.” What does this mean? “We should fear and love God that we live a pure and decent life in words and actions and that husband and wife love and honor one another.”
I’m sitting on my couch as I write this midst the calming, cheerful glow of Christmas lights. It’s one thing I’ve always loved about this time of year. I remember when I was little, my brothers and I would get up early on a winter morning and lie next to the baseboard heater in the living room soaking in the heat and basking in the glorious Christmas glow of the tree. But there’s such a thing as a time and place isn’t there? I mean if it were a hot August morning, I wouldn’t want to be cozy up next to a heater! And if the lights were on all year long, they wouldn’t be so special. That’s a little bit like sex and marriage.
Some people accuse Christians of being prudes about sex. I heard one character on a show once say something to this effect – “There are only two kinds of people in this world: people who like sex and people who are utterly creeped out by it.” She was referring to Christians with that last part. It’s a common idea: anyone that wants to impose any limitations on sex must be creeped out by sex. Satan has very successfully peddled the lie that using sex with anyone you want in any way you want is “freedom.”
When we follow what God says in His Word about sex, we don’t do so because we are creeped out by sex but because we value it as something special. We understand rightly how good it can be in the proper context and how bad it can be otherwise. God created sex for marriage. He blessed it when He gave man and woman to each other (Genesis 2). In fact, God did not render His final perfect “it is good” until He had created sex and marriage. In that context, it is a very special thing. Because marriage is a very special thing! In it, besides for sex, God provides companionship and comfort, the joy of children and grandchildren and so many other wonderful and unexpected blessings. I believe it is the most wonderful of all God’s physical gifts.
And that is why He protects it. For this great good can be used for great harm. Look around you at the results of the sexual revolution. Look at the broken families, the broken relationships, the pain and heartache which are a direct result of the ungodly way that the world (and our own sinful natures) treats sex. Can there really be any doubt that God got it right when He said it should be this way: “A man shall leave his Father and Mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
God demands that we treat his gifts of sex and marriage as He intended. He demands purity from us in thought, word, and action. Yes that means that He wants you to wait for marriage to have sex. Yes, that means homosexuality is a sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Yes, that means you shouldn’t watch porn or dirty movies or masturbate, it even means you shouldn’t have a lustful thought for someone you aren’t married to (Matthew 5:27-28). Does that seem like a lot to demand? Certainly it’s far more than you can are capable of keeping, and the same goes for me. It’s good then that we can pray confidently with David in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with Your free spirit.”
In the peace of the forgiveness of sins won for us at the blood-soaked cross of Calvary, may we be set free from slavery to worldly desires and serve the Lord with pure thoughts, words, and actions. Keep sex and marriage where they belong – keep them special.
In Christ
Pastor Ude
Job 17 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2017&version=ESV Most people try not to think about death. They don’t understand it. They don’t know what to think of it. It frightens them. So they don’t think about it. But there are times when death breaks past the barriers and crashes into the mind. And when it does, men and women must grapple with it’s reality, with it’s imminence, and try to understand what it means. When they do, most people make one of two fundamental errors. They often make both!
The first is to think of death as rest without having Christ. People write “R.I.P” on tombstones and some even look forward to death as a way to rest from the troubles of life. But without Christ, without faith in God and in the forgiveness of sins that He brings through His Son, such hope is entirely vain. Because death is not nothing and it’s not a mystery. Death is not rest. Not for those who do not believe. It’s not the stage exit at the end of the play of life as Job’s poor excuses for counselors seem to think. “There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21). Death is much worse for the unbeliever than anything in this life.
But there is rest for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9). And that rest is not a “nothingness” either. It’s eternal joy and glory with the Father. Death is much better for the believer than anything in this life! And that’s the other major error that many make with regard to death. Many lament the death of people in this world and blame God for being cruel. And while death is something to lament because of the loss and hurt that it creates here, it is also something to celebrate when it is the death of a believer because of the joy that it brings to them and to God. “Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of His saints!” (Psalm 116:15). Job is longing for death still in chapter 17. Even more so perhaps now because of the continued abusive and foolish counsel of his friends. He knows that in death he will have rest, rest from the troubles of this world. Rest from the false accusations of his friends, rest in the eternal joyful presence of His God. That’s the truth about death. No rest for the wicked, eternal rest for those who have faith in Christ!
In Christ Pastor Ude
Job 11-13 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…
The third of Job’s friends, Zophar, speaks up and Job isn’t very pleased with what he has to say either. It’s kind of the same as what the first two friends said: “You deserve this, you must have done something, in fact, you deserve worst.” Again, there is a sense in which that is true. For all of us, our sins justly deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment. But Job’s friends have forgotten about faith. They have assumed that their wealth and ease are products of their own goodness rather than gifts from a merciful God. And they fail to see that the same is true about Job. His misfortunes are not the punishment for his sins anymore than their riches are the reward for their goodness. Rather, both are gifts of God’s mercy. God is trying Job, testing His faith and showing it to us so that we can see that even if He should slay us, we can trust Him.
Job believes that God is going to kill him. He knows that God has done this or at least has allowed this to happen. He doesn’t know why. He doesn’t understand what is going on. But he knows that God is not against him because of his sin, He knows He has loved him, forgiven him, and is with him. Job believes in God. Job’s friends do not, they believe in themselves: in their riches and in their works.
Don’t let good times deceive you into thinking that all is well with God. And don’t let hard times trick you into thinking that God hates you. There is only one way to be right with God – faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Then, we know that material blessings and suffering are both gifts from the hand of a loving God and though He may slay us, yet we can trust Him!
In Christ
Pastor Ude
1 Corinthians 1:31, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
It’s not usually helpful to say “I told you so.” What good does that do someone who has just failed at something? It only rubs salt in the wound! But it can be very helpful to say “God told you so.” Whenever God is proved to be right, it is cause for great rejoicing for God’s Church! It reminds us that He is always faithful, always true.
That is the case when it comes to marriage. A colleague shared the article linked below with us pastors and I, like him, found it very encouraging. You’ve probably heard the claim before, “50 percent of marriages end in divorce.” You’ve probably heard people make comments about that like this, “Why should I even bother getting married? It fails half the time anyway.” We’ve known for a long time that those statistics (and excuses) were complete nonsense. Here’s proof. According to this expansive study, the divorce rate in society in general is about 30 percent. That’s a lot lower than 50. But far better than this is what the study reveals about the difference between the divorce rate among practicing Christians and society in general. Couples who regularly attend church have a divorce rate of only about 10 percent!
This is great news. And it isn’t really surprising. What it means is that those who follow God’s plan for marriage and sex, are far more likely to have successful marriages. Didn’t God tell you so? See, this is good news for the Church and for all. If you are in a marriage that is struggling and someone tells you that there’s a 50-50 chance yours will fail, that’s discouraging. If someone tells you that there is no difference in the divorce rate between practicing Christians and the rest, then you might feel like there is no point in going to church! If you are a young person contemplating how to proceed with your romantic relationship, then these lies about marriage might make you think there is no point, that it doesn’t work.
But as always, “let God be true and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). God’s always right. That means that marriage does work. It means that His plan for it is the best way. And it means more than that too. It means that everything He said is right. It means that He was telling the truth when He said that He died for our sins, rose from the grave and is coming again to take us home. It means He’s right when He says “Your sins are forgiven.” It means that there is strength and eternal comfort for those who are struggling in their marriages, those who have already suffered a divorce, and those who are doubting their faith. God was right. Didn’t he tell you so?
In Christ
Pastor Ude