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Jeremiah 23:5-8 If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. I don’t know about you, but I’ve said that too many times in my life. I can be quite stubborn about it, too. How about you? We love to think highly of ourselves. We live to take pride in what we do and how we do it. We’re great at convincing ourselves that if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. The thing is, it’s not always true.  As my old boss reminded me, we are replaceable, because sometimes, I really am NOT the best man equipped to do a job.  You Chiefs fans know what I mean. Harrison Butker has missed 6 of 38 PATs this year ... that makes him next to last in PAT accuracy this year, a year after leading the NFL in scoring. But I’m sure y’all will be thankful if Andy Reid doesn’t try to save the team 4 million a year by using me to kick PATs for the Chiefs.  But it is still true ... that if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. Sometimes, you really do have t...

Then the King will say to those on his right hand, Come, you who have the good word of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Our world is filled with skeptics. They question everything. They doubt. They despair. They feel like they have been tricked and deceived so many times, they don’t want to believe anyone on Word alone ... to set their trust in anything but themselves. Then, when they hear the message of God’s love for them, their only response is, ‘Oh, if only I could believe that! There’s no way that could be true. God could never love me that much. Even if he does what does it matter ... for me?’  Do you know someone like that?  I know too many people who fit that category. They struggle to believe their salvation.  Well, today in our Gospel reading from Matthew chapter 25, we have such a message to answer these scoffers, these questions. It erases doubts, and relieves despair.  Jesus says, Come , you who hunger and...

For you are all sons of light, sons of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake. The difference is night and day. If you’ve ever switched from driving a Monte Carlo to a four-wheel drive Silverado, you definitely know what I mean. The difference in handling is night and day. If you’ve ever shot a rifle from 500 yards with iron sights, and then switched to a scope, you know what I mean. The improvement in accuracy is night and day. If you ate a TV dinner in the 1970s and then tried them again recently, you know what I am talking about. The difference in taste is night and day.  These comparisons are striking and obvious. They are like night and day. In the same way, our text from Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica speaks about us and them. It describes us as the sons of light, the sons of the day. It suggests those of the world belong to the sons of darkness, the sons of the night. The differenc...

We spend a significant portion of our life waiting. We wait for appointments, phone calls and stop lights like that one at Routes 7 and 52 in Clinton.  In the spring we wait for school to be recessed, and in the summer we wait for it to begin. In the fall we wait for the leaves to drop so we can rake them up until right before the first snowfall. We then wait for Christmas and for spring.  When a man enlists in the Marine Corps, the first thing he learns is to hurry up and wait. If you aren’t early, then you are late. Of course, then, that means you have to wait. To be sure, waiting has its rewards. As Christians, we eagerly await Jesus Christ to return so that the faithful will receive the crown of eternal life, as God wipes away every tear from our eyes and our bodies are made whole and free of sin and pain. Then, behold, we will see a new heavens and a new earth (Rv 21:1). The past, the present and the future will be united into a new time, one without beginning or ending,...