A New Years Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come to you in prayer at the start of this New Year with bended knee and humble heart. We start by first giving you thanks for the year that just went by. We thank you for keeping watch over us and shielding us from the many misfortunes and disasters that undoubtedly swayed over our heads and homes. From fires and floods, from accidents and calamities, and from Satan himself who stalks around the House of God like a roaring lion to see whom he can trick or beguile into his dark empire with his traps and snares.

 We also thank you for the health of family and friends. For the wind and the rain that made our crops and gardens grow so we your children can nourish, clothe and house ourselves. For the many and uncountable blessings you bestowed upon us when we were too busy or too distracted to notice. 

We pray for those who are hurting, going through illness, hard or troubling times, or may have even lost a loved one or friend this past year, we ask you Father to give them special care, bind their wounds and salve their broken hearts. Take them in your arms and comfort them. Shine upon their darkest hours, Oh Light of the World. Give them solace through your Word. 

 We have gotten another year older, but have we gotten closer to you, Father? Have we dedicated enough time and praise to you? Have we been thankful and grateful enough for all that we have and for all that you do? Have we spent enough time throughout the year with your Word?

 I think we all have to hang our head in shame at these questions, but Father it is you who works in us, both to will and to do for your good pleasure. As we enter this New Year, pour out over us your Holy Spirit that we shall be like a watered garden, like a tree that has its roots by the stream. Produce in us the fruits of your Spirit; love, joy and peace, gift us with patience, kindness, gentleness and goodness, and grant us self-control and faithfulness.

 We ask you to lead and guide us through this new Year. Help us to be the person that you want us to be and do the things that you want us to do. Give us a humble and thankful heart. Make us be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Make our light shine that it may glorify you, O Father.

We ask for your blessings when we go out in the spring to seed, for the morning dew and the summer rain, for the gentle wind and the warming rays of the life-giving sun. Multiply our seeds and herds, that by reaping and gathering we can sing your praise. 

We also ask you for health and wisdom, for peace in the land, for justice and stability in government, for the freedom to praise your name, and for grace and mercy from your loving hand forevermore. 

 This all we pray in the name of Jesus

Amen. 

What if Christmas was about receiving a gift instead of giving one?

Do we miss the point of Christmas by giving away material gifts instead of receiving the immaterial? Do we spend so much time choosing, buying, wrapping and giving gifts that we pass by the ultimate Christmas gift? 

Our gift was chosen for us to bring us joy, peace, love and comfort, bought at a unimaginable price,  came from a place so beautiful our imagination can not fathom, and wrapped with all the tender care and love that a mother’s heart can possess. But can we receive that gift?  Have we room for it in our materialistic world? Have we time for it in our tightly scheduled lives? Or is it a gift that only appeals when we are left with no other options? 

It’s a strange gift, instead of us having to sustain and nurture it, it will sustain and nurture us. It’s a trusty friend that will never leave our side. It’s a warm and comforting hand that will lead us through our most troubling and trying times. It’s a rock solid foundation to stand on in an ever-changing troubled world. And most of all, it’s a gift.

Free.

If we only accept it. 

Merry Christmas 

The Hope that Christmas brings.

We live in a fallen, broken, hurting world. Everywhere you look you can see pride, greed, broken homes, broken hearts, hunger, disease, and finally death. Even if we win we still lose. For dust we are and to dust we shall return. 

But in Bethlehem was born a Son that tells us something new. He tells us the end is not the end. That we will rise again. That he will prepare a place for us and then come and take us there. That we will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down at that place. A place no eye has seen, no ear heard and no human heart has imagined! A place where every tear shall be wiped from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away, and behold, all things will be made new. A place where there will be no more night, where we will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give us light.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Ich komme Jesus her zu dir. Easter hymn. Translation by Louie Vetter

I'm drawing Jesus to you near

In reverence, my prayers hear.

That rugged cross, that bitter anguish

In which I did participate,

Your death I did facilitate.

You will not allow me to languish, 

You gave me life, you stood condemned,

Reached out to me, became my friend

Oh Saviour, friend; yes verily,

Who else dies for his enemy?

Who serves yet rules over the nation?

Who becomes man but still is Lord?

Leaves heaven for a mocking crowd? 

Who dies, from whom comes all creation?

Is that not you, oh Jesus Christ,

You died for me, you paid the price. 

Faultless, before the human race, 

What you do here is perfect grace.

You pay in full what i have broken,

You suffer, yet the fault is mine,

A child of death is my consign.

You give your life for me in token,

You leave your home to do me well

When I deserve to be in hell.

Look, blinded Jew! and then take note

Whose face you spit, whose head you smote?

Is that the way you pledge allegiance?

Await you your Messiah so?

Adore you Judah's Saviour so?

Must not the stones cry out in grievance?

Is not your King so precious then,

Oh daughter of Jerusalem?

Why would a murderer then be

Of value so much more than He?

Do you accuse the one who frees you?

Do you condemn upon the cross

Him, without whom the world is lost,

And put to death the one who loves you?

But why do I give others blame;

Woe unto me, I've done the same!

Mine, mine is all iniquity,

I am the one that tortured thee.

I am responsible for murder,

I wove that piercing crown of thorns,

I spoke to you with hate-filled scorn.

I nailed you to the cross with fervour, 

Now, quaking knees, in fear I stand,

You suffered, Jesus, at my hand.

Alas, Alas, Oh Saviour mine,

Oh highest life, how can you die?

Beginning and end, can you relinquish?

Bows your head down, head of the world?

Goes still the hand that holds the earth?

Intrinsic light, can death extinguish,

Those eyes, that clearer shine by far

Than moon and sun and brightest star. 

I start to weep, what have I done?

I've helped to kill God's only Son.

He gave me life, He breathed creation,

I'm standing all alone today,

Where is my help on Judgement Day?

Satan is calling my damnation

Heaven is now my enemy,

And earth stands barren and empty.

Where find I comfort in my pain?

You are alone the remedy.

Lion of Judah, root of David,

You pleaded for your enemies,

You took for friend that wretched thief.

I cry out for that grace so sacred,

You say that everything is is done,

Why is my heart so woebegone?

Spite hell and death! Spite satan, ye!

You have no power over me.

My Jesus full of pure forgiveness 

Bent down to me arms open wide,

And took me in, now reconciled.

For I am saved, God is my witness,

I'm one with Him and He with me,

Heaven is now my destiny.

Haven of safety, highest friend,

Your grace and mercy knows no end.

I wretched man, I don't deserve it,

I stand here now and praise your name

Always, forever, I proclaim;

To be your faithful loving servant,

My life is surely lived in vain

If by your grace I don't remain.

This world disgusts me with her sin,

I search but find no truth within.

All things holy, stand desecrated,

Oh, take me to the tomb today,

There I can let Old Adam lay.

From sin now free, I'm liberated!

Come, come my death I welcome you
More than a thousand lives, adieu.

Thoughts on Hutterite Baptism Day.

Our life is like a grain of wheat. It is dead but precious life waits dormant inside. If it wants to live it has to die, totally and completely giving up its identity in order to live again.

When the seed gets planted it starts to germinate and life springs forth . The emerging plant rapidly finds new energy sources apart from the seed. The roots search downwards for nutrients and water while the new leaves unfurl upwards towards the life giving sun. The seed, rapidly depleting, is soon dead. It has served its purpose and brought forth new life. This new life is now being sustained by a source other than the seed.

This sequence has a lot to say to the Christian. If we want to live we have to die and be born again. We must willingly lay our life down in obedience and trust to Him, living not under our own will and power, but sustained by a source other than ourselves, Jesus Christ.

Yes, we can stay like the kernel of wheat, proud of who and what we are. But we need to realize that ungerminated and unregenerated (though we are still of worth...made in the image of God) we are a potential living plant locked inside a waiting seed, curbed only by our selfish desires and unwillingness to see what we are and what we were made to be.


"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Paul in Galatians 2:20

What Is Truth?

What is truth is indeed a hard question. Particularly at this time in history when #fakenews dominates and #post-truth was made 2016 word of the year. Time magazine ran the stark red on black headline "Is Truth Dead?" on its April 3, 2017 cover. That cover payed typographical homage to a headline they printed 51 years earlier on April 8, 1966, titled: "Is God Dead?"

Oxford Dictionaries defines post-truth as 'in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’.

Let's consider the ramifications of living in a society in which truth is no longer objective, but relative. imagine a court of law running on this footing! Imagine a world where north can be east, where hot may be cold, where two plus two equals four only when it suits us. Imagine paying for your morning coffee that way, or deciphering traffic signals. It turns into the absurd!

So it seems we cannot live without truth no matter how we try avoid it.

 The closest man has ever got to receiving an answer to the direct question of "What is truth?" happened in a courtroom about 2000 years ago. Let's go back in time to see what transpired and we will see that the search for truth is not new. 

In Pilate's Court

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”

They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”

Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”

Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.

Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. 

Pilate asked that question as if there really was no answer and didn't expect one.

Are we in those same shoes today?

Has postmodernism and relativism made truth irrelevant? 

Is Truth Dead?

Why Is Homosexuality An Abomination Before The Lord?

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22

Why is homosexuality an abomination before the Lord?

 In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.  Genesis 5:2

Jesus in Matthew 19:4 "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’

 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32

 per·vert

verb

pərˈvərt/

1. 1.
   alter (something) from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended.

Satan cannot create, and so has nothing original to offer man. Therefore he perverts the good that God has made into something evil.

For example; there can be no cursing if there is no speech, no idolatry if there is no worship, no killing if there is no life, no adultery if there is no marriage, and no homosexuality if there is no sexuality. Satan has no remorse and no shame. He will use all his power to pervert the image of God through man who was created to glorify that image.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men...who changed the truth of God into a lie...for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another... Romans 1

  Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  1Corinthians 6:15-19

 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

God created us in His image, and has a purpose for our lives.That makes every one of us intrinsically valuable and immeasurably meaningful in His eyes. He created us as a temple of His Trinity, for the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. He defined marriage as the symbolic relationship between Christ and the church. 

To pervert and corrupt that purpose from what God intended it to be, is indeed an abomination to The Lord. 

 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Hutterites and Homosexuality

It seems everywhere you turn these days you see and hear of gay pride, gay marriages, homophobia, gay tolerance and gay bashing. 

What are we Hutterites to make of all this? Where should we stand? Didn't Jesus talk of love and forgiveness?

Matthew 19:4-5 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Exodus 20:14 "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Hebrews 13:4 "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge."

1 Corinthians 6:9 "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."

From these passages we can figure out that sex outside marriage as God ordained it is adultery. Adultery is sin. Sin cannot enter heaven. 

I've had a few discussions with people on the subject of gay activity and marriages. For one they say "These people love each other, God is love and loves love, so therefore being gay is good." or "These people were born gay, and God made these people, therefore gay is good" 

 "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20

There is also the argument that if we feel a want or need, that we need to pursue that want, cultivate that want, and fulfill that want, but there's a real problem with that. Let's take for example a married man who sees a beautiful woman and feels lust towards her. Should he cultivate and let that lust grow until it's too powerful for him to resist? Or should he resist and quell that lust right away, reminding himself that it's an adulterous, sinful lust that will only lead to heartbreak and a breaking up of his family? Or how about the young lad who feels a lust to build fires? Should he consider since he was born with that lust that he should fulfill it? Or the lust of the drunkard to drink? The druggie towards drugs? The depraved to depravity? The rapist to rape? The killer to kill? How should we separate a good lust from a bad lust? For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. Matthew 15:19. 

There are also many good passions, for example a farmer who's passionate of raising animals, a nurse with great compassion for sick people, a gardener who loves to garden, or a cook who takes great pride in how the evening meal turned out. 

What we need to is a moral guide. But what should that be? Our own feelings and passions are not very good guides. Government then, or society at large? Fifty plus one vote? We know those are not good moral guides, for if they were, Auschwitz would have never happened. Look at the tribes who supported cannibalism and human sacrifice. And look at the current issues with abortion and euthanasia. We have to admit that there's only one true moral guide by which morals can be judged by and that's by the Word of God. Scripture tells us we are made in the image of God. That gives human life intrinsic and unmeasurable value. 

So back to the subject at hand.  What is the homosexual to do with his orientation towards the same sex?  

 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:19.

The homosexual has to first of all recognize it as sin, repress and quell it with all other sinful lusts and walk the narrow road. For what are the passions of this world worth towards the passions of what is to come? 

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2:16

It seems we all have our own special cross to bear. And that cross can be our ticket to heaven. Without that cross we live a life that has no problems or cares. A life where we depend on ourself and our strengths and talents. A life where we get along just fine without God. A life where we have no need for a God and no need to look for one. Where we don't need to look upon the heavens for help. Yes, that's what a cross does. It makes us recognize and see how Iittle in control and helpless we really are. It makes us look for God, ask for his help and depend on it. It makes us understand what Paul meant when he wrote "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

So yes, we can say homosexuality is a heavy cross to bear, but not unlike many other different crosses that people bear. We have to recognize it as such. God loves sinners and so should we, for in reality we are all sinners and in desperate need of God's Grace. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  And the answer to this is: Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

Look at this sobering message in Hebrews 10:26 "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." 

Let's not be fooled, sin remains sin and shame remains shame. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God's values and morals don't and won't change with the passing of time and changes in philosophy. God doesn't need to go through the Age of Enlightenment. He is the Enlightenment. We must conform to the ways of God for he will never change, nor will he conform to the ever-changing whims of man. 

But if one doesn't believe there is a God and that we were made in his image, then I suppose there is no reason not to support the LGBT movement. There is also no reason not to support any lust or passion of any kind, regardless of consequence. If all there is to this life is this life then who are we (Christians) to expect (Christian) morals from anyone? Who are we to say what's right and what's wrong? Who says there even is a right or wrong?

thoughtsfromlouieville 

Louie Vetter

Baptism, what is it?

Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. 1 Peter 3:21

The water doesn't turn anyone into a Christian. Baptism or the water does not take the sinful nature of our flesh away. The essence of baptism and the covenant is this; that we henceforth strive and fight against our sinful nature, not to let it rule or break out in our mortal body, but to live a Godly life in this world. Indeed, it means that whoever has accepted Christian baptism is henceforth obligated at all times to live with a good conscience and keep himself of a pure heart. For a pure, glad heart; says scripture, is a continual feast. There must be redirection towards a new life; our old man must be crucified, and a new one arise in Christ, which is created in the image of God, in righteousness and holiness. Amen

Hutterite Baptism. Baptism Day

Baptism Questions

(Before the prayer)

Q1. Do you now acknowledge the teachings of Jesus, which have been laid before you, as being the truth and the true foundation to salvation?

Q2. Do you believe in and agree with the twelve articles of our Christian Faith, and will you witness to them? 

1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth
2. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and buried
5. He descended into Hell. The third day He rose again from the dead
6. He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty
7. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost
9. I believe in the Christian church, the fellowship of saints
10. The forgiveness of sins
11. The resurrection of the body
12. And the life everlasting, Amen.

Q3. Do you desire the prayer of intercession of the church so that God may forgive and remit the sins committed by you either knowingly or in ignorance?

Q4. Do you desire to yield, to give and to sacrifice yourself to the Lord God in the covenant of Christian baptism?

(Prayer) After this prayer, while kneeling, these questions.

Q5. Do you sufficiently understand the Word of God and acknowledge it as the only path to eternal life?

Q6. Do you truly and heartily repent of the sins which you committed either knowingly or in ignorance against God and do       you desire to henceforth fear God, never more willingly to sin against God, and rather to suffer death than willfully sin against God?

Q7. Do you believe that your sins have been forgiven and remitted by God through Christ and the prayer of intercession of his people?

Q8. Do you desire to accept brotherly discipline and admonition and also to apply the same to others when needed?

Q9. Do you desire to yield, to give and to sacrifice yourself, body and soul with all that you have to the Lord God in heaven, and to yield in obedience to Christ and his church?

   

Q10. Do you desire to establish a covenant with God and with all his people and to be baptized on confession of your faith?

The minister, with his assistant, with pouring on of water speaks the following words: "On the confession of your faith I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. May God Almighty in heaven who has given you grace and mercy through the death of Christ and the prayer of his church clothe you with fortitude from on high and inscribe your name into the book of life, to preserve you in piety and faith until death. This is my wish to thee through Christ Jesus. Amen. 

(With hand extended to individual) "Stand up my brother (sister) the Peace of God be with you."

(The individual receiving baptism) "The Lord be with us." 

Hutterite Baptism. Week 7 - Last Instructions

  Today, dear children, your seven week period of receiving guidance and instruction is over and now it's up to you. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13. Paul tells us here that it's not our doing but God's. God gives the desire and the will towards salvation and if we act on that will, God then gives accomplishment. All we have to do is accept. But if we reject this great gift of Grace we invoke the wrath of God, for sin cannot enter heaven. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelations 22:27

  Therefore dear children, stay with the word and Strive for the truth unto death, and the Lord shall fight for thee. Ecclesiasticus 4:28 If you believe you are freed from your sins through the blood and death of Christ Jesus, surely your names will be written into the book of Life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” John 8:51   

 Remember, once baptized you are a member of Christ and his church. Nothing will be able to harm your standing with God except sin. Beware and flee from it as a poisonous snake. You can no longer do what you want, but you must deny your own will and self love to follow God. 

 To give up your self will and self love is best described as the kernels of wheat that make up a loaf of bread. We have to be ground into flour by the stone mill that is Jesus Christ. Each kernel has to lose its individuality in order to bind together with the other ground kernels in the making of the flour. Then it is baked in the fire of the Love of God to become bread. Any unground or partial kernels remaining in the bread are offending and soon spit out. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 16:24-25  And remember dear children ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:20 Stay with the faith, read and study daily so that you stay on fire for God's Word and not grow lukewarm as the Laodicean Church. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Revelations 3:15-16 

 The word of God is an all consuming fire. The more you will immerse yourself in it the hotter and brighter you will burn and the more you will want to, all the time remembering it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. But if you distance yourself from the word, your light will soon fade and eventually go out. 

   In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us who will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." 

  This is certainly a hard sermon and there are two things that come to mind right away. 

1) We can never attain such perfection. 

2) The overwhelming need for the Grace of God.  

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 

  And the answer to this is:

Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

  But it is impossible to walk in the newness of life without being born again and partaking of the Holy Spirit. We need all the fruits of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome, namely; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

  We must take our aim and eyes off this world and focus upon the one that is to come. We must be able to say with Paul; I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

 The Mount represents the community of believers who have given themselves in covenant and baptism and stay true therein. And so, dear children, strive to be true brothers and sisters in Christ, according to His teachings. Don't go to Church out of mere habit but of Love to God and His Word. Stay diligent in the work your community entrusts you with.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4  Remember, you are not only working for yourself but also for those who cannot work for themselves: the elderly, the sick, the widows and orphans. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Psalms 133:1. 

 Admonish your brethren and be willing to accept admonishment from them, that ye both grow in faith to Christ Jesus. But be warned, admonishing will not win you any friends, it cost John the Baptist his head.  For we live in community not to have good times or to get rich, nor because of friends or family, but for salvations sake, through faith and hope in Jesus Christ.

  Let the life of our dear Saviour be your guide. Hold him always in your hearts with joy, so that you can truthfully say with the Psalmist David in Psalm 23. 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Amen