Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

A Mission From God

Luke 9.51-62 / Galatians 5.16-26

In his 2017 book, The God Shaped Heart, author Timothy Jennings writes of the dangers of unrecognized heart issues:

Hypertension—high blood pressure—has been called the silent killer, but medical professionals didn’t always realize this. In fact, some doctors argued that hypertension was a made-up disorder that didn’t need to be treated at all. For instance, in 1931 Dr. J.H. Hay proclaimed, “The greatest danger to a man with high blood pressure lies in its discovery, because then some fool is certain to try and reduce it.”

Tragic results followed from this idea. Consider the true case of Frank. Frank was diagnosed with hypertension in 1937 at the age of fifty-four. His blood pressure was 162/98 and was considered by physicians at the time to be “mild hypertension.” No treatment was initiated. By 1940, his blood pressure was running 180/88. In 1941, his pressure was 188/105. He was encouraged to cut back on smoking and work. But his condition didn’t improve.

By 1944, his pressure was running higher, and he suffered a series of small strokes. This was followed by classic symptoms of heart failure, so he was placed on a low-salt diet with hydrotherapy and experienced some improvement.

But by February 1945, his pressure was 260/145, and on April 12, 1945, he complained of a severe headache with his blood pressure measuring at 300/190. He lost consciousness and died later that day at the age of sixty-three. Perhaps you know him better as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the thirty-second president of the United States.

In this morning’s text, chosen for us by the lectionary, we are going to hear more about the dangers of unrecognized heart issues. However, the heart issues that Jesus tells us about, in this Biblical text, have more than immediate physical consequences.  The heart issues that Jesus points out have spiritual and eternal consequences.

Luke 9:51–62 shares this piece of history with us:

[51] When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. [52] And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. [53] But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. [54] And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” [55] But he turned and rebuked them. [56] And they went on to another village.

[57] As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” [58] And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” [59] To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” [60] And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” [61] Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” [62] Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (ESV)

The first thing we hear in this text is that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem.

Why does the Gospel writer Luke tell us this fact? What does this mean for Jesus and His disciples?

Well, borrowing the words of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in 1980’s, The Blues Brothers, Jesus and His disciples could answer “our faces are set on Jerusalem because,” “We’re on a mission from God!”

And, what was the mission from God that Jesus was on?

The mission from God that Jesus was on was to save you and me, and every other man, woman, and child, at every point in mankind’s history, from having the wrath of God poured out upon us condemning us for our Sin.

When asked why the baby given to Mary and Joseph should be named Jesus, the answer was, “for He will save people from their sins” (Matthew 1.21, ESV).

On His way to Jerusalem, where Jesus would would solidify the forgiveness of Sin by dying on the cross in our place, Jesus was stopping along the way to prepare the people to be reconciled to God with His simple message of, “Repent and Believe.”

However, just like today, people reject that message for many reasons.

Some think, “Who are you to tell me that I am a sinner in need of forgiveness? Don’t judge me!”

Some think, “I am a good person doing good things that will certainly earn me points in the afterlife—whatever that looks like. I don’t need to confess anything or ask for forgiveness.”

While others think, “There is no god.  Or, we can’t know if there is a god.  Stop throwing that God-talk in my face.”

Something similar happened in the village of the Samaritans that Jesus wanted to visit.  The Samaritans made it clear that they didn’t want or need Jesus.  They didn’t want or think they needed His message of Good News.  And, they didn’t think they needed what He was offering them—forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God, their Father, their Creator and Redeemer.

So, as today’s Biblical text tells us, Jesus was never able to set foot in the Samaritan village to bring His Good News of forgiveness and eternal life because His disciples were told that Jesus wasn’t welcome in that place.

In reaction to the Samaritans rejection of Jesus, Jesus’ disciples do what we often do.  Jesus’ disciples jump to immediate and total judgment of those that deny Christ.  They ask Jesus if they can call down fire from Heaven to completely destroy these unbelievers and wipe them off the face of the earth with eternal punishment.

At this point an interesting thing happened.

The interesting and Good News for you and me is this part of the story where we see Jesus’ reaction to the the Samaritans rejection of Him and His disciples sinful quick-to-judge attitude.  

Jesus tells His disciples that He does not wish for them to punish the Samaritans for their unbelief.  In fact, Jesus rebukes His disciples for their sinful attitude of being quick-to-judge others.

This is the interesting part because it shows us nothing less than the overwhelming patience and grace of God with sinners like you and me.

It is God’s desire, as Scripture tells us, that every man, woman, and child come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ alive, dead, and resurrected for their eternal good.

In order for that to happen, God is patient with us along the way because He knows that Sin makes us stubborn and we will be quick to deny Christ, like the Samaritans did.  And, like His disciples, we will be quick to claim self-righteousness, and quick to Sin in ways such as judging others for their faults while we are unrepentant sinners ourselves.

God loves us.  So, God gives us more than one chance, more than 1000 chances, more chances than we will ever know, to hear about Jesus Christ and respond with faith.

After this incident with both the Samaritan villagers and the disciples following their hearts into the Sin of denying Jesus and His Commandments, which prompt us to love God and love others, we are given a few more examples of people wanting what their sinful hearts want and not the blessings that Jesus offers them.

One person wants to follow Jesus for all of the blessings that He has to offer them, but doesn’t want the suffering and rejection that come from doing what God commands instead of doing what the broken world encourages.

And, two other separate individuals want to follow Jesus only after they have take care of matters at home and feel like everything is in order as they would like it to be.

In 1862, American Poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “The heart wants what it wants, or else it does not care.”  This quote has made it’s way into popular culture in numerous ways.  Two examples from my lifetime were Woody Allen using it in an interview in the 1990s and Selena Gomez stealing it for a song in 2014.

The sad reality is that we hear Dickinson’s quote and miss the warning in it.  We don’t hear that our heart is selfish and doesn’t care about anyone or anything except what will make us happy in the immediate moment.  We only hear what we want to hear. So, we hear that our heart should be our light and our guide, leading us to true happiness.  

When my son was younger, he watched a show on the Disney Channel called Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  In one segment of one of the episodes, Jake danced around his pirate ship  encouraging children with the terrible advice to “always follow you heart.”

What we miss in all of this heart-talk is the truth of humanity.  The truth is that the heart is sinful from the moment of conception.  Our default setting is to follow the heart and what the heart wants, even though what the heart wants is to deny God and destroy others.

In 2 Peter 3:8–18, the Apostle Peter, speaks of God’s grace-led patience with us.  Peter says:

[8] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. [10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

[11] Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, [12] waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! [13] But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

[14] Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. [15] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. [17] You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (ESV)

Jesus was on a mission from God.

The mission from God that Jesus was on was to fix the ultimate problem with your heart—the problem of Sin that made you selfish, self-centered, and self-righteous, denying your need for God’s intervention to forgive you and give you the new life that leads to an enteral home in His Kingdom of Heaven.

And, as you are told, Jesus’ mission was completely successful.

Through Jesus’ sinless life, sacrificial atoning death on the cross, and victorious defeat of death in the resurrection, your Sin is forgiven, you are made righteous and sinless in God’s eyes, and you have been made victorious over death’s power to kill and condemn you.

So, today, as we have been set free by Jesus Christ to live and love with brand new hearts set on God our Father in Heaven and the things above, not the things of this earth, I ask you to hear and heed Paul’s words from Galatians 5:16–26 which say to you:

[16] But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [18] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [19] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, [21] envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [24] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

[25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 29, 2025.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Don’t Stop Believin’

Galatians 5.1-15

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

An age-old bedtime prayer that took on very real and imminent meaning for me this week and probably for many of you as well.

With talks of the fast enriching of Uranium in a non-sanctioned country desiring death to the West, night time missile exchanges in the Middle East, a two week decision making time table given by the President of the United States, and finally the destruction of nuclear weapon sites in Iran, certainty of God’s love, God’s concern, God’s sovereignty and God’s protection came to the forefront of our thinking.

In the midst of war and rumors of war, most normal functioning human beings wanted one thing this week—to be certain of personal safety.

And, some of us could sleep with the certainty of safety while others of us were overcome with worry and anxiety.

Interestingly, in the opening lines of 2022 article from INews reads: “Those of us without traditional religion are left to make our peace with uncertainty. … There’s nothing comforting about being agnostic.” 

For those of us unfamiliar with the term, agnostic means to be indifferent about the existence of God.  Agnostics believe we can’t know if God exists or if God does not exist.  They are different from atheists.  Atheists come down hard on the belief that there is no God. Agnostics instead say that there is just no way of knowing.

In the article, Eleanor Margolis laments her agnosticism and muses about the benefits of faith.

Speaking of the Russia/Ukraine war in 2022, Margolis says, 

It was in February, and while Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, that I started to wonder if it was time to find God. Definite God, that is. Not the half-hearted agnostic one built on a Jenga tower of uncertainty. The addition of a heightened nuclear threat from Putin made me desperate for a vengeful Old Testament God. Someone (to) smite the warmongers and oligarchs, the evil ones “know not what they do.” When nothing is left of civilization but the cockroaches.

The last time I felt so envious of religious people was when my mum was dying of cancer. Certainty about an afterlife sure would’ve come in handy then. And prayer might have created the illusion that I had some power over the situation. Instead, I was treated to the spiritual equivalent of the shrug emoji. I became a devout follower of one true religion of the 21st century: uncertainty. Those of us without traditional religion are left to make our peace with uncertainty.

In this morning’s Biblical text, as we return to the New Testament book of Galatians, a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the churches gathered in the region of Galatia during the first Century A.D., the Apostle Paul speaks about what brings certainty of personal safety in God’s arms and what takes that certainty of personal safety in God’s arms away from us.

Let’s hear from Galatias 5.1-15 together now.

Galatians 5.1-15 says:

[1] For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

[2] Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [3] I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [6] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

[7] You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [8] This persuasion is not from him who calls you. [9] A little leaven leavens the whole lump. [10] I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. [11] But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. [12] I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

[13] For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [14] For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [15] But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. (ESV)

In verse 1, Paul makes clear what brings us certainty of God’s love for us and certainty that we are safe forever in God’s arms.

Paul tells us that we can be certain of God’s love for us and certain that God will safely bring us home into His Kingdom of Heaven through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  

Maybe this sounds familiar:

[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17, ESV)

Paul then moves on to tell us what steals our ability to be certain that God loves us and will keep us safe in His arms.

Paul does this by pointing to the false teaching that some of the Galatian Christians are following and which is putting them in a place where they can never be sure of God’s love for them.

Paul points out that when they return to the Law and try to earn God’s love, they will never find comfort that they have done enough to please God.  They will never find the comfort they are looking for or be certain of God’s love because in Sin it is impossible to please God.

One of the specific things that was stealing the Galatians certainty of God’s love for them was returning to the Law based act of circumcision.

As a reminder, circumcision is a surgical procedure in which the foreskin is removed from the male, usually during infancy.

In Genesis 17, God introduces the act of circumcision to His people, the Hebrew people at that time. God required that on the 8th day after birth, every Hebrew male was to be circumcised as a sign that they were included in God’s covenant family.  Circumcision was the physical mark that reminded them that they were different than the peoples of the world around them that did not circumcise their males and whom were not part of God’s eternal family.

At that time, for those people, a male and his family could not be included in God’s family without being circumcised. 

However, as the Apostle Paul mentions over and over again, with Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, God began a new covenant that allowed inclusion into His eternal family through faith in Jesus, the Savior, alone.

But, as we have been seeing since the very beginning of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians, false teachers were troubling and confusing the Christians by telling them that their faith in Jesus Christ was not enough for them to find comfort and hope in God’s love for them.  These false teachers were telling them that they needed to add the physical works of the old covenant to their faith in Jesus in order to be forgiven of Sin and saved for Heaven.

Some of the Christians were buying the lies of the false teachers and were walking away from their faith in Christ to go back into slavery to Sin in an attempt to earn God’s love by being good people in their own strength.

This is a serious mistake and their denial of Christ’s work in His life, death, and resurrection, has major consequences as the Apostle Paul points out.

First, Paul says that attempting to earn God’s love by your good works and religious deeds causes you to be severed from Jesus.

That means, if you want to rely on good works and religious deeds to get you to God in Heaven, you will be cut off from receiving Jesus’ gifts and blessings.

Second, Paul says that attempting to earn God’s love by your good works and religious deeds will lead you to a place where you then have to keep all of God’s Laws perfectly to be accepted by Him in the end.

Third, Paul says that attempting to earn God’s love by your good works and religious deeds means you have forsaken God’s love for you and grace toward you.

Fourth, Paul says that attempting to earn God’s love by your good works and religious deeds means you have no hope of being called righteous and ready for God’s Kingdom of Heaven.

In all of this returning to Sin and self-reliance, you will not be able to truly experience love or give out love because in your separation from the new covenant of God’s grace living in you and working through you, you willing make yourself a slave once again to Sin.  This means that once again, godless selfishness and self-centeredness will be your way of life.

Paul makes it clear that circumcision and Christ are incompatible with one another.  If there is any saving value in religious ordinances (e.g. circumcision) apart from the cross, then Christ’s death has been in vain.

As we heard Paul say earlier in Galatians, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2.21, ESV).

Let me put this into contemporary language: 

If you go to church, sing songs, and study the Word, thinking this is how you’re going to work to earn God’s favor, then you are no different from the over one billion Hindus in the world today who are bowing down to their gods. 

If your Christianity is a check-off box in order to make you feel good about yourself before God, in order to save your skin on the day of judgment, then your Christianity is no different from every other religion in the world, and ultimately it will condemn you. 

Paul is uncovering a scheme of the Devil in the first century that continues in the twenty-first century. It is subtly and dangerously deceiving. What if Satan’s strategy to condemn your soul involves not tempting you to do all the wrong things, but instead leading you to do all the right things with the wrong spirit? What if Satan actually wants you to come to church, lead a small group, teach, and lead your home in an upright way? What if he’s in favor of you doing all those things, just so long as you think that by doing those things you’re working your way to God? 

You say, “Well, I pray.” Big deal, Muslims pray. 

You say, “Well, I go to worship.” Big deal, Hindus go to worship. They worship all day long. 

You say, “Well, I study the Bible.” So do Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they can quote it better than most Christians. 

You say, “Well, I go on mission trips.” So do Mormons—scores of them give years of their lives to do so. 

If your Christianity consists of slavery to religion in order to make yourself right before God, then it’s just as if you’re giving yourself to the pagan religions of the world. 

But Christianity is radically different from those worldly religions. 

Rather than slaves of religion, we are sons in a relationship with God . As we heard a few weeks ago, Paul says that the Galatians know God, and then he pauses and says, “or rather have become known by God” (v. 9). To use the language of 4:1-7, we are sons of God. Why would we live like a slave to religion when we are sons in a relationship with God? God knows us intimately, and the idea here is of deep, personal knowledge. We know God, and He knows us!

Paul doesn’t ever mince words.  He knows the severity of the penalty for not trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as well as the severity of the penalty for those that lead others astray by offering more or less than Jesus Christ Himself offers.

That is why Paul says that he wishes those who don’t want to trust in all that Jesus says and teaches, and also tell other people to follow their feelings and the ways of the culture over what the Scripture explicitly says, would emasculate themselves.  

Jesus doesn’t offer you the freedom to Sin. Jesus always says to those that come to faith in Him for the forgiveness of Sin and eternal life, “Go, and sin no more!”

And, Jesus doesn’t offer you the burden of the Law.  Jesus doesn’t say, “I’m not enough, so do religious-like things to ensure your salvation.

Jesus offers you the freedom to live and love as you have first been loved and given abundant life through repenting of Sin and placing your faith and trust in Him alone to take you back to God, your Father in Heaven.

This morning, may the truth of God’s Word fill your heart and mind today, the truth that because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you, you are free from having to work your way out a sinful and ungodly life, and may you experience the freedom that comes from knowing and following him.

This morning, repent of your Sin and believe in Jesus your Savior.

Then, and only then, can you be absolutely certain of God’s love for you and certain that God will safely bring you home into His Kingdom.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 22, 2025.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Who’s Your Daddy?

Galatians 4.21-5.1

Today, we celebrate Father’s Day.

We are called to celebrate Fathers because when they are functioning in the God designed way, they are head of the family unit, the provider and the protector of their wives and kids.

Fathers are meant to be the Christ figure in the home, loving and giving of themselves for the good of those that God has given them to care for.  

Now, here today, I know that not all of us have had that experience of a Father functioning in our life as God designed them too.

Some of us do have a Father that we call our hero and has loved us as Christ has loved the Church.

Some of us have a complicated relationship with our Father.

Some of us have been abandoned by our Father along the way.

And, some of us sit here this morning not knowing who are real biological Father is.

Because of the corruption of Sin, all families experience some form of dysfunction.  

However, despite sin driven dysfunction, some families do promote a picture of Godliness by being examples of love, grace and forgiveness.  While other families unfortunately lean into sin driven dysfunction and  promote a picture of Godlessness with their trauma, grudges, and division.

Family is important to God.  God created the family to be a place of safety and security, of peace, love, and grace.

Economic expert, Robert J. Samuelson says, ”Along with the budget deficit, we have a family deficit…We’ve learned that what good families provide cannot easily be gotten elsewhere. For the nation, it is [the family] deficit that matters most.”

In this morning’s Biblical text, from the the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we hear the Apostle Paul describe two different families.  In one family, the Father, Abraham, dysfunctionally leads his family in disobedience away from God.  In the other family, the same man and Father (I know complicated situation), Abraham, overcomes sin-driven dysfunction and leads his family in obedience toward God.

Let’s hear about these two families now.

Stick with me through this text thick in Old Testament history and I will help you understand it on the other side.

Galatians 4.21-5.1 says this:

[21] Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? [22] For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. [23] But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. [24] Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. [25] Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. [26] But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. [27] For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;

break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

than those of the one who has a husband.”

[28] Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. [29] But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. [30] But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” [31] So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

[1] For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (ESV)

In these words, the Apostle Paul tells a tale of two families. 

For one family, it was the best of times.

For the other family, it was the worst of times.

Let me tell you about the bad news family first.

The first family is made up of Abraham as the Father, Hagar as the mother, and Ishmael as the son.

This family came to be by disobeying God’s design for marriage and parenthood.

When God called Abraham into his family, God made a promise to Abraham.  God told Abraham that despite his old age and the old age of his wife Sarah (both close to 100 years of age), God would allow Sarah to get pregnant and bear Abraham a son to be his heir.

However, as time went on and Sarah’s womb remained barren, Sarah and Abraham decided to take matters into their own hands (and loins) in order to have a child.

So, the plan they came up with was for Abraham to break his marriage commitment to Sarah and commit adultery by sleeping with one of their younger servants named Hagar.  In their selfish plan, Hagar would get pregnant and they would take the child from her and raise the child as their own.

As you can hopefully see, a sin soaked agenda from the very beginning that went from thought to action.  

To create this family, Abraham and Sarah stopped trusting in God and attempted to get the blessing of a child their own way.

A problem arose, not surprisingly.  After Hagar became pregnant and bore a son named Ishmael for Abraham, Sarah became jealous and treated Hagar so badly that Hagar ran away.  

This family consisting of Abraham, Hagar, and their son, Ishmael, was a family created by sin.

When we fail to rest in God and instead seek to be our own savior, the result is havoc and disintegration—spiritually, psychologically, and relationally.

Disregarding God and trying to forcefully find blessing and life apart from God’s grace led everyone involved back into slavery to sin creating a havoc filled family.

The second family that Paul mentions is made up of Abraham, Sarah, and their son, Isaac.

This family came to be completely by God’s doing.  God intervened in an impossible situation and allowed childless 100 year olds to get pregnant and birth a healthy son.  This happened by God’s forgiving of the parent’s sin and then God doing what God, the Creator and Redeemer, does best.  God fulfilled his promise to Abraham and Sarah despite their wrong doing in attempting to find blessing and life apart from Him.

The late NYC Pastor Timothy Keller explains this better than I ever could.  Keller says:

“Taken in this narrow, figurative sense, Hagar’s son represents seeking salvation by works, and Sarah relying on salvation by God’s grace. This is a really interesting analogy. The gospel is that we do not try to attain a righteousness that our abilities can develop. Rather, we are to receive a righteousness provided through supernatural acts of God in history—the miraculous birth, sin-bearing death, and death-defeating resurrection of Christ. We need to rely on God—just as Abraham eventually learned that he needed the miraculous work of God to provide him with a son and heir. As Abraham needed to switch his faith from his own efforts to God’s supernatural work, so these Galatian Christians need to look back to Christ’s work, rather than at their own law-keeping efforts.”

The first family is the “have to” family. They are slaves to working as hard as they can to try to make things happen for themselves because they don’t trust God is for them.

The second family is the “get to” family.

The second family was built on knowing the truth of Psalm 118:5 which says:

[5] Out of my distress I called on the LORD;

the LORD answered me and set me free. (ESV)

It is in the freedom of forgiveness, living with the knowledge that God loves you despite your past and regardless of your future failures because of Jesus sin forgiving death on the cross, that Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac can love without fear of failure.  Failure doesn’t define them.  Being God’s sons and daughter through grace and faith defines them.

In the upside-down world of the gospel, failure equals free-dom. To fail is to be crowbarred from the lockstep lunacy of success at all costs. To fail is to be forced to drop that weight which has withered your humanity and your childlikeness. To fail is to have the chance to look God straight in the eye.

Janis Joplin once sang about failure: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

In their 1968 hit single, “Time of the Season,” The Zombies, asked both “What’s your name?,” and, “Who’s your daddy?”

This morning, I ask you, “Who’s your Daddy?,” and, “What family do you belong to?”

Are you still living apart from God?  

Are you without faith in Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior who can help you?

Are you part of the first family described by the Apostle Paul that is defined by slavery to sin, attempting to do things your own way because you don’t believe God is good and faithful, walking a path to ultimate eternal destruction and condemnation?

Or, are you living with God’s presence forgiving you and comforting you because you find yourself believing in Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior who can help you?

Are you part of the second family described by the Apostle Paul that is defined by God’s forgiveness, serving God and others because you have first been loved and served by God, your Creator, through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, doing things empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, walking a path to ultimate eternal life saved and redeemed for God’s Kingdom of Heaven?

If you are in the first family this morning, living as a slave to sin, finding yourself hopeless because you know there is no real way to find peace with God and blessing from God in the things you are trying to do, I want you to know the Good News that God is calling you right now to join the second family, the family that He has created for you.

So, join God’s family defined by promises and blessings, grace, mercy, and love, by repenting and believing.  That’s all.  Confess your Sin to Him and He will immediately forgive you because God paid for your Sin in the death of Jesus on the cross for you.  And, confess your faith in Jesus as your Savior.  

As one of our Confirmands shared with us last week, Romans 10:9–10 says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

God wants way more for you than for you to remain flailing around in sin like a pig rolling around in a pile of crap and food scraps.  

That’s why God came to you in the person and work of Jesus Christ, to live a perfectly righteous life for you, to die a sacrificial death on the cross to pay the price for your Sin, and to rise from the grave defeating the power of sin and death to separate you from God forever.

And, because of all of that, rejoice with the Apostle Paul that it is For freedom Christ has set us free; [and, today] stand firm..and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 15, 2025

Prayer:

God our Father, 

You see Your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show us that Your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following You is better than chasing after selfish goals.

Help us to take failure, not as a measure of our worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give us strength to hold our faith in You, and to keep alive our joy in Your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (For Young Persons – BCP p. 829)

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Confirmation Testimonies 2025

These student testimonies are unedited. I am sharing them just as they wrote them.

Andy Ghibaudi

I was raised in a catholic home and I was baptized. We try to go to church every Sunday.  If not, my mom will put mass on the TV, but we always went to church during the holidays like Easter, Ash Wednesday, midnight mass, and Christmas Day because it is also my birthday.

I learned that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior by accepting Jesus as my Savior and following him.

Jesus Christ is important to me because when I feel lost, I know I can count on him for guidance and strength to keep going. If I do something wrong, I can pray for forgiveness.

My faith in Jesus Christ affects my daily life by the way he guides my choices, and when I am having a bad day, I know I can pray to him.

Confirmation is important to me and my family, and it makes me feel closer to god.

My favorite verse is Psalm 56:3 – “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Emily mcguinness

I was 3 months old when i was baptized. Growing up I went to children’s church most Sundays, there I would learn about the story of God and Jesus while doing fun crafts. 

I learned that Jesus Christ was my lord and savior by going to children’s church and reading  the children’s bible at home with my older brother and mom.

 Jesus Christ is important to me because he loves me and he saved me. He gave his life for the forgiveness of our sins. We  need Jesus because he offers forgiveness for our sins and shows us how to live a life that’s pleasing to God.

  My faith in Jesus Christ influences my daily life by shaping my desicions.My faith encourages actions that reflect compassion, forgiveness, and kindness toward others, shaping interpersonal relationships and community involvement. In the end, it offers a sense of purpose and direction, guiding decisions and bringing resilience during the face of challenges.

 Confirmation is very important to me because it’s a chance to confirm my faith as my own decision and to receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts. When I was a baby I was baptized so i didn’t really have a say in it or understand what it was.Now that i am older I will be able to understand the word of God better than before. 

 My favorite bible verse is romans 1:16, in romans 1:16 it states “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”.This is my favorite scripture because it means that us Christians shouldn’t be embarrassed to share our faith because the gospel has the power to save anyone who believes, no matter who they are.

Kenzie Moore

Growing up, I was not raised by christian parents. 

Here and there I would go to church with my god mom. 

I was not baptized at a young age because my family didn’t go to church. This means that I didn’t grow up surrounded by the Christian faith. 

I learned that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior because of my family. My mom found an advertisement for Bethel’s VBS where my two younger sisters went for their first time. From that point on, me and my family have been going to church every Sunday. 

Jesus Christ is important to me because he never lets something happen that I can’t handle. I need Jesus in my life because he knows what’s best for me in life. 

My faith in Jesus affects me in my daily life because with Jesus’s faith, life is so peaceful. 

Confirmation is important to me because it helped me get closer to God. 

My favorite bible verse is Proverbs 3: 5-6. This verse says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path”. This is my favorite bible verse because it talks about putting all your trust in God and not doubting his abilities.

skylar Reign Moore

My mom was raised catholic and my dad was raised christian. Even though they were both raised religiously my siblings and I were not.

And of course my parents didn’t stop us from learning about God, we were just never given the opportunity to. I’ve always known God existed but I never knew anything about him or his story. That is until my family and I moved to this town. The summer my family moved here was the summer of 2020. My grandma had mentioned a vacation bible school at Bethel Lutheran and Brethren Church. I went to the Vacation bible school with my little sister. That was the first time I really got to know God. That week I learned so many things about God and I also learned about God’s love for me. 

After that week I asked my parents if we could go to church every Sunday. And that is what we did. Ever since then I found so much love for going to church. I started learning that Jesus is my lord and savior by reading the bible. Reading the bible has answered so many of my questions. 

My faith in Jesus gives me purpose, comfort, and a sense of community, making my daily life feel more meaningful and guided. Confirmation is super important to me because it helps me feel closer to my faith and my church. It’s like a big step in showing that I’m serious about my beliefs and ready to grow more in my christian journey. Confirmation is also a special time to celebrate with my friends and family. 

One of my favorite bible verses is Ecclesiates 3:11.

This bible verse states “He made everything beautiful in his time”. 

This verse means a lot to me because it makes me realize that everything is God’s creation. No matter if you think something is not the best looking. God created everything and everyone. Thank you for listening to my journey. I hope my story inspires you to seek and strengthen your own faith. God bless you.

Drew Schumacher

Very early in my childhood, my family was part of an Evangelical Lutheran church. I was baptized in that church, and my family was very active. We left abruptly after the passing of my brother and my parents never returned. My family really ceased activity together after that as well.

I knew from a young age about Jesus, but my family and the world told me He wasn’t for me. As a result, it pushed me so far away from God that it was like He was never there. Through a chain of fortunate coincidences you might say, or divine intervention I think, I ended up here at Bethel and unwittingly befriended Pastor Fred. My friendship with Him and my marriage to a God-fearing Christian woman opened my eyes to the fact that Jesus was most definitely for me.

Jesus takes my heavy burdens and life in His service has awarded me a peace that I could never imagine. I need Jesus because even on my worst days with Jesus in my life, they far exceed my best days without Him.

My life today is no longer just my own selfish desires and no longer a life of self-servitude. As a result, I get to bring altruism into aspects of my life that used to only serve as an opportunity to run on self-will alone. Outside of being a husband and a father (which I couldn’t do without Jesus), and outside of taking care of this church (which I wouldn’t do without Jesus), I get to conduct business in a moral, Christian manner. And my life is happy as a result.

For me, even though it may have felt strange being the only adult besides Pastor Fred in confirmation class, I felt a strong desire to do what would have been asked of me at their age had I been brought up in the church. Being called into ministry, it seemed important to put the work in even while taking seminary courses: And if I’m being honest, there’s nothing that interests me more to learn about than God.

My favorite Bible verse is Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may now what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.”

This verse reminds me not to give in to Earthly desires and ambitions but to instead focus on what Jesus has done for me in His life, death and resurrection, and to align my compass with Him and His perfect will. 

fred scragg 6

I was raised by Christian parents. I was baptized when I was three months old at Bethel. At my baptism my parents and the church agreed to help me grow in Christian faith. I know these people pray for me. When I was baptized I was let into the family of God.

I learned that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior in many ways. My preschool teachers at Bethel taught me about Jesus. I went to Bethel Kids and Children’s church and now Youth Group. Most importantly my family and I read the Bible and pray every night.

Jesus is important to me because he is the only way to heaven. Jesus helps me know how to act and be kind to others. Jesus is always there and I can talk to him about anything. I need Jesus in my life because he forgives me even though I am not perfect.

My faith in Jesus affects me in daily life today by helping me when I do something wrong. Jesus helps me know how to do the right thing. Jesus helps me act right because he helps me understand I do things wrong. Jesus helps me not worry when people I know get sick or bad things happen to them because he will help them.

Confirmation is important to me because it helps me come to a deeper understanding of Christianity. Confirmation helps me get to know Jesus better. Confirmation lets people know who prayed for me that I want to learn more about the

Bible and Jesus. 

My favorite Bible passage is Psalm 23.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is my favorite Bible passage because it lets me know that God is with me and will help me in times of need.

vera shamara

Christian parents raised me. They did not go to church a lot when i was younger and we really only started to go regularly when i was 11. The very same year we started going ,me and my sister got baptized. My mom made the decision to baptize us as she was looking for a church for quite some time.

When I started going at eleven years old I went to children’s church where Cristie taught me a lot about Jesus and what he did for me. Through her teaching I started believing more and more. Later during the summer during VBS when I was still young enough to participate in games and crafts Pastor Fred came in and told us about Jesus’ resurrection and what he did for us and that really solidified my faith.

Jesus is very important because he is the way to eternal peace and happiness. He saved us from sin not letting sin devour us. He is important in my life because he keeps me from falling into the endless bottomless pit of sin saving me from it. 

My faith has changed me, making me nicer and more thoughtful. I don’t fall into sin as often as I would have before believing in Him. I am more knowledgeable in terms of the bible understanding it much better and its meaning.

Confirmation is important to me because it really solidifies my faith in Christ. I learn more about what God’s intentions are for me. Confirmation teaches me about the history behind God’s word and amplifies my learning experience. 

My favorite verse is Luke 1:35 “ And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” This verse is important to me as it describes how Jesus will be born and how the promise of a Savior is fulfilled. The verse is all about how Jesus was conceived and came to us.

jacen talleur

I was baptized by my Godfather, Pastor Fred, at Bethel. I attended Bethel Nursery School and both my parents were involved within the church.  Growing up my parents and I attended church and I was able to hear and learn about Jesus

I learned that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior by attending church, talking to my parents and attending Confirmation. I have also learned this through prayer and reading the Bible.  I also learned about Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior through events at the church such as VBS.

Jesus Christ is important to me because he helps me in my everyday life and gives me faith that I can be better person if I do something wrong. I need Jesus Christ in my everyday life because having him in my life makes me feel safe and happy. He is always there for me in times that I need him.

My faith in Jesus Christ affects my daily life because I know I can always trust him. I can also rely on my faith in Jesus Christ to help me be hopeful that I can do the best I can through everyday life. Another reason why Jesus Christ affects my daily life today is that help spread his good word to my peers.

Confirmation is important to me because attending Confirmation has taught me the importance of Jesus Christ. It has also helped me build a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ and the church.  I also got to share Gods Word with the other confirmands.

My favorite bible verse is Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It is my favorite verse because it helps me with overcoming challenges. I especially use this verse when I play basketball because it reminds me that Christ is always with me and it gives me strength to do my best.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Wasted Years?

Galatians 4.8-20

Every human has an intimate relationship with time. 

A few years ago, someone in this room today, was telling me about a lesson they were trying to teach their boys.  The lesson was that the one thing you need but can never get more of is time.  The example he used was his boys wasting their time with long showers.

To this very day, I can’t take a quiet, peaceful shower without thinking of the “big mistake” I am making.  Thanks, a lot!

The Oxford English Dictionary informs us that the word “time” is the most commonly used noun.

Researchers have found that the average person sleeps, or attempts to sleep, about nine hours a day. If the person lives to 80, he or she will sleep for 30 years. People who die at 80 will also have lived 700,000 hours, with 90,000 of those hours on the job.

What are we doing when we aren’t sleeping or working? 

In the US, the second-largest use of our time is … television. 

According to Nielsen, we spend four hours a day watching it. We’re not talking about YouTube, TikTok, Instagram reels, or Facebook stories.  Just plain TV. 

If you are watching live TV, nearly a quarter of that time is commercials. Multiply the numbers out over a lifetime, and you’re likely to spend well over two years of your life just watching commercials. And, the crazy thing is that TV isn’t even a majority of the media we consume. 

According to the same Nielsen study we spend 11 hours a day consuming media, which includes reading, listening, and watching.

The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote:

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing.”

We live in a world with innumerable distractions from productivity.  

Where have you found yourself wasting time? 

Have you spent large amounts of your time paralyzed from getting things done because of worry and anxiety?

Have you found yourself thinking, “I can’t believe 2 hours went by,” after you stopped scrolling through social media?

Do you find yourself binge watching shows and movies now that almost everything is available immediately with the simple click of   button?

Have you felt guilty for sleeping and sleeping and sleeping until most of the usable portion of the day has passed?

Do you find yourself often incapacitated and slowed down and useless because of the amount of drinking or drugging you allowed yourself to partake in?

We all waste time even though we often feel the guilt of doing so afterward.

In this morning’s text, from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the churches gathering in the region of Galatia during the first Century, Paul is questioning if he wasted his time with the Galatians because they seem to have forgotten everything he taught them about Jesus and Christ-like living.  Specifically, Paul sees the Galatians wasting their time with false beliefs like Jesus isn’t enough and wasting their time by going back to their sinful ways of living after having been forgiven and set free through God’s love and grace.

Let’s hear the Apostle Paul’s words of rebuke together now.

In Galatians 4:8–20, the Apostle Paul says this:

[8] Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10] You observe days and months and seasons and years! [11] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

[12] Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. [13] You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, [14] and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. [15] What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. [16] Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? [17] They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. [18] It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, [19] my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! [20] I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. (ESV)

Paul begins this section of his letter by reminding the Galatian Christians of the dichotomy of who they used to be and who they are now.

Paul begins with the bad news of their former life without God’s love poured out on them in Jesus Christ.

Last week, from Galatians 4.1-7, we heard that before we were included in God’s family as a son or daughter through faith in Jesus, we were a son or daughter of Satan, the devil.  We were living in opposition to God’s standards for life and love by living and loving ourself more than anything else.

Paul returns to this theme of wasting time in sin by mentioning that before we found ourselves in believing in Jesus as both Lord and Savior, we were wasting our time as slaves to false gods.

Interestingly, this week, I saw yet another pathetic attempt by an atheist or, more likely, agnostic, to disprove the Bible by claiming they clearly see a contradiction within the words of Scripture. 

The uninformed and obviously Biblically illiterate challenger stated something like, “If the Bible says there is only one God, how come it also tells you to not put other gods before the One True God?”

What this disgruntled keyboard warrior didn’t do was their homework.  If they did their homework, they would have known that the Bible calls anything that we consider more important than the One True God, the Creator and Redeemer of humanity, a false god.  The Bible calls these things—things like money, power, sex, relationships, friendships, family—false gods.  They are labeled false gods because we are attributing to them the ability to sit over us and give us meaning, purpose, and a reason to exist, when in fact they have no living power to do such things.

Paul’s rebuke of the Galatians here is similar to the correction that he provides to the Christians in another city, the city of Ephesus.

In his letter, to the Ephesian Christians, Paul says this:

[20] But that is not the way you learned Christ!—[21] assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, [22] to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, [23] and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, [24] and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20–24, ESV)

After reminding them of who they used to be, Paul reminds them of who they are now because of Jesus.  They are known by God the Father in Heaven and in turn know God the Father in Heaven as their are officially His eternal sons and daughters.

But, the problem is this.  Even as eternal sons and daughters of God, they are still struggling with believing the truth of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  They are also struggling with acting as good representatives of God the Father in Heaven.  

Paul sees the Galatian Christians wasting their time with lies that lead them away from the rest and peace that Jesus died to give them.  Paul also sees the Galatian Christians wasting their time by returning to a life of loving themselves and forsaking God and the people around them that need to know the love of God for themselves.

Because of their struggle to firmly believe in the truth that faith alone through God’s grace also forgives and saves, as well as their struggle with doing the right and Godly things all of the time, the Apostle Paul fears that his time working with them was a waste of his time.

Was Paul wasting his time?

Absolutely not.

How do we know that Paul wasn’t wasting his time preaching and teaching the Gospel, also known as the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Well, the same way we know everything else that is important.  The Scripture tells us.

First, Paul confessed in the book of Romans that he too struggles with sin even after being saved by God through faith in Christ.

In the book of Romans, also found in the New Testament part of the Bible, Paul says that he struggles everyday with knowing what is right but doing what is wrong.  That is why he comes to the conclusion of praise to Jesus who forgives because with Jesus there is now no condemnation and damnation for the sinner.

So, Paul is thankful for the Bible and for Bible preachers and teachers who remind him of his salvation and his responsibility afterwards to walk and live in a manner worthy of Christ striving after Godly thoughts, words, and actions with the help of the promised and given Holy Spirit.

Second, as Isaiah 55:10–11 says:

[10] “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

[11] so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (ESV)

And, as John 12:32 has Jesus saying:

[32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (ESV)

When I was being trained in the church for pastoral ministry, I would meet in the church office in Staten Island with my then mentor and pastor, the church’s worship leader, and any elder that was in attendance that morning.  My mentor/pastor, would pray every Sunday and ask Jesus to draw men and women to himself as Jesus was lifted up through His Word during the service.  My pastor/mentor was praying for what Jesus promises to do as found in John 12.32.

The Apostle Paul was not wasting his time preaching to and teaching the Galatians from God’s Word, the Bible, because it is living and active and when Jesus is exalted as the only one who forgives sin and gives righteousness, He is always at work drawing men and women to Himself for rest, and peace, and hope in what He has accomplished for them in His life, death, and resurrection.

After lamenting the time he wasted away from family and everyday life while endlessly touring with his band Iron Maiden,

Adrian Smith penned what has become one of the band’s biggest hits throughout their 50 year career.

In “Wasted Years”, Smith says:

So understand

Don’t waste your time always searching for those wasted years

Face up, make your stand

Realize you’re living in the golden years

It is here that Smith urges us to not waste more time worrying about the time that we wasted.  Realize that you have the gift of today and can make different and better choices.

The same is true for you this morning.  Jesus’ death on the cross has provided you the forgiveness from God that you needed for misusing and wasting some of the limited time that God has given you on this earth.  You don’t have to waste more time worrying about the time you wasted disobeying God both before faith and even going backward into sin after faith, like the Galatians were.  

Through faith in Jesus, your Sin, that wasted your time on this earth by stealing time you could have been joyfully loving God and loving others, has been removed from your record and will never see the light of day ever again.  That is God’s grace working for you because of God’s love for you.

Psalm 118:17–24 says:

[17] I shall not die, but I shall live,

and recount the deeds of the LORD.

[18] The LORD has disciplined me severely,

but he has not given me over to death.

[19] Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the LORD.

[20] This is the gate of the LORD;

the righteous shall enter through it.

[21] I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

[22] The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

[23] This is the LORD’s doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

[24] This is the day that the LORD has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it. (ESV)

Like God’s ambassador, the Apostle Paul, did with the Galatians, God has also done with us.  He has shown us our sin and corrected us.  He has answered our confession of sin with forgiveness.  God as provided salvation for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  

So, let’s live today in the day that the Lord has made and given to us by rejoicing and walking in a manner worthy of Christ, choosing the best part of every hour.

I am going to rewrite the quote from Seneca, the Roman Philosopher, that heard at the beginning, to fit the truth of today’s Scripture.

Even though we have a short time to live, we waste a lot of it. A sufficiently generous amount of time has been given to us for the highest achievements (of loving God and loving others) if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing.

Without Jesus and His Word, you are always wasting your time living apart from God going the wrong way down a one-way road hitting everything in sight.

However, with Jesus and His Word, you are making the best of every hour being led to repentance and faithful living through the correction and guidance of God the Father in Heaven.

With faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are living in the golden years!  

With faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are living in the time when God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s mercy are being poured out upon you every second of every day. 

This morning, repent of your Sin and believe in Jesus, God’s Savior.  Then, go out into the world and live in a manner worthy of Jesus so that others are drawn to the love of God in Christ that brought you peace and can also bring them peace.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 1, 2025.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Adopted Heirs

Galatians 4.1-7

A few years ago, Shaquille O’Neal — NBA legend, business owner and all-around big personality — made headlines after an interview in which he said that he isn’t about to let his kids coast on his fortune. 

Despite being worth an estimated $500 million, Shaq’s set some serious ground rules for passing down his wealth. In his eyes, “Daddy’s cheese” is off-limits unless they meet one big requirement: education.

Shaq doesn’t want his six kids growing up relying on his money. 

He wants them to build their careers and make a name for themselves. In a 2022 podcast, Shaq spelled it out, saying he expects his kids to get at least three college degrees before they even think about his money. No degrees, no inheritance – it’s that simple.

“I tell them, ‘We’re not rich, I’m rich,'” Shaq explained, clarifying that he wants his kids to understand the value of hard work and education. Shaq joked, “Somebody give me a law school, somebody give me hedge fund.” He’s thrilled about his daughter Taahirah, who works as a marketing director at Pepsi and hopes the rest of his kids find success, too.

For Shaq, this approach is all about building generational wealth in a lasting way. He’s not just thinking about passing down money; he wants to set his kids up with tools and mindsets that will keep them successful for the long haul. Shaq focuses on motivating his kids to work hard and create something they can be proud of, not just to live off what he’s made.

Shaq’s way of parenting is about more than setting rules; it’s about teaching values. By raising the bar and prioritizing education, he’s sending a clear message: success isn’t just about money or fame – it’s about personal growth and hard work. Shaq’s kids may have one of the world’s most famous fathers, but with him at the helm, they’ll have to earn their spot in the world.

In this morning’s Biblical text, as we return to the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches, we hear about inheritance.  Not the inheritance that Shaq’s kids have to earn, but the inheritance that God, the Creator of all that exists, freely and abundantly gives to those that He calls His sons and daughters.

Let’s look into Biblical Scripture and hear about those that are God’s heirs and how they become God’s heirs to love, mercy, grace, forgiveness and life eternal.

Galatians 4:1–7 says this:

[1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (ESV)

As we heard last week from Galatians 3.15-29, God’s Law is given to us for three reasons.

First, God’s Law is given to us to curb our behavior.  The 600+ individual laws and commands in the Old Testament show us what God wants us to do and what God wants us to avoid doing.

Second, God’s Law is given to us to convict us of our sin.  As we hear the laws and commands of God, we are confronted with the many ways we disobey God’s will every single day.  This conviction of sin and guilt shows us our need for a Savior.

And, third, God’s Law is given to show us how we are to live our life after coming to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Here, in Galatians 4.1-7, the Apostle Paul is saying that God gave us His law and commands to help us understand who He is and who He wanted us to be while we were waiting for Him to fulfill His promise of giving us a Savior.

Paul’s language puts it this way: God’s Law was a guardian, or, manger, watching over us and making sure we understood how to live and love the way that God lives and loves.

However, God’s Law didn’t have the power to deliver us the promise of God to forgive us and save us.

So, at a later time, approximately 2000 years ago, God the Father sent His One and Only Son—Jesus—to take us away from the guardian/manager and bring us fully home into the Father’s house. In the Father’s house, we fully enjoy the benefits of living in the family’s residence with complete protection and provision of the Father of house.

When we come to find ourselves believing in Jesus Christ as God’s Lord and Savior for us, we are adopted into God’s family.

What does it mean to be adopted?

Adoption is the action of legally taking another’s child and bringing it up as one’s own.

If God is adopting you into His family and calling you His son or daughter, who’s family is He taking you from?

Well, as insane as this may sound, God is taking you out of Satan’s family and saving you from eternal damnation.

In sin, you are separated from God and living the unGodly life that God’s enemy wants you to live.  You are living a completely self-centered, self-righteous, and selfish life.  

Isn’t it crazy to think that without faith in Jesus Christ, we are a living and active enemy of God in Satan’s family!

However, not wanting you to be separate from Him, God sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the debt that your sinful life accrued.  This sacrificial and atoning death of Jesus takes you away from Satan’s realm and triumphantly brings you across the line in God’s eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

This good news is spoken of in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossian Church when he says:

[13] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13–14, ESV)

Being transferred into God’s family by faith in Jesus, His Son, we become full heirs to God’s riches.

What does it mean to be an heir?

To be an heir means to be legally entitled to the property of another.

Through faith in Jesus, as an officially adopted child of God and an heir to His Kingdom, what do we receive?

Ephesians 1:11–14 says this:

[11] In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, [12] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

Some of the things we inherit from God as His children are listed here and others are listed in other Biblical passages.

Some of our inheritance includes:

1. Salvation.  You are saved from being separated from God and eternally punished for our Sin.

2. Hope. You are given the knowledge and trust that the pain and sorrow of this life is not meaningless and is not the end for you.  Jesus has been victorious over the power of Sin, evil, and death and will one day eradicate them completely from your experience.

3. Forgiveness. Every thought, word, and deed that was disobedient to God’s Law for life and love has been paid for by the death of Jesus on the cross.  God has separated you from your guilt for Sin with the same distance that separates the east from the west.

4.  Righteousness.  You are given credit for perfectly obeying every one of God’s laws by your faith-initiated union with Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ record of perfection according to God’s laws becomes your record of perfection.

5.  The Holy Spirit. Jesus’ promises you the Holy Spirit’s entrance into your life after He ascends back to His Heavenly throne post-resurrection.  The Holy Spirit is Christ’s presence with you until the end of the ages. 

6.  Assurance.  You are given confidence over and over again that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to God the Father in Heaven expect through Him.  

Hebrews 9:15, 24–28 tells us that:

[15] … [Jesus Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

[24] For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. [25] Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, [26] for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (ESV)

Unlike Shaquille O’Neal’s kids, God’s doesn’t require you earn your spot in your Father’s luxurious world. 

God’s doesn’t require you to earn your inheritance in His Kingdom because He knows that your sin makes that path impossible for you.

The Bible is clear—You can’t earn the inheritance that God wants you to have.

So, God came in Jesus to earn the inheritance for you.

2 Corinthians 8:9 says;

[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. (ESV)

You don’t need 3 degrees to receive God’s “cheese.” 

You don’t need a record of good to get into God’s hood.

We only need faith in Jesus to have God free us.

God is rich in love, mercy and grace.  And, God freely gives you access to all that is His through faith in His Son—Jesus.

In Christ, God makes you successful for the long haul of eternity.

It is because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you that you can call God, “Abba,” your Father in Heaven.  

Go, this week, and rejoice that your Creator and Redeemer has adopted you and put you on his list of heirs who will receive life in His Kingdom of Heaven. And, as sons and daughters, represent your Father well so that those around that aren’t part of the family yet will be drawn to the grace, mercy, and love of the Father forever. 

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 18, 2025.

Prayer:

Father, 

As the book of Galatians has been telling us, we are children of promise. We are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.  We’re born through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We refuse to remain in slavery. This week lead us by your Holy Spirit to confident and courageously take up the inheritance that You’ve given us. Intensify the work of the Spirit within our lives so we can obtain our full inheritance in this life and in the age to come. 

Do this in Jesus name, amen. 

Benediction:

Go, in peace this week, rejoicing that your Creator and Redeemer has adopted you and put you on his list of heirs who will receive life in His Kingdom of Heaven.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

The Promise Keeper

Galatians 3.15-29

Have you ever experienced a broken promise?

Do you know what it feels like to have a promise made to you only to have the promise maker break that promise to you?

Here’s a more personal question…

Have you ever made a promise to someone only to break the promise you made to them?

Life is filled with promises made and promises broken.

I don’t believe there is a more public example of broken promises than those that exist in the realm of politics.

Every politician and every political party makes promises to you, promises that they know they can not ultimately keep.

Here are a few examples from the last 100+ years in the United States of America:

Woodrow Wilson won re-election in 1916 with the slogan “He kept us out of war,” only to enter World War I a year later.

Lyndon B. Johnson promised in 1964, “We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” During his presidency, the U.S. entered the Vietnam War and Johnson did not seek reelection.

Richard Nixon in 1968 claimed to “have a secret plan to end the war” and promised to find a way to “peace with honor” in Vietnam, but American troops were not withdrawn until 1973 — a little more than a year before Nixon resigned.

Jimmy Carter campaigned on solving the energy crisis, but his speeches about conservation and attempts to add solar panels to the roof of the White House weren’t good enough. He was unable to get support for a gas tax, and the energy problem only worsened during his presidency.

Ronald Reagan promised to make a constitutional amendment allowing school prayer during his campaign, and although he proposed the amendment in 1982, it never went anywhere.

George H. W. Bush famously promised in 1988: “Read my lips: No new taxes,” only to sign a bill raising taxes during his first and only term.

Bill Clinton campaigned on a renovation of the health care system before he took office in 1993. Although he attempted health care reform — “Hillarycare” — it ended in failure.

Politifact tracked Barack Obama’s 533 promises and found that he broke 52% of his promise while in office as the President of the United States of America.

In our Biblical text for this morning, from our very slow crawl through the New Testament book of Galatians, we are going to hear the Apostle Paul speak about the difference between God’s Law and God’s Promise.  More specifically, we are going to hear that we only have hope in life because God is both the Promise Maker and the Promise Keeper.  He will never leave us or fosake us.  He will ensure that we will be brought home into His Kingdom of Heaven.

Continuing on in his letter to the churches in the region of Galatia during the mid-first Century, the Apostle Paul says this:

[15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

[19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20] Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

[21] Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22] But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

[23] Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)

The driving force behind Paul’s words in this section of his letter is the desire to make the purposes of God’s Law and God’s Promise clear to the churches that he is writing to.

Let’s start with the purpose of God’s Law.

In Confirmation, I have the students memorize the following paragraph because it is pivotal for understanding our Christian faith.

The paragraph that explains the purpose of God’s Law goes like this:

The Law is that part of God’s Word which tells us what we must do and what we must not do.  It has two, possibly three uses: 1) to curb our natural tendencies by telling us what we must do under penalty of punishment or failure; 2) to convict of sin by describing where we have failed to keep the law, thus showing us our need for a Savior; and 3) to coach the believer regarding what Christ has given the believer to do.

There are three uses of God’s Law according to the Bible.  None of those uses of God’s Law provides you with a way to earn forgiveness of sin or reconciliation with God.

That’s means, God’s Law does not have the power to save you. 

Over and over again, Scripture makes it explicitly clear that due to the corruption of sin in the human heart, it is impossible to please God by keeping His Law.

The purpose of God’s Law is to show you what he wants you to do and not do.  The purpose of God’s Law is to show you that you do not measure up to God’s standard of holiness.  The purpose of God’s Law is to show you your need for His help.  The purpose of God’s Law is to lead you to your need for His Savior—Jesus.  And, the purpose of the Law is to guide you in living your life in a Godly and Christ-like way after you come to faith and find yourself believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Hebrews 11.6 speaks this truth when it says, 

[6] And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (ESV)

Next, the Apostle Paul addresses the purpose of God’s promise.

What is the purpose of God’s promise?

The purpose of God’s promise is to give you hope for today, hope for tomorrow, and hope for a peaceful eternity with God.

God’s promise gives you this hope by assuring you that through Jesus’ life lived perfectly, death to pay the price for sin, and resurrection from the grave to beat the power of sin and death to separate us from God, you are forgiven of your sin, set free from condemnation, and rescued from destruction.

In this Scripture, Paul gives the history of God’s promise.

Paul makes a few things clear. 

First, Paul mentions that God’s promise came to humanity before God’s Law.

Second, Paul mentions that the fact that the Law came after God’s Promise doesn’t make God’s Promise void.  

And, third, Paul mentions that God’s promise was made official through a covenant made with Abraham.

Let’s discuss the absolute Good News of the covenant and the covenant process.

The Hebrew term בְּרִית bĕriyth for “covenant” is from a root with the sense of “cutting.”

In the ancient world, the process of making a promise official was to cut animals in half and walking between them.  This was a pledge, from the promise maker to the promise receiver, that if the promise keeper broke their promise may such a fate as being cut in half befall them.  

When God makes His promise to humanity, through the Father of God’s people, Abraham, God chooses to pass through the cut animals Himself.  He doesn’t ask Abraham to walk through the pieces and promise to be forever faithful in keeping God’s Law because God knows that sin has corrupted humanity and neither Abraham nor any other human could ever keep a promise to perfectly live according to God’s standards.

If the human, Abraham, was asked to make and keep a promise to God, we would all be damned to Hell because we are breakers of God’s Law by nature.

The Good News we have today and always is that God is the promise maker and promise keeper.

Even when you are a promise breaker, breaking your promise to love and honor God with your heart, mind, body, and soul, God keeps His promises to you.

God promises you that He will do whatever it takes to rescue you from the condemnation and destruction of sin.  

And, God did that by entering our world in the flesh of Jesus Christ to be condemned and destroyed for you.

In Jesus, God keeps His promise to love you.

In Jesus, God keeps His promise to forgive you.


In Jesus, God keeps His promise to save you.

In Jesus, God keeps His promise to be gracious and merciful to you.

In Jesus, God keeps His promise to lead you and guide you through His Word and His Law.

In Jesus, God keeps His promise to be with you always, to the very end of the age.

Even when we forget God and turn away from Him, God’s promise to us is never broken.  God  never forgets us and God never turns away from us.  

As 2 Timothy 2:13 tells us:

[13] if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself. (ESV)

The original owners of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company had the reputation for being people of integrity. The following story reveals their commitment to do the right thing—even when it cost them:

Northwestern Mutual was founded as the Mutual Life Insurance Company of the State of Wisconsin on March 2, 1857. Originally located in Janesville, Wisconsin, the fledgling company relocated to Milwaukee in 1859. Shortly after, the company experienced its first two death claims, when an excursion train traveling from Janesville to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, derailed, killing 14 people, two of whom were policy owners. With losses amounting to $3,500 and having funds of only $2,000, company President Samuel Daggett and Treasurer Charles Nash personally borrowed the needed funds to pay the claims immediately.

Later when asked why they didn’t simply default on the payments, they replied it would not have been the right thing to do to their fellow man. They both agreed they would rather see the company fail than neglect their obligation to those who trusted them to keep their word.

Lewis Smedes, the late Professor of Theology at Fuller Seminary,  says:

Yes, somewhere people still make and keep promises. They choose not to quit when the going gets rough because they promised once to see it through. They stick to lost causes. They hold on to a love grown cold. They stay with people who have become pains in the neck. They still dare to make promises and care enough to keep the promises they make. I want to say to you that if you have a ship you will not desert, if you have people you will not forsake, if you have causes you will not abandon, then you are like God.

What a marvelous thing a promise is! When a person makes a promise, he reaches out into an unpredictable future and makes one thing predictable: he will be there even when being there costs him more than he wants to pay. When a person makes a promise, he stretches himself out into circumstances that no one can control and controls at least one thing: he will be there no matter what the circumstances turn out to be. With one simple word of promise, a person creates an island of certainty in a sea of uncertainty.

With simple words of promise, “I will never leave your or forsake you”  and, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith,” God, our Father in Heaven, creates a island of certainty in a sea of uncertainty for you.

Hebrews 10:23 says:

[23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (ESV)

And, Hebrews 13:8 says:

[8] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (ESV)

This morning, as you stare into the mirror of the law, you see that there is no hope of you ever being an exact replica of God in thinking, speaking, and doing.  That type of Law abiding life is impossible because the original sin into which you are born.  You enter this life, at the exact moment of conception when male sperm combines with a female egg, already corrupted by the sin passed onto you by both parents.

So, being grace-filled and merciful toward you, God promises to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.  God promises to live the uncorrupted life for you in the human life of the God-Man, Jesus, that is required for entrance into His Kingdom.  And, God promises to give you full credit for that perfectly lived life simply through faith in Him and His Son Jesus who did it all for you.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 11, 2025.

Prayer:

Mighty God,

Your Word penetrates our hearts and exposes the truth about our thoughts and intentions. It uncovers our self-confidence and self-centeredness, as well as. the secret sins that we hide so successfully from one another. The truth is that we cherish and love many evil thoughts in our hearts, even when outwardly we pretend to be full of spiritual desires. We harbor hatred and anger for those around us, along with jealousy and pride. We judge and condemn others in our hearts, or we envy them and lust after them. Even our good deeds are deeply stained by wrong motives.

We often wait to serve others until people are watching us, so that we may be admired and glorified. We speak your truth impatiently and harshly in order to prove ourselves. Father, forgive us not just for our sinful actions but for our corrupt and perverse hearts.

Jesus, 

thank you that you came to deliver us from our sinful self-centeredness. Your heart was always perfectly aligned with the Father’s Word. Your thoughts as well as your actions were always pure and undefiled, filled with love for those around you and compassion for lost people. You worked hard in the Father’s service, but you also rested confidently in the Father’s power. Even though you are the LORD of Glory and eternally deserving of praise, you never glorified yourself. Instead, you laid aside your glory and became a humble servant, defeating the forces of Satan through your own death and winning victory in our place.

Holy Spirit, 

teach us not to trust in ourselves or in earthly sources of power and strength. Enable us to trust completely in Jesus, our great High Priest, who faithfully intercedes for us. Help us not to be unduly discouraged by the heavy load of guilt that so easily clings to our hearts. Instead, whenever we see clearly the sins of our hearts, enable us to fly to the Scriptural truth that in Christ the penalty of those sins has been paid for, once for all. Remind us that we are now clothed in Christ’s perfect righteousness, and that therefore there can be no condemnation left for us. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Crisis Management

Psalm 28

When was the last time you found yourself at a crisis moment in your life?

When was the last time you said or thought, “I’m not Okay!”

A crisis is defined as an extremely difficult or dangerous point in a situation where there is some degree of confusion, argument, or suffering and in which a solution is needed — and quickly.  

Within a psychological context, a crisis situation is a stressful time in an individual’s life when they experience a breakdown or disruption in their usual or normal daily activities or family functioning.

Crisis moments for us come all shapes and forms.

Some of us experience crisis moments due to things like the loss of a job, a car accident, loss of health insurance, conviction and imprisonment, and the inability to pay the bills for things like rent and groceries. 

Some of us experience crisis moments due to the extremes of physical abuse, mental abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and/or spiritual abuse. 

Some of us experience crises moments due to illness, either in ourselves or in family or friends, such as a cancer diagnosis or the need for surgery. 

Some of us experience family or relational crisis in the form of intense arguing, cheating partners, filing for divorce, custody battles, suicide, homicide, miscarriage, death, and addiction.

In all of these times we know we need to get out of the situation as fast as possible but often feel trapped.  In these moments we are left with feelings of anxiety and panic.

All that being said, I once again ask you, what was your last real crisis moment, or what is your real crisis moment this morning?

Today, we are looking into the book of Psalms. In this Biblical text, we hear from King David during a real crisis moment in his life. 

We are hearing the words and emotions of a man who feels trapped with no way out that he can see or understand.  He realizes that his own mind and reasoning are no help at all.  He is having a moment of anxiety and panic as he knows things are really bad and can possibly and my possibly get worse.

Let’s hear King David’s words and thought process in his crisis moment as found in Psalm 28.

Psalm 28 says this:

[1] To you, O LORD, I call;

my rock, be not deaf to me,

lest, if you be silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit.

[2] Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to you for help,

when I lift up my hands

toward your most holy sanctuary.

[3] Do not drag me off with the wicked,

with the workers of evil,

who speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is in their hearts.

[4] Give to them according to their work

and according to the evil of their deeds;

give to them according to the work of their hands;

render them their due reward.

[5] Because they do not regard the works of the LORD

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

[6] Blessed be the LORD!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

[7] The LORD is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

[8] The LORD is the strength of his people;

he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

[9] Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever. (ESV)

Right out of the gate, David’s words tells us that he was in a crisis moment.

This crisis moment happened after David became the second King of Israel.

Many years into his reign, after a very turbulent relationship with his oldest son, Absalom, Absalom ran a coup and declared himself King and sat himself on David’s throne as the king of Israel.  

Absalom gathered his own followers and set out a military campaign against his Father, David, who was the actual anointed King of Israel. 


So, David found himself running from and hiding from his son.

Would he live?

Would he die?

Would he be King again?

Would he be imprisoned and tortured?

Would he live out the rest of his days struggling to survive in the wilderness?

David was full of anxiety and panic.

David felt backed into a corner.


David felt like he didn’t know if he was going to be ok today, tomorrow, or in the end.

David felt:

  • Hopeless
  • Helpless
  • Lost
  • Confused
  • Powerless
  • Scared
  • Fearful
  • And stuck.

And, to make it worse, it seemed like God, in whom he had trusted all of his life, had abandoned him in his moment of need.  It seemed like God was silent to the evil, wickedness, and suffering that he was experiencing.

This leads David to cry out in his crisis moment, asking God to not be quiet any longer.

David knows, as he mentions in verses 1, and 3-5, that if God remains silent to his cries for help, David will experience the effects of his immediate physical crisis — David will most likely be found and killed by his son and his son’s army.


David also knows, as he mentions in verse 1, that if God remains silent and doesn’t intervene in his life, David will experience the effects of his spiritual crisis — he will be punished for his sin and will be separated from God and God’s Kingdom of Heaven forever.

Back in September of 2015, a British Airways jet caught fire at the Las Vegas airport, sending smoke billowing into the air, after suffering what the pilot described as a “catastrophic failure” of the left engine. The plane—a Boeing 777 heading from the U.S. city’s McCarran airport to London Gatwick—could be seen with flames around its fuselage.

The pictures of a burning jetliner in Las Vegas were certainly riveting. But as the plane burst into smoke and flames, some observers saw something even more startling: People stopped during their evacuation to grab their luggage. Authorities are certainly concerned about planes that burst into flames, but they’re also worried that we’d risk our lives to grab our carry-on bags.

So what’s the big deal with grabbing one carry-on bag? The FAA requires planes to be evacuated within 90 seconds, but as a Chicago-based air traffic controller wrote:

Let’s say the average delay time per bag is 5 seconds. This includes the time needed to reach up to open the overhead compartment, pulling the bag down, and the extra delay hauling it through a crowded aisle. If half of the 170 people on board Flight 2276 took the time to take their bag the evacuation would have taken an additional 7 MINUTES longer than necessary. Imagine being the last one to exit the smoke-filled cabin knowing that your one minute evac time is now over 7 minutes!

One veteran pilot with a major U.S. airline said, “We’re always shaking our head. It doesn’t matter what you say, people are going to do what they do.” Or as one blogger summarized this news story: “People love their carry-ons more than life itself.”

The Bible warns us that there are many things beside God that we can place our trust in when we are in need of help — many idols, as the Bible calls them.

Just like some people worry about their luggage instead of their own life in the case of an airplane emergency, some of us place our trust in money, logic, reason, family members, friends, techniques learned in therapy sessions, advice given in self-help books, the words spoken from a mystic using a crystal ball or tarot cards, instead of of the God who is alive and active and can help us in our moments of need and crisis. 


But, as the Bible tells us, when the rubber meets the road, all of those things are powerless and leave us hopeless because they are dead and cannot hear, answer, or respond with the help we need.

Psalm 115:4–8 says:

[4] Their idols are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

[5] They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

[6] They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

[7] They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

[8] Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them. (ESV)

In Psalm 28, in his crisis moment, David immediately reached for, grabbed, and held onto the only thing that could save him — David reached out to, grabbed onto to, and held onto God, the Father in Heaven.

And, what happened in David’s crisis moment?


God, who promises to hear, answer, and help those in need, heard, answered, and helped, David in his moment of need, in his moment of crisis.

One commentator writing about Psalm 28 speaks these words of hope to you:

Jesus is our own Word of promise, and it is this Word from God that we cling to. It is like Paul says about Abraham: “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4.20-21). And Paul says about himself: “For I am certain that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers…will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8.38-39).

So far so good. But this truth does not automatically end our inner wrestling match with doubt and despair, does it? Often the suffering that is part of our lived experience threatens to loosen our grip on this Jesus in whom we trust. Sometimes, in this life, God’s work is incomprehensible. Sometimes, in our individual lives, circumstances seem to deny the fact of God’s love.

This voice in Psalm 28, a prayer to God but also words from God for us to pray, invites us to cry out against this death-dealing God and plead that he make known the salvation the he has promised. We certainly know that in the past our God has intervened to save his people. He has acted in history to deliver them, and he has acted most decisively by sending his son in human flesh. In Jesus, God made his future plans for us clear. Jesus’s resurrection is our future, but it is also what we want to experience now. With the Psalmist, we want God to break the silence and bring us the salvation promised in Jesus and given to us personally in our baptism and in holy communion. In the terms of the Somme, we pray for the not yet to become the now, and we pray for an end to the tension between these two in which we presently live. If nothing else, the voice in Psalm 28 lives within the attention and teaches us how to live within it well.

But until that day how are we to live when the wait becomes so long that we can’t forget what we are waiting for? 

When it becomes so long that we may forget what God has promised? But even as we stand in the waiting line, God has promised not to leave us. Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to minister to us in the meantime. The spirit is the one who strengthens us through the promises of God so that we can live by faith and not by sight, as the poet David dead. The spirit is the one who helps us make the words of psalm 28 our own.

Through the strengthening of the spirit, we can pray Psalm 28.6-8 with the certainty that God hears our cries. This reality gives us the ability to sustain our joy in this broken world. “We rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5.3). It is also why we can pray Psalm 28.9: “Save your people and bless your inheritance, and shepherd them and lift them up forever.” With these words, we pray that the salvation that is already ours in Jesus will come in its fullness for us all.

The lines of one of the hymns from The Lutheran Service Book is a companion to Psalm 28.

Hymn #732 sings like this:

When with sorrow I am stricken,

Hope anew my heart will quicken;

All my longing shall be stilled.

To His lovingkindness tender

Soul and body I surrender,

For on God alone I build.

Well He knows what best to grant me;

All the longing hopes that haunt me,

Joy and sorrow, have their day.

I shall doubt His wisdom never;

As God will, so be it ever;

I commit to Him my way.

If my days on earth He lengthen,

God my weary soul will strengthen;

All my trust in Him I place.

Earthly wealth is no abiding,

Like a stream away is gliding,

Safe I anchor in His grace (LSB 732:4-6)

In a daily devotional, a book that has Biblical scripture and a small explanation for each day of the year, that I read on Thursday, I read what I am about to share and I want you to hear Jesus saying this to you as well.

Jesus says to you:

Accept each day exactly as it comes to you. By that, I mean not only the circumstances of your day but also the condition of your body. Your assignment is to trust me absolutely resting in my sovereignty and faithfulness.

On Sundays, your circumstances and your physical condition feel out of balance: the demands on you seem far greater than your strength. Days like that present a choice between two alternatives – giving up or relying on me. Even if you wrongly choose the first alternative, I will not reject you. You can turn to me at any point, and I will help you crawl out of the Meyer of discouragement. I will infuse my strength into your moment by moment, giving you all that you need for this day. Trust me by relying on my empowering presence.

And, then the author reminds of this truths from Scripture.

Psalm 42:5–6 says:

[5] Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation [6] and my God.

And, Jeremiah 31:25 says:

[25] For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” (ESV)

So, the next time you find yourself experiencing a crisis moment, and I can promise you, there will be another time, and you find yourself thinking or saying, “I’m not Okay!,” remember that Jesus Christ died on the cross in the most extreme crisis moment ever, for you.

And, because Jesus experienced that crisis moment, your sins are forgiven, eternal life is yours, and you will be today, tomorrow, and forever, 100% Okay, as God welcomes you into His family and Kingdom of Heaven through the faith you have in Him, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 4, 2025.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, 

We live in a frightening world. In our fear, we often forget that you are powerful and loving and are devoted to your children. When we hear of wars and terrorists, we are tempted to turn to politicians to rescue us, and we panic despairingly if we feel we can’t trust them. When faced with illness and mortality, we turn to doctors, diets, and frenetic health strategies in order to avoid the inevitable. When friendships fail and relationships disappoint us, we struggle with bitterness, anger, and depression because we have looked to other weak sinners to find comfort and meaning in life. When our plans don’t work out, we scramble to construct self-salvation strategies in order to calm our fears and give us a measure of confidence and peace. Father, forgive us for forgetting that you love us, for stubbornly laying all our hopes and dreams at the feet of our idols, for despising you when you lovingly interfere with our self-salvation campaigns in order to rescue us from our pride and self-trust. 

Thank you for your great patience with weak sinners like us, who refuse to turn to you until all else has failed. Thank you for bringing suffering into our lives and for letting our sinful hearts pour out of us, so that we can see our sin and repent before you. Thank you for causing our best plans to fail so we will learn that you are wiser, stronger, kinder, and more loving than we ever dreamed possible. Thank you for Christ, who faced fear and suffering with great dread, and yet turned to you in his moments of terror and temptation, trusting in your plan in spite of his horrible feelings. Thank you that his faithful determination to fix his eyes on you and to trust you in spite of the evil that he faced has now been credited to our account, and that you welcome us as perfect trusters. Thank you that you hold this world in your hand and promise that all will be well in the end. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, who lives in us and is at work every moment to help us grow, to comfort us, and to help us look away from our scary world and scary hearts so that we may see the beauty of our remarkable Savior. 

Help us to remember your promises, to believe them, and to run to you in the midst of our fears with hearts that are bursting with gratitude and growing confidence in you alone. Amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Crucifying Doubt

JOhn 20.19-31

Do you ever think that God might not be real? 

Or, have you ever thought that you may be wasting your time on Sunday morning’s with a child’s fairytale?  Is everything you’ve ever believed a lie?

Do you ever question if God loves you?

Do you ever sit back and think, “Is God really on a mystical throne somewhere beyond the expanses of space?” 

Or, “Is God even aware of me and what is going on in my life right now?”

Do you have doubts about what will happen when you die?

Or, have you ever questioned if the Bible is really God’s Word, or, if your name is really written on the palms of God’s hand, on God’s heart, and in the book of life in Heaven, like the Bible says it is?

If you have ever asked any of these questions or had similar doubts about God the Father, Jesus the Son, or the places of Heaven and Hell, you are not alone.  You are not alone with your questions and doubts in this room today.  And, you are not alone with your questions and doubts in the annals of the history of mankind.

Last weekend, we celebrated both Good Friday and Easter.

Good Friday and Easter were confusing.

Good Friday and Easter were wild.

But, Good Friday and Easter were also grace-driven, grace-filled, and glorious.

This morning, we are entering back into the Biblical narrative with a text from John’s biography of Jesus that was chosen for us by the lectionary.

John’s text tells us what happened on Easter night, and then 8 days after Easter, with Jesus’ disciples who were still feeling the effect of the confusion, the wildness, and the glory of Good Friday and Easter.  

Let’s hear together what happened immediately following Jesus’ resurrection.

John 20:19–31 tells us this:

[19] On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” [20] When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. [21] Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” [22] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. [23] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

[24] Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. [25] So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

[26] Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” [27] Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” [28] Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” [29] Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

[30] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31] but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)

In the early 1950s teenage Lyle Dorsett and his family moved to Birmingham from Kansas City, Missouri. They were outsiders, often labeled Yankees by peers. But one summer evening in 1953, Dorsett was walking to his house after work and decided to take a shortcut through the campus of then-Howard College (now Samford University).

He was immediately intrigued by the sight he saw: a large tent on the football field featuring a magnetic preacher. As Dorsett drew near, he could hear evangelist Eddie Martin preaching on the parable of the prodigal son, calling other prodigals to come home. Dorsett said, “I knew I was the prodigal and … needed to come home.”

Martin asked those in attendance to return the next evening. Dorsett came early, and this time was seated near the front. When the call came, “the evangelist led me through a sinner’s prayer. I confessed my need for forgiveness. While being led in prayer, I strongly felt the presence of Jesus Christ. I sensed his love and forgiveness as well as his call to preach the gospel.”

Shortly thereafter, Dorsett and his parents joined a local Baptist church. However, 18 months later, Dorsett’s family moved back to Kansas City. On his return, gradually he drifted. During his time in college, he embraced a materialistic worldview. He received a Ph.D. in history but despite professional success, he began to drink heavily and became an alcoholic. His wife, Mary, who became a Christian after their marriage, began to pray.

One evening, he stormed out of the house after Mary asked him not to drink around the children. He found a bar and drank until closing. While driving up a winding mountain road, he stopped at an overlook and blacked out. The next morning, he woke up on a dirt road at the bottom of a mountain next to a cemetery not having any memory of the drive.

Dorsett cried out to God, “Lord, if you are there, please help me.” 

At that moment, he recognized that the same presence he had met in Birmingham was with him in the car and loved him. The prodigal son had finally, truly come home. He said, “Although I made countless mistakes, the Lord never gave up on me.”

God then called Dorsett to full-time ministry, ordination in the Anglican Church, and eventually to the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, where he had first heard God’s call to preach.

He concludes,

“Over the years God has proved to be a gentle Comforter—like when my wife underwent massive surgery for cancer, and when our 10-year-old daughter died unexpectedly. Certainly, the most humbling and reassuring lesson is his persistence in drawing me to himself. And it was he who pursued me and sustained the relationship when I strayed in ignorant sheeplike fashion, doubted his existence, and then like the Prodigal Son deliberately moved to the far country. And it is all grace—unearned, undeserved, unrepayable grace.”

All of our hearts and minds are broken and corrupted by sin. 

Therefore, we all doubt. 

We doubt, like Thomas, if God is real.  

We doubt, like Thomas, if God loves us. 

We doubt, like Thomas, if Jesus is who he says he is—God in the flesh.

We doubt, like Thomas, if Jesus death on the cross can actually forgive our sin.

And, we doubt, like Thomas, if resurrection from the dead is possible.

You may have heard the lie that Christians NEVER doubt God’s existence or power or His Word, the Bible.  You may have been told that you don’t really have faith or trust in God if you raise questions about some of the facts found in the Bible and if find yourself confused from time to time.

It is a very sad reality that people leave their churches because of the way their honest doubts have been dismissed. Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) studied the spiritual progression of five hundred youth group graduates during their first three years of college. Kara Powell, FYI’s executive director, wrote that one of the main reasons Christian youth abandoned their faith after high school was because, at some point in their lives, they’d expressed doubts about what they’d been taught to believe. Instead of providing a safe place to process those uncertainties, well-meaning church leaders told them they shouldn’t even ask such questions in the first place. This led them to conclude that Christianity was a house of cards—the church couldn’t deal with their doubts, and neither could God.

Experiencing doubt can be incredibly scary—especially for Christians who grew up in an environment in which faith was understood to suggest absolute certainty. The message was clear: If you have doubts, it means that your faith is weak or that there is something wrong with you spiritually. In his book Authentically Emergent: In Search of a Truly Progressive Christianity, Dr. R. Scott Smith wrote, “In effect, we tell people to shut up, just take the biblical teaching (which, on some topics, may really just be our own strongly held opinions) at face value as fact and accept it by faith, as though that by itself is a virtue. But biblical faith is not a blind leap; it involves knowledge—that God has spoken and is trustworthy.”[3] False definitions of faith that are so often taught are based on a misunderstanding of the difference between unbelief and doubt. They are not the same thing. Unbelief is a decision of the will, but doubt tends to bubble up within the context of faith.

If more churches would welcome the honest questions of doubters and engage with the intellectual side of their faith, they would become safe places for those who experience doubt.

Today’s Biblical text shows us that Jesus’ grace-driven and grace-filled presence is a safe place for those of us that experience doubt.

Right now, in Jesus’ presence, you are in a safe place.  You are gathered together under one roof, just like the disciples, including Thomas on that second night, where God comes to you in the person and work of Jesus Christ to answer your questions and provide you with the proof you need to have peace today and peace forever.

The peace that Jesus brings to the disciples, with a special focus on Thomas, around the Easter event, is both imminent and transcendent. To say it another way, the peace that Jesus brings surrounding the Easter event is both for the here-and-now and for the eternal. It is a peace for today.  It is a peace for tomorrow. And, it is peace forever. 

The peace that Jesus brings to you is the peace that comes from knowing that Jesus is who he says he is. He is God wrapped in the flesh. He is the fulfillment of every last thing that is spoken about in the Holy Scriptures. And, He is able to do more than you can ask or imagine. 

We receive a divine peace that passes understanding because Jesus lets us know that His life, death, and resurrection was all accomplished so that we could be made right with God.

Here is the beautiful thing that is shared with us in this morning’s text:

Jesus’ care and concern for His followers is incredibly grace filled. 

Jesus knew Thomas’ doubts and questions before Thomas spoke them to Jesus.  So, Jesus preemptively calmed Thomas’ doubts and fears by giving Thomas what Thomas needed to be at peace—the ability to touch the once-again alive Jesus who was marked with the scars of crucifixion. 

And, Jesus’ care and concern for you is the same.  Matthew 6.8 tells you that “your Father in Heaven knows what you need before you ask him.”  God’s intimate knowledge of your life, that only your Creator could have, brings you peace because God is able to provide exactly what you need in moments of doubt.

Jesus knew every last fear that was causing anxiety for the disciples.  He knew every last question and point of confusion in Thomas’ mind. And in all of that, he went to meet them where they were.  He was persistent and pursued them out of love for them. They did not have to find Jesus. Jesus found them afraid, doubting, and hopeless and he gave them exactly what they needed to see, hear, and believe and in turn receive both the forgiveness for their sin and eternal life—Jesus gave them the holes in his hand and the hole in his side from crucifixion, and he gave them his physical presence after death, where he ate a piece of fish from their dinner plate to demonstrate his full bodily resurrection. 

Jesus’ care and concern for you this morning is incredibly grace filled. 

He knows every last fear that is causing anxiety for you.  He knows every last question and point of confusion in your mind. And in all of that, he comes to meet you where you are. Jesus is persistent and pursues you out of love for you. You do not have to find Jesus. Jesus find you. And, sometimes like the disciples in our text, Jesus finds you doubting, and hopeless and he gives you exactly what you need to see, hear, and believe and in turn receive both forgiveness for your sin and eternal life. In the Gospel, the Good News, the Word of God, the Bible, Jesus gives you the holes in his hand and the hole in his side from crucifixion, and he gives you his physical presence after death, to demonstrate his full bodily resurrection. 

In the room, the night of Easter, and in the room 8 days later with Thomas, Heaven met Earth for the disciples and they repented, believed, and moved out into the world sharing the good news of Jesus Christ alive, dead, and resurrected with the world around them so that others could receive the peace that Jesus offers through faith in Him.

Yes, Good Friday and Easter were confusing.

Yes, Good Friday and Easter were wild.

But, Good Friday and Easter were also grace-driven, grace-filled, and glorious.

Good Friday and Easter are the place where Jesus takes all of your sin and disobedience to God and gives you His perfect righteousness which makes you fully ready for life in God’s eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

In this morning’s text Jesus gives the disciples meaning and purpose for their lives when he says to them:

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Jesus also gives you this same meaning and purpose right now.

Jude, the writer of one of the letters in the New Testament part of the Bible, understands this all very well when he wrote this exhortation to the Christian Church during the 1st Century A.D. (or C.E. for you scholars out there):

[17] But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. [18] They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” [19] It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. [20] But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, [21] keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. [22] And have mercy on those who doubt; [23] save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 17-23, ESV)

Let’s leave this room today, where God has gathered us, after the crucifixion and resurrection, so that Jesus can give us peace, with full readiness to head back out into the world to love others and as God has first loved us all while sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ that will rescue others from unbelief and doubt.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace and Peace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg

April 27, 2025

Prayer:

Merciful Father, 

We come to confess our incredible lack of faith in the reality of the resurrection. Like Thomas, we often live in defiant doubt of your resurrection, evidenced by our idolatrous and self-centered lives. It is shocking and almost inconceivable that you would allow your Son to bear the just and holy wrath that was reserved for us, even to the point of death. Yet you have sealed the promise of our forgiveness and perfect salvation by raising him from the grave, victorious over death and hell itself. This amazing truth is what we have doubted. Forgive us, Lord, for this abuse of your priceless gift. We confess that when we sin with our bodies, minds, and spirits, we live as though Christ never left the tomb. We live in the deadness of our flesh as though you too are dead. Deliver us from this living death, we pray. 

Suffering, victorious Savior,

you never doubted your Father. Even as you experienced the agony of being abandoned by him on the cross, you trusted your Father to keep his promise to you and raise you from the dead. Now your perfect faith is ours, and we live confidently in the joy of your obedience credited to us. Although we walk through this life as poor, wretched, and needy sinners, we are clothed with your goodness, and we are participants in your endless victory over death. 

Powerful Holy Spirit, 

help us to be children who live by faith, and not by sight. Impress upon us the reality of what we cannot see—Jesus’ hands in heaven, forever bearing scars that proclaim that the punishment of our sins has been paid in full. Transform us into people who do not doubt you. Help us to believe firmly in the power of the cross. Strengthen us to become people of growing faith who hate our sin and run from it until love’s redeeming work is completely finished. Raise our joys and triumphs high as we wait for that day when we will follow where Christ has led, be made like him, and worship our risen Savior forever. Amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Crossed Out Curse

Galatians 3.10-14

You may have heard someone refer to a specific aspect of life as being “both a blessing and a curse.”

Something can be both a blessing and a curse when it offers positive outcomes but also carries negative consequences or challenges. 

Some examples of this are,

Intelligence: Intelligence can be a blessing for learning and understanding, but a curse if it leads to boredom or frustration.

Money:  Money can be a blessing for buying things that you need to survive, but a curse if it leads to worry, theft or envy.

Sensitivity: Being sensitive allows for strong empathy and a deep appreciation for life, but it can also make it difficult to cope with negativity and criticism.

Creativity: Creative individuals can produce amazing art and ideas, but they may also struggle with perfectionism and difficulty following rigid rules.

Love: Loving someone deeply is a great blessing, but it can also be a source of pain and anxiety, particularly if the relationship is challenging.

Many of our passions, talents, character traits, and possessions can be dichotomous by releasing both joyous highs and soul-wrenching lows into our human experience. 

In our text this morning, we are going to hear about something, more specifically, a someone, that is both a curse and a blessing.  From the next pericope, or next section, of Galatians that we are up to, the Apostle Paul talks about Jesus being both a curse and a blessing.  

Let’s get right into the Bible text now.

In Galatians 3:10–14, the Apostle Paul says this:

[10] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” [11] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” [12] But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” [13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—[14] so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (ESV)

I am sure that when we hear about being cursed, many non-Biblical ideas and images flash through our minds.  

Maybe we think about the Evil Queen who feeds Snow White a cursed poison apple that puts puts Snow White into a indefinite period of sleep.

Maybe we think about the Golden Idol in Indiana Jones, that when removed from it’s pillar, begins a series of death traps culminating in Indiana Jones nearly escaping the crushing weight of a giant boulder.

And, if you are as old, or even older than me, maybe you think about the cursed Hawaiian Tiki statue that Peter Brady finds in a construction pit and then wears around his neck, only to be met with a string of bad luck, including a tarantula crawling on him in his hotel room bed.

Well, these ideas and images of curses and cursed items bringing danger and bad luck have nothing to do with the curse that the Apostle Paul is talking about in this section of his letter to the churches in the region of Galatia.  But these ideas and images are what pop-culture presents to us and they often taint and misinform our understanding of the Bible.

So, let’s ask a series of questions about this morning’s Biblical text and get the answers to those questions so that we can better understand the Good News of Jesus that the Apostle Paul is proclaiming to us.

Let’s begin:

What does it mean to be cursed in Biblical language?

To be cursed in Biblical language is the opposite of being blessed.

To be blessed is to have God’s love and favor on you and in your life.  To be blessed means that God makes you perfectly fulfilled in every way, forgiving your sin and giving you the righteousness you need to enter His Kingdom of Heaven.

Therefore, the opposite of that—to be cursed—is to not have God’s love and favor on you and in your life.  Instead, those that are cursed by God have God’s anger and wrath poured out upon them, punishing them for their unbelief and sin.

Next:

How does one become cursed by God?

The text tells us that a person is cursed, meaning that they are in danger of being punished by God’s wrath for their sin, when they attempt to be forgiven of sin and made right with God through giving him a list of His laws that they followed and the good deeds that they did.

And:

Why does attempting to make God love you with your behavior put you in a place where you are deserving of God’s punishment?

Well, the text also answers this question.  In order to be worthy of God’s love by doing good deeds and Godly works, you would have to obey every command of God perfectly from birth to death.  You have to live every second of every day doing ALL things written in the Bible without ever getting any of it wrong.

Because of original sin, the sin which you inherit from Adam and Eve at the very moment you are conceived in the womb, it is impossible to live and love in the way God commands.  

And, thinking that your record reflects more good stuff than bad stuff doesn’t do you any good because as Jesus’ brother James tells us in his Biblical letter found in the New Testament:

[10] For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. [11] For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10–1, ESV)

However, there is always hope for you to have a fresh start as faith in Christ enables you to be born again.  With the help of the God’s Holy Spirit, that makes its home in you the very moment that you find yourself with faith in Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, you are strengthened and empowered by God Himself to choose the good part of every hour.

Many rejoiced on Palm Sunday during Jesus’ parade into Jerusalem because they knew God’s grace had sent Jesus to be their Savor and Redeemer.

However, even though we are given the picture of a celebratory parade on Palm Sunday, this event is, in actuality, the beginning of a week long funeral march.  

Jesus rides into Jerusalem as the people’s champ—“Do you smell what God’s Rock is cooking?” Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, came not to sit on the throne in the earthly temple or palace, but to sit on the throne in God’s Kingdom of Heaven.  

Jesus enters the city to the praise of his followers, but leaves the city 5 days later to the weeping of his friends and family.

Palm Sunday culminates in Jesus’ death on the cross on Good Friday, but also Jesus’ resurrection from the grave on Easter Sunday.  

Holy Week, beginning today, has both joyous highs and soul-wrenching lows for those that are known by God the Father in Heaven and in turn know God the Father in Heaven in the person and work of Jesus Christ for them.

The path that Jesus rides and then walks during Holy Week was willingly chosen by Him to ensure your eternal blessing.  Innocent Jesus became cursed by God and was hung on the tree of the cross to be fully and completely punished by God’s anger and wrath in your place.  

In another letter that the Apostle Paul wrote, also contained in the Bible’s New Testament, he explains the Good News of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday for you when he writes this, in Ephesians 2:1–10:

[1] And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—[3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)

In Galatians 3.11, the Apostle Paul quotes the Old Testament book of Habakkuk which says, “But the righteous one will live by faith.”

Martin Luther, the 16th Century church reformer, first read Habakkuk 2:4 when he was a monk living in a monastery, but he didn’t understand it at the time. Later he went through a period of illness and depression as he imagined himself under the wrath of God. Lying in a bed in Italy, fearing he was about to die, Luther found himself repeating over and over again, “The righteous will live by faith.” He recovered and went to Rome, where he visited one of the famous churches there. The pope in that day had promised an indulgence forgiving the sins of any pilgrim who mounted the tall staircase in front of the church. Pay your money, climb the staircase, and you can have your sins or someone else’s forgiven. People flocked to climb the staircase on their knees, pausing to pray and kiss the stairs along the way. Luther’s son later wrote the following of that experience for his father: “As he (Luther) repeated his prayers on the Lateran staircase, the words of the Prophet Habakkuk came suddenly to his mind: ‘The just shall live by faith.’ Thereupon he ceased his prayers, returned to Wittenberg, and took this as the chief foundation of all his doctrine.” Luther later said, “Before those words broke upon my mind I hated God and was angry with him. . . . But when, by the Spirit of God, I understood those words—‘The just shall live by faith!’ ‘The just shall live by faith!’—then I felt born again like a new man; I entered through the open doors into the very Paradise of God.” 

This morning, our readers shared the story of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem from the Gospel of John.  These texts were chosen by the lectionary for this morning.

In the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, we get other accounts of what happened on Palm Sunday.  These other accounts of that day tell us some of the things that the crowd was shouting and singing as Jesus passed by.

Luke 19:37–38 tell us this:

[37] As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, [38] saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (ESV)

And, Matthew 21:9 tells us this:

[9] And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (ESV)

Palm Sunday is the beginning of the full and complete public declaration that Jesus is the One that takes you who were dead to God because of sin and makes you abundantly alive in the eternal love and freedom of God.

Without Jesus, you remain cursed, condemned, and dead to God.

With Jesus, you have been set free from the curse of sin and have become blessed, and are brought back to life by God at the price of His One and Only Son in your place.

The people rejoiced on Palm Sunday because God’s promised Redeemer and Savior had come to them.

I invite you also to repent of your sin and rejoice that God’s promised Redeemer and Savior has come to you.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

April 13, 2025 / Palm Sunday

Prayer:

King of heaven, 

We long to worship you today with hearts full of joy, but we have sinned countless times and we have no crown of glory or obedience to wear before you. Our dancing is turned to mourning when we think of our sin. We understand that we are like the mockers who scoffed at Jesus as he died, the rebels who pressed the crown of thorns deeply onto his sinless head. We are undone and wonder how you could ever love us and welcome us as cherished sons and daughters. Father, forgive us for hearts that doubt you and turn away from you many times each day. Forgive us for worshiping other gods, and then running away in cycles of shame and guilt because we are disappointed in ourselves. Forgive us for believing that our sin is so much stronger than your love and grace. 

Lord, 

thank you for your perfect Son, who never sinned, yet became sin for us. Thank you for allowing his head to be bloodied by that thorny crown, so that you could lift up our heads and crown us with your steadfast love and mercy. Thank you for your deep and infinite love that willingly crushed your only Son so that his wounds could pay our ransom. Dear Father, thank you that our sin is dealt with, fully paid for, and that we have become the righteous through faith in the work of your Son. 

Father, 

we are desperately weak people who constantly need your help. Please turn our eyes toward your radiant Son to see his head now crowned with glory and honor, always pleading in our defense. Help us remember all the benefits that flow toward us because of our redemption in Christ. Give us such great love for your Son and gratitude to you, that we are transformed into people who want to obey you with all our hearts. Make us children who love with the same kind of love that we have received from you. Cause us to point one another to Christ as our only hope for surviving this fallen world and our own sinful hearts. Thank you that nothing can keep us from reaching our heavenly home, where we will see your Lamb seated on his throne, crowned with radiant glory, where we will fall at his feet and worship for all eternity. Amen.