St. Matthew Lutheran Church

The Christus Chorus from Concordia University in Saint Paul, MN will be here to give a concert as a part of our 5:30 pm Saturday worship service on March 24.  A fish fry dinner will follow immediately after.  A free will offering taken at the concert and tickets sold for the dinner will benefit Sarah Jiech and her six children.  Proceeds from the free will offering and dinner ticket sales are being generously matched by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Sarah is the widow of the late Paul Pal, the vicar of the Saint Matthew Sudanese congregation who was killed in a car accident in November 2005.

Tickets for the dinner will go on sale Saturday, March 3.  No ticket is needed for the worship service and concert.  Tickets will be on sale at Saint Matthew before and after any of our worship services or by calling the office, 763-788-9427.  If you have questions, contact Carol Blase by calling the office number or by email.

All are welcome to be a part of this powerful event.

Parent Time Out is part of our children’s ministry programs that provides a time for parents to drop off thier children in a safe environment for a few hours.

In celebration of Easter, children will have lunch, hear the Easter story, and participate in Easter related activities.  Celebrate Easter, and parents, take a much needed break!

Children age 4 through 6th grade are welcome.

Please register your child or children by Thursday, March 22 by calling the Saint Matthew office, 763-788-9427 or printing this form, completing it, and delivering it to Saint Matthew.

If you have questions, contact Christine Eid by email or by calling the office.

Welcome to week 2 of reading Through the New Testament in 40 days. Our readings today are Mark 5:22-9:13.

What does it take to amaze Jesus? Only 2 times in the Bible do we wever see Jesus being amazed. One of them occurs in todays readings. The context is Mark 6:1-6. Jesus was back in His hometown of Nazareth. Many people were offended by who Jesus turned out to be. They still saw Him as the ordinary carpenter’s son–little Jesus that they watched grow up. They had seen Him in diapers. They had seen Him play in the dirt. Now He was being proclaimed as some sort of super rabbi and miracle worker. And they were offended.

Mark says of Jesus at this point: “And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” And furthermore, in this climate of unbelief, Jesus could perform no miracles (vs. 5). Their lack of faith had either limited the power of Jesus or it had limited His willingness to use His power.

A human parallel might be seen in the parent/child relationship. A parent has the power to bless his or her child with something–some special treat. But because of the child’s attititude or behavior, the parent chooses to withhold the blessing. The same can be said of Jesus. Our lack of faith or lack of faithfulness can limit the blessings that He gives us.

I mentioned that there were two times in the Bible that Jesus was amazed. We will be reading about the other one on Monday, but I will give you a preview today. The second time Jesus was amazed, the circumstances were almost totally opposite. It happened in Luke 7:9. Jesus was in the company of a Roman centurion who knew that Jesus had the power the do anything.

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

In the case the faith of the centurion allowed Jesus to heal the centurion’s servant.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
The only thing in all creation that can limit Jesus’ power is our faith (or lack of it).

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today, I will see Jesus as my Savior who has unlimited love and unlimited power. I will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, have no doubt as to what Jesus can do and will live my life faithfully and boldly as His child.

Today we begin Mark’s Gospel by reading Mark 1:1-5:21. Notice that Mark gets right down to business–no story of Jesus’ birth, no shepherds, angels or wise men. He jumps right in to the ministry of Jesus. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus loving people, communicating that love to them in all sorts of ways, and meeting their needs.

Today I will focus in on Mark 1:40-45. The situation was this: A man had leprosy. That meant he was religiously unclean. He coudn’t be in close proximity to other people. He definitely couldn’t be touched. He approached Jesus and asked for healing. And look at how Jesus communicated His love to that man:

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Jesus did what all others considered unthinkable. He touched a leper. He wanted the man to have more than healing. He wanted the man to know he was loved.

What Biblical truths does God show me in this passage?
Jesus has compassion on those rejected by others. That compassion drives Him to action.

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will look for ways to “touch” people with Jesus’ love.

Todays readings are Matthew 25:1-28:20.

In just 5 days, we have made our way from the birth of Jesus to the death and resurrection of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. In today’s reading we see the crucifixion and resurrection and all the events surrounding them. Despite the vivid description of the crucifixion and all the supernatural events surrounding it, I found myself keying in on Matthew 27:27-31.

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

I believe my attraction to this passage was influenced by the children’s skit in worship yesterday. I know that the snow made it impossible for many of you to get out of your driveways yesterday, but we did have a few people who were able to get plowed out, and those who came had their worship enriched by a skit that the children did about the Gospel lesson for the day. The Gospel was the Temptation of Jesus from Luke 4. In the skit Satan tried to tempt Jesus by giving Him a wordly crown and promising Him wealth and power. Jesus, in the skit, refused the worldly crown, took it off His head and replaced it with a crown of thorns. It was a powerful image.

We see that crwon of thorns again in our reading for today. The soldiers put it on Jesus. They did it to mock Him. After hailing Him King of the Jews in mockery, they then spit on Him and began to beat Him.

Why? I suppose there were a lot of factors at work, but one thing is certain–they didn’t recognize Him for the King that He was.

Now, stop and think about that sentence for a moment.

And ask yourself, “Do I? Do I recognize Him for the King that He is?”

For most of us the answer is “no” or “not always” or “not nearly enough.” And so for us, Jesus refused to refuse the crown of thorns. He let it be placed on His head, He let the humiliation take place and He let Himself be led to the Cross so He could die for us and be our King. And we could be His people–His forgiven, accepted and accepting people.

What Biblical truths does God show me in theses verses?
Jesus is my King. He became my King when He was crowned with thorns and went to the cross to die for me.

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will let Jesus be King in My life by accepting what He accepts and refusing what He refuses.

The readings for today are Matthew 20:1-24:51

So far in our readings in Matthew we have seen Jesus take on demons, storms, illnesses, death and the Pharisees. In one of our readings today, we see Him take on one the most imposing forces in all the world–a pushy mother. I am talking about the mother of James and John in Matthew 20:20-28.

She has a request–and quite a request it is. She isn’t asking for something simple like wealth or wordly fame. She wants to make sure her sons are recognized through all eternity. This mother (her name is Salome) makes this request of Jesus:

“Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

Wow! This was one bold lady. It would be easy and perhaps even appropriate to criticize her and her sons and her request for pride, a self-serving attitude and a complete and utter lack of the humility that was so important to Jesus.

But since judging others is never a good idea (and since we have most likely been guilty of the same sins), perhaps we would be wiser to find out more about this woman. She will show up again in the life of Jesus. Her next appearance is in Matthew 27:55-56:

“Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.”

The Mother of Zebedee’s sons is none other than the arrogant mother of our previous story. And look at where she is–at the cross watching Jesus die, having followed Him there to tend to His needs. And look at who isn’t there–everyone else. They have run away to hide. But these women stick it out to the very end. So as it turns out, this was not only a woman of arrogance and pride who wrongly sought glory for her sons. This was also a woman of faith–the kind of faith that would stick it out with Jesus when everyone else had gone into hiding.

We have a choice. We can look at one side of Salome and condemn her for her pride or we could look at another side and praise her for her faithfulness. I believe that is true of most of Jesus’ followers–even us, or maybe I should say, especially us.

What biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
All of God’s saints have their strengths and weaknesses

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today, instead of looking at peoples’ sin and weakness, I will look for their faith and faithfulness.

Congratulations on making it to day three of reading through the New Testament. I hope it is a special experience for you as you reflect, research, review, remember and respond to God’s Word on a daily baisis.

Today’s reading is Matthew 13:36-19:30. I had a hard time making through the readings today. I got stuck on Matthew 14:22-33–the story of Peter trying to walk on the water with Jesus.

We usually point to this story as a picture of Peter’s failure–his lack of faith. Jesus invited Peter to walk on the water. Peter tried, saw the big waves, lost his faith and sunk. Isn’t that generally how we summarize this story?

But remember something. That boat was full of disciples, perhaps as many as 12. One and only one had the faith to get out of the boat and try to walk on the water with Jesus. So who was the bigger failure–the one who tried and sunk or the others who never tried? We have a God who is going to call us to step out of the boat–to really stretch ourselves. When we take Him up on that invitation, we might sink. We can’t let the fear of sinking keep us from accepting the invitation. Why not? Well, that brings us to the crux of the story, vs 31:

“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.”

That is what Jesus does. He saves. More than Teacher, more than Friend, more than Example, more than Provider, more than King, more than Judge, Jesus is Savior. He is always and forever strecthing out His hand to save. He can call us imperfect, weak-faithed humans to step out of the boat and trust Him precisely because He has the power to save us when we sink.

And don’t miss the Good Friday implications of that verse. This points us to that time, when once and for all time, Jesus would stretch out His hands, on a Cross. Why? To save us. That is what He does.

What Biblical truths does God show us in these verses?
Jesus calls His people to step outside of our own abilities and limitations and do what we can do only with His strength. There are times we will sink. This is why we have a Savior–one who will stretch out His hands and save us.

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will look for opportunties to be used by God in areas that are a stretch for me. I will do that, knowing that should I sink, Jesus will save.

Todays readings are Matthew 8:14-13:35

In this section of Scripture, we see Jesus teaching, preaching, performing miracles and telling parables. In the midst of this we see Him begin to address the hypocrisy of established religion. This ticks off more than a few folks and a rift begins to grow. But more importantly, the events that lead to the Cross are set in motion.

The section of the readings that I chose to research, review, remember and respond to today comes right at the end of our readings, Matthew 13:31-33.

These three verses contain two short parables about the Kingdom of heaven. In the first, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

In the second, He compares the Kingdom of heaven to yeast:

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

What strikes me about this is that both a mustard seed and yeast show growth, but they show it in two completely different ways. In fact, I think they show two completely different kinds of growth.

A mustard seed grows outwardly. It gets bigger and brings forth limbs, branches, leaves, buds and fruit.

Yeast grows inwardly, by changing the nature of what it effects.

The Kingdom of heaven involves both of these things. It grows outwardly, bringing about more disciples, bigger numbers, more people believing, giving serving and being served. But the Kingdom of heaven can’t be only that. In order for it to be that, there has to be the yeast side to it. It must grow inwardly as well. This happens not when the church (the Kingdom of heaven on earth) grows in numbers, when when the church grows in faith and faithfulness.

And that is what we are about during this Lenten season at St. Matthew. On Sundays we are working our way through the book of James for the purpose of maturing spiritually. Every day during Lent we are turning to God’s Word–to refelct, reseach, review, remember and respond–so that Word of God, like yeast, can come inside of us and change us and grow us inwardly.

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
The Kingdom of God grows outwardly in number.
The Kingdom of God grows inwardly in faith and faithfulness.

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?

By being in the Word, I will allow God to use that Word like yeast in my life, growing and changing me from within. That growth from within will allow God to use me in witness, giving and service to grow the Kingdom outwardly.

Matthew 1:1-8:13

Welcome to Day 1 of our 40 day Lenten journey through the New Testament. Our readings for today cover Jesus’ genealogy, His conception, His birth, His childhood, His baptism, His temptation, His first miracles, the calling of His first disciples, and His first sermons–30 years in 8 chapters!

I found my brain and my soul zeroing in on one particular part of the readings today–the account of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7: 24-27.

I was struck particularly by the fact that the wise and foolish builders have one thing in common with each other and one thing different from each other.

What they had in common was that they both hear the words of Jesus:

Vs 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

vs. 26 “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

Both the wise and the foolish hear the words of Jesus. The difference is in the response to the words:

Vs 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

vs. 26 “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

What Biblical truths does God show me in these verses?
The stability of our lives is deteremined by our response to the words of Jesus. If we hear them and put them into practice, we are wise and our lives, our spiritual houses, are built on solid rock that can withstand whatever trials life brings. But if we hear those words and ignore them or don’t put them into practice, we are foolish and subject to forces that can do us harm.

Since God tells us in the book of James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will put Jesus’ words into practice. I will not read them and go about my day as business as usual. I will take the words of Jesus with me into my day and let them impact who who I am in Jesus.