Phil Ressler

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Deuteronomy 6:4

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. It is the unofficial beginning of summer, but it is more than that. It is an opportunity for us to remember all the brave men and women who have made selfless sacrifices to win, protect, and preserve the freedom we enjoy as a country. What a great way to applaud their bravery and courage!

Remembering is so very important in many ways, but is especially important in our relationship with God. Two often repeated commands in the Bible are “remember” and “forget not. What are we called to remember? Two basic things.

The first thing we are called to remember is God’s past faithfulness. We are to remember the victories he has won for his people of old and for us. Looking back at how God demonstrated his faithfulness in the past gives us courage in the present battles we are engaged in. He came through once before, he will come through again.

We do this when we read the Scriptures. We read stories like David and Goliath and how God enabled David to defeat the mighty giant. But the ultimate story and example of this is remembering the ultimate freedom Jesus won for us by selflessly sacrificing his life on the cross of Calvary.

Beyond the stories of the Scriptures, we have our own testimonies to point to. There are certainly times when God has showed himself to be faithful in your own life. This is a good reason to keep track of prayer requests. We are so forgetful. Our minds play tricks with us. There is something about having a written testimony that speaks courage into our hearts that we will not forget God’s faithfulness.

The second thing to remember is God’s commandments. God instructs us the way to live our lives. But it is not just remembering his commandments, but also remembering the benefits of obeying his commandments. There is blessings for obedience and there are consequences for disobedience. When we forget the realities of blessings and consequences, we are easily led astray. When you are faced with a critical decision you might be tempted to compromise your integrity. You might not be able to see from your perspective any consequences to your actions. But just because you can’t see them, does not mean they are not there. Remember that! And you will do well.

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend. Safe travels to everyone who will be traveling over this holiday weekend. Even if you are traveling out of town, don’t forget to remember the one who gave his life for you. Take some time to worship him. Find a local gathering of believers to celebrate his great faithfulness. There may be no greater way to honor those who gave their lives for the cause of freedom than to exercise our freedom to worship.

Have a great week!

Jesus wept. John 11:35

It is the shortest verse of the Bible. It is the one verse that no one has an excuse for not memorizing.

Jesus’ good friend Lazarus dies. He comes to Bethany where Lazarus had lived and was buried. When Jesus arrives on the scene he sees the friends and family are gathered together in sorrow at their loss. At this sight it says Jesus was deeply troubled in spirit. He asks them where Lazarus had been laid. The people tell him to come and see. It is then at that moment the text makes note how Jesus wept.

I had read this story hundreds of times, but as I read it today, something stood out for me that I had not noticed before. I had always worked with the assumption that Jesus wept over the loss of the his good friend Lazarus. But as I read the text today I questioned that assumption.

Here is the deal. Jesus message on earth was a message of faith. Jesus healed the sick, he gave sight to the blind, made the lame to walk, fed the 5000, and calmed the wind and the waves. Jesus walked with the power and authority of God and even had the authority to raise the dead. Jesus already new he would raise Lazarus from the dead. It wasn’t Lazarus Jesus was concerned about.

As I read this text one more time, it was clear that Jesus was more grieved over the people’s lack of faith than anything else. We see many other examples where he lamented his disciples’ disbelief. There are many more times when he was anguished to be so stubbornly rejected by the religious leaders as being the Messiah from God.

The real reason Jesus was moved to tears was because he was witnessing in the flesh the consequence of sin. It was so very clear when he saw the sorrow of the people around him. The consequence of sin was evident. It was not pretty. The beautiful and wonderful creation of God had become so marred and ugly. But this was the very purpose for which he came into the world – to bring reconciliation and restoration to that which was broken.

This passage is often used to point out Jesus’ humanness. But even more than that I believe it shows us the heart of God. It grieves our Lord for us to live in the consequence of our sin and rebellion. But it is good to know that God is so moved that he takes action. It would have been so very bad for us if God had been apathetic towards our condition. But he wasn’t. He wept. He was grieved. He was so moved that he would give his one and only Son to die on the cross. Now whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Here is what you need to know. As grieved as you may be over the circumstances or the tragedies you experience, God is even more grieved. He is not apathetic to your cause. He is a God of action. He will respond and bring restoration. Trust in him!

Choose this day whom you will serve . . . as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Life is filled with choices. We make hundreds and thousands of choices each and every day. Choices about what we will wear, choices about what we will eat, choices about what we will say or not say, choices about how we will spend our time. In every moment we are making choices. You are making a choice right now to either read this email or not.

The challenge for us is to be intentional with our choices. We must choose up front our values and priorities. If we don’t choose these upfront for ourselves, others will choose them for us. Think about going to the grocery store. Imagine going on an empty stomach without a shopping list. You will find that everything in the store is calling out your name. It becomes so very hard to resist the aromas that overload your senses. You walk out with a receipt with a price tag much larger than you ever envisioned.

Shopping at the grocery store is a very different experience when you bring in the shopping list. You choose your priorities upfront. You’ve got a plan. You’ve got a budget. You’ve got coupons. You go in with the list, and you come out with what was on that list. You cut the cost of the shopping trip by simply being prepared. The decisions were made upfront based upon your priorities. It is a much more pleasant experience.

I am not retired by any stretch of the imagination, but I will often talk with people who are. They tell me they find themselves busier in retirement than ever before. I have a theory about that. It is because when they were working, their priority was very clear. It was their occupation. A good portion of their week was taken up by their job. It was a priority that put other priorities in the background. When that one big priority is taken out of a person’s life, there are all kinds of other priorities that vie for that space that the person’s occupation once occupied. The challenge is being intentional with those priorities. If we are not intentional with our priorities, all kinds of other priorities will begin to surface and to fill our calendar.

As much as we have a to-do list, it is good to have a “not-to-do” list as well. Are we willing to put aside other priorities and activities to accomplish what God has established as a priority in our lives? Do we choose to limit our time from doing those things that are not all that important like watching TV? You likely have your own unique “not-to-do” list. Do you know what is on that list? It might be spending less time reading the latest John Grisham novel, so that you can spend more time in the Word of God. It might be less time worrying, so that you can spend more time praying. It might revolve around your finances. That you might spend less money on eating out so you can save for a family vacation or mission trip. It might be choosing to buy the used car instead of the new car so that you can stay out of debt to honor the Lord with your finances.

Be a believer that knows what you want because you know what God wants. The best choices we make are the choices we use the wisdom of God. The best choices we make are the choices we make based on the priorities we establish with God’s help through his Word and prayer. This means I know what is important before I need to choose what’s important. It doesn’t mean I will not be tempted to occupy my time with more trivial matters. The temptation is always there. But simply being aware of the competing priorities is half the battle.

Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. John 6:68-69

I remember these words growing up in church. Every Sunday we would sing them right before the gospel lesson was read. These words of Peter are straight forward. Lord to whom else shall we go to? To whom else shall we turn. Jesus offers to us, what no one else has to offer.

Yet, too often we turn to Jesus as our last resort than our number one option. Jesus is viewed as someone we can cry out to in times of trouble. He will help us in our time of greatest need. Certainly, he promises he will help us in time of need, but he wants to be more than our last resort.

Living in a place of so much affluence, it becomes easy to place our dependence on so many other things than Jesus. We see promises of hope in advertising and media. Cures to whatever ails us can so easily be found with just the click of the mouse. But for all the hope that these “shinny things” provide us, we discover their gloss soon begins to fade. We discover we may find a temporary happiness, but miss out on a more lasting joy.

We also turn to other people. In the story of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5, Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be made well. The man’s response was that he had no one to help carry him into the water to be healed. This man saw himself as a victim of other people’s lack of compassion. And that was exactly the problem! He was relying upon others to make him better. He blamed his situation on their response.

We are not that much different. Someone sins against us. They let us down in a big way. We are angry and upset at the person. Bitterness grows in our heart. We won’t let go. We fail to forgive them for the hurt that they brought into our lives. We say, “look at what he did to me. It’s all his fault.”

When this happens we are transferring lordship over to this other person. We are allowing them to dictate our attitude. We are giving them control. We let this other person determine our response rather than Jesus.

Who do you turn to? Do you turn to things? Do you turn to other people? Or do you turn to Jesus? Placing our hope in anything less than Jesus will lead to frustration and disappointment. Jesus wants to be our number one option so he doesn’t need to be our last resort.

On Monday, May 24 I will be participating in a 50 hole golf marathon. Yes, you heard that right. 50 holes of golf in one day.

My purpose for participating in this golf marathon is to raise support for Gary Camp who serves as chaplain at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles. Gary works in an incredibly tough environment. He ministers to these boys with the love of Jesus. So many of these boys have lived a tough life. For many of them, Gary is the first person to ever truly care and to love them. His ministry is one of simply spending time with the boys, leading them in Bible Study, and letting them know that God loves them.

I want to help support Gary so that he can continue to do what he is doing so well. My goal is to raise $1000 which is the equivalent of $20 per hole. I would appreciate if you would consider supporting me in this endeavor. Every little bit helps.

If you are led to support me there are several ways to do so. The first is to fill out this form. Make sure to indicate I am the golfer you are supporting. A second way to get on board would be to simply email me at pastorpr at gmail.com (I changed the “@” sign to “at” to prevent spam).

Thank you.

“He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” Proverbs 14:31 NIV

When we look at the Scriptures, we see God has a special place in his heart for the poor. This world is filled with much hurt and much poverty. Jesus said that we would always have the poor with us.

In America, no matter how poor we are, we are blessed beyond measure. Because we have been given so much, we have a calling to help those who are in need.

I am so glad to be a part of a church that has a heart for the poor. 10% of Lord of Life’s income goes to ministries around the world, many of which work with those who are impoverished.

From June 13-26, Lord of Life will be once again be serving as a collection site for earthquake relief supplies for Haiti. You can find a list of all the supplies being collected by following this link. We will also need volunteers to serve. So keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks to find out how you can help.

Included with his email are pictures of from a recent mission trip in which John Peterson, a Lord of Life member, participated in with Lutheran Church Charities in Haiti. These pictures portray the incredible things that can happen when God’s people are faithful to his calling. These pictures are of a girl who was brought to them and from all appearances was dead. The team began to work over her and pray over her and it was not long later the girl was awake and smiling. We praise Jesus for this healing.

God has given us so many opportunities to make a difference. Start by doing what is necessary. Then do what is possible. And soon you will be doing what is impossible. Thank you Lord of Life for being a blessing to so many others.