Genesis 1:14-16, Psalm 147:4, Psalm 8:3-4

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Genesis chapter one, verse 14

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. (Genesis 1:14-16)

I’m Pastor Pittenger from Bethany Lutheran Church out in Port Orchard, Washington. And I want to talk to you a little bit about those stars. Nowadays scientists, astronomers, they estimate, it’s an estimate because they can’t count, that there are about one septillion stars in the universe. That’s so number one with 24 zeros after it.

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

So that’s a septillion. Whole lot of stars out there. And stars have been important throughout the history of God’s creation, we use them to navigate both on land and at sea. Because of the stars, people were able to sail over the horizon and find their way to where they’re going or find their way back home. But man, one with 24 zeros after it, we can’t even count that high. We can only estimate that high.

Let me share something else with you. Here’s something I think equally or even more amazing. Psalm 147, verse four, speaking about God. Praise the Lord. The psalm begins, but verse four,

He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names. (Psalm 147:4)

We can’t even count that high. And yet God has got names for all of them, which is absolutely amazing. And but why should we really care about all this? Now flip over to Psalm eight. Psalm eight, verse three.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

When you go outside and look up at the stars, and you see how many there are. And if you look up in a book and find out how big they are. Well, who am I? What am I that God should care about me? I am so small. I am so insignificant. Add my sin to that equation. I’m so unworthy of God’s attention, let alone anything good from him.

Well, the answer to that is found in that phrase the Son of Man. That’s reference to Jesus. Hebrews chapter two makes it clear that Psalm eight is talking about Jesus, who was made, as it says, a little lower than the angels, who that is, who humbled himself. God. God the Son became one of us. He didn’t become a star to save the stars from eventual decay and running out of fuel. He didn’t become a bird to save the birds. He didn’t become an angel to save the angels. But he became man, the Son of Man in order to save us.

So next time you’re outside on a nice, clear night and you look up at those stars, marvel at how many of them there actually are or may be. And when you consider yourself in comparison to them and the seeming insignificance that you might feel. Remember the Son of Man has come to save you. God, who numbers the stars, even names those stars, knows your name. And he’s even given you a new name. A name, the name Christian. You’re named after his son, in whom we have eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins, redemption.

Psalm 46, Matthew 28:20

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Today, I’m going to share some of the comforting things that God has in store for us in Psalm 46. The Psalm says he is our refuge and our strength. A fortress is how Luther translated it. He’s never absent. Jesus promised, surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age or the end of the world. [Matthew 28:20]

Well, anyway, I love this psalm because I grew up out in Washington state. I was 12 years old on May 18th, 1980, and I know that probably that day, date, probably doesn’t mean a lot to many of you, but for kids from Washington back then, it was an unforgettable day. On Sunday, May 18th, 1980, at 8:32 a.m., Mount Saint Helens erupted. 1300ft, more than that, were blown off of the top and off of the side of the mountain. When the ash finally finished falling and all the dust settled, there’s this gaping crater that this hole in her north side. But still, in spite of that, she’s still there. Saint Helens, she’s over 8000ft to tall.

So with Psalm 46 in mind, think for yourself. What would it take? What kind of eruption? What kind of earthquake? Tsunami? Or God forbid, what kind of horror of nuclear war would it take for all the mountains to be leveled, to be thrown into the midst of the sea? And speaking of disasters, think of the chaos that would ensue in an eruption, in an earthquake. We see when Florida is trying to evacuate in front of a hurricane. The roads are clogged. Hospitals are overrun. Stores are empty. Their shelves are empty. Well, Psalm 46 assures us that if a mountain is gone the next day, if the entire Cascade Range or the Rockies or the Alps, we would wake up and find them gone, that we won’t wake up and find the Lord gone.

God is our refuge and our strength. He is ever present. There’s never a time when he will not be with us. Because didn’t God the Son come here, become incarnate for us? And wasn’t he rejected by those he loved by his own people? Wasn’t he hated by them? Didn’t he breathe his last and give himself into death?

Take your thumb and tuck the last two fingers of your hand behind the thumb. Three right. Three digits. Sort of tucked away, sort of hidden. And then what are you left with? You’re left with two. Two standing there together. Two fingers.

When Christian pastors, priests, ministers proclaim God’s blessing on God’s people, they often put their hand in this configuration, the three the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity are tucked away, somewhat veiled, but those two that stand so prominent for everybody to see. Those two represent the two natures of Christ, true God and true man together, one Christ. And that is how God’s people are often blessed.

So the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge because God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God sent the Son of God here to this world to give himself into death, to rise again for our salvation.

So whether it’s the latest disaster that you’re seeing on the news and all the chaos that ensues, whether it’s rumors of war or real wars, whether it’s false friends or whether it’s your health that’s failing. I pray that the promises God has for you in Psalm 46 and along with Christ himself, will be your strength and your comfort. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Amen.

Psalm 98

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Today’s Psalm, Psalm 98. Let’s take a deeper look at these verses. It says that we are to sing a new song. It’s a fresh song. It’s something that’s never been heard before. This means all the way back to Adam and Eve. No one has ever seen or let alone done this new thing. And again, that Hebrew word has got the sense of being fresh. In other words, it’s not old. It’s not moldy or mildew y. It’s alive, it’s fresh. And it’s a miraculous thing because God has revealed the sense of that word is unhidden or unveiled his salvation.

Now here’s something really cool that Hebrew word for salvation is also the Hebrew name Jesus. Or they would have pronounced it Yeshua. God has uncovered, unveiled, unhidden Yeshua. Salvation. Jesus. And he’s shown this dropping down to verse two, to all people.

In verse two we find a great word goyim. And that’s me. I’m from, my ancestors or from northern Europe, and that’s probably you. Goyim is everyone who’s not Jewish whose bloodline can’t be traced back to Abraham. We’re the filthy masses, the unwashed, we’re the Gentiles conceived and born in sin. But the Psalm says that there’s this new song of salvation, this new song, a fresh song of Yeshua for all people.

Because verse three says, God’s remembered. He didn’t forget his mercy, his love. All the ends of the earth are going to hear about this and see it for themselves. Verse nine, it says that he’s coming. The Lord is coming and he’s coming to judge the world. He’s going to decide about the world and its fate, but he’s going to do it in righteousness. Right before God. So how can the world, how can the people, the Gentiles, be judged to be righteous? Well, there’s a new thing. It’s Christ, the crucified and risen Christ. So that new song, that thing that’s now unhidden for all the world, that salvation is the risen Christ. So that new song, that unhidden salvation fresh and never before seen. It’s God the Son giving himself for you, dying and rising.

We usually hear, see, Psalm 98 on Easter morning. What better day of the year to sing about this new, this brand new, never before seen thing than on the day our Savior conquered sin and death for us? Read Psalm 98 for yourself and the Lord bless and keep you.

Psalm 16, Psalm 23, Acts 2

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The first two verses of Psalm 16, a Psalm of David preserve me, David prays. In other words, keep me safe. I take refuge in thee. I hope in you. I trust in you. Jump down to verse three, it mentioned saints. It mentions holy ones. It uses the word excellent ones as another translation, royal ones, and in other words, God’s people.

But wait a minute. Aren’t God’s people sinful? We are. So how can we be called saints? Well, we’re called saints because we’re made holy. We’re made saints because our sins are paid for. We know that. We believe that. That’s what Jesus has done for us, which means that we are the excellent ones. We are royalty, children of the Heavenly Father, princes and princesses of Heaven itself.

Drop down to verses five and six. Did you ever eat in a school cafeteria or in a military chow line? Maybe you learned to be extra nice to make friends with the lunch ladies, might not have been ladies serving, because they give you a little bit extra food. Well, verses five and six talk about the portion that the Lord has given us. The portion that God serves up is God Himself, the Lord himself. In Psalm 23, David speaks about that, saying that his cup is overflowing. And verse six says that the lines, thats boundary lines, property lines, the place, the home that God has prepared for you is fallen in pleasant places. It even talks about an inheritance. You’re in God’s will so that when God died, you inherit what he has: his righteousness, his holiness, the forgiveness of your sins.

Verse eight says that I have set the Lord, always set the Lord before me. He’s my foundation. What that means is my life is now built on this. It’s built on him. There is no other foundation that anyone can lay, a permanent foundation, than that which has been laid, laid down: Jesus Christ. And this is a foundation so firm that the Psalm tells us it can’t be shaken. It doesn’t budge. It doesn’t sag or slip with age. Soul, my heart, my being, my frail mortal flesh, which grows older and weaker every day, it rests secure. Because even though I do grow weaker every day, even though my grave is somewhere out there in the future, God promises not to desert us. He won’t leave us in death and in hell, in Sheol.

And in verse ten, Psalm 16:10, we’re told how all this is possible. It says, you will not let your Holy One see corruption or see decay. What is that? Who is that? The Holy one. It’s singular. Well, if we jump into the New Testament Acts chapter two, we’ll find Peter preaching on Pentecost Sunday, and Peter quotes from Psalm 16, verses eight, nine, 10, 11. Peter says, first and foremost, this is about Jesus. God didn’t abandon him when he gave his life for us. God didn’t even let his flesh see decay or corruption. And like Peter, we’ve all sinned. In our thoughts, words, deeds. We’ve all denied being his, his saints, his royal ones. But because of Christ, God didn’t abandon us to the grave or doesn’t abandon us to Sheol, to hell. Now all who trust in him will be with him.

Verse 11 captures that. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there’s fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So because of Christ and all that he has done, every single word of Psalm 16 also applies to you as much as it does to him. I hope you’ll open your Bible, maybe even today, and read Psalm 16 for yourself, and be assured that in Christ, because of him your sins, like Peter’s, they’re all forgiven. They will not be your undoing. You will rest secure, established on the rock that is Jesus Christ. So. May he bless and keep you. And I look forward to seeing you again.

Psalm 1

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Psalm one begins with three postures or positions of the believer. He doesn’t walk alongside the wicked. He’s not going in their direction. And the believer doesn’t stand in the way of sinners. They’ve stopped walking, now. They’re standing there. They’re discussing things. Maybe they’re planning, planning to sin, but the believer is not with them. And third, the believer doesn’t sit alongside, sit with scoffers. He doesn’t break bread with those who mock God, God’s way, God’s word. This doesn’t mean we don’t have friends, family members, coworkers who are unbelievers. It means we’re not participating in their sin.

Instead, the psalm goes on. It tells us what the believer delights in. God’s law. God’s word. More than just the commandments, all of God’s word. That’s his comfort. That’s her companion. Let’s look at an example from nature. A tree or any other plant, it needs water to survive. Back home in Washington, where I live, I can walk outside and I can see trees that are over 100ft tall. And I don’t have to be a great botanist, a great scientist, in order to know at least one thing about any tree that’s lived that long and that has reached that kind of height. It’s a tree that’s well watered well. Psalm one verse three says that the believer is like that. You don’t have to be a great theologian to look at someone, maybe someone that you admire, that you sort of look up to, maybe at church, a kind elderly person. You don’t have to be a great theologian in order to realize that person is well watered, watered with God’s own word, the water of life. Psalm one begins by telling us this is essential to spiritual life. God’s word is. Its essential to producing fruit, to growth.

And it contrasts that with the life of unbelievers, despite any seeming profit or success, that their sin may give them. Their unbelief and their sin have already determined their end. And so verse six, the last verse, it makes one last comparison, the comfort that the Lord knows the way of his people, and that means he knows where we are. He knows what we face. He knows what we struggle with and wrestle with in this life. In fact, the Lord is intimately aware of it all. In fact, we could even say he is personally aware of it. How? How can God, who is spirit, God who is perfect, be personally aware with all that that we wrestle and struggle with and as we try to produce fruit and at times we don’t produce the fruit, we should?

Psalm one is a perfect description of Jesus who did delight in God’s Word and who submitted himself to God’s law. But because of Jesus, because of him, his relative Elizabeth once called him the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb, because of him and that fruit all of God’s people are blessed. We’re blessed in him, and we are like trees that are living beside streams of water, trees that are well watered.

So Psalm one, have a read of it yourself, and in it, first and foremost see Jesus, your Savior, the Blessed One of the Book of Psalms, the Righteous One in whom we’re nurtured and in whom we grow. So it’s about him. And because it’s about him who took on our nature, it’s about us, our brother, our Savior. God bless you and we’ll see you again.

Isaiah 2:4

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Hi there, I’m Tony Pittenger, I’m the pastor out at Bethany Lutheran Church in Port Orchard, Washington. And back on September 28th, 2025, we celebrated our 80th anniversary. And on that anniversary day, I shared a picture like this with them, telling them that it was on June 6th, 1944, men loaded a boat with supplies and the boat was destined for the opposite shore. And over on the opposite shore were people in bondage, people that had been conquered, people living in fear of death, in fear of slavery, even. And so that boat was launched and it came to the opposite shore. The supplies were unloaded, they met up with some advance party that had already been there, and they made their way up from the beachhead, up toward those people that desperately needed their help.

But the boat that I’m talking about was not a landing craft. It was a simple rowboat. The supplies that were loaded into that boat were for a Vacation Bible School, which was going to be conducted in the little town of Port Orchard, Washington. You see, there are some real strong World War II, even D-Day connections with the congregation that I serve. Not only that date of June 6th, 1944, but it was because of World War II, because of all the sorrow, the suffering, the captivity that Hitler and the Nazis had brought to mainland Europe was because of that, that a shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, saw a massive increase in their work repairing ships, building new ships. And because of that, a little sleepy town of Port Orchard, Washington, saw an increase in population as more people came to the Pacific Northwest to help in the war effort.

But a lot of those people didn’t know about their Savior. And so they were in captivity, the captivity of sin, slaves to sin, living in fear of death. And what would happen after death. And so that Vacation Bible School effort that was launched on June 6th, 1944 was to announce freedom to the children living in Port Orchard. Soon, that Vacation Bible School grew into Bible classes for the parents and for other adults, and shortly after that, worship services, services of Word and Sacrament were being held in Port Orchard.

My congregation’s connections between World War II don’t end there. As the church grew, a new church was built. They wanted a bell for their belfry, and they especially wanted a bell from a ship that had served during their start up during World War II. And it’s very fitting that the bell they found was a ship from the Pacific Fleet. When a ship from Bremerton, Washington, the USS Missouri, sailed into Tokyo Harbor and the Imperial Japanese Navy signed an unconditional surrender, and finally, peace was restored. And so a bell was found from one of those battleships, and it hangs in the belfry.

The ship’s bell would warn of danger. Incoming dive bombers, torpedo planes, in thick fog a ship’s bell sounds out to all the other ships, its sister ships, letting it know its location, letting it know the way. When Jesus returns, the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, all other military places will be closed forever. They’ll no longer be needed. We’ll no longer need to repair or build battleships. Our spears will be beaten into pruning hooks, our swords into plowshares. And as the Bible promises, we will train for war never again. (Isaiah 2:4)

But until our Savior does return. I pray that that bell at Bethany, your own church bells, your own churches will continue to call out to sound out of a peace that has been promised the peace of heaven. The Prince of Peace himself, who has not only lived for us, died for us, but who has promised that one day he’ll take us all there. So God bless and keep our churches as they continue this work of peace, proclaiming that Prince, the King of all, and his imminent return. Until we see each other again, God bless and keep all of you. Amen.

1 John 2:1, Psalm 32:1-5

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Hi there. My name is Tony Pittenger. I’m the pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church out in Port Orchard, Washington. And when I was a teenager, there was a television show on late nights, and the host had these blue cards, and he would do a top ten of this, top five of that. And so sort of in that tradition, dear fellow redeemed, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you top five dumbest things that people have done in the Bible.

All right, number five, messing around with the wife of a Nazarite. This goes back to Samson. It’s in Judges chapter 14. Samson had been promised his wife. We don’t even know her name, but she was eventually given to someone else. And, well, read Judges 14. You’ll see that did not go well for those people.

Number four, dumbest things that people have done in the Bible, making fun of a prophet’s hair, especially a bald prophet. This is in Second Kings chapter two, and there are some kids making fun of Elijah and his lack of hair. That was a very dumb thing to do, disrespectful. As two she bears came and well, taught them a lesson they wouldn’t forget.

Number three, chasing God’s people into the heart of the Red Sea. This is Exodus chapter 14 as Pharaoh and his army, even though there are walls of water on the right and on the left. Hey, if the Israelites are safe down there, maybe we will be to. And in they go.

Number two, going sailing when God tells you to go to Nineveh. That’s the prophet Jonah. And I think you know that story well. Jonah got an up close sort of an immersion class in marine biology for disobeying what God had told him to do.

But the number one, number one, probably dumbest thing that you can find humans doing in the Bible hiding from God after you’ve sinned. This is Genesis chapter three. This is Adam and Eve, and they’ve been told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They fall for the devil’s lies. They fall for his temptations, which is a terrible thing, which is a sin. But then, when God comes looking for them, calling out to them, they hide.

And if you think about what a natural thing, maybe because we’ve inherited that from them, don’t we do that too? Don’t we hide when we’ve sinned? Don’t we avoid God? We avoid his church? Avoid his Word? Because we don’t want to be confronted with what we’ve done. We hide from him when we need him absolutely the most.

The Bible tells us

If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 2:1)

Hiding from him is the worst thing that we could possibly do. I wish the story said that Adam and Eve went running up to him and saying, Lord, Lord, Father, we’ve done something wrong. We did something we weren’t supposed to do. But they don’t. But God does. God goes looking for Adam and Eve to tell them about a Savior. Psalm 32.

How blessed is the person whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the person whose guilt the Lord does not charge against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away as I groaned all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My moisture was dried up by the droughts of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover up my guilt. I said, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:1-5)

My friends, dear fellow redeemed, remember those dumb things we naturally do. We hide from God. We avoid him. Remember, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. And remember that blessed are you, all those with whom the Lord does not remember does not count their iniquity. Confess our sins. Run to him when we fail. Run to his loving arms because we have a Savior, Jesus Christ.

I pray you’ll remember that. And until we meet again, God bless and keep all of you. Amen.

Matthew 5:48, Psalm 14:3, 1 Peter 1:18-19

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Hitting a baseball is said to be one of the most difficult things to do in all of sports. The ball is coming at you at 95 plus miles per hour. It’s moving, it’s dropping, it’s curving. And the surface area of a baseball bat, they say there’s less than 5% of the bat is the sweet spot, the part that’s going to make contact and result in a hit. Even after that, that hit might just be a pop up. It might be hit straight back to the pitcher, who knows? But hitting a baseball, one of the most difficult things to do in all sports.

In the year 1941, a player named Ted Williams, he had a batting average of .406. Call it .400. What that means, though, at .400, is that six times out of every ten times he was at the plate, Ted Williams got out. He went down swinging. He popped up. He didn’t get on base. Six out of ten times. That was 1941. And since then, no one has had a batting average better, a season average better, than Ted Williams .406. Most modern players would be thrilled to be batting .300. That means they’re failing seven out of every ten times that they get up to the plate.

Well, Jesus said in Matthew five, verse 48,

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

If this were baseball, perfect means you’re getting on base every single time you’re making contact, you’re getting a base hit, or you’re even hitting a home run. But a 1.000 batting average. If we were talking about baseball, if our Lord was talking about it, but he’s not. He’s talking about life. He’s talking about us and our behavior. Be perfect. Not three out of ten, four out of ten, not even nine out of ten times. What the law demands from us is perfection. That means in everything we do, in everything we say, even in everything we think, in every little temptation that comes along that we don’t entertain it. We don’t think about it, but we’re too chicken to do it. Even that is sin. That is imperfection. And that condemns us.

Now, Adam and Eve, there was a time when they could have been perfect, but they chose not to. And because they did all of their offspring, you and me, we can’t do it. Psalm 14 verse three says,

There is none who does good, not even one. (Psalm 14:3)

No one. No one but Jesus.

Jesus was perfect. And if it were baseball, what that means is that Jesus got on base every single time he was up to the plate. He never failed. He never went down swinging. He never struck out. He never got to the base late, the ball getting there before he did. Jesus, if it were, baseball would have a 1.000 batting average. A sure thing, but it’s not about baseball. It’s about our life. His life and our life. Because he was perfect for us. He came and he fulfilled the law. Doing what we can’t do. So that someone would have a perfect record, a perfect average. And he applies that average to you. He gives it to you.

Saint Peter, who knew a thing or two about striking out, right? Three denials. Saint Peter later on in life, Peter wrote this.

You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

So, my friends, the next time you go down swinging, the next time you fail, the next time you fail miserably to be perfect. Remember your Savior who was perfect for you, who stood there for you to do what you cannot, and who has ransomed you from that futile ways that we’ve inherited from Adam and Eve ransomed us with his precious blood. I pray that’s a comfort to you. I’m Pastor Pittenger, and until we see each other again, God bless and keep you. Amen.

Mark 10:33-34

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One of the most famous moments in baseball history was game three of the 1932 World Series. New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs. The game is tied 4 to 4, and this game is being played in Wrigley Field. Babe Ruth steps up to the plate. Pitcher winds up, delivers. He just watches it go right by strike one. So the dugout for the Cubs starts catcalling, starts calling them all sorts of names, laughing at him and Babe Ruth points. Some say he was just pointing at the pitcher, but he says he was pointing at the centerfield bleachers. Ball comes back to the pitcher, wind up in the pitch right past him. Strike two. Dugout erupts even more with laughs and jeers. Babe Ruth the Bambino, very calmly again points up. He points toward the center field bleachers. Takes a stance. Pitcher winds up, delivers a curve ball, and Babe Ruth smashes it right into the center field bleachers. A home run, breaks the tie, Yankees went on to win that series.

What he did, what Babe Ruth did was he called his shot. So I started digging around, looking at the math and all that. Turns out, since Major League Baseball started, the chances to call your shot, it’s over 10 million. There have been over 10 million at bats in Major League Baseball. Babe Ruth is the only one to have ever successfully done it. Few others have tried foolishly, arrogantly, but no one has.

Well, anyway, that got me to thinking about how Jesus called his shot. Because you see, everyone who’s ever faced the devil has been sent back to the dugout, even to the grave. Right? Adam and Eve. Noah. Abraham. David. Samson rippling with muscles. Ruth, Hannah, Peter, James, and John. All of them have stepped up to the plate, and they have either swung at the garbage that the devil has given them, or sometimes they’ve just stood there. Stood there frozen while something good has gone right by them. Maybe a few have been lucky enough to make contact, but it’s either a pop up or they don’t get to base in time. So then a carpenter’s son from Bethlehem. He steps up to the plate. He’s dressed in our uniform, that is he’s dressed in flesh and blood. And the Lord Jesus called his shot. Jesus says,

“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the experts in the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” (Mark 10:33-34)

I like to think of Palm Sunday as Jesus coming up into the batter’s box, calling his shot, Jesus pointing past the cemetery, past hell itself, Jesus pointing all the way to the resurrection, calling his shot. So what does this mean? Well, what this means is that for all the times that the devil has struck you out, has had you swing at all that trash that he offers you for all the times that you stood there just paralyzed while something good, something right has passed right by and you didn’t act. Even for all the times you’ve made a little bit of contact, but you were thrown out. For all those times, Jesus said on the third day he will rise. Dressed in our uniform, in flesh and blood like we have, Jesus pointed to the resurrection and said that no matter what happens, I will rise and you will rise as well.

Next time you’re watching a game, even just listening to a game on the radio, next time a batter steps up to the plate, remember your savior and how he pointed beyond the grave and how he pointed toward the resurrection. So when the ninth inning of your life comes to an end. Or the ninth inning of this world comes to an end, the scoreboard is going to say that you won.

I’m Pastor Pittenger, and until we see each other again, God bless and keep you. Amen.

2 Corinthians 5:17

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You are a hypocrite. Yes, you. You are. You who are watching this Christian devotion on a Christian topic or subject matter, a hypocrite. Let me give you my proof.

Have you ever lied? No? Well, have you ever withheld truth from someone? Let a coworker, a family member, spouse think or assume one thing when you knew that the truth was something else? Have you ever been angry with or at someone else, called them names? Even if those names never slipped past your lips, those mean dirty, foul words at least passed through your mind. Jesus says that is breaking God’s commandment against murder. Jesus says lust is committing adultery with another person in your heart. Disrespect for authority. If you have said, or if you have thought, rude, contemptuous things about our current president, you have broken God’s commandment for authority. And if you haven’t, you haven’t said or thought any of those things about our current president, very likely you said or thought them about the previous administration.

Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy can be defined as when our actions are opposite from what we say about ourselves, or how we identify or label ourselves. You are a hypocrite, but you’re a hypocrite because you’re a child of God. You are God’s son or God’s daughter. You are precious. You are redeemed. You’ve been cleansed and renewed. You see, our hypocrisy isn’t in calling ourselves or thinking of ourselves as Christians. No, no, that’s not it at all. Because Christian, child of God, that’s the true part. That’s the part that God Himself has accomplished and established. That part of us is more solid than the ground beneath us.

Second Corinthians five verse 17 says,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Our hypocrisy is our sin. That’s when we are acting like hypocrites. It’s when we break God’s commandments even in our thoughts. That’s when we are being hypocritical. That’s when we’re not being genuine to who we are. A new creation. Because who we really are is God’s, his children. We’ve been purchased and cleansed on Good Friday long ago, buried with him, risen with him three days later on that first Easter Sunday.

We are like Adam and Eve. They’re part of us. Adam and Eve created in God’s image. The children of Israel, once slaves, once captives, but freed and traveling, sojourning to a promised land. We are like Daniel, sleeping soundly and safely while surrounded by predators. Surrounded by lions. We are, like Jonah, kept safe in the deep. Called back to life from the deep. We’re like all those people that Jesus healed from their diseases, and cleansed from their demons, and raised from the death.

We are his people. We are children of the Heavenly Father, waiting for him to return and to remove these last traces of sin. These last traces of hypocrisy that still reside in us. God help us, each and every one of us, to live as we really are, as we’ve been remade to be. God help us for Jesus sake. Amen.

Psalm 51:5, Galatians 3:26-29

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My name is Anthony Bruce Pittenger. Pittenger comes from my dad’s side of the family. That was the name of the man who adopted my dad when he was just an infant. And so Pittenger is a part of my identity. Bruce, Bruce also comes from my dad’s side of the family. Grandpa Bruce is the name of the man who raised my father, and I was given his name as my middle name. Anthony comes from my dad’s side too. That was my father’s first name. So I’m Anthony Bruce. He is Anthony Frank. Those are things that are part of my identity on my mom’s side. My mother’s maiden name is Blohm. B-L-O-H-M, an old German name. And you can probably tell just by looking at me that my ethnicity, my roots, are from northern Europe.

What about your identity? Your ethnicity would be a part of your identity. Your name. Your first name. Your middle name. Your last name. Your mother’s maiden name. Our government identifies us with driver’s license numbers. That’s how Washington state identifies me. We have Social Security numbers that the federal government identifies us with. But what is your identity in God’s eyes?

That identity, the beginning of that identity, isn’t very good. Psalm 51:5 tells us that we are sinful even from the time that our mothers conceived us, and so that sinfulness it is, unfortunately, it is a part of our identity. Some of you who are watching this may be living with consequences of your own sinful actions, your own sinful decisions, long term, maybe even lifelong consequences. Someone could be watching this right now from a prison or a jail cell, and as a prisoner that is a part now of their identity because of decisions or actions they’ve made.

Everyone, myself included, we’re all growing older. We get weaker. We’re either racing or inching, at least, toward death and the grave. So sinful and mortal, that’s a part of our common identity. But that’s only a part. Here are some other parts. Loved. Forgiven. Redeemed. Cleansed. Renewed. That’s also who we are. There are a whole lot of verses in the Bible, but Galatians 3:26 through 29, this is one of my favorite identity verses. The Apostle Paul says,

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 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. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

There’s a lot of talk nowadays about identity theft. We need to be cautious and wary using our personal information online. The devil wants to rob you of your identity in Christ. The devil wants to lead you so deeply into sin that you can’t imagine that you could be saved or loved by God. Or the devil wants you to be so ambivalent and carefree about sin that you start to think sin doesn’t really matter. But no matter how he does it, what Satan is trying to do is to steal, to snatch your identity. The identity of Galatians 3. Baptized. Child of God. Heir of heaven itself. Your past sins prove to the rest of us, what? Prove that you need a Savior. Prove that you need saving. Even your present sins that you still commit. These things prove that you need a Savior. Scripture proves that you have one.

God has provided a Savior, a new identity for us in Christ Jesus. We are loved. We are saved. We are redeemed. We are children of the Heavenly Father. That’s who and what you are because thanks be to God, that’s part of your identity. Until we see each other again, God’s grace and peace be with you. Amen.

Psalm 51:17, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Matthew 26:36-46, Luke 22:42, Matthew 7:9-11

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If I asked you for something, if I asked you to do something for me, I suppose you could answer in at least one of three different ways.

You could answer yes. You could do exactly as I’ve asked you to do. Or give me exactly what I’ve asked you to give me.

You could answer no. You could simply not be able to or not be willing to do what I’ve asked, or give me what I’ve asked for.

Or you could answer differently. The answer might be yes, but not on the timetable, the time frame, that I’ve asked for. Or maybe your answer is yes, but you end up doing something very different, or a lot more than anything I’ve even asked for.

Well when we pray to God, when we come to him in prayer and ask him for things, God answers in those three ways as well. In Psalm 51, verse 17. God promises

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)

If I come to God in prayer or in church confessing my sin, and I ask him to forgive me, his answer there is an absolute yes. God doesn’t say, maybe, maybe next week. I’ll think about it. God doesn’t answer no. God’s answer is an unequivocal yes.

There are other times when I pray, when I ask God for something, and maybe his answer is no. For example, as he answered, when the Apostle Paul prayed to him concerning a what he called a thorn in his side, some kind of impediment, maybe it was a handicap, an illness which Paul was convinced would, if it were removed, would make him a better servant of the gospel. God’s answer was no. No, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect, is perfected, in your weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9) Sometimes God answers no.

There’s comfort, I think, there. In the company of Saint Paul and of our Savior Jesus. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane to have that cup pass from him. To not have to suffer for the sin of the world. If there was another way to save and redeem the world, and God the Father answered his own Son, his only begotten Son. No. (Matthew 26:36-46) So there is comfort in that company of our Savior and of Saint Paul.

There are other times when God’s answer might be different. Different from what we’ve asked. Not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 22:42) Sometimes God’s will is very different than what we’ve asked. In Matthew seven verses nine through 11, Jesus says,

Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone? Or who, if his son asks for a fish, would give him a snake? Then if you know how to give good gifts to your children, even though you are evil, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9-11)

What a gift, what a privilege we have in Christian prayer to come to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, knowing that through the Son, God loves us. God has our eternal welfare in mind and that we can ask him for anything and that he will answer. Sometimes yes, maybe. Sometimes no, maybe sometimes differently, but that he will answer in the absolute best and most loving way that there can be.

So my friends, keep up with your own prayers. Pray to God for whatever it is that you need, whatever worries and concerns are on your hearts and know that in Christ God will answer you.