The Master's Minute: Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Master's Minute

Current

ARCHIVE 2007

The Master’s Minute

1/07/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! We all have glass vases and jars in our homes. They are very fragile. Yet glass vases often last longer on earth than a human being. Why is that? Because man’s sin brought death into the world. And “that which is born of flesh is flesh.” (Jn. 3:6)

Even Moses was “flesh born of flesh.” He was frail just like us. As a little baby he had to be hidden from murderous Pharaoh in the bull-rushes near the bank of a river. There is plenty of evidence in Scripture that the man, Moses, was a sinner and under the wrath of God by nature. And yet, the introduction to the 90^th Psalm calls Moses,“the man of God.”

Moses was a man of flesh; but he was also “a man of God.” A man of God is MORE than a man of flesh! A man of God is one who as been reborn -- regenerated by the Spirit of God who works faith in Christ. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6) Everyone who has faith in the Christ and His gospel of forgiveness is truly of God. All who have this faith in Christ have come forth from God!

As we enter upon the new year, two things are certain for us all. FIRST, we shall carry with us the same fleshly baggage that hindered us this past year. The problems and pain, peculiar to our pilgrimage will pursue us. But SECOND, if we are OF GOD, through faith in our Savior from sin, death, and hell, we shall carry this blessed identity into the new year, and we shall be uncondemned, carefree and courageous as we journey through 2007.

This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

1/08/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Have you begun to think about your times in the new year? Who hasn’t? God has appointed and fixed a time when He shall judge the world. In fact, He is coming to do that very thing at this very moment. God has also determined the exact length amount of time each of us will spend on this earth. But please, do not think of your times in terms of the hands of the clock, but in terms of the hands of the Christ!

With each passing hour of every day n 2007 the cold hands of the clock will push and drive us here and there; but the flesh and blood-warm hands of the crucified and risen Christ draw us ever closer by faith to God in heaven.

The hands of the clock point and alarm. Like the Law, the hands of the clock can do no more than show us whether we are “right on,” early or late. Like the Law of God the hands of the clock violently awaken us from sleep and we are reminded that our times on earth are short on account of sin.

But the arms and hands of our Savior do not point and alarm; they embrace and warm. From the cross they declare to the believing soul that whether we live or die, suffer or prosper, we belong to the Savior God Who sent His own Son into our time and spent His own Son as punishment for the sins of the whole world.

In Psalm 31, the inspired writer says: “My times are in your hands, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” All who call on the Lord Jesus Christ in true repentance and faith, have this same confidence in the hands of their Savior. May this be your firm hope in the new year.

This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

2/12/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Laughter is hard work when you are crying. But it is possible to be happy, to cry, and even to fear at the same time. Christians understand what I am saying. The other day my oldest daughter called. When I picked up the phone, I heard our grand-daughter chattering happily in the background. Her mother said gently, “Lene, not so loud,” and the happy voice continued, but now with a careful and quiet reverence. This is what God wants, that we should always be joyful Christians, with reverence toward God who disciplines us in life.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that rejoicing should go on all the time! “Rejoice in the Lord always” he said. (Phil. 4:4 ff.) Some rejoice in God half the time – when life goes well for them. They are even giddy with excitement about how well their life is going and what fun they are having. But when their health fails and their wealth fades, their rejoicing comes to an end.

Laughter is hard work when you are crying. Still, we have known many Christians who, in the midst of great suffering, live each day with quiet rejoicing and even laughter. King David suffered a great deal in his life, and yet he writes in Psalm 34: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” He had a good reason to say this, for who can hurt or harm the man who has a gracious God? Sin does nothing to him, nor death, nor hell, as David sings in Ps. 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” To laugh always and with quiet reverence before God, one need only rejoice in Him, and His grace in Christ.

This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

2/19/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Many years ago in St. Louis, my neighbor who lived next door to the church was dying of cancer. He was depressed and afraid because he did not trust that Christ had offered himself as the complete sacrifice for the sins of the world. He thought he still had to make satisfaction for his own sins by his own works and sacrifice. It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve when I asked him if he wanted me to open the church windows so that he could hear the singing of the children in the church service that night. The poor man answered quickly: “I have never liked church music!” I am reminded of him when I read these words of Martin Luther:

“When sadness comes to you and threatens to gain the upper hand, then say: ‘Come, I must play our Lord Christ a song on the organ; for Scripture teaches me that He loves to hear joyful song and stringed instruments. And strike the keys with a will, and sing out until the thoughts disappear, as David and Elisha (I Sam. 16:23, 2 Kings 3:15) did. If the devil returns and suggests cares or sad thoughts, then defend yourself with a will and say: Get out, devil, I must now sing and play to my Lord Christ. [What Luther Says, E. Plass, p. 983] . . . Luther was a student of the Apostle Paul who wrote God’s word in Ephesians 5, which says that in the evil days, we are to speak to one another “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody” in our hearts “to the Lord.” (Eph. 5:19) If you don’t have a voice when the devil threatens, then play a tape or a CD that sings of God’s love for sinners and His saving grace, “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

2/26/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! We are living in the age of information and computer technology. We are able to gather, store, and process information faster and more efficiently than any people in history. Many computer operators are being carried away, driven to become informed about everything as fast as possible, as if being informed or “in-the-know” is the way to ultimate happiness and success.

This too is deceit, ala the promises of Satan when Eve ws made to feel ignorant because she did not know evil. Those who travel “the information highway” and know all about the Worldwide Web, but care nothing about knowing this world’s only Savior, remain as morally wicked, and full of sin as they ever were. For in spite of all the information they may gather in the universe, their nature remains unchanged. They will still hide from God in the bushes of ignorance, as did fallen Adam.

This is where God alone comes to our aid. For His Holy Word, the Bible, was not given merely to inform, but to transform,through the renewing of hearts by the working of faith in Jesus Christ. The Good News concerning Jesus is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16) Martha knew much about entertaining her important guest; and while she was doing all the work, her sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet, wanted only to know more about Him through His Word. Jesus told Martha that while she was “troubled about many things,” her sister, Mary, had “chosen the good part.” There is a great deal that we can know in this world, but only one thing we all must know – “the only true God, and Jesus Christ” whom He has sent, for “this is eternal life!” (John 17:3)

This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

3/05/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! A new study shows that college students are more narcissistic than in previous generations. What a surprise! The thinking is that the self-esteem movement in the 80's might have led to this. How astounding! Who would have guessed that pushing self-esteem on kids leads to narcissism? . . .

We’ve been saying it all along! If you look up the word “narcissism” in the dictionary you will find these synonyms: self-admiration, self-conceit, self-love, vanity, self-esteem. Teach children to think highly of themselves and you will train them to love themselves to be “narcissistic.” What do you expect in a society driven by the winds of materialistic evolution and humanism? Because the evolutionists claim that there is no Creator-God, and because the humanists teach that man is his own god, the children of our society have grown up in a very small universe of which they are the center! Each one thinks he or she is the best!

Narcissism is not a glitch in one’s personality; narcissism is self-love. Self-love should not be encouraged by the religious leaders and educators of our day. Rather, self-love is one of the signs of the “perilous times” the Apostle Paul warned about this evil before all others in his second letter to Timothy: “Know this,” Paul wrote, “that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,disobedient to parents,” and so on.

God have mercy on our nation. Do not destroy us for our sins. But spread the word of our salvation: Forgiveness and life through Jesus Christ, Your Son. Amen.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

3/12/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! “When it rains, it pours!” How often we’ve heard it said. Or how about this saying: “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another!” We talk like this when bad news comes at us from many directions, when the trials of life don’t seem to let up. It’s really no surprise that human beings experience a lot of trouble in this world. The book of Job actually says that “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” (Job 14:1)

But we are like the spoiled child who whines because the rain keeps him from going outside to play. The child forgets that while its raining outside, he still has a bike to ride, peanut butter, jam and bread, and a warm and cozy bed. In their weaker moments, even those who believe in Jesus, fail to see His Son-shine behind the clouds of pouring rain. Yet, when Christ-believers stop and think, they know how it truly is with them.

Our Christian faith has its sayings too. For example: Every gift is good and perfect that comes from the Father of lights, Who never fails to shine upon His believing children! (James 1:17-18) “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more!” (Rom. 5:20) If our God is not blessing us in one way, He is blessing us in another! As our Christ reigns, He pours out His daily blessings upon us, even as He is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think . . . .” (Eph. 3:20)

There’s a good reason why those who believe in Christ are not swept away even by a flood of trouble. To God be the glory for the showers of His grace!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

3/19/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Last week General Peter Pace, the leader of our nation’s armed forces, stated that homosexuality is “immoral.” This remark upset the homosexual community and liberal politicians across the country. Those who disagree with General Pace want him to apologize and call homosexuality an “alternate life-style,” or a sexual orientation, or anything, but “sin”!

The importance of this issue goes way beyond politics, or even a person’s right as an American to express his religious views. We are more troubled that many churches no longer regard homosexuality as sinful and “immoral,” even though the Bible has said so for more than 3,000 years!

It’s distressing that so many church leaders reject the Bible as the source of what God regards as immoral and sinful. By this, they lead their people to think that nothing in the Bible is reliably true, including the miracles or God’s message of forgiveness through His own Son. If the God of the Bible no longer regards homosexual practice as sinful and immoral, then perhaps He no longer loves sinful mankind either!

Don’t listen to the false teacher. Instead, read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. There God still calls all who practice sin,“unrighteous,” including “homosexuals” and “sodomites,” yet in the same passage, He still offers His love and salvation to all through His Son, Jesus Christ, Whom He sent to be the Savior of every sinner through His suffering of hell and his sacrificial death on the cross for all mankind.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

4/02/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! “As they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.” – Luke 23:26. No one becomes a follower of Christ simply by hanging a cross around his neck. There are no such things a cheap crosses to bear for Jesus’ sake.

When Jesus says: “Deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me,” He is asking us first to give up that which is dearest to us – our own natural self-love and self-pride. He’s asking us to be willing to do without the things we love and desire in this world, if He should require if of us. He’s asking us to hold and defend His teachings, even though we be ridiculed by our fellows, friends, and family. He’s asking us to suffer every physical illness and even death without complaint in order o bring glory to His saving name.

You see, being a Christian means that we must bear our own cross for Jesus’ sake and for His glory. Before this can happen we need to be brought to a sincere repentance and faith which accepts the personal shame of the cross of Christ.

Simon of Cyrene didn’t volunteer to bear the shameful cross of Christ through the streets of Jerusalem. Neither can you and I volunteer to accept the cross of Christ which includes the shame of our sins. But may God the Holy Spirit move our hearts to take up this cross of Christ and make it our own, just as Jesus denied Himself and took up His cross, loaded with the shame of our sins, in order to make us His own!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

4/09/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! On this Easter Monday, we hope your celebration of Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead continues, and that you look forward to your own resurrection unto life eternal. The truth of the bodily resurrection from the dead, as revealed in the New Testament Scriptures, has been at the center of the Christian faith and hope for 2,000 years. None of the world’s religions proclaim this hope, because none of them offers a blood sacrifice and living Savior from sin. None of them has a living Savior who proclaims in His Word (John 14:19): “Because I live, you shall live also.”

Perhaps, you are like those who reject the truth of the resurrection from the dead because they can’t understand how it could be? Don’t let human reason offend you. Look at how we plant a small seed under the earth; it dies and then produces a new life! Or look at the caterpillar – how it emerges from its cocoon as a beautiful butterfly. If God is able to do such things by His almighty power, don’t you think he is also able to raise His holy Son from the dead, and also give life to those who believe in Him as their Savior?

But true Christian faith and hope in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead does not rest on human reason. Faith in the truth about the resurrection of the dead is created and rests firmly on the revelation given by the Holy Spirit in God’s Word. So, do not be troubled by human reason, which is often wrong; instead, learn to trust the word of your risen Savior God who tells you in John 17:17 that “His word is truth!” Then, like those early Christians, who saw the risen Lord, your Easter-joy will not fade away.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

4/16/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! The governor of Iowa has already pulled out of the raise for the democratic nomination for office of president of the United States. There will be more candidates from both political parties who will pull out of the race for the presidency in the coming months. They will look at their declining popularity in the polls. They will ask themselves: “Why should I continue to sacrifice even more time, money, and life for a job I don’t need?”

Jesus, God’s holy Son, might have asked Himself the same questions. Why did He leave His heavenly throne to take up the most humiliating job a person could have, a job He didn’t need? Why did He continue His campaign to save sinners during those last months when His popularity was decreasing?

Answer: Our Savior was not motivated by ambition or pride, but by purest love. Christ was crucified for us! He didn’t pull out! Far from any selfish purpose, Jesus came to do His Father’s will on earth. Jesus didn’t pull out because He came to fulfill what the O.T. scriptures had prophesied concerning Him. That’s why He told His disciples in Luke 24:46: “Thus is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

He who died and rose again is our faithful Deliverer. Because He didn’t pull out when He sacrificed Himself for the sins of the world, neither will He pull away from us in our time of need. “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5), He promises to all who trust in Him.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

4/23/07 (rebroadcast from 4/26/04)

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Curiosity is a mark of intelligence in man and animal. Curiosity is also dangerous -- It killed the cat when it tried too hard to see into the depths of the well!

So also men drown themselves when they use the dim light of human reason to search out the unsearchable depths of God’s works and ways. A woman whose young son dies of cancer concludes that God is cruel and unjust. A Jewish Rabbi who also loses a son to cancer reasons that God was unable to prevent it!

But God is not ever cruel or unjust, or powerless! The problem is with human reason. It’s okay to wonder Why God is doing this, or permitting that. But curiosity must be stopped from asking “How CAN God do or permit such a thing?” For then we may end up rejecting His Word and His righteous ways. We may lift ourselves up as God’s critics and judges -- a dangerous thing! Far better to stuff the curiosity and say with Paul in Romans 11:33: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!”

To rely on the light of our own reason is like looking out the windows of our homes at night when the only source of light is INSIDE our homes. We need the light of grace which is like the light of day. Like the sunlight, the light of grace does NOT come from us, but to us from above and reveals the way things really are. If we rejoice in the light of grace and forgiveness that is found in the Gospel of Christ, then we will be satisfied that all God’s work is“perfect” and all His ways are “right” in our lives.

This is pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us again next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

5/13/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! On the morning after Mother’s Day we would share these words written by someone else . . .

“God has designated woman’s place in the world and defined her relationship to her husband. The history of the human race testifies to the wisdom of God’s design. Let there be no desire on the part of woman to be different from what God wants her to be. Let there be no attempt to withdraw from the sphere in which God has place her. Let her not be envious of man’s place in life, as though it were more important than the place God has given her. Let her, rather, thank God for the noble position she occupies, for the many wonderful privileges and advantages she enjoys, and for the tremendous influence she exerts.”

In the Bible, Proverbs 31 provides a beautiful description of the virtuous wife and mother, closing with these words: “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her (saying): ‘Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.’ Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who stands in awe of the LORD, she shall be praised. Giver her the reward she has earned, and let works praise her in the city gate.”

We close with this anonymous prayer: O Lord, “to mothers weary and distressed send comfort; to the toil-worn rest. The mother sick restore to health. Give needy mothers of Your wealth. Pity the mother children shun, and visit each forsaken one. Keep motherhood from sin and shame, worthy of its exalted name. God bless the kind and busy hands of faithful mothers in all lands.” Amen.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

5/21/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Last Thursday Christians throughout the world celebrated the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. Our Lord’s ascension shows that the church’s work is to point people to heaven where He has gone, not to the improvement of this perishing world which He left behind. If this were the life Christ wanted for mankind, He would remained on earth when He came; He would have made himself a king instead of a carpenter; He would have killed His enemies, instead of letting Himself be crucified as payment for their sins and the sins of the world. But Jesus told His disciples that through His death on the cross, His resurrection and His ascension He was “going to prepare a place for them” – spacious rooms in His Father’s heavenly home. He told them He would return for them, not to live with them in style on earth, but to take them back to heaven with Him. (John 12-14).

That’s what the angels said in Acts chapter 1, as the disciples watched Jesus ascending into heaven, “out of their sight.” The angels reminded them: “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Saint Sophia was one of the most beautiful Christian Church’s in the world. It still stands in Istanbul, Turkey. But all the Christian images and symbols were painted out and replaced centuries ago with Moslem images and symbols. Still, the image of the ascending Christ with hands stretched out in blessing can be seen coming through the Moslem paint. The picture of Christ may be covered again and again, but He cannot be blotted out. He will return in glory for His believing people! We have His word on it!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

5/28/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! We all have our “favorites.” There are certain people in our lives who make us laugh, love or serve us in a special way, or treat us with tenderness. Our favorites are usually the people who are good to us. We like them the best. We regard them as our “favorites,” that is, we favor them over others.

Not only do we have our favorites, but we also would like to be favored -– to be someone’s favorite person. Do you live from day to day without being anybody’s “favorite.” Is there no one who love you and treats you in a special way? Guess what? Even though you can’t see Him, you are the favorite person of the almighty God of heaven and earth!

Not just one of you, but all of you are the favorites of God. His favors come in many flavors. He has favored each and every one of you with His daily provision of all that you need for your bodily welfare – your physical and mental strength to work, your talents, your good family and friends, and all things. He has favored you with the gift of His only Son to be your only Savior from sin. Perhaps He has also favored you with the gift of faith so that you trust in the perfect life, sufferings, and death of Jesus for your eternal salvation.

Yes, you are a favorite with your God, because He has “favored” you with His spiritual and physical blessings, when you, like me, really deserve nothing but everlasting punishment in this world and the next. Don’t get upset when you see someone else get special favors, while you go unnoticed. Count yourself greatly blessed and happy because You are a favorite of your great Savior God!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

6/04/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute!

We should not be surprised that biblical and Christian terms are trivialized by the world and raped of their meaning. What has happened to words such as “love,” “grace,” or “heaven” and “hell” through the years? And what about the world’s spin on the biblical word “truth”?

The word “evangelical” also suffers abuse. We recall a woman on the Phil Donahue show who was asked whether she wanted to “evangelize” others regarding her weight-loss methods! We are aware of how even many churches uses the term “Evangelical” in their name, and yet by their false teachings wage war against the “Evangel” itself.

The word “evangelical” comes from the N. T. Greek word which means “to announce good news.” The dictionary defines “evangelism” as the zealous preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as through mission-work. Evangelism is nothing else than proclaiming the Good News of Christ!

” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called “Evangelists” because their inspired writings announce the good news concerning Jesus Christ, not because they were “preachy” or tried to gain followers for their own opinions.

The most important word in the name of our church is “Evangelical” : Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church -- CLC. That’s because our church was established for the purpose of preserving and proclaiming the saving Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ, so that the redeemed of God, both here and elsewhere may learn to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Evangelical and evangelize are precious words to the Christian. They speak of what we are and what we do in Christ. This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

Holy Trinity — 6/9/2003 and 6/11/07

Some people ask silly questions about God, like: “Can God make a stone so heavy even He could not lift it?” Or, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Such questions are a foolish waste of time. But let’s take a minute to think seriously about four things God really doesn’t know!

FIRST, God doesn’t know of anyone on earth who has not sinned. “For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

SECOND, God does not know a single person on earth whom He does not love, “For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Jn. 3:16)

THIRD, God does not know of anyone who can save himself from eternal judgment for his sins. “For BY GRACE you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. . . . “ (Eph. 2:8,9)

FOURTH, God does not know any other way for a person to be saved from sin except through His Son. Even as Jesus says in John 14:6: “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes unto the Father but by Me.” And Peter writes: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

There’s no need to ask silly questions about what God knows or doesn’t know, or what He can or can’t do. The important thing is that we get to know Him by faith in His Son Jesus Christ, your Savior.

This is Vance Fossum, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia. Please join us next Monday for a Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

Holy Trinity — 6/16/2003 and 6/18/07

The baseball great, Pepper Martin, was one of the finest infielders in the history of the game. Once when he was asked about his chief ambition in life, he surprised everyone: “My chief ambition is to go to heaven” He answered!

Flippantly, the interviewer asked: “So you want to play the harp, eh?”

“Mister,” said Martin, “I don’t think that’s funny. . . If there’s anything foolish in reading the Bible every day and believing its contents; if there’s anything funny about wanting to enter heaven when you leave this life, then I’m afraid that life in this world is not worth living.”

We agree. What’s the purpose of your life in this world if not to prepare yourself for a better life to come? What kind of outfielder always plays the field, shagging balls all day long, never caring whether he picks up a bat and crosses HOME PLATE?

Are you just playing the field of life, piling up one error after another? What if you’re thrown out of the game before you reach home! Listen to the Bible’s warning: “Come now you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.’ You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Your brief life on earth is a time of grace. During this time your Savior is calling you to Himself through His Word of grace and forgiveness. You’ve already committed many errors playing around in the field of life. Still, He invites you to come to him with this promise: “All whom the Father has given me shall come to me; and He who comes to Me I will in no way cast out.”

This is Vance Fossum, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia, with the Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

6/23/2003 and 6/25/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Is the Bible a thing like the other books on the shelf? Only if God is no longer speaking like some human author of the past.

Shakespeare WROTE, but he does not WRITE.

Abraham Lincoln SPOKE his famous Gettysburg Address, but he does not SPEAK it today.

God does speak today. Not only has He spoken in our past, but He speaks in our present and our future. He is continually speaking!

When the first man sinned, God said, “Dust you are and unto dust you shall return.” God spoke that decree once, but He has been SPEAKING it ever since. The downward run of every person from birth to the grave is proof that His one Word spoken in Eden was enough.

But He spoke again to man in Eden, promising in Genesis 3 that He would send His Son to be the Savior of sinners. John chapter 1 tells us that God SPOKE this word again when His Son came into the flesh of mankind in order to be our life and light to heaven.

God still speaks through the written word of the Bible. He speaks concerning Christ and the issues of eternal life and death.

Don’t come with the notion that the Bible is a thing, the way other books are things. The Bible is not a thing,but the voice of your God, the One Who has spoken and still speaks, so that you may hear him speak to your own poor heart, believe in Him, and live forever!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

7/07/2003 and 7/02/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! There are many Christians in America, but America is NOT a “Christian nation.” The words, “In God we trust” on our money, and “one nation under God” in the pledge of allegiance, do not intend to say that America believes in Jesus Christ as the true God and Savior of sinners.

Most of our nation’s founding fathers were not Christians, but deists; they believed in a Creator-god — but theydenied the Christian God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Jeffersonian Bible, for example, authorized by the U.S. congress, deleted the entire New Testament after the sealing of Jesus’ tomb. Jefferson viewed Jesus Christ as a great teacher of morals, but he did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Who shed His blood and suffered hell for the sins of the world.

Many Americans resent being lumped with Christians whenever someone refers to America as a Christian nation. I don’t blame them. But neither does the God of heaven want to be lumped together with all the false gods worshiped in our nation. “I AM the LORD, that is MY name,” he says in the Bible, “and my glory I will NOT give to another.” . . . “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, except Jesus Christ.” Search the Scriptures so that the Christian’s God may distinguish Himself in your own heart from all false gods. You will be happy to know that the only true God has become your Savior through Jesus Christ!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

6/30/2003 and 7/09/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Has anyone ever told you to “go to hell!”? or looked in your direction and said, “Damn you!”? Did you get the feeling that he wanted you to have a nice vacation? No. He was cursing you, whether he meant it or not! That person may even have shown his ignorance this past week when he said: “It’s hotter than hell outside!” . . . How does he know that the fires of hell will not exceed 90 degrees?

The Bible doesn’t joke about hell. Hell is described as a bottomless pit created for the devil and his evil angels. Jesus speaks of hell as a place of unquenchable fire with constant weeping and angry gnashing of teeth, where the worm of decay and rottenness will never cease!

So, be careful how you think and speak about hell! If you are afraid of suffering eternally in hell for your sins, then look to the Bible and to Jesus today! In Luke 16 Jesus tells of the rich man who died and found himself in hell. When he asked that Lazarus be sent back from the dead to warn his brothers about the torments of hell, he was told:“If they do not HEAR Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced, if some one should return from the dead.”

The only escape from eternal suffering in hell is by hearing and believing God’s saving Word. For “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes IN HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Hear Him as He calls to you in His Word. Keep trusting in Jesus alone for salvation and you will not fear hell.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

7/14/2003 and 7/16/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! A Reader’s Digest article gave advice on how to look for a church: “Ask not what your church can do for you, but what you can do for your church.” Catchy isn’t it? But be careful what you catch from it! This is a religious way of saying, “You only get out of something what you put into it,” or, “If I give my life and service to God, He will give salvation to me.”

This is not the Christian faith, but the self-righteous religion of the human heart. The apostle Paul saw that the people of ancient Athens were very religious in every way. But they did not know the true God. Paul said: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. . . .” Then Paul went on to GIVE them Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, whom God raised from the dead, so that all who want to approach God, must deny their own righteousness and receive the righteousness of this God-Man alone, by faith.

God knows none of us on the basis of our religious devotion, but only on the basis of our relationship to Christ. Therefore, I won’t advise you to go to the “church of your choice” next Sunday, as if it makes no difference which one you choose. Instead, may God graciously lead you to a church of HIS CHOICE, where HE may serve YOU with the one thing necessary for your eternal salvation -- Jesus Christ.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

7/21/2003 & 7/23/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! There’s a difference between “sincerity” and “truth.” For example, you may argue sincerely that 2+2 = 4; but I may argue just as sincerely that 2+2 = 5. Both of us may be sincere, but only YOU are speaking the truth. Those who say that “it doesn’t matter before God, what a person believes as long as he is sincerely trying to do what is right,” are dead wrong!

Sincerity will never save your soul, if you believe the wrong thing. There are millions of very sincere people who drop to their knees for prayer five times a day facing the East. They worship Allah with great sincerity. The really sincere Hindu believer will lie on a bed of spikes or look into the blazing sun until his eyes become burnt-out sockets! Even the Jews, “have a zeal for God, that is “NOT BASED ON KNOWLEDGE,” as Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome.

The Jews did not KNOW the Christ when He came to them. In the person of Jesus Christ, God has already provided His righteousness for the salvation of all mankind. He doesn‘t accept those who try to save themselves by their own righteousness no matter how sincere they are. In our standing before the God of heaven and earth, sincerity does not equal TRUTH. God says plainly in the Bible that it’s not our sincere devotion that will save us, but humble faith in His Son -- whose perfect righteousness covers our sins. Jesus Himself tells us: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, NO ONE comes unto the Father, but by Me.” It does matter WHAT a person believes; He mustbelieve the truth about Jesus Christ, Who came into this world to save us all.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

7/28/2003 & 7/30/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Monotony and boredom are ugly words to many Americans. People spend thousands on travel and expensive hobbies to avoid boredom. They get divorced, or indulge in alcohol and drugs, seeking new thrills and excitement. But in time, all becomes routine again, dull and unsatisfying.

Why is that? Could it be that we were never meant to find lasting pleasure in the physical and material things of this life? King Solomon thought so. He possessed wealth, knowledge, honor, and power, greater than any man who has ever lived. Yet in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us that “all is vanity” -- futility and frustration. He found only one thing worthy of his attention and devotion: “The wisdom which seeks and knows God.”

In the N.T. Paul says that Jesus Christ is the WISDOM of believers. “Therefore,” he says, “if any one is in Christ, he is a NEW creature. Old things are passed away; behold , all things are become NEW.” To the people in Jerusalem on Pentecost Peter said: “Repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times ofREFRESHING may come from the Lord.” To the persecuted Christians of the first century Peter wrote: “ . . . In his great mercy (God ) has given us new birth into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

NEW, REFRESHING, LIVING HOPE -- Just a few words describing the life of the Christian. May you find this life so that you may say with the Psalmist: “In your presence, O Lord, is fulness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

6/16/2003 and 6/18/07 and 7/06/07

Flippantly, the interviewer asked: “So you want to play the harp, eh?”

This is Vance Fossum, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia, with the Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

8/13/07 from 8/4/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Most people think that DEATH is the greatest problem we face in life; but not the French philosopher Sartre. He wrote that “death is absurd and we ought not think about it.” Can you imagine saying to a dying cancer victim: “Ah, death is ridiculous, and untrue. Put it out of your mind!”

Many practice what the philosopher preached. Others spend their lives running from death. But that’s like the man who tried to escape the oncoming train by running down the track! . . . Death is stone-cold reality! Death doesn’t vanish like a bad dream when we awaken!

Still, the apostle Paul laughs at death in I Corinthians 15! . . . And so can we, if we know in our hearts that Jesus Christ took our sins upon himself to the cross and suffered the punishment of eternal death for us. Christ did not ignore death or propose stupid theories about how to deal with it; He simply did away with its power -- our sins!

Christ proved that He conquered death for us when He arose from the dead. He said to His believing disciples: “Because I live, you shall live also.” This is the cornerstone and message of the Christian Faith. Christianity is not the solving of the problems of poverty, race, and war. Instead, it’s the only solution to our basic problem -- sin and death!

The unbelieving French philosopher was a fool to laugh at death. Only the Christian can do that! “O Death, where is your sting?” We say with Paul. “O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

8/20/07 from 8/11/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Do you want to be somebody? For years we’ve laughed at the comedian’s claim that he “Get’s no respect.” But the desire to have the respect and praise of others, is a very serious pursuit in a treacherous world that rejects unborn children and the elderly when they get in the way. The desire to “be SOMEbody” is overwhelming for the child who sees our society honoring those who are particularly useful to the state, strong, beautiful, intelligent, famous, or rich!

When a poor child, mislead by the glamor of TV and sports personalities says to his parents, “I want to be SOMEbody,” how many can answer: “You ARE somebody”? No matter what you become later in life, my child, you will never make yourself greater than God has already made you through faith in Jesus Christ”? Not many will be able to answer their children like that. But it IS God’s truth. It’s the truth I would pass along to all of you who are craving respect, but are not finding it in a godless world. You who are passed over and stepped on because you are overweight, old, weak, diseased, slow of mind, and so on. You should be seeking your glory NOW and forever in Jesus Christ!

Paul writes in Galatians that “we are all the CHILDREN of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” John writes in his first letter to the Christian Churches: “Beloved, NOW are we the children of God.” How can any sinner gain a more respectable name than the everlasting name given to us by the God of heaven? How can we ever have greater riches and power than we already have through faith in our Savior from sin, Jesus Christ!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

8/27/07 from 8/18/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I am deeply troubled that so many worship the false god, Mammon, as they purchase their lottery tickets. Many are hotly pursuing the pleasurable skirts of Mammon, standing in line to buy a “chance” at becoming rich! I wish they would stand in line to hear the free and wonderful gospel of Christ, which promises the sure and certain riches of heaven!

The invitation to all mankind throughout history is still offered as spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Listen, listen to me, and eat what is GOOD, and let your SOUL delight itself in abundance.”

The eternal riches your Savior offers you are absolutely FREE! Christ doesn’t ask you to take a chance in order become rich forever. He has already taken all the CHANCES in your place. Even as the soldiers at the foot of His cross were gambling for his garments, Jesus was fighting for our eternal life, suffering the penalty of eternal death for the sins of the world. His work was finished in those dark hours on Calvary’s hill. His resurrection from the dead declares to all the world that faith in Him is NOT A RISKY THING.. For God Who delivered His Son for OUR offenses, also raised Him again because we have been declared righteous.

Be careful of the numbers game. Don’t determine your life’s wealth and safety by the number of chances you buy. The Lord God Who sent Jesus for you is offering you a free guarantee that all of heaven is yours forever.

The Master’s Minute

9/3/07 from 8/25/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! It has been four years since a practicing homosexual became a bishop in the Episcopal Church by human vote. The Bible clearly condemns the sin of homosexuality in several places. Because God has spoken on this matter, many well-known commentators, religious and secular, were astounded by the Episcopal decision. But this is just one more sign that the “cafeteria Christians” continue to pick and choose which teachings of the Bible they believe are true and which are not, like the church secretary with whom I spoke some years back. When she was asked whether she and the clergyman she served accepted the O.T. account of Jonah and the Great Fish as true, she answered: “Not literally. Rather that story is true in the same way that Disney’s story of Pinnochio is true.”

How about a show of human hands to determine whether to accept the Genesis account of Creation as true, instead of the theory of evolution? Did the miracles of the Bible really happen just as they are recorded? Let’s have a show of human hands! Why not reject 2,000 years of biblical, Christian teaching, and ordain women into the public ministry? Let’s have a show of human hands!

So it has gone for many years in the churches, and the sleeping people in the pews think it doesn’t matter. But it does. For the same Bible that is rejected by the know-it-all leaders in the churches, also reports that the Son of God lifted HOLY, human hands to the cross to earn forgiveness of sins and eternal life for us sinners. Who can be taught by his pastor NOT to believe certain parts of the Bible, and still hold firmly to His Savior in the other parts? I can’t. Neither can you. It’s a matter of our eternal salvation!

This is pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

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The Master’s Minute

(9/10/07)

(Adapted from an article by Missionary D. Koenig)

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Welcome to the Master’s Minute. What do you smell like? Most people

care deeply about what others think of their particular body odor. Americans spend zillions of dollars every year on perfumes and cologne. But those products just fix you from the neck up. Deodorants, body powders, breath mints and mouthwashes are also big ticket items.

According to the publication Communication Briefings, one Japanese business firm reported that air scented with lavender cut key-punching errors by 21 percent. Jasmine-scented air dropped errors by 33 percent and lemon in the air was even better– cutting errors by 54 percent. They determined that lavender reduces stress, jasmine relaxes and lemon stimulates. Odors do make a difference.

This gives new significance to a Paul’s words to Christians in 2 Cor. 2:15,16: "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life" (2 Cor. 2:15,16)

The odor engineers have not done any research as to what happens to people (or a community) when a true believer comes around and gives everybody a whiff of Christ. But Paul says this odor does make a difference. The believer, with the knowledge and life of Christ, gives off the very smell of Christ's sweet sacrifice (note Eph. 5:2). We cannot buy it in a bottle. It does not ooze out of our pores. It comes out in the words of a Christian, our actions and our attitudes. That sweet smell affects everybody around us. So it might not be a bad idea to ask yourself, "What do I really smell like?" If you know Christ as your Savior from sin, your life smells good. And you will naturally make a difference in all those around you.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

9/17/2007

(Adapted from an article by Pastor D. Fleischer)

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! The Holy Scriptures are not ambiguous, uncertain or unclear – never have been, never will be. Those who reject Jesus Christ have always rejected the Bible, but Christian churches are doing it today. From creation to the teaching of the end times, from the incarnation of Christ to the fact of His bodily resurrection, from the fall into sin to the teaching of forgiveness through the sacrifice of God’s Son –everything in the bible has become the playground of small minds that try to outsmart God.

Ambiguity makers have made the Scripture and thus Christianity itself ambiguous to many people. The Pilate question, “What is truth?” Has become fashionable. “How can anyone claim to have the truth?” people ask. “Truth is whatever one wants it to be and whatever feels good,” they say. To them there is no such thing as right and wrong, truth and error, salvation or condemnation.

Ambiguity promoted within Christianity leads to the abysmal ignorance of Scripture that we find among so many. People flit from church to church like humming birds looking for something sweet- something that satisfies their curiosity, tickles their fancy, and entertains their mind. The idea that they might take in some false doctrine never occurs to them.

And yet our Savior sounds a clear warning in Matthew 7:15 to “beware of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing.” This same Jesus, man’s only Savior from sin, also said: “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes unto the Father, but by Me.” Christ, the Author of our faith, and its “Finisher,” didn’t have an ambiguous bone in his body!

This is pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

9/24/2007 from 9/08/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Have you ever heard the old folks share stories of the good times and the high times of their youth? I have. When I was young I wished at times that my youth could pass quickly so that I could have such happy memories. I hope all of you young people out there will one day look back on many happy days of love and laughter. But before you go out and create those memories, listen to wise King Solomon as he writes in Ecclesiastes 11: “Rejoice, young man, in your youth; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your own eyes: But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.” Since we all will have to give account to God for the way we lived, Solomon adds in chapter 12: “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth.”

To gather up the treasures of earth, to gluttonize on the good things the Creator gives us, to madly pursue every lust of our sinful hearts, is all foolishness! Who knows when the Creator-God will call our accounts due and payable through death? Who told you that the strength of your youth guarantees your old age? So, go ahead and make your memories, but first get to know the true God in the Scriptures, through the revelation He has given of Himself in Jesus Christ, your Savior. Good memories are nice. But far greater joy belongs to the Christian of any age who can afford to look ahead to a bright and eternal future in heaven!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

10/01/2007 from 9/15/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! When birthday or Christmas gifts are given, people often decide to give something they think their loved one ought to have, or ought to enjoy, rather than finding out what he or she really wants.

Man treats God the same way. We seem to have it in our religious heads that God should appreciate whatever we decide to give Him -- an occasional visit to church, a somewhat decent life, a little money, ushering one month out of the year, or the thoughtless, mechanical observance of church ritual.

How terribly wrong we are to think that the Almighty God needs or ought to appreciate anything that we decide to give Him. God wants our love and devotion to His Word. And we can’t even decide to give this to him. Rather, your heart, your sincere love and devotion are seized by Him, when He convinces you by the preaching of the cross that He has loved you FIRST and saved you from everlasting death by the blood of His own Son! Only when God has convinced you that ALL your works and services are nothing, and that He alone has saved you through the work of Jesus, ONLY THEN does He cause you to love Him in return from your heart.

Jesus says of the self-righteous: “This people draws near to me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” Remember, dear listener, the Lord of God heaven is not interested in receiving the “DUES” you decide to pay Him as a civic or churchly deed. He desires your heart’s love and devotion because of the good news that He loved you first and has become your salvation, GREAT AND FREE!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

10/08/07 from 10/06/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! A man hung up a sign which read, “Fresh Fish for Sale Today.” He invited his friends to the opening of his store. They all congratulated him on his business. But one suggested that his sign might be improved. “Why the ‘today?’ Of course its today, not yesterday or tomorrow.” . . . So the man removed the word “today.” A second friend said, “Why the ‘for sale?‘ Everybody knows that, or else why have the store at all?” So, off came the words, “for sale.” Then a third friend complained, “Why the word ‘fresh?’ Your own honesty guarantees every fish to be fresh.” . . . Finally, only the word “fish” remained on the sign. But a few days later, another said, “Why the sign? I smelled your fish two blocks away!”

It’s the same with a CHURCH that tries to please everybody. It ends up pleasing nobody, especially not the Lord Jesus Christ. Our church sign reads, “Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church.” We are not here to satisfy the businessman looking for a number of potential customers in the congregation. We are not here as a political force in the community. We are not here to provide our neighbors with another place for social gatherings.

Our sign says that we are in business to please The Holy Trinity whose “evangel” or good news we proclaim to the world. When our risen Lord Jesus left His disciples and ascended into heaven, He commanded them to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever” He had commanded them (Matt. 28:19-20). This is the proper business of a Christian Church. What we have freely received from our Lord, we would freely give to all in His saving name.

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

10/15/07 from 9/29/2003

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Many people have the wrong idea about the nature of Christian faith in prayer. When a Christian expresses his need for prayer to his heavenly Father, or when he speaks of his hope in the midst of great trouble, the scoffer may say: “Unlike you, I am a realist. I take care of my own problems. I will not foolishly place my hopes in someone or something I cannot see!”

So it is implied that the Christian trusts in a vain and illusive theory without substance. Some call it “superstition.” But the Christian faith is not based on theory or human philosophy. Christian faith is a definite, personal experience with Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of sinners. Christian faith is not an escape from life with its trials and troubles; it IS life WITH Jesus. The Christian is a realist; his faith is based on the historic reality of Christ’s life, sufferings and death. Our faith in Christ is the real “substance” of our hopes not yet seen, as Hebrews 11 teaches. And there is nothing more real than our faith, for, as the Apostle Paul says: “The Spirit of God testifies to our own spirits that we are the children of God”! -- Romans 8:16.

Christ will heal the sin-sick sinner,

Grant us grace in every strife.

Trust in Him for He will save you;

He IS the Way, the Truth, the Life!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

10/22/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Extreme Skiers get their thrills from skiing where they have a good chance of being badly injured or killed. Perhaps you’ve seen them jump off cliffs or head straight down a steep mountain side! A former champion was asked about the secret of skiing through a woods. “What you focus your eyes on when you’re skiing in the woods is critically important. You cannot afford to stare at anything you don’t want to hit. Instead of focusing on the trees to avoid, you have to focus on the spaces between them.”

Few of you out there are extreme skiers; but many of you are extreme worriers. Extreme worrying is not something people do for a thrill. It’s something that comes naturally to fallen man and is encouraged by the devil and the world around us. Did you know that the problem of extreme worrying is directly related to our focus in life?

Do you worry about your sins? You must not focus your attention on your sins which condemn you before God, but look to Jesus Who has made a clear path to heaven for you. Once you have focused on Him, don’t stare at the things you want to avoid, but focus on the path your Savior had laid out between them.

Three times in Matthew chapter 6, our Savior urges us, “Do not worry.” In Matthew 6 Jesus shows us where extreme worrying comes from and how to overcome it. Instead of extreme worry, our Savior wants us to have anextreme faith that looks beyond and through our problems of sin, beyond what we shall eat or drink or what we shall wear – He wants His believing people to be focused on Him and His continuing love and care for those who trust in Him. Since “God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will He not also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)

This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

10/29/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! This Wednesday, October 31^st, marks the 490^th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, begun by Martin Luther in 1517, and celebrated all over the world to this day. More than a 100 years before Luther a man by the name of John Huss was burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church for trying to restore the authority of Holy Scripture and the pure Gospel of Christ.

When his persecutors chained him to the stake they gave him a triple crown of paper with devils painted on it. Huss accepted the crown, saying: ”My Lord Jesus for my sake wore a death crown of thorns. Why should not I, then, for His sake, wear this life crown . . . ?”

When the crown was set on his head, the bishop said: “Now we commit your soul the devil!”

“But I,” said Huss, lifting his eyes up toward heaven, “do commit my spirit into your hands, O Lord Jesus Christ.”

So saying, John Huss willingly surrendered his mortal body to his murderers, while gladly commending his life to his Savior.

Yes, we shall live again after death by nothing but simple trust in the perfect merits and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Savior. This is the message of the God’s Holy Word, proclaimed by Huss, uncovered by Luther. Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, by Scripture alone! Eternally blessed are all those who share this confidence throughout the world. All glory be to God for each recovered soul! Amen.

This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

11/05/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Over 45 years ago an 8^th grade biology teacher was explaining to his class that it was not God who created all things as the Bible says, but rather all things evolved from a tiny bit of matter into what we see today. Pondering the meaning of such a theory a student raised his hand and said: “If what you say is really true, then there is no Creator God, Who gave His Son to be our Savior from sin. To accept the theory that all things came into being by chance, is to replace my Savior God with chance. Evolution takes God away and gives me chance in His place. Evolution does not give me the Savior I need, only the Bible does that.” Several other students agreed. That was a long time ago.

“But never mind the Bible” say the post-modern religionists today, “We can’t be entirely sure that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, or that God raised Him from the dead. In fact, we can’t be certain of anything since we’ve discovered that truth is a relative thing; what is true in one community of people is not true for every community.”

This is the message of religious compromise! True Christian leaders do not speculate and raise doubt in the name of science or reason. They do not join the serpent in the Garden and ask, “Did God really say . . .? The preachers of religious tolerance seek the favor of this fallen world. They are really politicians, like Pontius Pilate who, when he was face to face with The Truth, asked, “What IS truth?”

Pilate and the whole Roman empire have perished from the earth. But Jesus Christ, lives! And this prayer for His disciples is still heard: “Heavenly Father, sanctify them through Your truth; Your Word is Truth.” (John 1:17). This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.

The Master’s Minute

11/12/07

“THREE STRIKES! YOU’RE OUT!” . . . How the batter hates to hear those words! They tell him he has failed in the batter’s box! – He let the good pitches get by him and swung at the bad ones, so He is called “out”!

Sometimes we think that life is like standing in a batter’s box. We are afraid there is a limit to how many times we can swing and miss the pitches life throws at us. While we are playing the game of life, we hope that maybe God will allow us four strikes or even five, just as we used to allow the little kids to have extra strikes before calling them out.

But if we still have a conscience that speaks to us, we know that God is holy and He does not bend the rules of the game. Instead, God is like the umpire who “calls them as he sees them.” And unlike the baseball umpire, God has perfect vision, and the strikes He sees are our sins. As the Psalmist says: “My sins are not hidden from You.” (Ps. 69:5)

Yes, God sees all our sins – far more than “three”! He calls them as He sees them – “Strike 1,000!” “Strike 10,000!” “strike 1 million!” – and yet, He doesn’t say to us poor sinners, “You’re out!” – “Go to hell!” . . . Why not? Because even as He saw our innumerable sins against Him, God had His eye on His dear Son, Whom He appointed to pinch hit for everyone of us. Jesus didn’t strike out in life, not ever. Instead, His sinless life and blood sacrifice for the sins of the world have been counted by God as a pinch-hit home run for every sinner. “For God was in Christreconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them.” (2Cor. 5:19) Whoever trusts in Him shall not be “called out,” but shall be called “safe”!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

11/19/07

Many of you may not know what the Book of Leviticus is all about; some do not know where Leviticus is found in the Bible. But everyone who hears my voice this morning will recognize these famous words from Leviticus, chapter 19: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” These words are among the most often quoted and yet the mostmisunderstood in all the Bible.

People say that the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” supports the idea that it is good and healthy to have a positive “self-image.” They think this passage proves that God encourages us to promote a positive self-image by loving ourselves. He does not! Today we are being told that we must love ourselves before we can love others. In the Bible, love for one’s neighbor is not about feelings, but actions that benefit our neighbor. A more accurate translation of the Hebrew in Leviticus 19:18 says, “. . . You shall show love to your neighbor as yourself.” The Hebrew original is therefore not commanding us to feel something, but to do something for another.

Our Savior is the best teacher of what it really means to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Was it because He loved Himself first and felt really positive about Himself that He sacrificed Himself on the cross for sinners like us? Or was it rather that He did NOT think of Himself at all, but only of us? Jesus gives the answer in John 15: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

12/03/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! One reason I really like celebrating Thanksgiving Day is the leftovers. Leftovers not only taste good, they can help us think of the goodness of God. We forget Him so easily after filling ourselves on Thanksgiving Day! God doesn’t quit giving us good things after Thanksgiving. Because life is a new thing every moment, the God of heaven provides all that we need to sustain our bodily life every moment of every day. Our thanksgivings to God ought to be spiritual “leftovers” that continue on a daily basis.

Especially when we are full, we are in danger of forgetting the God. That’s why Moses reminded the Israelites in Deutronomy 8:3 that “man lives by every WORD that comes from the mouth of God.” Our pride makes it difficult to admit that the success of our labors is due to the undeserved blessing and goodness of almighty God We tend to look for God and remember Him only in “the whirlwind and the fire,” – the tornadoes and the earthquakes. We forget that He operates through the “still small voice” of His creating, life-sustaining word!

That word was sent out to create the physical laws of the universe before man was ever formed or lifted a finger to care for himself. When that living Word goes forth from God’s mouth as it has since creation, we LIVE! We are warmed by the sun, nourished by the bread we eat, and refreshed by the air we breathe. Without that word we die! Jesus says that “(God) makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Mt. 4:45) So it’s not our willing or working or praying which warns, feeds, and clothes us. All comes “without our asking, even to all the wicked” by the word of the good and gracious God of heaven. Aren’t you thankful that after Thanksgiving Day, we still have His God’s Word?

Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

12/10/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Worry is useless! It can’t change anything. It can’t take away our pain or correct our mistakes. It can’t prolong life or add a penny to our income. Worry is also hurtful. It robs us of our energy and keeps us from doing our best. It hurts our health and makes others miserable. But worst of all, worry is sinful because it leaves God out of the picture, doubts His existence, His power, and His love for us.

The word “sabotage” is from the French word sabot, which is a wooden shoe. Unhappy French workers would sometimes throw a wooden shoe into a machine to jam it up. Worry is like a wooden shoe that Satan hurts into our lives in order to cause us to doubt God’s existence, His love, and His power to save us.

The only sure cure for worry is to know the God of heaven as our kind, merciful, loving and forgiving Father. And the only way to know the true God is to know Him through His Son, our Savior. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6) In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promises to all His believing disciples, “Do not worry, saying what shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ Or ‘What shall we wear?’. . .

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

To the worrier Paul writes in Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not along with Him also freely give us all things?” Don’t worry. Trust in Jesus! You will live longer and better . . . forever!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church– CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. In West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.

The Master’s Minute

12/17/07

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Christmas has gotten too big for Christ. That’s right! We ought to be celebrating the coming of God’s Son into human flesh to suffer and die for the sins of the world. But the secular santa, and the Broadway Bethlehem are taking over the celebration of Christmas everywhere – Everywhere, that is,except in the hearts of true Christians.

So that your Christmas is not too big for Christ, remember that Christ, the eternal Son of God, came toBethlehem, not to Rome or Jerusalem, or any great city in His day. Bethlehem was “little among the thousands (of cities) of Judah.” And when The Son of God became man He also made Himself “little” in this world, “taking the form of a servant when he came in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:6-8 ) There was no divine glow around Christ’s head when He was wrapped in strips of cloth and laid in that donkey’s feed box!

“I dwell in the high and lofty place,” the Lord says in Isaiah (57:15, 66:2) “with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, and who trembles at my word.” The Eternal Son of God made Himself small and came quietly to Bethlehem and the lowly shepherds, because our salvation is not about the large, the loud and the proud. It’s all about the lowly sinner trembling because of his sins, and humbly believing the Savior’s word that we have forgiveness in His blood. Are you such a “little one? ” I hope so. Because big, bloated, boastful hearts never get Christ inside of them. They are too big to need a Savior! Just as Christ did not come to a Rome or to a Jerusalem, so He does not abide in great hearts, but in little ones. God grant that you may be one of Christ’s little ones!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church– CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. In West Columbia.

The Master’s Minute

12/24/07 (Shortened from 12/22/03)

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Not everyone is happy this time of year. Many are depressed about their physical illness and their own sins. Many feel alone, without comfort and hope in this world.

It doesn’t have to be this way. An artist once drew a sad picture of a dark house, surrounded by dead trees, standing alone in a snow storm. Then, he changed the whole scene with a quick stroke of yellow paint! He put a bright light in one window and suddenly there was a picture of hope and joy. That’s what happened in Bethlehem. Christmas is the real-life scene painted by your God year after year. It tells you that through the Christ born of the Virgin, God’s own precious and beloved Son has come to you with the forgiveness of sins and the hope of everlasting life in heaven.

Are you lonely and depressed? Think of the Christ-child who went from the silence of Bethlehem to the yelling of a blood-thirsty mob outside of Jerusalem. He suffered the agony of hell on the cross, alone. He suffered all loneliness, grief, and pain, for us, that God Himself might be our dearest friend now and forever.

Go, then! Join those poor, lowly shepherds who went to Bethlehem that night because they believed the message God sent to them. In all your dark days and nights the light of your Savior is always shining in the window of God’s love. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD brings sunshine and gladness to every dark corner. He has redeemed you. You belong to Him. Believe it, and you will celebrate His birthday with great joy!

This is Pastor Vance Fossum for the members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia.

The Master’s Minute

12/31/07 (from 12/29/03)

Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Surely by now all the Christmas trees have been undecorated and tossed out. Ah yes, the fallen Christmas tree on the lawn or the burn pile -- a sure sign that Christmas is over for another year. How could we celebrate Christmas without a tree?

How could we even live without trees? They shade us from the heat of the sun. Their fruits feed our bodies, and our homes are made from their wood. The poets have sung of their beauty, and their Creator speaks of them often.

All the trees of the Garden of Eden were for “food,” except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan, who used the tree to overcome man, was himself overcome by a tree 4,000 years later!

Those who trust in the Lord as their Savior are called “trees of righteousness” planted by Him. (Is. 61:3)

According to the visions of heaven in the Book of Revelation, to those who overcome in the fight of faith, God will give to eat from the “tree of life” in the midst of heaven’s paradise. (Rev. 22)

Trees are important to us, aren’t they? -- to us and to God. I hope that before you threw out your Christmas tree, you opened ALL of your gifts at Christmas. For God did not put His greatest gift to us under a tree, but ONit. This is Pastor Vance Fossum for the members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia.

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