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 2008 ARCHIVE
The Masters Minute 1/07/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute. Around 1300 B.C. the children of Israel left Egypt in a hurry. When they arrived at the Red Sea the people yearned for some rest. But then, they saw Pharaoh’s army closing in on them, and the children of Israel were filled with fear! So the Lord calmed their troubled hearts with these words: “Fear not! Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Then He said, “Go forward!”
Stand still! . . . Go forward. That’s good advice for the new year for those who believe in Jesus Christ. If you are a Christ-believer, Satan will sneak up on you, especially, in the days ahead. He will come at you from places you never expected. He and his dogs will nip at your heals, tempting you to commit all kinds of sin, and to reject Jesus Christ as your Savior.
But remember the word of the Lord to His believing people: “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.” Stand still at the cross where my Son suffered the punishment of your sins and drowned the devil in the Red Sea of His holy, precious blood. I have fought for you and will fight for you,” God says. “Stand still and resist the devil with the words of my grace and forgiveness. Then “go forward” in my peace!”
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
Master’s Minute Broadcasts for
1/14/08 (1/13/03)
1/21/08 (1/20/03)
1/28/08 (1/27/03)
The Masters Minute
2/04/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute. The other day I heard that “laughter can add as much as eight years to a person’s life. But laughter is hard work when you are crying. We are frail humans with trials and troubles, and many fears of suffering and dying.
Christians know the secret to laughing and cry at the same time. Once when I answered the phone, I heard our grand-daughter chattering happily in the background. Her mother said gently, “Lene, not so loud!” The happy voice continued, but with a careful and quiet reverence. This is what God wants, that we should always be joyful Christians, but with humble reverence toward Him – remembering and repenting of our sins against Him.
Paul writes in Philippians chapter 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always!” ( Phil. 4:4 ff.) Christians ought to rejoice “always” – in the Lord, even in the midst of trial and hardship. King David, who had his share of trouble in life, also wrote in Psalm 34: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Why shouldn’t the humble Christian laugh in the midst of crying? Who can hurt or harm those who have a gracious and almighty God? Sin has no power over them, nor death, nor hell, as David sings in Ps. 23: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” The laughter of the Christian doesn’t add only 8 years to his life. Rejoicing by faith in Christ, His Savior, the Christian will live forever where there is no more crying!
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
2/11/08 from 2/17/2003
The Master’s Minute
2/18/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Lots of people know “about” the Bible, but few really know the Bible. When was the last time you or your friends recited Bible verse and applied it correctly to the topic of conversation?
One reason church-going people don’t search the Scriptures as well their grandparents did is poor preaching. Many sermons today are designed to make people feel better, rather than to correctly present what the Bible text actually says to encourage faith in Christ. This makes the hearer less likely to listen to the Scriptures as God’s voice to him. We ought to be starting with God, not our needs as we perceive them. We need to ask “What is Godsaying to us in these verses?”
To let the preacher stick his own ideas into the text in order to give people what they want to hear, may lift up the speaker, but it is a “put down” of God! As children we used to stick our fingers in our ears when our parents were telling us things we didn’t want to hear. But what they said was for our own good! As adults we need to put away such childish behavior, and simply listen to what God says to us – for our own good! Jesus says in John 6:“The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are LIFE!
Let the preacher simply preach the Bible text. Only then will the hearer be able to leave church saying, “Yes! My Lord and Savior spoke today, and how wonderful were HIS WORDS to me!”
I’m Pastor Vance Fossum. This message is brought to you by your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
Holy Trinity — 2/25/2008 from 2/24/2003
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” and a sin by any other name would smell as vile.
Today, cheating is called “competing.” Dirty movies are called “movies for mature audiences.” To be a “fornicator” or an “adulterer” sounds evil. But having “pre-marital sex” or “extra-marital sex” sounds no more sinful than ruining your diet with a hot fudge sundae.
We have “pro-lifers” on one side, but not “pro-deathers” on the other side. The Christian Church has always recognized God’s Word that a same-sex relationship is sinful. Today it’s called “an alternate life-style.”
What about these word games? God says: “Woe to them who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; . . . .” (Isaiah 5) This warning is for those who call their sin something else. Christ died for all of us. God wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth in Christ. But He can’t savepretenders, since they deny the true cause of Christ’s death; they deny their own sins!
A sinner by any other self-chosen name is just as lost; a sinner trusting in Jesus Christ has become a “pardoned sinner,” and has been found. May God find us all . . . in Christ, our Savior!
This is pastor Vance Fossum, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, off Methodist Park Rd., West Columbia. please join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
Holy Trinity — 3/03/08 from 3/3/2003
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Some of you don’t like Monday mornings very much; it’s the beginning of another work-week — ho-hum drudgery all over again! Where does it end? Many years ago Leonard Read wrote:“Realistically there is no inn, no ultimate point of arrival. It’s the road now and forever — finite man probing infinity, finding his way, endlessly. All that matters are the lessons learned along the way.”
Now there’s a philosophy that’s guaranteed to ruin your week and your life! How hopeless and fatalistic! We agree that the lessons one learns “along the way,” in this life are important; but if there’s no “inn” of rest at the end, no goal of permanent peace and joy, then what good are the “lessons” of life? Why bother learning them at all?
Truly, the Christian is blessed by the revelation of Christ in His Word! We know our blessed “end — the dwelling place of our risen Lord Jesus in the mansions of heaven’s paradise. “Let not your heart be troubled,” He says. “In My Father’s house are many mansions; . . . I go to prepare a place for you.” Under the guidance and grace of our Lord we trust that the lessons learned along our earthly way will bring us closer to Him Who redeemed us for Himself and for heaven.
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
Holy Trinity — 3/10/08 from 3/10/2003
Welcome to the Master’s Minute. People say, “Show me God and then I will believe.” Philip demanded the same from Jesus: “Show us the Father,” he said, “and it will be enough for us!” Then Jesus answered: “Have I been so long with you and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
Philip’s problem is our problem too! To preach that God allowed Himself to be crucified for the sins of the world, is too wonderful for man’s reason to grasp. Like Philip, we all want to understand so that we may believe. But Jesus tells us that we must first believe in order to understand.
God on the cross is hidden to all people because by nature we are offended by the Christian Gospel. “You mean my good name, honor, and possessions do nothing to help me? Are you saying that I have to put aside my reasoning skills and accept GOD on the cross by faith alone?” Absolutely! But this is an impossible task for our fallen nature.
We are like a person who is subject to attacks of dizziness, who must be blindfolded and carried across a high bridge. So also if we are to be saved, we must cover the eyes of our reason. That Man on the cross IS our God. But we must first believe His Word in order to understand now and finally see God’s face in heaven. Lord, grant us the faith that doesn’t see . . . !
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 Masters Minute
3/17/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute. What sins or pleasures did you “give up” for Lent? Be careful how you answer. If we think that we can gain merit and improve our standing with God by giving up certain sins and pleasures for Lent we are trivializing our sins and God’s grace. Sin is not only about making bad choices or doing the wrong thing. Our lives are contaminated with sin. We sin because we are sinners. That’s the condition that has been passed down from Adam and Eve to every generation of mankind.
Some sins seem more serious than others because of the consequences they bring into a person’s earthly life. But every sin is equally damning before the holy God. In fact, everyday garden variety sins like gossip, greed and lust, are just as worthy of hell before God as murder, robbery, and rape!
No sinner can rid himself of his own sins. What looks like progress in one area usually gives rise to sin in another. Those who curb their tongues during Lent, for example, can easily become proud about it!
Thankfully, Lent isn’t about us giving up something or working harder to avoid our sin. Lent is about receiving the righteousness that Jesus earned for us. It’s about rejoicing in the fact that the Second Adam has overcome the Devil and has paid the price to free us from sin’s condemnation and control. Only by the power of the Gospel of Christ are we enabled to say “No” to temptation and to live our lives to the honor and glory of our Savior God. –
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master. (Adapted from the church bulletin of Pastor James Albrecht, St. John’‘s Lutheran Church – Okabena, Minnesota)
The Masters Minute
3/24/08 from 4/14/03
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! The Easter egg has long been a part of the celebration of the new life of spring. But when the Christian celebrates Easter, he’s not rejoicing over a new form of life that the Almighty Creator has already built into His world. The Christian’s Easter celebration is not about life from life, but life from the dead.
It has only happened once in human history. Nearly 2,000 years ago a man died and was buried who was entirely without sin. Since it is sin which keeps a person in the grave, the Holy Son of God could not be held by death. Christ’s body could not decay in the grave; He had to be restored to life in the resurrection because He never sinned!
Good for Him! But God loved His Son. He did not cram him deep down death’s throat just to prove that He was holy. God delivered up His holy Son for us! “Christ was delivered because of our offenses, and was raised again because of our being declared righteous.” -- Romans 4:25.
The Bible trumpets this Resurrection-Day truth everywhere! 2 Corinthians 5 says that Christ “canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” But if Christ has been delivered to eternal death as full payment for OUR sins, if HE has so far removed the list of our sins against God that it is nailed to the cross, then through Christ, you and I and all people are counted as being holy before God -- without sin!
THAT’S the glorious reality of Easter! Believe it! Rejoice and be comforted by every thought of His resurrection from the dead, for He who loves you and gave Himself for you has promised: “Because I live, you shall live also!” 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
3/31/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute. Do you think you know what the Devil is up to? The Devil is not out to play games with us or lead us into “little sins.” “Your adversary, the Devil, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, being steadfast in the faith ” Peter writes (1 Peter 5:8-9a). The Son of God Himself resisted the Devil by using the O.T. Word of God when He was tempted in the wilderness.
People don’t realize that the emphasis on how one “feels” about a sermon or his church, or seeking “joy” in every religious experience plays into the devil’s hands. The devil tempts us in many ways, but his ultimate goal is always the same – to drive a person away from God’s Word, which the devil fears above all else. For this reason Paul advises in Ephesians 6: “Take up the sword of the (Holy) Spirit which is the Word of God.”
To this very day, the Devil tries to draw us away from reliance on the Spirit of God in the Word to reliance on our own “spirit” without the Word. So also Martin Luther warned preachers that “The Devil has no better strategy to conquer us than to draw us from the Word to (our own) ‘spirit.’ . . . One should stay by the Word and not grant the people the (Holy) Spirit without the Word.”
For this reason, when we hear a preacher or attend a religious worship service, we should not be asking ourselves how good the preacher made us feel about ourselves, or how uplifting the worship experience was. Rather, we should ask: “Did I hear the good news about my Savior from sin, and was His saving and powerful Word the center of the worship service?”
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
4/05/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute. There they go again! Politicians have been giving “truth” a bad name. As a result, people are having trouble placing their trust in them to lead our country.
But more importantly is the damage the dishonest politician does to the whole idea of objective truth. God tells us that the truth is what He has declared it to be in His written word! But many politicians act as if the truth is whatever they declare it to be. So they encourage the false notion of modern society that truth is never absolute, but always relative to how one feels.
Such “political expediency” can backfire. For example, God has declared the objective truth in His Word that He loves all people and gave His Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. (John 3:15-16) But the poor soul who is suffering some great affliction or facing death may think that the truth is that God hates him. The devil and the world re-enforce this lie, saying, “If God truly cared for you, He would not let you suffer like this!” Many people have been led to despair and the rejection of their Savior God because they considered their feelings and judgment as the truth of the matter, rather than letting God define the truth for them in His Word.
In His Word God has declared the truth that pain and suffering in the Christian are used by God to encourage prayer and strengthen faith in his Savior and the hope of heaven (Romans 8, Hebrews 12). God is not a politician, running for office. You can trust Him. His Word “IS truth” --John 17:1.
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
7/21/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Gustave Dore, the great artist was putting the finishing touches to another one of his famous faces of Jesus. Just then a lady stepped quietly into his studio and stood for a moment admiring Dore’s painting of Jesus.
When the artist saw her standing there, he greeted her, and she said, “Monsieur Dore, you must love him very much to be able to paint him in such a manner.”
“Love him, Madam,” he replied, “I think I do love him, but if I loved Him more I would paint him better.”
This is the sincere confession of every Christian who loves His Savior from sin, death, and hell. He does indeed love Him who loved us first and most from the cross; but every true Christian knows also that his very best love-works in this life do not measure up to the perfection that is required by God. “As the great apostle said of himself: “The good that I would, I do not do; and the evil that I would not, that I do.” (Romans 7:19).
What then? While the true Christian strives daily to “paint” Jesus better in the living of his own life, at the same time he confesses his failure, and looks for salvation to the simple and sure message of God’s infinite love and grace, as for example in 1John 4: “God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
7/28/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Are we becoming a nation of lazy parasites, who would rather live off the government and our neighbors than go to work? If so, these words of Solomon are for us: “How long will you slumber, O sluggard?” (Prov. 6:9). “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, . . . .” (Prov. 6:6)
A convict was beginning to serve his term in the penitentiary. “What can you do?” the warden asked. “I never did a day’s work in my life,” the man boasted. “That s probably why you are here,” said the warden. The Bible strongly condemns the attitude of the person who chooses not to work. Those who will not work, turn to crimes against their government and their neighbors in order to satisfy their appetite for food, drugs, or whatever they desire. Those who make excuses for not working are despised by those around them. The lazy person is like a thief because he takes and begs from others what he has no right to have.
On the other hand, those are blessed who make diligent use of their God-given energy, strength, and talents – who work hard. Here’s more from Solomon in Proverbs: “The labor of the righteous leads to life.” (Prov. 10:16) “In all labor there is profit.” (Prov. 14:23) “Do you see a man who is diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings.” (Prov. 22:29) Our Savior worked Himself to death that we might have forgiveness of sins and eternal rest from all our earthly labors. Until He calls every Christian to eternal retirement, let us be diligent in all useful labor.
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
8/11/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! “Whatever you need, we have it!” – So goes the call of today’s mega-churches. One of the promoters of the “church-growth” movement in America has summed up it’s two great commandments this way: “Find a need and meet it, find a hurt and heal it.” (Quoted in Dining with the Devil, by Os Guinness, p. 64)
A ministry based on “need” – what could be more important or satisfactory to the people of this world? And yet, when churches try to meet everybody’s felt “needs” to improve their earthly lives, people take little notice of their greatest need! They are lulled to sleep by those who ought to be waking them up! While people are encouraged to look to the church for band-aid solutions to their problems in life, the Lord Jesus says that “the one thing needful” is hearing and learning God’s Word!
Martha had “needs” too. She expressed her “felt need” to have Jesus send Mary into the kitchen to help with the pots and pans. After all, she was serving dinner to the Lord! But Jesus had come to serve man with the “One” spiritual food from heaven that would bring life to sinners. And that is where He expects the focus to be in the Christian church.
God Who knows His fallen creatures best, has already determined man’s need and the purpose of the church to provide it. Man’s sin-sick need is for the Savior and His Word. The Christian churches should exhaust themselves supplying this need, even as Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who NEED a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The “abundant life” is not here, but there in heaven with Him.
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
8/18/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! From the opening ceremony to the grand “bird’s nest” stadium, the Chinese hosts of the 2008 Summer Olympics have created a great spectacle for the human eye! But what also meets the eye of many Americans and Christians is not so great.
337 beautiful Chinese girls, serving the athletes as ushers and waitresses was something to see on first glance! We have since learned that they all had to weigh between 110 and 120 pounds; all had to be 5'6" to 5'8" tall, and all were required to have a smile that shows 6-8 teeth! All of these girls have been trained for months to smile, speak, and walk in lock-step fashion. We also saw Chinese children who had been taken from their families as small children to be trained for the Olympics, and permitted to see their parents only once a year!
All this portrays China’s power to deny the freedoms we Americans enjoy. What is not seen at the Olympics in China is the power of the Gospel of Christ to bring the greatest freedom of all to the Chinese. The Communist party has tried to stamp out Christianity. Chinese Christians may belong to a Christian church, but they are forbidden by the government to talk about Jesus outside the church. Still, they go about quietly speaking of their Savior in hushed tones, because He has set them free from their greatest enemies – Satan, sin, and the power of hell. As Jesus said: “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn. 8:31) The real heroes in China today are not its politically enslaved Olympic athletes, but those quiet Christians who “abide in Christ’s word” and freely confess His saving name. Theirs is no game, but the fight of faith. We salute them and pray for their victory!
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
9/08/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Why is it that people lay on their horns when the car in front hesitates at a green light? Why do we get impatient at the doctor’s office when we have to spend so long in the waiting room, or that old person in the check-out line is taking so long? Isn’t it true that we get impatient because we think that others are wasting “our” time?
But especially in difficult times, we need to remember that all of our waiting is really on God’s time, not ours. That’s why David said: “My times are in Your hand, O Lord.” (Ps. 31:15) What is the Lord doing then, when we are suffering, and waiting on His time?
He may be teaching us how helpless we are, so that He can break or bend our own stubborn self-will, and we learn to find our help and salvation in Him. Perhaps He is making us wait for a solution to our financial problems, because when He gave more money in the past we didn’t put Him first or spend our money wisely. He may be using the long wait in trying times to help us focus on our sins, so that we learn to regret them and to seek forgiveness, peace, and joy in Him Who is our Savior.
The dried-out river beds out west are so full off wide cracks in the late summer months, that it actually looks as if the ground is suffering pain! However, these cracks open up the cement-like river bed to receive and hold the rain for which it waits in hope. So also, as the Christian waits in his trouble, he “cracks” into many sighings and cryings in prayer so that he may receive and hold the blessings of the Lord for which he hopes. And “none who wait for the Lord shall be put to shame.” (Is. 49:23)
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
9/15/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! How many religions are there in the world? – Really only two: The natural religion of man that says “man saves man by what man does;” and the revealed religion of the Bible which tells us that “God saves man by what God does.”
The various man-made religions all have one thing in common: They all demand sacrifices to their god in order to gain acceptance and life. The religion which God reveals to us in the Bible is a sacramental religion – in which God Himself gives to us, not we to Him. Many college campuses offer “comparative religion” courses, in which the instructor tries to compare Christianity with the man-made religions of the world. Philosophically, one may compare the Christian faith with man-made religions. But from a factual and practical standpoint, there is no comparison! Only one religion is true, and only one religion gives life.
The gods of men take no pity on those who fall before them on bended knee. There are always more sacrifices, more demands made upon the offender whose conscience is held in the bondage of guilt and fear. Only the God of heaven has taken pity on poor sinners, and provided His own sacrifice for their sins -- One time, and for all He gave His only Son for this purpose! The Apostle John tells us that Christ “Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
9/22/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Over the past months we’ve heard a lot about the need for change in the Washington. We are asked to believe that a “change” in Washington will bring more joy and happiness into our lives.
But change is not always a good thing. Indeed, some observers of human history have rightly said that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” This is another way of saying that man travels in a circle, always stumbling over the same stones along the same path others have taken.
Naturally, we all pursue joy in our daily living. Why not? – We were created for joy in the beginning. Since the Fall into sin, however, man often looks to “change” in hopes of finding joy. All the while the Holy Scriptures speak against his quest to find real and lasting joy: “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward,” as Job says. (Job 5:7). No one has sought “change” in his life more than Job! And yet in the very next verse, Job writes: “But as for me, I would seek God.” (Job 5:6)
Job realized that not every “change” is good, not every change brings joy. Therefore Job did not seek “change;” instead, he sought God. As the Psalmist writes: in God’s presence is fulness of joy;” and at His “right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Do you want real “fulness of joy” regardless of who sits in the White House? Our Lord and Savior is now seated “at the right hand of God” ! And “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8) This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, on Pella Avenue in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
9/29/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! What are you anxious about this Monday morning ? Whatever it is that troubles and depresses your spirit, let me remind you that Jesus lives! Your Savior Who died for the sins of the world, was raised from the dead on Easter morning, and He still lives for you! His resurrection from the dead was not made up. If the men who wrote the New Testament invented the resurrection of Jesus, why do they report that women were the first to see the empty tomb? Jewish Law at that time had a very low regard for the testimony of a woman. Surely, if the Evangelists were writing fiction, they would have wanted us to believe that John or Peter or one of the other male disciples came first to the empty tomb.
Your Savior God is living for you today! How could every one of Christ’s disciples those first disciples write lies about the resurrection of Jesus, and then die for it? Would you die for a lie?
Remember this too: Not one of these disciples believed that Jesus would rise from the dead. We are told that they were all afraid of losing their lives when Jesus died. And yet their lives were transformed by His resurrection! Those cowardly men not only began to preach the resurrected Savior, but they devoted the rest of their lives to the proclamation of the Gospel!
Their lives were changed! That’s the power of the resurrection of Christ in those who believe. And Jesus still lives for you. Don’t be anxious or afraid, only believe! We proclaim “a living Savior to a dying world,” and that resurrection-message works joyful resurrection living!
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
10/06/08 adapted from 7/23/03
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! We are reminded once again by the presidential candidates that sincerity does not always equal 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 must believe the truth about Jesus Christ, Who came into this world tosave us all.
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
10/13/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! In this unsettled and troubled economy, are you concerned about not having? Many people are. The Jewish Christians scattered all over the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago were also anxious about not having. Listen to what James wrote to them in his N.T. letter: “You lust and do not have, you murder and covet and cannot obtain, You fight and do battle; Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4:2) The people to whom James wrote were worried about not having, chiefly because of the persecution they faced for believing in Jesus as their Savior from sin. In fact, these weak Christians were so bothered by their not having that they were tempted to covet and fight, and even to hate and kill! They were tempted to cozy up to the wealthy and ignore the poor who came to church. They complained against God and blamed Him for their sins, saying that God had not given them enough when the going was tough!
The problem was their faith – It was weak! All that they needed for body and soul was theirs for the asking, but they did “not ask,” because their faith was so weak. Is your faith weak in these difficult times? Blessed are we if we humble ourselves before God, and seek His mercy in the name of His Son, our Savior. It is Jesus who invites His believing disciples in the Sermon on the Mount with these encouraging words: “Ask, and it will be given you, seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
10/20/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! About this time every year a bird called the Pacific golden plover flies nearly 8,000 miles from Alaska to New Zealand. Amazing! Then too, you may have read about another bird, the Arctic tern that flies 12,000 miles to spend the summer in Antarctica! Thousands of other living creatures perform similar miracles of navigation. The question scientists have trouble answering is: “How do these creatures find their way?”
Scientists who believe that God created all these “kinds” of animals, also have concluded that God gave them certain navigational instincts from the beginning which enable them to find their way. Evolutionists, on the other hand, who deny the existence of the Almighty Creator-God, want us to believe that the navigational ability of the migratory birds and other animals was developed or learned by trial and error over billions of years. Of course, this idea is ridiculous!
I hope you prefer the biblical truth that God created these animals to find their way. God cares for the birds and the way they take. But if He cares for the birds of the air, He cares for His Christ-believing children even more (Mt. 6:26). We too must make our way in this world, often over very troubled waters. How blessed we are by the living God if we know that He has also created our way through faith in Jesus Christ. For as Job said in the midst of His long and difficult flight, “God knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
10/27/08 from 8/18/2003
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Have you stood in line at the gas station while the worshipers of the god, Mammon, purchased their lottery tickets? Many will line up whenever they can 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 milkwithout 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.
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
11/03/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! This past Friday, October 31st is known in the Lutheran Church asReformation Day. On October 31st 1517, Martin Luther began a fight to restore and preserve the teachings of the Bible for the salvation of sinners by grace through faith in Christ alone. From the day that he posted his 95 arguments against the church’s unscriptural practice of selling “indulgences,” Luther fought for the truth of God’s Word from the pulpit, in his letters and books. He even risked his life at Worms, Germany in 1521, when he took his stand on the Bible and fought against the errors of the Roman church, pope and emperor.
Did I say “fight”? But who wants to fight? According to Ephesians 4, Christians who are united by the Holy Spirit in the teachings of Christ and His Word are to live in peace with one another. Of course! At the same time however, Christians must stand up against every error that comes into the church and threatens saving faith and the unity of the Spirit in the Word. For this reason, Jude, a half-brother of Jesus, told the early Christian Church in his letter to “fight earnestly for the faith” – for the things Christians believe in as revealed by God’s Word and delivered by Jesus and the apostles (Jude vs. 3-4).
All who truly believe the gospel of God’s love and forgiveness in Christ will strive to live together in peace; at the same time, they are not to be easy-going pacifists when the teachings of Christ and Holy Scripture are being set aside. One of the favorite hymns of today’s Christian Church is “Onward Christian Soldiers.” But where are those soldiers today, who like Jude, Christ’s apostles, Martin Luther, and countless others, fight for the faith once delivered to us?
You are invited to join us in the fight for the faith, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, 2910 Pella Ave. West Columbia, South Carolina. Be with us next Monday for the Master’s Minute.
The Master’s Minute
11/10/08 adapted from 8/25/2003
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! For several years there has been division within many churches over the question of whether a practicing homosexual recently should be able to serve as a pastor or teacher in the church. The Bible clearly condemns the sin of homosexuality in several places. 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.
Forty years ago the first women were ordained into the public ministry contrary to the teaching of the Bible and the Christian Church for 2,000 years! At first, people were wringing their hands over such error. But the cafeteria Christians have continued to move along the line picking out only what suits their taste in theology, regardless of the truth revealed by God.
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 Let’s have a show of humanhands!
Sadly, the sleeping people in the pews think it doesn’t matter. But it does. For the same Bible 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, 2910 Pella Ave., West Columbia 29170. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.
The Master’s Minute
11/17/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! In a couple of months another president will take office who has promised to do many things for the American people. Whether all that is promised by our new leader is truly good and fits in with God’s plan for our nation, is known only to the God of heaven. But one thing is sure: Just as soldiers are needed to stand up and fight for our country, Christians are needed to get down and pray for our country.
Christians of all periods of history have been directed by these words of the apostle Paul to Timothy: “I urge first of all that . . . prayers . . . Be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:1-6a)
In spite of the supreme confidence of our new president, no human being has all the right answers. And even if a ruler is surrounded by all the wisdom of a thousand advisors, he remains in need of the prayers and intercessions of believing Christians. We know that as God works out His will in the affairs of men, His ultimate desire is to save “all men” from the eternal terrorism of everlasting death in hell. Therefore it is the Christian’s prayer that we may continue to be a nation of laws and civil liberty which assures the spread of the truth concerning our Savior from sin. There is much more to politics than meets the human eye! God has His agenda too for our nation! Let us pray for our leaders that they may know and do His saving will!
This is pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2910 Pella Ave., West Columbia 29170. Join us next Monday for The Master’s Minute.
The Master’s Minute
11/24/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! If it is true that the coming year will bring tough times economically, how shall we celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday? Not by guessing at a future we can’t see, but by remembering the past – what God has done for you and me.
So the Psalmist wrote 3,000 years ago: “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praises on the harp to our God, Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry. . . . He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold? He sends out His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.” (Ps. 147) . . . “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season,” You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Ps. 145 )
Looking ahead with anxiety about our future – what we shall eat, what we shall wear, or what kind of house we shall have – is no way to celebrate thanksgiving. To be thankful means to be thoughtful; and to be thoughtful means to remember. Let’s not belly-ache about the future as we belch our way through our thanksgiving meal; rather let’s remember to give thanks for all that we have received from a loving God this past year, especially our Savior from sin, His Son, Jesus Christ. “For there is One God, and One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all!” (1 Tim. 2:4)
Have a happy, thoughtful Thanksgiving! This is pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2910 Pella Ave., West Columbia 29170. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
12/01/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! A few weeks ago National Public Radio asked people about their future in the midst of the current financial crisis. One tearful young woman’s greatest concern was that the financial crisis will make it hard to buy Christmas gifts for her children. “I donÙ‘t know what we are going to do about gifts,” the young mother said, “Christmas is huge in our family!” . . .
What is this poor woman really saying? She is saying that Christmas is “huge” in her family because of the giftsthat are given to her children. Her real crisis is not about the lack of money at Christmas; it’s really about the lack of Christ in Christmas. This young mother is facing not only a financial crisis, but a Christmas crisis. She is not alone! Many Americans will suffer a Christmas crisis again this year, because they believe the lie that the “hugeness” of Christmas depends upon the “hugeness” of the gifts that are under the tree. The god of materialism has blinded us to the truth that Christmas gifts bought with gold and silver are not “huge” at all. As time goes on they will fade away. The God of heaven wants to rip the scales off our eyes so that above all else we see the One gift under the tree that keeps on giving – not earthly toys and joys, but eternal treasures and pleasures. This is the gift of His only Son, our Savior from sin, death, and hell. Christ is what ought to make Christmas “huge” for us! If anything takes His place at Christmas, forget the “financial crisis!” You are suffering a Christmas crisis that threatens to build up a spiritual debt of sin before God, far worse than financial debt on earth. Rather, may yours be a huge celebration of the birth of Your Great Savior God – Jesus Christ.
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
12/08/08
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Here we go again: Another Christmas may soon be upon us, and “here comes Santa Claus” to confuse the reason for the season. The Festival celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, called “Christmas,” is not about going into debt to buy gifts for those we love; it’s about God’s love giving His only Son topay off our debt of sin.
Christmas is not about Santa coming to town to give gifts to good little boys and girls who watch out and don’t pout! Christmas is about the Son of God coming into human flesh to give Himself as payment for a whole world of wicked sinners like you and me. Don’t let Santa Claus steal Christmas from Jesus Christ, and don’t think this isn’t happening!
For example, we heard last week that some atheists have insisted that the “Winter Solstice” should be celebrated rather than Christmas. Commenting on the atheists’ hatred of Christmas, one popular morning show host asked: “What do the atheists have against Santa Claus? ” He made no mention of Christ. Apparently, the TV guy believe that “Santa Claus” is what Christmas is about! But atheists don’t reject Christmas because they reject Santa Claus. Atheists reject Christmas because they reject Christ!
Make no mistake! While 82 % of Americans say they are Christians, many of them are letting Satan’s Santa confuse the reason for the season. Santa doesn’t bring the message of Christmas that God “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Even the atheist knows that!
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for your friends at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
– CLC, off Methodist Park Rd. in West Columbia. Join us next Monday for another minute with the Master.
The Master’s Minute
12/15/08 revised 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. Do we think 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 mechanical observance of church ritual? How wrong we are! We should not think that Almighty God needs or ought to appreciate anything that we might 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 Jesus, ONLY THEN does He cause you to love Him 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 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
12/22/08 revised from 12/08/2003
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Bethlehem . . . Bethlehem. Our secular culture sees a dreamy little town from which a gentle child came to show us how to love and live in peace. The vision of starry skies over a silent night in Bethlehem is supposed to soothe our world-weary spirits, and cause warm feelings for one another. But the sentimental often blurs the truth. To experience the truth about Christmas study the contrasts of Bethlehem. A few months after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, King Herod came with soldiers to slaughter all the male children in the area who were less than two years old! He wanted to do away with the Christ-Child, but failed! When you picture Bethlehem, don’t forget about the death that was there too. Bethlehem was an extraordinary town because Christ was born there in order to die later at Jerusalem.
On the outside of Bethlehem see shepherds and wise men traveling in the snow, amid winter’s cold darkness. See the sin of Herod and the death of his victims. Here we are reminded of our own journey through this world -- the cold darkness of our own natural hearts, our sin, and the threat of Satan who would have us in hell forever.
But then, see the contrast inside Bethlehem, at the manger, near the lowly Virgin who has birthed the Son of God! There is the warmth of spring, of light and life eternal! These are the gifts God gives out of Bethlehem. Out of the midst of death is life -- for Christ is the LIFE, Who came to give us poor sinners eternal LIFE by His own death in our places.
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
12/29/08 revised from 12/27/04
Welcome to the Master’s Minute! Another Christmas has gone by, but the miracle continues. Nearly 500 years ago Martin Luther wrote that the miracle of the incarnation of Christ “is an offense to man.”
He said in part: “We cannot bear to have GOD speak to us in His majesty with countless thousands of angels. . . . But God says: Now I shall hide My majesty, and allow My Son to become man, born of a virgin; let Him do good to men and preach to them the forgiveness of sins. He shall act in the kindest way possible; only keep in mind that this man is the same God who spoke in the desert at Mount Sinai to the children of Israel. Believe therefore, that it is Hewhom you are hearing. He has hidden His majesty in humanity, and does not appear with lightning, thunder or angels, but as one born of a poor virgin and speaking with men of the forgiveness of sins.
“But . . . they nail Him to the cross! . . . If God were to come with His angels, no one COULD listen to Him. Now He says: I will come in simple and humble form, in the person of man; therefore believe me NOW. But we want to hear Him still less and despise Him! We think He should come in majesty, and yet we are unable to bear Him in that form! . . . When He comes as the son of a poor virgin we say: Alas, this is to be the Messiah?” May the Lord give us all the faith to be believe what human reason cannot bear to believe. Then the miracle of Christmas will be our salvation!
This is Pastor Vance Fossum for Holy Trinity -- the Church of the Lutheran Confession, off Highway 1 and Methodist Park Road. Join us next Monday for another Minute with the Master. |