Emanuel Lutheran and St. John Lutheran Churches - Fairfax, MN

06/14/2026

Welcome to the family Maggie! Jesus loves you!

06/14/2026

License -7352383 Emanuel and St. John’s Lutheran Church

06/14/2026

Proverbs 6:6 - Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

I have mixed feelings about verses like this… and stories that can surround it. It calls to mind Mary and Martha. Martha spent time getting ready for the meal, with Jesus as the guest of honor. She cleaned. She cooked. She was busy, busy, busy. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to Him teach and proclaim God’s Word.

When Martha comes to Jesus to ask Him to tell Mary to help with the preparations, Jesus, seemingly, scolds her. He tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better portion, the one thing needful.

I say seemingly, because Jesus does not outright scold Martha, but that is how many people read the story. Martha was too busy with everything else, so she wasn’t listening to Jesus. Mary didn’t put work first and listened to Jesus.

Now, look again at this verse. Consider the ways of the ant. Ants are industrious. They are “always” working. They are focusing on the task at hand and getting it done. Whether it is building miles of tunnels, or locating and bringing food to the tunnels, or even defending the queen; ants are always at work.

So… which is it? Are we to be like Martha or Mary? Are we supposed to be like ants and always be working, or should we focus more and more time on Jesus and His Word? Should we be industrious and constantly busy or should we be found in quiet contemplation being about God’s Word?

Well… yes.

Consider Jesus. He was always going to new villages and cities proclaiming God’s Word. He took that Word through storms, through threats of His enemies, through the wilderness and Satan’s temptations… Jesus took the Word everywhere. Tirelessly.

But Jesus also found time to be in God’s Word and to be alone with His Father in prayer. Jesus found time to have the quiet, the focused time on God His Father and His Word.

So, yes. Be industrious, stay busy, keep working and doing… but also find time to be with your Savior, your Jesus. Find time to read about your salvation and then take that Word to others. Find time to pray and then live a life of prayer and thanks to God for His love.

06/13/2026

Colossians 2:6 - So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him…

While it is no surprise to me, I just found out how messy of eaters birds are. This should have been obvious a couple of years ago when we had a random corn stalk growing in our compost pile… and we did not plant corn. But today was a little different.

We feed birds around us with a variety of seeds. Some of the bigger birds like to eat black sunflower seeds, so we feed them black sunflower seeds. This morning, as I was walking to church, I noticed a group of seedlings where the feeder had been. Sure enough… they were sunflower seedlings.

Now, I have three options. I can keep mowing them as I cut my grass and they will stay low. I can pull them out one by one, at the roots, and they should be gone, but being that we don’t intend to stop feeding the birds I don’t know that I’ll be taking that route. Or I can just let them grow… and they will turn into full-grown sunflowers.

Part of me is tempted to just let them grow. After all, maybe the birds planted them on purpose (though the Bible does imply that birds do not sow or reap). Or maybe I could just let them grow as they have found the ground, taken root, grown up, and are now just trying to live.

…continue to live your lives in Him…

How I wish raising Christians were this easy. Put them in some dirt. Give them some water and light. And just watch them flourish. Yet, in some ways, it is.

Put them in God’s Word. Give them the water of Holy Baptism to help nourish them. Keep them steeped in the light of Christ’s love and forgiveness. And watch them flourish… as they continue to live their lives in Christ, in the One they have received from infancy, in the One who has redeemed them from all of their sins.

So, Christian, enjoy your daily portion of God’s Word. Through daily contrition and repentance, remember your Baptism as you come back to the promises made to you in it. Those promises which are centered around your Savior, who gave His life for you, promising you His forgiveness and grace. And may God continue to cause you to flourish, where you are, as you grow and serve Him, and your neighbor, with your life and works.

06/13/2026

Another step on our journey through the Book of Concord. (And a new portion of it to boot...)

Another step on our journey through the Book of Concord.

06/12/2026

James 4:7 - Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

When Jesus was in the wilderness, Satan approached Him. He offered Jesus the world if Jesus would just bow down and worship Him. Jesus wouldn’t need to die. Jesus would be able to reign and rule over all the kingdoms of the earth… just bow down and worship Satan. But Jesus wouldn’t do that. He fought back against Satan, but not with fancy weapons or with angels; rather, Jesus fought against Satan with God’s Word.

We, too, are encouraged to be on the watch for Satan and his temptations. We are told that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Now, in case you didn’t know, lions don’t try to attack and go after the strongest of the group. Lions choose to attack the weak, the ones on the edges, the ones who are not secure and tightly within the group. Lions look to attack those who are distracted, not paying attention to the herd.

That is a great analogy for Satan. He looks for Christians, for people, who are weak. He looks to attack those who are on the fringes. Those who do not know their Bibles. Those who are not close to God and His Word. Those who would rather listen to the lies of the world and their sinful flesh than God. Satan is looking for people who are easy to pick off and devour.

Yet, God calls on us to resist Satan. Resist his attacks. Resist his temptations. Put up a wall of defense against the one who is trying to bring us down to hell with him. Resist the one who fought against God and lost. Resist the one who tried to tempt Jesus and lost.

Resist him… because when we resist him, he flees from us. When we are found in God’s Word, when we are found with a strong faith, we are better able to resist Satan. But he will still attack us, he will still try to devour us.

But we need to remain faithful to our God. We need to stay close our Savior. We need to cling all the tighter to the One who gave up His life for us.

For Jesus gave up His life… and no doubt, Satan thought he had devoured the strongest and mightiest of mortals. But Satan did not best Jesus. Jesus laid down His life of His own accord. He laid it down to pay the full payment for all of our sins. Jesus laid down His life for each and every one of us… and that is why we cling to Him for all we need. We resist Satan… we submit ourselves to our God, our God who loves us, our God who saved us.

06/11/2026

Another step on our journey through the Book of Concord.

Another step on our journey through the Book of Concord.

06/11/2026

Proverbs 29:25 - Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

“I’m afraid that they won’t like me anymore.”

It’s the excuse I have heard more than once in my time in the ministry. People spend their lives living in fear of other people not liking them.

We stop checking in on people who miss church for fear they may not like that we call them. We worry so much that they won’t like us or make us feel like we are being nosy. We worry that if we call the person too much, that might drive them away from church and from their Savior.

But now stop and think for a moment. Imagine that your spouse stopped talking to you for days, and weeks, and months. Imagine that they no longer addressed you when they walked in or out of the room. Imagine that they no longer told you they loved you, how much you meant to them, or even just to have a nice day.

Would you worry that calling them or reaching out to them might upset them? Would you just walk away from that relationship because it makes you a little afraid to talk? Would you just give up and stop all communication in hopes that maybe one day they would come back?

Of course not. You would never do that. Neither does God.

God sends His Word to us through His chosen vessels… through His pastors... through His children. He brings us His Word because He knows how important that Word is to our lives. He does not care if it has been days, weeks, months, or years… God is still pursuing you, because God loves you.

And if you loved your spouse, you would pursue them also. You would seek them out and do all you could to build up that communication again. And as a child of God, you should do the same for those of your friends who have walked away from their first love… who have walked away from Christ.

Whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe… safe from their sins, safe from the temptations of the world and Satan, safe from the fires of hell. Trust in the Lord and you will be safe, because that is a promise that God has made to you. He does not lie to you. He does not hide from you. He calls out to you… and asks you to continually call out to others, inviting them back to His house to hear His Word to have their faith strengthened and renewed.

06/10/2026

Another step on our journey through the Book of Concord. (Wednesday, June 10)

Another step on our journey through the Book of Concord.

06/10/2026

Another sep on our journey through the Book of Concord.