From: "Barb Kavouras (by way of Rev. Eric J. Stefanski, )" To: Subject: CLIMB: Pennsylvania crash site sermon Date: Friday, November 02, 2001 12:28 PM This is the sermon which my husband will have the privilege of preaching tomorrow to the FBI workers in Someret PA. They will gather near the actual crater. An organist will be there. Hymns have been duplicated and a service folder printed. The workers themselves requested this CHRISTIAN service. I will send the service itself in a separate message. You must have special clearance to be at the crash site so the workers at the morgue asked that the service be repeated for them. The second service will be held at the morgue. In Christ, Barb K Cleveland kavouras@multiverse.com Somerset Pennsylvania Crash Site September 23, 2001 by: Rev. Dean Kavouras, Chaplain FBI, Cleveland Division chap7953@multiverse.com Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Dear friends in Christ Jesus our Lord, today is Sunday! The day which every week commemorates for us, the resurrection of our Lord from the grave. His resurrection, after what could only be called the most senseless and unjust death of all history proves that He is in truth, "the resurrection and the life" - and He became those things for you! For all who have been baptized into his name, all who put their hope in Him, all who call on Him to save, especially in times of crisis - will likewise leave their graves, however humble or anonymous or ignominious those final resting places may be. And so this morning, let Him be your hope, your comfort and your only source of strength. Not just here in "the valley of the shadow of death" where we have all lived and worked and cried and anguished - for 13 ghastly days, but always! Because our status as God's beloved children, the glorious liberty we have in Christ, is always challenged by the devil. But fear not little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. And He is able to make good on His every promise of love to you. So again, may the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ lift your drooping spirits this Sunday, and restore the joy of salvation to you - most especially as you suffer the slow deaths and tiny deaths which plague us all - and may the restored life of Christ give you victory over each grave which would bury you, even as it will over the final one. Dear friends, I would be a fool to stand before you today and offer you anything that I know or possess of myself. Dean Kavouras as such, is nothing and has nothing to give. My sympathy, my concern, my emotions, those are all nice things, but they will do little more than soothe your psyche for sixty seconds or so. My presence will not deliver health and healing for your wounded souls. Rather, I stand before you today as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and I assume those of you who have come here today have gathered to hear (or at least to investigate) what message the Word of God might have for such a time as this. And I dare say that fully one half of the Bibles message speaks of nothing other than what we see hear today - the death brought about by our sin; BUT the other 50%, the more important, precious and life-giving half, is the life freely offered for each of us from sin, from death and from the power of the devil, by the Son of God - who loved us who gave Himself over to a death more gruesome and innocent, than the ones we've beheld for the last 13 days in our beloved land. But while these deaths were senseless, our Lord's had a reason; one planned from eternity, carefully timed and orchestrated by our Heavenly Father, all with only one, GOOD goal in mind - to do battle with death and to conquer death, and to give each one of us, our Lord's dear and beloved children, non-ending life and non-ending glory in Heaven. Now I can give two answers to the questions that trouble us today. I can give you the "feel good" answer! I can spray pixie dust in your eyes and make you warm and fuzzy for a spell. Or I can give you the real answers! The ones that at first, and let me stress that, "at first", are hard to hear, but in the end, will give you true peace, lasting comfort and hope to take home with you from this place. I think today I'll give the real answers! And that for two reasons. First, only they will satisfy you and as none of you have been derelict in your duty, I will not be derelict in mine. Second, I would not last five minutes as a chaplain, serving such an august body of investigators of veracity as you are, unless I told you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Though you have become accustomed in your daily work to hearing hard truths, today, you will hear in addition, the most soothing message and powerful medicine ever given for stricken souls. Beloved in Christ, the answer to the current crises can be encapsulated by one short verse of Scripture, St. Paul's letter to the Romans 6:23 where he writes under the guidance of the Holy Spirit "the wages of sin (is) death, but the gift of God (is) eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The biggest question people are asking today is: why did this happen? And now I'm going to answer that for you on two levels. The surface answer is this - because sinful people did sinful things, that's why! Because a self-appointed, self-righteous, supercilious son of the devil could not sleep at night, unless he shed innocent blood, in direct opposition to God's fifth commandment "Thou shalt not kill" A commandment which by the way does NOT apply to the work you do when you apprehend these people, bringing them to justice, or . . . justice to them. God says in the Bible about the governments agents: that you are His ministers and that you don't carry the sword (today, the gun) in vain. Bad people doing bad things. Okay so far. But why do people do evil? Because dear friends, ALL OF US have been infected with a congenital heart disease known as sin. We inherited it from our parents and live out its twisted dictates in all we think, all we say and all we do. Sin rules us and drives us. Each of us makes regular and generous contributions to the boiling cauldron of the world's sin, both large and small. But God's penalty phase is always the same, as we read "the wages of sin is death." Each violation of God's un-revised, universal code; the ten best and truest commandments ever given to men by which to live, rules that if followed would make our world heaven on earth (have no other gods; use God's name with reverence; keep the Sabbath day holy; honor parents; don't murder; don' t commit adultery; don't steal; don't lie; don't covet) - each transgression of duty to God or neighbor, carries a mandatory sentence of death. Death now and death forever. What we saw here 13 days ago, beloved, was only one of the smaller manifestations of God's judgment on us all. But stay with me here, for the cleansing of the wound is now over, and the healing is about to begin. Please understand and hear my aright. God does not do evil! Our Heavenly Father does not take pleasure in evil! But He will use even this to bring about good for us; to exalt us in His own way; to lift us up high above our enemies; to give us and instill in us the things which will make for true peace for us and for our children; humility, faith, hope, a greater love for Him; a mind-set of authentic service; lips to praise Him and a greater and more genuine tenderness for one another as we travel the storm-tossed seas of life together - a love I dare say most admirably displayed by you all, and which has not nearly reached it's conclusion. Please note, that every person born into this world dies - do we have any doubt? Some young, some old, some justly and some unjustly, but one and all - we perish. Even our Lord, though the world was made by Him, did not exempt Himself from death, but His death was different than all others - and that in three ways. First, He was innocent of all sin. He was the holy and righteous Son of God who had no sin for which to receive the "wages" He did. Secondly, He died in the place of another - and you are that "other". It was a substitutionary death! a life-giving death; a death-conquering death; accomplished for us and in our place. And by His sacrifice, our guilt, our curse, our penalty for all sin is removed. The wages of our sins were paid to Him, collected by Him. On the cross, our record of wrongs before Heaven' s court, was expunged and in the sight of God, you and I are now holy! Think about that for a moment, for that is the chief truth of the Christian religion, that our sins have been removed from us and we now stand justified, innocent and holy before God; all by virtue of our connection to the crucified and risen Savior. (That's why the Bible calls every Christian, a saint!) By faith in Christ, you are Righteous in the truest sense of the word. A righteousness you cannot buy with any currency; cannot merit by good behavior; cannot win though you suffer oh so terribly in this life. For it is, in fact, a gift. The gift! The gift of God, bought and paid for by your Lord Jesus Christ. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. Third, his death was different in that He did not stay dead! And the great hope of the Christian church, the message which we believe, teach and confess with all vigor, the thing every believer in Christ confidently expects and looks forward to - our own resurrection from the grave! The Bible says that Jesus was the "first-fruits", which is an agricultural metaphor which means "the first of many yet to follow." He was the first; and you, dear friends, are the "many". For when you were baptized into the strong name of the Trinity, you were made a beloved child of God. At baptism, you were united to our Lord's death; you were buried with Him; and you were - and yet will be - raised with Him, by the glorious power of the Father, into new and abundant Life. And it is for this reason that the Scriptures confidently give us words of life and encouragement; words such as those spoken to Joshua as he was about to commence the taking of the promised land; and words which every Christian can take as his own in the battle we all fight with sin, death and the devil; these words which are true, good and powerful; and able to prop you up in the face of grimmest death. Joshua 1:9 The LORD said to Joshua: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." He 's with us here. He's with us in the crater. He's with us in the grim woods. He's with us in the morgue. He's with us in the offices. He's with us at the hanger. He's with us on the streets and in the dark places where we go to find and arrest criminals. He's with us in our hearts and in our homes! And now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen. + + + Confessional Lutherans in Missionary Boldness + + + The CLIMB e-letter brings you unedited, uncut reports directly from the mission field, whether in South America, Africa, Europe, inner-city, rural, or collegiate America, or military installations and battle sites around the world. It is our contention that those who truly hold to the ~Book of Concord~ as the pure exposition of Holy Scripture and the true confession of the Christian faith are also the most zealous supporters of the preaching of the Gospel in every corner of the world and, as such, ought to be kept thoroughly informed of how those endeavors are faring and shown how they may be rightly carried out without the destruction of orthodox doctrine and practice that some within the pale of Lutheranism now advocate. 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