Pastor Jacobs

PASTOR'S MESSAGE Welcome to the website of Trinity Lutheran Church, Dayton, Ohio. Please explore our site. We hope it gives you a little picture of what our congregation is like, and what we understand its purpose to be. Then, come and worship with us! Our intent is to offer opportunities for worship, for you to find friends, to be touched by the Holy Spirit, to find meaning and purpose in your life, and to find a centering place that offers opportunities and help in serving God.

We read in the scriptures that:
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God is making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:19 -20)

We believe this message from God is for us as well as for those early Christians. We hope to be ambassadors worthy of our calling, and we hope that if you are looking for a church home, or simply a place to worship, you would consider joining us in, what we believe to be, this great, divine endeavor.

Pastor Doug Jacobs

Nuggets

Thank Offering Sunday

Message by Ruth Ann Peck

The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

I have always been intrigued by the power of words and their meanings. In today's scripture, the word "talents" has a double meaning: first, a weight of silver, and second, attributes or assets possessed by each of us as human beings. In Jesus' parable, the master entrusted varying amounts of talents or treasure to each of three servants before he left on a long trip. The first servant received five talents ($1,000); the second, two talents ($500); and the third, one talent ($250). When the master returned and asked for an accounting from his servants, the first two men, through careful investment, had doubled the master's money, and after the master praised them for their good work, he gave them more responsibility. The third, however, had merely buried the master's money and produced the original coins. The master was angry with the do-nothing servant and banished him. Like it or not, this parable reminds each of us that we will be judged for the work we do in serving our Master.

On Election Day, when Walt and I went to the nearby mega-church to cast our votes, the parking lot was a sea of cars. Visible above all the other vehicles was a semi-trailer with a huge banner erected by the church: What shall I give to the Lord for all his benefits to me? Psalm 116:12. This affected me deeply, for it is a question constantly in my heart. God has blessed me so greatly, so completely, so unexpectedly, that I am overwhelmed by the wonderful things he has poured out upon me during my entire adult life. If I were to give all my time and all my money, I could not begin to repay God for his thousands of blessings to me. When Walt and I moved into our first little house two years after marriage, we visited the local Lutheran Church and realized we were 'home'. A couple of years later as I was teaching Sunday School to 12-year-olds, I felt an undeniable call from God to become a teacher. We had five children and only one car, but at age 40 after 13 years of night classes at Wright State I finally earned my degree in English. For the next 21 years I taught junior high students - and to my utter amazement - honors galore kept pouring over me. If I had been asked to list some wonderful things I would like to happen to me as a teacher, I could not have dreamed of the tremendous blessings God had in store for me! My daily prayer was "Help me today to be the best teacher I am capable of being." By the end of my career, I felt like a modern-day Solomon with all the unexpected blessings God had heaped upon me - and He continues to do so to this day.

Recently, in our Wednesday evening Bible Study Class, someone asked, "Has anyone ever heard God's voice?" Interesting discussion followed, but I knew how I felt about that question. I hear God's voice every time I read in the church bulletin that a volunteer is needed for a particular job, or when someone asks me if I could please take care of a certain task. I hear God's voice in you. Each one of us has gifts, and to deny them is to deny that God is our Creator. God expects us to use our gifts to serve Him, and He will judge whether we have kept faith or not. On that final day, when you and I stand in the presence of Jesus, how wonderful it will be if He places His hand on your head - on my head - and says, " Well done, good and faithful servant!" Amen.