Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Why do we celebrate communion? There is something extremely powerful that happens at The Lord's Table. God is doing something at that table that transcends time and space. He is telling us a story about Himself that can radically change our hearts. And the story ends with Him calling us to "come home."

Did you know we read, teach and preach the Bible here at Good Shepherd because the Bible is a book about God’s love for His people? Did you know we read, teach and preach the Bible here at Good Shepherd because it is a diverse collection of literature that is truly amazing because the Holy Spirit inspired 40 different authors over a period of about 1,500 years to put together God’s love story for His creation and children? Did you know that here at Good Shepherd we read, teach and preach the Bible because one of the truly amazing miracles about the Bible is that when you put all the 66 books of the Bible with their 1,189 chapters made up of 31,173 verses are brought together, there is perfect harmony in the message they convey.

Today we ask about why we sing and pray in worship. The simple answer is that this is entirely natural for us as Spirit-filled Christians. Paul helps us connect these dots in Ephesians 5:18-20.

There are reasons why God wants us to gather together for worship and there are things that Jesus has done for us that make worshipping together an amazing powerful experience that we just cannot have when we choose to try to only worship alone. In this sermon we see what God has in mind when we worship together, what happens to us when we do, and how that affects us when we take our corporate worship into the world.

I John 4:19 needs to become the focus of our understanding and motives: We love, because God first loved us. Even if we get this right, people will still ask us why we think God is good. The stories of Joseph and Jesus should give us confidence as we answer them.

Have you ever wondered why we seek an Abba experience with God?” Do you know you were designed by our Creator God to do just that? The Bible tells us we were created in God’s image to be friends with God and He is delighted in us when we spend time being tutored by Him. For us, that means we should spend time talking with God in prayer so we are able to understand and love God. When we spend time with God in prayer we can be fully aligned with His purpose for our lives. This helps us to understand how we are to go and show God’s goodness and kindness in the world!

It is impossible to worship if our focus is on us and not on God. God gives us the gift of confession to eliminate the sin problems we have with walking with Him. When we confess we focus on Jesus, He gives us His name, He helps us to know Him better, He gives us His purpose for our lives, and He gives us His power for the adventure of a lifetime.

John 4:21-24 tells us that the Father is seeking for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Why does God seek our worship? Could it be that God is a cosmic egotist, and that he needs our worship? Certainly not! Then why does God seek our worship?

How do you feel when you read Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi and hear Paul telling us to have joy in all circumstances? Is experiencing joy an easy thing to do when the brokenness of this world knocks you to your knees? Are you able to rejoice always when you buckle under the weight of the storms in life and it feels like you are falling? What about when life is easier? Does joy come when we are able to square our shoulders and weather the storm with ease? The Bible teaches us that we are able to experience true joy and rejoice in all circumstances because God is near. But what does God being near really mean in our everyday lives?

Pentecost in God's Story begins with a summary of how Pentecost begins the fifth C: Community. It equips us to live and serve as the body of Christ. The last part of the sermon talks about what Pentecost means for us today.

Jesus wants us to have complete joy. Paul talks about how his brothers and sisters in Christ make his joy complete. Joy is something God wants us to have and everlasting, complete joy is something only He can give us. We're going to talk about what joy in the Lord is, the difference between happiness and joy, and how we receive God's amazing joy.

Acts 17:16-34 is the ONLY place in the Bible where an apostle addresses an audience that was unfamiliar with God’s Story and Jewish customs. It is a useful model for us as we think about telling God's story to the growing number of "nones" and persons of other cultures who are immigrating to our neighborhoods.

There is a difference between being saved and having the Spirit dwell in us and what Paul calls "Walking in the Spirit." Today we explore what that means, how Jesus modeled it and taught His disciples about it, and how it looked when Paul and Silas encountered a demon possessed girl in Philippi.

In our study of Saul of Tarsus we learn he was a brilliant, highly educated, well respected, deeply devoted religious legalist. Saul was an up and coming Pharisee who oozed self-righteousness. The Bible tells us he was breathing threat and murder against the disciples of Jesus as he began to terrorize the early church. After having himself deputized by the ruling religious authorities he set out to hunt down, arrest, and bring to trial, all Christians so he could stand by and watch them die. However, all that changed when he had a blinding personal encounter with the Risen Christ on a dusty road that led to Damascus.

A rising from the grave Jesus proves that he keeps all of his promises. We will look at how God always keeps his promises even promises from 4000 years ago. Then we will look at to whom God intends to keep his promises.

On Palm Sunday the people Cried Out Hosanna, which means save us now. This week we will see how the people were hoping Jesus would save them and why they turned on him. We'll look at what kind of Messiah Jesus really is and why it is so awesome that he saved us his way.

Isaiah 5:1-7 provides the background to John 15. Israel had been punished for their failure to produce good fruit. Can this be our future as Christians? Jesus gives us an amazing picture of "live in the vine." We will produce good fruit if we stay in the vine!

There is a difference between news from the world and news from God, good or bad. Living in God's news can make all the difference in our lives, and for the world around us. We need to be God news people.

Sunday, March 4 2018 Sermon

How do we connect the awesomeness of our God and the example Jesus set in washing his disciples' feet? Isaiah 40:12-17 calls us to stand in awe and wonder at the raw power and profound reach of our God! And Jesus washes stinky feet?