Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Have you ever wondered how God reacts to the chaos of this world? Does He retreat when bad things happen? Is He a God who has washed His hands of the world and so we can’t find Him when we need Him? In the midst of this worldwide pandemic where is God? Is He able to help us? These are similar questions facing a man we call Blind Bartimaeus. His story is found in Mark 10:46-52. Bartimaeus’ cry for help above the noise of the crowd gives us some insight on how we as Christians can approach Jesus in this time of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.

Psalm 22 begins with the words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It continues with a description of Jesus suffering and death. It ends with a celebration of his VICTORY! The Call to “Take up our Cross” in Mark 8:27-38 only makes sense if we believe that Jesus’ story ends well. The Apostle Paul tells us how to take up our cross in today’s world in Romans 12:1-2.

In the New Testament it seems like “some people” are always trying to take “someone” to Jesus. Why did they do that? Have you ever felt compelled to bring someone who was lost, hurting, broken, hopeless, to Jesus for forgiveness and healing? Have you ever needed “someone” to take you to Jesus? I invite you to ask the Holy Spirit to open your hearts and come with me to our story where Mark tells us that one day “some people” brought a deaf-mute to Jesus. After they brought the man to Jesus they begged Him to lay hands on the man so he could be healed. (Mark 7:32)

These people worship me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. What is it about our hearts that is so important to God? We will take a look at God's heart and see what God's heart and our hearts have in common. After looking at God's heart it will help us understand why God wants our hearts. Then we will look at what happens to us and the world around us when God has our hearts.

How has Jesus been inviting you to grow in your relationship with Him lately? Has Jesus deepened your faith by sending you out to profess Him to this world that doesn’t know Him? Has it been to ask you to provide service to someone who is hungry and in need of the touch of the Master’s healing hand? Has Jesus “made” you get into a boat to go ahead of Him on a journey while He intercedes for you while you wrestle with a storm in your life? These are just a few of the ways Jesus invited His disciples to grow in their faith in the story found in Mark 6:45-56. If you are searching for answers about what faith in Christ means for your life then we invite you to join us as we explore ways Jesus has proved Himself worthy by turning impossible situations into divine victories.

This sermon explores why we worship and what happens when we worship. We will specifically be looking at Psalm 9, Acts 16, and Mark 5.

Please listen as our Youth Minister talks about Mark 4:1-20, the Parable of the Sower as he discusses it and how it applies to our missions.

When Jesus heals the man with the withered hand he is answering His own question. Is it better, on the Sabbath, to do good or evil, to save life or to kill? His response to the question is to say, "Stretch Out Your Hand." Let's look at what it means to stretch out your hand on a basic level, a Biblical level, and in as an application of the love we can show to God who first loved us.

What was it like the first time you encountered Jesus? Do you remember the first time the words, “Your sins are forgiven” were spoken over you? What about the first time you realized those words spoken every Sunday were specifically for you? If you have questions about Jesus’ authority, ability, willingness and desire to forgive you and heal you then this story about a man who was paralyzed physically and spiritually is for you.

When we say Epiphany we mean that Jesus Christ is the light that came into the world that no darkness can overcome. He is our light. His presence in our lives does for us what light does for the world. We will look at God's wisdom in how Jesus is the light of our lives and how as we get closer to Him we can be light for others.

Christmas is about one thing. Actually, it is about one person. It is about Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. This sermon's focus is on the heavenly proclamation about Jesus and what He brings from Heaven to Earth.

Humans brought this world into catastrophe, and many people in our world are tormented and they long for peace in its thinnest sense as the absence of conflict. As our Prince of Peace, Jesus want us to have the fullness of life God planned for us in "shalom." When Jesus brings his peace, the world will be made new!

God's love is a gift. Like all gifts it must be received. What keeps us from experiencing God's love and how can we receive it?

This time of year we hear people telling us we should be joyful, but what is joy and why should we be joyful at Christmas? How can we be expected to be joyful when the world seems to be falling apart? What is the difference between God’s joy and the world’s joy? How can I find joy at Christmas? If you have asked these or other pressing questions about joy then please join us as we explore the Joy of Christmas the angels proclaimed would be great news for the world.

Since 2015, some psychologists and sociologists have been studying what they call an “Epidemic of Hopelessness.” Jeremiah prophesied that God will “make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land” (Jeremiah 33:14-18). This prophecy is given while Israel was in exile. We can have hope in the midst of gnarly trials and grievous depression because God is faithful to his Covenant and because we have a faithful high priest who understands our humanity.

God is a renewing God. He is the God of clean slates and second chances. In this sermon we will look at God's renewing love and our response to it.

What is one thing in this life that you can count on with absolute certainty? Is it the love of a child or spouse? What about death and taxes? Can you trust that the one thing in this life we can count on with absolute certainty is God’s unfailing love? Has that been your experience in life? If you have questions about God’s unfailing love and how you can count on it when everything else in life is uncertain then we invite you to join us this week as we explore God’s unfailing love.

Many people get the wrong idea about God as they read the Old Testament stories of judgment in response to Israel's disobedience. Hosea 11:1-11 help us understand what God wants. He is full of compassion for us, and want to bless us as a father blesses his little children.

God is good and God is powerful. This bothers us. We have a problem with it. But in this sermon we will explore why it scares us and why it is awesome for us and the world that God is powerful.

Have you ever wondered what it means when we say that God is “Just”? Is God’s justice different than our understanding of justice? Does God have a set of rules or standards He uses to carry out His justice? What happens when we decide to turn our hearts away from God’s heart and follow the gods of this world instead? Lastly, what does it mean to be a “Keeper of God’s story?” This week we will look at these and other pressing questions about our Just God as we examine the story of King Solomon’s son Rehoboam who inherited the throne of God’s kingdom after King Solomon died. Please follow link for Luther video starting at 1:49:55 and ends 1:52:27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rJwCqhTyY8

Have you ever wondered what God means when He commands us to love Him with all our heart, mind strength and soul? Have you ever wondered what it means for God to be faithful? Then this week’s message is for you. For we will be studying the powerful words of Godly wisdom found in the Book of Deuteronomy that were given to the people of God at a time of great transition. In the pages of this book we discover our God calling us to stop and look back, to pause and remember how God stands by us, how He never leaves us or abandons us, in spite of our failures and unbelief.

God is more awesome than we can imagine. When God calls us out and chooses to act in and through us, it can only be a very humbling experience. Our single greatest joy will come as we are humbled, as we live for God, and as we remember we walk with him within his story, and to the glory of his name.

This sermon is a shared sermon with Children of Peace International. I'll be talking about how God proves His love to us. One of the ways He does this is by striving with us.

Have you ever struggled with the question of, “Is anything impossible for God?” Have you pondered what it means to trust God? What about questions like, “What do I do when it seems like God has forgotten about me?” Or “How can I trust God when my life is filled with doubt, fear, anxiety, or frustration?” If so, then the story of Abraham and Sarah is a must read for they too faced a time when they wondered if God would or could ever fulfill His promises.

With the help of two new pastors, we have learned to hear and ground God’s Story in God’s tender, fatherly love. I John 4:19 says this best: “We love, because God first loved us." God is love. He is creative, hospitable, patient as He mentors His Adam (earth-creature), and we should understand all of this as an expression of His love. From the human side, as the man and woman experience their Abba’s love, they are equipped to show His goodness and kindness to the world. They can lovingly show others what God is like!

The good news of salvation through Jesus Christ is the spice of life. Once you have experienced it nothing is the same. It is delicious and it is to be shared.

Did you know researchers have recently discovered that the average person’s attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 since we entered the age of I-phone technology? Did you know that means humans now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish whose attention span is 9 seconds? In our world filled with distractions and we have such short attention spans is it any wonder that we struggle to keep our eyes focused on Jesus when we live in a world? So, how can God to still expect us to be single-minded and single-focused on Him when from the time we wake up to the time our heads hit our pillows at night we barely have time to breath let alone read the Bible or say a prayer? If you struggle with God’s command for us to have no gods before Him then I pray this sermon will help you.

Christians who love Jesus often want to hear the words the master speaks to his servants in the parable of the talents. "Well done my good and faithful servant." What if we could serve Jesus faithfully and hear those words every day?

Jesus told us that “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). How can we learn to suffer wisely? Philippians 4:6-7 tells us to thank God in all things because God is near and with us in all things, and that the peace of GOd will guard our hearts and minds.

The youth at Good Shepherd had an amazing summer full of exciting God encounters. Listen here to get a look into all the things that the students experienced during Vacation Bible School, mission trips and summer camp. Also hear directly from some students and leaders about their personal experiences this summer.

Have you ever struggled with God’s command to submit your life to Him? Do Bible verses such as Proverbs 3:5-6, Ephesians 5:22-23, or Hebrews 13:17 give you pause? If so, then we invite you to join us as we delve into what it means for us to follow God’s commands to be fully submitted to Him.

We were created to show God's goodness and kindness in this world.We fail to do this because our purpose has been twisted or bent. As the Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus, we become holier. This is a comparative status, but a functional reality!

Has Jesus ever come and ask you to do something totally out of your comfort zone and scary? Has the Holy Spirit ever compelled you to go and talk to a complete stranger about Jesus? What have you done in response when asked? Did you go or did you stay? These and other compelling questions are found in Acts chapter 9 when a man named Ananias hears the voice of Jesus telling him to go and pray for a man named Saul of Tarsus. We will learn some important lessons from Ananias this week as we study his story.

We usually think of surrendering as a bad thing. You know, like we have been defeated... I'm arguing today that surrendering to God is the best and wisest thing we can do! Abraham, Mary, and Jesus all surrendered to God. It is the only way we will find fulfillment and happiness.

What happens when difficulties and complications pop up in front of the dreams and plans that God has made for you? Do you fight for the dream or give in to the sickness? This sermon will show us how God's word says we can fight for the dream.

When was the last time you pondered how God has used change to transform your life? Did God use a person, a place, or a particular circumstance to bring about the change He desired in your life? How did you face the fears, doubts, uncertainty and anxiety of the change Jesus was orchestrating in your life? This week we explored these and other vital questions as we began our summer preaching series called, “A Labor of Love!”

The Holy Spirit’s mission is to connect us to the deep love of our Abba (Romans 8:14-17) and to glorify our Lord (John 16:13-15). Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on God’s people on the feast day celebrating "first fruits" and this changed everything (Acts 2:1-4). Empowered by God's love, we can show God's goodness and kindness to the world.

Is seeing believing? If it is, then why did some of the disciples who came to Jesus after the resurrections, witnessed Him, and worshipped Him still doubt? What changed them from doubters to trusters (yes, I made that word up)? What did Jesus do that made the great commission from Matthew 28 into a matter of life and death for these disciples?

Have you ever considered how the resurrection changed our ability to hope? More specifically, have you ever pondered how the resurrection helps us place our hope in that which is true and eternal? As Christians, the hope we have is not the same as the hope the world has. Our hope is rooted in the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy found in Isaiah 11:1 that tells us God would send His Son Jesus to be the root of Jesse. The hope we have is not a dream or a wish; it is so much more. The hope we have is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus who is our anchor in a world that seems to be full of endless storms.

If we were made in the image and likeness of God and God is love, then we were made to love and be loved. Because Christ arose we can love better, exponentially better. In this sermon we talk about what changed because Jesus rose from the grave. We discuss the difference between human love and God's perfect love. And, we talk about how our love can be transformed so we can love like Jesus first loved us.

One can argue that the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day couldn't have recognized him as their Messiah because, based on their understanding of the Bible, they were looking for someone else. Jesus needed to tutor his disciples after his resurrection so that they could understand how he fulfilled the prophecies for the Messiah. We learn from II Corinthians 5:17-21 that God isn't angry. He is reconciled with the world and waiting for us to be reconciled to him!

Have you ever faced events in your life that brought you great fear? Did you face these trials with paralyzing fear or with supernatural courage? The women who were with Jesus' mother when Christ died on the cross faced just such a situation in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday when they went to the tomb. Their experience teaches us that courage isn't the absence of fear, rather encountering the risen Christ brings a "resurrection courage" in the midst of our fears.

Jesus used a small child to humble his disciples when they argued about "who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." We need to become like little children to even enter the kingdom of heaven. All who receive a child in Jesus' name welcome Jesus as well.

Whether we admit it or not, everyone has been trapped in a darkness from which we can see no way out. This is where we find Mary Magdalene and the other Mary on the first Easter morning, hopelessly walking to the tomb expecting to tend to a corpse and grieve. Jesus ends the darkness delusion and sets them free for new life in Him.

How many years have you attended a Palm Sunday service? Have you ever wondered why we come to worship every year on Palm Sunday when most of us know the familiar story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the donkey? What could we possibly learn new about this event in Jesus’ life that we don’t already know?

One can hear the parable of the last judgment and think it is about getting saved by our works. Nothing could be more wrong! Those who are saved don't know why--they were just doing what felt right to them. As disciples, they saw God's goodness even in the poor and ministered to them. Those who are condemned would have acted differently if they knew their king was served as they served the poor. But they didn't see the image of God in the poor and so they ignored them. Jesus is still inviting the Jewish leaders to repent!

Jesus promises that He is coming again and He tells us to be prepared. The parable of the ten virgins is all about how we are to wait for Jesus to come again. How can we show the groom that everyone who represents the bride is glad for Him to receive us?

The Parable of the Wedding Feast is both comforting and puzzling to many hearers. We are glad to be invited, glad to attend, and scared by the sudden expulsion of the man in the last several verses. What can it all mean?

Today we look at why forgiveness is of utmost importance to Jesus, the life of the church, and the hope for this world. In Matthew 18:15-35 Jesus teaches us what God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit think about forgiveness, ways we can achieve it gently and carefully, and how we can forgive when it is too much for us.

This sermon shows how the plan of Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection sets us free from sin and death, for new life in Him. We will look at Galatians 5:1, and Joel 2 to see how the God's plan for Christ and the cross that we wear on Ash Wednesday should inspire us to live in freedom and walk in the Spirit.

Matthew 16:24-17:8 pose three powerful questions for us: Do we understand who Jesus is? Do we understand what he has done for us? How do we find courage to obey our king?