Waiting for the Lord

/ The Pastor

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
[Psalm 130:5-6]

These watchmen have the night shift; standing watch on the city wall. They stand watch looking out for those who would want to harm the city, but as they watch, they are also looking for the rising sun. Why the rising sun? The rising sun meant morning and that meant they get to go home and be with their family. And so they waited for the morning; confident that the sun would rise. And they had every reason to be confident. I mean, from the beginning of time, the sun has risen in the morning as it was designed by God to do. And so these men wait; they wait for the rising sun. Confident.

Now consider what the psalmist is saying. His soul is waiting for the Lord and he is more confident in the coming of the Lord than the watchmen who wait for the sun to rise. The sun rises like clock work and even more reliable is the Lord and so his soul waits in hopeful expectation.

Oh weary soul, the Lord is coming, so wait in joyful expectation; being more confident than the rising morning sun. Oh weary soul, wait for the Lord, for He is coming for you.

The Pastor -|—

Sermon thoughts ~ John 11:1-41

/ The Pastor

In John chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. He hears that Lazarus is sick and then waits four days. Had he left earlier, Jesus could have prevented Lazarus from dying, but Jesus waits that God may be glorified. Upon arriving, Jesus meets Martha and then Mary ~ “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Upon asking where they have laid him, they say, “Come and see”. At this we have one of the most famous verses in the Bible, probably because of it’s brevity.

“Jesus wept”

Question: Why did Jesus weep?

Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus can raise the dead
Jesus seemed to know that his delay would end in the dead of Lazarus
Jesus knows what he can do

So, why did Jesus weep?

I contend that Jesus is not weeping over the death of Lazarus but rather over the hopeless weeping that the others are doing. Do Mary and Martha not know Jesus well enough to know that he can raise Lazarus?

So Jesus raises Lazarus. He walks out of the tomb and he tells the people to unbind him. Word then begins to spread, much to the chagrin of the religious leaders. When you see people in hopeless despair, how do you show them Jesus? How do you show them that there is hope? How do you help people move from tears of despair to tears of Joy?

Just some thoughts. What say you?

The Pastor -|—

With a Word

/ The Pastor

Creator God,
with a word you created life.
With a word, You created all that we can see and not see.
And with THE Word You gave us hope for eternal life.
May we cling to this hope in the midst of life’s trials
as we rejoice in our Savior;
for in him,
there is no cause for weeping.
All praise be unto You,
Father God,
through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Calm

/ The Pastor

Father God,
Calm my spirit that I may worship You.
Calm my thoughts that I may fully think on You.
Calm my fears that I my proclaim Your goodness with my whole life.
Calm my pride that I may glorify You.
Calm my heart that I may see Your faithfulness.
For when fear and anxiety run my life,
I turn from You.
May that never happen.
Give me calm, that through Jesus Christ, I may enjoy You forever.
Amen.

The Pastor -|—

In Love

/ The Pastor

Holy and awesome God,
In love You created the world and all that exists.
In sadness You watched this world plunge into darkness through sin.
In compassion You sent the prophets to warn Your people.
In patience You waited.
In grace you sent Your one and only son to this world.
In mercy Jesus suffered and died for me.
In power Jesus rose from the grave for me.
In love You give me salvation through faith in Jesus.

Holy and awesome God,
I am humbled and blown away
when I reflect on this story.
I am grateful and thankful
when I reflect on what You did for me.

Oh God,
You are indeed holy and awesome.
May You receive all
worship,
honor,
glory,
and praise;
for in love You have given me hope;
in love You have given me peace.
Oh God,
I am so in love with You.
Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Sermon teaser for John 9:24-41 with Psalm 23

/ The Pastor

The following are the closing two paragraphs from this Sunday’s sermon (March 26). For more, please keep an eye on the church’s website at: http://www.livingwordlutheranchurch.com for the complete audio version of this message. May God be praised.

If your eyes are wide open; seeing Jesus, and acknowledging him as Lord, then these two verses are incredibly awesome to your hearing: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff comfort me.”  And then, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  The darkest valley is not dark to Jesus and living among those who would want to destroy us is of no concern for Jesus, for he has our lives in his mighty hands.

And therefore, when your eyes are open; seeing the light of salvation that is in Jesus, you can confidently say, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Ponder that verse; for how can one not turn over everything they are to this Good Shepherd. Open your eyes and keep them open that you may full describe and proclaim the glory of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The world NEEDS your wide-open eyes. Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Sermon Teaser for John 9:24-41

/ The Pastor

Jesus says of himself that he is the Light of the World; that all who follow him will not walk in darkness. One would think that would be enough to clue people in that maybe Jesus is worth following especially considering the dark world in which we live. Liberalism is constantly telling us that we are evil and bigoted and therefore demand that we be tolerant or shut up. The forces of evil seem to be ramping up their fear tactics. Satan’s prowling is ever more present. Darkness is darker than ever. But Jesus came to reveal the Truth by opening people’s eyes, but if you refuse to acknowledge that Truth then you are truly blind. Unless you acknowledge that you are as dependent as sheep, and trust him with all your heart, you will never truly know the peace that can only come from Jesus. May we truly open our eyes.

The story of the man born blind is one plump full of Gospel truth for a messed up world. Jesus is the Truth, period. I look forward to unpacking this text more over the next few days.

The Pastor -|—

Light

/ The Pastor

Father God,
You give Light to a dark world
that we may see the Truth.
You give Hope to a hopeless world
that we may have Joy.
You give Life to a dead world
that we may worship You forever.
Oh God,
open our eyes to see Your glory
that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Amen

Lenten Sermon Teaser ~ The Good Shepherd

/ The Pastor

Sermon teaser for our midweek Lenten worship tonight…

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
[John 10:3-4]

As followers of Jesus Christ, it is our joy to hear the beautiful voice of our Shepherd; knowing that that voice is one of peace and love and compassion. It is a voice of Truth. It is a voice that can be trusted. It is a voice the beckons. It is a voice that soothes. To ignore that voice is foolish and dangerous; not because our Shepherd is vengeful; but rather to follow another voice means following unto our death. The Good Shepherd is the only one who loves us unto death and beyond; for he lays his life down for his sheep. The Good Shepherd is the only one who true cares about you. And therefore it behooves us to drown out the competing voices and listen to THE Shepherd and joyfully follow him…

The Pastor -|—

Sermon teaser ~ John 4:5-42

/ The Pastor

I am imagining a blogging series that will contain sermon teasers. I have been posting a sermon teaser, now and then, on my Facebook site, but I thought I would offer this to a wider audience. If you are intrigued by what you read and want to hear more, then I invite you to visit my congregation’s website at http://www.livingwordlutheranchurch.com and go to “sermons” near the bottom of the left side menu bar. There we post the audio of the sermon.

So to start things out I have the opening paragraph of tomorrow’s sermon (3/19). May God be praised:

“In order to find and minister to those who are ‘thirsty’, you must be present at their well at their time. The classic evangelism blunder that many churches make is that they sit at the wrong well; their own; hoping the thirsty will just show up. What we often forget is that people are going to go where they know they will be refreshed, but yet, too many churches think that if they advertise well enough about how great their water is people will come to their well. That evangelism strategy rarely works; thus we need to be identifying the popular wells that people go to and then go there in order to reap the harvest that God has planted. The harvest is ready. Are you?”

That’s it, that’s all you get…for now 🙂

The Pastor -|—