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
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
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 -|—
Your Glory
Most awesome God,
Your glory is ever apparent,
from the beauty of the world around me to
the splendor of the heavens above.
But Your glory is most wonderfully shown
through Your Son,
Jesus Christ,
who was crucified and raised for us,
that we may have the hope of the resurrection;
worshiping in Your holy courts
and gazing upon Your glory forever and ever.
May I never take this glory for granted in my life as I strive to live for You.
In Jesus name I pray,
Amen.
The Pastor -|—
Holy
Holy, holy, holy are You,
oh God,
though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye made blind by sin,
thy glory may not see.
Only thou art holy,
oh God,
there is indeed none beside thee.
Perfect in power are You,
oh God,
and perfect in love and purity.
And because You are holy,
oh God,
and I am not,
may you draw me unto thee that I may know You better.
Shine a light onto Your Law that I may delight in it more.
Lead me in the path of righteousness that I may glorify thee.
Bless my learning of Your Word
and embolden my going
so I may shine a light unto your holiness.
Through Jesus Christ I pray,
Amen.
The Pastor -|—
Our Muddy Glory
Holy God,
the beauty of your glory is something to behold,
yet we seek after a glory that is dim in comparison;
a glory that only reflects from the muddy water of our sin.
And we have no idea how bad it is
until we drink from the water
and taste that we are drinking unto our death.
May we come to the well that is pure and life giving.
May drink that we may never thirst again.
May we seek to know Your Law better and better.
May we soak in Your precepts that we may shine forth Your glory.
Oh God,
You are the holy law giver
but you are also the glorious one
who redeems our lives through Jesus Christ.
May we taste and see that You are Good
and may we ever seek Your ways.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray,
Amen.
The Pastor -|—
Turn Me Back
Father God,
I am ever mindful
that You are holy
and I am not.
I go our own way
and chase after other gods.
I am a sinful creature;
seeking my own glory.
Oh God,
heal my heart and turn me back to You,
in the name of Jesus,
for I am a miserable sinner.
And as I seek after You
may I always find a rich mercy
and an abundant grace
to fill my heart and heal my soul;
overflowing to Your glory.
May the joy of Your forgiveness ooze from my being
and infest the lives of others.
Through Jesus Christ I pray,
Amen.
The Pastor -|—
Unending Praise…
Holy God,
it is indeed right and salutary
to give You thanks and praise,
oh God,
our giver of life.
Through Jesus Christ You made us righteous in Your eyes
and thus redeemed our lives from the grip of death.
You sustain us through Your Holy Spirit
and lead us into all Truth.
You have revealed Your glory to us
that we may reflect that Light unto the world around us.
And so,
we go with boldness into this world
to shine the light of Your love and grace.
And as we go,
we join with the Church on earth
and the hosts of heaven
in singing Your unending praise…
The Pastor -|—
Righteousness
Holy God,
through Jesus Christ
you have made us righteous in your eyes
and thus redeemed us from the pit of death
through the forgiveness of our sins.
You have given us a new hope
as we look forward to and long for the paradise prepared for us.
You are an awesome God
and thus you are worthy of all
praise
and glory
and worship.
Help us to understand what it means
to bring You glory through the practicing of our righteousness.
May we not fall to the temptation of glorifying ourselves.
May we not steal the praise that is due Your wonderful name.
Now may the words of my mouth
and the meditation of our hearts
be acceptable in Your sight,
oh God,
our Rock and redeemer,
Amen.
The Pastor -|—
The Mystery
The mystery is told,
the mystery is this,
through faith in Jesus,
we will live in bliss.
Our bodies will perish,
our bodies will decay,
but at the last trumpet
we’ll go by Jesus way.
Why can we proclaim this?
Why can we be joyous?
Death has been defeated,
and Jesus is for us.
All praises be to God.
All honor be to Him.
The vic’try has been won,
for through Jesus we will win.
The Pastor -|—
The Heart of a Pastor 