Preaching

Worship Prayers for 06/14/15 ~ Sinners/Saints

/ The Pastor

Good morning sinners/saints. Once again it is my joy to share with you the prayers that have been prepared for worship this morning. Use them as you may to the glory of our awesome God.

Opening Prayer
Holy God, to come before Your throne in worship brings a sense of awe and holy fear; for we are sinners; stained, spotted, wrinkled and riddled with uncleanliness. We are unworthy to even glance in Your direction to soak in just a tiny morsel of Your holy beauty. We are unworthy to even utter Your holy name in a desperate cry for help. But You, oh God, do not turn us away; but rather receive us in Agape love. And as we crawl to you and fall at Your feet, You lift us up through faith in Your only Son, Jesus; our Redeemer and Savior and Lover of our souls. And therefore what a joy it is to gather as Your children and praise Your awesome and holy name. So receive our praise and thanks, and fill us with Your Spirit as we lay our very lives at Your feet. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Prayer before Preaching
Awesome God, mighty King, Your Word is too deep for our feeble minds to probe. Your Word is too wide for our limited understanding to navigate. You Word is too weighty for our weak faith to bare. Who can handle such an awesome Word without being crushed under the weight of its judgment? But we are not crushed for Your Word gives life to those who would receive it through Jesus Christ. So I ask that you would send Your Holy Spirit, now, so that as I bask in Your Word this morning, I may be able to impart Your Way, Truth and Life to the sinners here gathered; that they may see themselves as saints through faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Convict my heart and humble me in Your presence. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Post-communion Blessing
Now may the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ embolden your words and deeds as you live as forgiven sinners; saved by grace through faith, and proclaim the life and death of Jesus to the glory of God our Father. Amen.

Prayer after Communion/Closing Prayer
[Charles Spurgeon]
We cry to Thee this morning for the preservation of Thy church in the world, and especially for her purity. Oh Father, keep us, we beseech Thee, with all keeping, that the Evil one touch us not. We shall be tempted, but let him not prevail against us. In a thousand ways he will lay snares for our feel, but, deliver us as a bird from the snare of the fowler. May the snare be broken that we may escape and thus bring glory to Your holy name. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Now may the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, strengthen you for every good work; keeping you humble so that glory may always be to God. Blessings to you this day and always.

The Pastor -|—

Worship prayers ~ God’s Awesome Kingdom

/ The Pastor

Grace, peace and love to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Below are the prayers I wrote for worship for Sunday, June 7. The text for preaching is Mark 10:23-31; talking about entry into the Kingdom of God. This is something that is impossible for man but not for God; for anything is possible with God.

And so I commend these prayers to you for the glory of God.

Opening prayer
Holy God, we anxiously await the arrival of Your glorious Kingdom as it comes in power and might; a Kingdom where Your children, through faith in Jesus, will reside in eternal joy. A Kingdom where death and sin are not even a distant memory. A Kingdom where You reign eternal. And so in the mean time we look with longing eyes for the consumption of Your glory. We listen with attentive ears for the life saving Gospel. And we worship You with thankful hearts. Receive our praise and hear our prayers as we fall at Your feet in humble submission. Turn not Your servants away but bring us close that we may be filled with Your love. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Prayer before preaching
Holy God, loving Father, Your Word tells us that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so I humbly ask that You may send Your Holy Spirit to enliven the words that I speak; the words of Good News of Jesus Christ, that those words may create or strengthen faith in those who are hearing. And as Your Word brings life to Your children may they be so bold to speak words of life to one another; giving You the glory. And so guide now, your servants, into Your Word and reveal to us the glory of Your Kingdom. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Post-Communion blessing
May the body and blood of Christ strengthen your faith and make you so bold to live as forgiven sinners; proclaiming the Kingdom of God until he comes again. Amen.

Prayer after Holy Communion
Holy God, you are mighty to save; and through Jesus Christ you have announced Your Kingdom. May You grant Your Holy Spirit to establish Your Kingdom in Your children now and send us forth to boldly proclaim the death and resurrection of Your Son and our Lord. In Jesus name I pray, Amen

Benediction (from “Benedictions: A Pocket Resource” by Robert Vasholz)
May the Lord grant you to see where you are lacking, that you might have everything;
May the Lord grant you vision of you poverty, that you might be rich beyond measure;
May the Lord show you that you are destitute so that you may be filled with the fullness of His supply.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

May God bless you as you bring Your worship to God as a thank offering for the blessings God has already bestowed upon you.

The Pastor -|—

Prayer Before Preaching ~ Running Wild

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

In preparation for preaching on Pentecost Sunday and on Mark 10:13-16.

Holy God, loving Father, mighty King, I humbly ask for Your Holy Spirit to be given as we hear Your Word proclaimed. May childlike faith bubble up from deep within; from that place it was first born; but sadly now serves as a prison. May those locks be destroyed and that childlike faith be free to run wild. May we not be ashamed to let our guard down and seek You as our “Abba, Father”. Bless now our hearing and bless later our going that our childlike faith may infect people around us. Come, Holy Spirit, and set our heart aflame. Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.

May the Holy Spirit run wild in your life.

The Pastor -|—

Worship prayers for 05-10-15 (Mother’s Day)

/ The Pastor

Good morning and blessings to you on this Lord’s Day and Mother’s Day. Below are some of the prayers I have written for worship this morning. I usually get this out earlier in the weekend but the chaos of life prevented me from doing so. Hopefully I can get back on track next week 🙂

So with that I commend these to you; praying that God is glorified in your worship.

Opening prayer
Holy God, on this Mother’s Day, we come first and foremost to worship You. For it is You, though the love of mothers of all types, who show what it truly means to love a child. For it is through the death and resurrection of Your one and only son, Jesus, that we have eternal life. And that right there is deserving of our worship and thanks.

But also, Lord God almighty, we honor those woman You have used as instruments of Your love in our lives. In whatever form they come, we thank You, oh God. In whatever role they have played in our lives, we thank you, oh God.

May women not see the passage of DNA as a barrier to living out their calling to mother someone. And may You continue to raise up Your children through the self-sacrificing love of a mother. To You, oh God, be all worship and praise this day and always. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Prayer before preaching
Holy Father, Creator of heaven and earth. I am about to embark, once again, on the awesome task of proclaiming Your holy Word. This is something not to be taken lightly so I humbly ask for Your Spirit to guide and give life to these words. My words are dead words and with no power, but Your words, oh God, have power to create and destroy; resurrect and heal; kill and bring to life. Your Words are grace and truth; law and Gospel; command and freedom. Your Word is awesome and so I approach Your holy Word with fear and trembling; committing everything to You. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You, oh God, our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Post-Communion prayer
Holy Father, You have blessed us and fed us with this holy food, the body and blood of Jesus. I ask that You may make us so bold to live lives of hope as we cling to Your promises given through the death and resurrection of Jesus, Your son. And in light of the forgiveness proclaimed to us today, may we live lives of repentance as we strive to be more like Your dear son, Jesus Christ our Lord and in whose name we pray, Amen.

May God bless your day as you love on your mothers 🙂

The Pastor -|—

I S_ _ _ at Sermon Writing

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

One of my favorite things to write about or tweet about or Facebook about is the process of sermon writing. It’s a process that never fails to amaze me. For each time a sermon comes flowing out of my fingers it is due to the Holy Spirit taking my fingers and putting life into them. And so hopefully you are not tired of this topic. For me, I am just tooting God’s horn and give God praise through the work of the Holy Spirit.

————————

So today is Thursday, my sermon writing day at my favorite coffee shop. I am once again at my favorite table by the front window that looks out onto the sidewalk and the one-way main street. Vehicles line the street and there is a somewhat steady flow of activity. And in the midst of writing spurts I find myself looking out onto the world to day dream and reflect. And then after my “commercial break” ends the Holy Spirit returns me to the regularly scheduled programming (sermon writing). The characters may vary slightly, the plot is the same but the way I arrive at the message varies week to week. And despite the sameness in the “programming” I never lose interest (and hopefully those listening on Sunday don’t lose interest either).

And as I reflect on this amazing process of sermon writing I am reminded of something my wife’s uncle once asked me: How do you come up with all those sermons? Without batting an eyelash I said to him, God. To which he responded, I know that but how do you come up with a sermon each week? Me: God.

I think that frustrated him enough as our conversation quickly ended through some “diversion” that caught his attention. I think what he wanted to hear about was some skill or resource that I drew upon. He was amazed but amazed with the wrong person. As Martin Luther says in his sacristy prayer, If this task were left up to me I would surely bring it all to ruin. And that is the case with sermon writing. Because believe me, when it comes to writing and public speaking,

I suck (sorry about the language).

And so without sounding cocky or proud or anything like that, I am glad I suck at writing and public speaking. For as the apostle Paul says, when I am weak it is then that I am strong. That strength?

God

But really, where does your strength come from?

God

That’s it.

Now it time to return to the regularly scheduled programming. Come, Holy Spirit…

And have a great day 🙂

The Pastor -|—

Holy Saturday ~ Limbo

/ The Pastor

I feel like I am in limbo today.

The past two days we traveled through the cross of Jesus and now today ~ Nothing. Jesus has been crucified and buried, but tomorrow, though, is the joyous celebration of his resurrection. But I’m still in today ~ so nothing, at least for now.

And so I am here in my office reflecting on the cross, my sin and Jesus’ willingly going to the cross for me. And as I reflect on this I am polishing off TWO Easter sermons.

That’s right, I am just crazy enough to do that 🙂

This is something I have never done before. You see, I have two Easter services here at Salem Lutheran Church and one out at Belmont Lutheran Church. Every year I have written one Easter sermon and preached it three times. But there are a couple “problems” that I have never addressed before:

(1) Some people that come to the Sonrise worship service at Salem will come back for the Festival worship service later (I lead the Sonrise service at Belmont in between). And so those people hear the sermon twice, not necessarily bad since I need to hear something more than once to really get it, but I have heard comments.

(2) The crowd at each service is generally different (with a few the same). And so with a different crowd, a different message is needed; a different focus, if I am going to be contextual.

And so I felt the Spirit move stronger than ever, this year, to write TWO sermons. Besides, there shouldn’t be a problem, since I have plenty of material 🙂

Praise be to God!

And so this “nothing” day is turning into something. I am reflecting on the cross and preaching to myself an Easter message in two ways (but yet the same) as I get ready to lead God’s people in worship tomorrow.

What a day
Nothing to something ~ yup, that sounds like God

Holy Saturday, a day of limbo, but also a day of great expectation and hope as we know what is coming, and I am not talking about tomorrow.

God bless you as you wait expectantly for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come, Lord Jesus, with your glorious Kingdom and praise be to God!

Living God, what a roller coaster ride this week, and now we wait for the glorious return of our Lord Jesus. Bless our waiting, Oh God, and may we feel the passion to share this Good News every single day. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

My Little Pulpit Visitor

/ The Pastor

Nothing deep and theological here tonight, just a cute worship story involving this pastor/daddy and his little girl.

This morning I was in the pulpit; in the zone and preaching on Mark 9:14-29. It was a serious text (as they all are) on living in the dark valley of life; being confronted by Satan. I was cruising along, when about half way through the sermon I noticed a disturbance in the force…

… my little girl (23 months old) working her way towards the pulpit.

I knew a problem was developing and my wife was otherwise occupied with our 4 1/2 month old son. So I continued and pretended not to notice; hoping there wouldn’t be a problem, but the force is strong in my little girl.

Mayah proceeded to walk in front of the pulpit before she realized she couldn’t reach daddy going that way. She promptly turned around and quickly solved her problem as she found the steps that lead to daddy. Mayah then crawled up the steps and proceeded to position herself in front of me; holding her arms up and waiting for me to pick her up. It took everything in me not to reach down and pick her up. It was even hard not to smile at all this cuteness.

I continue to preach and tried to stay in the zone as Mayah asserted herself ever so quietly (what a polite little girl). She eventually took a break and sat on the steps before trying again to convince me to chuck my sermon and give her the attention she desperately wanted.

Finally she relented and worked her way back down the couple steps and back to mommy. I continued preaching all the while keeping one eye on my little girl; and feeling a little guilty that I didn’t pick her up (and hoping no one noticed my mental distraction).

But I am not surprised by this. I knew this day would come eventually and I know there will be more. I guess this is just part of the joy of being a pastor and a daddy, and you know something, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The Pastor -|—

The Word of God ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

This is a prayer I wrote to be prayed before the sermon today. I am intentional with these prayers because to preach God’s word is such an awesome task and opportunity. To listen to God’s word is also an awesome thing. Its something you don’t want to take for granted. So I invite you to receive this prayer and really think about this gift that we have in the Bible:

THE…WORD…OF…GOD.

Wow! Amazing, isn’t it?

So let’s pray…

Oh Father God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; to listen to Your word is such an awesome thing as Your words are life and salvation. Your words provide comfort and peace in a dark world. Your words are hope and strength as Satan seeks to bring us down. And so it is with all humility that we seek Your Holy Spirit to break through the walls of our hardened hearts, that we may receive Your word. For it is only through your grace that we can hear this Good News and be transformed to Your will. So bless our hearing this morning that Your words may take up residence in our hearts. Bless our lives that we may serve others and therefore glorify You for You are an awesome God. All praise and worship and honor and glory be to You, oh God, our Rock and Redeemer; in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

May God bless your hearing of His holy Word today and always.

The Pastor -|—

Living in the Stone Age

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

I’ve been a pastor for just over 10 1/2 years (plus a year of internship) and through that time I have preached a lot of sermons:
Sunday
Weddings
Funerals
Community ecumenical services
Nursing home
Etc…

And for the most part I have used a manuscript on multiple pieces of paper, until Aug 2013, when I bought a tablet. I then discovered the joy of preaching off my tablet and not fumbling with papers. It felt like I had left the stone age and entered modern times through a time machine or some kind of Star Trek wormhole.

Approximately one and a half years of preaching with technological bliss 🙂

CRASH

That is the sound of my tablet up and dying on me. RIP 😦

And so I had to use paper in worship this past Sunday (oh the horror). And let me tell you, that was awkward. Amazing what one gets used to over time. In any case, I ordered a new tablet on Monday with a delivery date of TODAY 🙂

FAIL

Yup…that’s right. I got sent the wrong one.
Grrrrrr 😦

And now I have to suffer through another Sunday preaching in the stone age.

[Cue the weeping and gnashing of teeth]

My wife rolls her eyes at me but she just doesn’t understand the crisis I am in. I fear dropping pages off the pulpit and looking like a bumbling buffoon. Where is the wormhole when I need it. Hopefully Amazon can sense my pain and speed this delivery up, but I am not going to hold my breath. So in the mean time, I need to start stone age training again; getting my paper holding fingers back into shape.

It is in cases like this I am glad that the proclamation of the Word is not up to me; because in the words of Martin Luther, I would surely bring it all to ruin.

Oh well, wish me luck.
Come, Holy Spirit.

The Pastor -|—

Preparing to Listen/Preach ~ Holy Words

/ The Pastor

The following is the prayer I wrote to be prayed before the sermon. This was inspired by a quote I heard from a person who used to be a faithful teacher of the Bible but now says that Scripture is from human origin; basically, not the inspired Word of God. Sad really. So I couldn’t help but lament the negative conversion of this pastor and seek God’s blessing as we listen to this holy Word.

Let’s pray…

Lord God almighty, holy scripture is breathed out by you; inspired by you; and therefore are words that come from Your holy mouth. This is nothing to take lightly but yet many take Your holy words and claim they are nothing more than mindless babble from human minds long dead and irrelevant. What a travesty. May we never see Your words that way but rather see them as words of life; revealing our salvation through faith Jesus Christ. And so, speak life, oh God. Create, strengthen and nourish faith here. May we heed Your words to listen to Jesus in order to bring glory to Your holy name. Send Your Spirit now and bless these words. May they come from Your mouth and not mine. All praise, glory and honor be to You, oh God, our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

And let’s continue praying that God’s Word is considered holy and true. It was written by men but inspired by God.

May God bless your hearing of his holy Word and the proclamation of that Word.

The Pastor -|—