Walnut Grove Lutheran Church Podcasts

​​We sometimes think of faith as a magic power that enables us to do things we could not otherwise do or make things work out in a way that we desire. With such thinking, doubt is seen as a weakness that diminishes faith and makes it less likely to reach our goals. But Jesus paints for us a much more hopeful, life-giving understanding of faith and doubt. Faith is resting our entire life—including our doubts and all our other faults and flaws—in Jesus’ love. In Jesus, all our weaknesses become imbued with his strength for he is living his life in and through us. (Based on Mark 9:14-29.)

All of us, at various points throughout our lives, will make plans and those plans may or may not work out as we hoped. But what do we do when our plans fail, and life seems to spiral out of control? We remember that God has a plan that is far greater than ours and his plan is to give us a hope and a future that is far better than anything we could ever imagine. (Based on Jeremiah 29:1-14.)

As much as we want to ignore it, death is a future reality for all of us. How can we face our own mortality and have a settled peace about it? By knowing who God is and who we are in relation to him. For God is not only our Creator, he is also our Redeemer and Savior. God the Son, Jesus Christ, came into this world and paid the cost to bring us into life with him. With him carrying us in his loving arms, we are on the pathway of life, even as we pass through death. (Based on Isaiah 43:1-13.)

We can find many things online which help us in life. But who will show us how to live an abundant life? Freed from condemnation by Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps us to live life in a new way. As we meet with Jesus in our everyday challenges, the Holy Spirit transforms us by flooding our heart and mind with the thoughts and feelings of Jesus. Guided by the Spirit, we intentionally form new habits and practices that help us to put on a new heart. As we do these things, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, we discover that life the Spirit gives us is filled with abundance. (Based on Romans 8:1-17.)

One of the main tasks of being a human being is to discover who we are. We usually build our sense of self upon the things of this world: our work, our relationships, our possessions, or our looks. But what happens when we lose those things? We don’t know who we really are anymore. But the Holy Spirit helps us to see who we really are in Christ: beloved, forgiven children of God and heirs of the fullness of the Kingdom of God. That is an identity that can never be taken away from us. (Based on Galatians 3:23-4:7.)

Sometimes it is hard for us to face up to the fact that we are all sinners. We wish we could do better and would like to fix our sin problem with a DIY solution. But that never works. God’s solution for our sin problem is to trust in him and his goodness instead of our own. It was God’s goodness that propelled Jesus into this world to pay the full cost of forgiveness for all our sins. And it is the Holy Spirit who helps us to see our sin & trust in Jesus for our forgiveness. (Based on Acts 2:22-39.)

We can become fearful when our life goals are frustrated or threatened. Our life can even be shattered when things don’t work out the way we want. That shattering can be a gift if we bring our broken life to Jesus. That’s when the Holy Spirit quenches our soul's thirst for shalom peace in Jesus. (Based on John 14:23-31.)

Sometimes things beyond our control happen which threaten to diminish or remove our possessions, and that can be scary for us. But Jesus took all of our guilt and brokenness upon himself to open the door for us to a new and much better life with him. With him as our greatest treasure, we have everything we need. (Based on Matthew 6:25-34.)

It is disheartening when we are not able to accomplish what we desire. But the solution is not to try harder. Instead, God calls us to look at our desires. Often they are misaligned and being only one degree off course means that we never arrive at our intended destination. By resting in Jesus and letting him transform our affections, we focus our efforts in a new direction as we seek to help God’s goodness to grow throughout the world. (Based on Matthew 11:25-30.)

One of the hardest things to deal with is a relationship breakdown within a family. Ideally, these are the closest relationships we should have, so it is especially painful when those relationships are fractured. In our grief and sorrow, we turn to Jesus, and through the relationship we have with him, we have a perfect Parent, an ideal Brother, and a faithful Encourager who keeps reminding us of who we really are: a beloved, forgiven child of God. With the rest of God’s children around the world and throughout time, we are a new family, the family of God. (Based on Mark 3:20-35.)

Because all of us are broken humans living in a broken world, we will all face health challenges at some point in our lives. Preventing such things from happening is beyond our control. But we do control how we respond when health declines. So we look to Jesus. Because he took up our infirmities on the cross and nullified their power to destroy us, we know that the physical healing we long for will happen on the Day of Resurrection. In the meantime, we give Jesus all authority in our lives so he can do his healing work in our soul. (Based on Matthew 8:5-17.)

In moments when our life quickly takes a dramatic downward turn, it feels like that is the most important thing. But there is something deeper going on. Without Jesus, we are already spiritually dead in all our relationships with God, our self & others. Jesus gives us new life in all those areas of life, but we often need resurrection friends to help us to grow in that new life. (Based on John 20:19-31.)For sermon notes, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VG_bFgIfeJAi9vaCiCFMrovP1dGWJzK1/view?usp=sharing

We often think of resurrection as something that happens in the far off future after we die with little or no relevance for our life in this world. But the resurrection of Jesus changes everything for us now and forever. As we live in the present with a deeply held awareness of resurrection and what it means for us, Jesus will change our lives to be more like his. (Based on Mt. 28:1-10.)

Jesus’ resurrection may sound like good news that only matters when we die. But the Bible and history show us that Jesus’ resurrection has the power to transform lives so that people are more fully alive and loving than they otherwise ever could be. By being attentive to Jesus’ presence with us in our meals, he can help us to live his resurrection in our everyday life. (Based on Luke 24:13-35.)

In our skeptical, secular culture, it would be easy for us to become discouraged & think that there is no point in trying to go and reach others with God’s love. But going is one of the five targets Jesus has given us to aim at in our life with him. Trusting his words that a great harvest awaits, we go, demonstrating the power of God’s Kingdom and declaring its presence, knowing that Jesus has already prepared hearts that are ripe to receive his love through us. (Based on Luke 10:1-9.)

Money and material goods are often considered to be measures of success in this world. To God, the way that we use money & our possessions indicate what is going on in our soul. Jesus not only came into this world to win forgiveness for us for all the times we have misused money & matter, he also calls us to live in a new way in a new realm. As Jesus transforms the value we hold in our soul, we are able to invest what we have to help produce a great harvest for God’s Kingdom. (Based on Mark 10:17-31.)

It is easy for us to believe, as the world does, that what you have determines whether you are blessed or not. But Jesus sees things as they really are, and he tells us that it is what he is doing in our heart that determines whether we are blessed or not. Jesus is constantly at work, in good times and in bad, molding and shaping us so that we become more like him. And serving others is important because that is the way that the blessedness Jesus has put in us is drawn out to bless others. (Based on Mt. 5:1-16.)

It is easy for us to think of church as a place for people who have it all together and those of us with brokenness in our lives need to keep that brokenness well-hidden if we are going to be part of a church. But that is a misunderstanding of what it means to follow Jesus. Living an authentic life and a real community means both admitting that we are both completely broken and unconditionally loved by Jesus. His forgiveness is what helps us to live free in authentic community with others. (Based on John 8:2-11.)

Failing to finish well is something that many of us struggle with. But the solution is not to try harder. Jesus is calling us into a greater, more fulfilling life which will yield results that last. And that abundant life begins with, is rooted in, and is nourished by, being with Jesus and receiving from him.(Based on John 15:1-17.)

Sometimes we can have great intentions to go to one place and end up somewhere else. And the negative impressions that non-Christians have about Christians suggest that that is what’s happening as we follow Jesus. It is time for us to re-focus and aim for a new way of living by taking the words of Jesus and putting them into practice. By putting God’s Word into practice, and aiming at the targets of Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving and Going, we will find the life that God has made for us. (Based on Mt. 7:13-29.)