Your Faith Journey

De: Faith Lutheran Church Okemos MI
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  • Resumen

  • All of us are on a journey of faith in our lives. At Faith Lutheran in Okemos, Michigan we bring people one a journey of faith each week and share that journey with the world.
    2024
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Episodios
  • Special Music - Down to the River

    Special Music - Down to the River
    Aug 26 2024

    This is a special musical presentation of Down to the River with the Sinful Sinners at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
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    4 m
  • Sermon - 8/25/24

    Sermon - 8/25/24
    Aug 25 2024
    For Not with Swords Loud Clashing Lead on, O King eternal! The day of march has come; henceforth in fields of conquest your tents will be our home. Through days of preparation your grace has made us strong; and now, O King eternal, we lift our battle song. Lead on, O King eternal, till sin’s fierce war shall cease, and holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace for not with swords loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums, but deeds of love and mercy, the heavenly kingdom comes. Lead on, O king eternal; we follow not with fears, for gladness breaks like morning wher-e’er your face appears. Your cross is lifted o’er us; we journey in its light; the crown awaits the conquest; lead on, O God of might! Evangelical Lutheran Worship 805 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11 Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or just befuddled by it all, you know there is great tension in our country right now. Many are anxious and worried about the future. On a much smaller scale, many of us at Faith may have at least moments of anxiety and worry about the future of our congregation. It’s easy to go dark, especially in times of transition in pastoral leadership. Rumors can flee and misunderstandings can abound. We may even wonder if we have a future together. I love the inspired and inspiring words in the readings of scripture for today, words in Psalm 34 like these: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those whose spirits are crushed. Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them from every one. I think about what it means to be righteous: through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are made righteous. Day after day we are forgiven. Day after day we are set free from the bondage to sin, to self-centeredness. We are set to do what is [righteous] right for our sisters and brothers. It is pretty much guaranteed that all of us will have many troubles, many afflictions. A near certainty that our hearts will be broken. But the Lord of steadfast love will never abandon us, will always set us free for deeds of kindness and of love and mercy. Or I think of these words in Joshua: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.” And for me right now these words from the letter to the Christians in Ephesus: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. It is so important to remember that our struggle is not against a particular political leader or party, or much closer to home, not against a member of our extended family with whom we may strongly disagree, or against our pastor or any member of the congregation about whom we are troubled. It is not against our own flesh and blood, any members of the human family. Again, I think this is so important. We ought not demonize our sisters and brothers but rather recognize that we are struggling against the wiles of the devil. We are struggling against the “cosmic powers of this present darkness,” or as someone has translated, “the organized forces of malevolent spirit beings.” We are struggling against the deceitful schemes of the devil who is always looking for ways to lure us into believing in a false righteousness. The devil, which scripture also calls “the father of lies”, is always seeking to worm his way into the ears and hearts and minds of every one of us…every one of us, from the lowliest to those with great power and influence. Therefore, we read, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. I would paraphrase those words like this: Clothed in the powerful, protective...
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    15 m
  • Sermon - 8-18-24

    Sermon - 8-18-24
    Aug 18 2024
    Last week I shared goals that were developed from the input that was received at our gatherings this past year. I need to let you know that they are still in progress and are being reviewed by the call committee. They will then go back to the council for final approval. You will then be able to see them in the Ministry Site Profile. The Ministry Site Profile was formulated and written by the Transition Team, is now being fine-tuned by the Call Committee and will then be brought back to the council for approval and then shared with you. Mike Nussdorfer is the head of our Call Committee. We will be installing them in September. Next week there will be news in the E-news from the Call Committee. I know the talk about process gets old, but in reality this is what life is. The transition that we are in is a process and takes many turns, many that we do not expect. We would like to know how it is all going to go, but unfortunately that is not how God works. Everything is in God’s time. During times of transition, anxiety and sometimes frustration, is the best time to work on our relationship with Jesus. This is what our lessons are talking about today. It is when we are not focusing on trying to figure everything out that the way often becomes clearer. The Jewish leaders in our Gospel lesson are trying to make sense out of what Jesus is talking about. It doesn’t make sense that Jesus is saying that they are to eat him. Then Jesus goes on to say that unless they eat of his flesh and drink his blood that they will not have life within them. Those who do eat his flesh and drink his blood will have eternal life .If we think about this literally, our stomachs will probably be turning. In a sense Jesus tries to clarify to a point what he is talking about in saying that it is about abiding in him and he in us. Jesus is talking about our relationship with him. The Greek word for abide is meno which can mean reside in. Think for a moment about how Jesus resides in you. Do we recognize Jesus in us? We can be taken back by that to even consider us seeing Jesus in ourself. The closer that we grow to Jesus, the more others will see Jesus in us. It doesn’t mean that we are perfect. If anything, it means that we realize that we are not perfect, yet try to love all the people the best that we can. In our own lives, those whom we have close relationships have an influence on how we live our lives. When we have someone that we trust, we allow them to point out things that may not be working or things that they see that they point out as something positive and healthy. This is our model for being in relationship with Jesus There are all levels of relationship based on trust. We are all wired differently and that means even levels of intimacy are influenced by that with others and Jesus. When we are in loving intimate relationships with another human being, it is not always something that we understand. It just is and the more we try and understand it, the less sense it makes. We learn to trust and go with it or not. It takes being vulnerable and trusting that another person doesn’t take advantage of us. It is no different with Jesus when it comes to trusting and being vulnerable. I don’t believe that anyone of us has seen Jesus, yet we learn about Jesus and are asked to trust him. I want us to be reminded that Jesus desires us. We often think of this in a sexual manner, but this is much deeper, it is intimacy. It is Jesus residing in us. Jesus desires us to be vulnerable with him. We know that is not easy to do with another human being, let along Jesus. Even though we may admit that Jesus knows everything about us, the question is, are we willing to recognize who we are. Are we willing to stand totally open or as open as we can be before Jesus? Jesus was saying to the Jews and says to us, I want to be a part of every area of your life. I am going to reside in you. I want you to be at home with me. When Jesus says that he wants us to eat him, it really means that he wants us to continue to learn about him and be in relationship with him. This means recognizing his presence in us and others. In the beginning of the Gospel of John we hear that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and that the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” From the beginning of this Gospel, we hear that Jesus was God and that God in Jesus wants to be in relationship with us. God in Jesus Christ comes to us through Word and Sacrament. The word for eat in this passage can also mean gnaw or chew on. For me this means to really taste it, to get the fullest possible experience of it. This is what Jesus desires us to do with him through Word and Sacrament. Jesus wants us to get the fullest possible experience with him that we are able to. The Word is not only the Bible, but God in Jesus Christ can come to us through people and experiences. They can come to us through reading other things, watching things, but always listening...
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    21 m
Ministerio y Evangelismo Espiritualidad
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