We have a generous God. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights," we read in James. All our blessings come from God: Our physical blessings, our spiritual blessings, and our eternal blessings all come from above, embodied in the person of Jesus. Generosity is the virtue of Jesus, and it's the opposite of greed. Greed brings problems to our life, it is a sign of hypocrisy,it jeopardizes our place in the Kingdom of God, and it has to be put to death. We put our greed to death by confessing it, and allowing Jesus to nail it to the cross. As we confess our greed, we receive His grace, give thanks for our gifts, and live a life of generosity. Pastor David Moerbe shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

At some point, we all experience anger and bitterness toward someone we feel has wronged us. Being angry is often easier than offering a word of forgiveness.

But Jesus went to the cross in order to forgive us. He cancelled our record of debt, by nailing it to the cross. He invites us to regularly ask for forgiveness, and He calls us to forgive others. As Ephesians 4:31 tells us, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice."

Jesus is in the business of forgiveness! Pastor David Moerbe shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

In the story of the loaves and fish, we marvel at the miracle of how the thousands were fed, but we cannot miss the motivation: Jesus had compassion for the people, and didn't want to send them home hungry. As a compassionate God and Savior, he commands his children to live life with a compassionate heart, even though our hearts are often always full of pride, anger, prejudice, arrogance, malice or indifference. But Jesus offers a path to restoring us and giving us a compassionate heart in Revelation 3: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone has my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and eat with him, and him with me." Pastor David Moerbe shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

To be like Jesus, we need to embrace servanthood, holding fast to our desire to respond to needs and concerns of others, to submit to God's will for my life and to follow faithfully. Our vices -- jealousy, ambition -- get in the way. God gives us our giftedness to be used for others, our freedom to serve, the strength to serve and the blood of Christ which allows to serve. Pastor David Moerbe shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

We are called to plant Gospel seeds wherever we go in 2018. As Paul tells the Corinthians, we are God's fellow workers. We are God's servants in this mission, called to work together, and work through our challenges, to plant and water seeds of grace to help lead others to believe. Here at Good Shepherd, we have many ways for you to join the team and help plant or water seeds. Seed planters know that God is gracious and will make things grow! "Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:58) Pastor David Moerbe shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

Spiritual gifts are special abilities given by God, to God's people, for God's service. Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophecy, discernment, teaching, serving, exhorting, gifting, leading, compassion -- these are all examples of spiritual gifts. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians that it is easy to be strayed and misinformed, chasing false idols. To embrace our giftedness, we must avoid ignorance to our spiritual gifts, Sometimes we want to cover up and not use our spiritual gifts by denying them, ignoring them, or reject them. "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Every believer is spiritually gifted by God! Let us use our gifts to be a blessing to the body of Christ. Pastor Ed Brashier shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

You never know what you're going to get when you are of a group! But for many of us, groups have made a big difference in our lives. As it says in Hebrews, in a group we hold fast to our confession of hope, stirring up one another to love and good works, leading us to encourage one another in our day-to-day lives. As Martin Luther wrote, "In matters of faith, love, and patience, it is not enough to teach and instruct alone. There a also a need for daily encouragement." Pastor David Moerbe shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

The first step towards God using you to make a difference this year is to pray daily. In 1st Thessalonians, Paul writes to “pray without ceasing.” Daily prayer, however, is not easy. We get distracted, we get frustrated, we just don’t take the time — any number of things can take us away from our daily prayer life. Prayer was a fixture of Jesus’ daily life on Earth. To help us to pray, God Himself prays for us, He prays with us, and He shows us what to pray for. Today: Pray for our souls, pray for healing, pray to be a witness to others, pray for worldly affairs, and pray for God’s people. Pastor David Moerbe shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

One of the last things Jesus told the disciples just before returning to Heaven was to go and make disciples of all nations, by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them the Scripture. Baptism is our spiritual CPR -- Baptism is like putting the spiritual defibrillator on your chest and yelling, 'Clear!' before the jolt of the Holy Spirit infuses your body. That Baptism is a means of grace performed by God through a human minister. That grace of God is free, but it is not cheap! Romans 6:4: 'We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.' Pastor Ed Brashier shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.

We all have unique shouts. Our shout is the unique way we are called to share God wherever we are. We need to find our passion and our voice in order to share our unique shout. As Isaiah 62 says, "For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet." Pastor Ed Brashier shares this week's message from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gardendale, Ala.