Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church Orlando FL

There is a risk being a Lutheran – a very large risk.  A person can be very comfortable basking in the greatness of God’s grace (a favorite word of Lutherans) and stop there. True, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.  However, being saved doesn’t mean we are to be stagnant.  We are called to love – and love just happens to be a verb: love does!

The Holy Trinity is all about relationship – It’s God’s way of doing
relationship with God’s self and God’s creation. This relationship is based primarily on one thing: love. This love is a love that is unchanging and unending. There is literally nothing in this mighty cosmos that can ever separate us from God’s
unfailing love.

Pentecost Sunday is the one day set aside on the church calendar where we properly lift up the history and purpose of the Holy Spirit. As Lutherans, we don’t always put as much weight on the Spirit as our Pentecostal brothers and sisters – maybe it’s time we change that tradition as we try to better understand the Holy Spirit and make it part of our every day life.

We conclude our journey through the Lord’s Prayer. This week we sum up what it’s really all about and the "point" of it all.

We continue our journey through the Lord’s Prayer. Does our Good Father actually lead us into temptation? What does it mean when we ask this? What’s the difference between tempting and testing? We’ll discuss all this and more as we continue walking together in the Lord’s Prayer.

We continue our journey through the Lord’s Prayer. When we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” we are asking God to forgive our sins according to the same standard we have used in forgiving the sins of others. When we pray this prayer we are really saying, “O God, deal with us as I deal with other people.” This is a dangerous prayer. Are we sure we really want to pray this?

We continue our journey through the Lord’s Prayer. When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we confess that God is the source of every blessing. Daily bread living means taking life one day at a time, being confident that God will take care of our needs day by day by day.

Guest Preacher: Jose Aenlle 

We continue our journey through the Lord’s Prayer. “Your kingdom come” is not a passive prayer. If we ever decide to make the Kingdom of God the first priority in our life, you will become fundamentally different than the “you” that you once knew. You will be called into a new way of life as a transformed person.

Jesus taught us to pray in five short verses. There are life-changing meanings in Christ’s words if we slow down enough to see them. This week we start a new sermon series where we journey together through The Lords Prayer. This week we talk about “Our Father, Who art in Heaven,” which answers the greatest question of the universe–Is there anybody up there who cares about me? The answer comes back-Yes. Yes. Yes. There is a God who cares about you. When we pray, “Hallowed be your name,” we are both the voice and the feet of that petition. As the very words leave our lips, our life is part of the answer.

During Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, palms waved and placed on the road were a sign of victory and recognition of Jesus’ royalty. Many Israelites pinned their hopes on a King Jesus who would restore national justice through military power.  However, Jesus enters into Jerusalem not on a warhorse but rather a donkey preaching a message of loving your enemies. What kind of king is this Jesus anyway?