Shepherd Of The Desert Podcast

Life is filled with difficulty and struggle. In our hardest moments, we ask ourselves, "Where is God in my suffering? Doesn't He know how hard this is for me?" Yet, as Isaiah reminds us, God certainly does. He has the whole universe in his hands, and he lifts us up in our moments of weakness. Our trust in the promise is the foundation for our faith that even in the troubles of life, God is surely with us.

When we are long gone the legacy of our life in the promised land will remain. After living in the promises of God for a lifetime, will those you love and have lived with bear out a legacy of your life?  In simpler terms, will you leave a legacy of faith?  In this final week of our “Promised ‘And’” worship series our pastors put that question to us.  Remaining in God’s promises a task for every generation.  Helping the next generation receive and revere those promises is the task of every Christian.  #shepherdazonline

The measure of our worthiness to enter and remain is a daily endeavor and effort. Entering the Promised Land was not a walk in the park, a Sunday afternoon stroll on a woodland path.  There was a measure of worthiness required by the Promiser to the ones promised.  This week in our third installment of our Promised ‘And’ worship series our ministry team leads us to consider what makes for worthy entry and access to God’s promises.  What you learn, may surprise you.

Perseverance can be the coin of Christ's kingdom, the currency by which we steadfastly walk through all manner of trial.  This weekend in our second installment of "The Promised 'And"" worship series we learn about the persevering faith God's people needed in the Old Testament to fortify and strengthen us in our 21st century testament.

In our kickoff of the new year worship series, The Promised "And", Pastor Scott lead us in a study of the Old Testament anchor point of the land God promised his people.  After every dark chapter in human history, the Christian church has simply held out a single, hopeful word:  “And”.  There is more to every story.  This week, we begin writing a new chapter in 2021. #shepherdazonline

12 days after Christmas comes the January 6th celebration of Epiphany.  Remembering wise men from the East following the Bethlehem star we see Christmas cross the boundaries of God's Old Testament people to reach a whole new world of nations and peoples, tribes, and tongues with God's amazing grace.

Mary and Joseph (Wrestling with Why!). Luke 2:1-20 Big Idea:  When the reason for our walk is cloaked in mystery and we are overwhelmed by how small we are within God’s greater plan.  Ponder. 

Anna and Simeon (Wrestling with Fleeting Time). Luke 2:21-40 Big Idea:  When the days grow short and the achievement of life appears small, the sustained energy to keep the faith can be overwhelming.  Keep going. 

John the Baptist (Wrestling with Others). Luke 3:1-20 Big Idea:  When the purpose for which God uses us is contested so obviously by others, the sustained energy to endure it can be overwhelming.  Rebuke and regroup.

When we signed up for Christianity, we honestly didn’t expect it to be a walk in the park.  We knew hard days would come.  Maybe even hard weeks.  But months?  Years?  For some the fight of faith can even span a decade or two.  A hardened attitude, nagging habit or something worse clings to us like an Arizona summer stench in the heat of July.  The Bible makes no bones about the fact that Jesus visited a sinful, fractious world when he landed in Bethlehem.  Every cast member of this divine drama, from his parents, to his kinsman, and even the unexpecting bystander, didn’t have it easy.  This Christmas, there fight becomes our fight (or vice versa) and with them we come to the cradle of salvation in that cattle stall a fair pace from the warm inn where everyone else was staying.  Are you ready enter the octagon or the boxing ring and  go a few rounds.  Zechariah and Elizabeth (Wrestling with What?!). Luke 1:5-25 Big Idea:  When God does what we don’t expect and can’t foresee, the reactive energy to deal with i

Week 5:  “One Last Snapshot of a Thankful Heart:”  Philemon Sometimes gratitude can be taught as, for instance, our Shepherd family learned a few weeks ago in this message series.  Usually, gratitude is “caught”.  The discipline and habit of showing gratitude bleeds over into the lives of others.  In this final week of November, we’ll spend some time taking in the lessons of a short letter of the New Testament:  Philemon.  Here we’ll see a grateful Paul pay it forward on behalf of a servant by the name of Onesimus.  Advocating for his well-being with his master, Philemon, Paul underscores all of his words with a single sentiment:  thankfulness.  The anchor of Paul’s gratitude?  Our common faith and hope in Jesus Christ, whether slave or free, Jew or Greek, rich or poor.

Week 4:  “Thanksgiving Heals Most Everything” Colossians 3:12-17 Happy Thanksgiving, Blessed Thanksgiving, Shepherd family.  The past decade has yielded greater hostility among human beings, especially here in America.  This week many will be breaking bread at some kind of Thanksgiving dinner table.  Pray there will be no broken noses or, worse, broken spirits from the conversation had at those tables.  This week as congregation we prepare for what may be for some a family reunion by fire.  We’ll hear Paul’s words of comfort and instruction that places gratitude at the center of every act of reconciliation.  This week, you may not successfully correct the errant politics of your sibling or their spouse.  You can make progress restoring the relationship with them, however, by putting thankfulness at the center of it. #shepherdazonline

Week 3:  Thanksgiving Leads to Giving Always I Thessalonians 1:2- 2:8 The freight and meaning of the phrase “pay it forward” was around long before those three words got connected with one another.  In fact, almost every letter the apostle Paul wrote began with a statement of gratitude.  This thankful beginning led this beloved pastor to contribute even more to the faith and life of his letters’ recipients.  Sometimes those contributions were filled with warmth.  Sometimes those contributions were somewhat stern.  Regardless of how the letter ended, though, thankfulness was always worth offering first.

Pastor Josh Hatcher from the flagship Lutheran church of the Missouri Synod, Historic Trinity in Soulard, St. Louis City, Missouri, joins Pastor Seidler for our latest podcast. They talk covid, mission, urban suburban rural differences and the spiritual habits to make life change for the better in anyone who comes to the cross. @TrinitySoulard @sotdaz #trinityminute #shepherdazonline

Week 2:  “The Theology and Practice of Thanksgiving” Romans 1:21; Psalm 136 Gratitude is not just a human skill or cultivated habit.  Gratitude and thanksgiving is part of God’s design of the universe.  Seriously.  Today we turn our attention to one of the fundamental traits of someone who truly knows God—giving thanks.  There are few sins which rise greater in God’s sight than ingratitude.  In many ways, it is the most severe form of idolatry.  The opposite is equally true.  Gratitude is a virtue above all others and by which heavenly blessing comes to the thanker, those thanked, and those onlookers of that precious transaction. #shepherdazonline

In this latest edition of our Shepherd Podcast, Pastor Scott interviews Rev. Dr. Paul Raabe, Professor of Old Testament at Grand Canyon University about “Divine Repentance”, the ability of God to change directions and even respond to Christian prayer.  This podcast is a follow up to several questions which arose during the recent Being Challenge study of Prioritizing Prayer.  In that study many participants wondered, Does God really change his mind in response to Christian prayer.” #shepherdazonline

Week 1:  “Replacing Angst with Thanks”  Philippians 4:6,7 2020 has been an anxious year.  The tried and true antidote for anxiety is the extended effort at gratitude, publicly expressed and positively infectious.  This weekend we launch a five week series of messages that invert the many monumental negatives of 2020.  Today, by faith, we obey the Word of God which admonishes us, “Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”   #shepherdazonline

Every single day of His ministry, Jesus would spend His time in the temple courts. Church today looks very different from the day that Jesus walked this Earth.  Even our churches may look very different from each other today. In a world filled with so much bad news, we crave and need the consistent practice of gathering together as a church to hear the Good News of God’s faithfulness in our past, His presence in our present, and His hope for our future. This constant reminder of God’s grace is what propels us to grow in our relationship with Him and compels us to be more like Him. #shepherdazonline #beingchallenge

We live in a very loud and distracting world. It is very easy to become enamored with the things of this world and lose our focus on why we exist. Jesus, in the midst of pressure, stress, and busyness managed to remain focused on His mission that would lead Him all the way to the grave and back. One of the regular practices of Jesus that helped Him keep His focus was solitude with God. In order for us to stay focused on the mission God has for us, may we turn off the noise of this world and spend alone time with God. #shepherdazonline #beingchallenge

Have you talked to God lately? Simply put, prayer is conversation with God. It's how we communicate with Him as our Father and Creator. All relationships require regular and intentional communication, and our relationship with God is no different. This week in the Being Challenge we'll be honing in on the third keystone habit- Prioritize Prayer. Our world is full of distractions and confusion that divert our attention away from our relationship with God and His Son, Jesus. When we prioritize prayer in our lives, we carve out habitual time to lay our hopes, dreams, struggles, joys, and fears at our Lord's feet, trusting that He not only hears us but actually desires to be in relationship with us. Prayer is our first response rather than a last resort in our lives. As we learn what it means to prioritize prayer this week, we will learn to walk more closely with God our Father as Jesus did. In turn, we'll discover what it means to stay connected with our Lord no matter what life throws our wa