Our Reformation 2017: Outreach
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Pastor Steve Brown
As we have been wonderfully celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation during this last year, we have been asking, “What is the reformation to which God is calling our St. Luke family?” The great majority of the answers given to this question at the April 23, 2017 St. Luke Member Forum focused on increasing our outreach temperature and behavior so as to become foundationally evangelical. This fits with what the leaders of St. Luke have sensed in our prayer times and discussions. While this sermon series will reaffirm the pillars of the 1517 Reformation, the series will primarily focus on our reformation 2017, which is to serve, invite give to meet the hopes and hurts of others. We will be engaging in a strategy to equip every church member to naturally share the message of Jesus with those who do not yet trust in Jesus.
At the Last Supper Jesus referred to the new covenant poured out in his blood. In this new covenant, Jesus shifted the motivation for our moral behavior away from trying to keep God happy with our behavior to respond to the love God has for us in Christ through serving, inviting, and giving to the meet the hopes and hurts of others. It moved from vertical morality to horizontal morality. While sacrificing to meet the hopes and hurts of others has always been pleasing to God, it simply became more of the focus in the teaching and example of Jesus. This is what love requires of us.
Next Step: Give up any thought that your position with God depends on keeping God happy and simply find ways to serve others.