St. Luke Columbus

Refocus this prayer to the Lord, “Forgive me.” “I forgive as you forgive me.” All of our sins, past, present, and future have already been forgiven, so our prayer response is to forgive those who have sinned against us. This is the first step on God’s path of restoring our relationships with those who have wronged us and moves us away from our self-destructive desire for revenge.   Next Step: Continue to ask God to forgive you, but let that prayer be superseded by “I forgive …”   Lessons: Ephesians 4:30-32, Matthew 18:21-35

When life gets hard, God brings new possibilities. When we experience loss, we grieve for what we had hoped would have been our future (Option A). At the same time, God helps us to see new possibilities that may not have happened without the loss (Option B). In an amazing juxta-position that only God can create, God helps us to see, enjoy, and fully live these new possibilities while at the same time helping us to grieve what was lost.   Next Step: Identify a new possibility that grew out of a loss you experienced. Thank God for that new possibility even as you grieve what was lost. Ask God to use this experience to build greater resiliency and joy in you.   Lessons: Isaiah 6:8-13, Philippians 4:10-13, Mark 9:14-29

When life gets hard, God brings more meaning in life. God works through our loss and suffering to clarify what is most important and give us a grandeur vision for our life.   Next step: Identify how hard times have helped you to clarify what is most important and given you a grandeur vision. Thank God for that clarity and vision and live to fulfill that vision. Gain greater resiliency and joy from living out this grandeur vision.   Lessons: Psalm 57:1-5, Romans 5:1-5, John 5:16-30

In the most mind-blowing move, God has come to live in us as the Holy Spirit. More than saying “The Lord is with you.”, now we can say, “The Lord is in you.” God is all in us. So instead of praying “God be with me.”, we refocus our prayers to say, “God, live through me to accomplish your mission.”  Next Step: Trusting the God lives in you, pray for God to live through you to accomplish his mission. Know what the mission that God desires to live through you by listening to God in prayer. Lessons: Ephesians 3:14-21, John 14:16-20

When life gets hard, God brings deeper relationships. Truly knowing that you are not alone in your suffering deepens your relationships with those who stand with you when life gets hard. The relational bonds that are created when friends stand by each other in times of adversity are deep, abiding, and bring great comfort. God ministers to us through these deepening relationships. What are some practical steps you can take to foster and deepen relationships with those who will stand together with you when life gets hard?   Next Step: Foster and deepen relationships with those who will stand with you when life gets hard.Gain greater resiliency and joy from these relationships.   Lessons: Proverbs 17:17, Galatians 6:2, Luke 10:25-37

When life gets hard, God brings a deeper level of appreciation for what we have. God helps us to see with greater appreciation blessings that we normally overlook. While we still may suffer, God awakens in us a clarity to see and appreciate the many good gifts he has given us.   Next Step: Start a thankful journal. Allow this discipline to build in you greaterresiliencyand joy.     Lessons: Psalm 8, Hebrews 12:28, Matthew 6:25-33

Being more aware of your mortality, more deeply embrace your reconciliation with eternal God. On Ash Wednesday we are graphically reminded that we will all soon die. This convicting truth drives us to seek what only God can give, eternal life. God laid on Jesus our sin and death, so that in Jesus we would become right with God and have the assurance of eternal life. Embracing this great gift in Jesus, we can say with the Apostle Paul, “dying, and yet we live on.”   Next Step: Remember that you dust, and to dust you shall return, but remember more boldly still that you are forever reconciled to God and have become the righteousness of God. Surrender your life to Jesus.    Lessons: Joel 2:12-13, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:2, John 6:66-69

When life gets hard, God brings personal strength to face the trials.Because this personal strength comes from God,it is beyond what we thought, it is based on what Jesus accomplished for us, and it helps us to face the future with confident hope.   Next Step: Pray for God’s personal strength that builds resiliency, trust that it will grow in you, and recognize it when it happens. Allow yourself to experience joy when this happens.    Lessons: Isaiah 41:8-10, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, John 16:32-33

Sermon Outline Inspired by Option B, written by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant, this series will teach five ways that God brings meaning to the suffering and loss we experience in life. When life gets hard, God brings post-traumatic growth through the direct ministration of His Holy Spirit and the consolation of His people. Through this, God works to build in us greater resilience and help us find joy. This week's message:  When life gets hard, God brings meaning to lift us out of the false pits of personalization, pervasiveness, and permanence. Personalization is the mindset that I am at fault. Pervasiveness is the mindset that a hard event will affect all areas of my life. Permanence is the mindset that the aftershocks of a hard event will last forever. These stunt our recovery and hinder building God-given resiliency. (Option B, p. 16) Personalization, pervasiveness, and permanence recede as God brings meaning to our suffering and loss. In this way, God builds in us greater resiliency and joy.   Next ste

Jesus is God’s answer to evil. God’s answer to evil is to silence it in our lives, drive it out of our lives, and ultimately defeat it through the resurrection of Jesus.   Next Step: Identify what is pulling you towards false belief and despair. Trust that Jesus commands this evil to be silent and to come out of your life. Trust that all evil is ultimately defeated in the resurrection.   Lessons: Genesis 3:14-15, Galatians 1:3-5, Mark 1:21-28

We see in Scriptures of people dropping everything to follow Jesus in the Bible. But what was the actual cost for them to do this? In this day and age, many people say they want to follow Jesus but are we truly willing to accept the cost of following Jesus   Next Step: If we say we want to follow Jesus then we need to figure out what he is calling us to do personally in our faith and as a church body here at St. Luke.   Lessons: Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Psalm 62:5-12, Mark 1:14-20

Warmth is to be in the DNA of our church family. The warmth of our relationships with one another is to in every cell in the body of our community. Engaging preaching, dynamic worship, excellent programs, effective outreach, and a well-kept building are important in our mission, but the warmth of our community trumps everything. Jesus said that the world will know that we are his followers by the way we love one another. Warmth in our relationships spreads which means when we are experiencing growing warmth in our relationships with one another, we more often spread that warmth to others, including guests.    Next Step: Sign up to be in a life group.   Lessons: Psalm 133, 1 Timothy 5:1-3, Luke 2:41-52

What happy people do is live by God’s values. Using a country music song, titled "Happy People," and Psalm 1 as a text, this sermon will teach that we experience happiness when live by God’s values, share the good news of Jesus, and help those in need.   Next Step: As a step towards being happy, wisely start of 2018 living by God’s values, doing outreach, and serving others.   Lessons: Psalm 1, Philippians 2:14-18, Matthew 5:1-12

Fear can completely overtake us and be the sole power controlling what we do. Even in trusting God and remaining strong in him, fear can still enter into your life. You are not alone in this, it happens to everyone. Continuing to push these fears away and putting on a brave face to the outside world does nothing but make them worse. Rather than pretending all is good in your life, Jesus encourages us to recognize these fears and allow them to show. He gives us the strength to overcome these fears because the truth is that we cannot overcome them alone. Giving them up and placing your trust in the Lord will free you from these burdens of fear that evil has placed on your heart.    Lessons: Psalm 56:1-13, 1 Peter 5:5b-11, John 14:1, 15-18, 27-28

God’s answer to “Why?” is Jesus who entered into our chaos and we become God’s answer when we enter into the chaos of another. The shocking reality of Christmas is that God entered our world in a human baby born into a human family. God is experienced in family and community. Faith is lived in family and community where God enters into the chaos of others through us.   Lessons: Isaiah 7:14, Galatians 4:4-5 (NRSV), Luke 2:1-20

Through forgiving our sins, Jesus made it certain that we will be with God, now and for eternity. The Jewish people clearly understood is that our rebellion against God’s values (sin) separates us from God. Isaiah 59:2 This is why there was a question whether Most Holy God would dwell among sinful human beings in a temple built by human hands. Will God really dwell with us? The answer to the question is Jesus, God in human flesh, who sacrificed his body and blood for us to forgive our sins and eternally reconcile us with God.   Next Step: In Holy Communion, hear, see, touch and taste the word of forgiveness, trust that it is true for you, and know that nothing can now separate you from God.    Lessons: 1 Kings 8:46-51, Ephesians 3:14-17a, Mark 1:1-8  

Jesus is God with us who gives us real life in tangible ways. He makes our paths straight. As Christians, we can sometimes become too focused on the life to come after we die. The Jewish people had a healthy understanding that God dwells with us now in this life and God’s dwelling with us now makes all the difference as He provides justice, restoration, and teaching to give us real life.   Next Step: Decide what you need most in your life right now: justice, restoration, or teaching. Pray for God to dwell with you in your need and for you to see God’s answer to your prayer.    Lessons: 1 Kings 8:31-40, Ephesians 3:17b-21, John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon Outline   Knowing that Jesus dwells with us gives us the peace and courage to face troubles in the world because Jesus is God and he has overcome the world. The Christian claim that God came to dwell with us in Jesus is shocking. Such a claim was always shocking. When Solomon built the first temple, there was some question as to whether God would actually dwell among his people in the temple. To claim that the unlimited God would actually commit to be in the temple seemed prideful to some. This is one reason Israel had not yet built a temple. How could unholy people hope to have holy God live among them? The answer to the question is Jesus, God with us, Emmanuel.   Next Step: Identify a trouble in your life where it would be helpful to understand that God is with you in that trouble? Pray the “God is with me prayer” over that trouble.    Lessons: 1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43, Colossians 1:15-20, John 14:1-3, 16:33

Christ the King Sunday Leadership is a hot topic these days, both because of our desire to lead better and our perception of a great lack of effective leadership in our country. The way that Jesus chose to lead and reign as king was to complete the mission his Father ordained for him – dying on the cross for make us right with God and rising again to win for us eternal life. The leadership and reign of Jesus is one of a servant who gives us abundant and eternal life. For this we are thankful.   Lessons: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, Revelation 1:4b-8, John 18:33-38