St. Luke Columbus

The Ecumenical Creeds are necessary and helpful for knowing what we believe, teaching the Christian faith, and for knowing the difference between true and false beliefs. In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther gives wise instruction to flesh out what is taught in the Apostles’ Creed.   Read through Luther’s explanation of the Apostles’ Creed in the Small Catechism enough to become familiar with its teaching so that you will have a deeper understand of our core beliefs. Memorizing the Catechism is the best way to do this.   Lessons: 2 Timothy 4:1-5   Small Catechism

Jesus taught a new teaching that salvation comes through faith when we are born again through God’s work in Christ Jesus. This new teaching confused and eventually angered the religious authorities and inspire their desire to kill Jesus. For us, this new teaching is of central importance, for it gives us the blessed assurance that we are saved, not by our good works, but through the work that Jesus accomplished for us in his death and resurrection. Through the Holy Spirit and the waters of baptism, God puts us to death and raises us up to a new life. We are born again. Lessons: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Revelation 21:1-7, John 3:1-17

In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther offers wise and practical instruction on applying the 10 Commandments to our daily lives. Knowing and remembering this instruction offers helpful guidance to our daily living. We encourage you to read through Luther’s explanation of the 10 Commandments in the Small Catechism enough to become familiar with its teaching so that it can guide your daily living. Lessons: Exodus 20:1-17 Small Catechism

Our good works of generosity and serving people in need, that are the overflow from a growing faith in Jesus, are treasured by the Lord. This gives us a solid foundation for our future and a life which is truly life. After briefly teaching this truth, Steve will interview Ray, Ruth Ann, and Caroline, to give witness to this truth.   We encourage you to do one serve or give good work to meet a hope or hurt of someone in need. The Be Rich Campaign offers abundant opportunities to do this.    Lessons: 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Matthew 25:31-46   Be Rich Website

Wise Instruction: Wednesdays in Lent As part of our celebration of the 500 Anniversary of the Reformation, the Wednesday Lenten services will focus on understanding Martin Luther’s Small Catechism which offers us wise instruction for better understanding our faith and living in obedience to God’s Word.   The honest confession of one’s sins is a necessary, wise, and helpful spiritual discipline. This discipline is practiced both corporately and privately. Luther’s Small Catechism gives wise instruction on how to best practice this discipline. The greatest benefit from an honest confession of one’s sins is hearing and believing the words of absolution that give us the assurance of our forgiveness and salvation.   We encourage you to read through Luther’s explanation of Confession in the Small Catechism enough to become familiar with its teaching so that it can guide and enhance your practice of confessing your sins.    Lessons: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Revelation 1:17-18, Matthew 16:13-19   Luther's Small Ca

The most surprising move that Jesus made was to release his entire mission into the hands of his disciples. After he had gathered and discipled them, he sent them out to do his mission. Incredible, given how fallible we are!   What is holding you/us back from reaching the lost and restoring the hurting?     Identify what is holding you back from jumping full bore into the mission of Jesus. Pray for confidence and commitment to move through that barrier and then change one behavior that will result in you more reaching out to the lost and restoring the hurting.   Lessons: Acts 1:3-11, Romans 10:8-17, John 20:19-23   Sermon Outline

Jesus’ method in leading his mission was to reproduce himself by making disciples who were led to faith, called to follow Jesus, and taught to obey everything Jesus had commanded. He reproduced spiritual children. Making disciples was Jesus mission.   Who disciples you and who do you disciple? The ones we seek to disciple should include those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus.     Find someone to disciple you and some for you to disciple.   Lessons: Acts 4:21-23, 2 Timothy 2:1-2, Matthew 28:16-20   Sermon Outline

When Jesus preached his first sermon in his home church, after he had just begun to make a name for himself, Jesus used a lesson from Isaiah to state that his mission was to announce good news to those who are hurting in order to restore them. He lived this out through the rest of his earthly ministry through his healings, defending of those being oppressed, and releasing those who were held captive to spiritual and emotional bondage. Jesus taught his followers to do the same.    Next to reaching out to lead the lost into a saving faith, our mission is to serve and give to restore the broken and the hurting to real and abundant life. St. Luke often does this well. Our annual Be Rich campaign will be kicking off soon. It’s a campaign where we come together to meet the hopes and hurts of others through serving and giving to our non-profit partners. Are you making room in your own practice of faith for this work?   If you have not yet done so, find your ministry to unleash God’s love that will restore the hop

Jesus stated that his mission is to reach out to seek and to save those who are lost. Jesus taught this and lived it, as illustrated in his reaching out to the tax collector, Zacchaeus. This was the primary mission of Jesus. It's why he came. Our primary mission as the body of Christ, the Church, is to do the same. How effective are we doing in our mission?  How many people have moved from being lost to being found (saved)?    I believe, as the pastor of St. Luke, that the reformation to which God is calling each of us and our St. Luke family is to become foundationally and organically evangelical, to raise our outreach temperature through changed behavior.   After hearing this sermon, we encourage you to write your own personal mission statement that includes reaching the lost and make one change of behavior that will raise your outreach temperature one degree.    Lessons: Isaiah 49:5-6, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Luke 18:35 - 19:10   Sermon Outline

We sit at a very unique, and special time in human and gospel history: namely, with the questions of the prophets and kings answered by the reality and work of Jesus. This perspective causes a heightened appreciation for the scriptures, confidence in ministry/reaching out, and urgency and focus on how we use our time, energy and resources. In light of where and when we sit, we encourage you to evaluate how you tell yourself the story of your life, and how it aligns or maybe is at times sideways to the larger story that God is writing, and completing. What could you shift to align more of your life with the grander, and better story God is carrying forward--and thus experience more joy.   Lessons: Psalm 39:4-6, 1 Peter 1:10-12, Luke 10:21-24

We live out our purpose in our work, volunteering, and leisure. We experience real, deep, and lasting peace in our purpose when it becomes outwardly focused. When we see our primary purpose is to unleash God’s love to meet the hopes and hurts of others, we are living the purpose God wants us to live and we experience his peace in our purpose.   After hearing this sermon, we hope you will evaluate your purpose in life. If it is primarily self-focused, is it giving you real, deep, and lasting peace? Make one change in how you spend your time in order to live out the purpose to serve, invite, or give to meet the hopes and hurts of others. After a time of doing this, evaluate whether you are experiencing more peace in your purpose.   Lessons: Philippians 2:1-8, 1 Peter 4:7-10, Luke 6:17-19, 9:1-6   Sermon Outline  

The peace that Jesus gives is real, deep, and lasting. To have this peace with God (Up) requires that one’s god be able to deliver such peace. Learning and accepting the eternal and grace-filled love of the one true God brings this peace.   To maintain our experience of peace with God requires regularly putting ourselves where God breathes his love into us. It is within this active and passionate spirituality that I have real, deep, and lasting peace about myself, my time, and my future.     We hope you will accept and dwell in each moment the grace-filled love of the one true God and continually put yourself where you experience God’s grace-filled love.   Lessons: Isaiah 26:3-4, Romans 5:1-5, John 14:25-31   Sermon Outline

Lessons: Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Matthew 11:25-30

The lives of the shepherds were, at least for a moment, reformed following a similar path that we have articulated during our Wednesday Advent services: God’s call, confusion, obedience, persistent seeking that involved movement, and giving God glory. Then we don’t hear from the shepherds again. We can only speculate what happened, but it does give us a significant question with which to wrestle: What does it take for God’s reforming of our lives to continue?   Identify a way that you may be “exiting the scene” of God’s reforming work in your life and figure out how to get back into God’s narrative of reforming your life. .   Lessons: Luke 2:8-20

Only Jesus, the Prince of Peace, brings real, deep, and lasting peace. Jesus said the peace he gives us is not the fleeting and superficial peace that the world gives, but his peace calms our fearful and troubled hearts and surpasses all human understanding (John 14:27, Philippians 4:7). It is God’s shalom in our lives. We begin to experience this peace when we trust Jesus and this peace grows in us as we learn and live by his ways. Understand that you can have real, deep, and lasting peace in your life and put yourself in a place for God to pour that peace into you. Lessons: Isaiah 9:6, Luke 2:1-20

Leprosy isn’t something that our culture deals with as much today, but it was a disease that was very prevalent during Biblical times. This disease caused many people to be ignored and treated as an outcast. While people we interact with probably don’t have leprosy the chances are that we might treat them as if they do for one reason or another. As followers of Jesus we are called to resist the temptation to treat others differently and love everyone.   Lessons: Luke 17:11-19, Leviticus 13:42-46, Matthew 8:1-4

After the recent election, let’s reset our understanding of what is true greatness and how it is that we become great. In the gospel lesson, as Jesus reflects on John the Baptist, Jesus teaches that real greatness comes to those who are in the kingdom of heaven, where we are made great by the work of Jesus. As followers of Jesus we rest in the assurance that Jesus has made us great, which moves us to live lives of thankful and humble service. We live in a culture driven by hype. As followers of Jesus we can lead people to reset their understanding what it means to be great to reflect the values of Jesus, thankful and humble service to others.     After hearing this sermon, we hope you will identify where you are getting caught up in the empty hype of what it means to be great. Quietly commit yourself to live by the values that Jesus teaches foster authentic greatness.   Lessons: Matthew 11:2-11; Romans 8:15-17, 28-30; Mark 10:35-45   Sermon Outline

Mary followed a similar path that we articulated last Wednesday: God’s call, confusion, obedience, persistent seeking that involved movement, and giving God glory. Mary’s life was reformed. When the Holy Spirit plants (conceives) in us the seed of faith to trust Jesus, he is born into us and we become blessed even as Mary was blessed. As Mary is now called the Blessed Virgin Mary, so now we are we called Blessed. We then travel a similar path.     After hearing this sermon, we hope you will rest in the assurance that, through Christ, God has chosen you and God’s call is “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Consider how you could “sing” this truth this week.    Lessons: Luke 1:26-56

John the Baptist called the people of his generation to repent. This sermon will invite each of us to wrestle with this question: What is the reformation to which God is personally calling me?” The challenge in preaching on one’s personal reformation to everyone is that the reformation that God desires to bring into each person’s life is unique to them. One size does not fit all here. At this point in a person’s life, does that person need a reformation that is primarily the law (driving him to repentance), the gospel (setting her free from her bondage), or an exhortation for living a life more pleasing to God? The sermon will guide us to determine what is the personal reformation that each of us needs in our current season of life. One must be in prayerful discernment over this question because the evil one wants to convince us that what we need to hear is something opposite of what God knows we need the most.   After hearing this sermon, we hope you will fearlessly and honestly determine the reformation yo

During the Wednesday Advent services we will see a similar path to Jesus that those gathered around manger of Jesus experienced: God’s unilateral and gracious call, confusion, obedience, persistent seeking that involved movement, and giving God glory. This path results in lives that are reformed and the path of lives are changed.   What step of being more persistent in seeking the Lord do you need to take to more clearly see God’s work in your life and the world?   Lessons: Matthew 1:18-25