Reaching Out

Sermon Notes

Loneliness- Reaching Out

Last week. Loneliness to solitude.

•  Loneliness reveals our need for God. He is there, He is here, he is enough.
  • 1. Avoid
    • a. Distract
  • Stop avoiding, walk into, face it, with all your fears, shame, guilt, mess. Jesus is there…
    • When we avoid our pain, we avoid our healing.
  • Let our loneliness turn to solitude. Be ok with not being Ok.
  • When we turn to each other to provide something only God can, we injure one another.
• Read “Reaching Out” pg. 101
• “God is enough” 

This week- Hostility to Hospitality

Please turn to Luke 10:25, page 869 in the pew bibles. 

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen

When did we become Hostile… or are we?

The Samaritan

During the exile when Gods chosen people were defeated the Northern Kingdom by Assyria and the southern Kingdom by Babylon, there was a group of who intermarried. They were half breeds but not just with anyone, with the enemy. When Nehemiah came back to rebuild the temple, the Samaritans opposed them. Racial, political & religious hostilities… It doesn’t get more heated. 

–Unless… let’s add heresy. It was all over “where was the correct place of worship?”

• Mount Zion in Jerusalem according to the Jewish faith or Mount Gerizim according to the Samaritan faith.
• Silly right? Hindsight is always 20/20.

Yet the scriptures have a way of finding themselves in our context.

• Who is your Samaritan?
• Hispantics? Blacks? White privilege? Homosexuals? Democrats? Republicans? Mormons? Muslims?
• Abortionists? Terrorists?
• At what point do we stop loving our enemies?
• Jesus said it, right? Turn the other cheek…

-There is so much hostility, how can we ever hope to be hospitable? 

If you could go back 20 (2-5yrs) years and tell your younger version of yourself one thing about how to treat others, what would it be?

• Mormon guy at BYU. Really good at tearing one’s belief down… -until I listened.
• MSU Muslim.
• Young male transvestite prostate in Vegas.

SLIDE- “There is not one section, group, or demographic of society that I have regretted seeing as glorious creations with dignity and worth.”  Pastor Seth Wildschut

We have become so entrenched in total depravity that we have completely overlooked the imago dei.

SLIDE-  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:7

Sin levels everything.

• Who are you before Christ?
• Who are we in Christ? Forgiven and Free, Therefore how do we treat others?

We are not hospitable to see people get saved we are hospitable because we are saved!!! 

“You go, and do likewise” Luke 10:37

Sermon Slides