St. Luke Columbus

All of life is interpretation. It is through interpretation that we discover the truth.  The word, theology, broken down is “Theos Logos”, literally “God words.” Theology is the process by which we interpret the work of God to discover the truth about God’s nature and involvement in our lives.    “The power of the story of Job is in Job’s struggle through multiple interpretations of his life, to discover and embrace the true meaning of his suffering.”   In order for us to create lives that are works of art, we must interpret it to discover the essence of what God is doing through us.   “What is your interpretation of life?”   Lessons: Job 42:3-6, Philippians 1:9-11, John 9:1-7, 13-17, 24-41   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

We find our true voice in God’s voice. Our voice is the internal narrative that drives our thoughts, words, and actions. Our voice shapes our experience of the world.  When our voice dwells in the voice of God, we begin to find our true and unique voice – our true story. We will struggle to fully live when we allow other voices to silence our own unique voices.  Shame silences us. Grace invites us to boldly tell our unique story. God’s voice in us becomes our story that we offer the world. What story is God speaking through you?    Next Step: Identify whether the voice that speaks most loudly in your internal narrative is God’s voice. If it is not God’s voice, work to disregard that voice and discover God’s voice in you. Begin and end each day this week answering this prayer question, Lord, what are you telling me about my story today?     Lessons: Genesis 3:7-11, Psalm 31:14-21a, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, Luke 5:1-11   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

The Artisan Soul The most important work of art is the life that we create.  Based on Erwin McManus’ book, The Artisan Soul, this series will call us to reclaim our creative essence and craft our lives into a work of art.  Within each of us is the essence of an artist. We need to create and be part of a process that brings to the world something beautiful, good, and true.  God is the master artisan of our lives, working within and through us, to make the world a better place.     Week 1 - Soul McManus writes, “Art in its purest form is an extension of the soul...“God didn’t have to make everything he created good; everything he created was good because he made it.”  Anyone who has a soul is an artist. There is no such thing as “artist/creative-types” and “non-creative types”. When we believe this, we spend our lives “admiring those who have the gift of creativity while seeing our role as simply celebrating their uniqueness.”  We are all creative. “We breathe, therefore, we create.” The real question for all o

Your life is a sacred stewardship. Regift sacred stewardship to the next generation. If that means you have to understand and practice sacred stewardship first, do it. Be motivated by the likely life disasters if we do not learn and then teach sacred stewardship. Learn and teach God’s understanding of sacred stewardship. Learn and then teach that managing our money is a tool for making our values and priorities line up with God’s will. Begin with the simple understanding of what it means to Give, Save, and Spend in that order. Learn and teach to be guided by God in your money decisions.   Next Step: Pick the one next step from today’ message that you sense God is nudging you to take and take it.   Lessons: Proverbs 3:9-12, 1 Timothy 6:9-10, Matthew 25:14-30   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

“Many people in America today would say that divisiveness is one of the most dangerous issues in our common life, that factionalism and misguided allegiance keep us from being able to address the very serious challenges that confront us today: increasing disparity between rich and poor, climate change, global violence, competition for natural resources, migration due to war and famine.   And of course, each of these issues has its local manifestation: isolation of people in homogeneous neighborhoods; fear of strangers, of other races and nationalities, refugees, the homeless—or the despair of being the stranger, the refugee, or without a home; addiction, mental illness, trauma; a lack of individual commitment to the well-being of an entire town or city; a sense of powerlessness when it comes to self-regulating the use of fossil fuels, water, food.” ~Jane Lancaster Patterson Paul is not necessarily emphasizing uniformity, completely, but a unity of thought and opinion about the Gospel.     What’s a

Lessons: Isaiah 49:1-7, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, John 1:29-42 Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Lessons: Isaiah 44:1-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Matthew 3:13-17   Now that the season of giving Christmas gifts is over, we could say that we are in the season of regifting as we consider what Christmas gifts we will regift to others. Regifting can describe what we do with the gifts that God has given us as we share with others the great gifts God has given us. The priceless difference is that God’s gifts are unlimited and therefore we can keep these gifts that we surely desire and also give these gifts to others. We are in the season of Epiphany, or more precisely the Sundays after the Epiphany. The account of the Wisemen bringing gifts to baby Jesus is called The Epiphany and is the seminal story this season. Using the account of the Wisemen as an inspiration, this series will explore five priceless gifts that God has given us and that we can regift to others, especially those in the next generation.    Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Now that the season of giving Christmas gifts is over, we could say that we are in the season of regifting as we consider what Christmas gifts we will regift to others. Regifting can describe what we do with the gifts that God has given us as we share with others the great gifts God has given us. The priceless difference is that God’s gifts are unlimited and therefore we can keep these gifts that we surely desire and also give these gifts to others. We are in the season of Epiphany, or more precisely the Sundays after the Epiphany. The account of the Wisemen bringing gifts to baby Jesus is called The Epiphany and is the seminal story this season. Using the account of the Wisemen as an inspiration, this series will explore five priceless gifts that God has given us and that we can regift to others, especially those in the next generation.    Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

In every way our brother Jesus empathizes in our trials. Based on the lesson from Hebrews, we learn the depth of the connection that God the Son, Jesus, has with us. He both empathizes with us and saves us from our bondage to sin and suffering. This brings a deeper understanding and comfort to the words, “The Lord is with you.”    Next Step: As we practice the discipline of staying, “The Lord is with you, and also with you.” pause to ingest all that this greeting means.    Lessons: Isaiah 63:7-9, Hebrews 2:10-18, Matthew 2:13-23   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Meet the God that is FOR you this Christmas! Lessons: Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-20 Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Open God’s gift of being delivered from the power of sin. When the angel explained to Joseph that what had been conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit, the angel said, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) This gift that God gives to us is not only being forgiven of our sins (as great as that is!), but also being freed from the power of sin over us. Sin is no longer our master, because we are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14) Therefore, through the power of our new master the Holy Spirit living in us, we can begin to put sins behind us and live new lives of righteousness.   Next Step: Identify a sin that you have given up trying to overcome. Name that before God and surrender it to God’s power in you to overcome. Trust that you can take steps to leave this sin.   Lessons: Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-25   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

In the face of difficulty, weakness, fear, disappointment, and discouragement, the Lord boldly proclaims that a day of joy is coming.  “Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” This is our hope as well.  Times of sighing and sorrow come to all of us. We move through seasons of difficulty and discouragement. Today, we rest in the presence of Christ, letting go of all that burdens us.     Lessons: Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Our search for assurance find hope in Jesus. We live with more uncertainty than we would admit. We know that at any moment life could take a devastating turn. The current events in our culture cascade around us and we are left asking, “Now what will happen?” Even when we have worked hard to ensure that we will be ok, there is an endemic uncertainty to this life that leaves us searching for greater assurance of our futures. Some who journeyed out into the Judean wilderness to hear John the Baptist were surely looking for greater assurance. In his preaching John cast both threat and assurance. What can we learn from John’s teaching as to where we will find true assurance?   Next Step: Make a list your uncertainties over which you feel dread. Surrender your uncertainties to Christ and hear him say to you, “Trust me on this.”   Lessons: Isaiah 11:1-5, Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

With the beginning of Advent, a season of preparation, watching, and waiting, we hear Jesus say, “Keep watch, because you do not know on what day the Lord will come.”  We lean into what we profess to be true that Jesus will “come again to judge the living and the dead.” While we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s arrival in the world in Bethlehem, we yearn for his return again, watching for God’s ongoing activity in the world and the unfolding of God’s Kingdom until Christ comes again.     Lessons: Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Living thankfully by being generous matters to God. When we thank God by giving offering, we honor God and prepare ourselves to see the salvation of God. From the time of ancient Israel, giving thanks to God involved making sacrificial offerings to God. One way to thank God is by giving to others, which transforms us and honors God. Jesus lived thankfully and generously. As we grow to be more like Jesus, we become more thankful and generous. We begin to live thankfully, giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.    Next Step: As an act of thanksgiving and worship to God, make a plan for what you will offer the Lord in 2020.    Lessons: Psalm 50:7-15, 23, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, John 6:25-35   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Generosity is a heart matter, it’s not a quantity issue, it is simply a quality issue.  God’s unending storehouse of mercy and grace cannot be outdone or exhausted, which is why our mindset isn’t on the “what” of generosity but on the “pricelessness” of the act.  The other thing for us to surrender is the act of being generous is not the first step, but the last action of a heart fully committed and in full pursuit of Jesus.   Next Step: Take a step back from your daily tithe of time, talents, and treasures, and deeply examine the heart behind your generosity, spend time with Jesus pursing his heart for your heart, then let this compel you towards Him and His kingdom.   Lessons: Genesis 4:1-8, 2 Corinthians 8:8-15, 2 Corinthians 5:14-21   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

It’s been said about God, that while God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present, the Lord willingly limited such attributes for the sake of being generous to His people.  God withholds judgment, limiting anger, for the sake of forgiveness. Jesus limits his involvement in the ongoing ministry of the disciples by empowering his disciples to serve as he serves.  The Omnipresent nature of God is limited in space and time for 33 years within the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth in a particular context, Israel, so that the mission of the Kingdom of God can be generously shared with the world around us.  Limits need not be limiting. We put limits on ourselves, as God has done and continues to do, for the sake of sharing generously with our neighbor.   Next Step: Limit the propensity to live with the attitude, “It’s a free country.  I can do whatever I want” for the sake of being generous and kind to your neighbor.   Lessons: Hosea 11:1-9, 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, Mark 10:13-14   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/onde

All Saints Sunday   Value most what matters most, which is trust in Jesus. This is what makes a saint. God has values and a saint strives to live by those values above all else. The values that Jesus taught are precisely opposite of the values we internalize in our culture. The great news is that the values that Jesus taught do not rest on a foundation of our achievement, but rest on the achievement of Jesus alone. Because of this, when we trust in Jesus, we can authentically rejoice because our reward in heaven is eternal. The rewards we receive from being successful according to values of this life can be wonderful, but are fleeting. To be a saint, put your trust in Jesus.     Next Step: Trust in Jesus above all else.   Lessons: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18, Ephesians 1:11-14, Luke 6:17-31   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

The greatest need every person has is to know and trust in the love of God in Christ Jesus. Through the work of Jesus, God demonstrated his desire to be in a personal relationship with every person.     Next Step: Identify one person that you sense God is nudging you to begin praying for that person to trust in Jesus and be saved.   Lessons: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Romans  8:35-39, John 8:2-11, 31-36   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

You can be personal enough to believe in someone’s potential to live a remarkable story. A lot of people need someone to believe they can do something they may not even realize they can do. The traps of self-destructive habits, unresolved emotions, and overwhelming circumstances are the trick mirrors that foster in us the false inner-voice that our failures are personal, pervasive, and permanent. When Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this house,” Jesus modeled belief. Zacchaeus responded in extraordinary changes to his behavior.  God believes in us more than we can imagine. God has entrusted us with a mission that makes an eternal difference in the lives of people. When you believe in someone’s potential, you answer a few underlying questions like, Do you believe in my dreams? Do you believe I have what it takes? Do you believe I do something meaningful? We can learn and practice ways that help others to believe in their own potential.   Next Step: Identify one person you can encourage this week with your b