St. Luke Columbus

Don’t run away from the world because the world needs us. Sometime it is hard to be a Christian in the world. Some in the world have a very negative view of our faith. They think we are judgmental. In Jesus encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, we learn from Jesus how to be in the world. We learn that even when Jesus faced difficulties, barriers, weariness, and stress, he let his love lead him to give the woman what she needed most – the living water of salvation.   Lessons: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, John 4:1-26   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/intheworld2   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Remember you are not of this world. Live the tension of being in the world but not of the world. Your identity and confidence rests in the eternal salvation Jesus has given you and that you have accepted through faith.   Next Step: Find your identity and confidence in the being connected to Jesus.   Lessons: Isaiah 42:5-7, Philippians 3:20-21, John 17:6-21   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/intheworld1   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Improve your working conditions by primarily serving the Lord and others in your work. We spend a significant part of our lives doing our work. For some, work can be the frustrating and painful toil spoken about in Genesis 3:17. For others, work can be a meaningful and fulfilling career. The difference comes down to for whom we understand that we are primarily working. We learn from Jesus teaching on the greatest commandment and from Paul’s teaching to slaves how to improve our working conditions by working at our labors with all our heart because we are primarily serving God and others.   Next Step: Repeat this mantra in your work, “Whatever I do, work at it with all my heart for I am primarily serving the Lord and others.” Short version: “This is for God and to bring God to others.”   Lessons: Genesis 3:17-19, Colossians 3:22-4:1, Mark 12:28-31   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/work   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Kim and Annie Colich are missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators, serving in Papua New Guinea among the Tami people. For many years St. Luke has financially and prayerfully supported their mission. Kim will be preaching that Jesus is our redeemer who has broken all the chains that bind us.    Lessons: Psalm 107:1-16, Acts 16:16-34, John 8:31-32 

Becoming more like Jesus means to give our lives to serve, invite, and give to meet the hopes and hurts of others. Our faith is active in love.   Next Step: Find at least one way to serve, one way to invite, and one way to give to meet the hopes and hurts of others.    Lessons: Isaiah 58:6-10, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Luke 15:1-7

We were designed by God to be in close relationship, so why not seek it out. One of the first moves Jesus made was to form a life group of close friends that did life together. We are who we hang out with, so vibrant friendships with other Christ-followers is necessary to becoming a fully-devoted follower of Jesus. In strong life groups we experience the yoke of Jesus that is easy, his burden that is light, and find sanctuary for our souls.     Next Step: Sign up to be in a life group during the coming church-wide campaign.     Lessons: Genesis 2:15-23a, Hebrews 10:22-25, Matthew 11:28-30

Refresh: Learn, Live, Unleash This series will refresh our mission, vision, and discipleship path.   We come to worship to learn God’s Word and give God glory. Faith comes from hearing the word. Worship is our primary ministry for learning God’s word that leads to faith. Our response to what we learn of God’s love centered in Jesus is to give God glory through our worship of God.   Next Step: Determine what step would help deepen your worship experience and then take that step.   Lessons: Psalm 29:1-2, Romans 10:8-17, Matthew 28:16-20

While Jesus and his disciples were desiring time away to rest and talk about all God had just done through them, they didn’t turn their back to the needs of the people. They remained available to what God wanted them to do most. How about you? Have you had moments in your life where you felt God wanting you to do one thing, but you did something else instead? Why do we do this? What makes being available to Christ so hard? This sermon aims to give you tools to remain available to Christ every moment of every day, because living available for Christ changes lives for the better. It changes lives for the better today and for eternity. Lessons: Jeremiah 23:1-6, Ephesians 2:11-22, Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Jesus offers his disciples a template for prayer in what we have come to call “The Lord’s Prayer,” which begins by acknowledging God’s holy name and God’s kingdom. Jesus teaches his disciples that prayer begins not with what we want, but what God wants and desires. Prayer brings us into alignment with God’s will and rule, and we will receive what we need to live in God’s kingdom: the gift of the Holy Spirit.   Next steps: Try using the Lord’s Prayer as your prayer template this week, focusing especially on the first half of the prayer. Ask God to show you what it looks like to live under God’s kingdom and in accordance with God’s will. Invite the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen you to live according to God's will.      Lessons: Psalm 138, Colossians 2:6-15, Luke 11:1-13

Death and death-like experiences are the reality in our lives. To ignore this reality is naïve and can bring ridicule from others. Jesus faced such ridicule when he ignored the realities that kept people trapped in death and death-like experiences. He raised them up to new life. Our stubborn Savior, Jesus, continues to ignore the death-like realities of our lives to give us the abundant life God intends for us to experience.   Next Step: Trust that Jesus ignores your death-like realities to give you new life. Repeat the “New Life Prayer” to increase your trust in what Jesus has done for you.   Lessons: Proverbs 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, Mark 5:21-24, 35-42

Jesus keeps looking for us when we are hiding in fear. Many of us are held back from deeper intimacy with God and others because we fear being exposed for who we think we truly are. Jesus is our stubborn Savior who is relentless in searching for us and his perfect love casts out our fear. When we surrender to Jesus and open our whole lives to him, he embraces us as his own child with unconditional acceptance. We physically experience his embrace through other followers of Jesus who accept us and love us like Jesus.   Next Step: Identify anything you are trying to hide from the Lord. Surrender it to him. Find a few Christian friends with whom you can be real.   Lessons: Genesis 3:1-10, 1 John 4:15-19, Mark 5:21-34

Jesus never said this faith will be easy. We ask questions, we doubt, and we fear the uncertainty of our tomorrows. But it is these struggles where we wrestle with our faith that we emerge stronger, ready to face our trials knowing that together with God and those in community the face of God is always upon us.   Next Step: Identify those places of struggle, share these struggles with a trusted partner, and pray and encourage each other as these times of struggle will lead to new life strengthened with God.   Lessons: Genesis 32:22-32, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, Matthew 28:16-20

Jesus brings remarkable change. God raises us from death to life and persistently changes us and to be more like Jesus. Some of these changes happen rapidly while others are slow and steady. What is always the case is that these changes are remarkable and the change can be seen as the difference between a mustard seed and full grown mustard plant.    Next Step: Jesus changes you. Lay down your barriers to change and put yourself in a place to be remarkably transformed by the Holy Spirit to be more like Jesus now and in eternity.    Lessons: Ezekiel 17:22-24, 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, Mark 4:30-32

Sharing the story of Jesus working in our lives can be intimidating, scary even. If we let out fears keep us silent, Satan is the only one who wins. If we listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit as have an opportunity to come along where God is already working. God gave us love and boldness to share his love. In letting fear rule what we share we miss the opportunity to be at the intersection where God's love meets someone's insecurities and hurts.    After hearing this message, we hope you will practice telling fellow Christians what Jesus is doing in your life. Be bold to share with nonchristians who you already have a foundation of friendship with.    Lessons: Exodus 3:10-14, 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Matthew 28:19-20 

Jesus shows his power over sin and evil in his ministry, and on the cross through his death and resurrection. All who acknowledge their sinfulness before God may receive forgiveness and healing through the power of the Holy Spirit.   Next step: As Luther suggests in the Small Catechism, begin each day by acknowledging that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, and open yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive and heal you.   Lessons: Genesis 3:8-15, Psalm 130, Mark 3:20-35

There is often a misunderstanding of the act of worship, that it lives only on Sunday mornings at church, and that we worship God for what we get out of it or to impress others. We often don’t enter church in a spirit to declare the worth of God in honest celebration and proclamation, and we rarely find ways to worship outside of the church building. By redefining our definition of what worship is, we seek to truly experience God’s presence daily, be in awe of the life-giving and life-flowing power of God that transforms our hearts, and be sent to tell others about Him!   Next step:   Pray and ask God to search us and give us courage to repent of anything keeping us from worshiping Him. Recognize that we worship Christ from a grateful heart that knows that He is changing us to be more like Him.   Lessons: Psalm 100, Romans 12:1-2, Luke 24:50-53

Lessons: Proverbs 22:6, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Matthew 16:13-19

Lessons: Proverbs 22:6, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Matthew 16:13-19

Lessons: Proverbs 22:6, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Matthew 16:13-19

The Holy Trinity is the relationship between the three persons of the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The purpose of this relationship is bring us into an eternal relationship with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our essential belief in the Holy Trinity is based on the historical experience of the apostles.   We hope this message will help you understand and be able to teach our essential belief in the Holy Trinity more clearly.   Lessons: Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Romans 8:12-17, Matthew 28:16-20