
Preparing for the Lord's Day
Neighborhood-focused
A couple of months ago, I introduced the idea that as the church gathered here our neighborhood is comprised of the homes and businesses surrounding 2424 Rivermont Avenue, and yet as the church scattered our neighborhood is far broader and includes our workplaces, schools and even coffee shops. Do you see those places as your neighborhood? If not, I'd love for you to begin thinking about them as places where God calls you to bring blessing (literally, to bring tangible touches of God's power, love and grace).
As a church, we place a high value of being neighborhood focused. This coming Lord's Day, we'll look at the plot-twisting parable Jesus told to a lawyer in Luke 10:25-37. Within that parable, we are drawn into the harsh reality of the need for being neighborhood-focused as well as the cost of being neighborhood-focused. We're also given a helpful picture to see how profound the blessing of being neighborhood focused is for our neighbors. Lastly, the Advent theme of Joy reminds us of the motivation for our being neighborhood-focused. To better prepare you for this Sunday's sermon, I encourage you to read Luke 10:25-37, Romans 8:18-23, Leviticus 19:18, Leviticus 21:1-3, Numbers 19:11-14, Psalm 51:4, John 1:14, Hebrews 12:1-2.
As we celebrate the third Sunday of advent, whose them is joy, we'll sing "Joy to The World" for our Hymn of Praise and Adoration, "Angels From The Realms of Glory? for the Acclamation of Praise and we'll sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" for the Hymn of Response. I look forward to worshipping with you as we continue to look with eyes of faith to Christ's first and second Advent.
Sermon Title: Neighborhood-Focused
Sermon Text: Luke 10:25-37
Sermon Outline:
1. The Need for being neighborhood-focused
2. The Cost of being neighborhood-focused
3. The Blessing of being neighborhood-focused
4. The Motivation to being neighborhood-focused.