Next Things

As a natural follow up to our recent journey through the book of Luke, today we begin a 2-week mini-series on outreach. Both sermons will come from guest speakers who are experienced practitioners of the truths they will share. We have asked Dan Faulkner, the director of Camp Elim, to address the subject of local outreach, equipping us with ideas for how to be witnesses right here in our own city and state. Next week Kent Parks, the CEO of Mission to Unreached Peoples, will challenge us on the subject of international outreach.

Why all this emphasis on outreach? Because our study through Luke will abort if it doesn’t produce witnesses. Jesus didn’t just live, die, and rise again. He also trained a band of followers to carry on His mission and spread His message:

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.” Luke 24:45-49a

Notice the steps: 1) He helped them understand the Scriptures, particularly the central theme of the Messiah’s death and resurrection. 2) He challenged them with God’s plan to spread the message of repentance and forgiveness everywhere. 3) He reminded them of their identity as eye-witnesses. 4) He sent the Holy Spirit to empower them for their mission.

It’s the same for us: an enhanced understanding of the Scriptures is intended to produce a new awareness of God’s plan, a fresh recognition of our part in it, and a greater dependence on the Spirit.