Next Steps

On Sunday, January 31, the sermon was "The Great Affirmation" from Luke 3:21-22. On Sunday, February 6, the sermon was "Life of the Beloved" from Luke 4:1-19. What are the "next steps" God will have us take now in response to the Word we heard?

 

"May we receive the word we hear each in an honest heart

And keep the precious treasure there, and never with it part."

 

1. Who are you?

2. How did you come to an understanding of who you are? In other words, who told first told you, or defines for you, who you are?

3. How can we know we are loved? How can we claim our "Belovedness"?

4. God through Jesus Christ gives us definition: "You are my son/daughter, the Beloved..." (Luke 3:22). What other voices are competing with God's definition of your life and worth?

5. In what ways are we listening to these competing voices (i.e., Luke 4:1-12; Jesus' temptation in the wilderness: doing something relevant, doing something to get power, doing something spectacular)? Why do we listen to those competing voices?

6. What can we learn from how Jesus responds to the temptation to doubt he is loved (Luke 4:4, 8, 12)?

7. What will you be prepared to do once you claim the fact that you are loved of God? Note Jesus' readiness in Luke 4:14-19.

8. What questions/thoughts/convictions were raised in your mind after hearing this sermon or reading these passages? How is God speaking to you now?

 

Pastor Kenneth Q. James
Psalm 119:33-34
"Let truth, the light of my heart, speak to me, and not my own darkness!"
Augustine, Confessions, Book XII, Chapter 11