Witnessing for Christ isn’t always easy. Jesus warns his disciples that a servant isn’t above his master. We know how Jesus was treated; should we expect to be treated any different? This Sunday we’ll look at the persecution of the church and how God has preserved his faithful through the ages. Christ is our King.
When (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. What was the problem? They were like sheep without a shepherd. What was the solution? Send out the shepherds. Jesus send his disciples to serve God’s people with the word. The dual focus this Sunday is on helping hurting people with the gospel of forgiveness in Jesus and sending people to do that work. We continue our sermon series Witnesses for Christ under the theme: Witness through Compassion.
The call of Matthew is powerful example of mercy from our Lord. Matthew didn’t fit the description of a model Jew. He wasn’t a logical choice, according to the logic of that time. Most people wanted to stay away from tax collectors and sinners. Jesus went out of his way to minister to those who need mercy. This Sunday we saw how we can Witness to Those Who Need Mercy.
There isn’t a Christian alive who can adequately explain the Trinity. The word Trinity isn’t found on the pages of Scripture. The truth of our 3-in-1 God is clearly taught in the Bible from start to finish. This Sunday we will focus on the Trinity. We’ll see how it can help us confess our faith in our amazing God and how it can help us spot false teaching a mile away.
The harvest festival of Pentecost was not a new concept to God’s people. Every year they would come in from the fields with their first fruits and offer them to God. This was a statement of thanks and a statement of faith. Thanks for the harvest that they already had and a statement of faith that God would continue to give them more as the harvest continued. That festival marked the birth of the New Testament church. What a harvest it has been! God continues the harvest of souls for his kingdom through you and me.