After taking a bit of an unscheduled break from posting this weekend so I could concentrate on giving some good pastoral and friendly love to some friends of mine, I thought I would share some thoughts from the sermon I delivered yesterday. While I have said them in various ways before, these are truths that we need to be reminded of again and again.
The Woman living the sinful life in Luke 7:36-50 was attracted to Jesus, and He welcomed her. While religious and moral people like Simon wanted to keep their distance from her, Jesus welcomed her, defended her, and forgave her. He gave her grace. We need to do the same.
Christians sometimes get lost. But even though we get lost, Jesus never loses us. He continues to show usgrace. We need to do the same.
We need to remember that that Jesus pursues broken people even when they are not pursuing Him. We need to do the same.
If we don’t live in such a way as to make Jesus attractive to the broken, the lost, and the outcast, we are missing the goal of Christ’s kingdom. Jesus laid it out in Luke 4:18 by quoting Isaiah 61:1-2 (NIV),
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 