Sermon Notes   01-31-10

Ministry Focus For This Year

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Scripture Reading: 

Is 43:19-25   For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland……Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed. I have made Israel for myself, and they will someday honor me before the whole world. "But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me, O Israel! You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings. You have not honored me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with requests for grain offerings and frankincense. You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults. I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” 

Sermon Text: 

Lk 9:57-62   As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, "I will follow you wherever you go." But Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head." He said to another person, "Come, follow me." The man agreed, but he said, "Lord, first let me return home and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God." Another said, "Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family." But Jesus told him, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God."

Discipleship

 -How we will grow our faith 

Care

  -How we will care for one another 

Lay Ministry

 -How we will serve one another 

Worship

 -How we will worship together 

Outreach

 -How we will invite those not here

 -How we will serve those not here 

Reflections:

Ministry is many things to many people and requires the input of an entire church. No church gets all of the components of ministry right or complete. But some faithful effort is required of any church in every area, in order that the whole of ministry can be addressed. 

Our tasks in managing ministry (which primarily falls to the pastor, ministry staff, and Church Council) is to constantly ask ourselves where the strengths and weaknesses of the entire ministry reside? Where could we do more? What areas are either under addressed or not addressed at all? What resources are available to us for addressing deficit areas? How could current resources be better utilized? What people among us have the ministry gifts waiting to be identified, trained, and employed in addressing these needs?

Where is God calling us to focus our efforts in coming days? How can we encourage one another in what we are already doing?

Study Guide