New Sermon series: Mission in the World but not of the World

We are in the Season after Pentecost for approximately the next six months. During Easter Season, the church forms people in basic Christian doctrine and prepares them for their Spirit-given ministries in the world. During the Season after Pentecost, the church challenges and supports people as they live out these ministries.

Trinity Sunday launched us into our ministries after Pentecost with a celebra-tion of the Triune God in whom all our lives and ministries are grounded. We end the Season after Pentecost on Christ the King Sunday, which points us to our final destination in the culmination of the reign of the one who makes us and all things new.

During these months, I will be alternately focusing on readings from the epis-tles and the prophets. Most Sundays we will be reading both, so we can fol-low both teachings, but I will switch the sermons at key point to keep you on your toes.

Here is what the two streams of readings look like:

Mission in the World but not of the World: The Epistle readings in Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews, Philemon, I and II Timothy, and I and II Thessalonians consistently keep that tension alive. Throughout these letters, there is a con-sistent focus on how being disciples of Jesus makes us different from “things as usual,” both personally and corporately.

Prophetic Ministry — Calling and Working for Justice, Righteousness, and Peace: This year is the “year of the prophets” for the Old Testament read-ings. Included are Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, and Habakkuk.
The sermons will cover the entire book of Galatians and then we will jump to Amos and Hosea. In August, we will be back in the New Testament book of Hebrews and in October move to Habakkuk.

Fasten your seatbelts, I bet we will be covering some ground you have never been over before. Go ahead and read the whole book of Galatians this week and I will let you know when to read Amos so you will be ready to Re-ceive the Word of the Lord.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Curtis