{"id":6094,"date":"2020-04-05T20:56:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T10:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6094"},"modified":"2020-04-05T20:56:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T10:56:52","slug":"luke-the-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/luke-the-lost\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke & The Lost"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Luke & The Lost<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

by Fr Abraham Fam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original post by goCoptic blogsite<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Gospel of St.Luke is full of mission, evangelism and the lost returning to God. We can see and learn the impact of our Lord Jesus and how He attracted the sinful to come to Him. People want to return to Him. People want to change their lives. Sometimes we believers are the stumbling block to prevent others from coming to Him. Our judgement, gossip, jealousy, and words hurt others and block them. We always make excuses why we can\u2019t help, but the Gospel of Luke answers that also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Open the doors<\/span><\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In Luke 7:36-50, we learn about the grace of God and the bravery\nof a sinful woman. She came to Jesus to weep and repent and was saved\nregardless of the people trying to block her. I say to the church open\nthe doors to the sinful to come and feel loved.<\/em><\/strong> And I say to those who\nare weary to come to church, to go courageously to church and the Saviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In Luke 18:9-14, the Pharisee was praying but judging the sinner\nfor his deeds. But the tax collector was asking for mercy for his sins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t be afraid to open the door<\/em><\/strong> for the lost. Don\u2019t be worried that they will mess up the place. If we don\u2019t open the door, they will mess up the place and it will reach your own family. So, I pray that we can believe in the lost and empower them. They desire it and will shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Open our Hearts<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the parable in Luke 10:25-37, the Good Samaritan offered his\nmoney and belongings to save a half-dead person. He opened his heart. <\/em><\/strong>He\ndidn\u2019t say it isn\u2019t my business. Or I have enough problems of my own. He\nentered the scene and did what he could. He saved this broken and beaten man. May\nGod open our hearts to help the broken and beaten in our communities and our\nchurches. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I remember on\nretreat in Zambia, I was preaching about the Good Samaritan and how we have to\nsacrifice for the broken and hurting people around us. Well, God put me to the\ntest. As I was driving back home from the retreat, the deacon looked at me and\nsaid what should we do. Internally, I was thinking I hope someone else could\ntake care of it. As I was thinking that, I saw\none of our very poor members, who no one respected because he is usually judged\nfor his bad lifestyle, go and care for this man who was hit by a car. He took\nhim to the hospital and made sure the doctor cared for him fully. I learned a\nreally valuable lesson that day. I pray God can open my\nheart to those around me who are really in need.<\/em><\/strong> Not\nto bypass them, but to sacrifice and get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3.\u00a0Open our Faith<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In Luke 15, we hear about the lost\nsheep, the lost coin, and the lost son who were found and restored. This\nis to confirm that there can be a happy ending to those who are away from\nGod. Sometimes we lose hope and faith that a lost person can\nreturn.<\/em><\/strong> We tried many times and they don\u2019t want\nGod. But that\u2019s not the gospel of Christ. The lost soul will be found\nand there will be rejoicing. Don\u2019t lose hope, they will\nreturn. Be open and have faith that God will return them.<\/em><\/strong> And\ngo and search for them as Christ did for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In Luke 19:1-10, Jesus went to search\nfor Zacchaeus to restore him. Zacchaeus desired to return, he just needed a bit\nof a push. Maybe you are that push. Open your faith and\ntrust God can use you even in a small way.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There have been many days when I\nhave to admit I lost hope, but God continues to surprise me and\nincrease my faith. Never give up on anyone no matter how bad it may seem.\nGod open our faith<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe person who loves God cannot help\nloving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those\nwho are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is\nindescribable and knows no bounds.\u201d St Maximos the Confessor <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Open our Eyes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Luke 23:42-43 illustrates an example\nof the most unexpected person and at the most unexpected time. The thief\non right was right next to Jesus and asked Jesus to remember him and Jesus\nsaid, \u2018you will be with Me in Paradise\u2019. I wonder if someone in our\nfamily or our school or work or even at church is right next to us every day\nand we are missing the chance to reach out to them.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\nus open our eyes every day to see the opportunities God is giving us. It may\nhappen with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. Open the Mission<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Luke 10:1 says into every<\/em><\/strong> city and every<\/em><\/strong> place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Luke 24:47-48 says repentance and\nremission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations<\/em><\/strong> beginning at Jerusalem. And you\nare witnesses of these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Jesus started His ministry by going\nto every place and sending his apostles to every place and before\nHe ascended, He told us to go, get the lost of all nations. Opening the mission means being convinced right now that you are\npart of His mission to save the lost.<\/em><\/strong> Once convinced, then\nmake a commitment to open the doors of your church and even your house. To open\nthe doors of your heart to love the unlovable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Gospel of Luke shows us it\u2019s time\nto open<\/em><\/strong> up for the work of God to thrive. To see\nlost souls running to Him and asking mercy from Him. In Luke 24:15, we see\ntwo disciples on the road to Emmaus and it says \u201cJesus drew near to them<\/em>.\u201d He didn\u2019t want to lose them.\nHe doesn\u2019t want to lose you and He doesn\u2019t want to lose any of His children. I\npray that we can open up and let God use us to save His sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let us pray the same prayer of St.\nIsaac the Syrian, \u201cI beg and beseech you, Lord: grant to all who have gone\nastray a true knowledge of you, so that each and every one may come to know\nYour glory.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Original blog found at- https:\/\/gocoptic.org\/luke-the-lost\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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    Luke & The Lost by Fr Abraham Fam Original post by goCoptic blogsite The Gospel of St.Luke is full of mission, evangelism and the lost returning to God. We can see and learn the impact of our Lord Jesus and how He attracted the sinful to come to Him. People want to return to Him. … Continue reading “Luke & The Lost”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6094"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6097,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094\/revisions\/6097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}