Series: Finding Home

Sermon: Finding Home

Speaker and Writer: Amy Markoch

Refresh: Start with a prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.

Read: Isaiah 61:1-3 (ESV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.

Reflect: At the beginning of the week, we relived the panic of feeling lost. All we want when we are lost is to find home! Yet home isn’t always constant, it can be volatile. The only place to truly find rest is in Jesus. He does not change.

When He lives in us, we can also be a shelter to others. We are like the oak tree that provides strength and stability to all around. Christ also wants us be a place of comfort. Isaiah 61:2b-3, “ to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit”

To feel what others feel. Empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” When we are able to say, “I feel your pain. I have been in that place.” Judgement and finger-pointing are left outside and we swing wide the door for others to come in. This is ultimate love. This is the home that Jesus created when He walked on earth with us, shared in our hurts and joys, and ultimately took our condemnation by sacrificing His life on the cross.

Look no further. Jesus is home. By following His example of selfless love, we can be home as well.

Recalibrate: Will you be the place where others can find a home?

Respond: Pray that you Christ will help you to love others like He loved them.

Research: Read: Empathy Deficit Disorder.