1. St. Paul extends to us the call to arms. In particular, there is one weapon which is effective against so elusive an enemy. The weapon is prayer.
  2. The LORD sends His Son who targets those who are trampled and downtrodden. He comes for all, but He specifically includes the less fortunate.
  3. God commands we serve only Him. We serve Him with all we have and all we are, including the 90% of our income which does not go in the plates. What does it look like to serve God above money?
  4. The reign of God in Christ compels us to pray for all in authority, while at the same time our praying for them calls into the question all the idolatries that arise from the exercise of this authority.
  5. The one who embodies the dove, that is, the Holy Spirit will be mounted upon the staff of Calvary.
  6. The LORD God declares He Himself will shepherd His sheep. He will seek them out. He will rescue them. He will save. He will gather them in. In other words, the Good Shepherd will take care of His own sheep.
  7. The heart of your sermon is the promise that God, in Jesus, has sought and found each of us. He receives us sinners and invites us to eat with Him at His table.
  8. This is why Paul is still an “example” for us. If this is what God in Christ can do with “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence," imagine what God in Christ can do with you and me.
  9. These words direct the people of God how to live in their identity as God’s children. We would say, this is the reality of our baptismal identity!
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