Why do you pray? What do you pray about? In our passage this Sunday, the Apostle Paul says that if we want to make the gospel a priority, we need to make prayer a priority. We'll see not only the priority of prayer but the purpose of it for the church.
We have the privilege this week to welcome Dane Helsing, Senior Pastor of Beacon Community Church in Belmont, MA. He will proclaim God's word to us from Ephesians 3. Let's come ready to receive from the Lord!
Do you have family or friends who don't believe the gospel? I'm sure you do. Or perhaps you're seeking but struggling to believe the gospel yourself. Have you ever wondered, if the Good News is so "good" then why do so many people reject it? Why does it seem so hard to believe? Well we come to the teaching portion ("discourse") in Part 3 of the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus explains why so many people aren't seeing the "good" in his good news. From his famous parable of the soils, we'll hear Christ's defense of his message and see both the root and the fruit of true belief in him.
In this Sunday's passage, we hear perhaps Jesus' harshest condemnation and his most compassionate invitation--set right next to each other. In light of the people's rejection of Christ's kingdom, we'll learn the primary factor that distinguishes those who resist Christ and those who find rest in Christ.
