This Sunday – May 26

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But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

-Matthew 7:14

Disturbing words from Jesus unless you naturally think that you are special enough to be one of the few to find the narrow road.

What makes the road so narrow?

Correct beliefs?

Following the right rules?

A certain moral standard?

Active church habits?

Is it really so narrow?

This Sunday at the Gathering Church, these words from Jesus, along with some other warnings found in Matthew 7:13-23 will be the focus.  Jesus is in the home stretch of his most well-known teaching, the Sermon on the Mount. His purpose is to help people begin to experience the reality of God’s kingdom: God’s presence now – in ordinary life.

And as usual, the path is different from what we would normally think.  But do you think that it may be better than we could ever imagine?

Jesus called it life.

This Sunday.

Sunday Preview | May 26

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AT-HAND

This Week’s Scripture Passage

“Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it.  But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you dressed like sheep, but inside they are vicious wolves.  You will know them by their fruit.  Do people get bunches of grapes from thorny weeds, or do they get figs from thistles?  In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, and every rotten tree produces bad fruit.  A good tree can’t produce bad fruit.  And a rotten tree can’t produce good fruit.  Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore, you will know them by their fruit.

Not everybody who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven.  Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter.  On the Judgment Day, many people will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name and expel demons in your name and do lots of miracles in your name?’   Then I’ll tell them, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you people who do wrong.’”

-Matthew 7:13-23 (Common English Bible)

View the .pdf of Songs & Announcements.

This Sunday – May 19th

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Are you a glass half-empty or a glass half-full person?

Does it depend on the day? The weather?

Your response to these words of Jesus might tell you.

Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you shall find.

Knock and the door will be opened to you.

At times those words have inspired me with great faith, boldness and hope.

At other times the same words have mocked me.

Some people have actually lost their faith because of these words.

At the Gathering Church this Sunday we will discover why these words made absolute sense to the one who said them and the ones who first heard them. Found in Matthew 7:7-12, they occur in the home-stretch portion of the Sermon on the Mount, a summary of Jesus’ teaching about how to live well by experiencing God’s kingdom now.

The secret of understanding these promises from Jesus is found in understanding the ‘scale’ of your life.

How does God change the scale of everything?

Half-empty or half-full?

Or maybe, “Where did you get the glass?”

Sunday Preview | May 19

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AT-HAND

This Week’s Scripture Passage

“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

Who among you will give your children a stone when they ask for bread?   Or give them a snake when they ask for fish?   If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.”

-Matthew 7:7-12 (Common English Bible)

 

View the .pdf of Songs & Announcements.