Today is the Third Sunday after Pentecost as we continue our Summer Sermon Series!
As “Just like Jesus” author Max Lucado says:“God loves us just the way we are, but refuses to leave us this way. God wants us to be just like Jesus.” I pray you will enter into this with me, and open your own hearts for God’s liberating work. Please invite a friend to come with you to church, or feel free to share the videos on your own.
Every Sunday until August 15th, we will look at the various aspects of having a heart like Jesus. Last week we looked at what it means to have a forgiving heart! For this Sunday we will look at Chapter 3: A Compassionate Heart. Pr. Max will lift up the story of a leper restored to new life by the touch of Jesus. How has Jesus touched your heart and life??
To further take a “deep dive” into this material our Wednesday night Zoom Bible study at 7 p.m. for both churches, friends, neighbors continues. We will review what it means to have a compassionate heart with a look toward the next chapter: Listening Heart.
The Spirit will lead and guide us which is symbolic of this Pentecost Season. This is also called “the long green season” as the color for Pentecost is green, and the season goes well into October! We celebrate and honor, as we did on the Day of Pentecost and Holy Trinity Sunday, the Holy Spirit of God moving in, with and through our lives.
I firmly believe that we must do our part to keep our spiritual lives stirred up! I know it’s hard and I know we are all busy, yet I believe God is calling all of us as a family of faith to grow to be more like Jesus.
Introduction
The mustard seed becomes a great shrub that shelters the birds, recalling ancient images of the tree of life. We’d expect a cedar or a sequoia, but Jesus finds the power of God better imaged in a tiny, no-account seed. It’s not the way we expect divine activity to look. Yet the tree of life is here, in the cross around which we gather, the tree into which we are grafted through baptism, the true vine that nourishes us with its fruit in the cup we share. It may not appear all that impressive, but while nobody’s looking it grows with a power beyond our understanding.
