In this first message in our series Empowered, we focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and their purpose in the lives of followers of Jesus and the Church.

Before he miraculously fed this crowd of thousands, Jesus just needed to retreat, to mourn the rejection of his hometown and the death of his cousin, John the Baptizer. But even in his grief, Jesus looked upon the crowd with compassion and chose to serve them.

In these final parables of the kingdom from Matthew 13, Jesus teaches that his kingdom is subversive, that his kingdom is worth everything, and that a day of judgment is coming.

In this parable, Jesus assures his followers that though good and evil will grow together until the end of all things, the King will have the last word.

As Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure, he knew they would get discouraged in their mission. In this parable, he reassures them that their responsibility is simply to sow the seed and leave the soil to God.

Jesus is the very wisdom of God personified, and far from laying a heavy burden on those who would come to him, he gives us a yoke that is easy and light. God's wisdom gives rest to the weary soul.

Jesus knows that the only way to persist in the mission he gives is to root our identity in him, as his ambassadors, filled with the Spirit of God.

In Matthew 10, Jesus prepared his disciples for what they would experience when they went out to share his gospel. Today, we can expect the same kind of reception because Truth divides, but it is also the only thing that brings true unity.

This week, guest preacher Mark Grapengater joined us and taught on the three things we need to live into Jesus' subversive way of life.

In The Great Commission, Jesus wasn't commanding his followers to simply make converts who pray a prayer and call themselves Christians. He was calling his followers to go and make disciples who would follow Jesus' way of life in all things.