In the ancient world, widows were one of the most vulnerable groups within society. The Bible has a lot to say about how widows were meant to be treated within the community of God's people. In this message, we will investigate Scripture's central teachings on this topic and explore the implications of these teachings for how we relate to vulnerable seniors in our community today.

To evaluate how we view people and a challenge how we can reach Newcomers.

The Kingdom is at hand but it must be sought in order to be found. Seekers must become hungry and know that what they have now isn't good enough. Facing into the painful reality of vulnerable children in our world will make us hungry and drive us to seek the Kingdom that our Father wants us to find.

Throughout scripture God calls us to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow and the newcomer: those who are vulnerable due to marginalization. At the end of Mark 10 we find one of these wonderful people: a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. Through this story we find out how we can share Jesus’ love and be a microphone to the marginalized.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed or like yeast - what starts small and seems insignificant will grow and have more influence that we ever imagined. God's promise is that His kingdom will prevail and also that our seemingly small acts within the kingdom will have more impact that we think.

In this world, the Kingdom of God emerges/grows in the presence of evil. In this parable of 'the wheat & the weeds', Jesus instructs His followers to resist any preoccupation with evil; either trying to eradicate evil or being distracted/disturbed by evil. Rather, followers of Jesus are to invest in the planting & the fostering of righteousness in the ongoing development of the Kingdom.

In Matthew 13, Jesus shares the parable of sower (the soils). In listening to Him, we have this choice: to live shallow lives, distracted and potentially wrecked by priorities that simply don’t satisfy, or to ready ourselves to really listen, take in the Good News, and invite the Lord to produce His kind of extravagant harvest in our lives. Let’s live good soil kind of lives. Let’s lean in together!

In the last section of his letter, James is primarily concerned with calling the church to pray as individuals, leaders and friends. He reminds us that prayer is the place where we access God’s joy, healing and forgiveness. And he lands with a final, strong word about the urgent and critical nature of God’s mission.

Often it seems like bad people are winning and good people are losing. Through intense language, James challenges the arrogant rich to realize that wealth is not a trustworthy security net. And he lifts the spirits of the humble poor, by reminding them that God is good and that Jesus will return and set things right.