When you haven't seen someone who you love for so long and you finally are able to meet again it's such a sweet experience! We all await a meeting with Someone Who has given everything for us. We will meet Him in person, face to face, when we die. But it may be that we will meet Him while living when He comes again to receive us to Himself. What an amazing experience that will be! What effect should this truth have on us? Jesus shares this truth in several parables. We'll look at one final parable this Sunday in our series on: Looking unto Jesus - - this parable is exactly that. What happens when look at Jesus. Are you ready? How can you be ready? Let us praise the Lord for His coming and dive into this parable through the Preaching of God's Word. See you there!

In Matthew 13:44–46, Jesus tells two short parables about the kindomg of heaven- a hidden treasure and a pearl of great value. One man discovers the treasure unexpectedly; the other spends his time searching for something valuable. Yet when each recognizes what he has found, both respond by giving up everything to possess it. Let us consider what the kingdom of heaven is, its value, and the response required from us.

Jesus tells the Parable of the Dinner Guests in during His final days in Jerusalem to warn Israel's religious leaders that although God's kingdom had been offered to them through the Messiah, their rejection of the Son would bring judgment, while God's gracious invitation would extend to the nations and that merely accepting the invitation outwardly is not enough; one must truly belong to Christ.

As our Lord gave His parable on the different soils, representing the conditions of the human heart, He explained how God's Word affects and even changes His hearers. This Sunday we will praise the Lord for His Word that gives Spiritual Life to hearers. We will also take some time to consider the four different reactions the Word of God produces in its hearers as we look at Jesus' Parable of the Soils. Let us ask the Lord for grace to have good soil in our hearts and the hearts of everyone who hears His Word.

As we move on from scenes from Jesus's life to stories Jesus told. One primary parable comes at the end of the lengthy Sermon on the Mount where Jesus portrays His teaching as the only solid foundation on which to build our lives. Our worship service will praise the Lord for His Words being our firm foundation. Let's come ready to hear His challenge and consider this truth carefully. Are you building your life on HIs solid foundation?

In our series so far, we've learned how Christ is all-knowing and is all-powerful, so He is able to step into any situation that is needed. But does He care enough to step in? Power and knowledge are no guarantee of help. But does He care? YES indeed! We'll look at another scene of Jesus's life and ministry. This one will show us that He does care. And that His care is extended to the least of these–those that others would reject or overlook; Jesus is there ready to help and bless. So let us come to Him with all our needs, all our desires and all our needs He will sustain and help us. Look unto Jesus today!

"Looking unto Jesus" -- As we consider the amazing scenes of Jesus's life, the most important is that of the cross and resurrection. In our mini-series on the life of Jesus, I thought this Sunday would be an appropriate time to look at the scene of the cross because it's the same Sunday we are celebrating the Lord's Table. As Jesus died on the cross, He was "bearing our shame." This is the aspect we will delve into as we consider Christ condemned to make us free. He bore shame and reproach before man so that we might never bear shame or reproach before the Father.

The apparent infiniteness of how immense, and yet microscopically intricate the universe is can heighten our sense of insignificance. "Who notices my existence anyway!?" And yet, God, Who made all that is in Christ sees us individually and knows all there is to know about us. This is a comforting truth! We'll dive into this truth from John 1 as we continue the series -- "Looking Unto Jesus."

Jesus has all power! The storms of life threaten to topple our existence. The storms may be external or they may be internal. But in all these circumstances, we can trust our Lord Jesus Who calms our storms. He is all-powerful, and His command puts them to rest. Let us praise the Lord for His power over the storms of life and His power over all things.

If God is for us, who can be against us? What a glorious truth! We can move through the stages of God's glorious salvation with great confidence because He is bringing us to glory. He Who saved us will glorify us and along the way, nothing formed against His purposes for us will stand.