Romans 1:16-17. The Rev. Dr. Kirt Anderson, guest preacher.

Matthew 28:16-20. Pastor Bryant Anderson preaching. The Great Commission that Jesus gives his disciples after the resurrection marks the beginning of the dramatic rise and spread of the Christian religion, a movement that continues even to this day. But as we look at this story - and the movement to which it gave rise - we must recognize that something very important has been left out of the telling, and it’s something that has a lot to do with us.

The church is born when the power of the Holy Spirit descends on the disciples on the day of Pentecost. From that point forward, God's Spirit has served to animate, strengthen, and equip God's people for the work of the kingdom, and it does so primarily by causing trouble, leading us to do things we never thought possible.

Because of our confidence in the coming kingdom of God—the completion of God's work in the world—we live with an abundance of hope that transforms our daily living.

Once we acknowledge the abundance of God in our lives, we have to think about how God calls us to make use of that abundance. This is the question of stewardship, it it more properly begins with a firm trust in God's abundant provision than with assumptions of scarcity.

Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman who has come to draw water from the well. It is an interaction that Jesus could have easily avoided. But instead, Jesus seeks out an opportunity to allow God's abundant grace to overflow.

As we begin to look at God’s abundance, the best place to begin is with creation: God’s abundance all around us at every moment. But creation is more than merely beauty to admire; it is a reminder of God’s abundant provision for us.

The Rev. Dick Henderson, guest preacher.