Sunday Recap: The Talk on the Hill

• We had a GREAT day today. A great looking congregation, and several new faces.
• Seems like things are really coming together for us. Leaders, we are in our groove. Now, get ready for the next stage! Coming soon!
• Volunteers, what an awesome job you are doing. The hospitality table, the greeters, the communication cards. It's really going smooth. This is how assimilation begins.
• Setup "guy", Eric, man- thanks for coming out and getting it done this morning. Sorry your son is sick, he is in our prayers.
• A/V, what can I say? It was right on this morning! Thanks.
  
• Our Poza Rica missions trip is still coming together. Lots of shoes to be given to the orphans. Fundraisers galore right now. Don't forget about the Valentine's babysitting!
  
• Worship was unbelievable. The set was very well put together.
• The Lord spoke prophetically to us through the songs. As Ace lead in "Draw me Closer"- he changed the word to "draw them closer" and exhorted us to long for others to be in God's presence. We should desire that place in God's arms, but we should also desire others come to that place.
• The Spirit of God was really there. Some were lead to pray for others and I just felt like true transformation was taking place among the congregation.
• We covered Matthew 5 this morning. WAY too much to cover in 1 blog.
• BUT, Jesus' teachings were not to be taken as laws to be followed. Rather, he was revealing what His kingdom looked like- and how people that were transformed by him operated.
• The "blood and guts" part, where Jesus dove right into the heart of our immorality: anger, lust, cursing, manipulation- was a microscopic view of the kingdom. It's the closeup look at our behaviors and how imperfect they are. Jesus concludes by stepping back in the final verses of the chapter and shows us the beauty of the kingdom. In this new kingdom we reflect God's perfection, and are known as His children.
• Up close, his teaching seems impossible. But Jesus is revealing the completeness of his kingdom. In this world we live with just and unjust people, and God is still God. Within this world, is now, God's kingdom in Jesus. And the touch of His spirit moves us into that kingdom, or that economy. In His economy that life that looks hard up close, becomes a reality as it fits into the context of kingdom living. Living in this world, but also in the Kingdom of God.