As the Apostle Paul writes this fund raising letter to the Corinthians, he points out in Chapter 9 that our generosity is uniquely connected to the level of joy in our life. He illustrates that generosity is not a result of wealth or plenty by the telling the story of the Macedonians being incredibly generous not because of law or obligation, but because of the grace of God. Fundamentally, the gospel should be our motivation and purpose for our giving, so it’s Jesus that we look to and cling as he was generous on our behalf.

As the Apostle Paul writes this fund raising letter to the Corinthians, he points out in Chapter 9 that our generosity is uniquely connected to the level of joy in our life. He illustrates that generosity is not a result of wealth or plenty by the telling the story of the Macedonians being incredibly generous not because of law or obligation, but because of the grace of God. Fundamentally, the gospel should be our motivation and purpose for our giving, so it’s Jesus that we look to and cling as he was generous on our behalf.

We have been promised eternal treasure in Christ, but often we cling to and treasure lesser, temporal things. In this text, Jesus diagnoses our condition as blindness to our own greed and materialism. The only hope for us is to be under a new Master. Merely being more generous and less materialistic is not the cure. The only cure is Jesus and his transforming power in our lives.

We have been promised eternal treasure in Christ, but often we cling to and treasure lesser, temporal things. In this text, Jesus diagnoses our condition as blindness to our own greed and materialism. The only hope for us is to be under a new Master. Merely being more generous and less materialistic is not the cure. The only cure is Jesus and his transforming power in our lives.

In Ezekiel 37, we see God promise to demonstrate his reconciling power by reuniting Israel and Judah as one nation. This is significant because of the insurmountable hatred that they had for one another. But God shows himself as graciously doing the impossible by reconciling Israel and Judah, and later, by breaking down the division between Jew and Gentile. Today, we have the gift and opportunity to demonstrate God’s Gospel by being united—black and white, asian and hispanic—as one in Christ Jesus.

In Ezekiel 37, we see God promise to demonstrate his reconciling power by reuniting Israel and Judah as one nation. This is significant because of the insurmountable hatred that they had for one another. But God shows himself as graciously doing the impossible by reconciling Israel and Judah, and later, by breaking down the division between Jew and Gentile. Today, we have the gift and opportunity to demonstrate God’s Gospel by being united—black and white, asian and hispanic—as one in Christ Jesus.

In Ezekiel 37, God gives Ezekiel a ghastly vision of a valley of dead, dry bones. Though it seems these corpses are gone and dead for good, God shows Ezekiel that he is powerful to raise them from the dead and breathe new life into them. God then promises that he will do this with the nation of Israel even though their situation seems hopeless. Today, when we look around our city, we see a similar landscape. There is hopelessness and death all around us but God is powerful to raise the dead and breath new life into those we care deeply for.

In Ezekiel 37, God gives Ezekiel a ghastly vision of a valley of dead, dry bones. Though it seems these corpses are gone and dead for good, God shows Ezekiel that he is powerful to raise them from the dead and breathe new life into them. God then promises that he will do this with the nation of Israel even though their situation seems hopeless. Today, when we look around our city, we see a similar landscape. There is hopelessness and death all around us but God is powerful to raise the dead and breath new life into those we care deeply for.

We begin our Vision series with Ezekiel’s prophetic declaration of the promised transformation to come. That God would take Israel’s hard hearts and give them hearts of flesh instead. While God’s promise to give us his Spirit is a promise to us, it is not ultimately about us. We see in Ezekiel 36 that God is mainly concerned with his own glory and that though God is for us, he is not about us.