If We Miss This, We Miss Jesus (Don't Miss Sunday)

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Hey family,

Professor Watchman Nee addressed his classroom at Wheaton College to ponder the following question,

"What is essential to understanding the teaching and ministry of Jesus, that if you didn't have it, you would miss his teaching?" Many attempted to summarize an answer with words like love, grace, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit. 

Although the student's answers are critical to the spiritual life Jesus came to bring, they must be seen within the framework of Jesus' central teaching point. "Love," for example, is mentioned by Jesus 13 times, culminating in the greatest commandments (Matthew 22:36-40). But to truly understand love, we must see it within Jesus' central teaching point.

Jesus used the phrase “The Kingdom of God" or its equivalent 108 times. It was his first gospel proclamation (Mark 1:15) and final topic during his 40 days of post-resurrection teaching. If we miss the Kingdom of God, we miss Jesus.

In order to "Seek first the Kingdom of God," we must understand it (Matthew 6:33). Therefore, we will spend the summer looking through the Old Testament, the Gospels, and New Testament, to gain a biblical understanding of this theme for our lives now and in eternity.

Our mission at Church 212 is to help people spiritually thrive in friendship with Jesus. Yes, it is to make disciples or apprentices of Jesus as commanded in the Great Commission. But evangelism and discipleship exist for the deeper fulfillment of companionship with God. As we will see in this series, the promised land of the Christian journey is friendship with God. Every effort to follow Jesus and grow is not in response to dogma and law but to love and friendship.

That's what this series is setting up.

Join us this Sunday as we unpack this central theme, The Kingdom of God.

Daniel Harrison
Lead Pastor