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Life Reimagined: Previews

October 23, 2022 • Reverend Doctor Stanley Long • Matthew 4:17

Today, we are celebrating our anniversary of 37 years of ministry. Anniversaries are special. They help us remember, the what, and the why, that we need to celebrate. People choose different ways to celebrate special occasions, anniversaries, and birthdays, but many have found that these occasions are great moments for evaluation. On their wedding anniversary, a married couple watches video of their wedding and evaluate their adherence to the vows they made to one another. Similarly, our 37th anniversary might be a perfect moment for us to evaluate how we are doing as a church. We came together as Christ’s followers not just to be another institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, but to give the Bay Area a different picture of what Jesus was about. What was Jesus about? Some would tell you Jesus is about saving souls, and Jesus died to make that possible; others will say Jesus was about modeling the life God wants all of us to live. We raise another perspective that Jesus was and is about bringing all creation back under the Father’s authority, and He called the vehicle through which He would do that the Kingdom of God or its synonym, the Kingdom of Heaven. “From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘You must change your hearts – for the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived’” (Matthew 4:17 Phillips New Testament).