Sunday Setup – Matthew 13:34-36

Totally different. Hey, Gross Church family. Welcome to the Sunday setup. This is our time each week where we digitally gather together Thursdays at 2 o'clock to pray through the scripture that we'll be preaching through this week. And every week it is our goal that on Sundays as we gather, we pray through, we praise through, we preach through so that you can practice your faith and practice living out God's word in the world around you. Today we continue our series through the parables. And we're still in Matthew 13 that is just packed full of so many of these parables kind of all together. Last week we looked at the parable of the mustard seed. And today we turn our attention from three weeks of talking about seeds and agriculture uh to something a little bit different. And we're going to be in Matthew 13 starting in verse 44. And as Jesus continues to pick up, uh, he shifts gears a little bit here. And he says this, the kingdom of heaven, still on this theme of the kingdom of heaven is like treasure buried in a field that a man found and re-eried. Then in his joy, he goes and he sells everything he has and he buys that field again. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. when he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it. I think where we start with this is when we talk about the kingdom of heaven, we talk about the word of God becoming real and and Jesus not only saving us, but inviting us in to his grand and master plan now and for all of eternity. One of the things I love that it talks about is it compares it to a treasure that is buried, but I love this. it says is found. And when we think about the gospel today, when we think about the good news of Christ is sometimes I don't think we reflect on and thank God enough that we have found him, that we have found the truth. In our first prayer prompt, I want it to just be that exactly is Lord, thank you that we have found your gospel by and just think of the ways that not only maybe you personally have found the gospel and continue to find it and continue to mine it, continue to dig it up more and more, but how we make sure the gospel is continually found around our world is Lord, thank you that we found the gospel by your word, by nature, by a local church, by a co-orker, by whatever it is is Lord, thank you that we found the gospel by pray that prayer to our God. Heat. Heat. Lord, thank you that we have found the gospel by the preservation of your word throughout history, God, by the faithfulness of the church to continually to proclaim who Jesus is. And Lord, just by the sheer authority and holiness that you possess that can't help but be sung about, be made known through your creation. God, we thank you that the gospel has been made known to us and Lord, let it spur us on to make it known to other people. We are thankful for the gospel and we pray prayers of thanksgiving for that. But then there is also action that happens that he's filled with joy when he finds this pearl. And in both of these parables of the treasure found in the ground and of the pearl, the priceless pearl that is found that both of these men then go and sell everything they have to grab it. And I think if we're honest, there are times where we need to give things up in order to fully embrace the treasure, the glory that is the gospel and is Jesus Christ. And often we let things stand in our way. Maybe it's our sin. Maybe it's our preferences. Maybe it's our lifestyle. And there's things that stand in the way of us and following Jesus. Things that stand in the way of us going to church and being comfortable or doing the activities we have of committing to reading our Bibles and prayer and following. And I just want in the second prayer prompt after we thank God for what he's provided and making known and letting us find the gospel that then we can pray a prayer of sacrifice. And just this as we see as they sold their goods, they gave up something. And here's our prompt is Lord, let me give up blank to follow you more faithfully. Lord, let me give up. Maybe it's a sin. Maybe it's a hobby. Maybe it's a money that has become an idol in your life. Lord, let me give up blank to follow you more faithfully. Pray those prayers to our God. Heat. Heat. Lord, you know the sins sins and the idols that are in our lives that keep us separated from you. And Lord, we just ask that you tear those down, that they become revealed to us in a more prominent and powerful way maybe than ever before. And Lord, as we just study your word together this weekend, that as you highlight those that Lord, we can be faithful like the two men and we can go sell it. We can get rid of it. we can let it die in our lives so that we can better embrace you and follow you and truly harness the treasure that is you, your word in your kingdom. God, we thank you for this time where we get to pray together across our city, across our state, across wherever we may be that we can just gather together in spirit being praying as one voice for you to just intervene in our personal lives and life of our church and us to move towards your will and to do what you have for us. God, we thank you for this time, Lord. We just ask that you lift up these prayer requests and we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for joining us today. We'll see you this Sunday. Heat. Heat.