Sunday Setup – Matthew 9:16-17

Hey Gross Church family and welcome to the Sunday setup. This our time where we digitally gather together every Thursday at 2 o'clock and we prepare our hearts for the coming Sunday. And we want to start here by praying through a piece of God's word. Our goal every Sunday is we get to pray through God's word. We get to praise through it. We get to preach through it so that you can practice it next week. Well, this Sunday we start a brand new series and we've been going through the miracles of Jesus in the book of Matthew. And this Sunday we start the parables of Jesus. And I love this because we've been talking about how the miracles answer the question of who is Jesus. But as we take this turn, we're going to see that the parables answer the question of what does he teach? And and one of the launching off points we see in Matthew 7:13 and 14. I want to read these. This is not the parable we'll study this week, but it kind of informs us of the mindset Jesus had when he taught parables. And it says this that enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and there are many who go through it but how narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life and few find it. I think this is the heart of Jesus. He's teaching. He teaches in parables that are confusing. Teaches in parables that are what are they saying? He even mentions of the secrets of the kingdom. But he did that to show us that this whole walk and following Jesus thing is not going to be an easy ride skipping through daisies, but it will be hard. And this truth that sometimes is hard for us to grasp, even harder for us to apply. He tells us in parables, but it answers the question of what does he teach and how does it impact our lives. And that brings us to Matthew chapter 9. uh looking at verse 16 and 16 and 17 are going to be where we land with our text today and that we're going to be studying this Sunday. And as he unpacks this parable, we read this. It says, "No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. And no one puts new wine into old wine skins, otherwise the skins burst. the wine spills out and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins and both are preserved. I'm not going to unpack this whole parable that maybe it's like what in the world is Jesus even talking about here. We're going to get into that on Sunday. But I want us to just use some of what's in this passage to start our time of praying through it. This new wine it talks about is signifying Christ's truth that comes in us. And I want that to be our first prompt of when we think about the new wine, the new mercies, the new grace, the new stuff that Jesus pours out to us. I just want to think about the new grace and mercies we receive every day. And and just start here is God, thank you for the new mercies you provide in. God, thank you for the new mercies that you provide in. Maybe it's in providing a new sunset every day. Providing a new breath to breathe, a a new chance to do something right and not mess up as we do time and time again. God, thank you. Providing new mercies every day in pray that to our God. Heat up here. Lord, we just thank you for the new mercies you pour out. Lord, the new wine that you provide in your death and resurrection and the truth of your gospel. Lord, we are so unworthy, God. We are broken. We uh do not know truth that we can't we can't provide on our own. But Lord, you constantly show your grace. You constantly show your mercy. And Lord, you give to us things we do not deserve. And Lord, we just thank you and we praise you for how good and gracious and generous you are. But Lord, we don't stop there and just praising you. And God, we also confess in here. It talks about the old wines skkins, the old ways of doing things. It's signifying our old life, our old uh ways that we tried to do things, maybe in an old covenant, and an old life. And and we have to have new from God to be able to receive the new grace and mercy that he provides. So, in this second prayer prompt, I just want us to take a minute and confess and ask God to kind of take away the old. And in this prayer prompt, it just sounds like this is God, I confess that I cling to the old blank of my life. Maybe it's the old sin of my life, the old traditions of my life, the old ways of doing things of my life. is God, I confess that I cling to the old blank of my life. What are the old things in your life that you need to let go and let God make new in him? Heat. Heat. God, just hear these confessions as we cling to the old pride, the old self-reliance, the old comforts of our life in our sin that we constantly fall back into instead of throwing those away, getting rid of them so that we can truly be filled with the new, the better, the true, the greater that is available in only you in Christ alone. God, we praise you cuz you constantly provide new mercies, new glory, a gospel that can change our life. And we thank you that you don't keep us in our old life, but you provide a new life that can accept that truth and take us forward. And Lord, we just ask that we can be obedient to that, that we can surrender to that. And Lord, we can just follow you with passion, with strength, and with faithfulness. Lord, just be with our church family as we go throughout this week. Lord, bring us together this Sunday, strong and on fire and and ready to do your work. And Lord, we just lift all this up in Jesus name. Amen. Church, thank you for gathering with us today. We can't wait to kick off this brand new series going through the parables of Jesus. And we will see you this Sunday. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.