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Dear Friends in Christ, It's good to be home! We appreciated our time apart. I heard good things about those who preached while we were gone. Many thanks to Laura Brantley, Lane Davis, Allison Fasig, Brian Hicks and Jeff Wilson! And all of our musicians and worship leaders. While away, I spent a great deal of time in Matthew's Gospel. The last 2 years we've studied the Gospels of Luke and John. This year, we're going to concentrate on Matthew's narrative. In particular, we will begin this weekend with a 7-week series on the Sermon on the Mount. You find it in Matthew 5-7. It contains a compilation of the teaching of Jesus, the heart of his teaching. I invite you to read the sermon as a whole in preparation for this season. The Gospel of Matthew is often referred to as the teaching Gospel. His narrative is divided into 5 sections reminding us of the Torah, the first 5 books in the Old Testament. The Son of God is portrayed first and foremost by Matthew as a teacher. Like Moses, Jesus went up to a mountain (after 40 days in the wilderness) and sat down and taught the people. In Matthew, the mountain is the sign of revelation. Jesus sits down to teach them. This was the posture of a teacher in the synagogue. The people stood up for the reading of Scripture. They sat down for the rabbi's instruction. After his death and resurrection, Jesus commissioned his followers to go into all the world baptizing and teaching obedience to His instruction. Our mission as a church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Our strategy is to Connect people to