Pennington Presbyterian Church

If you were in worship in January, you likely heard the words “call” and “disciple” many times. They were in the scriptures, the songs, the sermons, and the prayers. To be a disciple is to be a student of a particular teacher. For us, the Great Teacher is Jesus, and like people over the last two thousand years, we are called to be his disciples.

This month, we will continue to think about discipleship as our scriptural focus will be from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). Dr. Dale Bruner writes, “To read the Sermon on the Mount is to discover what it means to be a disciple of Jesus; to read it with faith is to receive power to be a disciple.” That’s what I want for myself and for my family and for our church! That is my hope and prayer for you!

I want to challenge all of us to read this wonderful and challenging Sermon on the Mount, each week in February with faith so that we can be Empowered Disciples! It is just three chapters, but these words of Jesus are life-transforming! Our worship focus will take us through Matthew chapter 5 but I encourage you to read the entire Sermon on the Mount. Bruner says the whole thing, just three chapters of scripture, gives us a portrait of disciples. It includes “… the Who of the Blessings (Mt. 5:3-16), their work in the What of the Commands (Mt. 5:17-48), their method in the How of the Devotions (Mt. 6:1-18), their ends in the Where of the Goals (Mt. 6:19-34), their Focus in the Wherefore of the Sums (Mt. 7:1-12), and their ground in the Why of the Warnings (Mt 7:13-27).”