The Gates of the Kingdom Pastor Nick Connolly delivered at First United Methodist Church for joint services with Grace United Methodist Church and other churches from Kearny. August 24, 2007 Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20 Jesus is with his disciples in Caesarea Philippi, a city famous for all kinds of religions with temples and shrines to pagan deities. It is against this backdrop that Jesus asks those close to him: "Who to people say that I am?" Simon receives an infusion of faith and affirms Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. This confession brings forth another confession from Jesus, announcing to Simon his new name: "Rock." We are so used to simply saying "Peter," that we can forget the root meaning of his name.     We receive faith in Jesus in the same way—an infusion of faith that comes not from the "flesh and blood" of simple upbringing, but by the gift of God's Spirit. You can download the audio files to save and listen off-line by right clicking "Save Target As"  while hovering over the links Simply copy the title in the file window and save in the folder of your choice. You can then download the sermon into an mp3 player or burn a CD. Permission is given to make copies for personal or church use. Invocation Sermon