One of the hardest things God tells us to do is to share Jesus with those we don’t like, or who don’t like us. Sometimes being a “witness” starts with forgiveness.

Jesus calls us to be his witnesses, and tells us to start at home. The focus in this sermon will be on doing whatever we can to raise up a new generation of Jesus followers.

When you follow a hero, you tend to do heroic things. And there is nothing more heroic a Jesus follower does than to rescue someone they love by introducing them to Jesus.

We are made to worship God with other believers. God made us for community and by engaging God through God’s church, we are better together.

Following Jesus isn’t just about believing in God and waiting for heaven; nor even just about doing life for God; it’s about doing life with God right now. The discipline of a daily quiet time with God is extremely hard, but well worth it. Today we launch a 30 day “Verse of the Day” challenge.

Too often Christians define life with God as “sin avoidance” - doing the dos and avoiding the don’ts. Jesus points to a different way to do life with God, encompassed by just two commands: love God, and love others - his way.

Once we accept the rescue - what is different? What’s new? What’s next? And what does being rescued mean for me?

Who wouldn’t want real Christianity to be true? God recklessly offers grace: his undeserved, unearned, unearnable favor...through Jesus. This sermon wraps up part one of Life: A Hero’s Story which we’re calling “The Rescue.”

How could God get us to see our sin for what it is, and where it is taking us? With a cross God shows us the depravity and danger of our sin, how much he loves us anyway, and the way out.

We love hero stories - in part because they are echoes of our own story. Now, we tend to focus on what a hero does. But before the action, he or she often sees what others can’t see, feels what others don’t feel and may find intolerable what others have learned to tolerate. Today, we explore the heart of God.