"In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is confronting us with the culture of the Kingdom of Heaven."

In order to be sanctified, we must adapt to Jesus' call to wholeness. Pastor Mason teaches from Matthew 5:17-20 on what it looks like to be disciples of Christ, growing in the wholeness for which He created us!

"Jesus says, 'The Kingdom that I have actually means detachment from everything you know and love and desire, and completely and fully attaching to me.'"

According to the culture of the kingdom, it is those who are powerless and marginalized who are in a good position— because they are prime to respond to and receive from God.

"Peace is not natural. The natural person has a spirit of self-preservation and self interest," which is countercultural to Jesus' call in the beatitudes.

Pastor Kelli teaches us, through Matthew 5:9-12, that we are to be "peacemakers," which means having: 1. a new view of self, 2: a new view of others, and 3: a new view of the world.

Mercy is... the healing we receive when our sins are exposed to God's forgiveness."

Throughout “The Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus immerses us into a culture that tends to be counterintuitive and disorienting for most people: the culture of the kingdom of the heavens. Verses 3-5 laid out the progression of our awareness of and relationship to God. Verses 6-8 take the next logical step by highlighting characteristics we should strive to maintain in relationship to one another as members of this divine kingdom. 

Pastor Derrick reminds us on Palm Sunday, that through Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, He ushered in peace and salvation once and for all!

While teaching in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2. These verses lay out His mission and, as His agents, it becomes our mission, too.