In Matthew 5:38-42 Jesus tells His followers they need to radically reorient their thoughts toward retaliation. Not only are His followers to not retaliate, they should not even resist the one who seeks to do evil toward them! How can we, as His followers today, become the type of Kingdom-oriented people who generously sacrifice our own wants and needs in order to actively live in and proclaim the Gospel to those around us?

We are to be people unconditional about love and unapologetic about truth. People of integrity - which is not perfection, but of integration and wholeness. People able to admit our faults and learn from them, people committed to being truthful in all we do, just as Jesus is.

Heat can be a good thing in the right context - but mismanaged heat is a dangerous thing. Jesus challenges us to not let ourselves mismanage our heat - our anger. It can get us sideways and destroy relationships. We’re called as followers of Jesus to let our anger drive us to be helpful instead of hurtful.

As followers of Jesus we are invited into living with distinction and influence. We’re invited to live in the way of Jesus that marks us as different, but it also releases us to have godly influence upon the world and to invite others to discover the hope of God available to them. We're to be salt and light in our here and now moment of history. Today we examine 3 key ways to live into that influence.

All great moments of connection have actions of celebration. Tonight we gather to celebrate people professing their faith in Jesus through following him in baptism. A public display of allegiance and affection for Christ. An act of obedience that Christ modeled and called us to do and an ordinance of the church from the beginning. Baptism is worship. Baptism is a declaration we can not save ourselves. Baptism is our pledge to rest in the life, death and resurrection of Christ alone. Baptism is worth celebrating!!

It's Easter - the resurrection of Jesus is the world event that changes everything! Thomas was that follower that gets the rap for hesitating and doubting. But maybe doubt can be the beginning step toward faith? It seems to be a spot where Jesus loves to show up - interacting with people so that their faith can move from hesitation to HOPE. Easter invites us to make this move…and to discover the joy of a secure HOPE in Jesus.

Each one of our lives are guided by the choices and decisions we make. Tonight we peer into a conversation Jesus has with his earliest of followers where he’s asking them to choose him. We will learn a good question that can really help us, when we’re tempted to hit the unfollow button or shrink back as things get challenging following Jesus. Remember: salvation is free, it costs you nothing. It did cost Jesus everything. A life of following after Jesus will have costs to it. But not following Jesus, might just cost you everything.

As we follow, we’re going to be invited to lead like Jesus. So tonight we’re going to look at a passage where Jesus actually gives us his secret to great leadership. See Mark 10:32-45. And as we prepare for Easter, Jesus is going to walk out the way he’s calling us to walk in.

There are moments in following Jesus were our personal agenda and God’s agenda will come into direct conflict with each other. How we respond in those moments will reveal much about us. What must we do then to get ourselves to the place where it’s no longer “My will be done,” but where we can honestly say, “Thy will be done!”?

Eventually, following Jesus is going to cost you something. And you will be glad it did. Deny yourself now or lose yourself later. All relationships have a cost to them, but good ones, also have a reward. Following where Jesus leads is always for our best, but it may not be the easiest.