We conclude our series in the beatitudes with the last beatitude, a double-beatitude of sorts that sees Jesus reiterate the reality of persecution for his followers. Why would Jesus and his followers be persecuted? And why would we embrace this? We contemplate what this means for our lives as followers of Jesus.

As we celebrated Baptism Sunday together it's valuable to ask ourselves why we do this? Why do we get into a tank and get dunked under water as part of our faith? Through the lens of Romans 6 we answer this questions and consider why baptism is such a powerful witness to ourselves and to others.

The peace that Jesus offers us is very different peace from what the world offers us and it calls his followers to be intentional and active as peacemakers for the sake of others. What does this peace look like and what posture does it call us to? We dig into these questions and more as we continue our series The Kingdom Manifesto.

The sixth beatitude, “blessed are the pure in heart” may be the most comforting, compelling but challenging beatitude yet. What does Jesus mean by pure in heart? Is this about perfection? What does the promise that we will see God mean? To wrestle with these words, we look at Psalm 51 and Psalm 139 as we continue our series, “The Kingdom Manifesto”