Parents often ask their kids "If everyone else jumps off the bridge, will you jump as well"? The moral of that statement is "don't follow the crowd". Jesus wasn't a "crowd" person. He didn't let the crowd influence Him. When we are followers of Jesus we can't follow the crowd anymore.

It is a radical act of faith to give to God the things that we hold the most dear. When we offered all that we have with open hands nothing will ever be wasted.The Lord sees our problems even before we do and He already has the solution.

These two stories The Great Feast and The Wedding Banquet are great examples of the upside down nature of the Kingdom. The Lord made it clear that He did not come for the righteous but for us the sinners.

Looking at Peter's story of restoration let's see it from John and Jesus's perspectives. This story of restoration is a good reminder to us of how God sees us and restores us and also how we should respond to others. Jesus uses broken, mistake-filled people to accomplish His Kingdom purpose.

Although we know this beautiful story if we look at from a fresh perspective we can see that this entire sequence began with the forgiveness between two friends. Our world needs more forgiveness. It's ok if we don't always "get the whole Jesus thing". His disciples didn't always get it either and they were with Him for 3 years. Take the journey!

The Easter story is one of the two stories that most people know. However today we are going to look at it from a different perspective and see if we can find new ways to think about this familiar story.

Palm Sunday is the start of Holy Week. It is the time when Jesus entered Jerusalem as the King of Peace. Jesus comes as the King of Peace for anyone who will receive Him. His peace comes through salvation.

In His final week to live Jesus sat down with the one who betrayed Him and offered him a chance at redemption. He knew what was coming!

Even at the end of His life Jesus was not alone. God did not leave Jesus at the cross. He will never leave you! He is not afraid of your sin - He wants to be in relationship with you.

Jesus spent His last week reminding us that God shows tremendous grace and we should too. Release those that you are holding anger for. Forgive them as you have been forgiven.