Pursuing Jesus

 His opponents accused Jesus of being a "friend of sinners," as if that were a bad thing. As a sinner, it's good for me to have a friend in Jesus. As I follow him, should I be a friend of sinners too?

 Jesus tells a story about two guys praying at the temple. One, the Pharisee, is sure of high own righteousness. He's a good guy. He avoids doing bad things and does the things we want our church people to do. The other guy, a tax collector, appears to have nothing going for him. He's a sinner and knows he's a sinner. But even knowing himself to be a sinner, he comes to God for mercy. Jesus commends the second guy, the sinner seeking mercy, not the guy whose life was centered on his own righteousness.

 Using the metaphor of a map, we consider both the destination and journey of this thing we call "Christianity."

 Whose word counts in your life? The word of Jesus, crucified and risen?

 From 2 Corinthians 4, we see that the way to spiritual power is through the weakness of the cross.

 John Wesley's life turned around when he was at a meeting at Aldersgate Street in 1738. We can encounter the same God in the same way and find the same life in Christ.

 God us a purpose for us. How can we find and live into that purpose?

 In Mark 9 a father comes to Jesus, desperate to see his son healed. He has faith, but it's imperfect. He famously calls out to Jesus, "I believe - help my unbelief!"

 The disciples see Jesus walking on water. Peter has the crazy idea of getting out there with him. Amazingly, Jesus says, "Come on!"

 When Jesus challenges the disciples to feed 4000 (when they only have 7 loaves of bread), they have to learn to trust Jesus to do great things with the little they have to give him.