Leading Theme is the Church of Antioch changed the world. They were Selfless with their leaders. They had an A-Team Church Planting Team and rather than keeping them, they sent out their best. We will talk about being a church that is constantly focused on being Selfless.

Easter reminds us that we have put our faith in one who predicted his own death and resurrection and pull it off! Jesus Christ is in fact God incarnate who paid the price of our sin and then conquered death. All this means those who trust him will live forever with God and his people. In light of this good news—we have to tell others! We must live on mission. This morning we’ll learn from the life of the great Apostle Paul: the GOAT of missionaries!

Who can you trust? The politicians and leaders of our day seem hardly the place to put our confidence. The entrepreneurs and marketers cleverly create and communicate that your needs and desires will be met in their products. But are you sure about that? There is a story, a true story, where promises were made and men and women wondered if and how they would be answered. It’s the grand story of the Bible. Simply put it is a story of Promises Kept. It is a sure and solid place to rest your mind and calm your heart. God the Father says ‘Yes’ to you, will you say ‘Yes’ to Him? And then never stop saying ‘Yes’!

Jesus despised external religion. The Law of Moses was a shadow that pointed to the substance yet to come, and Jesus was the substance who had come. That the Jewish religious leaders continued to operate out of the law, and press it onto others, was the source of much of Jesus’ corrective teaching. Here, He upends the idea that we live by an outside-in mentality and describes the Gospel mentality of living from the inside-out.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had used the Bible, and gone way beyond it with their traditions, to create a religion of scrupulous law-keeping. Jesus understood the Bible to be THE means of coming into and growing in a relationship with the living God. He also understood that to read it correctly, we need to see him at its very center.

What happens when we don’t get the rest that we need? Will we look to Jesus as our hope or will we miss Him?

While theories swirled about the identity of Jesus, Mark shows us His identity – The Shepherd of Israel. Jesus is the Good Shepherd (unlike Herod) who leads His people in the wilderness to green pastures and feeds them until they are satisfied. He alone provides the rest we need, always generous so that we lack no good thing.

The word had gotten out. As the disciples went about preaching repentance and making much of Jesus, His name had become even more known. So much so that even King Herod Antipas had heard about what was going on. He was haunted by this message of repentance that Jesus and the disciples preached. It was a message he had heard before. A message that had kept him up at night, but a message he failed to embrace. Will you embrace it or be haunted by it?

Jesus has power over creation, demons, disease and death, but still faces the rejection of those closest to him. Headed home to Nazareth, he is not welcomed with a hero’s parade, rather his lineage is questioned, his authority and wisdom dismissed, and unbelief runs as high as any time up to this point in ministry. He knows what rejection feels like, and the disciples soon will too.

Jesus doesn’t play favorites. He came to save sinners – young and old, rich and poor, marginalized and influential. From the woman suffering for twelve years to the twelve-year-old girl who had died. In coming to individuals, He always calls them away from fear and into faith. Our fears may keep us from bothering Jesus, but faith will lead us into real life and intimacy with Jesus.