Jesus compared The Kingdom of God like a great banquet. All have been invited, but not all will accept the invitation to come to the table. Jesus used humor and surprise to invite His hearers to question their excuses and examine their hearts.

The parable of the workers and their wages invites us to question our sense of entitlement, confront our envious hearts, and accept the grace of God with gratitude.

Jesus was a master storyteller. He used these stories, Parables, to communicate spiritual truths. They were relatable, sometimes funny, but usually subverted the expectation of the listener. Today, we are focusing on the Parable of the Persistent Neighbor.

There is so much pressure in our culture to spend, consume, and accumulate; but the most beautiful financial stories include generosity. Giving is one of the most powerful acts of resistance we can employ to push against a culture of empty materialism.

What advice would your future self give? We think you might tell you: Be Present. We think your future self has a better perspective on the distractions and diversions we allow to pull our focus away from the people in front of us.

We think your future self knows something about the toxic quality of resentment, bitterness, and anger. Jesus understood this too, and invited His followers to release vengeance and bitterness through forgiveness.

What if you could have a few moments with yourself from the future? What advice might your future self give you to help you protect your future and enable you to thrive?

We have been celebrating extraordinary commitment in this series, and as we conclude the series we are going to celebrate God's extraordinary commitment to us.

We were made for community, we crave it, and yet the deep relationships we desire seem elusive. What would it look like to go all-in on a commitment to friendship? We think it could change your life.

When the first followers of Jesus decided to start their journey as disciples, the life change they experienced was dramatic and total. They used a powerful symbol called baptism to represent this complete transformation.