Big idea: Who we are determines what we do. As followers of Jesus we have a new identity and if the big idea holds true, there should be new activity in our lives that builds our faith, leads us in what the Bible teaches, and we will constantly find ourselves in spaces where we are a light. 

How is your listening? Where are you at with having your heart tuned in to hear what God would have to say through His word? We all want to be good soil that produces a hefty amount of maturity, but it takes effort to move forward in our spiritual journey. There is no such thing as neutral when it comes to your spiritual life. You’re either backpedaling away from God or moving towards Him.

This section shows us a woman who looks to Jesus and puts her faith in Him and hears that she is forgiven. This is what we want for everyone who attends Vertical! Forgiveness and restoration with our Heavenly Father can be found in the person and work of Jesus. Tim Keller puts it so well: We are more wicked than we dared believe. We are more loved than we dared hope.

There is good news this morning that comes in a hard story of reality.  God is well aware of all that you have, are, and will go through and NONE of it has or will surprise Him, and He’s not abandoned you.  He’s inviting you to embrace His Son…the author, sustainer, and perfector of our faith.  Let’s lean in and fully embrace Him because He’s all we have and He’s all we need.  Only God can help us understand that.

Jesus is very serious about living a life marked by faith. Where faith in God is found there is life, power, vitality. Where faith is absent people do what is right in their own eyes and there is often a lot of pain, sorrow, and destruction. Knowing this, it would be crazy for us to head for the exit without doing an inventory of our heart to see where God is working and inviting us to join Him in our journey of being a disciple that follows Him.

We are saved by, sustained in our faith, and will be fully rescued in the person and work of Jesus…we can never forget that.  There are a ton of practical application points to this message that help us move in a discerning way navigating the craziness of our world and all the minefields that exist by keeping our affection and attention on Jesus and making much of Him.

Jesus lays it out there pretty clearly! We are blessed if we’re poor in spirit, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mourn, and are persecuted. But, woe to us if we’re the opposite of these.  So, where are we?  Hard to really see what’s going on inside with all the noise of life. We need to find some downtime and assess our heart and we will find that it’s going to be dark, selfish, wicked…and…it’s OK to not be OK, but it’s not OK to stay there. We’ve learned what it means to live a blessed life.

So far, Jesus’ ministry has been operating in a “Come and See” way. These verses switch gears as He calls people to come and follow Him which means they are getting ready to engage in a “Go and Die” life. It’s no longer just listen to the sermons, receive ministry, stand at a distance b/c these men are about to get a total life overhaul of their lives and the world will never be the same as a result. We will look at some of the early disciples lives and consider how to dive into the deep end of what it looks like for us as a disciple of Jesus where we move from “Come and See” to “Go and Die” so that others might “Come and See” and learn to “Go and Die”…it’s the church or it’s lights out!