Hope Begins With Jesus

In the first century, the same struggle existed that exists today. Is Jesus the greatest con man that has ever lived or is He God in the flesh? How you answer that affects everything else because the religious leaders believed Jesus was a liar and they wanted Him dead. Jesus’ followers believed He was God in the flesh and they wanted him alive? What about you? How do you want Jesus? Do you want hi...

When you experience how Jesus transforms your life through a personal relationship with Him, you discover that when you Walk the Way Jesus walked, you can Celebrate All of Life. Life is Hard, but Jesus gives us reason to Celebrate.

In life we can find ourselves asking which direction to take, but Jesus invites us to walk the way He walked and He offers a path of CLARITY. By following His way, we gain clear purpose and direction rather than wandering aimlessly.

Throughout history, why have men and women been willing to die for their faith in Jesus? Why were they willing to go that far? Why would they walk the exact way Jesus walked, which included giving up their lives? When you walk the way Jesus walked, you can walk through adversity because you Walk with an Eternal Perspective.

Adversity is no respecter of persons. It doesn't matter who you are, you will face adversity, but when you walk the way Jesus walked, He is giving you the tools for Dealing with Adversity.

The Bible speaks about both joy and suffering. How do we handle joy and suffering when we see them as opposites, but they often come through the same circumstances? We can walk through both when you Walk the Way Jesus walked because you realize that The Walk is Worth It.

As you journey through each day, the steps you take will build tomorrow, but to build a tomorrow that is life giving, happens when you Walk the Way Jesus walked and you Remember the Steps Jesus took.

Followers of Jesus must take action to counter the culture and not be a bystander by walking the way that Jesus walked and speak the good news of Jesus because it is a matter of life and death. It is time to Walk and Talk.

The Bible uses this natural movement of walking to help us understand a relationship with Jesus. To live each day you are either walking with Jesus or away from him. To recognize if you are walking His way, you have to ask, Where are you walking?

How do we pray when we continue to see and experience injustice, but we are also in need of God’s mercy? To help us break free from the discouragement and weight of injustice continuing in our world, we must pray, but we need Honest Prayer. Honest prayer that recognizes the desire within us for justice and our need for mercy.

Culture influences our lives and strives to direct us to help ourselves and build our lives upon our own power (e.g. Karma), but this creates a weight upon our lives from trying to be in control of everything and the weight of trying to be everything. Prayer reminds us that Jesus is in control and it is not about what I have to do, but what Jesus has already done. Prayer brings Possibility. The Po...

Doubt and skepticism invade our belief in prayer and the result is we aren’t seeing the freedom and the power of prayer being unleashed in our lives because we’re asking Does Prayer Work?

We regularly face problems we have to solve, but if we continue to rely on our own power, we will continue to remain in bondage to our circumstances and miss the power Jesus has given us - the power of prayer. It is time to throw off the shackles of self help and recognize the power of Jesus to begin Breaking Free to experience this power as Prayer is Unleashed.

Jesus, as He walked and talked, countered the culture by deconstructing their view and rebuilding a way of life that was not built around an institution, but a person. That person is Jesus Himself. As we continue in the book of Acts, we will see that Jesus is not invisible. Jesus brings life-transforming power that is evident in those who are Practicing the Way, the way of Jesus.

Comparison separates us and pits us against each other, but when the focus remains on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, we realize that even Off the Map, we are all the same. Same Need, Same Gospel.

True freedom isn't merely the absence of constraints. It's the liberty to live according to God's design and to pursue His purpose even when we’re Off the Map because, as we’ll see today, Freedom leads to Flourishing.