What’s normal? "My mother joined the Peace Corps when she was 70, my sister Gloria is a motorcycle racer, my other sister Ruth is a Holy Roller preacher, and my brother thinks he's going to be President of the United States. I'm really the only normal one in the family." - The late Billy Carter of Plains, GA

That’s what the normal people think

Did Jesus come to deliver us some teachings? Or did Jesus come to reveal to us the character of God? The point of Christianity is not a point. The point is a person. Jesus

34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul? Mark 8:34-37 (NLT)

Action The purpose of instruction, the goal of study, is always action.

Action “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.”

The disciple follows The disciple becomes

"You are not your own; you are bought with a price," 1 Cor 6:19b-20

This is what Christianity is all about. The Christian life is following Jesus, doing what he says -- like, "Love your enemy,". "Pray for those who hurt you,". "Forgive those who offend you,". Those are not merely wise and helpful words; they represent a way of life our Lord is setting out before us, to which we are expected to conform in the moment when we least feel like it.

Should being a follower of Jesus be costly? “take up your cross”

The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous! Jim Elliot

What we forget The more status Jesus has in your life The more dissatisfied you’ll be with status quo The more Jesus becomes the Prince of Peace The more likely you’ll disturb the peace The more you give Jesus an account of your life The less accountants will be in charge of your life

A Disciple (apprentice) of Jesus Is someone who is crazy in love with Jesus because Jesus is crazy in love with them

35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul? Mark 8:35-37 (NLT)

THIS Is Normal

To our most bitter opponents we say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because non- cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win our freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory. [Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), p. 56]

THIS Is Normal

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Temporary Eternal

Temporary Eternal