Restart: Jeff Mickey

Orchard Hill Church, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Jesus’ main message was that the Kingdom of his Father was now available to ALL people, not just religious folks. This was considered the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus. And both Jesus’ teachings and his life provided clear guidance about how everyday, ordinary people could learn to live in that kingdom both now and in eternity. Jesus proclaimed that his way of living was, and still is, the way of deep and lasting joy and peace. Our problem arises when we look at Jesus’ narrative about the good life, compare it to our culture’s narrative about the good life, and make the choice to reject Jesus’ ways for the dominant, cultural ways that everyone else seems to live by. We believe - mistakenly - that our culture’s story is the path to true and abundant life and happiness, even when we are confronted every day with evidence that proves otherwise. What might it look like to start to live as Jesus calls us to live? What kinds of heart change will need to happen inside of us? What kind of trust might we have to place in Jesus in order to live his way? We hope you will join us as we explore four Kingdom ways of life that Jesus presented in his famous Sermon on the Mount. Each of these stands in stark contrast to what we see around us, and within us. Nonetheless, living Jesus’ way actually leads to deep and lasting joy and peace, even when it appears to be the harder road. God wants to give us new hearts. God is the master of heart change. If we give God access to our hearts, we can learn to live Jesus’ way.