We all like to hold on to things in this life. We seek treasures and pleasures, health and wealth, and everything else that pines for our attention. But Jesus warns us that giving ourselves away to Him is the only way to live.

In Mark chapter 8, Jesus tells his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”

Jesus is asking us today to give our lives away to Him. If we try to hold on to our lives and live for ourselves, we will actually lose everything.

Jesus said these words as he was on his way to the cross, about to give his life away for us. Jesus was the perfect example for us of what it looks like to give our lives up for God, because Jesus obeyed His heavenly Father by doing the very same thing.

At the end of the day, every wordly pleasure we can wrap ourselves in will leave us empty and naked in this life, not contributing to anything we can take into eternity.

Check out this thought-provoking message from Pastor Rich as he wraps up our series, "Upside Down Kingdom."

No one thrives by burying their sin. They thrive by letting God bring it to light and set them free.

Our sin and our shame ruin our lives and subsequently ruin the lives of those around us. In the Psalms, King David tells us that when he hid sin in his heart, it ate away at his soul and whithered his bones. This is exactly what sin does to all of us. It eats away at us. It consumes us and buries us in shame to the point where we live a complete lie when we're out in public, trying to hide the darkness destroying us inside.

God's answer? Stop hiding it. Stop burying it. The kingdoms of this world believe you should hide your sin and shame, or be ridiculed and dismissed completely. But God wants to bring those sins to the surface, forgive them, and set you free from guilt and shame. God's kingdom brings sin to light and heals us from its effects.

Check out this powerful message from Pastor Kason we as continue our series "Upside Down Kingdom."

God is smarter than we are.

Everyone seeks after the wisdom of celebrities, political leaders, influencers, authors, and pop stars. The assumption is, that if they have so much influence, power, and money, they must be smart, right?

But the Bible tells us that God's wisdom outshines human wisdom every time. In 1 Corinthians, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for us defies every assumption we have about wisdom, but, "God uses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." God used death to bring us life, and he used suffering to bring us healing. Everything seems upside down, but that's how God works. He understands things that this world finds foolish. But it's this world that's upside down.

Check out this inspiring message as Pastor Bethany explains the key differences between God's wisdom and human wisdom as we continue our series, "Upside Down Kingdom."

What does it mean when Jesus says, "the first shall be last and the last shall be first?"

Jesus often made statements that seemed contradictory to how the world around us works. But Jesus understood something no one else did: The Kingdom of God operates in a manner completely different from this physical world. When Jesus' disciples get into an argument about which one of them is his greatest disciple, they try to undermine each other by asking Jesus to allow them to sit at his right hand in heaven someday. But Jesus claims that the greatest disciple is the one who serves in the most humble position. The person who is considered "least" in the world's eyes is the greatest in God's kingdom. Those who follow Jesus do not walk in the ways of this world anymore. They live by a set of principles established by heaven for eternity.

Check out this life-changing message on the realities of God's kingdom as Pastor Rich kicks off our new sermon series "Upside Down Kingdom."