At Living Hope we have been blessed with so many gifted individuals who have joined out church family throughout the years!  Folks who join us for a season and impact the deep and beautiful story that God is telling at Living Hope Church.  The REAL Becca Dazet is one of those people!  Over the next few months Becca will be sharing her deep insights and personal thoughts with us through this blog.  As an intern this summer we will have the amazing opportunity to not only see her heart but to also be a part of the awesome stuff God will be doing in her life!

So with that I turn over the helm and introduce to you another awesome writer to join the ranks of Living Hope bloggers!

THE REAL BECCA DAZET!

Wow, what an amazing experience it has been at Living Hope already! I am thankful for the friendly “hellos” and warm smiles – even though I have only been around a week and a half. I appreciate the welcome and look forward to meeting even more people in the congregation.A little about myself before I start talking your ear off…

I am 19 years old, a pastor’s daughter, and have mostly grown up in Ohio. I attend Mount Vernon Nazarene University and am majoring in Youth Ministry – I’ll be a junior this fall. Some of my favorite things are: coffee, the color blue, elephants, Disney, and painting. I love Jesus, my family and friends, and writing. Oh and I like to talk.

So this past week we started a new sermon series called “The Greatest Sermon Ever.” This first week started out with a closer look at the Beatitudes that are probably familiar to some. The word Beatitude itself means: blessing, happiness, great news, and fulfillment. But hey doesn’t that sound a little different than the statements found in Matthew that Jesus proclaimed?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”

“Blessed are those who mourn”

At first – that doesn’t really sound happy. But as you keep reading – there is this sense of promise from our savior. Our struggles here on earth are temporary – there is something bigger.

The Big Idea: “Jesus invites everyone to follow Him and experience his Kingdom NOW.”

And how important this is. We have this personal invitation from Jesus to be his follower and to be apart of something so much bigger than ourselves! The service ended with a response time.

I have to leave ________________ to go to ________________.

It was interesting because as I sat and thought about it, there were so many things I could have filled into those blanks – and I think that was the point. There are these parts in my life, our lives, where we are citizens of the Kingdom of the World and not God’s kingdom. We get caught up in the things that the world tells us we need to be happy: money, success, image, etc. God wants so much more for us than those worldly things – he wants us to be citizens of his Kingdom.

What does that look like for you?

Have you surrendered this week?

Have you left ______________ to go to ______________?

This coming Sunday we are going to explore the next part of the Sermon on the Mount. The topic we are discussing is Salt and Light. As the weekend approaches and things get busy, keep the image of Salt and Light in your mind – and come back Sunday ready to engage in the next part of The Greatest Sermon Ever.

Becca