Message Notes

Stranger Courage

9/27/2026

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Following Jesus means living differently. In Stranger Faith, we’re discovering what it means to follow Jesus in a countercultural world—what it means to live in Jesus’ upside-down Kingdom.

The kind of faith that says, “Jesus, I trust you enough to take the next step, even when I don’t know where it’s going. “

John 3:26: “So John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.’”

John chooses Jesus. Then gives us seven words that completely redefine courage. John: 3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” 

We keep asking God what’s next while holding onto something He has already told us cannot come with us. We want the next season with the same habits. We want deeper faith with the same low level of surrender. “We want Jesus to increase without anything in us decreasing.”

Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Following means Jesus moves, and I move with Him. One step, then another, then another.

Sometimes “the hardest part of taking your next step isn’t figuring out where Jesus is leading you. It’s having the courage to leave behind what He has already called you out of.”

Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”