Jesus closes His sermon by reminding the multitudes that following him requires hard choices in life-narrow way, unpopular truth, the unglamorous life, and difficult tasks. But, the end is life, good fruits, commendation by God and a life that wins. This message will bring comfort to us when we doubt doing things God’s way.
This week I'll be preaching from Matthew 7 on the importance of prayer. Jesus commanded us to ask, seek, and knock when we have needs in our life. He also promises that the Father will always give us what is helpful to us.
This weekend we are back in our series on the Sermon on the Mount. Today's message is titled "To Judge or Not to Judge." Christians struggle with calling sin out and appearing judgmental and hypocritical. This message will help us have the right balance of truth and grace. This is one message that we desperately need to hear in our day.
In the fifth message in the series on anxiety, Jesus tells us to look at our Heavenly Father’s provision for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. If He can take care of their needs, will He not take care of the needs of His children? Of course He will! Our task is to make sure that we “seek His kingdom and His righteousness.”
Many people live divided lives. They are constantly trying to please several people at a time. They spend endless time and effort seeking many goals in life. At the end of the day, they neither please anybody nor do they accomplish much. Consequently, they end up getting stressed out and anxiety ridden.
What does heavenly treasure have to do with anxiety?When we look at the parallel passage in Luke and other materials from the time of Jesus, we see that storing up treasures in heaven was the same as showing charity to the poor and the needy.
We often hear the statement – “we are living in an age of anxiety.” Although that’s true, human beings since the beginning of time have been struggling with anxiety in one form or another. For Jesus to bring up the subject of worry and anxiety is proof that even the ancients struggled with the same issues that we face. Unlike other messages and books that advise us to break free from anxiety, this series will help us to use it for the glory of God. Spread the word and invite people to come. This will be a powerful series!
Jesus warned His disciples not to practice their spirituality in order to be admired by people. It’s pride that leads us to demonstrate our charity, prayer, and fasting to people rather than God. God looks down on such religion. It fails to meet His approval. But, when we do things for His eyes only, He not only approves our actions but also blesses us before all.
The Old Testament had laid out the law – “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” but Jesus told His listeners to “turn the other check.” What does that mean? Does it mean we need to sit back and watch the innocent getting massacred? Does it mean that evil people can run amuck? Does it mean that being a Christian means being a coward? No. Jesus is dealing with how we respond when someone offends us.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is talking about vows and oaths. He chastises the people for misusing and abusing vows in the name of God. He commands them to “let your yes be yes and no, no” The purpose of this antithesis is to remind us to be forthright, truthful, and honest when we make promises.
When Jesus raised the bar on divorce, he chastised the men for refusing to give a certificate of divorce to their wives. The reason for failing to do so was not lack of knowledge or forgetfulness but bitterness. They wanted to make the other person suffer. Unfortunately, the same spirit is evident in many marriages today. In this message we will learn how to release resentment and allow God’s grace to flow through our marriages.
Unfortunately, the church has avoided this topic. We have failed to help those who are going through it and we have been condescending to those who have been through it. This Sunday, we will look at the top reasons for divorce and how we should handle them. This is a difficult message, but one that is much-needed in our world today.
In this final message we will be answering 3 key questions about this passage: Are sexual sins worse than any other sin? How far do we have to go to protect ourselves from sexual sins? Can sexual sins make us lose our salvation?
In this message we will once again tackle the tough subject of adultery but this time look at how God is willing to forgive and restore. We will be looking at the example of King David and Bathsheba. This is a great reminder that daily we need the grace of God in our lives.
In the past 3 messages we have been laying down the foundation regarding marriage. Now we are ready to deal with the subject of “what happens when marriage is threatened with the sin of adultery.” This weekend, we will meet Potiphar’s wife, an ungodly woman whose pursuit of Joseph brought hardship to both his life and her marriage.
This weekend I’ll be preaching part 3 of our miniseries from the Sermon on the Mount titled, “Keeping Intimacy in Marriage.” All I can say is that if you miss this one, you will truly regret it! So…don’t miss it! Seriously, do not miss it!
What’s amazing to me is that right after raising the bar on anger, Jesus turns towards marriage. In the Old Testament adultery was sin but Jesus declared lust to be no less than adultery! Bottom line: Marital intimacy is a sacred bond. When we share it indiscriminately outside of marriage, we sin against God.
In this message we will understand three basic things – Anger that lashes out, Anger that looks back, and Anger that lingers on. All this is coming straight out of the text in Matthew 5:21-30. The previous three messages were laying out the foundation for the series. This one is application all the way.
Last weekend we learned how to have anger “with a cause.” This weekend we will see what anger “without a cause” looks like. So many of us are guilty of being upset and mad about things that do not matter. We end up destroying relationships, embarrassing ourselves, and disgracing our Savior.
Last weekend we saw how anger is a divine emotion displayed by God numerous times in the Old Testament and several times by Jesus in the New Testament. It’s the natural outcome of the coming together of His Holiness and Love. Unfortunately, we have used anger for all the wrong reasons. Instead of using it to bring righteousness in this world, we use it to satisfy our selfish needs. This weekend we will see how to redirect anger in our personal lives. This is a very important message especially now when Christians are called to stand firmly and graciously for the truth.