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Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7:13-14 “The Decision”

The Sermon on the Mount is now coming to its conclusion and Jesus, after teaching the character of God, the culture of God’s kingdom and the requirements of God’s children, now turns all of His teaching over to us; it is time for us to respond. The key verse throughout the entire sermon has been...

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Sermon on the Mount: Before and After the Golden Rule

In Matthew 7:12 Jesus speaks what is often referred to as “The Golden Rule”, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” The most commonly quoted version of this statement is from Luke’s gospel “Do unto others as you would have them...

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Mark 8:27-38 “Following”

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to worship with High Street Worship Center in Burlington. Below is the introduction and a link to the sermon from that service: A few weeks ago I was at a conference where the speaker began his message by briefly sharing his testimony of surrendering to Jesus. While he...

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Being Seated In Order To Stand Before Our Enemy

This week our prayer pastor, Geannine Lebude spoke from Ephesians 6: Today I want to look at how we are called to stand, through trial, accusation, disease, and even death. But in order to stand we must first understand where we are positioned in Christ and how to allow ourselves to be transformed by the...

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Sermon on the Mount: “What are we praying for?”

Over the last two weeks we have asked and attempted to answer two questions about prayer from this passage of the Sermon on the Mount. We asked “Why do we pray?” and found that we pray because it is a command, Jesus told us to pray; we pray because it is an invitation, the Father...

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Sermon on the Mount: “Who are we praying to?”

Matthew 7:7-11 Last week we asked the question, “Why do you pray?” we talked about prayer being a command, an invitation and a promise. We pray because Jesus told us to, because our Father wants us to and because the promise is that when we pray God hears us. The greatest promise of prayer is...

September 8, 2014September 8, 2014by
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Sermon on the Mount: Why Do We Pray?

Matthew 7:7-11 For the next few weeks we are going to talk about these five verses. Jesus turns our attention once again to prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, although I think it can be argued that He never turned our attention away from prayer. Since telling us how not to pray in chapter...

September 1, 2014September 1, 2014by
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Sermon on the Mount: Dogs and Pigs?

Matthew 7:6 For the last two weeks we have been learning about judgment and accountability. We have defined the judgment that Jesus forbids as “uncalled for criticism” and we have seen that the accountability that Jesus desires, like all surpassing righteousness, is about our hearts before it becomes about our behavior. We have learned that...

August 26, 2014August 26, 2014by
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Sermon on the Mount: First the Plank THEN the Speck

Matthew 7:1-5 Last week we started this portion of the Sermon on the Mount by talking about judgment, what it is and how it affects us. R.T. Kendall defines the judgment that Jesus warns us against in this Scripture as “uncalled for criticism”; it is when we apply our convictions to someone else’s life, when...

August 21, 2014August 21, 2014by
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Sermon on the Mount: Judgment and Accountability

Matthew 7:1-5 The Sermon on the Mount is God’s description of His character, His kingdom and His requirements for our hearts. “Surpassing righteousness” is not about curbing our behavior it is about opening our hearts to the conviction and direction of the Holy Spirit who always glorifies Jesus and leads us in the Way to...

August 12, 2014August 12, 2014by