Let's Keep It Simple
Of all the sermons that have been preached, none is more famous, more profound, or more convicting than the one Jesus preached on the mountain. It is timeless, ever-relevant, and never dull.
Of all the sermons that have been preached, none is more famous, more profound, or more convicting than the one Jesus preached on the mountain. It is timeless, ever-relevant, and never dull.
We can read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in 15 minutes or less. No teacher or preacher has ever packed more truth into such a brief period of time. Our hope in this study is to glean a few fresh, practical insights that will enable us to stay on course in living lives that are distinctively different.
We live in a world full of jargon. Chuck studied the Scriptures and found Psalm 23 has 73 per cent single-syllable words. The Lord’s Prayer has 76 per cent single-syllable words. First Corinthians 13 is 80 per cent single-syllable words. What does that teach us about communication?
As we share with God every worry that weighs us down, our circumstances may not change but we will. We begin to let Him carry the heavy loads that we can’t bear. We start to trust Him to handle the problems that we can’t control.
And it was this intensity that caused prayer to degenerate from a flowing spontaneity to a rigid, packaged plan, dispensed routinely by the religious leaders. Prayer changed from privilege to an obligation.
Do you focus on nonessentials, rather than essentials? If you’re addicted to worry, the good news is that life-changing peace in every circumstance is possible.
In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus took on the hypocrites with both guns blazing! Drawing on common examples of showy righteousness, He instructed us on the importance of being people of quiet sincerity, seeking to glorify God rather than impress others.
As we go deeper into His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ words turn our attention from all the circus-like pizzazz of performance to the simplicity of prayer and fasting, two disciplines all-too-rarely done His way for His glory. Let’s seek out His counsel so we can carry out His instructions.
You can worry about everything. But the problem with worry is that it keeps you from enjoying what you have. You can never fully enjoy all the good things in your life when you’re preoccupied with gloom and doom.
Realizing the beast of greed within all of us, Jesus chose not to ignore it but to expose it and to warn against its ravenous appetite. Every genuine disciple of Jesus Christ must come to terms with the question: Which master will I serve?