We will hear from Jesus in [esvignore]Matthew 7:13-14[/esvignore] as we learn the nature of “the way.” Entering through the narrow gate and walking the path of life in the Kingdom is demanding but rewarding. Choices The Entry Point The Way Companions Destination. Public reading: [esvignore]Psalm 1[/esvignore]; Benediction: [esvignore]Romans 15:13[/esvignore] Matthew 7:13-14 Psalm 1 Romans 15:13

Here in [esvignore]Matthew 7:7-12[/esvignore] we learn some principles of prayer that should encourage us to be more frequent in praying, and set our expectations properly. The Connection The Promise: Ask, Pray, Get Objections A. Some say prayer is inappropriate, groveling and unseemly.  B. Some say prayer is simply unnecessary.  C. Some say prayer does not work, it is unproductive.  The Result of…

You hear a lot of people say “Don’t judge me!” What they often mean is “leave me alone in my sin, you are making me feel bad, affirm me!” But what Christians must understand is what Jesus means when He commands us to “Judge not, lest you be judged.” It is clearly not a ban on discerning right from wrong, as the very next…

We continue with our Gospel of Matthew study with a section on Anxiety and Providence from [esvignore]Matthew 6:25-34[/esvignore]. This is a challenging and comforting passage. Challenging to those of us who are prone to worry, and comforting for those who are convicted of the wrongness of worry. The general thrust of the passage leads us naturally to speak of God’s providence, and that’s the angle we will take.…

Our message is entitled, Gospel of Matthew – Treasures in Heaven, and we will cover [esvignore]Matthew 6:19-34[/esvignore], though we will focus on the first half of the passage this week, and next week we’ll tackle the sin of anxiety. Our message will look at materialism, and the either/or statements Jesus makes about what our relationship to the world says about the condition of our…

Our lesson is found in [esvignore]Matthew 6:9b-15[/esvignore], but the real focal point is [esvignore]vv.14-15[/esvignore]. Here Jesus teaches us a truth that can seem very confusing, very difficult, confusing and even seem like a case for conditional salvation. How do we understand the passage and also apply the teaching to our lives? I hope we will discover so in our message.Only three sections…

Our sermon this week will be entitled The Model Prayer: Our Father. We go back to [esvignore]Matthew 6:5-13[/esvignore] to take time to step through what is commonly, but inaccurately called, “The Lord’s Prayer.” We’ll see why there are better names for this passage. We will also see why we need to be taught how to pray, touching on man’s traditions and his…

This week’s message is entitled The Rotten Sin of Hypocrisy and is drawn from [esvignore]Matthew 6:1-18[/esvignore]. This just happens to be one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible, thanks to the last section we will arrive at in due time, but it also contains the Lord’s Prayer. We will not address the Lord’s Prayer tomorrow, as it deserves its own sermon (and could…

Our message is entitled Loving Our Enemies and is the final of six examples of how our righteousness ought to exceed that of the Pharisees. It is drawn from [esvignore]Matthew 5:43-48[/esvignore], but as usual, we will touch on a number of other passages along the way. This final command is among the most difficult of Christ’s directives to His people, let us…

Our message continues our study of the Sermon on the Mount as we walk through the six different examples that Jesus uses to teach the proper understanding of the law of God, rather than the perverted law the Pharisees had made it out to be. In the week’s lesson, Jesus teaches about retaliation, and we cannot understand this without gaining understanding about…