All blog posts in the category "Sermon on the Mount"

Topics relating to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7.

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Greatness is serving

Posted on August 4, 2010

In this age, so many are looking to make a name for themselves. From politicians and athletes to musicians and businesspeople, the human heart is always focused on self-promotion and gain. Our pride causes us to seek greatness through our own means. And no matter how much we achieve in this age, we always leave unsatisfied and longing for more. But what does exaltation, greatness, and satisfaction in God’s eyes look like?

Contrary to our fallen understanding of it, God’s idea of greatness is living from the heart in servanthood, humility, and meekness. In...

Blog entry

The joy of humility

Posted on March 30, 2010

I’ve blogged several times in the past on humility, but I wanted to write about it again today because I am convinced that it is one of the primary things the Lord is highlighting to me personally and to the body of Christ in this season.

So often we just look at humility as going as low as possible, gritting our teeth and pasting a smile on our face as we endure a difficult situation, person, or circumstance. Yes, embracing humility is difficult. There are moments where our pride begins to rise up and say “No! I deserve better! I have better skill! I can say it better! I can...

Blog entry

Wholeheartedness - for today, not just 20 years down the road

Posted on March 11, 2010

As Christians we all know about what Jesus called the "first commandment", found in Matthew 22:37-38:

“Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment.”
(...

Blog entry

Holiness - the call to pleasure

Posted on October 27, 2009

The picture of someone living a holy life has been skewed and distorted by the devil so much that even those in the church today look at a holy lifestyle as one of boredom, drudgery, and continual frustration in the denial of our flesh. Some “holiness preachers” in their zeal for righteousness have also presented to us an angry God that sits in heaven full of bitterness and wishing that His people could finally “get it right”. Because of this perspective, we believe lies and end up running from God when we encounter our frailty instead of running to Him in the midst of it.

But...

Blog entry

Satisfying our "colossal inner blah"

Posted on March 12, 2009

I came across this amazing quote from Thomas Dubay's book "Happy Are You Poor" and wanted to share it with you all.

“Plain honesty requires that we assert that the New Testament teaches an unblushing and uncompromising asceticism [simplicity], a hard road and narrow gate, a carrying of the cross every day, a renouncing of all that one possesses, a being rid of superfluities, and a dying with the Lord (Matthew 7:13-14...

Blog entry

The Humility of God

Posted on March 5, 2009

It’s so easy to read the scriptures become overly familiar with them – so much so that we end up floating on the surface of the waters and never plunging into the depths of them. That’s been my recent experience with John 4 when Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well. Jesus asks the woman for a drink from the well, and the woman responds with shock because Jews never have dealings with Samaritans in the way they were interacting at that...

Blog entry

Walking Worthy

Posted on February 2, 2009

We just started our monthly 3-day fast together as a community, and more and more I am discovering God’s wisdom in the “seeming weakness” of prayer. Telling God what He told us to tell Him, skipping a few meals, and spending time reading and praying through the Bible seems like a foolish waste of time to the natural mind. Yet I’m finding that it is truly the pathway to a vibrant heart full of life, peace, and joy.

Today I was reading through Luke’s gospel when I flipped ahead a few pages to...

Blog entry

The Narrow Gate

Posted on January 29, 2009

A friend the other day asked me an interesting question – “Do you think you have the right eschatology to be saved?” It’s a genuine and very real question to ask because of Jesus’ own words about deception coming at the end of the age. But I responded:

“My eschatology is definitely wrong in areas, but the way to be saved is not by having the perfect understanding of all of the end-time events.”

In pondering and searching out my answer a bit more, I came across...

Blog entry

The smartest Man is also the meekest Man

Posted on January 15, 2009

So often the intellectual smart guy walks around, knowingly or unknowingly, with an orb of unapproachability surrounding them. You know the type. Anyone who would challenge their thinking or even ask a simple question is surely going to walk away feeling intimidated, their brain having been run through a wringer. But what was it about Jesus – the smartest Man that has ever lived – that made Him so approachable?

Meekness.

The height of God’s beauty is found in His meekness. There is nothing more attractive than meekness. Jesus perfectly displayed the riches of...

Blog entry

Jesus' definition of love = obedience

Posted on November 2, 2008

Okay, so I got a divine idea this afternoon while talking to my roommates. We know that Jesus defined "love" for Him as something more than a sentiment, an emotion, or a feeling - He defined it as one firm, clear word that is frightening to our selfish, prideful, fallen human nature. In John 14:15, John...

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