All resources in the category "The Sermon on the Mount"

Imagine wandering off a hiking path to explore other parts of the woods. Unaware of how much time has passed, you suddenly realize nightfall is nearing. You’re stumbling around at dusk frantically looking for the trail markers, but fail to find them. You know that there are cliffs, ledges, and holes around that could easily claim your life with one wrong step. As the darkness closes in, you begin to wonder if you should have just gone elsewhere for a walk where there is an abundance of pavement and streetlights. As night sets in, so does fear. If only you would have listened to...

Did you know that “striving” is a biblical concept?

In the church today there’s much talk about “striving” and how not to do it. We wrongly interpret striving as effort to earn God’s love, acceptance, forgiveness, and affection. Rather than fasting and praying out of love and longing to receive more of His presence, we fast and pray to earn His acceptance. We must remember that His love and forgiveness has been freely given to anyone who would accept it because of Jesus’ work on the cross. We were once dead, and it was only because of His kindness that we’ve been made...

In this session from Mike Bickle's First Commandment course given in the fall of 2008, Mike focuses on perhaps one of the most neglected and overlooked subjects in the body of Christ today. The breakthrough of mature love on our heart, deeply rooted in the spirit of obedience, is the most important thing in our lives as believers. Whether we attain to the breakthrough in this area is not the most important thing - it's whether we press for it or not. The reason God extends our days is to give us the opportunity to give Him the testimony that we pressed to not hold anything back from Him...

In the last post in this series, I hit some of the essential points on why it’s important to have a life vision and focus.

Often times when we think of our “life calling”, we focus on our career or on our external circumstances, whether that be in the marketplace or in ministry. We are intently focused on thriving as a successful businessperson, a good mother or father, a good musician, or a successful pastor. Whether it be by others or ourselves, we are automatically...