Often referred to as the Lord’s Prayer, in this section of the Sermon on the Mount we find a model prayer for each of us. Jesus said to address God as “our Father” when we pray, and not simply as “my Father” or “your Father.”
Inside Out
Our culture teaches us to become experts in the art of perception management. We obsess over optics. How we look and what people think of us often matters too much. So, how do we learn to recognize and root out the need for perception management…
The #1 surefire way to ruin a relationship? Play fair. Give them what they deserve. As Ann Voskamp writes, “The only thing that can overcome evil is good. Returning evil for evil just overcomes us.” Don’t play fair. Play better than fair and love…
Directly or indirectly we have all been affected by divorce. Maybe you watched your parent’s marriage fall apart as a child or maybe you know firsthand the devastation and pain that comes from broken vows and promises…
We all have preconceived ideas of who people are, whether good or bad, spiritual or not. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus tells us we will recognize followers of Jesus by the good fruit they produce. Not perfect fruit, just good fruit…
How do you respond when someone sins against you? Do you sin back? Jesus doesn’t want us to see conflict as winning and losing. It’s not just a choice between fight or flight. He gives us a third option: love. If we respond with love, it reverses…
In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus addresses honesty by explaining that God’s people should be defined by their simple, honest speech. Every word should be just as truthful as if he or she sore an oath. Is there an area of your life that is currently not…
In Matthew 5:13, Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.” As the salt of the earth, everywhere you go, you’re going to bring the taste of heaven down to earth. Where people taste bitterness, we bring forgiveness. Where people taste sourness…
Matthew 5:21 “You’ve heard it said, ‘you shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” You may have heard the saying…
A few potential titles for this weekend’s sermon could be: “Did I hear God Say, Oops?”, “Sex, Sex, and More Sex”, or maybe “Living Morally In an Immoral World”. Instead, we ended up with “Personal Damage Control”. In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus teaches…