Jesus assumes His followers will make a regular practice of the spiritual discipline of fasting, but like charity and prayer we will make every effort to be seen not by others but by God alone in our fasting. We explore this in Matthew 6:16-18.

In the famous Lord’s Prayer the Lord Jesus gives us a model prayer to be followed regularly, setting our hearts on His kingdom and our daily dependence on our Heavenly Father. We explore this in Matthew 6:5-15.

To begin His vital teaching on prayer Jesus says we must resist all attempts to craft our prayers for the praise of other people, and instead should cultivate a private practice of prayer when no one else but God is around. We explore this in Matthew 6:5-15.

The sermon enters into a new section with Jesus commanding us to not be religious hypocrites, beginning with charity. Our giving to those in need is to be in secret as much as possible, with the goal of pleasing God alone. We explore this in Matthew 6:1-4.

Perhaps no more radical teaching of Jesus exists than that on how we should treat our enemies. That is, we are to never personally retaliate, but instead are to seek a positive response of love towards those who hate us. We explore this from Matthew 5:38-48.

Jesus’ ethical teaching on the promises we make in marriage and in our daily lives points us to being people of impeccable integrity in a world of broken promises. We explore this in Matthew 5:31-37.

Jesus teaches His disciples that the tree of adultery begins at the roots of lust, and the hyperbolic language He utilizes demonstrates our need for vigilant Kingdom-focused purity. We explore this from Matthew 5:27-30.

To open His instruction on Kingdom Ethics, Jesus points us to how serious unjust anger in our hearts is, how it leaves us open to divine judgement, & how we must be diligent to settle all anger-related disputes quickly. We explore this in Matthew 5:21-26.

Jesus says our Kingdom Witness is to be both salt and light to this world, preserving that which would otherwise decay and giving light into places of darkness, with the effect of leading people to praise God. We explore this in Matthew 5:13-20.

In the Beatitudes Jesus pronounces unexpected blessings that are meant to reorient our lives as His disciples around a different way of living; around the way of the Kingdom. We explore this in Matthew 5:1-12.