Jesus points out worrying as a sign that we are not seeking after God or his right kind of life. What does Jesus say not to worry about? Is worrying really that big of a deal? And what should replace worrying in my heart and life? Be challenged to overcome the worry in your hearts and mind in order to pursue the life God is calling you to.

Do you truly know what has a hold of your hold? Do you know what you really desire? Do you say you love God and want His life but spend your time pursuing something else? Jesus tells us that we find out the true desires of our heart by finding where our treasure is. And he also said that it's our hearts that decide whether our lives are right with God. So where is your heart?

During his teaching on praying, Jesus emphasizes the need for forgiveness. In fact, we see very easily that forgiving others is an essential ingredient in our finding the kingdom of God. Hear what God has to say about our need to forgive and be forgiven, what it really means to forgive someone, and what God promises to do with our sin when we open our hearts to him. It's time to let go of your sin, the things people have done to you, and the things you hold against yourself!

In the midst of telling his listeners about how their attention seeking and desire to recieve the approval of others has corrupted even their seemingly righteous acts like prayer, Jesus tells them how they should pray. When we look closely at what Jesus teaches us, we find a formula for how we are to communicate with God in a powerful and meaningful way that invites Him to work in our lives where we need Him the most.

As Jesus calls us to a righteousness that surpasses that of the those who appear to be the most holy and righteous, he gets to the very heart of why the Pharisees are so concerned about their righteousness. They are concerned about the praise and approval of other people. How do we have the same approval seeking problem and why?

Jesus is teaching that if we want to see the kingdom fo heaven, we have to be even more righteous than the people we think are the most righteous. He demonstrates in these verses that wanting to be righteous like other people is the wrong goal for our lives. We should want to be righteous and holy like God! In fact, he teaches that our lives should look differnt from the lives of the people around us. So his question for you is how is your life different? How is your love different from the way the world loves?

Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Give the shirt off your back. These are all familar statements in our culture, but we see that they come from Jesus in a Sermon on the Mount to iullustrate a point that is much greater than how we often use these statements. As an example of how the people who follow Him should be more righteous than the most righteous and holy people of His day, Jesus speaks out against revenge and retaliation and tells us not to resist the evil people in our lives. Listen to Jesus' words to here how we can possibly live out these phrases in the way God intends us to.

Jesus' lessons on what it means to have a righteousness that is greater than the "holy" and "righteous" people of the world leads us to think of our marriages and who we should be in them. Listen to hear Jesus' words on divorce, what it means for us to be righteous in our marriages, and the hope and healing God calls us all to in the midst of broken and painful relationships.

Jesus made the point that unless we were more righteous than the most righteous people of his day, that we would never see the kingdom of heaven. As he explains what it looks like to be more righteous than the people the world would consider righteous, we see that God calls us to a standard much greater than just rules and laws. The second example of that surpassing righteousness leads Jesus to speak to the lust, but what he says speaks to anything in our lives that leads us down the path of sin.

Jesus made the point that unless we were more righteous than the most righteous people of his day, that we would never see the kingdom of heaven. As he explains what it looks like to be more righteous than the people the world would consider righteous, we see that God calls us to a standard much greater than just rules and laws. We see Jesus give the first example of that surpassing righteousness tht God calls us to in exposing the anger that can control our hearts and lives.