Matthew 6:1-13

When you do good works, don't do them to look good in front of others.

PRAYER... what is the purpose of prayer?

Prayer is NOT a button to be pushed,

but a RELATIONSHIP to be pursued.

Vs 10: a battle between two kingdoms

Leviticus 6:9,12-13

Questions we need to ask as we consider THE FIRE:

1) What is this fire?

**The fire represented the presence of God.

Moses (Exodus 3 & 13)

Elijah (1 Kings 18)

Emmaus Road (Luke 24)

Jeremiah

John the Baptist

At Pentecost (Acts 2)

Revelation

2) Whose responsibility is it to keep the fire burning?

1 Peter 2:9

(to be continued...)

Matthew 5:43-48

Love for God and for your neighbor is central to Jesus' vision of how to be human.

Jesus' interpretation of Leviticus 19:18...

love your neighbor = love your enemy

agape = a love of the will, bending your will to the good of another

How do we love our enemies?

1, PRAY for them

2, GREET them

perfect = the end goal, complete

Love is the great litmus test!

Romans 5:6-11

The invitation of Jesus is to spiritual greatness in the divine conspiracy of sacrificial love.

Pastor Todd Crosthwaite

Pastor Bob Crosthwaite

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Three groups:

1) Believe but wonder

2) How could anyone believe…?

3) Believe again

We can have extraordinary confidence

in the resurrection of Jesus.

"Christ died for our sins and was buried.

He rose from the dead and was seen.”

1 Corinthians:

- proves the resurrection was not a product of decades of oral transmission

- documented while eyewitnesses were still alive

- the Bible did not launch Christianity - the resurrection did!

Acts 4:12

Believe but sometimes wonder: Your hope is not in vain.

How could anybody believe? Here’s the proof.

Believe again: there’s more to it than you’ve been told.

Our isolation is loud.

Even in our isolation, voices compete for our attention.

Isolation can be full of voices, and void of hope.

How do we keep hope and build faith in the face of isolation?

Solitude: intentionally finding quiet

If God spoke to you in the midst of your isolation,

would your soul be quiet enough to hear Him?

Hebrews 10:23-25

Solitude | Connecting | Purpose

Matthew 5

Verses 33-37

Jesus is unwavering in his call for us to be people of the truth.

Two responses:

#1, tell the truth.

#2, LIVE the truth.

Verses 38-42

The bent of the human condition is not toward justice, but toward revenge.

- the law of retaliation

- the myth of redemptive violence

The call of Jesus is to self-sacrificial, cross-shaped, enemy-love.

John 2:1-4

How is Jesus' Glory-Work revealed?

- in ordinary places

- with an ordinary request

Mark 3:21; Luke 2:51; John 7:5

- with ordinary substances

John 2:8-11

Jesus may begin with ordinary things, but He makes the ordinary extraordinary!

What is Jesus making from the water of your life?

John 2:5-7

Mark 6:1-6

Matthew 5:21-32

Vs 21-26

ANGER:

a spontaneous feeling that comes over our mind and body when our will is thwarted.

Ephesians 4:30-32

Colossians 3:8

James 1:19-20

Vs 27-30

LUST:

to look at someone for our own gratification

The problem is when we turn other people into objects.

Vs 30-32

DIVORCE

Deuteronomy 234:1-4

For the follower of Jesus, the heart posture is always repentance, always reconciliation.

Matthew 5:17-20

Jesus' take on the Bible

The coming of Jesus and the arrival of his kingdom didn't abolish the Law, but it did make it obsolete. ("It is finished.")

"You have heard it said... but I say to you..."

Jesus is looking for righteousness that goes much deeper than behavior.

- The Scripture is a story.

- The Scripture is the Word of God.

- The Scripture calls us to rereading, rethinking and dialog... in order to get back to the heart of it.

- The Scripture is to be lived out.

- The Scripture is a means to an end.

Jesus' invitation is to see the Scriptures as he does, and to apply his truth one day at a time... and over time, become a bright shining example of all that Jesus and his kingdom stand for -- transformed, set free, healthy, made whole at a soul level.

Psalm 91

You cannot claim the promises unless you meet the requirements.

Romans 8:1

John 15:4

Psalm 32:7

Proverbs 18:10

Proverbs 29:25

1 Peter 5:7

- an ongoing deliverance

Psalm 34:17

- an ongoing protection

Ephesians 6

Isaiah 26:3-4

John 15:7

Isaiah 53:11