Love Worth Finding | Audio Program

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 7:7-11

Adrian Rogers says, “There is no substitute for prayer.” The key to the vault of all of God’s treasure is prayer. The power of prevailing prayer is the greatest unused and untapped resource on Earth.

In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

First, there is a promise to claim.

Our Heavenly Father knows our needs before we can even ask. We do not pray to impress God, or inform Him of anything He does not already know. We pray to invite God to work in our hearts and in our lives. God can do anything He wants without us, but we can’t do anything without Him. He wants our participation, and enjoys it when we delight in working and abiding in Him as well. (See John 15:4-5.)

Prayer also develops us and causes growth.

When we pray and it doesn’t seem to come, we turn to Scripture and seek the face of God like never before. God doesn’t want us to live independently of Him. Dependence on God leads to intimacy and a stronger bond than ever before.

This passage shows us the process to follow in prayer: Ask, seek, knock.

Our responsibility is the asking; God’s responsibility is the giving. Any desire that concerns us can be brought to God in prayer. When praying, we are on a quest to discover what the Lord wants for us. We must seek the purposes of God and discern whether we are asking for the right things.

We must be determined: prayer is knocking on closed doors. God’s answers are direct, different, or denied; but they could also be delayed for our own growth and good. If that is the case, we have to keep knocking. We cannot stop until we have the answer, and God has given us that assurance.

So, we can enjoy His provision. We are assured that God will answer our prayers, because God is good, He is wise, and He is able.

Apply it to your life

Are you waiting for God to answer a prayer today? Remember: Ask, seek, and knock. Voice your desire to God, seek His Word to be sure it is according to His will, and keep knocking.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 7:1-6

It is in our nature to judge others and see how we measure up. We all have our tape measures and yardsticks, but in Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus says that a yardstick will become a boomerang.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:1-2).

How you judge someone else is how you will be judged—it will all come back around. How do we avoid unhealthy judgment?

We must apply wise discrimination between right and wrong.

Before it became such a heated word, at its core, discrimination simply means evaluation. It is not unloving to call out sin. The Bible urges us to wisely discern what is good and bad. Judgment based on Scripture is considered righteous, but unloving, unmerciful judgment measured out of our own hearts and minds is wrong.

We must avoid condemning others.

When we are tempted to play prosecuting attorney toward a fellow believer, we must remember: we don’t have the power to redeem anyone, so we don’t have the authority to condemn anyone either.

Often, our own iniquity will act as a filter through which we see everyone else. Our own self-righteousness makes us feel justified when we see someone else’s sin. But this will do more damage to our spiritual lives than we realize.

Adrian Rogers says, “It is the hypocritical that are hyper-critical.”

Our own insecurity will also cause us to judge others harshly, because we believe that if we can get others to look more like us, it will make us feel better.

We also judge out of ignorance, assuming we know enough about others to hold them to a certain standard. None of us is wise enough to judge another person; only God is all-knowing, so He alone is the Judge.

Where we judge others with insensitivity, our Lord is full of compassion. While we must know the difference between right and wrong and uphold that standard in our lives, we must choose to show mercy to those who fall short, because that is what we would want, ourselves.

If we show mercy to others, it will be shown to us.

Apply it to your life

Do you find yourself judging others harshly? Remember: how you measure others will be how you, yourself, are measured. Choose mercy today.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 5:38-42

There is nothing more destabilizing than worry, yet all of us worry more than we should. In Matthew 6:31-32, Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry… For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

It’s important to recognize the cause of our worry.

Matthew 6 addresses things we all tend to worry about: food and fashion (v. 25), fitness (v. 27), and the future (v. 34).

We must also understand the cost of worry.

Worrying never solves the problem or lifts the burden. But perhaps most importantly, our worry is a wound in the heart of God; we insult Him if we do not consider Him to be trustworthy.

Adrian Rogers says, “We’re not to reach out into tomorrow and borrow trouble. We’re not to pull tomorrow’s clouds over today’s sunshine.”

We can win the war with worry, if we learn to fully trust in God.

God is a Good Father, and He provides for His children; He does not bring a child into this world that He is not prepared to care for.

We must resolve to focus on the will of God.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Worry can be a signal to us that we are not focusing on what we ought to. God will not work in second place to our other concerns. He knows what we need and He can take care of the things in our lives better than we can; we must put Him first and put our trust in Him.

We must surrender our concerns about the future.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34).

God is in complete control over our lives. He has engineered difficulty for each day—enough trouble to cause us to turn to Him and receive His grace. But if we borrow tomorrow’s trouble by worrying, we’ll find that it buries our blessings, steals our strength, and produces problems.

God knows our frame, and He promises strength for what we will carry today.

Apply it to your life

If you begin to worry today, remember your Father in Heaven, who knows your needs. Focus on seeking the Kingdom of God, and leave the future in God’s hands.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 6:19-24

In this plastic world we live in, many of us sell out too cheaply and end up with the wrong thing. Many people think they are wealthy and are not, because they do not have what truly matters. Jesus warns us to make sure we get the real thing, for that is where true satisfaction lies.

Matthew 6:19-20 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”

First, we must understand what true riches are, so we can possess real wealth.

A man is poor, no matter how much he has, when he seeks satisfaction in his money. Our lives are not a sum of our possessions; when we act as if they are, we’ll be empty.

A man is also poor when his money increases his trouble; there comes a point when all that we think we need is actually a burden rather than a blessing.

A man is poor when the goal of his life is making money; this consuming drive will control his character and distort his values.

A man is poor when he has no treasure in Heaven; we will not bring our earthly riches with us into Heaven. Anything of real value is of lasting value; the more we give of it, the more we have of it.

Second, we must perceive real wisdom, which is not intelligence or knowledge; it is seeing things in the correct light.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is [a]good, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22).

Wisdom is found in focusing, single-mindedly, on Jesus and living in the light of that knowledge.

Adrian Rogers says, “You can go deeper into Christ, but you’ll never go beyond Christ.”

Finally, we must make sure we practice real worship.

Worship is not just for church on Sundays—it is an entire heart posture. It is bowing to the Lord every day. No one can serve two masters; we serve God alone, or not at all. He is Lord of all—there is no rival, refusal or rebuttal—and He is worthy of all of our worship.

Apply it to your life

Are you certain you have the real thing? Do you possess true wealth, perceive true wisdom, and practice true worship? Consider where your devotion lies today, and pray that you would have a single-minded focus on the Lord.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 5:38-42

We live in a very self-centered world—a society tightly wrapped up in itself. But there is joy waiting for those who step outside of themselves, go the miraculous mile, and find selfless, Christ-filled living.

Matthew 5:41-42 says, “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”

In Jesus’ day, a Roman soldier could, by law, force a Jew to carry his burdens one mile for him. This was a very humiliating act, and though this law is no longer in effect, the practice of the second mile transcends time and place.

Jesus commands us to do more than what is required by law. There are times when our dignity is degraded, but we are called to go a second mile.

When someone has and expresses a need to us, we are expected to help. While we are not called to enable lawlessness or fraudulence, we are called to act out of love, not just out of obedience.

Adrian Rogers says, “We do not simply pay what we owe; we look beyond what we owe to see what they need and what we can do with that which God has put in our hand.”

When we begin to live this way, it transforms us and gives us joy we’d never have any other way. It changes our attitude; we go from thinking ‘I have to’ to ‘I want to, because my Lord has taught me to.’

Adrian Rogers says, “The first mile is the slave mile; the second mile is the smile mile. The first mile, you are the victim, but in the second mile, you are the victor.”

Second-mile living also breeds ground for success. The bare minimum has never made anyone happy or wealthy; understanding this transforms our work ethic.

Going the second mile routinely is the key to better relationships and it strengthens our witness. People can see the difference. Living this way will open doors to conversations we wouldn’t otherwise have.

Apply it to your life

What does the miracle mile look like in your daily life? Are you willing to put in some extra effort at work? Will you show love to people in a way that makes them see the difference in you?

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 5:31-32; 7:24

We are living in a time of national tragedy, rooted in homes built on throw-away marriages. The American way has created a vicious cycle: divorce produces broken children, and broken children produce broken homes.

Marriage is made in Heaven and is to be worked out here on Earth. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us how important a foundation for the family is.

Matthew 7:24 says, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…”

First, we must remember God’s designed plan for marriage.

Marriage is a divine institution made by God to meet the deepest needs of humankind. Second to our relationship with God, it is our highest priority. When we commit to another in marriage, we leave our mother and father and unite with our spouse, becoming one flesh—physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

Together, as husband and wife, we are to raise children to the best of our abilities, so they can be independent followers of Christ.

Adrian Rogers says, “Your job (as a parent) is to work yourself out of a job. A parent is successful when children no longer need them. But you don’t work yourself out of a relationship.”

We also see God’s desire for permanent marriages.

God has said in His Word He hates divorce; He has permitted divorce for the specific occasion of adultery, but He doesn’t command it. Instead, we are commanded to love continually.

Adrian Rogers says, “It is not love that sustains your marriage; it is your marriage that sustains your love.” We must vow to attack the problems rather than one another and steer a broken marriage in the right direction.

Finally, this passage shares that God has declared a pardon for failed marriages.

If you’ve experienced divorce and remarriage, there’s no going backward—but this is not an unpardonable sin. God’s forgiveness is always available; we need only ask for it.

We must be sure, going forward, that we are seeking to honor Him in our relationships, dedicating the home to Him, and making sure He is the foundation of the family we’ve created.

Apply it to your life

Is Jesus Christ the foundation of your family? Are you committed to steering your marriage in the right direction? Change what you can change, accept what you cannot change, and commit your marriage to God.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 5:27-28

The great pollution problem is not in the air—it is in our own hearts and minds. To be happy and useful in the kingdom of God, we must be clean and pure in heart, and that comes from developing a clean thought life.

In Matthew 5:28, Jesus says, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” There is a battle for the mind; isolation and insulation can only keep us from the enemy’s pollution for so long. Purity comes from Jesus Christ alone.

Psalm 119:9 asks and answers, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.”

There are three steps to developing a clean thought life.

Admit your problem and get clean.

We can’t fix a problem we don’t acknowledge. We must examine our hearts and own up to what unconfessed sins we’ve accumulated.

Adrian Rogers says, “God will never cleanse an excuse or an alibi, but God will always cleanse a sin.” Through Jesus Christ, we can be totally and perfectly clean. If we confess our sins, He will forgive us. (See 1 John 1:9.)

Affirm your purpose to stay clean.

This is too important to be half-hearted about it. We have to prioritize purity and commit to cleanliness; no one else can make the decision for us.

Apply your protection to keep clean.

Our protection is the Word of God. It is the antidote against lust, because Jesus sanctifies us through it. We must commit Scripture to memory and personalize it, realizing He wants to teach us something through it. We must also verbalize it and use it in our praise and testimony. As we give it away, we’ll find that it sticks to us and comes to life.

A pure mind is one that is satisfied in the Word of God; it belongs to someone who has found joy and fulfillment in the Lord. When we internalize Scripture—meditate on it and ruminate over it with time, quiet, and concentration—it takes us over from the inside out.

Apply it to your life

Do you struggle with your thought life? Do you want the joy and fulfillment of a clean and pure mind? Admit your problem and get clean, affirm your purpose to stay clean, and apply your protection to keep clean.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 5:27-28

The home is the fabric of our society, and we are at a crisis point. It is a matter of moral purity and the sanctity of the home. Our enemy knows that if he can destroy the home, he can dominate our society.

Proverbs 5 identifies five factors for the maintenance of sexual purity and building a strong family, so we can win the battle for the home.

The Instruction Factor

Proverbs 5:1-2 says, “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge.” Families often fail due to a lack of wisdom, discretion, and understanding. Our only hope for true wisdom is turning our ears to God’s instruction. He has given us a book—His Word.

The Deception Factor

We must beware of Satan’s snares. Proverbs 5:3-4 says, “For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” In the moment, immorality seems so good, but it’s mere frivolity, flattery, and vitality.

Adrian Rogers says, “Sin fascinates and then it assassinates; it thrills and then it kills.”

The Protection Factor

Proverbs 5:8 says, “Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house…”

We aren’t told to fight off sexual immorality… we’re told to flee and stay away from it. We must be careful with what we put in our minds and what comes out of our mouths.

The Destruction Factor

There are deadly consequences of immorality: dissipating our reputations, bodily disease, and disappointment in what we actually get from it. We could also face public disgrace, and sin having dominion over us. If we don’t break the chains of sin and repent, it can lead to moral, spiritual, and eternal death.

The Intention Factor

God wants us to enjoy lasting and loving marriages, but the only way to have that is if we do it His way. It is crucial that we pursue purity and win the battle for our homes.

Apply it to your life

Are you living a life of immorality? Understand that God loves you and wants what’s best for you. He has the power to deliver you from your sin if you will repent from it and flee from immorality.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 5:20-22

There is no fooling anyone. The golden facades and outer appearances we put on cannot hide a decaying spiritual life. It’s what’s inside that counts.

The Pharisees had an outward, external, and superficial form of religion that was ultimately hypocritical. They were careful with how they looked to others, careful to live straight-edge lives, but their hearts were still crooked.

Matthew 5:20 says, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven…”

Jesus ripped away the facade of self-righteousness and showed the Pharisees what was truly deep down in their hearts.

Jesus first addressed the malice of murder.

“’You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire’” (Matthew 5:21:22).

God’s law states we shall not murder (see Exodus 20:13). But to have hate in your heart toward another person is considered murder in God’s eyes, because God goes beyond the act and looks at the attitude behind it, and anger is behind murder.

Second, Jesus addressed the acid of anger.

This passage in Matthew explores different kinds of anger. Caustic is the natural feeling of being wronged by a brother. But when undealt with, caustic anger can turn quickly into contemptuous anger. Treating someone with contempt means you feel you are better than others.

Contemptuous anger then turns into condemning anger, which is always harmful for everyone involved.

Ephesians 4:31 says, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”

Adrian Rogers says, “Bitterness is a feeling of resentment that settles down in your heart when you feel somebody has done you wrong.”

Bitterness leads to wrath, a word that means ‘slow burn’—like smoldering rags in a closet. But then someone opens the closet door and everything erupts into flames of anger.

But the anger doesn’t stop there. Next comes clamoring—raising your voice, shouting and crying. And once you’ve lost control of your tone, any sort of evil can come out, leading to expressing yourself in unbecoming ways.

Jesus reminds us of the requirement of righteousness. Self-righteousness is impossible. Real righteousness is imputed by Jesus’ blood and implanted by our new nature.

Apply it to your life

The only answer to the problem of our hearts is the righteousness of God—imputed and implanted when we are saved. Trust in Jesus and let Him give you a new nature and new attitude today.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 5:17-18

The Lord Jesus Christ is the One our hearts long for, the One who can fulfill our deepest need. He did not come to destroy—rather, He came to fulfill. Jesus is the secret of fulfillment.

Adrian Rogers says, “Jesus is the One who can take the pain out of parting, the sorrow out of suffering, the sting out of death, the gloom out of the grave, and can give you a hope that is steadfast and sure.”

In Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

First, Jesus prophetically fulfills the Word of God.

Jesus appears in every book of the Old Testament, one way or another.

Adrian Rogers says, “(If you) read the prophecies and try to find the meaning… and don’t see Jesus, you’ve missed it all.”

Old Testament Scripture also identifies the Savior as the Son of a mother from a specific family, belonging to a certain tribe, of a designated nation, of a specific section of the human race. Jesus meets the exact criteria; He is the fulfillment of every prophecy. He is in all of the Bible, cover to cover.

Second, Jesus practically fulfills the Word of God.

God has no plan or purpose that does not ultimately center on Jesus Christ. Jesus kept every moral, ceremonial, and judicial law laid out in the Word of God, because He, Himself, was the Word.

Finally, Jesus perfectly fulfills the Word of God.

Through the law, God demands perfection. Jesus Christ met every standard and requirement.

Jesus believed and affirmed the inerrancy, infallibility, and immutability of the Word of God. Jesus and the Scriptures rise and fall together, inextricably woven together for all of time.

Apply it to your life

Jesus came to save sinners; He suffered, bled, and died to pay every debt we owe, to fulfill the law, prophetically, practically, and perfectly. Have you put your trust in Jesus, the fulfillment of the law? Repent, confess, and pray for His grace to fulfill the law in you.