Jesus ends this most famous sermon with his application: A story where you can easily place yourself in the role of either the wise or the foolish person. On the surface at least, so much is similar about these two people. The life-altering difference was revealed only when the storm came. Everyone will face storms. The whole world faced the storm of COVID together. Some got better, some got bitter. The difference depends entirely on what foundation you are building your life on.

One of the last sentences from Jesus in this most famous sermon is that MANY on that final day of judgment will come to Him having done ministry and done all the "right Christian" works and said the "right Christian" things and Jesus will say "Away from me. I never knew you."

Ouch!

Is there a more sobering passage in Scripture? It's one thing to be deceived by others, it's especially tragic when we deceive ourselves... pretending to be Christ-followers when we really aren't.

Today's teaching offers YOU an opportunity to begin the journey of an authentic Christ follower.

By their authentic spiritual "fruit" you will know them... not by the T-shirts they wear, the Billboards they make, the bumperstickers they put on their car. In other words, you can't tell a true follower of Christ by their external trappings. You'll need time and proximity to really discern authenticity and even then Jesus warns of being deceived by false teachers AND false followers.

Now Jesus begins His application of His sermon on the Mount and He uses the analogy of how the true follower needs to enter through the narrow gate, not the wide one.

Often this has been interpreted as a whose "saved" and whose "unsaved" verse. "Heaven" vs. "Hell"... "In" the kingdom and "outside" the Kingdom. In context of what has come before it though, the narrow gate... the narrow path... might be a more nuanced interpretation. The narrow gate might just be a lifetime response. After all, the Christian life is so much more than "conversion"; that's just the beginning of this great adventure.

It's a statement that's actually been affirmed by almost every religion and was first spoken by Jesus over 2000 years ago. It's known as the "golden rule" but it seems it's been watered down to be understood as the "Do No Harm" rule... in other words, "DON'T treat others how you WOULDN'T want to be treated". But this is a rule worded in the Positive... it's a way of living that requires initiative and action.

You could say it is the "bottom line" of the sermon on the mount "for this sums up the law and the prophets"

So far in the sermon on the mount Jesus has been describing this "Kingdom life"... what a true Spirit-filled, God-follower can look like. He's saying: Being merciful IS POSSIBLE... loving your enemy IS POSSIBLE... not worrying IS POSSIBLE, so if that life appeals to you... if this qualities stir something up in you and make you desirous of them, than JUST ASK me, and KEEP asking.

And if if feels like your not getting through, don't give up. It's time to SEEK and KNOCK

According to pollster-Research group Barna, the #1 reason non-Christians or ex-Christians are reticent to darken the doors of a church is because of a reputation Christians have garnered for being "Judgmental".

Ironically, this is the very thing Jesus railed against. He saw it in the religious leaders of the day and it made him rightfully and righteously angry.

So what is the difference between exercising wise judgment, versus being judgmental?

It's a teaching Jesus tackles using metaphors about pigs and pearls and logs stuck in your eye.

Matthew 7:1-6

Guest Rachel West knows of which she speaks.

She's tackling a topic that is near and dear to her heart. A temptation that she has had to counter with better habits over the years. Could worry and anxiety (yes, there is a difference) be at epidemic proportions these days? I think that's a resounding yes. When Jesus calls us to not worry about our lives he’s talking about all of these things that make up our life.

Finances

work/career

Health - physical and mental

Personal relationships - romantic, friendships, family

Daily life and busyness

He’s talking about covid

But today maybe we would ask ourselves: do the things I am worrying about matter to God from an eternal kingdom-centric perspective or does it feel like they matter because the world tells me they should?

In this most famous message of Jesus... the sermon on the mount... He asks us to assess what we TRULY treasure. What do we most value? Is anything more important than God in your life? We often take this to be a passage strictly about money (and money or "mammon" is certainly a big part of it) but what if your treasure was even a good thing... like your spouse? Your kids? Your church? What if we aren't supposed to make good things... even great things into our ULTIMATE thing... our treasure?

Special Guest: Joel John

Apart from the new diet trend of "intermittent fasting", the concept of fasting for spiritual purposes isn't really something that fits our 21st century "Uber Eats" culture. And yet Jesus says "WHEN you fast..." Not "IF you fast..."

It seems he expected this to be a normative part of the Christ followers life.

We talked a few weeks ago about the wrong motivations we can have for fasting (along with praying and giving) but what about the discipline of fasting itself?

What's the point? Whose it for? Does it really make a difference? Does it have to be food?