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Being salt and light
Matthew 5:13-14 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden.
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Treasuring Jesus and leaving Mammon
It’s the Kingdom you seek, not the stuff of life.
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The Great Invitation of the King
While I haven’t paid as much attention to the liturgical calendar for preaching, I have kept our congregation on track with our readings every Sunday. Along with that it is the realization that this is the last Sunday of the liturgical year and it is Christ the King Sunday. Not being raised in the liturgical tradition, and still on the…
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Are you finished being God?
Matthew 7:1-6 gives us the ultimate excuse to tell people to back off. We usually don’t like others prying into our messes, so we say something like, “Don’t judge me.” The Kingdom ethic is, of course, a bit more involved than us just trying to get people to back off. Scot McKnight’s new commentary, The Sermon on the Mount, gives some…
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The gift of the Kingdom
The gift of the Kingdom of God is that when we treasure Jesus we will find the power to overcome this world.
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No place for worry
When we really take in what Jesus is saying about the power of the Kingdom, we come to his amazing “guarantee:” you won’t worry. No matter how many times I read this passage in Matthew 6, I still choke on this passage. Worry. Anxiety. Things that keep me up. Things that wake me up. Things that give me nightmares. Worry. Anxiety.…
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What if Jesus really meant it?
What if Jesus really meant all that stuff in the Sermon on the Mount? You could love your enemies. You could bless those that curse you. You could live in spiritual maturity. You could live with peace and without anxiety. Not only could you… but the implication is you should. What if Jesus really meant all that? No more excuses. He has given…
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The joy of giving
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not say, “IF you give…” He said, “WHEN you give…” We can hassle over tithe or some mandatory number, like 10%. But, why? The point is GIVING. Why give at all? Giving is a bold statement, which is why I try to push myself past an arbitrary number like 10%. Giving says,…
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Anxiety and the Kingdom of God
There is a place of freedom we can truly find in the Kingdom of God. It’s often seen as “beyond reach,” or for when we “get to heaven,” but when Jesus talks about the abundance of the Kingdom of God he is speaking directly to tremendous benefits. Benefits NOW. Expectations NOW. In Matthew 6:25-34 he talks about freedom from anxiety. Grab…
Category: Sermon on the Mount
