Matthew 7:7-11, “ask, seek, knock” [Listen]

Jesus is now beginning to close his discourse. In Matthew 5-7 he has boldly challenged his hearers to think about being the people of God in a way that was different from their religious programming. In fact, Jesus was very confrontational in laying the truth before his listeners. In his words we hear about the people the Holy Spirit creates as Jesus becomes their treasure. He repeatedly challenged the rightness of the religious leadership. It could very easily sound as if Jesus was attempting to overthrow the current power base – he was. To make matters worse, he just finished comparing the religious leadership of the day to pigs and dogs. He was really stretching the minds of anyone who would listen. You can easily imagine all the doubts and uncertainty that would come up after hearing this. And so now he says: Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew 7:1-6, “don’t judge” [Listen]

In many ways the essence of sin can be seen in humanity’s desire to be God. We want to do things our way, we want to dominate, control, and use people for our own purposes. In October we talked about lust – wanting to use someone (in this case sexually) without an appropriate commitment to their welfare. Today we’re going to talk about another outcome of our desire to be God – the judgment of others. Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew 6:25-35, “don’t worry – trust God, [Listen]

Life is frail. Today we can be healthy and employed, thinking about how much we have – and tomorrow we could be without work or dying of cancer – life has always been frail. How foolish we are when we spend our God-given energy to pursue the frail treasures of this world. Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew 6:19-24, “living for the kingdom” [Listen]

Did you know God wants you rich beyond your wildest dreams? It’s absolutely true. Read the rest of this entry »