Date: 10/9/2016
Title: Two Choices
Speaker: Pastor George Gracie
Scripture: Matthew 7:13-20
In our pluralistic society the idea that there are many paths to God or to heaven is widely accepted. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus counters that belief by presenting us with two choices. The first is the wide and easy way of the world that many enter and that leads to destruction. The other is the narrow and hard way that few find and leads to life. This is a choice we each have to make.
Date: 10/2/2016
Title: Persistent Praying
Speaker: Pastor George Gracie
Scripture: Matthew 7:7-12
In our world of on-demand, fast downloads, and overnight shipping we often come to God expecting an immediate answer to our prayers. Yet, God is not beholden to our seeming need of instant gratification. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls us not only to pray, but to pray with persistence, trusting God to answer in His own timing and in His own way.
Date: 9/25/2016
Title: You Judging Me?
Speaker: Pastor George Gracie
Scripture: Matthew 7:1-6
It seems that the most popular verse today is Matthew 7:1: “Judge not.” Unfortunately, this verse is usually taken out of context in order to avoid any type of criticism of our beliefs or behaviors no matter what they may be. Is this what Jesus means? On the contrary, here in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls us to judge rightly without, yet without any self-righteous condemnation.
Date: 9/11/2016
Title: Overcoming Anxiety
Speaker: Darryl J. Stalter
Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34
Anxiety, worry and fear. They are something that eventually grips us all at one time or another. For others, they can be a controlling force in their life. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus offers us the solution to all our anxiety: faith.
Date: 8/14/2016
Title: Overcoming Controlling Consumerism
Speaker: Darryl J. Stalter
Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24
Our materialistic and consumerist culture shouts to us that the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts provides security and satisfaction. The struggle and pull of materialism and consumerism is not something new. In fact, this was also a prevalent issue in the world and culture of Jesus day. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus attacks this head on. He believers to not be controlled by the rampant materialism and controlling consumerism of our day, but to be freed from its tendrils in order to be truly satisfied in God and His work.
Date: 8/7/2016
Title: Fasting from the Inside Out
Speaker: Darryl J. Stalter
Scripture: Matthew 6:16-18
We live in a culture of great abundance that emphasizes indulgence and comfort. In such a culture, fasting is a foreign concept around which there is much confusion. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls believers to fast so that it is not only a reflection of a heart that is hungry and thirsty for God, but also will increase that hunger and thirst.
Date: 7/31/2016
Title: How God Feels About the Lost
Speaker: Pastor George Gracie
Scripture: Acts 1:8
The busyness of our lives often results in our forgetting that believers are surrounded by the lost. It is too easy to adopt an unintentional complacancy and apathy for the lost. God calls us to adopt how He feels about the lost.
Date: 7/24/2016
Title: Praying from the Inside Out
Speaker: Darryl J. Stalter
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15
It is too easy to turn prayer into a time of wish fulfillment or as an opportunity to exalt our own oratory skill. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls believers to a deeper level of prayer. He calls us to prayer that brings us into closer communion with God and transforms not just our circumstances, but our hearts as well.
Date: 7/17/2016
Title: Giving from the Inside Out
Speaker: Darryl J. Stalter
Scripture: Matthew 6:1-4
Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been emphasizing a transformed life that results from a transformed heart. This is also true when it comes to giving. Jesus tells us that the giving God honors is the giving that comes as the outflow of a heart that has been transformed into the image of our generous and giving God.