Matthew (Page 2)
Matthew 5:27-32
A Sermon for the Ages: Hard Sayings on Adultery, Divorce, and Remarriage Introduction: My sermon this morning is going to make some of you uncomfortable; in fact, it has already made me uncomfortable. But I think it is a message that needs to be heard and taken seriously. The title, “Hard Sayings on Adultery, Divorce, and Remarriage” pretty well describes today’s Scripture text, Matthew 5:27-32. Listen carefully to these words spoken by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. You have heard that it was said,…
Matthew 5:33-48
A Sermon for the Ages: Abnormal Kingdom Living Introduction: We continue in our study of the Sermon on the Mount this morning by tackling three more of Jesus’ startling statements that come in the form, “You have heard that it was said, but I tell you….” As we noted two weeks ago, Jesus is bent on rescuing the original intention of God’s revelation from the twisted interpretations of the religious leaders of His day. In the process, though, He shocks us at times and…
Matthew 6:5-15
This Is How You Should Pray Introduction: On this second Sunday of our month-long all-church sabbatical, I want us to return to the Sermon on the Mount. Last Lord’s Day, because of the outbreak of war in the Middle East, we took a brief excursion to the 40th chapter of Isaiah, but the remainder of our sabbatical themes will come from the 6th chapter of Matthew. I want to begin this morning by reading part of the passage I skipped last Sunday and then continue…
Matthew 6:19-24
A Sermon for the Ages: The Treasure Principle Introduction: In the Wichita Eagle ten days ago, there was an article about the 946 billionaires in the world today, including 6 Kansans, several of whom are from Wichita. Do you have any idea how much money a billion dollars is? If you laid dollar bills end to end it would take nearly a million of them to reach from here to Emporia. But a billion of them would go around the world 4 times! That is serious…
Matthew 6:25-34
A Sermon for the Ages: The Utter Foolishness of Worry Introduction: Today I want to speak about one of the most useless, debilitating, and destructive habits a person can possibly engage in, yet one that is so common that I suspect scores in my audience are doing it right this very moment. In fact, I suspect a few are so involved in doing it that they haven’t even heard a word I’ve said so far. I’m talking about worry. Not concern, not responsibility, not…
Matthew 7:1-12
What You Give Is What You Get Note: This sermon was preached by Executive Pastor Ken Epp at First Free in St. Louis. Introduction: The Golden Rule! Ask the average church attender and they’ll probably be able to recite it for you. Ask the average person on the street, and they may give you some form of it, or at least remember hearing it as a child. Actually, when I worked as a young man in manufacturing and then the trucking industry, the rule was:…
Matthew 7:13-20
How to Get to Heaven Introduction: For several months now we have been studying together the Sermon on the Mount–that incomparable message Jesus shared with His disciples early in his ministry, allowing the crowds to listen in. The overall theme of the Sermon is God’s standard of righteousness, which is diametrically opposed to the self-righteous, self-sufficient, and hypocritical standards of human beings. Jesus has shown us what His kingdom is like and what its citizens should be like. Now He presents…
Matthew 7:21-29
Once Saved, Always Saved? Introduction: Our Scripture text for today is Matthew 7:21-27, which constitutes the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount. Will you pay close attention to the words of Jesus, which are also the Word of God for us? “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not…
Matthew 8:1-17
Can God Heal Today? Does He? Introduction: Have you ever wondered, if Jesus performed great miracles and healed people at will (which He did), and if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (which He is), and if Jesus said when He sent the Holy Spirit, “greater works than these will you do,” (which He did indeed say), then why don’t we see more signs and wonders in the church today? So persuasive is this argument to some that a whole branch of the…
Matthew 8:18-22, 9:9-13
The Cost of Following Jesus Introduction: On April 18 Pastor Dick got the following email from Tim Vessey, our missionary in Turkey: Dick. Breaking news is that three Christians were murdered today in Malatya by nationalists at their Christian publishing house. They apparently had their throats slit. One German worker and two Turks. These are close friends of Aydin and Nesrin and friends of ours as well. Tim Two days later Shige Nakazawa confirmed the news with a long email about…
Matthew 8:23-9:8
Jesus: Lord Over Everything Introduction: The Gospel authors chose their stories carefully and for a purpose. They had such amazing material to choose from. John tells us that Jesus did many other miracles besides the ones John recorded. In fact, “If every one of them were written down,” he said, “I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25). So when we come to a section like our Scripture text today we should ask why the author has chosen…
Matthew 10:1-42
A Strange Way to Build a Kingdom Introduction: Today we are returning to a series we interrupted last June when we launched a biographical study of the life of Joseph. We followed that with a series on conflict and peacemaking in the church. I am delighted to be returning today to the Life of Christ as recorded in the book of Matthew. Joseph’s life was encouraging, the series on Great Church Fights was instructive, but the Life of Christ is the epitome of all…