On Sunday, July 2, 2017 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Matthew 6:25-34.  This message was part 9 in the “Sermon on the Mount” series.  Below is the audio from the message to listen to/share . . . plus a few other slides from this message.

 

To listen offline, click the link to download:

Sermon on the Mount #9

 

To listen online, use the media player below:

 

On Sunday, July 2, 2017 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Matthew 6:25-34.  This message was part 9 in the “Sermon on the Mount” series.  Below are a set of questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read Matthew 6:25-34
3. When was the last time that you were feeling anxious?  What were the causes of your anxiety?
4. Jesus makes several statements in these verses about why anxiety does not make sense for the Christian. What were some of the arguments He makes.  Do you find them convincing?  What questions do you still have about the topic of anxiety?
5. Have you ever been really anxious or worried about something that did not ever really happen? 
6. Jesus indicates that faith in the Father provides power to help people through anxiety.  Have you ever experienced a time (or seen someone else go through a time) when their faith in God helped give them peace in an otherwise worrisome set of circumstances?
7. What would it look like for you to live life today the way you want to be living when Christ returns?  What would need to change to make His Kingdom concerns your top priority?
8. What is one particular application you took away from this passage/message?

To access these questions in pdf format, click here.

What are you anxious about?  Bills that need to be paid?  Jobs that need to get done?  Relationships with people around you?  A test coming up at school?  A medical situation that is unresolved?  There certainly are a LOT of situational seeds that we “water” with our attention as they sprout into anxiety.  What are we to do?

Being anxious is not something new.  In fact, it has been around as long as people.  Many sleepless nights and countless health problems (mental, spiritual, and physical) can be attributed to anxiety’s devastating effects.

Jesus, knowing that His followers would struggle with anxious feelings, taught about this struggle in the Sermon on the Mount.  This Sunday, we are going to be looking at Matthew 6:25-34 to see what He had to say about the topic.  I can’t wait for us to open up God’s Word together on Sunday, July 2 at Wildwood Community Church as we look at this extremely relevant subject!

This Sunday is the first Sunday in July.  We will start our July schedule this weekend as we will have only two worship services for the 5 Sundays in July (9:45 and 11:00).  Also, this week only, we will be having an “All In” Sunday.  At Wildwood, “All In” Sundays are when we are (you guessed it) all in the worship service together. No children’s ministry classes, student ministry classes, or adult classes will meet this Sunday as we all worship together on July 4 weekend.  See you this Sunday, at Wildwood!

On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Matthew 6:9-15.  This message was part 8 in the “Sermon on the Mount” series.  Below you will find the audio from this message to listen to or share.

 

To listen offline, click the link below to download audio:

Sermon on the Mount #8

 

To listen online, use the media player below:

On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Matthew 6:9-15.  This message was part 8 in the “Sermon on the Mount” Series.  Below are a set of questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read Matthew 6:9-15
3. What has been your experience with the “Lord’s Prayer”?  Did you grow up praying this prayer?  Heard it for the first time today?  What was your impression of this prayer BEFORE the sermon today?  Did anything change after hearing the sermon this morning?
4. When you pray, it is important to remember who you are talking to.  Take a moment and list out a number of characteristics of God that you can thank Him for as you begin praying.
5. What are circumstances in your world today that make you long for the Kingdom to come, and God to make things perfect?
6. What are some examples of “daily bread” that you typically ask God for?  Are your prayers typically for you only, or are they for “us” (yourself AND others)?
7. What is the connection between asking God for forgiveness and forgiving others?
8. Do you remember that Satan is our adversary, and that He is real?  Knowing this, do you regularly pray for God’s spiritual protection?
9. What is one particular application you took away from this passage/message?

To access these questions in pdf format, click here.

As a Pastor, I have the privilege of officiating many weddings.  Over the past 16 years, I think I have officiated over 100 of them.  It is one of the great perks of pastoring, to get to be close to people in the most significant moments of their lives (and get to point them to Jesus in the process). 

My role also allows me to attend many wedding receptions . . . and often times there is a dance floor and DJ ready to pump up the jam.  If the wedding has a good DJ, eventually most people spend at least some time on the dance floor.  Is it because most people have an inner Michael Jackson waiting to moonwalk across the stage of life?  Is it because Gloria Estefan was right, and eventually the “Rhythm is Gonna Get You”?  Or is it because the DJ knows there are a few songs EVERYONE will dance to?  I am going with the latter.  Want proof?

It starts with the Village People’s “YMCA.”  People begin moving to the dance floor when this song comes on.  Anyone left behind on that song will be drawn offsides by the “Cupid Shuffle.”  And anyone who still has not busted a move will be on their feet for the “Cha Cha Slide.”  What do these 3 songs have in common?  They tell you what to do . . . and people feel more confident to improvise during the verse if they know they can be on cue during the chorus. 

Think about it . . . even your Grandma can spell letters with her arms, your Dad can follow cues like “to the left, to the left, to the left, to the left . . ,” and your middle school cousin understands “now stomp three times!”  Songs that give us basic direction, inspire us to action.

Now, why am I going into this kind of detail?  Many people have been invited to the Christian life.  Many even have gone to the altar and connected with Jesus as their Savior.  However, prayer is sometimes a challenge for people in their Christian life.  Knowing this, Jesus addressed the topic of prayer with very specific instruction. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says (in Matthew 6:5-8) that He wants us to free flow from the heart in prayer to God with our minds engaged.  However, this instruction alone (though encouraging) does not really help us “get on the dance floor” in prayer.  So Jesus teaches us a structured “line dance” prayer for our chorus, so that we might improvise prayer in the verses of everyday life. 

This structured prayer is the Lord’s prayer.  In it Jesus gives us an easy to remember 6 point prayer pattern . . . basic direction to inspire us to action.  This prayer is recorded in Matthew 6:9-15 and we will be looking at this prayer in depth at Wildwood Community Church on Sunday morning as we continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount.  If you are someone who has struggled over time with how or what to pray, join us Sunday as we see Jesus get us moving with rhyme and reason.  See you Sunday, June 25 in our 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 service!

On Sunday, June 18, 2017 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Matthew 6:5-8, 16-18.  This message was part 7 in the “Sermon on the Mount” series.  Below is the sermon audio related to the message (as well as a few quotes and lists from the message) for you to listen to or share.

To listen offline, click the link to download audio:

Sermon on the Mount #7

 

To listen online, use the media player below:

 

Quotes and lists from sermon:

On Sunday, June 18, 2017 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a message based on Matthew 6:5-8, 16-18.  This message was part 7 in the “Sermon on the Mount” series.  Below are a series of questions related to that message for personal reflection or group discussion.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read Matthew 6:5-8, 16-18
3. How would you rate the quality of YOUR prayer life? Why?
4. Prayer is talking with God, but at times, people can get focused on other people instead of on God Himself as they pray.  Have you ever struggled with this?
5. Jesus reminds us to remember who we are talking to in prayer – our Heavenly Father.  The important thing in prayer is not the number of words we say or how long we pray, but that we are mentally engaged while we are praying.  When you pray are you typically engaged mentally, or just saying prayers in your head that you have heard before without really thinking about them?
6. Have you ever fasted?  If so, for what purpose?
7. Jesus again reminds us to keep our fasting as an act between God and us, without us seeking the applause of others.  Are there spiritual disciplines (bible study, prayer, fasting, etc.) that you have done just to gain the approval of others?  How does Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6 address your challenges?
8. What is one particular application you took away from this passage/message?

To access these questions in pdf format, click here.

Prayer is an important part of our spiritual lives.  Many people pray before meals, sport’s teams pray before their games, moments of silence start the day in many schools, and church services often have multiple prayers as part of their liturgy.  Truly, prayer is everywhere.

I know there are efforts on the part of some to keep prayer out of certain places (like schools), but it sure seems like those efforts are not very effective.  Just think of all the prayers that precede taking the SAT for high school students or the prayers prayed by the new parents dropping their kids off in Kindergarten for the first time or by the students headed to the principal’s office!  Despite their best efforts, prayer keeps finding its way BACK into school.

Prayer is all around us . . . it is one of the most recognizable aspects of the spiritual life.  But what is prayer?  What should we do as we pray?  What should we NOT do as we pray?  And what about fasting?  Should I fast?  These are just some of the questions we may have about the topic of prayer.

Jesus does not leave us empty handed on this topic.  He taught about prayer often.  In fact, a major section of the Sermon on the Mount focuses on prayer.  The next couple of Sundays at Wildwood we will be looking at what Jesus said about prayer and fasting in the Sermon on the Mount.  Join us as we investigate Matthew 6:5-8, 16-18 this Sunday in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 worship services.  Hope to see you there!

On Sunday, June 11, 2017 at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Matthew 6:1-4, 19-24.  This message was part 6 in the “Sermon on the Mount” series.  Below is the sermon audio from this message to listen to or share.

 

To listen offline, click the link to download:

Sermon on the Mount #6

To listen online, use the media player below: