Why does God command us to praise God? Many wise people ask, “Isn’t the desire to be seen and worshiped egotistical?” In this portion of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explains that God’s vision is for prayer to be a genuine conversation with God and the first subject Jesus guides us to include in our conversation with God is praise. In this message we explore why it is loving, not egotistical, for God to call us to praise and we consider practical ways to praise Him when we are alone and, on this 20th birthday of Hope Church, when we gather.
Sermons by Dean Wertz (Page 16)
When Jesus conversed with the Father it was in genuine conversation about realities occurring in real life. Those around Him who thought prayer was formal or formulaic were invited to disappear from sight having been freed from the need to impress others in order to speak freely with God having been freed from a mechanical process to impress God. This kind of genuine conversation is still available to all who rely on Jesus and afford themselves to the way of genuine relationship and conversation in His kingdom.
Prayer is a conversation with God. Anything other than conversing with God is something other than prayer. In this move in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is coaching us on how to experience God throughout each day, we discover His practical guidance for secret prayer. Spoiler Alert: Secret Prayer is an essential habit for all desiring to experience the daily intermingled life with God in His kingdom.
The bumper sticker reads, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – WHAT? Is this God’s standard? In this message we discover that this is not a summons to perfectionism but God’s vision for us to become all He created us to be as we live with Him today, tomorrow and forever.
If you have ever felt excluded, Jesus’ Beatitudes are GREAT NEWS! Those who don’t fit elsewhere are included among those who belong with God in His family. Rather than telling us how we need to behave to receive the good life with God, the Beatitudes are God’s declaration that all who embrace Jesus as Lord (King), including those who are excluded elsewhere, are welcomed into God’s home and invited to His table.
What shall we do when we feel stuck and discouraged? Moses’s transformation from despair to hope shines a light on how all of God’s children can awaken to receive God’s gift of hope in times of difficulty. Even more helpful, Moses points us to the One “greater than” himself who lives in hope and inspires hope. In Christ alone, our hope (a good feeling awakened by embracing God’s plans for the future) is found!
The compass, map, owner’s manual, Siri and the Bible have this in common – they show the way. Yet, better than a map is a guide. In this 2nd message in our August series entitled, Gifts for God’s Children, we see Moses’ prayer for direction as well as God’s plan to be his and all of His children’s personal guide in this life and the life to come!
Like so many, Moses discovered that God’s presence is God’s greatest gift to God’s children. In His presence God’s children are most like who we were created to be and most capable of bringing glory to God. In this message we consider how to more fully avail ourselves to the gift of God’s presence personally and corporately.
Measuring the right things is an essential part of life. In this closing section of Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches we discover what God measures among His people within a local church. While we tend to count a variety of things, what matters to God is His vision for “new creation.”
(Due to technical issues, the first several minutes of this message are missing.) How can we become all that God created us to be when temptation is so strong? In this part of his letter to the Christians in Galatia, Paul explains that followers of Jesus have two opposing natures within. He also reveals how we can cooperate with God’s Spirit’s desires rather than our flesh’s destructive desires that we might become all that God has created us to be.