Beyond praise, what does God want us to talk with Him about? The Lord’s Prayer is Jesus’ answer to this question. After teaching that prayer is a genuine conversation with God, Jesus now relays some of the subjects God loves to discuss with His children. To more fully enjoy life with God in His kingdom, we meditate on the Lord’s prayer not to say it mechanically, but to converse with our King relationally.
"kingdom" Tagged Sermons (Page 2)
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.
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.
As Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount, He builds on what being “perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” means. Doing righteous things is a natural outcome of living in awareness of the Kingdom and participating as a part of it, but Jesus us warns us that our motives must also match The Father’s and not get caught up in the response and reaction of others. Jesus is asking His listeners “where do you want your reward to come from?”
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is giving insight into how His Kingdom is different than what the audience had known and experienced. In Matthew 6:33, He summarizes the action we must take in light of all these Kingdom Insights: We must seek first the Kingdom of God and God Himself and then respond in faith!
“If I find in myself a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”1 In one sentence C.S. Lewis exposes the universal hunger of our souls. It is a craving for more joy, strength, comfort, peace, help, guidance, love, awe, gratitude, compassion, self-control and more. Today we prepare in a variety of ways to begin a journey this fall to explore Jesus’ proposed solution for this longing. His answer comes as an invitation to “abide” so our focus for the next three months will be called, The Abide Project.
1 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Glasgow: Fontana Books, 1975), 118.
The resurrected Jesus has been given all authority. What is this authority and what does it look like? Jesus strategically linked His cause for the disciples with His authority. What would His authority look like in the life of a Jesus-Follower and what difference would it make?
Many people we know are without hope in their lives. Jesus actually gave a prayer request that more “laborers” would be sent to them. Could we be the answer to Jesus’ prayer request for more laborers? If we were, what would that look like?
We have all felt discouragement and hard situations in which we wish His Kingdom would come. What would it look like to join Jesus in seeing His Kingdom realized in those moments and spaces? What does it mean to have faith like a mustard seed? What does it mean to move mountains? We are capable of more kingdom advancement than we think we are!