Jeremy - thank you for leading us through Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. Even though my posting have been light, I continued to read your summaries and have taken a lot from them. I find myself soften spiritually and lose focus. This typically happens slowly and over time. It is reengaging scripture in a detailed way that helps me regain focus. What I am trying to do is maintain this focus. I am hoping through this my relationship with God will continue to grow which is my ultimate desire. I don’t want to be fake or legalistic about it; truly want to be authentic and humble. I will continue to keep everyone in my prayers. Take care.

I will...

Thanks for participating.  I learned from all of your comments.  I hope it was useful for you too.  I would appreciate your feedback on how to improve this format.  I will likely try this again with a different group.

God has been pushing me to work on my prayer life.  Not just making requests but praying continually and in the Spirit.  Listening to Him and allowing Him to change my thinking and my prayers.  Out of this comes my I  will statement.

I will continue to pray for each of you on a weekly basis for the rest of the summer.  I may check in with you via email this summer to see how life is going.  As always please email me with any thoughts, needs, or specific prayer requests.  Enjoyed it.  Have a great summer.

Week 10 wrap up

I will try to keep this brief.  This last portion of the sermon on the mount Jesus mentions several things that may keep a man from truly committing to a personal relationship with Him.  Specifically false prophets and false disciples will distort the truth and lead a person away from Christ. 

In Acts 20:29-30 Paul warns the Christians in Ephesus that savage wolves will be among you and will not spare the flock.  “From your own number men will distort the truth in order draw away disciples after them.”

There are wolves among us in the church and even in the pulpit.  So how do we recognize them?  I think you have to ask yourself does this teaching have Christ at its center?  Does it place Christ as the only solution to man’s needs and the only way salvation?  If the teaching makes you feel good about yourself and content with who you are then beware.   There message is one of false peace.

Jesus also says you will know them by their fruit.  Good fruit is spiritual fruit that reflects the character of God.  It is the result of a transformed life and only possible through Christ.  It is not good works that man is capable of achieving himself.

False disciple are those who intellectually know of Jesus as Lord and Savior but do not know Him as their personal Lord and Savior.  Scott mentioned this when he commented about “religion”  and it trappings.  Many of these individuals can be dangerous and lead people astray, while others may merely be self deluded. 

Faith is more than believing or even practicing certain Christian doctrines.  It is more than good works.  It is more than believing that Jesus is Lord and Savior.  True faith is costly.  Costly in the sense that it requires you to give up or die to yourself.  It is a true commitment to a personal relationship with Jesus that results in obedience, love, good works, and spiritual fruit.

Finally Christ finishes with “the rock” and application.  What is your foundation?  Are you building your life on the precious rock of Christ or are you building on things that dazzle the world but will rot, rust and pass away?   Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?  Are you hearing the truths of Christ and allowing His love to transform you?  Are you living for yourself or are you living for Him?

Week 10...

The past 24 hrs I have been trying to comment on the posts for this week but for some reason the blog will not let me comment.  So I will share some thoughts with a new post.

Justin - Nothing to be ashamed of with your goals.  Seeking to be in Christ through prayer and study of the Word are top priority.  They are keys to understanding the Kingdom and becoming more like Christ.  I would encourage you to be intentional and specific with this endeavor.

Josh - Great thoughts.  I agree that it may be difficult to see fruit from afar.  The things we hear from any teacher should be tested against the truth of God's word.  I want to encourage you in the spiritual leadership of your family.  Too many fathers neglect this essential role.  Sharing the truths of Psalms and Proverbs  with your family is a great idea.

Scott -  I like your statement that transformation is an ongoing process and I am thankful for that.  We all need to spend more time practicing our faith by sharing Christ's  love with others.  Knowledge and understanding  are important but without the redeeming love of Christ they are empty and fruitless.  I like your focus...Love God, love others, and make disciples.

I would love to hear from more of you.  I am leaving the country on June 9th and I will officially wrap up this study on Wednesday night June 8th. 

I think it is important that we recognize false teachers because of the destruction they can cause. Jesus says that while they may look like one of us (sheep clothing) they are actually "ravenous wolves." Wolves eat sheep. I believe the biggest reason why many in our world today get lead astray by false teachers is because they don't know the truth of God's Word. So when someone tells them that by coming to Jesus they will be healthy, wealthy, and happy they believe it. Then when it doesn't happen they reject Him instead of the false teacher.

To identify false teachers we have to examine their teaching and their lives. It is difficult to examine the fruit of someone's life from a distance. Obviously the closer you are the better look you can get to see if they live in private what they say in public.

I will read Psalms and Proverbs (with my family) and continue to study Romans every day this summer.

I sort of hate to even post this (sounds like the typical answer to this type of question), but... I will seek to get into God's word more regularly and to be more passionate about my prayer life.

Week 10 questions - Final Week

1.  What is good fruit and bad fruit?  Why is this important in recognzing false teachers?

2.  How can a person recognize Jesus and perform great works in his name but not be saved?  What is true faith?


Since this is the last week and the final verses of the Sermon on the Mount have to do with application of the Word I want each of you to come up with an "I will" statement.  Something that is concrete and requires action.  This might be something that you have learned during this study and Christ is urging you to act on it.  Please share it with the group.