Crosstown OKC Sermons

The Christian faith tells a story about how the world is meant to be, and in the resurrection we find the power that will make it so. The Christian can now endure any challenge, knowing that the power we proclaim cannot be stopped by any opposition. Our hope in Jesus encourages us to live faithfully, but it is his faithfulness that guarantees the salvation of the world.

Jesus was a controversial figure in his own day. Today, there is probably more confusion about him than controversy. Just who was Jesus? You can know a lot about him when you consider where he was from.

In spite of his grace to them, God's people often rebel against him and turn to the vain promises of other gods. The results of such rebellion are the devastations that plague the world to this day. But those who will repent, trusting in God alone for salvation, will see light break through the darkness and God's marvelous works impacting the world once again.

As a true prophet of God, Micah was empowered to speak the hard truth to his people. The judgment of God could not be avoided; because of Israel's sins, Jerusalem would fall. But because of God's covenant with Israel, even this tragedy was meant for good. God was preparing the way for a new ruler who would bring to the world true and lasting peace.

Micah begins with a memorable description of Israel's God coming to judge his people for their sins. Those sins are summarized in the first two chapters as crimes against God as well as crimes against humanity, and, like an incurable wound, there seems to be no hope in the face of God's wrath. But a remnant of Israel survives and is led to safety by their king.

Jesus ends his Sermon on the Mount with a straightforward epilogue. The logic is simple; the result is complex: hearers must obey and do; the foundation must be solid. This will mean the difference between standing or falling; salvation or destruction; wisdom or foolishness; life or death.

The Sermon on the Mount concludes by urging everyone to respond to its message. Jesus invites us to enter into the kingdom of God where we can experience the life that God made us to enjoy. As we faithfully do the will of God, we must watch out for those who would steer us off the path of life.

The greater righteousness that is required to enter the kingdom of God is summarized by the so-called "Golden Rule," to treat others the way you want to be treated. And how do we all want to be treated? The Golden Rule as it appears in the Sermon on the Mount suggests that we consider empathy and benevolence as practical ways to love others.

The placement of the Lord's Prayer in the center of the Sermon on the Mount highlights its significance for the Christian's life. The Lord's Prayer teaches us who God is as well as what he has purposed to do in saving the world. As Christians learn to pray like this, they are shaped into the kinds of people who embody the saving purposes of God.

Those who wish to be citizens of the kingdom of God must learn to live by kingdom values, and these include religious duties such as giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. In such duties, the inherent danger is hypocrisy. Disciples of Jesus must guard against this danger, refusing to practice their faith for the praise of others instead of for the reward of their Father in heaven.

In order to enter the kingdom of God, one must possess a greater righteousness than the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus gives six examples of what this greater righteousness should look like, showing that what God requires of his people is not just conformity to an external morality, but a wholeness of life that reflects the wholeness of God himself.

In claiming to be the fulfillment of Israel’s great story, Jesus alters the way his people must now live. But this alteration does not abolish the way his people were always meant to live. Rather, it shines the light on what those expectations are truly all about, and how living in this way is in line with God’s kingdom.

Jesus came to redeem the world. That means he also came to change the world. Disciples of Jesus are to be his agents of this redemptive transformation. But the only way they can succeed in this calling is by maintaining their distinctive quality and by remembering their primary objective.

The nine Beatitudes that open the Sermon on the Mount are endearing but also perplexing. How can Jesus say that those who are poor or persecuted are blessed? How can such persons be assured of the promises that Jesus says are theirs? Understanding the meaning of the Beatitudes is central to understanding the entire Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus claimed that he had come to inaugurate the kingdom of God on earth. He called his disciples to follow him so that the kingdom of God would extend through them throughout the world. The sermon on the mount gives guidance to disciples of Jesus seeking to live faithfully as citizens of the kingdom of God.

Some think of Christianity as nothing more than moral guidelines to follow while others think the faith has little to do with such matters. The Bible has plenty to say about how Christians are supposed to live, but the distinctiveness of Christian living is regularly ignored or misunderstood. The Christian is called to learn Christ and, by doing so, Christian conduct begins to take a shape that ca...

Mission does not happen in a vacuum. Gospel and community are prerequisites that lead the believer to live in the new freedom we have in Christ, in pursuit of holiness, rejoicing in hope, being firm in the faith, and seeking to disciple others by gospel proclamation.

Soon after Jesus ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit filled every one of his disciples, and the Christian church was born. By its very existence, the church testified that Jesus really was now reigning as Lord of all. In the church's ordinary practices, the gracious reality of Jesus's reign was also demonstrated. Even the troubles that tested the church gave witness to the fact that God had come t...

The gospel is the good news about Jesus. The first Christians were overwhelmed by his life, death, resurrection, and ascenscion, seeing that God had made Jesus the world's true Lord. Confident that, with Jesus as Lord, the world could no longer remain the same, they began to proclaim salvation in no one else, boldly inviting everyone to join them as citizens of God's kingdom.

The gospel of Jesus changes lives. No one who has received the love of God in Jesus can ever be the same. Of course, a Christian may still act contrary to the gospel he has believed; it can even be challenging to know how a Christian ought to act. But the foundation for Christian living is always the good news that Jesus loved us and gave himself for us.