Manna on the Mountain

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 5:21-26 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Jesus' Teaching about Anger." Anger is mentioned 14 times in the New Testament.  Here are a few for us to look at: •Galatians 5: 19-21 – Works of the flesh (include wrath, hatred, strife) •Eph. 4:26 – Put a time limit on anger •Eph. 6:4 – parents, don’t provoke your children to wrath •1 Tim. 2:8 – pray without a...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 5:7 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Fifth Beatitude: The Merciful." The Christian principle of mercy brings blessings. Mercy could be called a “boomerang” moral principle since the exercise of mercy tends to elicit mercy from God and others. Notice again the divine passive form of the verb, "They shall receive mercy." We must be open to receive i...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 5:8 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Sixth Beatitude: Pure in Heart." This 6th beatitude emphasizes the importance of purity of heart as a core value for Christians, contrasting it with the first century Pharisees' focus on ritual rather than true spiritual presence. The biblical meaning of "heart" in both the Old and New Testaments is the ce...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 5:6 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Fourth Beatitude: Spiritual Hunger and Thirst." What did Jesus mean when He proclaimed a blessing for those who "hunger and thirst after righteous"? In this Beatitude, Jesus provides the insight of how blessed disciples are when they partake of spiritual manna! He represents himself as the living bread that we...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 5:5 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Third Beatitude: The Meek." The Bible provides rich examples of the virtue known as  "meekness". Curtis explores several examples in Matthew, in the rest of the New Testament, and then finally in the Old Testament that show the force of a person who controls their strength with compassion and forbearance. H...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 5:4 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Second Beatitude: Those Who Mourn." What does the New Testament mean by the verb "to mourn"? We review the basic meaning of the Greek word and look at a number of verses that provide examples of mourning for the harm to or loss of people, tragic events, poor spiritual health, and sin.   - Mt. 9:15   wedding...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 5:1-3 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount & First Beatitude: The Poor in Spirit. The purpose of the lesson is to help us embrace the “kingdom mindset” that sees the world differently on behalf of Jesus. A person poor in spirit is one whose humility characterizes the heart of discipleship, who depend completely on God and...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 4:23-28 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Jesus and the Crowds." Jesus' ministry was in a very limited geographical area (Galilee, Decapolis, Judea, Jerusalem, trans-Jordan). His ministry was also teaching in their synagogues. In His ministry, He healed people who came to Him in crowds, towns, roads, etc. This healing was miraculous--immediate and indis...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 4:18-22 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Jesus Calls Four Fishermen." Discipleship begins with answering the call. What does “Come, follow me” mean? a.     They had to leave the old life.                 i. The called came immediately.                    ii. They left boat, father, family. b.    English author A. B. Bruce called “The Training of the Twelve”...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 4:2-17 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Jesus, the Light-Bearer, Begins His Ministry." The purpose of this lesson it to remind us to live out the ministry of being a “light-bearer” as we follow in the steps of Jesus.  Being a light-bearer means: A. We are attentive to the darkness and chaos around us. B. We sometimes withdraw instead of confront. C. We let...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 4:1-11 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Temptation of Jesus." We can successfully overcome temptation by following the pattern and example Jesus provided for us. This testing came right after He was baptized. This confrontation was a verbal battle between Jesus and Satan, in which the tempter tries to divert the obedient Son of God from his path. One Ch...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 3:1-12 is the text for this sermon entitled, "John the Baptizer." Note - Curtis skips chapter 2 to save it for the December sermons on Jesus' birth.  John who is called 'the baptizer' could be referred to as the Harbinger of Hope. He cried out to the people to repent of their sins, for the Messiah was coming. He called them to be baptized in the Jo...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 1:1-17 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Genealogy of Jesus." Matthew turns a dull genealogy to a reasoned defense for the universal nature of evangelism and the good news! He lays out the case to demonstrate that the Christ-promising God worked through Israel’s history to bring about his divine purposes. We learn a great deal about God the Father from t...

Send us Fan Mail This sermon is an introduction to the Gospel of Matthew. We will work through a verse-by-verse study of the gospel, holding the second chapter in reserve for our services in December. The word "Gospel" is in the title of the first four books of the New Testament, and it means "good news." Each gospel has a unique perspective and is directed toward a different a...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 14:1-5 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Lamb and the 144000." The number 144000, like the number of the beast, is symbolic rather than literal. God redeems the 144,000 from an irredeemable situation, and He separates them from those who are not redeemed. These redeemed are blameless! And yet they are not perfect humans, but rather they have been made...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 13:11-18 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Number of the Beast-666." The beast represents Satan's ways in our world. The good news is that satan is not triumphant against God's people. The number "666" is not literal, but symbolic. For Christians, this number is intended to make us aware that evil in high places can threaten our co...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew 28:5-7   is the text for this sermon entitled, "He Is Risen." Our text is Matthew 28:5-7. Listen to the old, old story of Jesus' resurrection from the dead and what it means for us today. Curtis takes us through the unique viewpoints of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John showing us how different people reacted to this miracle!

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 12:10-12 is the text for this sermon entitled, "Triumph over Satan." Our text today can motivate us to remember that the church and God’s people have and will ultimately triumph over Satan, the dragon. We will see what led to Satan's downfall and how we know he is defeated. Here are the four contributing factors: 1) Salvation - given to us by God on His t...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 13:1-10 is the text for this sermon entitled, "God's People Stand Their Ground." We learn from our biblical text abut the First Beast, and what it takes to stand up to him. This first beast (representing Satan’s ways in the world) are not ultimately triumphant against God’s people. The passage also reminds us that persecution and hard times will definitel...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 12:7-17 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The War in Heaven." There is so much going on in this narrative about the war that broke out in heaven. There was in heaven an ongoing battle, not just a sudden war. In our text for today, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. The dragon fought back. When we talk about Satan, he is pictu...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 12:1-6 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Woman, The Dragon, and the Child." This section of book of Revelation shows us that the church and God’s people will be victorious over Satan, the dragon.   We read about that three characters who appear in this part of the vision: the woman, the child, and the dragon. First, the woman: * The woman is clothed w...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 11:15-19  is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Seventh Trumpet (God's Great Power to Reign)". This passage in John's prophecy contrasts God's Kingdom with the kingdom of the world, a singular collection of all earthly kingdoms and what they represent). God will reign for ever and ever, in contrast to earthly kings that will reign only shor...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 11:1-14 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Measuring Rod." This passage recounts John's vision of the sixth trumpet sounding and the vision that comes with it. The vision is largely symbolic, not literal, and describes in sweeping terms what will happen to God's church. John received a measuring rod like a staff. God commands that John measur...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 10 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Mighty Angel and the Little Scroll." When the first mighty angel appears in 5:2, he asks John who is worthy to open the sealed scroll. Once the seventh seal is opened (8:1), that scroll is not mentioned until this chapter 10. Now, the mighty angel holds the little scroll. After making an oath to heaven, the angel d...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation 9 is the text for this sermon entitled, "The Seal of God on Their Foreheads." This passage teaches that being “marked” means we are one of God’s people, and we are protected from Satan and a sinful lifestyle. The Old Testament background for this imagery is found in Ezekiel 9:3-6 where only those with God's mark on their foreheads were spared death. Inter...