Page 4 - David Faust News Today

________ Rich Mullins played a song on his hammer dulcimer entitled “My One Thing.” When too many things occupy our attention, our devotion to Christ becomes compromised. The real, greater, fulfilled righteousness in Christ that Jesus taught about in the Sermon on the Mount should be our single focus. When it is, generosity will mark us, and worry will flee from us. Jesus was one of the most colorful speakers ever. In this latter half of Matthew 6, Jesus employed at least 18 different metap...

This “Application” column goes with the ________ Last spring my wife, Candy, put a decorative wreath on the front door of our house. A little brown wren decided the wreath would be a good place to build a nest. Some say it’s a sign of good luck when a bird builds a nest on your front door. To me, it meant there was going to be a mess on our porch. It was interesting, though, to watch the mother bird gather sticks, moss, grass, and straw, and weave them into a sturdy round nest tucked exp...

This “Application” column goes with the ________ Remember the part of the Lord’s Prayer that says, “Thine is the kingdom”? It’s tempting to say “mine” instead of “Thine.” Every day I have to choose between the kingdom of God and the chaos of self. Every day I need to ask, Am I in charge, or is God? Often I find myself trying to run my own little kingdom—the “kingdom of Dave.” I know that sounds ridiculous, but it won’t sound any better if you substitute your own na...

________ Lesson Aim: Focus on building character, who you are even in private, more than you focus on your reputation, what others think of you. ________ There is a subtle danger of letting your righteousness surpass that of the religious elite (Matthew 5:20) and in striving to be perfect (5:48). The danger is religious hypocrisy, which is the worst kind of hypocrisy. True kingdom people will do their best to live out the real, greater, fulfilled righteousness that Jesus spoke about in the six ...

________ 1. What new challenge did you face last week? 2. In what specific way did you live by Jesus’ higher standards over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 6:1-18 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. (After the reteller finishes, others can fill in any parts the person may have missed.) 3. In what ways are a person’s moti...

1. What challenge did you face or what blessing did you receive last week? 2. In what specific way did you “let your light shine before others” over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 5:17-22, 27-28, 31-35, 38-39, 43-48 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. (After the reteller finishes, others can fill in any parts the person...

________ After Israel was “baptized” in the Red Sea, they wandered in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). During that time they received God’s law on a mountain (Acts 7:38). Jesus retraced old Israel’s steps. He was baptized and tested in the wilderness (Matthew 3-4). Now it was time to give the new Israel (Matthew 4:18-22) a new law (of sorts). The Sermon on the Mount was probably the greatest sermon ever preached. It was the first of five sermons of Jesus recorded in Matthew. The s...

This “Application” column goes with the ________ In an episode of the TV show Seinfeld, Jerry’s friend George sits in the coffee shop bemoaning his bad luck. He says, “My life is the opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every aspect of life . . . it’s all been wrong.” Jerry’s advice? “If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.” George decides, “Yes, I will do the opposite. I used to sit here and do nothing, a...

________ 1. What challenge did you face last week? 2. In what specific way did you live, love, or serve like Jesus over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 5:1-16 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. 3. What worldviews do you see represented in Jesus’ teaching? 4. Let’s dig more deeply into the passage. • To whom is Jesus ...

This “Application” column goes with the ________ By David Faust Last December 31 when we celebrated the New Year, I told my wife, “2019 has been rough, but I have a good feeling about 2020. It’s going to be a great year!” Clearly, I don’t have the gift of prophecy. The year 2020 brought a global pandemic, racial strife, economic upheaval, and political turmoil. Someone joked that in the future 2020 will become a one-word catchphrase to describe a big mess. When asked, “How was y...