How Christ Thought - Week 1

Session 1 

Writing to the Jews about Jesus being the fulfillment of all of the prophecies of Scripture (the Old Testament, for them), 

Matthew records the genealogy of Jesus, the circumstances surrounding His birth, His baptism and His temptation in the desert. Then he writes about His message.

In Matthew 4:17, Jesus begins His preaching ministry by saying, “…Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Without going into a detailed definition of the kingdom of heaven, just know that Jesus was telling the people that His presence was the embodiment of that kingdom.

Next, Jesus called twelve men to drop what they were doing, forsake their occupations and families and to follow Him. 

Jesus demands no less from us today. If we are to be His, we must totally “sellout” to Him. He is not interested in some compartmentalized part of your life, He wants it all or nothing.

Without going into detail, Matthew states that Jesus went to many places, healed many people and drew very large crowds.

The next thing Matthew gives us is an account of Jesus longest recorded sermon. Interestingly, it can be read in its entirety in 10 or 15 minutes. In this sermon you will find great insights into how Jesus thought; that is: His mind set. 

Here is a brief outline of what we call The Sermon on the Mount.

A.               How we should think (the Beatitudes) – Matthew 5:3-12

    1.                There are ten of them (if you count verse 12 as one…which it is).

    2.                They speak of recognizing one’s spiritual condition.

B.                Who we are

    1.                Salt

    2.                Light

C.                How Jesus fulfilled the Law and Prophesy

    1.                The Law is perfect and those who break it (which includes all of us) are doomed

    2.                We must be better than the Pharisees and teachers of the Law to be saved.

D.               Examples from the Law

    1.                Murder

    2.                Adultery

    3.                Divorce

    4.                Oaths

    5.                Revenge

    6.                Loving the unlovable

E.                Having a giving heart

   1.                Humble, even secret giving

   2.                Seeking no recognition

F.                Prayer

    1.                Not for show or to impress others

    2.                The form of prayer

        a)                Worship

        b)                Submission

        c)                Petition  

        d)                Forgiveness

        e)                Deliverance (salvation)

        f)            Praise

G.               Fasting

    1.                Not for show or to impress others

    2.                Humbly

H.               Your relationship to physical things

    1.                Focus on heaven

    2.                Use them to serve Christ

I.                 Worry

    1.                Don’t be concerned with things

    2.                Have faith that God will provide what you really need

J.                 Judging others

    1.                Let God do the judging of another’s heart

    2.                Understand your own spiritual needs

K.               Trusting in God’s provision

    1.                Ask, seek and knock

    2.                Treat others like you want to be treated

L.                Few will really follow Christ

    1.                The road with the most people on it leads to destruction

    2.                The road to eternal life is very narrow: it is Jesus or nothing

M.               Warning about false prophets

    1.                Wolves in sheep’s clothing

    2.                Right doctrine is extremely important. Weed out those who teach untruth

N.               Wisdom

    1.                Build on sand – die

    2.                Build on the Rock who is Christ – live eternally