Matthew 5:2 (8/21/24)

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Matthew 5:2 (8/21/24)

Open Your Mouth

August 21, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Matthew 5:2

* The most familiar and popular sermon in history is the Semon on the Mount.

* The beatitudes - “Blessed are you…”

* Salt and Light

* Treatment of Enemies

* Judging Others

* It was Christ’s first public message.

* It opened up with Him talking about who we should be on the inside.

* Then he taught how it manifests on the outside.

* We should be “righteous” so we can be “salt and light.”

* Today, I noticed a phrase that was written by Matthew before Jesus spoke a word.

* I read it in the NAS, which is a “word for word” translation.

* vs 2 - “He opened His mouth and began to teach them…”

* Why would Matthew feel the need to tell us that He opened His mouth before He began teaching?

* That would be like me telling you a story about my first day at school and I tell you that my teacher “opened her mouth and taught us.”

* Of course she did - it goes without saying.

* I think it points to a valuable truth - Christ’s life preached the message before He spoke the message.

* He lived the message He preached.

* For the people who grew up around Jesus, if they heard His message on being gentle and merciful and pure - they would all say, “Yea, that’s who he is. We watched him help his poor neighbor. We saw Him help that old woman across the street. We never heard one foul word come out of his mouth.”

* Christ lived it before He preached it.

* Then, when the time was right - Jesus “opened His mouth!”

* Applied to the workplace, you should do such an amazing job for your customers and clients that they want to know what makes you tick.

* And when the time is right, you can “open your mouth” and share your faith.

* At your job, you can be such a great employee and teammate that when people ask you what makes you tick, you can “open your mouth” and tell them the truth!

* Two keys - Live and Look:

* Live the life that preaches a message of God’s goodness.

* Look for an opportunity to share about it.

* Faith comes by “hearing.”

* Jesus modeled this for us.

* Matthew recorded it so we’d have it.

* Now it’s our job to just go do it.

* Let’s live the truth, then speak the truth when the opportunity presents itself!

Mark 7:14-23 (10/2/24)

October 2, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Mark 7:14

* If we’re going to overcome sin, we need to understand it’s nature. * Jesus talked about this a lot. * He taught that sin grows from the inside-out, not the outside-in. * It’s more like a cancer than a germ. * In Bible times, they didn’t have science like we have it today. * We understand the difference between a germ and cancer. * A germ is contagious - it comes from the outside and infects you on the inside. * Cancer grows from the inside out and is not contagious. * Jesus challenged the religion of the Pharisees. * They did the right stuff on the outside, but inwardly, they were rotten. * They made a big deal out of rituals and outward observations, but not inward purity. * In their eyes, sin was more like a germ than cancer. * So Jesus broke up their paradigm. * He and His disciples ate food with dirty hands. * This broke the tradition of cleansing before you ate. * By doing this, Jesus showed that sin was a cancer, not a germ. * And that these Pharisees were cancerous. * vs 14-23 - What happens on the inside of your heart is what defiles you, not what you do on the outside. * You can play the part outwardly, but God sees what’s happening inwardly. * Character is doing what’s right as God defines right even if nobody knows it. * CAVAET - The only way something on the outside can defile you is if you don’t have the Holy Spirit flowing through you. * EX: Water hose in a muddy hole. * Be the same person in private that you are in public. * Just like David before he fought Goliath - he was faithful in the lion and bear stories. * Sin is a cancer, not a germ - make sure you stay pure privately.

Mark 8:14-21 (10/2/24)

October 2, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Mark 8:14–21

* God wants us to have “eyes that see.” * He wants us to see the spiritual through the physical. * Site is looking at the physical. * Insight is seeing the deeper meaning behind what you see. * God can give you insight if you open your eyes to the spiritual. * Jesus had just fed the 5k and the 4k and the disciples picked up lots of leftovers. * Then they left for another place to minister, but the disciples forgot to bring any of the bread. * Once they arrived the Pharisees came up to Jesus asking for a sign. * They didn’t operate by faith - they operated by logic. * Their theology was “seeing is believing.” * For a true believer, our theology is “believing is seeing!” * When it comes to true saving faith, belief always comes first, sight comes second. * So Jesus turns to His disciples and says: * vs 15 - “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod and the Herodians.” * He used a physical analogy to make a spiritual point. * Leaven as a noun is “a pervasive influence that modifies something or transforms it.” * As a verb, to leaven something is to “permeate, modify, or transform something.” * A leavening agent is “a substance that lightens and softens the mixture.” * Jesus didn’t want the thought patterns of the Pharisees and Herodians to penetrate the disciples’ minds, leaving them puffed up and soft in their faith. * Look at the two different mindsets: * The Pharisees were hypocrites - they said one thing and did another. * “The leaven of Herod wants self-realization rather than repentance; it looks for ways of self-affirmation rather than self-denial. Herod wanted to know Jesus, but on his own terms and without turning to Him as the definitive source. Herod wanted to listen to John, but on his own terms and without repenting.” -Ligoneer Ministries * Jesus knew these two mindsets would destroy the influence of a kingdom mindset in their culture, so He warned them against them. * Look how the disciples responded: * vs 16 - “They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.” * They were looking through their physical eyes. * Look how Jesus responded: * vs 17-21 - When He discerned they were still looking through physical eyes He reminded them of the leftovers. * It was as if Jesus was saying, “Do you remember what you got when you served the people first? Do you remember the amount of food you ended up with when you focused on doing My thing over your thing? You each ended up with way more than you could eat.” * The principle - if you look for and seek the spiritual God will always take care of the physical. * You’ll never have to worry about physical things again - let the Pharisees and Herodians do that. * Jesus will take care of those things for you. * Just keep your eyes focused on the spiritual. * Anytime you go through anything, always search for the spiritual principle first. * Ask what God is saying. * When you do this you will always find that the physical will take care of itself. * But if you only look at the physical you’ll miss the spiritual. * EX: I had a massive retaining wall fall at a commercial building we built years ago. My first reaction was the figure out a way to fix the wall, but God prompted me to look at what He was saying spiritually. * I did that and learned 12 things He was trying to say to me. * I also fixed the wall physically, but I came out on the other side a completely different man because I saw the spiritual.

Proverbs 31:8 (9/25/24)

September 25, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Proverbs 31:8

- Our job as believers is to mature in our faith - to grow spiritually strong. - Hebrews 5 - A buddy of mine is the CEO of Iron Sharpens Iron men’s ministry. - They teach that a real man is a real man is. - They use Prov 31:8-9 as the foundation. - vs 8-9 - “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” - What makes a R.E.A.L. man: - REJECTS PASSIVITY - he doesn’t sit idly by while bad things happen. - EX: Adam stood by while Eve conversed w/the serpant. - Deitrich Bonhoeffer - “It’s not enough to help hurting people. You have to stop the things that hurt them.” - John Stuart Mill in 1867 - “Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.” - A real man doesn’t wait for others to do what he knows he should do. - He operates by faith, not fear. - ENGAGES GOD DAILY - he has a vibrant personal relationship with the Lord. - Strength and Pursuit are linked - the more you pursue God the more you have His presence. - And when you have His presence you get His power. - A real man uses discipline to strengthen his relationship to God. - He goes to God before he goes to others. - ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY - Authority and Responsibility are linked. - If you want to keep your authority, stay in the place of your responsibility. - He understands his priorities and assumes ownership of them. - Modern Psychiatry calls a person who cannot take responsibility as someone suffering from a “character disorder.” - LEADS COURAGEOUSLY - he acts like a father. - 1 Corinthians 4:15 - “You have many teachers but few fathers.” - A father is willing to fight the wolves - he doesn’t run from them. - A real man is like David - he saw a giant too big to miss while everyone else saw a giant too big to fight. - A real man has a warrior spirit. - He stands for truth and doesn’t back down.