This week, Carrie Buckner explores Jesus’ teaching about the narrow path of discipleship and the danger of false teachers (Matthew 7:13-23 NIV). Drawing on the challenging imagery of wolves in sheep’s clothing and trees bearing good or bad fruit, he examines what it means to… Read More »The Path is Narrow
This week, Pastor Shaq Hager walks through Matthew 6:19-24, a portion of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus warns His disciples not to store up treasures for themselves. Because, where our treasure is, our hearts follow. Jesus challenges us to examine what we truly… Read More »Eye of the Heart
This week, Dr. Rafael Rodriguez, Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, talked about the way Jesus’s instructions to Ask, Seek, and Knock through prayer can feel really challenging. We can ask, we can seek, and we can knock, yet it oftentimes feels like… Read More »Oh Really?
This week, Julia Allan walks through Matthew 6:25–34, where Jesus commands His disciples, “Do not worry.” These words aren’t a shallow call to ignore anxiety or poverty, but an invitation to freedom from the illusion that our worth or security depends on what we produce, earn, or… Read More »Do Not Worry
Jesus’ command to love your enemies has fallen into disfavor. Christians who align with progressive political ideals and Christians who identify with conservative political goals have come, in many cases, to hate their political opponents and consider that hatred righteous. After all, if we view… Read More »Love Your Enemies
This week, Pastor Dennis Allan focuses on what it means for Jesus’ people to be t non-violent people who tell the truth. In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus outlines why His people shouldn’t make “oaths,” but instead simply allow their “yes” to mean “yes” and their “no” to… Read More »Non-violent Truth-tellers
This week, Carrie Buckner explores Jesus’ words on murder and lust in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-30 NIV). While it can seem like Jesus might be talking about two separate moral issues, He’s actually describing one: the way we view, think about, and… Read More »The State of Our Hearts
What did Jesus mean when He said, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven”? (Matthew 5:20 NIV). Does this really mean we have to… Read More »Fulfilling the Law
This week, Pastor Shaq Hager continues our series on the Sermon on the Mount by focusing on the way in which Jesus informs His disciples that they’re salt and light in the world. The implication for the disciples is clear. Their lives are to be… Read More »Salt and Light
This week, we started a new twelve week series on the Sermon on the Mount. Dennis Allan talked through Matthew 4:23-5:12 (NIV), describing the way Jesus’ sermon is an announcement of the Gospel, the good news that a new King is being enthroned and a… Read More »The Beatitudes