Opening Prayer - Heavenly Father we are truly thankful for all of the blessings and difficulties we have experienced in 2014. Thank you for being in control and allowing us to trust Your plans for our lives. Please help us to put You first in 2015 by saying, thinking, and doing what You want. A New Year without Jesus is a very bad idea. We thank You for the oppertunity to learn about Your Word. We pray that you will help us to understand these verses in Matthew so we can fulfill our purpose in life. May everyone who tunes in this evening receive a blessing and learn from your Word and be able to apply what we have learned in our daily lives. We're eternally thankful for this ministry, and we pray that we can share these websites with others and many people can begin to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Worship music - Please click the links and sing along if you know the words (You can also click skip ad to go straight to the songs) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIol4aENNEw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgkZznGP3dY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXrL-Z44KHc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNfbpDcHZ7k
For Wednesday evening services, the Lord has lead me to do a Bible study for practical Bible verses in Matthew. Please come back to these Bible lessons in order to review them and learn them. Whenever we have learned the meaning of Bible verses and think about them throughout each day, we will be in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Not only that, but when we are in a situation in our daily lives and are tempted to sin, we can think back to what we have learned from the Bible and say to ourselves, "The Bible says to not do what I am tempted to say, think, or do right now, so I am going to refuse to give in to this temptation." This is what Romans 12:2 means, and it says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." This is also the pattern that Jesus used when the devil tempted Him to sin in Matthew 4:1-11.
Chapter 5
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Matthew chapters 5-7 are Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 4:17 means if someone wants to go to Heaven, they need to be willing to repent (change the way they live and think) from this moment on. Matthew chapters 5-7 explains how someone needs to be willing to live and think, from this moment on, if they want to repent and go to Heaven. Also, if someone wants to get saved, they need to be consciously or unconsciously willing to follow (imitate and obey) Jesus "from that moment on and for the rest of their life". If someone is not willing to live the way Jesus' Sermon on the Mount explains, they are not willing to follow (imitate and obey) Jesus. Therefore, that person is not ready to become a Christian by trusting Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase their sins and let them into Heaven. For more information about being willing to follow Jesus and it's relationship to salvation, please see these websites - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/nocontridiction and http://chriswaug5.wix.com/theanswer
Matthew 5:13
13Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
If you are not willing "from this moment on" to put your best effort into doing the type of things Jesus did and thinking the way He thought while He was on the earth, your efforts will be useless to Jesus. Your efforts will be useless like salt that has lost it's flavor. If your plans are to believe in Jesus so you will go to Heaven, but you aren't willing to imitate and obey Jesus, you are wasting your time. A similar section is taught in Revelation 3:15–22, which means if you are lukewarm (halfhearted and not fully giving Jesus your best), Jesus will spew you out of His mouth. In other words, when people do not put 100% into living the Christian life, it makes Him sick to His stomach. I promise you, this is not a good position to be in.
(Please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure if you have prayed or made a decision to trust Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase your sins and let you into Heaven, but you are not living these ways.)
Matthew 5:14-16
14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Your good works cause people to marvel at the goodness of God and the change, peace, and the real purpose for being alive that He has developed in your life so much that they will long for a relationship with His Son, who made all of these things possible.
(Please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure if you have prayed or made a decision to trust Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase your sins and let you into Heaven, but you are not living these ways.)
If you have not prayed or made a decision to get saved, and you would like to get saved right now, please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven