hey guys,
here's my outline for the message... You know me, I'm a big sermon on the mount guy, so I thought I'd do a sort of sequel to my last message (salt and light as relational evangelism). Something that hit me in the beginning of seminary is how Jesus' commands can sound so tough sometimes... but my ethics professor suggested that Jesus actually provides what he calls "transforming initiatives" to help break cycles of sin, thus making sin easier to conquer. Its a very "here and now" view of breaking sin that I love. So admittedly, the sermon will seem a little unfocused at the end... but I will try to focus on the fact that Jesus is a savior of the present and that by his word and power and method we are empowered to tackle sin a little bit at a time. I'll then go through some of the items in the Sermon on the Mount and show how kids can work at breaking down these walls bit by bit.
So the end will have a bunch of different applications that hopefully every youth can relate to a few of them. I think I'll try to rely on small groups for tackling those to get at the hearts of those issues more specifically.
LMK your thoughts
I. Being the salt and light… (“I want to be salt and light…”)
a. Relational (like last message)
b. But some of Jesus’ commands are so hard…
II. The impossibility of the law (“…but Jesus’ commands and Kingdom living can be tough… sometimes Jesus asks the impossible…”)
a. The Law, however, still remains
b. Points out sin and its consequences
c. Feels like we can never escape, living with guilt, unable to break free
III. Little Steps offered by Jesus – Kingdom living (Transformation) (Jesus commands might be tough, but he still offers little ways of breaking cycles, especially thinking about them relationally)
a. Jesus is the savior – here and now, transforming initiatives, empowers us with word and method
b. Keep relationship and covenant in mind
c. Highlighting some little ways from the sermon on the mount to be salt and light
i. Meekness
ii. Hunger for thirst and righteousness
iii. Merciful (and compassion)
iv. Peacemakers
v. Anger (reconciliation)
vi. Adultery (lust and such)
vii. Lying
viii. Retaliation
ix. Loving enemies
x. Almsgiving, fasting
xi. Do unto others and Love God, others
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Hey Brett... I like what you have here. It's actually kind of similar to what I was thinking of talking about next week (the difficulty of transformation).
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity... what do you mean by the relational aspect of breaking cycles? If small groups fits that descriptions... I might use your message as a springboard to announce small groups a little early. I'm getting antsy about getting a feel for who's interested, and staff-wise, we're not that far from being ready. I'd address it in my message as well, but your message could really hit home the point of needing relationships to grow spiritually.
As far as your message is concerned... my one suggestion would be to come up with one guiding principle that connects all of your application points. I just worry that if you just kind of list off those points from the sermon on the mount, it might feel like "more stuff I have to do" rather than "helpful ways to be salt an light." Does that make sense?
I would just say that if you're pointing out the struggle of living a kingdom life, you want to have a clear and livable solution. Or at least something that leaves them encouraged. I don't know... you just might want something more than little steps.
I'm not sure I'm right. Just a thought though.
hey brett,
ReplyDeletei think your overall idea is fine. i think its true that sometimes it seems like Jesus asks of us the impossible. we understand that Jesus is the Savior of the past, but not always the present, so that's a good point to drive home.
what do you mean by covenant in 3a? be sure to explain that through.
i would say be careful in point 3c. it might be a little too much. the kids could get a little lost there since there are so many different ideas and aspects. maybe it would be better to pick out a few and really draw the ideas out more thoroughly. then some of the other ones can be tackled in small groups.
hey guys, thanks for the comments.
ReplyDeletelet's see for relational - I was thinking that the underlying principle would be loving God and loving others, along with do unto others, sort of taking off from my last message. I could turn this one inward towards our own sin and helping ourselves and each other break those cycles and sin... so that can go well into accountability. I can also talk about breaking cycles by just talking about it (I mentioned that before)
I think definitely I'm gonna be cutting the list down. I just listed a bunch to choose from for now. I'll maybe focus on a few that are closest to my heart and then list the others on a ppt for discussion times
hey guys, I've been having trouble focusing on this message and I think I made it a little too divided on the following commands part.
ReplyDeleteSo I was rethinking tonight and I'm gonna still use the same passages, but focus on Jesus creating a Kingdom community.
So do unto others and love god and others is still there. That's the main idea. The Sermon on the Mount provides some ideas for what that looks like. Specifically, I'll focus on the ones that really divide community (anger, anti-peace, lust, and lying). They're hard no doubt, but I'll then focus on Jesus giving us initiatives to try and break those cycles to reinforce community.
But though our actions are geared around community (no man's an island), which puts pressure for sure. But that community is supposed to help each other (do unto others after all)
So... major rewrite tomorrow probably
This sounds good. It's definitely a little more focused. I think as long as you tie everything back to your main point (loving God and loving others), it's more coherent. Sow when you talk about all of the things that divide community and the transforming initiatives, you see how all these seemingly random things connect back to these basic commands. I like that.
ReplyDeleteContinue to be mindful of focus. It sounds like you have a lot of interesting information on the sermon on the mount. But keep it tight! Make sure all of your info connects back to your main idea. You did this really well in your last message.
I agree with Brandon. Be sure to have a main focus and always tie back to your main thought. Especially with something like the sermon on the mount, the temptation is to want to try and cover everything, but don't feel you have to do that. Really hit the aspects that are most meaningful and closest to your heart and that'll make your points stronger and even more personal. I think in talking about divison, really emphasize how devastating division can be which will then make the kingdom community that much more desirable
ReplyDelete