The Sermon on the Mount

1. Anxiety and Judgment

1.1. "Consider the lilies of the field"

1.2. What is Jesus' essential message about anxiety?

1.2.1. God always provides

1.2.2. But what about the existence of poverty?

1.2.3. Seek first God and righteousness, and all else will be provided

1.3. What is Jesus' essential message about judgment

1.3.1. Judgment can turn back upon you

1.3.2. Avoiding hypocrisy

1.3.2.1. Being able to EFFECTIVELY help each other

1.3.2.2. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism

2. The most important teachings of Jesus of Nazareth

2.1. Not a new law or moral teaching, but a guide to the heart of discipleship

3. Not theoretical but quite practical

3.1. Not an impossible ideal, but good news:

3.2. the news that the despair and death that rule the present age can be overcome through a life lived according to perfect love

4. Meaning and Importance

5. The Beatitudes and Blessings

5.1. What does it mean to be blessed?

5.1.1. COUNT your blessings!

5.2. "Blessed are those who mourn"

5.2.1. Grief is human, grief is natural

5.2.2. The soul beyond the body

5.3. "Blessed are the meek"

5.3.1. Why is it important to be meek? What does it mean?

5.3.2. What does it mean to inherit the Earth?

5.4. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness"

5.4.1. What is righteousness?

5.4.2. What does it feel like to hunger and thirst for it?

5.5. "Blessed are the pure in heart"

5.5.1. What does it mean to be pure at heart?