This begins our third month of walking through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 through 7) on the weekends and the rest of the book of Matthew on weekdays. Our hope is that you have come to see Jesus in new ways through this journey. If this is your first time to pick up and use one of these guides, it’s a great time to get jump in! In the previous two guides, we’ve provided some ways for you to engage with the scripture reading for each day. After reading the passage, we’ve given you some simple ways to reflect on what you have just read, an idea for how you might respond in obedience, and some thoughts on how you might pray and grow in your relationship with Jesus based on what you have read. Read, Reflect, Respond, Relationship – it’s a pretty simple framework that you can use anytime you read the Bible.

One of the goals for this series is for us to develop some new habits. When we wrap up our study of the Sermon on the Mount, you can continue to study the Bible by choosing a passage and then use simple questions to discovery what a says and how you can obey it. This is a lifelong journey!

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>>Read– Each day you will be reading from the Gospel of Matthew. Find a quiet place where there aren’t many distractions. Focus on listening to God through what you read.

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>>Reflect– After you read through the passage, take a few minutes and think about what you just read. Ask God to help you hear his voice clearly. Write down your reflections.

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>>Respond – This is the time to obey God and follow Jesus’ example. Ask God to give you the courage to immediately put into practice that which you have learned.

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>>Relationship – God is our Heavenly Father who wants to hear from you. We can do this through prayer, as we talk and listen to God. But he also wants us to share what we have learned with others. This part of your experience is about talking with God and with others.

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>>Real Life– Several times a week, you’ll hear from a real-life friend from the Crossroads family. They are people just like you, learning to listen to and obey Jesus. We are on this journey together!

On August 4, 2018 we said yes to a lifelong commitment to each other surrounded by people who had cheered us on through the fun and challenging parts of dating. It was also in this season that so many others who had lived the married life longer than us shared their experiences so that we could learn from them; don’t forget to put the toilet seat down, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, etc.

We use these somewhat humorous examples because, although they are funny, we didn’t realize how challenging some of these very simple things would be. Quickly we found ourselves butting heads and judging the simplest of things the other one did. Never would we have imagined judging each other over things like how one should take a drink or leaving the fridge wide open and walking away (welcome to real life lol).

As you look through the beginning of Matthew 7, Jesus is challenging those He is teaching to search their own hearts first before quickly judging someone else. We learned rather quickly how easy it was to judge the little things the other one did without putting our pride aside to see where we were at fault. Verse 3 says, “Why worry about the speck in your friend’s eye, when you have a log in your own?” It is so easy for us in our daily life to judge those around us and almost not even notice that we are doing it. We can focus so much on what we think others should be doing or how they should be doing it, that we don’t pay any attention to what we should be doing ourselves. Friends, this is dangerous ground to walk on, especially as followers of Christ.

As an imperfect couple, we are still learning daily what it looks like to focus on how we can grow before forcing change on the other person. Jesus reminds us in these verses to get rid of the speck, or things in our life that are hindering us from a deeper relationship with Christ, before we try and tell someone else what they need to get rid of. This theme of judgment has many words tacked on behind it. Our judgment of others does not come without selfishness, pride, arrogance, ignorance, and deceit. I believe we all need this daily reminder to walk in humility as it is only because of God’s grace we are made aware of our sin. Only in this can we truly be the body of Christ, fully united for God’s purpose to bring Him glory.

>> REFLECT –

Why do you think we are so prone to be judgmental toward others? Have you ever caught yourself trying to make yourself appear better by judging others?

>> RESPOND –

Jesus is not teaching that we should universally accept every lifestyle and every idea. But there are ways we can go against Jesus’ teaching here. Read the lines below and put a check mark beside anything that trips you up. Come back to this list at the end of each day and do some self evaluation.

Have I thought the worst of others?

Do I only speak of someone’s faults?

Have I judged someone’s life by their worst moments?

Do I judge the hidden motives of others?

Have I judged others without being mindful that I will also be judged?

>> RELATIONSHIP –

Take some time and confess to God any sin in this area. If you have harshly judged someone, ask God to show you if you need to do any repair work on that relationship.

These two lovebirds have been married for a little over a year and are the happy dog parents of Piper and PJ. As our Crossroads West Campus Family Ministries Director, Ross, and his wife Raychel, are both F.J. Reitz High School graduates. They consider themselves blessed to be able to invest back into the west-side community of Evansville, that God has used to grow them over the years. Ross and Raychel especially enjoy serving on the worship team, hanging out with middle school and high school students, and watching The Office.

>> REFLECT –

>>RESPOND – Take some time right now to commit verses 37 and 38 to memory. Ask God to create a clear opportunity for you to share it with someone.

>>RELATIONSHIP –

>> REFLECT –

>>RESPOND –

Jesus, in describing the religious leaders, points out a number of ways that those in positions of influence can get things wrong. Who are some of the spiritual leaders in your life? Take some time and write their names below. Pray for them, that God would protect them from selfishness and hypocrisy. Bonus: send a note or a text of encouragement and prayer to one of people on your list.

>> RELATIONSHIP –

>> REFLECT –

>> RESPOND –

>> RELATIONSHIP –

Pray the bold prayer from Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

>> REFLECT –

This is one of the most challenging chapters in all of the Bible! In verse 3, the disciples ask Jesus two questions:

1. When will this (the destruction of the temple) happen?

2. What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Today’s passage deals mainly with the first question. History tells us that the things Jesus predicted happened before the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. What is your response to the fact that God holds history in his hands?

>>RELATIONSHIP –

>> RESPOND –

The key to this passage is verse 44. For Christians, this is not a scary thought! In fact, we’re told in 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 that when Jesus returns, we will be with him forever. “Therefore, comfort one another with these words.” Write “Therefore, keep watch” from verse 42 on a note card and put it someone where you will see it often. Each time you see it, ask God to help you live today with your eternal future in mind.

>> RELATIONSHIP –

To continue this walk through the Book of Matthew, go to the next event in this series. There will be a new event each weekend throughout our current sermon series, "The Sermon On The Mount."