In our final sermon on our series on the Sermon on the Mount we are looking at Jesus' closing remarks. Following what he has laid out is like building your house on solid ground, and it will sustain through the storms. Ignore what He's said and it's like building a house on sand. When a storm comes it will collapse.

Continuing our Kingdom Ambassador series, as we are finishing up in Chapter 7 of the Sermon on the Mount, we get to a place where Jesus again challenges the mentality of righteousness obtained by good works and righteousness obtained through Him. Our good works will never outweigh the scales of our wrongs, even if we've lived "pretty good lives". We must have the righteousness of Christ made available to us through his death and resurrection!

In part 2 of True or False we look at what it means to bear good fruit. If Jesus says beware those who produce bad fruit, then we should both be on the lookout for those producing good fruit, and we ourselves, recognize that we are meant to produce good fruit. What does that look like? What is good fruit? And how does it grow?

Sometimes Jesus would bring a strong word of warning. In Matthew 7:15 he tells his followers to beware those who would come preaching and prophesying something other than the truth of God. "Beware the false prophets!" He says. Was that just for that time? Are there false prophets today? Is this just a warning against those who would call themselves "prophets", or is there more to it?

Most people don't argue with you when you say life is hard. And most people agree that the "easy way out" isn't always the best way. So, when Jesus says that it's actually the hard road that leads to a narrow gate that leads to life, should we be all that surprised? On the other side of remaining comfortable is usually where we find our greatest breakthrough in life. Big decisions make for big steps forward. Hard choices face us all the time. And this is most true when talking about the Kingdom of Heaven and what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus, who said, "If you want to be my disciple, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Me."

Starting our new series, Kingdom Ambassadors, we are looking at what Jesus says in Matthew 7:12, what we often call "The Golden Rule". Jesus wasn't the first to say something like this, and he wasn't the last either, but the message of Jesus is not only good information, it's the Good News! It's the gospel that transforms lives. The Love of God, expressed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit is what gives us the ability to love God, and love others. We love because he loved us first!