Posted on 11/14/2020 2:10:26 PM PST by Faith Presses On
This is just a question I've had on my mind for awhile and now that I'm posting it, I've thought to ask it here.
For how many people has the Sermon on the Mount been very influential in getting them to see their need for Christ?
It was for me, I will say, as I became an adult and began to read the Gospels frequently. But even as a child, hearing such verses, as the ones about not judging, forgiving others, and loving one's enemies.
Nope. More like the Ten Commandments.
Yes
It’s all about HIS resurrection from beyond !!! and to show us the way !
Yes, they did for me too. Thanks for mentioning them.
A better question would be why you accepted Christ as Lord and savior. All things considered, a hard question to answer.
Specifically:
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.* Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[n]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
*I have never looked at birds the same since embracing these passages. When I am worried (as I am now since losing my job and haven't been able to find one in 5 months), I just go out and birdwatch and remember God's promises.
It was really mostly a group of Christian kids I saw in high school. They were both nice and took a lot of crap/mocking from the other cool kids and didn’t react. So I decided that’s the group I wanted to hang out with. Ironically, becoming a Christian for me had little to do with theology, I just saw kids following a better way.
Not particularly. I was raised on or with Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible that was read to me as a small child and then gifted to me as soon as I could read. I see it’s now available as an audio book.
So I was exposed to a great deal of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. There was a particular moment when I came to Christ, but it was not based on a text, really.
I figured I need to find out more about "this Jesus thingy". I was born again at 42 yo. The doctor couldn't explain what happened and declared it must be a miracle.
Since then I have seen several miracles. My last was 2 weeks ago in church. A couple had a wreck on a motorcycle and the wife was crippled severely and was in a wheel chair. Her pelvis was injured and she shook like CP and couldn't walk for 2 years. She came up for prayer for about the 200th time and a team laid hands on her with anointing oil and prayer and she got out of her chair and walked to her car in the parking lot. The next day she was running and skipping and dancing with no tell tale signs of anything ever being wrong. I've seen brain bleeds stop, cancers disappear, and all sorts of injuries healed. One I didn't see but know the person it happened to was killed in a train/ truck collision. He had several broken bones and his skull was torn open and brain matter was coming out a 9 inch gash. He was declared dead 7 times from the accident site to the ER in Houston. At the ER they were able to restart his heart and start breathing for him. He went to Heaven and spoke with Jesus, but Jesus told him he had to go back to be a witness for Him and tell us that the time is short for us. He was in about 2 years of rehab and was kept in a coma for about 4 months of that to lower the swelling in his brain. The doctors said if he wakes up he will be a vegetable. His mother never stopped praying for him even though family and friends told her to "Let him go". He's fine today and you can't even see the scars. He went to college and got a degree and is in the church I go to and comes to my home Bible studies each week. His story is recounted in a book about NDE's but I can't remember the name. This all happened about 25 years ago. He was on pain relievers for a few years, but he takes none today. He's the happiest man I've ever seen. He worked for years as a prison guard and witnessed to everyone that would listen. He's a truck driver now.
I was an agnostic at the time, but had an opportunity
to travel to Israel. Standing in the same hillside Jesus gave The Sermon on the Mount affected me in a strong way. It helped push me toward salvation.
No, he appeared to me in a dream!
No.
But the Sermon has been used by liberals and progressives to justify increased social spending and other cultural mandates by big government.
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