Sermon Notes

What were Jesus’ listeners experiencing prior to the Sermon on the Mount?

What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: There is no one who is righteous, not even one;

This introduction has plenty apocalyptic language in it, but the apocalypses that are referred to are ones of the past. There is a huge transition of some 3,600 years’ time from present to past. If you are not careful, you will miss it. The transition is made in the original text at verse 20. So, what two apocalyptic events (God’s Divine Judgment) could Paul be referring to? Two stories fit the descriptions:

The term lather, rinse, and repeat was developed by Proctor & Gamble to be placed as directions for how one was to clean their hair using their product. Interestingly enough, the reason for this wasn’t because they were concerned you needed clean hair but rather you would return more frequently to purchase your next bottle. Washing your hair every day actually can damage your hair.

How many of us exercise our bodies? What happens to our body when we exercise less and less? While God does make people of different shapes and sizes, there is definitely a difference between “being the way God made you” and “being out of shape”. The one is healthy while the other is not.

Picking up where we left off last week, we have Jesus in our story today at the same Colonnade that Peter and John would heal the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. I think we need to pay attention to these two stories, because the mood of the crowd had changed little over the months in this area.