The Mount // Week 11 // - Kingdom Expectations

1.What are your EXPECTATIONS of God?

Matthew 7:7-11 NIV 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

1 John 5: 14-15 NIV 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

What are your EXPECTATIONS of GOD?

What are your EXPECTATIONS for the GRIND?

Matthew 7:12-14 NIV

12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it

John 16:33 NIV 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

1 Peter 4:12 NIV 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

James 1:2-4 NIV 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Romans 8:17- 18 NIV 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

What are your EXPECTATIONS of GOD?

What are your EXPECTATIONS of the GRIND?

What are your EXPECTATIONS of GROWTH?

Matthew 7:15-20 NIV 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

John 15:1-5 NIV 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Galatians 5:22-23a NIV 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

What are your EXPECTATIONS of God?

What are your EXPECTATIONS of the GRIND ?

What are your EXPECTATIONS of GROWTH?

The Mount //Week 9// Worry in God's Kingdom

Matthew 6:25-27 NIV 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?

Learn from the Fowls - Trust God’s Provision

Matthew 6:26a NIV

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.

Matthew 6:26b-27 NIV

Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Ephesians 2:10 NIV 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 NLT 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Matthew 6:28-29 NIV

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.

Learn from the Fowls - Trust God’s Provision

Learn from the Flowers - Trust God’s Process

Matthew 6:28-29 NIV

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.

Matthew 6:30-32 NIV 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.

Learn from the Fowls - Trust God’s Provision

Learn from the Flowers - Trust God’s Process

Learn from Your Firsts - Trust God’s Principles and Practices

Matthew 6:33 NIV

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Tzedakah (צדקה): Justice, Generosity, Caring for the poor, Restoring shalom, Living rightly within community.

Matthew 6:34 NIV

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Learn from the Fowls - Trust God’s Provision

Learn from the Flowers - Trust God’s Process

Learn from Your Firsts - Trust God’s Principles and Practices

The Mount // Week 8 // Misconceptions of Storing, Seeing & Serving

Pastor Ashley Wilkerson

Matthew 6:19-21 NIV 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

YOUR STORING - Recognize what you value.

Matthew 6:21 NIV 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

YOUR STORING - Recognize what you value.

YOUR SEEING - Recognize your worldview.

Matthew 6:22-23 NIV 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Ayin Tovah - Hebrew Idiom of “Good Eye”: Refers to the practice of seeing the world through a perspective of generosity and compassion; focusing on the good.

Ayin Ra’ah - Hebrew Idiom of “Bad Eye”: Refers to the practice of seeing the world through scarcity, selfishness, greed, envy; focusing on the negative.

Matthew 6:24 NIV 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

YOUR STORING - Recognize what you value.

YOUR SEEING - Recognize your worldview.

YOUR SERVING - Recognize your devotion.

Deuteronomy 8:18a NIV 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…

1 Timothy 6: 2b-10 NIV

2b These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Hebrews 13:5 NIV 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

YOUR STORING - Recognize what you value.

YOUR SEEING - Recognize your worldview.

YOUR SERVING - Recognize your devotion.

The Mount // Week 7 // Fasting In God's Kingdom

Pastors JF & Ashley Wilkerson

Matthew 6:16–18 NIV 16“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

1. FASTING EXPOSES WHAT’S RUNNING US

Daniel 1:14-20 NIV 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. 18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

1. FASTING EXPOSES WHAT IS RUNNING US

2: FASTING REORDERS OUR APPETITES

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NIV 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Matthew 5:6 NIV 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

1. FASTING EXPOSES WHAT IS RUNNING US

2. FASTING REORDERS OUR APPETITES

3. FASTING REALIGNS US WITH THE SPIRIT

Matthew 4:1–4 NIV

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Isaiah 58:6–7 NIV

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

1. FASTING EXPOSES WHAT IS RUNNING US.

2. FASTING REORDERS OUR APPETITES.

3. FASTING REALIGNS US WITH THE SPIRIT.

The Mount //Week 6//Praying in God’s Kingdom

Matthew 6:5-8 NIV 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:5 NIV 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

hypokrites (ὑποκριτής), which literally translates to "an actor" or "a stage player.”

Taking on His Heart … NOT Putting on a Show

Matthew 6:2 NIV 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.

Matthew 6:16 NIV 16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Taking on His Heart … NOT Putting on a Show

Checking Your Intent … NOT Your Invisibility

Matthew 6:6 NIV 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:7 NIV 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:9-13 NIV 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation ,but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:14-15 NIV 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Taking on His Heart … NOT Putting on a Show

Checking Your Intent … NOT Your Invisibility

Letting forgiveness be Transformational … NOT Transactional

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Taking on His Heart … NOT Putting on a Show

Checking Your Intent … NOT Your Invisibility

Letting forgiveness be Transformational … NOT Transactional

The Mount //Week 4// The Heart of God’s Kingdom

Matthew 5:17 NIV 17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

The Hebrew word: תּוֹרָה (Torah) Does not merely mean “law.”

It more literally means: instruction; teaching; guidance.

Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Law - The Law Correctly Understood and Represented

Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Law - The Word Correctly Understood and Represented

Jesus is the Lens of the Law - He Brings Clarity to What God’s Heart Has Always Been

Matthew 5:18 NIV 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Psalm 19:7–10 NIV 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

Matthew 5:19-20 NIV 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

God is not looking for managed behavior.

He’s looking for transformed hearts.

Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Law - The Law Correctly Understood and Represented

Jesus is the Lens of the Law - He Brings Clarity to What God’s Heart Has Always Been

3. Jesus Points Out the Process of the Law - It Always Starts In Our Hearts

Matthew 5:21-26 NIV

21“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. 25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Matthew 5:27-29 NIV 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Jeremiah 31:33 NIV 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Ezekiel 36:26–27 NIV 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Romans 8:1-4 NIV 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Matthew 5:48 NIV Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Law - The Law Correctly Understood and Represented

Jesus is the Lens of the Law - He Brings Clarity to What God’s Heart Has Always Been

Jesus Points Out the Process of the Law - It Always Starts in Our Hearts