Verse 14 "for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Wow don't hear that a lot. Maximum effort all of God.

Thankful to know that a life built upon the Word of God is reinforced and guaraunteed. I pray we would have the confidence to live boldly according the these words of Christ having built upon the foundation of His sacrifice and His admonishment to purity, piety, holiness, and prayer.

There are a lot of influences to lay off, but Jesus promises endurance to us when we need His words. That's a better "promise" than anyone else is offering!

Thankful for the reassurance of this passage.

Just gets better and better! Gods word! Wow! I know it but I love to read it again again! Sometimes I tender to judge other but I get convicted! I need to love and speak in love! I pray for my family who aren’t saved to really follow Jesus and have a relationship w him!

Treat others with respect and, don’t let appearances like the way someone dresses and where they talked define how you treat them and how you think about them! Sometimes things aren’t as they seem and we need to just let God be the judge over it!

vs. 3 “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye.”
A lot of times it is really easy for me to only notice the things that other’s are doing wrong, and I don’t go back and examine my own life, and my own sin. This is a great reminder that I too am a sinner & I need to be aware of what is going on in my life first and foremost.

Thankful for the truth in vv. 7-11 that God is a good Father who wants to give us what we need. So when we pray for things we need we can be confident He will give them. He has already proven His love for us by giving His Son (Rom. 8:32) so we can be sure He will give us exactly what we need to live this life in the Kingdom of His Son that he has rescued us into!

verse 15 is also a call to be discerning. Compare that teacher's words with the Word of God and see how the teaching affects the life of the hearer. Does it encourage godly living and conformity to Christ? We can avoid much heartache if we are not following a false teacher

Wow, such richness through all of this scripture. In v. 28, it states that the crowds were astonished by what Jesus was saying and He was the one who spoke with authority, not the scribes. Jesus quoted only God's Word which is the final authority on truth. Am I ever astonished by a sermon? I need to carefully consider the content (God's truth), not the delivery, and not only meditate on it, but be obedient to those truths. Many in the crowds considered what Jesus said, but did they enter the narrow gate? I must do this daily.

Theme summary:
We must not be hypocrites who will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but do the will of Christ's Father, judging ourselves rightly and fleeing from sin, looking to our Father in faith who gives good gifts to those who ask him, doing to others as we wish them to do toward us, and recognizing hypocritical teachers by their fruits. The wise will hear and act on these sure teachings of Jesus, while fools perish.

The warnings here and in the chapter 6 against hypocrisy are serious. There is a genuine faith, and Christ expounds on what that looks like. There are also hypocrits who would say they have faith, but their actions show otherwise, and will be told to depart as workers of lawlessness. Let us judge ourselves rightly, and go to the Father in faith!

After reading through chapters 5 and 6 of the Matthew and considering all that Jesus expects of us in the Sermon on the Mount, I am very thankful for vv. 7-11 of chapter 7. We need help, wisdom and strength to live the Christian life. Jesus says, "just ask!"

this reminds me of the parable of the talents. baring fruit, hypocritical judging. building on His truth not the worlds.

Isn't Christ amazing! You could spend days contemplating the wonderful truth contained in the Sermon on the mount. I was struck by one of Jesus' closing exhortations...we need to take action, we need to build our house on the solid rock. In verse 24, Jesus tell His hearers they must "do them" referring to the words He just spoke and anyone who doesn't is a foolish man who builds his house on sand. We all need to take greater care to ensure we order our lives around being obedient to what Jesus says.

5 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house,

This happens to everyone. "Only" the one who built/trust/surrended his life to the sustainer of it "will prevail."

Based on verses 7-11 I gather that it depends on how good we think our Father is as to how much we will ask. That is convicting. How much do I really ask?
And verse 23 presents the scariest reality imaginable for those who think they have something (salvation) only to find out too late that they do not. I need to be diligent to rightly represent the gospel so that I would never lead someone astray. And I need to lovingly warn people so that they will rightly evaluate what they have or do not have.

We must remember that the log in our own eyes obscure correct vision, why are they so easy to ignore!? Lord, I pray that I would be searching always for my many logs, and working continuously to remove them that I may see You more clearly, and that I encourage and welcome others who lovingly point out my sins to help me turn away from them, not take a prideful turn away from their counsel.

In verses 24-27 when it is talking about what to build your house on the rock is Jesus and the sand is Satan. If you stand on Jesus you will be firm, but if you stand on Satan you shift and slide and fall. You will also die.

Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian. So therefore when Jesus comes back people who thought they were are really not.

"Whoever hears these words of mine and does them". It is not enough to hear Jesus' words and understand them, or agree with them, or affirm them, or consider them. Jesus is pretty clear that we have to do them. If we don't, we will not be ready when the storms of life come.

We must be in a right repentant relationship with Jesus before we can correct our brother in love, but make no mistake, we are called to correct our brothers in the faith. We will know our brothers by their fruit, and this is a judgment call that does not go against verse one, because Christ calls us to discern dogs and swine in verse 6 along with fruit in verse 16. Jesus states there are few who find the narrow way; I should not be discouraged when my evangelism seems fruitless.

Still today the landscape is littered with false prophets of false gospels. Jesus points out that they are there to feast on the sheep. They are callously exploiting people for their own wealth and prestige. The ones who they have deceived need compassionate help and knowledge of Christ.

Verses 15-20, reminds me of the Spurgeon quote, "Half obedience is whole disobedience." It is black & white to me that the "fruit" of our lives should be righteous, good fruit. We cannot dabble here and there in sin or the world, and expect to remain righteously fruit bearing.

Thanks for passing the FAT and sharing the SALT