Traders Point Christian Church (Audio)

In John 3, Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus—a man who appears to have it all together from the outside, but Jesus knows what’s going on underneath the surface. We can fool a lot of people, yet all of us are guilty of holding back a portion of ourselves or not revealing all that’s going on inside our hearts. Jesus looks past the exterior to what’s underneath. The only way to have a relationship with Him is to be completely remade, to start over and be born again. Jesus didn’t come to reform; He came to completely transform.Aaron Brockett • Jesus Is • John 3:1-21

Many of us would say we want safety and security, but we often experience the opposite. In John 10, Jesus describes Himself as the Gate. If we want all that God has for us, Jesus is the door that we must go through. When we walk through that door and hear His voice, He promises three things: we will be saved, we will come and go freely and find good pastures, and we will have a rich and satisfying life. A full life means having peace, having joy, having God.Ryan Bramlett • Jesus Is • John 10:1-10

The theme of shepherd and sheep is one that runs throughout the Bible. Jesus came to be the Good Shepherd. He sacrificed it all for us, even His life, and He’s motivated by love. To God, we’re not a number. We’re not what we can do or what we can produce. He calls us by name. How can we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd? We turn down the volume of the world and find silence in God’s presence. He knows us, and He wants a relationship with us.Ryan Bramlett • Jesus Is • John 10:11-18

Jesus concludes His Sermon on the Mount with a parable about foundations. Storms are inevitable, and the best time to prepare for them is before they come. We are all building a life. Our daily decisions, choices, and routines are the hammer and nails, assembling the shape of what our lives will ultimately be. A wise builder understands the cumulative effect of choices, big and small, and applies wisdom frequently to each one. Jesus calls us to build our foundations with wisdom.Aaron Brockett • MasterClass • Matthew 7:24-29

As the Sermon on the Mount nears the end, Jesus warns us about people who pretend to be something they’re not. We not only have to watch out for external threats from false prophets; we have to watch out for the false prophets within ourselves. How do we change our hearts to be real? We face our reality boldly, tell ourselves the brutal truth, and choose to be broken before God and someone else. God wants to know us and be known by us.
Aaron Brockett • MasterClass • Matthew 7:15-23

Jesus has preached a message to His disciples on some very heavy topics. As we allow His words to equip and empower us, we come to realize that spiritual growth is often harder than we expected. We have an enemy who wants to tempt and distract us from growing closer to Jesus, and Jesus tells us the answer is prayer. He teaches us to pray for our spiritual lives by continuing to ask, seek, and knock. The Kingdom of God begins in our hearts.
Kyle Riley • MasterClass • Matthew 7:7-14

As Jesus teaches His disciples what it looks like to live in the kingdom of God in His famous Sermon on the Mount, He dives straight to our hearts, and His teaching on judging others is no different. Jesus isn’t saying there’s never a time to make a judgment call or to be discerning, but He does challenge us to judge rightly. To do that, we must see ourselves and others clearly, and seeing clearly begins in our hearts.
Ryan Bramlett • MasterClass • Matthew 7:1-6

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus exclaiming to His followers that God has so much more for us than the brokenness so prevalent in our world today. From His teaching on treasure and material possessions, Jesus now digs a little deeper into that topic by showing us how disordered priorities and misguided affections are often the cause of much of the worry we face in this life. Instead of just a command to “stop worrying,” Jesus invites us into a life of freedom and abundance.
Aaron Brockett • MasterClass • Matthew 6:25-34

Prayer may be the most universal spiritual discipline practiced across all religions. Even if we don’t believe in God, we probably still pray because something inside of us instinctively recognizes our need for help and cries out for it! In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives His followers the why and how to pray. As we practice this discipline, we learn that prayer is all about deepening our connection with our heavenly Father, something very different from any other religion. We pray not to get something, but to know Someone.
Ryan Bramlett • MasterClass • Matthew 6:5-15

Jesus isn’t afraid to address challenging topics because He knows our lives are greatly impacted by them. As He turns His attention to good deeds, money, and material possessions in His Sermon on the Mount, He continues to focus on the motivations of our heart and transformation from the inside out. He teaches the important truth that our hearts will always follow what we treasure, and He challenges us to have spiritual vision and an eternal perspective.  
Aaron Brockett • MasterClass • Matthew 6:1-4, 19-24