08/22/2026
In Matthew chapters 5-7, Jesus filled His “Sermon on the Mount” with many challenging statements to His disciples about how they should live. The crowds were listening to the sermon also.
Though Jesus didn’t use these exact words, He was telling all His listeners that they should live the way He described and prescribed, because it was the way that He Himself personally lived – and living that way pleased God. If we truly have a relationship with Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we will want to live in the way that pleases our heavenly Father and our Master. We will choose to live “The Jesus Way” (and ask the Lord to help us do so).
The apostle John summarizes the situation in 1 John 2:1-6, where he writes to the believers in the congregations he oversaw:
“MY LITTLE CHILDREN, I AM WRITING THESE THINGS TO YOU SO THAT YOU MAY NOT SIN. BUT IF ANYONE DOES SIN, WE HAVE AN ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER, JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS. HE IS THE ATONING SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS, AND NOT FOR OURS ONLY BUT ALSO FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. AND BY THIS WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE COME TO KNOW HIM, IF WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. WHOEVER SAYS “I KNOW HIM” BUT DOES NOT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS IS A LIAR, AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM, BUT WHOEVER KEEPS HIS WORD, IN HIM TRULY THE LOVE OF GOD IS PERFECTED. BY THIS WE MAY KNOW THAT WE ARE IN HIM: WHOEVER SAYS HE ABIDES IN HIM OUGHT TO WALK IN THE SAME WAY IN WHICH HE WALKED.”
In Matthew 7:13-27, Jesus closes His sermon with promises for those who choose to live as He has been teaching and with four warnings about the judgment coming for those who refuse to live as He has instructed:
“ENTER BY THE NARROW GATE. FOR THE GATE IS WIDE AND THE WAY IS EASY THAT LEADS TO DESTRUCTION, AND THOSE WHO ENTER BY IT ARE MANY. FOR THE GATE IS NARROW AND THE WAY IS HARD THAT LEADS TO LIFE, AND THOSE WHO FIND IT ARE FEW.
“BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS, WHO COME TO YOU IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING BUT INWARDLY ARE RAVENOUS WOLVES. YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUITS. ARE GRAPES GATHERED FROM THORNBUSHES, OR FIGS FROM THISTLES? SO, EVERY HEALTHY TREE BEARS GOOD FRUIT, BUT THE DISEASED TREE BEARS BAD FRUIT. A HEALTHY TREE CANNOT BEAR BAD FRUIT, NOR CAN A DISEASED TREE BEAR GOOD FRUIT. EVERY TREE THAT DOES NOT BEAR GOOD FRUIT IS CUT DOWN AND THROWN INTO THE FIRE. THUS YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUITS.
“NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS TO ME, ‘LORD, LORD,’ WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT THE ONE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN. ON THAT DAY MANY WILL SAY TO ME, ‘LORD, LORD, DID WE NOT PROPHESY IN YOUR NAME, AND CAST OUT DEMONS IN YOUR NAME, AND DO MANY MIGHTY WORKS IN YOUR NAME?’ AND THEN WILL I DECLARE TO THEM, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WORKERS OF LAWLESSNESS.’
“EVERYONE THEN WHO HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE AND DOES THEM WILL BE LIKE A WISE MAN WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE ON THE ROCK. AND THE RAIN FELL, AND THE FLOODS CAME, AND THE WINDS BLEW AND BEAT ON THAT HOUSE, BUT IT DID NOT FALL, BECAUSE IT HAD BEEN FOUNDED ON THE ROCK. AND EVERYONE WHO HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE AND DOES NOT DO THEM WILL BE LIKE A FOOLISH MAN WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE ON THE SAND. AND THE RAIN FELL, AND THE FLOODS CAME, AND THE WINDS BLEW AND BEAT AGAINST THAT HOUSE, AND IT FELL, AND GREAT WAS THE FALL OF IT.”
We have a new-to-us song in tomorrow morning's service which is related to these scriptures: "The Jesus Way." The link to the rough-cut recording is below. So are the lyrics as they are sung on the recording. The other instrumental and congregational songs for tomorrow's service are related to this same idea of Jesus being our example in His words and in His deeds. Those songs are listed and linked below, after the lyrics for “The Jesus Way.”
“THE JESUS WAY”
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6EwcszAKGyBrUaHRA
1. If you curse me then I will bless you
If you hurt me I will forgive
If you hate me then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way
2. If you’re helpless I will defend you
If you’re burdened I’ll share the weight
If you’re hopeless then let me show you
There’s hope in the Jesus way
I follow Jesus I follow Jesus
He bore my sin I’ll gladly bear His name
He is the treasure He is the answer
Oh I choose the Jesus way
3. If you strike me I will embrace you
If you chain me I’ll sing His praise
If you kill me my home is heaven
For I choose the Jesus way
I follow Jesus I follow Jesus
He bore my sin I’ll gladly bear His name
He is the treasure He is the answer
Oh I choose the Jesus way
I choose surrender I choose to love
Oh God my Savior You’ll always be enough
I choose forgiveness I choose grace
I choose to worship no matter what I face
I follow Jesus I follow Jesus
He bore my sin I’ll gladly bear His name
He is the treasure He is the answer
Oh I choose the Jesus way
I follow Jesus I follow Jesus
He bore my sin I’ll gladly bear His name
He is the treasure He is the answer
Oh I choose the Jesus way
Yes I choose the Jesus way
Yes I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way
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Other Congregational Songs
“OH, HOW I LOVE JESUS”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-6n0Zdnw3U
“BUILD MY LIFE”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnTsC0wzP0g
“FIRM FOUNDATION”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY2kl2efaps
“LORD, I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bj5RJ7zIr8
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Instrumental Songs
“O TO BE LIKE THEE”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjeZZZOY63E
“LET THE BEAUTY OF JESUS BE SEEN IN ME”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILTGW9HeGSI
“MAKE ME A BLESSING”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THnTccJt_V4
“MORE LIKE THE MASTER”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3TPPYk_3EU
