Over the course of human history, countless sermons have been preached, but the greatest sermon of all was delivered by the greatest preacher—Jesus Christ. His Sermon on the Mount was revolutionary, challenging the cultural and religious expectations of His listeners. As Jesus nears the conclusion of His sermon, He issues a stark warning about a danger that has plagued the church from the beginning—false prophets. Unlike external threats, this danger arises from within the church. Satan attacks both from the outside through persecution and from the inside through deception. Jesus calls His followers to be on high alert, for these counterfeit prophets masquerade as true messengers of God while leading people away from the truth.
For many years, I have been thinking about preaching through the greatest sermon that has ever been preached: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It can be read in roughly ten minutes and yet of all the things that Jesus taught, this sermon has been written about more, studied more, examined more, and talked about more than anything else that Jesus ever taught. We are going to entitle this series, “Get Used To Different,” because that is exactly what you are going to have to get used to if you are going to take Jesus seriously and trust in Jesus completely.