5-7 | Intro to Sermon on the Mount
God's Command to be Different
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Jesus offers this or that to his disciples
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You have heard but I say | Matthew 5:21-48
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Don't be like the hypocrites or Gentiles, but instead… | Matthew 6:1-18
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Two illustrations
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Enter the narrow gate
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Build on the stone foundation
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God desired Israel to be different
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Be holy, for I am holy | Leviticus 19:2
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Not like other nations | Leviticus 18:1-4
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These differences were expressed in laws, ritual purity, even the clothes they wore
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The Purpose in Being Different
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A sign for the nations | Deuteronomy 4:5-8
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You will be a sight to the nations | vs. 6
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They will see something different about Israel
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Israel was a living testimony to the Lord
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We are a testimony to others about God | Matthew 5:16
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We're not different for difference's sake
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People are going to ask us why we are different
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How We Are to Be Different
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Values
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A righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees
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Love more than others
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Depend on God more than others
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Not merely external appearance
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Not like the Pharisees
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A difference that touches the heart
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Fearlessly different
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We are afraid to be different because people don't like different
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We hide our light and lose our flavor
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We are blessed when we are persecuted | Matthew 5:10-12
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We Are Radically Different | Romans 12:1-2
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We are sacrificing everything the world wants us to be
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Successful
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Rich
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Loved by the crowd
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We cannot be conformed
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The world is trying to form us to its mold
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We must move closer to the image of God every chance
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