THE IMPOSSIBLE
Sermon on the Mount Course Online
“The great ideals of the past failed not by being outlived (which must mean over-lived), but by not being lived enough. (...) The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”
It’s countercultural, unsettling, dangerous and outrages. The Sermon on the Mount is simply impossible. It takes only 15 minutes to read and a lifetime to live.
The Sermon on the Mount seems to present an ideal of life that is hardly achievable for the followers of Jesus. Yet Christ talks here about a sure way to encounter your heart, measure your passion, observe your choices and lifestyle, stand in the Light, and finally see The Way to Life.
A call to radical obedience has to start with the empowerment of the Spirit who gives Himself and pours out His gifts so our nature can be elevated to the state of perfection and we can walk seeing God.
Walk up the mountain with us to become a happy disciple.
“The Sermon on the Mount not only comes from Jesus but also leads us to Jesus. It does not divert us from Jesus to a set of abstract ideals, but its ideals lead us to Jesus. who alone can fulfill them in us, if we let him. The sermon is an arrow and Jesus is the bull’s eye, not vice versa.”
4 weekly sessions:
How happy are you? Matthew 5:3–12 Beatitudes are not just poetry or inspirational quotes but a progression of seeing the Truth. They are not tools for moralization of a generation or an individual. They are promises of living heaven on earth.
How authentic are you? Matthew 5:13-48 Face the law of the letter that condemns and grace of the Presence that frees you to live in freedom. Become who you are by recognizing your weaknesses, desires, and your call.
How connected are you? Matthew 6 Connect with the very center of the Known and Unknown, seek to find and embrace your privilege in the Kingdom, start anew every day.
How committed are you? Matthew 7 Walk the talk. Become the fire.
“It seems to me that the Beatitudes are arranged in order like so many steps, so as to facilitate the ascent from one to the next one. Once a man’s mind has ascended to the first Beatitude, we will accept what follows as a necessary result of the first, even though the next clause may say something new.”
Instructors:
Keith and Iwona Major, Co-Founders and Directors of Stone to Flesh and MajorChange.
What can you expect:
Four weekly live video sessions (real time interactive video participation)
Each session is 75 min. and includes 60 min. teaching and sharing and 15 min. practicum or Q&A
You will get a video file for your personal use.
Expected home assignment: 15 min. Lectio Divina (praying the Scriptures) daily.
What you will need:
Bible
Journal, pen
“As to ‘caring for’ the Sermon on the Mount, if ‘caring for’ here means ‘liking’ or enjoying, I suppose no one ‘cares for’ it. Who can like being knocked on his face by a sledgehammer? I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of a man who can read that passage with tranquil pleasure.”
