Author Archives

David Servant

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Getting the Sermon on the Mount Right (The Anabaptist Challenge), Part 1

by David Servant

No doubt you’ve heard of Mennonites. Perhaps also of the Amish. Maybe even the Brethren and Hutterites. All fall under the heading of “Anabaptists,” who trace their roots to 16th century Germany and Switzerland. Their predecessors were part of what is known as the Radical Reformation, a response to perceived corruption in both Roman Catholicism and the expanding Magisterial (state-wedded) Protestant movement led by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others.

Picture of the Sermon on the Mount
The artist who painted this picture certainly didn’t “Get the Sermon on the Mount Right,” as Jesus and His Jewish followers would have had a little darker skin!

The early Anabaptists, like the early Christians, were pejoratively named by their persecutors, but in their case because of their distinct doctrine of re-baptizing adults who had already been baptized as babies. The word anabaptist means “one who baptizes again.” Anabaptists noticed that infant baptism, practiced by both Roman Catholics and the Protestants of their day, wasn’t found in the New Testament, and that the apostles seemed to baptize only those who were old enough to understand the gospel, repent of their sins and follow Christ.

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What Is the Best Way to Test Your Motives?

A Daily Little Lesson

Read the transcript of this video below.

What is the best way to test your motives? Hi, welcome to today’s Little Lesson. We’re working our way now through the Sermon on the Mount into the middle chapter. And the Sermon on the Mount of course is Matthew five, six and seven.

Picture of man looking at sunset, reflecting on motives

We’re in chapter six and Jesus deals with the heart of holiness, at least at the beginning portions of Matthew chapter six because He deals with motivations. God’s not just concerned about what’s going on outwardly in our lives, He’s concerned about what’s going on inwardly in our lives and in our hearts and He wants us to be motivated from primarily two things: First of all and foremost, love for Him, and second, love for others.

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Should Every Christian Give to the Poor?

A Daily Little Lesson

Read the transcript of this video below.

Should every Christian give to the poor? Hi, welcome to today’s Little Lesson, and we’re working our way slowly but surely through the Sermon on the Mount, and today, we’re finding ourselves right at the beginning of Matthew Chapter 6.

Picture of poor man begging

Now remember, Jesus didn’t give this sermon in chapters and in verses, and at the end of Chapter 5, there’s no indication that Jesus took a pause and said, “Now let’s all break for a little intermission here and then I’ll start up with a brand new subject in part two of the Sermon of the Mount.” No, Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 didn’t exist in the original Sermon of the Mount. It just flowed.

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Is It Possible to Be Perfect?

A Daily Little Lesson

Read the transcript of this video below.

Is it possible to be perfect? Hi, welcome to today’s Little Lesson. If you’ve been following the Little Lessons for a while, you know that we’ve been working our way through Matthew 5, the very first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount, and I never intended really to go this far. I wanted to take a look at the Beatitudes and one thing led to another, and pretty soon it was out of control.

Picture of woman lifting her hands in worship

Here we are all the way now to the end of Matthew 5, and there’s a verse at the very end that has some of us scratching our heads. Matthew 5:48, “Jesus said, Therefore,” and this is obviously a summarizing statement to all that’s been said previously because He said ‘Therefore’ so it connects it to everything he said. “Therefore, you are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

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A Final, Brief Summary of What Jesus Taught About Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage

A Daily Little Lesson

Read the transcript of this video below.

A final brief summary of what Jesus taught about marriage, divorce and remarriage.

Picture of divorce paper and gavel

Hi, welcome to today’s Little Lesson. We have been treading in dangerous waters, talking about marriage, divorce and remarriage. In, I think, four or five Little Lessons so far we’ve delved into a couple of angles that I just hope will provoke your thinking.