Proposition: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is a wonderful message. In the beginning of his messages he lays down the goal for every Christian. Mere church membership is not the mark for which to strive, but the chief desire of a child of God should be greatness in heaven.

I. Introduction: When a 12 volume set of great preaching was found.

I don't remember for what I was searching my library to find, but I do recall the excitement when a 12 volume set of historical Christian sermons was found. There were complete texts for sermons from many well known names in Christian history. The very first sermon in the very first volume was none other than the sermon we have before us today: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

It's easy to view the words in our Bible as just that, words, but we must remember that these are more than just words. Jesus is a real person that stood on the side of a real mountain and spoke to regular people. The words He spoke addressed real issues. His sermon is revelant to each and every one of us today.

I remeber when it first dawned on me that this was a sermon. I had been preaching for about a year, and I was reading through the book of Matthew. When I came to this portion of scripture where Jesus was talking about not serving two masters, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I imagined a bit of hooping and it sounded in my mind like any Baptist preacher I had heard. I said out loud, "This is a sermon!"

I. Jesus' Introduction

what we have before us today is the introduction for Jesus' sermon on the mount. This sermon has

• What is the purpose of any introduction?
• How did Jesus carry out these goals?

II.  The Growth of a Christian

• First four beatitudes
• Second four beatitudes

III. The Identity of a Christian

• Salt
• Light