Pastor Nate Brosher
Feb 22, 2026
Matthew 5:43-48 NLT - 43 "You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
1. Loving Your Neighbor
Neighbor - plesion - a friend, thy fellow man (a believer who believes like me.)
Enemy - echthros - hostile, hating, and opposing another, opposing (God) in the mind.
Matthew 5:44 NLT - 44 But I say, love your enemies (echthros)! Pray for those who persecute you!
Love - agapaō - the action of showing or practicing selfless love.
Agape - unconditional, selfless love of God.
Matthew 5:46-47 NLT - 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.
2. Presentation of the Gospel
How are we presenting the Gospel?
Romans 12:1-3 NLT - 1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
Is our worship only face value?
Matthew 5:48 NLT - 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Perfect - teleios - brought to its end, finished. wanting nothing necessary to completeness, Mature.
Philippians 3:12 ESV - 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Press - dioko - to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after.
Dependent on Grace