For 2000 years Christians have read, studied, memorized, and contemplated an 18-minute sermon that Jesus gave while seated on a hillside next to the Sea of Galilee. Christians call this amazing, core teaching "the Sermon on the Mount" and have placed it near the center of their discipleship growth throughout church history. As John Stott points out in his commentary on the sermon, “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed.” (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John R.W. Stott, 15) 
 
Stott argues we’re not hitting home runs in either the “hearing” or the “doing” of Jesus' teaching. So, between February and May we are going to journey through this short sermon. Our goal will be to hear the words of the sermon a little better and do the words of the sermon a little more. As we do that, we will be engaging in a form of discipleship growth that Christians have been engaging in for 2000 years!