a new series this evening called The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached. And I kind of asked Joe, I said, if I said to you, what’s the greatest sermon you’ve ever heard? Or what do you think the greatest sermon ever preached is?

You sat there thinking, oh, it’s the one the American guy preached. I was like, you didn’t even mention any of mine. Oh, Jonathan Edwards, a sinner’s in the hands of an angry God. I was like, well, that is a famous sermon. But I was thinking something more along the lines of the scripture. Oftentimes we have maybe a sermon that’s really stood out in our minds.

Maybe, you know, we’ve had somebody has preached something and said, oh yeah, I remember when that was preached. I remember who preached that, I remember. I remember now, Selwyn who was preaching up in Anasea, And he preached on the seven churches. And the title of his message was, are you listening? That was it. Are you listening? Those who have ears to hear, let him hear. And he just kept stopping through the whole message. He spoke for an hour and 20 minutes. And he just kept stopping every now and again. And he just went, are you listening? Are you really listening?

And there are some sermons maybe that have really stood out in our lives as believers and have really spoken to our hearts. And maybe it’s something that we keep going back to that, oh yeah, that has really helped me. And in times of difficulty, I tend to go back and remember what was said. And I think sometimes we forget that probably the greatest preacher to ever live wasn’t Charles Spurgeon. It wasn’t D.L. Moody.

The greatest preacher to ever open his mouth and preach the word of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are a number of instances in the scriptures where we have some of his sermons recorded. And one of those is the Sermon on the Mount.

And I just think I would love to have been there. I would love to have been there and just listened to the Lord preach. There’s many different preaching styles. We’ve got four or five people in the church that preach, and each one has got a different preaching style. Some are quite animated. I’m more of what people call a manuscript preacher. I have to write my sermons out because I’ve got a hopeless memory. And some people can just get by with just three points on a bit of paper.

I remember Brother Andrew left his notes up in the pulpit one day, and I thought, oh, I’m going to have them. And then I looked at them, and I was like, oh, it’s hieroglyphics.

Some people can preach with just, like, no notes at all. And that’s incredible. And different people have got different styles of preaching. And now in America, you’ve got some people that preach really loud. From the minute they tell you to open up your Bibles, I mean, it is literally a period. And when you start a period, there’s kind of not many other places to go.

But I don’t think the Lord Jesus Christ was that type of preacher. I don’t think the Lord Jesus Christ was what they call a hacker in the States. I don’t think he did any of that. I think he just spoke. Because when he spoke, the people said, no man speak like this man. You know, anybody who’s aspiring to be a preacher, don’t try to be like Charles Spurgeon. Don’t try to be like D.L. Moody. Don’t sit there and try and be like me.

Try and be like Him.

Because when he spoke, he just spoke the word of God. And everybody listened. Not everybody was happy. But preaching’s not meant to make people happy. Sometimes preaching steps on toes. And the Lord Jesus Christ was never afraid to step on people’s toes. We’re gonna look for the next, however long it takes us, at the greatest sermon ever preached. And tonight, we’re gonna look at those who are poor in spirit. Matthew chapter five.