 My name is Michael Barber, I'm professor of theology and scripture at John Paul the Great Catholic University and I just spoke at the ABS conference and I'd like to talk for a moment about the fruit of discipleship. You know, the catechism of the Catholic Church highlights the way that Christian tradition has recognized the sermon on the Mount as really the centerpiece of Jesus' teaching. It really is his most famous sermon and it sums up the Christian life. And it's interesting to note that in the sermon on the Mount Jesus gives three prescriptions for how to be a disciple. The three things he mentions are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Now the reason he highlights those three things seems to be significant. And if you read the sermon on the Mount, you'll notice the sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 actually follows after Jesus' temptations in the wilderness in Matthew 4. And Jesus' temptations in the wilderness involve three things. They involve first turning stones to bread, the second thing the devil tempts him with is throw himself down from the temple and the angels will catch you and everyone will recognize who you are, your identity. And then finally I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. This seems to relate in Christian tradition to the idea that all temptation can be summed up by what's known as the three-fold lust. It's talked about in 1 John. That is the lust of the flesh, the desire for carnal pleasure, the lust of the eyes, the desire for things that glitter. And then finally the pride of life, the desire to have power. And if you look at Jesus' three temptations they fit neatly into that, right? First off, he overcomes the temptation to eat something while he's fasting, carnal desire. The second thing he overcomes is the desire to display his power, to be recognized. Really that relates to the lust of the eyes, the desire to accumulate things, things that glitter, to show off our status, right? And then finally the third thing, the pride of life, power. All the kingdoms of the world will be delivered to you. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us the three prescriptions that we need to overcome these three temptations, right? Almsgiving, right? In almsgiving what are we doing? We're rejecting riches, we're rejecting the lust of the eyes. In fasting, we're rejecting what? The lust of the flesh. We're following Jesus into the wilderness and renouncing carnal desire. And then finally in prayer, what are we doing? We're recognizing I'm not number one, but God is. So in this video, briefly let me encourage you to really embrace Jesus' teaching. He doesn't say if you fast, if you give alms, and if you pray, he says when you do these things, this is how you should do them. Let's hear Jesus and recognize that in these three prescriptions we have medicine of health and immortality.