June 8, 2025 • 46 mins
What if everything you thought you knew about happiness and blessing was backward? In this sermon, Pastor Tyler Lynde kicks off our new series, “Red Letters,” with a deep dive into the Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. These words, spoken to a people desperate for hope after 400 years of divine silence, completely flip our modern understanding of what leads to a truly blessed life.
Jesus’s sermon wasn’t just a collection of nice sayings; it was a declaration of war against the world's value system. Where our culture says "blessed are the self-sufficient," Jesus says "blessed are the poor in spirit." While society often rewards the ruthless, Jesus promises blessing to the merciful and the meek. In this message, Tyler Lynde unpacks each of these radical statements, contrasting the fleeting mantras of our world with the eternal truth of God's Kingdom.
Discover why the Beatitudes are not a checklist of behaviors to earn God's favor, but a beautiful portrait of a heart transformed by the Holy Spirit. This is the core of the New Covenant—not relying on our own strength to follow external rules, but receiving a new heart and being empowered by God’s Spirit living within us. Tyler doesn't shy away from the hard truth that this path leads to a collision with the world, but he also reveals the magnificent promises attached to it: comfort, mercy, satisfaction, and being called a child of God.
Most importantly, see how Jesus himself is the perfect embodiment of every beatitude. He is both our example to follow and the enabler who makes it possible. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus secured every blessing He describes. Whether you're just exploring faith or have followed Jesus for decades, these ancient words carry fresh power to transform your perspective on what it truly means to live a blessed life.
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Tyler Lynde (00:04):
So we're starting a brand new sermon series today
called Red Letters.
Red Letters the words of Jesusfound in the New Testament are
often noted by them beingwritten in red right and being
written in red, and so there'sone of these sections in the New
Testament that is mostprominent, probably, I would say
(00:24):
, the greatest sermon everpreached.
The greatest sermon everpreached, in my opinion, is the
Sermon on the Mount, and theseare Jesus's direct words.
How many of you wish that youcould be there, or could have
been there to experience thisyourself?
Would you have liked to?
Yeah, absolutely.
But how many of you know thatGod saw fit to have it recorded
(00:45):
for us word for word, or atleast close to word for word, so
that we would be able to talkabout it?
Over the next few weeks, thiswhole summer, we're going to be
diving deep into the Sermon onthe Mount, the red letters of
Jesus, the words that he spokeas he was establishing his
kingdom here on this earth.
As he was establishing hiskingdom here on this earth.
We will see over the summer howJesus gives his disciples a
(01:07):
concise portrait of what itlooks like to be a disciple, to
be a follower of Jesus.
What does that look like inreal life?
How do we put those on like apair of jeans and wear them
around?
This whole sermon really speaksto all of it, and it really
speaks mostly to the heart.
It's the heart that mattersmost and that's what we're going
(01:29):
to learn through all of theseweeks.
There's going to be lots ofdetails and lots of things, lots
of commandments and lots ofdifferent things that we're
going to pay attention to, butin the end, it's really Jesus
talking about the importance ofwhere our heart is, where it's
directed and what we'reconnected to with our hearts.
Right, and so I'm reallyexcited about it.
(01:51):
Today's message is calledPortrait of a Christ Follower.
So let's look again at Matthew 4, verses 23, and we're going to
read through chapter 5, verse 12.
This is the Word of God.
And he went throughout allGalilee teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming thegospel of the kingdom and
healing every disease and everyaffliction among the people.
(02:14):
So his fame spread throughoutall Syria and they brought him
all the sick, those afflictedwith various diseases and pains,
those oppressed by demons,those afflicted with various
diseases and pains, thoseoppressed by demons, those
having seizures and paralytics,and he healed them and great
(02:35):
crowds followed him from Galileeand the Decapolis and from
Jerusalem and Judea and frombeyond the Jordan.
Seeing the crowds, he went upon the mountain and when he sat
down, his disciples came to himand he opened his mouth and
taught them, saying Blessed arethe poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they shall be comforted.
(02:58):
Blessed are the meek, for theyshall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, forthey shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,for they will see God.
And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons
(03:21):
of God.
Blessed are those who arepersecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the sons ofGod.
Blessed are those who arepersecuted for righteousness
sake, for theirs is the kingdomof heaven.
And blessed are you when othersrevile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evilagainst you, falsely on my
account.
Rejoice and be glad, for yourreward is great in heaven, for
(03:41):
so they persecuted the prophetswho were before you.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thesered letters.
We thank you, jesus, that youare the King of kings and Lord
of lords, and we thank you thatyou came to this earth and that
you spoke of a kingdom that isnot of this world.
And, father, we pray that, aswe embark on this new series,
(04:04):
lord, and the one on Wednesdaynight, the Blessed series as
well we ask that you we embarkon this new series, lord, and
the one on Wednesday night, theblessed series as well, we ask
that you would open the eyes ofour understanding.
We ask that we would see thingsthat we've never seen before,
that you would cause the truththat is found within your words
to come alive within each andevery one of us.
And, lord, we don't want justbehavior modification.
We don't want a better versionof ourselves.
(04:24):
We want to look like you.
We want you to intervene and tointerchange and to translate
and to change all of us so thatwe might serve you in a way that
you deserve to be served.
And, father, we thank you andpraise you for taking these
words this morning and blessingthem and distributing them to
your people, in Jesus' name,amen.
(04:48):
So, for those of you who don'tknow, I grew up in Wyoming, and
that's a state in the West, ifyou've never been out that way.
For the size of the state it'sthe lowest population in the
whole country, and there's areason for that, although you
wouldn't know it if you wentthere around July the 4th, but
(05:13):
if you go around January the 4thit becomes quickly apparent
that there's a reason whythere's only half a million
people living within the state.
And so when I was between my 11and 12-year-old years, we moved
from Wyoming to get ready toFlorida, to Fort Myers, florida.
So my hometown in Wyoming wasbooming, and this was when
everybody was there at one timewas 15,000 people, right,
anybody come from small townAmerica, a few of you here, yeah
(05:36):
, okay.
So you know where I'm comingfrom.
You know what I'm talking about?
Very simple.
We had, I think, one stoplight.
We had a Kmart.
We eventually got a Walmart.
That changed and revolutionizedeverything, right?
So, anyway, I digress.
But we left that place.
So, 15,000 people.
We moved to Fort Myers, florida, where there were 250,000
(05:58):
people, and more than thatduring the wintertime.
If you haven't noticed, peoplelike to go to Florida in the
winter.
There's a reason for that,right.
So the vast differences inthese two places.
You can imagine, culturally,for example, what a difference
between the Wild West and thenmoving to this kind of a wild
(06:19):
place in Florida as well.
Different, different, lots ofgangs and different things going
on.
The news was filled with all ofthese things that were
occurring.
Back in Wyoming it was more likeyou know well, we had a
hailstorm and so farmerso-and-so lost his crops.
In Florida it was a littledifferent than that, right, also
(06:40):
just from a weather standpoint.
So in Wyoming we had basicallyfour seasons, with one of them
lasting longer than the rest,lots of snow, right.
And in Florida we had twoseasons and there was no snow.
There was absolutely no snowwhere we lived in Florida.
Okay, in Wyoming the critterswere larger and they stayed
(07:02):
outside primarily.
In Florida the critters weretiny and all of them were
fighting to get inside.
And I can understand, becauseif you step outside for long,
there's this thing calledhumidity.
I don't know if you're aware ofit, but in that humidity you
want to get into the airconditioning as soon as you
possibly can.
Right.
So vast differences betweenthese two worlds.
(07:25):
And we experienced this kind ofchange and even though we were
still young at the time, mybrother and I.
It was still a big deal.
It was very difficult at times.
My point in kind, of tellingthat story is that we had to
make major adjustments in ourlives right, we had to change,
almost every area of our liveschanged in order for this new
(07:47):
place to work for us.
We had to adapt, we had toadjust, we had to grow
accustomed to a new way ofliving.
There were so many things thatwe never wore again once we
moved to Florida right, jacketsand scarves and all of that sort
of thing.
Everything was so different.
(08:09):
As we begin our study thismorning on the Sermon on the
Mount, we observe somethingsimilar in a way, but much more
important, happening.
Jesus has come as arepresentative of heaven to
introduce a new way of thinkingand a new way of living, a new
way of thinking and a new way ofliving.
And this new way of living andthinking is based on a new
covenant that God was bringingabout.
(08:30):
He was going to provide.
Jesus was going to provide forthis covenant by his life, his
death, his burial, hisresurrection and his ascension.
He was going to implement.
He was the emissary, he wasGod's representative that was
coming to the earth to representthis new kingdom and this new
covenant.
Everything was about to change.
(08:53):
Everything, literally, wasabout to change.
Imagine the Jewish people for aminute, who have just
experienced 400 years of silencefrom God.
Everything grew quiet fromheaven for 400 years and during
that time, the Jewish leadersdid not stop talking.
(09:14):
They kept talking and talkingand they kept adding and adding,
and they kept putting morerules and more rules and more
regulations and more behaviormodification and more things
that you needed to do, but Ididn't necessarily need to do
Right?
Very, very common theme whenpeople are in authority at times
(09:35):
.
And so this is what's happening.
And all of these Jewish peoplethat Jesus is encountering are
living within that world, andnot only that.
They're on like their fourthcaptivity encountering, are
living within that world, andnot only that, they're on like
their fourth captivity.
Now Rome is overseeing and incharge of the Jewish nation, and
they are there and they'reheavy handed and they're living
within this time and within thisday, within this reality.
(09:57):
And when Jesus comes on thescene, it must have seemed very
surreal.
Obviously, he was aware ofeverything, and so it wasn't
surreal to him, but it must havebeen surreal to all of the rest
, who had grown accustomed tothis time of silence, to this
time of God not seeming like hewas anywhere to be found, to
this time where we had to domore and we had to do more, and
(10:19):
we had to do more to try tosomehow be good enough for God
to pay attention to us.
And here steps a man into thisearth who's teaching something
radical.
He's not teaching about a listof do's and don'ts, but he's
teaching about what it lookslike to live as children of the
kingdom of God.
He's teaching the peoplesomething again that they had
(10:45):
never experienced, that they hadnever although there are plenty
of indicators in the OldTestament that if the Jewish
leaders had paid attention to,could have led them to the point
of realizing this was to come,this was the natural, this was
always God's plan from the verybeginning.
And so now the implementationof this plan, the working, the
(11:06):
outworking of this plan isoccurring in the life and time
of Jesus.
His revolutionary teaching isnot only something they've never
heard before, but it's backedup by signs and wonders and
miracles.
People are getting healed,people are getting set free,
people of relationships aregetting healed, people are
getting set free, relationshipsare being restored.
People's minds are beingcleared of the clutter and
(11:30):
everything that had caused themto have anguish, because Jesus
came to set free every part ofhumanity the spirit, soul and
body, soul and body and again.
They should have maybe knownthis and their leaders should
have paid attention.
In Isaiah 61, verses 1 through 3, it says the spirit of the Lord
(11:53):
God is upon me.
This is a prophecy concerningJesus, written thousands of
years before he ever steppedfoot on this planet.
The spirit of the Lord God isupon me because the Lord has
anointed me to bring good newsto the poor.
He has sent me to bind up thebrokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and theopening of the prison to those
(12:15):
who are bound.
To proclaim the year of theLord's favor and the day of
vengeance of our God, to comfortall who mourn, to grant to
those who mourn in Zion, to givethem a beautiful headdress
instead of ashes, the oil ofgladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead ofa faint spirit, that they may
(12:38):
be called oaks of righteousness.
The planting of the Lord.
For what reason?
That he may be glorified.
God is glorified to the maximumwhen the purpose of Jesus
Christ is accomplished here inthis earth.
And Jesus made it clear fromthe very beginning of his
(12:59):
ministry that this was thepurpose and the reason why he
came.
He came to set the captivesfree.
He came to initiate and toinstitute a new kingdom.
He came to set in place a newcovenant.
And we, my friends, sit heretoday based on these realities
(13:21):
and these truths.
These realities and thesetruths, now picture with me as
Jesus climbs up this mountain.
Think about all of the crowdsthat have been pressing around
him as we read through thedescription people from all over
, from Gentile lands, fromSamaritan places, tens.
I mean, we don't even know thatthe crowd is not numbered for
(13:44):
us, but we know that there weremany pressing up against him.
You imagine if you had somebodyin your life that was in
desperate need of a touch fromGod.
You do anything that you couldto get close to him, that there
might be a chance for him tospeak the words, to lay his
hands or to do something tobring about transformation in
the life of those that you love.
(14:06):
And so Jesus, being pressed bythe crowd, turns and climbs up a
mountain.
And as he climbs up themountain, he turns around and he
sits down and imagine this withme, this vast kind of what
would you call that Slope, avast slope below him, and then
(14:27):
it runs into the Sea of Galileeand the Sea of Galilee is out
beyond him.
And you imagine all of thedisciples, those that had been
called, even just recently, tobe followers of him, come and
gather around Jesus, they getclose to him.
He probably even calls them alittle closer, a little closer.
I think we should move ourfront rows up a little bit next
week, just call him a littlecloser.
(14:48):
And I'm not Jesus, I'm notsaying that, but just they
wanted to just get a littlecloser, just to be near him,
just to be able to really hearevery word that he was going to
speak, that anything that hewanted to impart to them, that
they were putting themselves ina position to be ready to
receive from him.
And you can imagine that thecrowds that had been pressing
(15:10):
against Jesus, and now there'ssort of this wall of disciples
and the crowds push up againstthem, I'm certain, and they're
gathered around all across theslope and then embedded in the
crowd.
Most likely although it doesn'tsay here most likely there
although it doesn't say heremost likely there were religious
leaders, religious leaders whowere beginning to create in
(15:31):
their minds this opinion ofJesus, and the thing that they
realized more than anything elsewas that the followers that
they had last week werefollowing Jesus this week, and
so people who have power and whohave control in other people's
lives were beginning to feelthat pain and that hurt, and so
(15:53):
they were beginning to implement, or to begin to think about how
they could implement, a plan tobring an end to this.
So a lot of times, when peopleread the Sermon on the Mount,
they ask the question who wasJesus speaking to?
And I would say yes, was hespeaking to the disciples?
(16:13):
Absolutely, we know that.
He specifically said thedisciples came around him and he
spoke to them.
Yes, was he speaking to thecrowd?
Obviously he didn't.
I don't think he whispered sothat the crowd couldn't hear.
What did he know about thecrowd?
Who was in the crowd?
Jesus saw the crowd aspotential for future followers,
(16:39):
for future kingdom citizens,right, and even though there
were those that were embedded inthe crowd that probably would
be described later as enemies ofJesus, how many of you know,
there were probably some whosehearts were pricked when he
spoke these words of life andthey even themselves.
Maybe even Nicodemus, who knows?
(17:00):
I know the Ch chosen kind ofshows that version of things.
Maybe even Nicodemus or otherswho later did become followers
of Jesus were in some of thesecrowds listening to these words
from God.
Similar to the old covenants,mountaintop experience that
produced 10 commandments writtenon stone.
(17:22):
Now Jesus begins to speak andhe outlays eight blessings,
eight blessings that were a partof this new covenant, this new
way of looking at things.
We call them beatitudes.
Right, these are the kingdomrealities based on the new
(17:45):
covenant.
There's some debate over againwho he was talking to, but we
covered that.
Let's look first at the promisesgiven to new covenant
participants.
So we're talking aboutdisciples here.
Let's look at it from thatperspective, right?
So here's the promises.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Does that sound good?
Thumbs up.
All right, work with me here.
(18:08):
They shall be comforted.
Want that?
They shall inherit the earth?
They shall be satisfied.
Well, no, I don't really wantthat.
They shall receive mercy.
Two thumbs up.
They shall see God Come on andthey shall be called sons of God
(18:31):
.
Anyone again, you want to signup?
Get your name on that list.
Talk about great and preciouspromises, Great and precious
promises.
I think it's important here tomention the fact that the
followers of Jesus live in akingdom that is characterized by
the already and not yet concept.
(18:53):
What do I mean by that?
The kingdom of God.
How many of you know that Jesuscame and established the
kingdom of God here in thisearth?
Right, he spoke about thekingdom.
He showed what the kingdomlooked like by what he did while
he was here on this earth andhe left.
He was given all authority andhe put us as believers.
He gave authority to us to becitizens of this kingdom and to
(19:15):
walk out his kingdom rule hereon this earth, right?
But how many of you knowthere's still some things
present around us that are notkingdom, right?
How many of you know people aslong as Jesus?
At one point in time, jesus isgoing to return, but until that
(19:35):
point in time, everyone wholives on this earth will have an
expiration date.
So glad we don't know, likeit's not tattooed on us
somewhere.
All of us will have anexpiration date.
We will all eventually die.
But how many of you know thatthe kingdom of God, death has no
part in the kingdom of God?
(19:55):
So we have this already kingdom,these things that have been
established, and yet there'sthese things that have not yet
seen their complete fulfillment.
That makes sense.
And when will that happen?
Anybody know?
When will we see thefulfillment of all things?
No, when will we see thefulfillment of all things?
On that day, when Jesus returns.
(20:17):
The process is calledglorification.
All of us will be made new.
We'll be like him.
All of the sickness and diseaseand mental anguish and all of
those things will fall off andwe will walk with him and serve
him and serve with himthroughout all eternity.
This is what we have to lookforward to.
(20:38):
But how many of you know as faras it being paid for, as far as
it being accomplished 100%, buthow many of you know we're
living in the in-between and itwill come, but we're not
completely there yet.
(21:00):
So let's look at this now.
The promises of God aren'tbased on our performance, but on
Jesus.
If we read the Sermon on theMount and we think about me
first, we'll get ourselves introuble, because there's a lot
of things in the sermon thatlook like they're saying that I
need to do something.
And how many of you know?
(21:22):
It's true, there are thingsthat we need to do, but the
reason why we do them, themotivation of our hearts, what
gives us the empowerment that weneed to fulfill the things that
are spoken to us in the Sermonon the Mount?
We have to get that clear first.
So let's clear that.
Up Titus 3, verses 4 through 7,says but when the goodness and
loving kindness of God, ourSavior, appeared, he saved us,
(21:46):
not because of works done by usin righteousness, but according
to his own mercy, by the washingof Whose work creates the
ability for us to enjoy thepromise.
Our work or Jesus's work?
Yes, this is the time when thatSunday school answer is
(22:21):
completely appropriate.
Jesus is the right answer.
He paid the price.
He did the work.
We can't earn these promises.
We don't deserve, deserve thesepromises.
But how many of you know, likethe song says, he gives them
anyway.
He gives them to us.
(22:42):
It's his good pleasure to blessus with his promises.
So as we read through thebeatitudes, we can falsely see
them as a cause and effect basedsolely on our own effort.
Make no mistake, effort isrequired on our part, but the
Holy Spirit who lives inside ofus equips us to do this good
(23:05):
work.
That is one of the keydifferences between the Old
Testament and the Old Covenantand the New Covenant.
In the Old Covenant, god waswith them, but how many of you
know, in the New Covenant, goddwells in us by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus paid the price so thatthe Holy Spirit himself could
(23:25):
move on the inside of us,equipping us, giving us the
things that we need to be ableto accomplish the will of God.
Giving us the things that weneed to be able to accomplish
the will of God.
That's amazing.
It's amazing.
The new covenant is possible tolive under because God gives us
a new heart.
I think Clem might havementioned this last week Ezekiel
36.
And I will give you a new heartand a new spirit.
(23:50):
I will put within you and Iwill remove the heart of stone
from your flesh and give you aheart of flesh, and I will put
my spirit within you and causeyou to walk in my statutes and
be careful to obey my rules.
You shall dwell in the landthat I gave to your fathers and
you shall be my people and Iwill be your God.
Again.
Old Testament prophecy findingits fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
(24:11):
Testament prophecy finding itsfulfillment in Jesus Christ.
So, because of these truths, wecan live differently.
We do not have to represent theculture of this world.
We can live based on having acitizenship in another kingdom.
We have the ability to do that.
We have the voice of the Lordspeaking to us on the inside of
(24:36):
us, helping us, encouraging us,convicting us, working his work
on the inside of us.
So let's look at the blessings.
We're going to just quickly runthrough these.
Stick with me.
Number one blessed are the poorin spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
This isn't notice, it doesn'tstop at.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Notice, it doesn't stop at.
Blessed are the poor.
It qualifies what kind ofpoverty.
(24:59):
It's talking about the poor inspirit.
What's the difference betweenthe two?
It's the poor in spirit who areblessed because they understand
their desperate need for God.
What does it mean to be poor inspirit?
It means to recognize I can'tdo it.
I've tried, I've doneeverything I possibly could in
(25:19):
my own strength, with my own,you know, whatever word you
wanna use, and I fail miserably.
I cannot accomplish this on myown.
It's a humbling thing to admityour absolute inability to
follow God without his help.
And, by the way, this isn'tjust talking about salvation.
How many of you know, this is adaily realization that we need
(25:42):
to have.
We need to wake up everymorning and just repeat to the
Lord I can't do today withoutyou.
I can't make it through thisday and the decisions that I
have to make without you, I'mdesperate.
The mantra of this world, theanti-beatitude is blessed are
(26:02):
those who believe that theydon't need God, for they make
themselves God.
That's the culture of thisworld and that's what the world
preaches.
And how many of you know, it'seasy for us to get sucked up
into that whole mindset, butit's not the kingdom mindset.
This is not who we are.
What is the Jesus factor in allof this?
(26:24):
The only one who never neededto be poor in spirit chose to be
poor in spirit as an example tous all.
We read this in Philippians 2,have this mind among yourselves,
which is yours in Christ Jesuswho, though he was in the form
of God, did not count equalitywith God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself by takingthe form of a servant, being
(26:45):
born in the likeness of men andbeing found in human form, he
humbled himself by becomingobedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Jesus was poor in spirit and helives on the inside of us by
his spirit, and he can enable usand equip us to walk in the
same way.
Isn't that good news?
(27:06):
Second, blessed are those whomourn, for they shall be
comforted.
When you think of the word mourn, there's a lot of different
directions.
We could go with that.
There's a lot of reasons tomourn, but the mourning
described here is primarilybased on an understanding of how
sin affects our relationshipwith God.
It should break our heart whenour action or our lack of action
(27:29):
, when our thought life, whenthe habits that we have in our
lives.
It should break our hearts whenwe realize the way that God is
affected by those things.
How many of you know that Godis waiting to comfort his people
?
God is waiting to show mercy onhis people.
Even the ability to besorrowful and to show signs of
(27:54):
repentance is a gift from God.
2 Corinthians 7 says this, forgodly grief produces a
repentance that leads tosalvation without regret,
whereas worldly grief producesdeath.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
(28:16):
The mantra of this world isblessed are those who rejoice
when others fail, when otherpeople fail, for they will feel
better about themselves.
How many of you know?
You can play the win-lose gameall day long with the comparison
game.
You can find somebody in thisworld that you can point at and
say I'm glad I'm not like them,and you can find somebody else
(28:41):
that you can say I wish I waslike them.
That's not how citizens of thekingdom think.
We recognize, we acknowledge,we pray, we live lives that
understand God.
Change my heart, because Idon't want to break your heart.
Jesus wept over the sin ofothers in Matthew 23, and I'm
(29:03):
not going to read it for thesake of time, but he's crying
and weeping over the state ofJerusalem before he goes to the
cross, the city of prophets.
If anybody should know he'ssaying you should know.
He said I've desired to gatheryou up like a mother hen gathers
her chicks.
I have this desire.
(29:23):
I want to do this, but you'repushing me away.
You're not sorrowful, you'renot grieving for the right
things.
Next blessed are the meek, forthey shall inherit the earth.
We don't talk about meekness,hardly at all.
Right, it's not a part of ourvocabulary very often.
(29:44):
What does it mean to be meek.
It does not mean being weak.
A lot of times, people equateit with weakness.
Meekness is strength underGod's control.
It is self-discipline andrestraint.
It means being teachable andgentle.
(30:07):
It is characterized by humilityand having a good attitude.
Are you meek?
Are you uniquely meek?
The mantra of this world isblessed are those with a bad
attitude, for they will use itto control others.
That's not meekness, that'sweakness.
(30:31):
That's weakness.
Sarcasm is the weapon of theweak.
My friends Just had to throwthat out there.
We'll move on.
The Jesus factor Jesus showedstrength through restraint.
If anybody could have beenfully given permission to not be
(30:54):
meek, it could have been Jesus.
He could have called downthousands upon thousands of
angels, and yet he didn't.
Jesus showed strength throughrestraint.
Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me, for I am gentle and
lowly in heart, and you willfind rest for your souls.
(31:16):
We can be meek because the onewho is meek lives on the inside
of us, stirring us up, changingus.
Blessed are those who hunger andthirst for righteousness, for
they shall be satisfied.
Or another version says forthey shall be filled.
It's dangerous to talk abouthunger, about this time of the
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day, in this part of the sermonMight hear some growling and
some grumbling within sometummies in the room.
You can tell I've been aroundgrandkids who talk about tummies
Too much.
Pooh Bear, okay, anyway, whatis it that you're most desperate
(32:02):
for?
If you could list your top fivethings that you wish that you
could have, what would thosethings be?
Maserati, a perfect marriage.
I could go on and on.
(32:25):
What is it that we desire morethan anything else?
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness.
What is this righteousnessabout?
It's not about behavior, it'sabout relationship.
It's about relationship.
What is God wanting to do herefor those who hunger and thirst?
(32:49):
He's wanting to open up himselfto them.
God is not shy, he's notembarrassed about himself, he's
open and he wants us to see himand to know him as he truly is.
Do we desire to grow deeper inour walk with God?
(33:10):
Does spending time with himaffect greatly the way that we
live?
The mantra of this world isblessed are those who do things
the way that they want to, forthey will feel like they are
satisfied, and the Jesus factoris Jesus' relationship with his
(33:33):
father was the most importantpriority of his life, somebody
who probably didn't need it inthe same way that we need it.
What was the focus ofeverything?
His father.
How many times does he speakabout?
Everything that I do andeverything that I say is what
I've talked to my father about,what he's told me, even his
(33:56):
obedience to death on the cross.
Father, there's any way.
Let this cut past for me.
Yet, not my will, but your will.
Be done.
Jesus is our example.
We can do this by God's grace,because the spirit of God lives
on the inside of us.
(34:17):
Don't think of this as causeand effect.
Think of this as this is whatGod's given us, and all of us
who are followers of JesusChrist, who endure to the end,
will participate in all of theseblessings, all of the promises
(34:37):
we will experience and we areexperiencing even now.
Blessed are the merciful, forthey shall receive mercy.
To show mercy is to acknowledgethat it isn't earned or
deserved, but to give it anyway.
You know, mercy isn't neededunless there's sin involved.
Understanding how much mercy weneed and have received should
(35:07):
inspire us to show mercy towardothers.
I desperately need the mercy ofGod.
I know me, I know my past, Iknow my present and trust me, I
can honestly stand up herebefore you today and say that
without the mercy of God I wouldnot be anything.
(35:34):
The mantra of this world isBlessed are those who show no
mercy, for they will climb theproverbial ladder.
We cannot live according to thesayings of the kingdom of this
world.
The culture and climate of thisworld cannot be our directive.
We must fight hard to pushaside and to cast off.
The culture and climate of thisworld cannot be our directive.
(35:55):
We must fight hard to pushaside and to cast off the
burdens of the wrong culture andthe wrong kingdom.
Jesus is mercy and his lovingkindness is matchless.
How many of you can amen thatHis mercy is endless?
He is endless.
(36:17):
Blessed are the peacemakers, forthey shall be called sons of
God.
What is one of the keycharacteristics of children of
God?
We should be known as peoplewho walk in peace.
Romans 5, verse 1, says this.
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, we have
peace with God through our LordJesus Christ.
(36:38):
If we have peace with God, andthe peace of God is upon us, how
many of you know we shouldcreate peace wherever we go?
Some of you, wherever you go,looks like the Tasmanian devil
or Linus has been there.
That is not what it means to bea peacemaker.
(37:02):
We should be mending lives, weshould be reaching out.
We should be finding peace inthe midst of the storm.
We should be filled with love.
We should be filled with love.
(37:25):
And when I say those thingsagain, I remind you it's all
available to us.
What a great gift Jesus hasgiven us.
The world says blessed are thetroublemakers, for at least they
will be known.
The world says blessed are thetroublemakers, for at least they
(37:47):
will be known.
When people describe you toothers, do they use words like
peacemaker?
They should.
And finally, blessed are thosewho are persecuted for
righteousness sake, for theirsis the kingdom of heaven.
Notice what he says Blessed arethose who are persecuted for
righteousness sake, not blessedare those who are persecuted for
(38:09):
doing something stupid.
Some people have a victimmindset and it doesn't matter
where they are, what environmentthey find themselves in.
Eventually they're going to befeeling like others are out to
get them Right.
(38:30):
We, as citizens of the kingdom,cannot afford to live in that
kind of life, that kind of world.
In ourselves, within ourselves,the mantra of the world is
blessed are you when you areliked by others, for then your
ego will grow.
I just want to fit in.
I don't want to ruffle anyfeathers.
(38:52):
I have to be really careful,not to mention Jesus.
My workplace, I understand.
I understand.
I understand we do have to livewithin the systems of this
world and we can't be defiant inthose things.
My question is when somebody inyour office needs prayer, do
they know that they can come toyou?
(39:13):
When they have questions aboutlife, who are they asking those
questions to?
We have an opportunity aschildren of God, as citizens of
another kingdom, to introducethe kingdom of God to people who
don't know about it.
We assume that because we livein America, everybody knows.
(39:35):
No, even people who callthemselves Christians.
Many of them are not livingwith the kingdom mindset.
They're still attemptingsomehow to be good enough to get
to God, to gain his favor fortoday, for him to smile upon me.
God is everlasting.
He has everlasting joy in hisheart for his children.
(39:58):
Remember the promise they willbe sons of God.
We are God's kids.
I know as a dad, I am so proud,stinking proud of my kids and I
(40:19):
would go to the ends of theearth for them, as I'm sure
everyone else here would.
God loves us.
Let that settle in.
I'd rather be loved by God thanliked by everybody else.
(40:40):
If we live the way we'resupposed to live, by God's grace
, by his spirit living on theinside of us, we are going to
make other people uncomfortable.
There will be people who willmove away from us at the lunch
table.
There will be people, includingyour family members, who will
uninvite you to certain things.
Now, don't be that person thatgets uninvited for the wrong
(41:03):
reasons, right?
How did Jesus show us this?
Jesus suffered like no otherand he offers his kingdom to
those who join him in suffering.
Listen to the conclusion of thispassage.
Blessed are you.
When others revile you andpersecute you and utter all
(41:24):
kinds of evil against you,falsely on my account, rejoice
and be glad, for your reward isgreat in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who werebefore you.
You want to be called great inthe kingdom of God.
Let's follow after him.
Let's be willing, no matterwhat the cost.
(41:53):
Again, by the grace of God,because of the work of Jesus and
through the ever-present helpof the Holy Spirit, let's live
as citizens of another kingdom.
Amen.
Would you stand to your feetwith me?
I feel a little embarrassedbecause it was such a quick
gloss over of these beautifultruths.
But I'm not too embarrassedbecause, guess what?
(42:15):
We have these Wednesday nightmeetings coming up and we're
going to go deep.
We're going to take a week oneach of these and really kind of
dig and mine these thingsdeeply.
So I appreciate you consideringcoming and being a part of that
.
Okay, let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thisday.
We thank you for therevolutionary life of Jesus
(42:39):
Christ.
We thank you for therevolutionary life of Jesus
Christ.
We thank you, lord, that yousaw fit, in the right time, in
the right place, for him to showup in this earth as an emissary
for the kingdom of heaven.
We thank you, lord, thatthrough Jesus's life and his
words and the signs and wonders,and through his death and
burial and resurrection andascension and the process that
(43:01):
he went through of raising upothers who would carry on the
work that he begun, all the waydown to us, lord, we thank you
that we are citizens of anotherkingdom and, lord, we thank you
that you promise that, as welive as citizens of this kingdom
, that you will bless us, thatyou will bless us in this life
(43:27):
and in the life to come, and so,father, I pray that you would
help us to turn our attentiontowards you, to refocus, to make
sure that we are not allowingourselves to be encumbered by
the ways of this world, that wewould not dance to the beat of
the wrong drummer, that themantras of this world would not
be the things that we look to asways of living.
(43:51):
Help us, father.
We pray to have kingdom impact,because yours is the glory and
the power and the praise.
Lord, ultimately, it's reallynot about us, it's about your
glory, it's about your kingdom.
(44:13):
Thank you for inviting us to bea part of it.
Lord, I pray for those that arehere this morning, who are
watching online, who have neverstepped into kingdom citizenship
.
I pray, lord, that you wouldgive them the grace to be able
to acknowledge their need, torecognize that they need mercy,
(44:34):
that they are sinners, and thatthey would speak to you, lord,
from the depths of their heartand ask you to forgive their
sins and to cleanse them, and togive Lord from the depths of
their heart and ask you toforgive their sins and to
cleanse them and to give them anew start and a new beginning
and to make them a citizen ofheaven.
Father, I pray that they wouldbe able to acknowledge that they
believe in Jesus Christ and thework that he accomplished for
(44:54):
them.
I pray that that would happen.
I also pray that they would beable to be a part of a Christian
community, whether it's thisone or another that would help
walk with them and disciple themand help them to know what it
means to be a Christian.
I pray for them even today.
Lord, would you move?
Let your kingdom come in theirlives and let your will be done.
(45:18):
Father, we give you glory andhonor again for everything that
you've accomplished here thisday.
And, father, we want to takethis home with us.
We don't want to just walk outthese doors and forget.
We want to apply these truthsin our lives.
We want to recognize when theHoly Spirit is speaking to us,
(45:43):
helping us, encouraging us,exhorting us, comforting us.
Father, I pray that you wouldbless and keep your people.
I pray that you would causeyour face to shine upon them and
be gracious to them.
I pray that you would lift upyour countenance upon them and
give them peace In the mightyname of Jesus, amen, Amen.
So we're starting a brand new sermon series today
called Red Letters.
Red Letters the words of Jesusfound in the New Testament are
often noted by them beingwritten in red right and being
written in red, and so there'sone of these sections in the New
Testament that is mostprominent, probably, I would say
(00:24):
, the greatest sermon everpreached.
The greatest sermon everpreached, in my opinion, is the
Sermon on the Mount, and theseare Jesus's direct words.
How many of you wish that youcould be there, or could have
been there to experience thisyourself?
Would you have liked to?
Yeah, absolutely.
But how many of you know thatGod saw fit to have it recorded
(00:45):
for us word for word, or atleast close to word for word, so
that we would be able to talkabout it?
Over the next few weeks, thiswhole summer, we're going to be
diving deep into the Sermon onthe Mount, the red letters of
Jesus, the words that he spokeas he was establishing his
kingdom here on this earth.
As he was establishing hiskingdom here on this earth.
We will see over the summer howJesus gives his disciples a
(01:07):
concise portrait of what itlooks like to be a disciple, to
be a follower of Jesus.
What does that look like inreal life?
How do we put those on like apair of jeans and wear them
around?
This whole sermon really speaksto all of it, and it really
speaks mostly to the heart.
It's the heart that mattersmost and that's what we're going
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to learn through all of theseweeks.
There's going to be lots ofdetails and lots of things, lots
of commandments and lots ofdifferent things that we're
going to pay attention to, butin the end, it's really Jesus
talking about the importance ofwhere our heart is, where it's
directed and what we'reconnected to with our hearts.
Right, and so I'm reallyexcited about it.
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Today's message is calledPortrait of a Christ Follower.
So let's look again at Matthew 4, verses 23, and we're going to
read through chapter 5, verse 12.
This is the Word of God.
And he went throughout allGalilee teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming thegospel of the kingdom and
healing every disease and everyaffliction among the people.
(02:14):
So his fame spread throughoutall Syria and they brought him
all the sick, those afflictedwith various diseases and pains,
those oppressed by demons,those afflicted with various
diseases and pains, thoseoppressed by demons, those
having seizures and paralytics,and he healed them and great
(02:35):
crowds followed him from Galileeand the Decapolis and from
Jerusalem and Judea and frombeyond the Jordan.
Seeing the crowds, he went upon the mountain and when he sat
down, his disciples came to himand he opened his mouth and
taught them, saying Blessed arethe poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they shall be comforted.
(02:58):
Blessed are the meek, for theyshall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, forthey shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,for they will see God.
And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons
(03:21):
of God.
Blessed are those who arepersecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the sons ofGod.
Blessed are those who arepersecuted for righteousness
sake, for theirs is the kingdomof heaven.
And blessed are you when othersrevile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evilagainst you, falsely on my
account.
Rejoice and be glad, for yourreward is great in heaven, for
(03:41):
so they persecuted the prophetswho were before you.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thesered letters.
We thank you, jesus, that youare the King of kings and Lord
of lords, and we thank you thatyou came to this earth and that
you spoke of a kingdom that isnot of this world.
And, father, we pray that, aswe embark on this new series,
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lord, and the one on Wednesdaynight, the Blessed series as
well we ask that you we embarkon this new series, lord, and
the one on Wednesday night, theblessed series as well, we ask
that you would open the eyes ofour understanding.
We ask that we would see thingsthat we've never seen before,
that you would cause the truththat is found within your words
to come alive within each andevery one of us.
And, lord, we don't want justbehavior modification.
We don't want a better versionof ourselves.
(04:24):
We want to look like you.
We want you to intervene and tointerchange and to translate
and to change all of us so thatwe might serve you in a way that
you deserve to be served.
And, father, we thank you andpraise you for taking these
words this morning and blessingthem and distributing them to
your people, in Jesus' name,amen.
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So, for those of you who don'tknow, I grew up in Wyoming, and
that's a state in the West, ifyou've never been out that way.
For the size of the state it'sthe lowest population in the
whole country, and there's areason for that, although you
wouldn't know it if you wentthere around July the 4th, but
(05:13):
if you go around January the 4thit becomes quickly apparent
that there's a reason whythere's only half a million
people living within the state.
And so when I was between my 11and 12-year-old years, we moved
from Wyoming to get ready toFlorida, to Fort Myers, florida.
So my hometown in Wyoming wasbooming, and this was when
everybody was there at one timewas 15,000 people, right,
anybody come from small townAmerica, a few of you here, yeah
(05:36):
, okay.
So you know where I'm comingfrom.
You know what I'm talking about?
Very simple.
We had, I think, one stoplight.
We had a Kmart.
We eventually got a Walmart.
That changed and revolutionizedeverything, right?
So, anyway, I digress.
But we left that place.
So, 15,000 people.
We moved to Fort Myers, florida, where there were 250,000
(05:58):
people, and more than thatduring the wintertime.
If you haven't noticed, peoplelike to go to Florida in the
winter.
There's a reason for that,right.
So the vast differences inthese two places.
You can imagine, culturally,for example, what a difference
between the Wild West and thenmoving to this kind of a wild
(06:19):
place in Florida as well.
Different, different, lots ofgangs and different things going
on.
The news was filled with all ofthese things that were
occurring.
Back in Wyoming it was more likeyou know well, we had a
hailstorm and so farmerso-and-so lost his crops.
In Florida it was a littledifferent than that, right, also
(06:40):
just from a weather standpoint.
So in Wyoming we had basicallyfour seasons, with one of them
lasting longer than the rest,lots of snow, right.
And in Florida we had twoseasons and there was no snow.
There was absolutely no snowwhere we lived in Florida.
Okay, in Wyoming the critterswere larger and they stayed
(07:02):
outside primarily.
In Florida the critters weretiny and all of them were
fighting to get inside.
And I can understand, becauseif you step outside for long,
there's this thing calledhumidity.
I don't know if you're aware ofit, but in that humidity you
want to get into the airconditioning as soon as you
possibly can.
Right.
So vast differences betweenthese two worlds.
(07:25):
And we experienced this kind ofchange and even though we were
still young at the time, mybrother and I.
It was still a big deal.
It was very difficult at times.
My point in kind, of tellingthat story is that we had to
make major adjustments in ourlives right, we had to change,
almost every area of our liveschanged in order for this new
(07:47):
place to work for us.
We had to adapt, we had toadjust, we had to grow
accustomed to a new way ofliving.
There were so many things thatwe never wore again once we
moved to Florida right, jacketsand scarves and all of that sort
of thing.
Everything was so different.
(08:09):
As we begin our study thismorning on the Sermon on the
Mount, we observe somethingsimilar in a way, but much more
important, happening.
Jesus has come as arepresentative of heaven to
introduce a new way of thinkingand a new way of living, a new
way of thinking and a new way ofliving.
And this new way of living andthinking is based on a new
covenant that God was bringingabout.
(08:30):
He was going to provide.
Jesus was going to provide forthis covenant by his life, his
death, his burial, hisresurrection and his ascension.
He was going to implement.
He was the emissary, he wasGod's representative that was
coming to the earth to representthis new kingdom and this new
covenant.
Everything was about to change.
(08:53):
Everything, literally, wasabout to change.
Imagine the Jewish people for aminute, who have just
experienced 400 years of silencefrom God.
Everything grew quiet fromheaven for 400 years and during
that time, the Jewish leadersdid not stop talking.
(09:14):
They kept talking and talkingand they kept adding and adding,
and they kept putting morerules and more rules and more
regulations and more behaviormodification and more things
that you needed to do, but Ididn't necessarily need to do
Right?
Very, very common theme whenpeople are in authority at times
(09:35):
.
And so this is what's happening.
And all of these Jewish peoplethat Jesus is encountering are
living within that world, andnot only that.
They're on like their fourthcaptivity encountering, are
living within that world, andnot only that, they're on like
their fourth captivity.
Now Rome is overseeing and incharge of the Jewish nation, and
they are there and they'reheavy handed and they're living
within this time and within thisday, within this reality.
(09:57):
And when Jesus comes on thescene, it must have seemed very
surreal.
Obviously, he was aware ofeverything, and so it wasn't
surreal to him, but it must havebeen surreal to all of the rest
, who had grown accustomed tothis time of silence, to this
time of God not seeming like hewas anywhere to be found, to
this time where we had to domore and we had to do more, and
(10:19):
we had to do more to try tosomehow be good enough for God
to pay attention to us.
And here steps a man into thisearth who's teaching something
radical.
He's not teaching about a listof do's and don'ts, but he's
teaching about what it lookslike to live as children of the
kingdom of God.
He's teaching the peoplesomething again that they had
(10:45):
never experienced, that they hadnever although there are plenty
of indicators in the OldTestament that if the Jewish
leaders had paid attention to,could have led them to the point
of realizing this was to come,this was the natural, this was
always God's plan from the verybeginning.
And so now the implementationof this plan, the working, the
(11:06):
outworking of this plan isoccurring in the life and time
of Jesus.
His revolutionary teaching isnot only something they've never
heard before, but it's backedup by signs and wonders and
miracles.
People are getting healed,people are getting set free,
people of relationships aregetting healed, people are
getting set free, relationshipsare being restored.
People's minds are beingcleared of the clutter and
(11:30):
everything that had caused themto have anguish, because Jesus
came to set free every part ofhumanity the spirit, soul and
body, soul and body and again.
They should have maybe knownthis and their leaders should
have paid attention.
In Isaiah 61, verses 1 through 3, it says the spirit of the Lord
(11:53):
God is upon me.
This is a prophecy concerningJesus, written thousands of
years before he ever steppedfoot on this planet.
The spirit of the Lord God isupon me because the Lord has
anointed me to bring good newsto the poor.
He has sent me to bind up thebrokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and theopening of the prison to those
(12:15):
who are bound.
To proclaim the year of theLord's favor and the day of
vengeance of our God, to comfortall who mourn, to grant to
those who mourn in Zion, to givethem a beautiful headdress
instead of ashes, the oil ofgladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead ofa faint spirit, that they may
(12:38):
be called oaks of righteousness.
The planting of the Lord.
For what reason?
That he may be glorified.
God is glorified to the maximumwhen the purpose of Jesus
Christ is accomplished here inthis earth.
And Jesus made it clear fromthe very beginning of his
(12:59):
ministry that this was thepurpose and the reason why he
came.
He came to set the captivesfree.
He came to initiate and toinstitute a new kingdom.
He came to set in place a newcovenant.
And we, my friends, sit heretoday based on these realities
(13:21):
and these truths.
These realities and thesetruths, now picture with me as
Jesus climbs up this mountain.
Think about all of the crowdsthat have been pressing around
him as we read through thedescription people from all over
, from Gentile lands, fromSamaritan places, tens.
I mean, we don't even know thatthe crowd is not numbered for
(13:44):
us, but we know that there weremany pressing up against him.
You imagine if you had somebodyin your life that was in
desperate need of a touch fromGod.
You do anything that you couldto get close to him, that there
might be a chance for him tospeak the words, to lay his
hands or to do something tobring about transformation in
the life of those that you love.
(14:06):
And so Jesus, being pressed bythe crowd, turns and climbs up a
mountain.
And as he climbs up themountain, he turns around and he
sits down and imagine this withme, this vast kind of what
would you call that Slope, avast slope below him, and then
(14:27):
it runs into the Sea of Galileeand the Sea of Galilee is out
beyond him.
And you imagine all of thedisciples, those that had been
called, even just recently, tobe followers of him, come and
gather around Jesus, they getclose to him.
He probably even calls them alittle closer, a little closer.
I think we should move ourfront rows up a little bit next
week, just call him a littlecloser.
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And I'm not Jesus, I'm notsaying that, but just they
wanted to just get a littlecloser, just to be near him,
just to be able to really hearevery word that he was going to
speak, that anything that hewanted to impart to them, that
they were putting themselves ina position to be ready to
receive from him.
And you can imagine that thecrowds that had been pressing
(15:10):
against Jesus, and now there'ssort of this wall of disciples
and the crowds push up againstthem, I'm certain, and they're
gathered around all across theslope and then embedded in the
crowd.
Most likely although it doesn'tsay here most likely there
although it doesn't say heremost likely there were religious
leaders, religious leaders whowere beginning to create in
(15:31):
their minds this opinion ofJesus, and the thing that they
realized more than anything elsewas that the followers that
they had last week werefollowing Jesus this week, and
so people who have power and whohave control in other people's
lives were beginning to feelthat pain and that hurt, and so
(15:53):
they were beginning to implement, or to begin to think about how
they could implement, a plan tobring an end to this.
So a lot of times, when peopleread the Sermon on the Mount,
they ask the question who wasJesus speaking to?
And I would say yes, was hespeaking to the disciples?
(16:13):
Absolutely, we know that.
He specifically said thedisciples came around him and he
spoke to them.
Yes, was he speaking to thecrowd?
Obviously he didn't.
I don't think he whispered sothat the crowd couldn't hear.
What did he know about thecrowd?
Who was in the crowd?
Jesus saw the crowd aspotential for future followers,
(16:39):
for future kingdom citizens,right, and even though there
were those that were embedded inthe crowd that probably would
be described later as enemies ofJesus, how many of you know,
there were probably some whosehearts were pricked when he
spoke these words of life andthey even themselves.
Maybe even Nicodemus, who knows?
(17:00):
I know the Ch chosen kind ofshows that version of things.
Maybe even Nicodemus or otherswho later did become followers
of Jesus were in some of thesecrowds listening to these words
from God.
Similar to the old covenants,mountaintop experience that
produced 10 commandments writtenon stone.
(17:22):
Now Jesus begins to speak andhe outlays eight blessings,
eight blessings that were a partof this new covenant, this new
way of looking at things.
We call them beatitudes.
Right, these are the kingdomrealities based on the new
(17:45):
covenant.
There's some debate over againwho he was talking to, but we
covered that.
Let's look first at the promisesgiven to new covenant
participants.
So we're talking aboutdisciples here.
Let's look at it from thatperspective, right?
So here's the promises.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Does that sound good?
Thumbs up.
All right, work with me here.
(18:08):
They shall be comforted.
Want that?
They shall inherit the earth?
They shall be satisfied.
Well, no, I don't really wantthat.
They shall receive mercy.
Two thumbs up.
They shall see God Come on andthey shall be called sons of God
(18:31):
.
Anyone again, you want to signup?
Get your name on that list.
Talk about great and preciouspromises, Great and precious
promises.
I think it's important here tomention the fact that the
followers of Jesus live in akingdom that is characterized by
the already and not yet concept.
(18:53):
What do I mean by that?
The kingdom of God.
How many of you know that Jesuscame and established the
kingdom of God here in thisearth?
Right, he spoke about thekingdom.
He showed what the kingdomlooked like by what he did while
he was here on this earth andhe left.
He was given all authority andhe put us as believers.
He gave authority to us to becitizens of this kingdom and to
(19:15):
walk out his kingdom rule hereon this earth, right?
But how many of you knowthere's still some things
present around us that are notkingdom, right?
How many of you know people aslong as Jesus?
At one point in time, jesus isgoing to return, but until that
(19:35):
point in time, everyone wholives on this earth will have an
expiration date.
So glad we don't know, likeit's not tattooed on us
somewhere.
All of us will have anexpiration date.
We will all eventually die.
But how many of you know thatthe kingdom of God, death has no
part in the kingdom of God?
(19:55):
So we have this already kingdom,these things that have been
established, and yet there'sthese things that have not yet
seen their complete fulfillment.
That makes sense.
And when will that happen?
Anybody know?
When will we see thefulfillment of all things?
No, when will we see thefulfillment of all things?
On that day, when Jesus returns.
(20:17):
The process is calledglorification.
All of us will be made new.
We'll be like him.
All of the sickness and diseaseand mental anguish and all of
those things will fall off andwe will walk with him and serve
him and serve with himthroughout all eternity.
This is what we have to lookforward to.
(20:38):
But how many of you know as faras it being paid for, as far as
it being accomplished 100%, buthow many of you know we're
living in the in-between and itwill come, but we're not
completely there yet.
(21:00):
So let's look at this now.
The promises of God aren'tbased on our performance, but on
Jesus.
If we read the Sermon on theMount and we think about me
first, we'll get ourselves introuble, because there's a lot
of things in the sermon thatlook like they're saying that I
need to do something.
And how many of you know?
(21:22):
It's true, there are thingsthat we need to do, but the
reason why we do them, themotivation of our hearts, what
gives us the empowerment that weneed to fulfill the things that
are spoken to us in the Sermonon the Mount?
We have to get that clear first.
So let's clear that.
Up Titus 3, verses 4 through 7,says but when the goodness and
loving kindness of God, ourSavior, appeared, he saved us,
(21:46):
not because of works done by usin righteousness, but according
to his own mercy, by the washingof Whose work creates the
ability for us to enjoy thepromise.
Our work or Jesus's work?
Yes, this is the time when thatSunday school answer is
(22:21):
completely appropriate.
Jesus is the right answer.
He paid the price.
He did the work.
We can't earn these promises.
We don't deserve, deserve thesepromises.
But how many of you know, likethe song says, he gives them
anyway.
He gives them to us.
(22:42):
It's his good pleasure to blessus with his promises.
So as we read through thebeatitudes, we can falsely see
them as a cause and effect basedsolely on our own effort.
Make no mistake, effort isrequired on our part, but the
Holy Spirit who lives inside ofus equips us to do this good
(23:05):
work.
That is one of the keydifferences between the Old
Testament and the Old Covenantand the New Covenant.
In the Old Covenant, god waswith them, but how many of you
know, in the New Covenant, goddwells in us by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus paid the price so thatthe Holy Spirit himself could
(23:25):
move on the inside of us,equipping us, giving us the
things that we need to be ableto accomplish the will of God.
Giving us the things that weneed to be able to accomplish
the will of God.
That's amazing.
It's amazing.
The new covenant is possible tolive under because God gives us
a new heart.
I think Clem might havementioned this last week Ezekiel
36.
And I will give you a new heartand a new spirit.
(23:50):
I will put within you and Iwill remove the heart of stone
from your flesh and give you aheart of flesh, and I will put
my spirit within you and causeyou to walk in my statutes and
be careful to obey my rules.
You shall dwell in the landthat I gave to your fathers and
you shall be my people and Iwill be your God.
Again.
Old Testament prophecy findingits fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
(24:11):
Testament prophecy finding itsfulfillment in Jesus Christ.
So, because of these truths, wecan live differently.
We do not have to represent theculture of this world.
We can live based on having acitizenship in another kingdom.
We have the ability to do that.
We have the voice of the Lordspeaking to us on the inside of
(24:36):
us, helping us, encouraging us,convicting us, working his work
on the inside of us.
So let's look at the blessings.
We're going to just quickly runthrough these.
Stick with me.
Number one blessed are the poorin spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
This isn't notice, it doesn'tstop at.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Notice, it doesn't stop at.
Blessed are the poor.
It qualifies what kind ofpoverty.
(24:59):
It's talking about the poor inspirit.
What's the difference betweenthe two?
It's the poor in spirit who areblessed because they understand
their desperate need for God.
What does it mean to be poor inspirit?
It means to recognize I can'tdo it.
I've tried, I've doneeverything I possibly could in
(25:19):
my own strength, with my own,you know, whatever word you
wanna use, and I fail miserably.
I cannot accomplish this on myown.
It's a humbling thing to admityour absolute inability to
follow God without his help.
And, by the way, this isn'tjust talking about salvation.
How many of you know, this is adaily realization that we need
(25:42):
to have.
We need to wake up everymorning and just repeat to the
Lord I can't do today withoutyou.
I can't make it through thisday and the decisions that I
have to make without you, I'mdesperate.
The mantra of this world, theanti-beatitude is blessed are
(26:02):
those who believe that theydon't need God, for they make
themselves God.
That's the culture of thisworld and that's what the world
preaches.
And how many of you know, it'seasy for us to get sucked up
into that whole mindset, butit's not the kingdom mindset.
This is not who we are.
What is the Jesus factor in allof this?
(26:24):
The only one who never neededto be poor in spirit chose to be
poor in spirit as an example tous all.
We read this in Philippians 2,have this mind among yourselves,
which is yours in Christ Jesuswho, though he was in the form
of God, did not count equalitywith God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself by takingthe form of a servant, being
(26:45):
born in the likeness of men andbeing found in human form, he
humbled himself by becomingobedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Jesus was poor in spirit and helives on the inside of us by
his spirit, and he can enable usand equip us to walk in the
same way.
Isn't that good news?
(27:06):
Second, blessed are those whomourn, for they shall be
comforted.
When you think of the word mourn, there's a lot of different
directions.
We could go with that.
There's a lot of reasons tomourn, but the mourning
described here is primarilybased on an understanding of how
sin affects our relationshipwith God.
It should break our heart whenour action or our lack of action
(27:29):
, when our thought life, whenthe habits that we have in our
lives.
It should break our hearts whenwe realize the way that God is
affected by those things.
How many of you know that Godis waiting to comfort his people
?
God is waiting to show mercy onhis people.
Even the ability to besorrowful and to show signs of
(27:54):
repentance is a gift from God.
2 Corinthians 7 says this, forgodly grief produces a
repentance that leads tosalvation without regret,
whereas worldly grief producesdeath.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
(28:16):
The mantra of this world isblessed are those who rejoice
when others fail, when otherpeople fail, for they will feel
better about themselves.
How many of you know?
You can play the win-lose gameall day long with the comparison
game.
You can find somebody in thisworld that you can point at and
say I'm glad I'm not like them,and you can find somebody else
(28:41):
that you can say I wish I waslike them.
That's not how citizens of thekingdom think.
We recognize, we acknowledge,we pray, we live lives that
understand God.
Change my heart, because Idon't want to break your heart.
Jesus wept over the sin ofothers in Matthew 23, and I'm
(29:03):
not going to read it for thesake of time, but he's crying
and weeping over the state ofJerusalem before he goes to the
cross, the city of prophets.
If anybody should know he'ssaying you should know.
He said I've desired to gatheryou up like a mother hen gathers
her chicks.
I have this desire.
(29:23):
I want to do this, but you'repushing me away.
You're not sorrowful, you'renot grieving for the right
things.
Next blessed are the meek, forthey shall inherit the earth.
We don't talk about meekness,hardly at all.
Right, it's not a part of ourvocabulary very often.
(29:44):
What does it mean to be meek.
It does not mean being weak.
A lot of times, people equateit with weakness.
Meekness is strength underGod's control.
It is self-discipline andrestraint.
It means being teachable andgentle.
(30:07):
It is characterized by humilityand having a good attitude.
Are you meek?
Are you uniquely meek?
The mantra of this world isblessed are those with a bad
attitude, for they will use itto control others.
That's not meekness, that'sweakness.
(30:31):
That's weakness.
Sarcasm is the weapon of theweak.
My friends Just had to throwthat out there.
We'll move on.
The Jesus factor Jesus showedstrength through restraint.
If anybody could have beenfully given permission to not be
(30:54):
meek, it could have been Jesus.
He could have called downthousands upon thousands of
angels, and yet he didn't.
Jesus showed strength throughrestraint.
Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me, for I am gentle and
lowly in heart, and you willfind rest for your souls.
(31:16):
We can be meek because the onewho is meek lives on the inside
of us, stirring us up, changingus.
Blessed are those who hunger andthirst for righteousness, for
they shall be satisfied.
Or another version says forthey shall be filled.
It's dangerous to talk abouthunger, about this time of the
(31:40):
day, in this part of the sermonMight hear some growling and
some grumbling within sometummies in the room.
You can tell I've been aroundgrandkids who talk about tummies
Too much.
Pooh Bear, okay, anyway, whatis it that you're most desperate
(32:02):
for?
If you could list your top fivethings that you wish that you
could have, what would thosethings be?
Maserati, a perfect marriage.
I could go on and on.
(32:25):
What is it that we desire morethan anything else?
Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness.
What is this righteousnessabout?
It's not about behavior, it'sabout relationship.
It's about relationship.
What is God wanting to do herefor those who hunger and thirst?
(32:49):
He's wanting to open up himselfto them.
God is not shy, he's notembarrassed about himself, he's
open and he wants us to see himand to know him as he truly is.
Do we desire to grow deeper inour walk with God?
(33:10):
Does spending time with himaffect greatly the way that we
live?
The mantra of this world isblessed are those who do things
the way that they want to, forthey will feel like they are
satisfied, and the Jesus factoris Jesus' relationship with his
(33:33):
father was the most importantpriority of his life, somebody
who probably didn't need it inthe same way that we need it.
What was the focus ofeverything?
His father.
How many times does he speakabout?
Everything that I do andeverything that I say is what
I've talked to my father about,what he's told me, even his
(33:56):
obedience to death on the cross.
Father, there's any way.
Let this cut past for me.
Yet, not my will, but your will.
Be done.
Jesus is our example.
We can do this by God's grace,because the spirit of God lives
on the inside of us.
(34:17):
Don't think of this as causeand effect.
Think of this as this is whatGod's given us, and all of us
who are followers of JesusChrist, who endure to the end,
will participate in all of theseblessings, all of the promises
(34:37):
we will experience and we areexperiencing even now.
Blessed are the merciful, forthey shall receive mercy.
To show mercy is to acknowledgethat it isn't earned or
deserved, but to give it anyway.
You know, mercy isn't neededunless there's sin involved.
Understanding how much mercy weneed and have received should
(35:07):
inspire us to show mercy towardothers.
I desperately need the mercy ofGod.
I know me, I know my past, Iknow my present and trust me, I
can honestly stand up herebefore you today and say that
without the mercy of God I wouldnot be anything.
(35:34):
The mantra of this world isBlessed are those who show no
mercy, for they will climb theproverbial ladder.
We cannot live according to thesayings of the kingdom of this
world.
The culture and climate of thisworld cannot be our directive.
We must fight hard to pushaside and to cast off.
The culture and climate of thisworld cannot be our directive.
(35:55):
We must fight hard to pushaside and to cast off the
burdens of the wrong culture andthe wrong kingdom.
Jesus is mercy and his lovingkindness is matchless.
How many of you can amen thatHis mercy is endless?
He is endless.
(36:17):
Blessed are the peacemakers, forthey shall be called sons of
God.
What is one of the keycharacteristics of children of
God?
We should be known as peoplewho walk in peace.
Romans 5, verse 1, says this.
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, we have
peace with God through our LordJesus Christ.
(36:38):
If we have peace with God, andthe peace of God is upon us, how
many of you know we shouldcreate peace wherever we go?
Some of you, wherever you go,looks like the Tasmanian devil
or Linus has been there.
That is not what it means to bea peacemaker.
(37:02):
We should be mending lives, weshould be reaching out.
We should be finding peace inthe midst of the storm.
We should be filled with love.
We should be filled with love.
(37:25):
And when I say those thingsagain, I remind you it's all
available to us.
What a great gift Jesus hasgiven us.
The world says blessed are thetroublemakers, for at least they
will be known.
The world says blessed are thetroublemakers, for at least they
(37:47):
will be known.
When people describe you toothers, do they use words like
peacemaker?
They should.
And finally, blessed are thosewho are persecuted for
righteousness sake, for theirsis the kingdom of heaven.
Notice what he says Blessed arethose who are persecuted for
righteousness sake, not blessedare those who are persecuted for
(38:09):
doing something stupid.
Some people have a victimmindset and it doesn't matter
where they are, what environmentthey find themselves in.
Eventually they're going to befeeling like others are out to
get them Right.
(38:30):
We, as citizens of the kingdom,cannot afford to live in that
kind of life, that kind of world.
In ourselves, within ourselves,the mantra of the world is
blessed are you when you areliked by others, for then your
ego will grow.
I just want to fit in.
I don't want to ruffle anyfeathers.
(38:52):
I have to be really careful,not to mention Jesus.
My workplace, I understand.
I understand.
I understand we do have to livewithin the systems of this
world and we can't be defiant inthose things.
My question is when somebody inyour office needs prayer, do
they know that they can come toyou?
(39:13):
When they have questions aboutlife, who are they asking those
questions to?
We have an opportunity aschildren of God, as citizens of
another kingdom, to introducethe kingdom of God to people who
don't know about it.
We assume that because we livein America, everybody knows.
(39:35):
No, even people who callthemselves Christians.
Many of them are not livingwith the kingdom mindset.
They're still attemptingsomehow to be good enough to get
to God, to gain his favor fortoday, for him to smile upon me.
God is everlasting.
He has everlasting joy in hisheart for his children.
(39:58):
Remember the promise they willbe sons of God.
We are God's kids.
I know as a dad, I am so proud,stinking proud of my kids and I
(40:19):
would go to the ends of theearth for them, as I'm sure
everyone else here would.
God loves us.
Let that settle in.
I'd rather be loved by God thanliked by everybody else.
(40:40):
If we live the way we'resupposed to live, by God's grace
, by his spirit living on theinside of us, we are going to
make other people uncomfortable.
There will be people who willmove away from us at the lunch
table.
There will be people, includingyour family members, who will
uninvite you to certain things.
Now, don't be that person thatgets uninvited for the wrong
(41:03):
reasons, right?
How did Jesus show us this?
Jesus suffered like no otherand he offers his kingdom to
those who join him in suffering.
Listen to the conclusion of thispassage.
Blessed are you.
When others revile you andpersecute you and utter all
(41:24):
kinds of evil against you,falsely on my account, rejoice
and be glad, for your reward isgreat in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who werebefore you.
You want to be called great inthe kingdom of God.
Let's follow after him.
Let's be willing, no matterwhat the cost.
(41:53):
Again, by the grace of God,because of the work of Jesus and
through the ever-present helpof the Holy Spirit, let's live
as citizens of another kingdom.
Amen.
Would you stand to your feetwith me?
I feel a little embarrassedbecause it was such a quick
gloss over of these beautifultruths.
But I'm not too embarrassedbecause, guess what?
(42:15):
We have these Wednesday nightmeetings coming up and we're
going to go deep.
We're going to take a week oneach of these and really kind of
dig and mine these thingsdeeply.
So I appreciate you consideringcoming and being a part of that
.
Okay, let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thisday.
We thank you for therevolutionary life of Jesus
(42:39):
Christ.
We thank you for therevolutionary life of Jesus
Christ.
We thank you, lord, that yousaw fit, in the right time, in
the right place, for him to showup in this earth as an emissary
for the kingdom of heaven.
We thank you, lord, thatthrough Jesus's life and his
words and the signs and wonders,and through his death and
burial and resurrection andascension and the process that
(43:01):
he went through of raising upothers who would carry on the
work that he begun, all the waydown to us, lord, we thank you
that we are citizens of anotherkingdom and, lord, we thank you
that you promise that, as welive as citizens of this kingdom
, that you will bless us, thatyou will bless us in this life
(43:27):
and in the life to come, and so,father, I pray that you would
help us to turn our attentiontowards you, to refocus, to make
sure that we are not allowingourselves to be encumbered by
the ways of this world, that wewould not dance to the beat of
the wrong drummer, that themantras of this world would not
be the things that we look to asways of living.
(43:51):
Help us, father.
We pray to have kingdom impact,because yours is the glory and
the power and the praise.
Lord, ultimately, it's reallynot about us, it's about your
glory, it's about your kingdom.
(44:13):
Thank you for inviting us to bea part of it.
Lord, I pray for those that arehere this morning, who are
watching online, who have neverstepped into kingdom citizenship
.
I pray, lord, that you wouldgive them the grace to be able
to acknowledge their need, torecognize that they need mercy,
(44:34):
that they are sinners, and thatthey would speak to you, lord,
from the depths of their heartand ask you to forgive their
sins and to cleanse them, and togive Lord from the depths of
their heart and ask you toforgive their sins and to
cleanse them and to give them anew start and a new beginning
and to make them a citizen ofheaven.
Father, I pray that they wouldbe able to acknowledge that they
believe in Jesus Christ and thework that he accomplished for
(44:54):
them.
I pray that that would happen.
I also pray that they would beable to be a part of a Christian
community, whether it's thisone or another that would help
walk with them and disciple themand help them to know what it
means to be a Christian.
I pray for them even today.
Lord, would you move?
Let your kingdom come in theirlives and let your will be done.
(45:18):
Father, we give you glory andhonor again for everything that
you've accomplished here thisday.
And, father, we want to takethis home with us.
We don't want to just walk outthese doors and forget.
We want to apply these truthsin our lives.
We want to recognize when theHoly Spirit is speaking to us,
(45:43):
helping us, encouraging us,exhorting us, comforting us.
Father, I pray that you wouldbless and keep your people.
I pray that you would causeyour face to shine upon them and
be gracious to them.
I pray that you would lift upyour countenance upon them and
give them peace In the mightyname of Jesus, amen, Amen.
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