God Is Concerned About Your Heart-Not Just Your Actions
If the Bible were merely a book of “do’s and don’ts” then we would only be responsible for watching our “P’s & Q’s.” But life in Christ is about more than “what we do.” When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, the very first recorded question that God asked was “Where are you?” This lets us know that God isn’t just concerned with our actions- He’s concerned with our hearts.
Being Merciful Is The Pathway To God’s Blessings
Today we consider the fifth of the Beatitudes spoken by Jesus during His Sermon on the Mount. Showing mercy isn’t just feeling sorry for someone, it’s actively showing compassion, forgiveness, and kindness to others. And those who do that also receive the same from God.
God Honors Deserving Mothers
On this day that we set aside a special time to honor and celebrate Mothers, we get our example from God Himself. God’s love and care for Moms is seen throughout Scripture and He gives us a template and a blueprint to follow.
Be Hungry For God’s Righteousness
Jesus warned His disciples that unless their righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, they would in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. In Peter’s first letter he writes to those whom he said “have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” In Romans Paul writes about “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” In today’s message Jesus urges us to have a hungry for it.
What Is Spiritual Meekness?
Is has been said, and rightly so, that meekness is not weakness. In His sermon on the mount Jesus unpacks the concept of spiritual meekness and shows us that it is far from feeble, fragile or frail, but rather it is humility, and strength under God’s control.
What Is Spiritual Mourning?
Blessed are they that mourn… if we’re honest, we don’t feel blessed in times of mourning. But Jesus’ sermon on the mount contains some principles that aren’t easily grasped by the natural man. But spiritually we can take hold to these profound principles, and gain understanding of what they mean to us in our everyday lives.
God Calls People Where They Are
When Jesus called him, Matthew he was a tax collector. When He called him, Peter he was a fisherman. When He called Paul he was a man whose name was Saul, who was a staunch opponent of the early church, arresting Christians, entering their homes, and sending them to prison. This same Paul writes in Romans that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God wasn’t waiting for us to “get our act together.” In our unbelief and in our rebellion, He called us just as we were.
Preparation For Ministry II
When we closely follow the life of Jesus, we find that after His baptism He begins a different phase of His ministry. We often refer to it as the start of His “public” ministry. We also find that the majority of His ministry- His teaching, His miracles, His healings, and His meeting the needs of others, was accomplished not inside the synagogues, but in the streets among the people. Today, we often think of ministry as what happens inside the four walls of our church buildings. Today’s teaching shows us the error of the thinking.
Be Careful How You Build
In today’s passage Paul writes "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building" As believers we are not just working for God, but are also like a building being constructed by God. The culmination is that the community of believers becomes God's sanctuary, His temple where His Spirit can dwell.
God Shows Off When You Need Him Most
In the year 1624 author John Donne’s book “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions” reflected on sickness, pain, and the human condition. The book contains a very famous line: “No Man Is An Island.” It emphasized a connectivity that each of us needs in our lives. Unfortunately, not everyone is available, able or willing to be there when we need them. Thankfully we serve a God that is always there- especially when we need Him most.