Jesus' Sermon On The Mount

Matthew 5:1-2

Now when Jesus saw the crowds,
he went up on a mountainside and sat down.
His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

Let us look at Jesus’ greatest training program: the Beatitudes.

Each of the eight Beatitudes has a two-fold nature: a “knowing” and a “doing” response. We must not only know them, we must also respond to what we learn from them.

Eight times in the Beatitudes it says, “Blessed are….” These refer to Jesus’ evaluation of the kind of person He names in each Beatitude. Jesus was referring to His esteem for that kind of person. His meaning is, “I esteem highly any person who….” He was urging us to have that kind of attitude. His deeper meaning is, “All you who hear Me, choose to become like these kinds of people.”

The Beatitudes is “God’s radical reconstruction of the heart!”

The first four Beatitudes focus internally: they speak to the heart of the one who wants to obey God. They are the four stepping stones to becoming an obedient servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are: humility, mourning, meekness and hunger for righteousness.

The second four Beatitudes focus on the external behavior of the servant who follows Jesus. They are: mercy, purity, peacemaking and persecution.

We will look at each of the eight Beatitudes individually.

Let us study Jesus’ Beatitudes so that we live the way Jesus lived.

May we receive great encouragement
as we seek to know and live the Beatitudes in our lives.

Be Strong In The Lord

Psalm 31:24

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

It would be nice if we are God’s vessels to bring His Word to those in need.

It is not an easy job; persecution abounds.

But 95% of the believers who faced the test of external persecution passed it.

It is not persecution itself but the lessons learned under persecution that make and keep the church and an individual believer strong in the Lord.

What makes the difference is how we respond to persecution and how we respond to freedom.

Let us prepare ourselves for the hard assignments
in responding biblically to challenges.

Fasting and Praying

Matthew 6:17-18

But when you fast,
put oil on your head and wash your face,
so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting,
but only to your Father, who is unseen;
and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Jesus assumes that His followers practice fasting. He says “when” you fast and not “if” you fast.

Fasting is a significant spiritual activity that goes along with intensive prayer times.

To fast means to put God first. Fasting is an attitude of the heart in which we interrupt our normal life to pray for a specific matter or cause. It means to abstain from food and for some, even drink so that we can focus on God and be more sensitive to spiritual matters.

Fasting is also perseverance in prayer until we have received an answer — be it yes, no, wait or something different. In essence, fasting means that we rend our hearts before God, confess our sins and turn to the Lord anew (Joel 2:12-13).

Fasting is biblical. Moses fasted twice for 40 days (Exodus 34:28); Daniel fasted (partially) for 21 days (Daniel 10:3); Joel called for a day of fasting (Joel 1:14; 2:12); Ezra withdrew for a period of fasting and mourning (Ezra 10:6); Elijah fasted for 40 days (1 Kings 19:8); Leaders of the church in Antioch fasted (Acts 13:2-3); Jesus fasted for 40 days ( Luke 4:2); Paul and Barnabas fasted (Acts 14:23; 27:33).

Let us resolve to practice all the spiritual disciplines, including fasting.

Help me, Lord,
to practice fasting as a spiritual discipline without making it obvious.

A Lamp In The Dark

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.

Let us treasure our freedom to read and meditate on God’s Word.

Oh Lord,
May Your Spirit of Peace

be upon our brethren in suffering.
May they be encouraged by Your Word!

Oh Christian Fathers

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

For you know that we dealt with each of you
as a father deals with his own children,
encouraging, comforting and urging you
to live lives worthy of God,
who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

The Apostle Paul is very specific here in defining a fatherly role.

He gives 3 special characteristics of a Christian father (We fathers tend to apply them in reverse order).

He states them as:

• Encouraging - Like children, we are often tempted to give up. When that happens, the real need is for someone to come along side who can identify with and encourage them to keep going. A Christian father is one who is always there to give an encouraging word when needed. And the need is often!

• Comforting - This reference is to the kind of comfort that helps a child or another person carry a burden of grief or pain. Just by coming alongside in this concerned way, the burden is made lighter and the pain is lessened. We were not created to be alone, especially in grief. The Christian father and disciple maker is also always there for times of comfort giving.

• Exhorting - This is the direction and assertiveness characteristic that should be evident in the father/disciple maker relationship. There are times when the father moves from the side to stand squarely in front and confront them with something that they need to face. The dangers in not exercising this responsibility are very great and should compel us to be diligent toward both our children and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us commit ourselves to be a good encourager, comforter and exhorter.

Oh Father,
Thank You for Christian fathers
who have modelled Your heart with their children.