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Series on the Beatitudes: sermon # 3

Matthew 5:5 (MSG)
"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

Series on the Beatitudes: sermon # 3

Matthew 5:5 (NLT)
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

Blessed are the... Meek {May 13}

Matthew 5:5 (MSG)
"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

Being Big Spirited: {April 22}

Acts 1:1 (MSG)
Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but "must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon."

Acts 1:6-7 (MSG)
When they were together for the last time they asked, "Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?"

Acts 1:9 (MSG)
These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, "You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left."

Get on the Band-Wagon: {April 15}

Joel 2:21-27 (MSG)
Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate! God has done great things. Fear not, wild animals! The fields and meadows are greening up. The trees are bearing fruit again: a bumper crop of fig trees and vines! Children of Zion, celebrate! Be glad in your God. He's giving you a teacher to train you how to live right— Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do. And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain, casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.

A Journey into the New {April 8}

Matthew 28:1-10 (MSG)
After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God's angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn't move.

Making a Commitment to Go the Full Distance {April 1}

John 13:1-17 (MSG)
Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

John 13:34 (MSG)
"Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."

Journey into the Wilderness {February 26}

Matthew 4:1-11 (MSG)
Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."

A Journey Toward Hospitality {March 11}

John 4:1-42 (MSG)
Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

Beautiful Song Lyric

Job 8:14 (MSG)
They hang their life from one thin thread, they hitch their fate to a spider web.

A Journey as People of Light: {March 18}

Ephesians 5:8-14 (MSG)
You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You're out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.

Don't listen to the rumors people spread

Job 5:12-16 (MSG)
He aborts the schemes of conniving crooks, so that none of their plots come to term.

Life Application: day 6

Genesis 15:6 (NLT)
And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.

A Prayer of Word and Deed {January 29}

Matthew 9:35-38 (MSG)
Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"

Life Application: day 5

Genesis 6:9 (NLT)
This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.

Life Application: day 4

Genesis 4:6-7 (NLT)
“Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?

Life Application: day 3

Genesis 1:28 (NLT)
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Skeletons in the Family Closet {January 22}

Matthew 1:1-17 (MSG)
The family tree of Jesus Christ, David's son, Abraham's son:

Life Application: day 1

Psalm 6:6 (NLT)
I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears.

Life Application: day 2

Genesis 1:25 (NLT)
God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

Attitude: {day 7}

Philippians 4:6-8 (MSG)
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Attitude: {day 6}

Romans 12:6 (MSG)
let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else;

Atttitude: {day 5}

Romans 12:3 (MSG)
I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Attitude: {day 4}

Philippians 2:3-7 (MSG)
Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.

A Prayer for Compassion {January 15}

Matthew 9:35-38 (MSG)
Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"