Blessed...

Intro

I see Miss Hannah in the back ready to take any K-4th graders that are going to Kids’ Praise at this time.

Parents, if you desire for your children to stay with you during this time, that is absolutely fine.

If you have your Bible with you this morning, please turn with me as we are going to begin in Matthew 4:23.

These last few verses of chapter 4 set the stage for one of Jesus’ most extensive and comprehensive teachings.

We know this section of Scripture as The Sermon on the Mount and it spans chapter 5 through chapter 7.

It is important to note that this is all one, continuous teaching.

The way that we have decided to break up these verses and chapters for this sermon series was not a thought in Christ’s mind.

The headings that are in our Bibles are wonderful tools, added by faithful brothers, for grasping quickly what is being taught in each subset of verses.

But they were not present at the time of Jesus’ sitting down to teach.

He did not have a fill in the blank outline or a PowerPoint.

He sat and spoke with one idea flowing into the next and building a beautiful foundation for the “kingdom” that He currently rules, and will one day rule in fullness.

Why “Kingdom Correction”?

If you scan the current landscape of teachings and books on The Sermon on the Mount (just go to Google), you will find a popular theme.

The truths that Jesus teach lead some to label the kingdom of God “The Upside-Down Kingdom”.

They say that the kingdom of God is so counter-cultural that it is, in perspective, upside-down.

While their point can be made, and is not by any means heretical, the problem I have with this language is that it insinuates that there is something wrong with God’s kingdom when it is, in fact, the only kingdom that has not been turned upside-down!

Through the course of history, as He has been leading His people, setting them apart and consecrating them to proclaim His glory throughout the world, His is the only kingdom that has maintained its orientation in its standing with Him.

It is our perspective that is upside-down, our sin that has distorted reality.

This is why we are approaching our time in the Sermon on the Mount as “Kingdom Correction”.

Jesus is offering us corrective lenses for how to view the world and how we operate in it.

It serves as a source of correction for our natural inclinations and tendencies.

He is getting His disciples, His true covenant people, back on the course of the Father’s way.

And, while this is a paradigm shift, it is a rectification of the kingdom that was meant to be since creation.

Outline

Preceding this sermon, these teachings, of our Savior, Matthew gives us...

a brief account of Jesus’ birth and early days of childhood,

John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus as a herald would for a coming king,

setting the stage for Christ’s earthly ministry by calling Israel to repent and turn to the Lord,

Jesus’ temptation and overcoming of temptation in the wilderness,

the calling of His disciples,

those men who would spend the next 3 years in His shadow,

and, finally, a glimpse of what his ministry to the masses looked like.

As we take up and read this morning, we are going to see...

The Setting of the Sermon (4:23-5:1)

The Portrait of a True Disciple (5:2-10)

The Repercussions of Righteousness (5:11-12)

Let’s look first at the setting...

Matthew 4:23–5:1 ESV

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Setting of the Sermon (4:23-5:1)

Just like in any other part of Scripture, the context of Jesus’ sermon is most important to our understanding.

What is going on around Him?

What compelled Him to teach?

Who is He speaking to?

Scene, Motivation, & Audience

First, we see that Jesus has been hard at work “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people”.

People are flocking to Him to receive care for their souls in his message and care for their bodies in having their physical ailments cured.

He sees the multitudes and what does he do?

After He is moved to compassion and action of preaching and healing, He pulls away.

He goes up onto the mountain.

Pause there!

What does that remind you of?

“He went up on the mountain” is a verbal parallel to Moses ascending Mount Sinai in Exodus 19.

Exodus 19:3 ESV

while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:

Matthew is screaming at us to pay attention!

The people of Israel were told in Deuteronomy 18:15-19...

Deuteronomy 18:15–19 ESV

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Moses went up and sat on THE mountain of the Old Testament to receive the words of the Law written on tablets of stone for the benefit of God’s people.

Jesus went up and sat on THE mountain of the New Testament in order to write the precepts of the Law on the hearts of God’s people.

Moses led a life characterized by an intimate relationship with God and miracles.

Jesus led a life characterized by an intimate relationship with the Father and miracles.

Moses led God’s people to physical redemption and freedom.

Jesus came to lead God’s people to spiritual redemption and freedom.

Matthew is saying, “Here He is! The One we’ve been waiting for!”

But Jesus is not going up on the mountain to address everyone.

Many paint this as a picture of Jesus addressing this massive crowd, as in the feeding of the 5,000.

He isn’t getting a higher vantage point in order to be seen and heard by the masses.

He is removing Himself because He knows that He needs to pour into His people.

In Matthew 5:1 we see a shift from preaching/evangelism to teaching/discipleship.

“… when He sat down, His disciples came to Him.”

This is further clarified in Luke’s parallel account...

Luke 6:20 ESV

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

Jesus is not giving an invitation.

He is describing the evidence of true repentance.

He is painting a portrait of what a true disciple WILL look like.

Join me where we left off in verse 2 of Matthew 5.

The Portrait of a True Disciple (5:2-10)

Matthew 5:2–12 ESV

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

As He begins teaching His disciples, one word jumps out at us simply by the frequency in which it is used.

Blessed

This word resonates through every description and correlated gift that Jesus presents.

But what does it mean?

Many have translated it as “happy” or even “truly happy”.

But this description falls desperately short of communicating the depth and joy behind the blessing.

Again, we look back to Moses and the Law.

According to the Word of the Lord handed down to His people, blessings were the opposite of curses.

Blessings were given out for obedience and curses were meted against those who lived in rebellion to God’s commands.

While some of those blessings...

Health

Land

Prosperity

Safety

… are physically manifested,

the greatest blessing that anyone could ask for is communion with God.

That is the point of obedience!

Obedience does not drive the relational wedge between you and God.

Blessing is the joy of being in fellowship with the Creator of your body and soul.

Deuteronomy 33:29 ESV

Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs.”

When it comes back to Jesus’ words in Matthew, we see in these descriptions a list of things that we cannot accomplish on our own!

There is nothing that we do in our own strength and no characteristics that can be formed in our own strength without God’s vast, immeasurable grace.

So… who is blessed?

Let’s break each of these statements down while understanding 2 things.

Each blessing leads into the next.

Each blessing has a current and future promise attached to it.

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit (5:3)

Matthew 5:3 ESV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

Some take this verse (and its counterpart found in Luke 6:20) to mean those who are impoverished in this world, in the here and now.

Those who have overwhelming physical and financial needs.

This understanding can lead to social justice crusades and forsaking all physical blessings in this life (home, finances, everything).

But is that what Christ is saying?

Is this understanding consistent with the blessings that the Lord pours out on His people in giving them land and crops and prosperity?

No!

Poor in spirit means destitute in spirit.

They are aware of their spiritual neediness and dependence on God.

In a world that admires and pursues self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and self-dependence, the true disciple of Christ recognizes his own spiritual weakness.

We see this posture exemplified in the Psalmist...

Psalm 86:1–5 ESV

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

There is no pretense here!

The true disciple is keenly aware that he must rely entirely on the grace of God for salvation.

It is to this kind of person that the kingdom of heaven belongs.

That is the blessing given to the poor in spirit.

They are made, not in their power but in Christ, a part of the kingdom of heaven.

This is something that disciples enjoy the benefits of currently, but it is also something that will be realized in the future when Christ physically returns to rule over the new heaven and the new earth.

We are already a part, but we will be made fully a part of His kingdom one day.

Christ’s message here is that when disciples have total dependence on Him, He reigns over them now and forever.

As each blessing leads into the next, being poor in spirit causes one to mourn.

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (5:4)

Matthew 5:4 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

We read this and think, “Come on Jesus. How do you find joy and close communion with God when grief seems all encompassing?”

Well, it fully depends on what kind of mourning we are talking about!

When we think of mourning, our minds often go to the loss of a loved one.

But considering the fact that each of these blessings is building upon those around it, this is not the kind of mourning Jesus is talking about.

If a disciple is poor in spirit, if his soul is a beggar that can do nothing to save itself, this naturally leads him to agonize over his sin.

True mourning, not just feeling remorse due to the circumstances or consequences surrounding sin,

Not just being sorry because you were caught,

True, heartfelt grief over your affront to your holy God leads to repentance and further reliance on God to rectify your soul.

We are instructed in James 4...

James 4:8–10 ESV

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

We mourn sin and hate it because it is an offence to God and He responds in forgiveness!

He exalts us!

He comforts us!

That’s the blessing!

Sinclair Ferguson says,

He comes to us in his grace and power, puts his hand under our chin, and says, “Lift up your eyes, sorrowing one; look on me. I am the Resurrection and the Life. In me there is forgiveness and pardon. Through me you are being brought into fellowship with the Father. You need not carry the burden of mourning through life hoping against hope that one day it will be removed. No! I have taken that burden. There is comfort now. Put aside the garments of mourning. Rejoice! Be comforted!”

- Sinclair B. Ferguson

Be comforted in your mourning.

Your Savior took the teeth out of God’s wrath against sin for everyone who repents and turns to Him.

You stand before the Father draped in the righteousness of Christ, not the sin of yesterday.

We find comfort in this now, but we cannot forget that Christ’s comfort extends to the future as well.

Revelation 7:17 ESV

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

When He comes our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew this song we’ll sing, “Hallelujah! What a Savior!”

Our spiritual poverty and mourning over our sin lead us into blessing number 3.

Blessed Are the Meek (5:5)

Matthew 5:5 ESV

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Meekness here does not mean a mild-mannered doormat.

Indeed, strength and assertiveness can exist alongside meekness.

But what is being asserted?

Whose authority is being recognized?

A meek disciple is an evident servant of Christ who subjects himself quietly and without resistance.

He may serve with boldness and not be afraid of confronting injustice, but this is accompanied by no assertion of personal agenda.

What are the meek blessed with?

Christ’s beatitude echoes Psalm 37.

Psalm 37:11 ESV

But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

In all of Scripture, “the land” refers to the promised land of Canaan.

That same land that Moses led Israel out of slavery in Egypt to inhabit.

Jesus is once again drawing connections between Himself and the great deliverer of the Old Testament.

Just as Israel inherited Canaan, Christ’s disciples (the true Israel) will inherit the earth.

Even in their displacement, in their exile, the promise of grace was that they would return to their land.

While we are sojourners here, we may be blessed physically.

But the fulfillment of this blessing ultimately is realized, yet again, at the end of all things!

Ours is the new earth under Christ’s forever rule.

We have a place for eternity!

Fourthly...

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness (5:6)

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The wording of this blessing is, perhaps, the easiest for us to sort through.

And, at the same time, if there is going to be one beatitude that we find the most difficulty in fully comprehending, it’s going to be this one.

As 21st century Americans, most of us have never truly known the debilitating nature of true hunger and thirst.

Most of us have never had to wonder where the next meal was coming from (or if it was coming at all).

We turn on the faucet, the shower, and drinkable water is at our fingertips.

This was not the case for Jesus’ audience in 1st century Palestine.

To hunger and thirst is to crave and desire above all else!

This is why the Psalmist describes his pursuit of God similarly in Psalm 42.

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

This is how the true disciple should feel about righteousness.

He should want it.

He should need it.

He should pursue it as if his life depended on it!

And the promised blessing is...

Satisfaction!

He will satisfy the longing.

He will grant you righteousness as long as you pursue it.

Because that’s the thing, isn’t it?

Once you’ve eaten, you don’t stop thinking about food.

Once you’ve quenched your thirst, you don’t abandon all thoughts of water.

That’s foolishness because the moment we do that, we die.

We are given the righteousness of Christ, but we are to continually strive to grow in personal holiness.

We WILL be filled!

That’s the point of these blessings!

If you know your need for God, mourn your sinful state, submit to Him above all else, and pursue righteousness fervently, you are led to action.

Blessed Are the Merciful (5:7)

Matthew 5:7 ESV

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

When you see your own desperate need for mercy, it leads you to be merciful towards others.

The beautiful truth of this blessing is that we are not just to put up with one another, we are to actively help others in times of distress as if those afflictions were our own.

Mercy is a demand and a gift.

It is an expectation.

Christ’s followers will show mercy.

They will relate with others with a forgiving and compassionate spirit.

But, at the same time, it does not earn mercy from God, or it wouldn’t be a gift.

It would cease to be mercy.

It would be something that we could obtain for ourselves and shatter the foundation of the previous blessings.

We praise the Lord for the gift of His mercy on our lives and His work of mercy in our hearts.

6th...

Blessed Are the Pure in Heart (5:8)

Matthew 5:8 ESV

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The pure in heart have no divided allegiances.

There is nothing competing with the Lord for the throne of their hearts.

Psalm 24 sets the Old Testament background for this blessing...

Psalm 24:3–6 ESV

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

There is no lying in a pure heart.

There is no idolatry in a pure heart.

There is no pride and selfishness in a pure heart.

Consistently, this is not something that can be accomplished in the power of the disciple.

Psalm 51...

Psalm 51:10 ESV

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

David asks the Lord to create, in the same way that He created the world and all that is in it,

out of nothing,

a pure heart for him.

God does the work! We reap the blessing.

As we pursue righteousness, our hearts are changed, they are purified by God in a way that makes us better disciples.

What is the reward of a pure heart?

Psalm 24 says that those with pure hearts seek God and will stand in His presence.

Matthew 5 says that they will see God.

This closeness, this fellowship, is coveted by OT believers.

Moses came the closest to experiencing this privilege and even he was only able to handle the aftereffects of God’s radiance.

As disciples we get to SEE GOD!

We see His influence and presence in creation and his outpouring of blessings all around us

But we will one day see Him face to face!

This is our promise!

This is our privilege!

This is our anticipation!

And it is our anticipation that leads us to the next blessing.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers (5:9)

Matthew 5:9 ESV

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Peacemaking is a two-sided coin.

On one is the active pursuit of reconciliation.

On the other is the refusal to retaliate.

The ministry of peacemaking involves putting an end to conflict by...

refusing to postpone apologies,

refusing to seek revenge,

humbly serving one’s enemies,

and having a love for others that is stronger than their hatred.

Christ lived this.

He put in the work and paid the cost to bring enemies of God back into harmony with Him.

Colossians 1:18–22 ESV

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

We have to be about the peacemaking work of our Savior, and that is no easy task!

However, the difficulty of this task is paired with the paramount reward!

Not only do Christ’s true disciples receive mercy and see God’s face, they become His children!

He adopts them into His family!

Peacemaking is a family trait that blesses the disciple and expresses the Father’s character all at once!

And a disciple must have a merciful, pure, and peacemaking heart to endure to the end of the final blessing.

And within the final blessing we find...

The Repercussions of Righteousness (5:11-12)

Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted (5:10)

Matthew 5:10–12 ESV

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Righteous living breeds persecution.

Those who follow Christ closely, showing the characteristics of a disciple, and are called into His family will be persecuted.

Notice that Jesus says, “when others revile you and persecute you”.

There is no alternative.

There is no escaping it.

It will happen.

We receive a final blessing amidst the pain of rejection, humiliation, pain, and possible death.

Christ doesn’t build our hopes up without giving us a reality check.

But He also confirms the final blessing.

The blessing associated with this mark of discipleship bookends with the first beatitude.

“for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

By doing this, Christ encapsulates everything that He has been teaching into a nice, all-inclusive package.

The encouraging thing is that He did not stop after verse 10.

It would have been enough to be reminded of our heavenly inheritance, but the Comforter offers still more comfort.

We face persecution for Christ’s sake because we belong to His kingdom.

The lost world around us is a completely different kingdom with a completely different system of morality.

They are self-sufficient (as we were before Christ).

They are merciless (as we were before Christ).

They are warmongers against each other and their Creator (as we were before Christ).

And they will see us as the aliens that we are when we do not bow the knee to their standards.

1 Peter 4:3–4 ESV

For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

We will be maligned for not joining in.

Sitcoms will continue to reference Jesus and His followers as only the butt of a joke.

We will continue to see laws in our own country run counter to His Word.

Our brothers and sisters in other countries that have fewer protections and freedoms than we enjoy will continue to lose their lives because they have taken the marks of true discipleship.

And, in the midst of it all, we rejoice.

The disciples did in Acts 5.

After they were whipped and told to cease and desist in their teaching, they went away thankful that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for His name.

Application

A Portrait of Christ.

As we close this morning, the intro to The Sermon on the Mount offers us the portrait of a true disciple.

Each characteristic is a brush stroke that adds more details and definitions, making the subject of the painting more and more recognizable, until the artist can step back and show the finished product.

One whose spirit is so dependent on the Lord because he realizes his destitution,

who mourns the state of his own soul and those around him

the sin that is a very affront to his holy master.

He who is so unassuming in anything except his desperate craving for righteousness that can only be provided by the blood of his Savior,

who practices mercy from a heart washed pure by the merciful hand of his God and strives to live at peace with others while seeing others come to peace with God.

He who takes his unjustly dealt lumps from a depraved world knowing that he follows in his master's footsteps.

Brothers and sisters, look in the mirror!

Is this you?

Is this the image that gazes back at you?

Your Savior says it should be!

These Beatitudes, as we call them, are to be descriptive of every Christian.

Each one of these characteristics should be seen in each and every disciple of Jesus Christ.

There is no classification of Christians.

No pastor/laity distinction.

It’s not a matter of what part of the Body you have been created to be:

whether you are a hand, or a foot, or an eye, or an ear.

We don’t play to our strengths while leaving our weaknesses to be the distinguishing characteristics in others.

“Well, I’m pretty meek and on fire in my pursuit of righteousness. So, I’ll leave the peacemaking to others.”

“I’m really clear on my need for Christ and I mourn my sin. But I’ll leave meekness and purity for someone else to find their place to excel.”

That’s entirely the wrong idea!

All Christians are meant to have and display all of these characteristics.

We are all to be poor, mourning, meek, yearning for righteousness, merciful, pure, peacemaking, and persecuted for it all!

They all flow in and out of each other in such a way that binds them as a mark of Christ on our soul.

None of these characteristics are “natural”.

There is nothing innate within us, or obtainable by us in our own strivings, that produces these characteristics in our lives.

That is the work of the Lord.

The amazing thing about this work, this portrait, is that Christ is painting a self-portrait in each and every one of his disciples

True disciples will have Christ on the canvas of their lives.

We go about our days adding stroke after stroke ourselves, carving out who we are, how we want to be perceived.

And I'm sorry Bob Ross, there absolutely are mistakes, not just happy accidents in this artistic process.

However, all the while Christ is wanting to come in with his brush, pallet, and knife and apply corrective strokes to our own self-portraits.

He wants to put Himself on our canvas.

Not out of some selfish, egotistical drive,

but because His image bears blessings that He longs to see poured out in abundance on our lives.

Matthew intentionally uses 7 out of the 8 traits cited in the beatitudes to describe Jesus.

The only characteristic that He could not model was being poor in spirit because He is the source of all spiritual riches!

There was no way for Him to be spiritually destitute. But He showed continued reliance on the Father to see His will accomplished.

In all of this we see that it is not only our image, His likeness, but the setting of our lives that can be one of immeasurable blessing.

The Blessings of a True Disciple

Our God, our Father, is so good and gracious!

He doesn’t simply say, “Show these things in your life!”

He makes each and every one of these blessings flow through our lives in coordination with Christ-like character.

If the characteristics were the portrait of a disciple, the associated blessings are the landscape!

Each blessing is like the pool at the bottom of a waterfall pouring down until it spills out into another pool.

Blessing after blessing flowing down, each one more grandiose than the last, until a picturesque, multi-teared cascade of blessing fills the eyes of our soul.

Brothers and sisters, ask yourselves...

Am I comforted?

Is my desire for righteousness being satisfied?

Have I received mercy?

Am I seeing God’s hand of blessing on my life while looking forward to seeing His face?

Am I truly a child of God displaying the family traits proudly in my life?

[Pray]

Conclusion

As the musicians return to the stage to lead us in a final song, take this time to do a spiritual inventory.

Brothers and sisters, are you seeing the fruit of being a true disciple?

Are the blessed characteristics clearly evident in your life?

In what ways can your portrait be altered to show Christ?

Maybe you’re here today and none of this is resonating with you.

Is everything Christ taught sounding like foolishness and weakness to you?

Are you proud of your self-reliance?

Do you crave position, riches, and strength over all?

Have you found yourself comfortable in this portrait of your own making?

Friend, there can be blessings.

But they will not be found here.

As the service concludes, please come and talk to me.

Talk to Pastor Matt.

We are ready and willing to answer any question you may have and to introduce you further to the Savior who disposes of our curses to replace them with His blessings.

Let’s stand and sing together.