In Your Bible Read This
Matthew chapter 5
Here Is Your Memory Verse
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and
falsely say
all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad,
because great
is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted
the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5, 11-12.
Afterwards Talk About
This
How do you feel when people get upset with you
because you
follow Jesus
and go to church? If you displayed the attitudes of the kingdom
do you think they would treat you differently?
Something To Do Before
Next Time
Ask God for opportunities to display kingdom
be-attitudes and
take
them when they come. Be ready to give a testimony next time you
meet.
Written Diploma Work
Draw a mountain from earth to high above, showing
the stages
of ascent to the peak, giving the scriptures and outline.
Meditate Word By Word On
This Verse
2 Timothy 3.12
- Spend
a Minute to Change the World
- Pray
For Sri Lanka - 18,000,000 Sinhalese and Tamils
- 70%
Buddhists, 7% Christians, Only 0.45% evangelicals
- Long
civil war and suffering
- Be
sure to teach this lesson to others.
- Always
pray and prepare well adding
- your
own verses and stories to bring it to life.
According to the Amplified Bible to be
blessed means, "to be happy, envied, spiritually prosperous,
with life, joy and satisfaction in God’s favour and
salvation, regardless of outward conditions." One of the
first lessons that Jesus taught the crowds was how to be blessed.
Most of them were poor, working people in an oppressed nation so
he taught them how to blessed regardless of outward conditions.
Matthew 5, 3-10, Matthew ch. 5 to 7.29.
1. The
Beatitudes Are Be
- Attitudes
Jesus showed us how to approach life and
how to be in that right attitude that leads to blessing. They are
his own attitudes and we should have the same attitude.
Philippians 2.5.
Mountain Climbing In The Kingdom
The be-attitudes are eight upward steps to the
peak of a blessed life.
- Be humble, living in constant need of God and
his help, Matthew 5.3.
- Be penitent, mourning for your sin, and the
sins of others, Matthew 5.4.
- Be meek, that quietness of a soul at rest in
God, Matthew 5.5.
- Be hungry, a spiritual appetite, shows you
are growing, Mat. 5.6.
- Be merciful, like God himself, shows further
advance, 5.7.
- Be pure in heart, the high altitude where you
see God, Matthew 5.8.
- Be a peacemaker, calming storms in the lives
of others, Mat. 5.9.
- Be ready to suffer, the peak with the
Prophets and Martyrs, Matthew 5, 10-12.
2. Being Poor
In Spirit
Is To Be Blessed
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven, but who
are they? Poor is ptochos which means someone
lowly,
afflicted and destitute of wealth, influence, position, honour,
virtues and eternal riches; helpless, powerless, a beggar lacking
learning and totally dependent on others. Matthew 5.3. To be poor
in spirit is to know that we have no resources of our own and
being in great need of all things, God alone becomes our only
source of supply. It is to lose our independence and become
totally dependent on God and upon one another. Jesus only did
what he saw his Father doing. This was true poverty of spirit.
John 5.19.
3. Being
Mournful Is To
Be Blessed
They will be comforted, but what does it
mean to mourn? Matthew 5. 4. Jesus made sure that the people
understood, so he used the same word we would use at a funeral.
In many cultures mourning means weeping and loud wailing, deep
groaning, going without food, bending low, walking bare footed
and bare headed. But Jesus was not referring to natural death but
to an attitude of sorrow for the personal and national sin that
brings death. Jesus was a man of sorrows, yet was anointed with
the oil of joy above his companions. Isaiah 53.3; Ezra 10.6;
Nehemiah 1.3; James 4, 9-10.
4. Being Meek
Is To Be
Blessed
The meek will inherit the earth, but what
does it mean to be meek? Matthew 5. 5. The modern Greek word for
‘meekness’ is prautes which describes when a
young horse is broken and harnessed for service. Someone has to
gain control of its life and establish a relationship, then the
horse submits to authority and serves its master, wearing a
bridle for direction. In meekness it yields not weakness but
controlled strength, and becomes useful. Likewise a meek person
chooses to waive all rights and self interests, yielding his or
her strength for God and others.
5. Being
Hungry Is To Be
Blessed
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness,
you will be filled. Mat. 5 6; Psalm 42, 1-2. Food and drink are
real needs of the body without which we will die. Even more we
need an intense hunger and thirst for God, seeking first his
kingdom and his righteousness. Jesus said that his food was to do
the will of God and to finish his work. So we are to truly hunger
and thirst after the righteous-ness which is the everlasting
consitit-ution of God’s Kingdom, Matthew 5 to 7. Matthew 6.
33; John 4. 34; Mark 8. 8.
6. Being
Merciful Is To
Be Blessed
Do you want to be shown mercy? God is rich
in mercy, and as we receive his mercy so we are able to show
mercy, just as our Father is merciful - and be blessed! Matthew 5.7;
Ephesians 2. 4; Luke 6. 36. Being merciful is not just feeling
sorry for people and letting them off when they are caught, but
it’s intentional kind-ness, forgiveness and the offer of
help.
7. Be Pure In
Heart And
Be Blessed
To be pure in heart means that you have no
mixed motives, hidden agendas or double standards. The word katharos
means unalloyed metal, unmixed wine, an army
purged of
cowards and dissidents. People with pure hearts know God and his
purposes because their motives are pure. Matthew 5. 8; James 4.8;
Psalm 86.11; Proverbs 4.23.
8. Be A
Peacemaker And
Be Blessed
It is not just anything for a quiet life
but an active pursuit and involvement that confronts problems and
brings them to a satisfactory conclusion. Psalm 34.14. Peace is eirene
or shalom, harmony, prosperity and the favour of God. Only
sons of God can bring that. Matthew 5.9.
9. Being
Persecuted Is
Also A Blessing!
Persecution is a result of a clash between
the kingdoms of God and of Satan which oppose each other
spiritually, morally, ethically, and in beliefs and behaviour.
True kingdom people feel the heat of battle in discrimination,
insults, pers-cutions and in evil accusations of all kinds. Jesus
said that it will happen but to rejoice and be glad for the same
thing happened to the prophets. Great is your reward in heaven.
Mat. 5.10. 11; 2 Tim. 3.12; John 15.20; 1 Pet. 4,13-14.
To Close Pray For The
World's Most Unreached Peoples By Name
Taken from the
Joshua
Project Unreached Peoples List these people have no
churchand as yet no cell, church or mission has committed themselves
to prayer, adoption or church planting among this people.
Uzbekistan
|
People
Name
|
Language
|
Population
|
Persian
(Irani)
|
Farsi,
Western
|
26,000
|
Uzbek,
Southern (Afghan Uzbek)
|
Uzbek,
Southern
|
15,000
|
|