Arcade Church Service - Feb 14, 2021

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it i was you you called my name and i ran out of that grave [Music] out of the darkness and now your freedom is all you called my name and i ran out of that grace [Music] out of the darkness to your glorious day heaven thundered and the world was born life begins and ends with the dust you [Music] [Music] fear is a losing ground to our opinion [Music] impossible [Music] [Music] cindy [Music] darkness was the night when the stone was gone [Music] is [Music] impossible nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus our god unstoppable nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus our god unstoppable nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unsolvable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus [Music] nothing shall be impossible [Music] jesus oh [Music] impossible [Music] impossible [Music] [Music] lord i come i confess i find my rest and without you i fall apart lord i need you oh [Music] oh where sin runs deep your grace is more where grace is where you are and where you are [Music] i need [Music] my righteousness to teach my song to rise to you when temptation comes my way and when i cannot stand i'll fall on you cause jesus [Music] defense [Music] are you weary in need of rest are you grieving and longing for comfort do you feel worthless and wonder if god cares have you failed and desired strength are you doubting and seeking assurance are you a sinner in need of a savior arcade church opens wide her doors with a welcome from jesus christ because we believe that jesus is the ally of his enemies we believe that jesus is the justifier of the inexcusable he's the defender of the guilty we believe that jesus is the friend of sinners so whether or not you're watching online or in the courtyard or here in the room we want to invite you to stand with us this morning and engage as we worship jesus christ together [Music] [Music] [Music] and now your joy that awaits my praise to sing together i give thanks for all you have done and i will sing of your mercy and your love your love lord i am brought me out and set my feet on higher ground so here i stand so here i stand you are my god your faithfulness my solid rock i give thanks for all you have done and i will sing of your mercy and your love your love [Music] is the battles and as we lift our hands the heavens open heavens open so let our lives declare the love our god has spoken over us soon as we [Music] our is has spoken over us [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] i won't forget [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] amen are you grateful this morning for what the lord has done in your life [Music] and let's sing of this greatness together my god [Music] lift your voice church i see oh it sounds great let's sing it out thou art how great thou art [Music] [Music] how great thou art [Applause] i'll sing this next verse that god is [Music] he bled and died away my sin then sings my soul my how savior thou art how great thou art [Music] [Applause] this is my soul my savior [Music] how great thou art how great thou art [Music] how great thou art [Music] though [Music] you give life you are love you bring light to the darkness you give hope you restored every heart that is broken [Music] great are you lord it's your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise we pour out our praise it's your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise to you only you give life you are love you bring life to the darkness you get bored you restore every heart that is [Music] [Applause] [Music] so we pour out our praise we pour out our praises [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so we pay out our praise to you all the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing great are you [Music] our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] [Applause] our hearts will cry these bones [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in our lives [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is great are you lord [Music] it's just so sweet to trust in jesus just to take him out his word just to rest upon his promise and to know the safer lord [Music] jesus [Music] my precious jesus oh for grace to trust him how sweet to trust in jesus just to trust his cleansing blood just [Music] to plunge [Music] jesus [Music] jesus jesus jesus [Music] oh even in the storm i'll trust you [Music] praise you in the storm i'll praise you [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] grace to trust i'm so glad i've learned to trust the precious streams us save your friends and i know that thou art with [Music] is anybody's testimony this morning your god will be with you god we are grateful for that truth that allows us to make such declarations about you truth that we know from your word that you will be with us no matter what stands no matter what comes the thing that will be true is our god the thing that will be with us right to the end is our loving god and so we can declare our trust in you this morning we can declare our worship for you we can we can lift up high praise that can only be for you to you and it can encourage our heart because what we know what we read in your word is true and one of those things is that you are great and you never change and you never will and you are always with us and so this morning i pray that your spirit would encourage us whether we're here at home our spirits will be encouraged by your spirit living within us knowing that we are not alone knowing that our god is with us and our god cares for us so we praise you father for how you show that to us we worship you because of your greatness and what your word says about you we know it's true and we know only you alone are worthy of such worship so let it be on our lips we pray in jesus precious name amen amen you can be seated church [Music] oh i'll praise you [Music] even in the storm i'll trust you don't make me sing solo oh even in the fire i'll praise you oh i'll trust you it is great to be here and it's just as great to be in the courtyard and it's just as great to be at home [Applause] and we want to welcome you it is so is so cool can i say that i'm in my 60s i can i'm a child of the 60s i can say cool it is so cool that we are one church in three different locations i just heard somebody yell from the court that yeah that could be a problem in the future so anyway but here's the beautiful thing is that arcade church never went away we just kind of changed locations a little bit the work of jesus christ has gone out to the point where we have grown numerically and so you may have been attending arcade church for about nine months and this is your first time in here so this is it this is this is the big room this is this is where we used to meet and lord willing we will continue to meet but we also want to enjoy out in the courtyard and then also for those who are at home we want to thank our lord and savior jesus christ for this and so i want to remind those of you who are here in the room we are still respecting social distance protocols and so if there's someone that's ill at ease around you and that wants you to wear a mask then out of the love of jesus christ wear a mask that's all you got to do okay and so we want to be show deference to each other that is an expression of the gospel hey i want to talk to you about a couple of things this morning before we get into the message because because of coven the pandemic things have been going on within the staff that you may or may not know about and so i want to just kind of download a little bit about what's going on in the past and how excited we are for the future first of all you may notice that pastor brian isn't in the music ministry as much as he once was i mean he led today and like always he leads me so well but part of that is because i have moved him over to the executive pastor position and uh he has just taken that role and just exploded in a thousand different good ways he is now over he oversees the staff both here on this campus as well as del norte campus as well as the business side of things of arcade church he was a principal player in the renovation the 400 building also helping us get out of debt and pastor brian has led us well in that area but that leads a hole in the creative arts ministry and that is where shelby glass who was already on staff she became the creative arts director and once again she has exceeded expectations and i am so grateful because she has overseen the entire department and that's a lot of people and a lot of responsibility especially when we were meeting outdoors and so i'm very grateful for her for taking that but as many of you know she is going to have a child she and brian isn't that cool we are very very excited so she's going to be away for a while but she'll come back and she's going to be more involved with the online presence we're going to continue to have an online congregation and we're really glad about that and the reason is because remember our mission is to help as many people as possible to hear see and follow jesus christ where that is is almost irrelevant and so many many people for the next couple of years especially because of the pandemic will choose to stay home and so we want to go into their home with the beautiful gospel news of jesus christ and so uh shelby will take in that role and then you all know tammy tucker and she's agreed to be the conductor for the orchestra and the choir which some of you have never seen before but they're amazing and it's a lot of people and when when that comes back lord willing will be able to uh she'll be taking that role on she's already been leading that ministry with bible studies they've been going to convalescent homes and doing orchestration and choir music and so we have a presence out there in the community we just haven't seen it in here like we would love to in the next few and hopefully in the next few months we'll be able to do that so that leaves a vacancy a vacancy in the worship pastor ministry and i cannot tell you how excited we all are that we can introduce to you today for the first time what we hope to be our new worship pastor in chris vaughan there is a bio a hard copy bio in your bulletins for those of you in the room or in the courtyard online it's online and you can read a little bit about chris vaughn his wife bri and their five children uh he you might recognize him because he was here about you know about three months ago just as a guest musician we were just kind of dating a little bit you might say and we were wondering if he would fit our with the arcade way and all of us walked away saying we got to make this guy arcadian and he agreed to that and the elders agreed to that unanimously and so i want you to be considering and praying for chris for bree and their five children but also mark these dates down february 25th this month february 25th we're going to be having a town hall meeting in here brian and chris and i are just going to have a conversation with him and learn a little bit about him you're welcome to come here we can have a maximum about 375. uh we will also have it online and so if you want to come online and watch that conversation you can do that that's thursday february 25th and then on sunday february 28th chris will lead us in the music portion of worship and then he and i are going to have a conversation about a passage in matthew 5 in the sermon on the mount and i'm looking forward to having that conversation with him we are then going to ask the congregation the members of rk church to vote in affirmation of making chris vaughn our next worship pastor so a lot going on all right we haven't stopped we're moving and we're excited about that and once again if you'd like to give there are all kinds of options on our website you can go online or to the app and find out we've also placed boxes in the lobby if you want to give a hard copy gift you can do that as well we welcome that for you more importantly even in that one of the ministries that has really gone in a wonderful way is the prayer ministry at arcade church if you have a prayer request would you please just go to our website or to the app rkchurch.com prayer and we want to be able to pray for you and more often than not kelly frazier gets that into our inbox before i even get home on sundays that's how serious this is and we want to pray for you the elders are praying for you the staff is praying for you and we want to continue to do that all right let's pray lord god we we thank you for the chance to be together whether it's in this room in the courtyard at home we are together your spirit is what unites us not the location and so i praise you father for the chance to be together and lord we have enjoyed singing your praises and honoring you and loving you and expressing these incredible lyrics melodically to you you have been good to us and yes lord we recognize the pandemic is still going on and so we ask father that you keep us from that keep us from the disease itself keep us from spreading it would you please keep your people safe your image bearers believers and non-believers keep us safe lord god we thank you for your love and your care over us in your son's holy and precious name jesus amen if you were to interview someone go and get your bibles out if you would please and turn to matthew chapter 5. if you were to interview someone on the street and ask them what does it look like to be blessed how do you think that they would respond i i you've probably already talked about this in your gather group but how would a per what does it look like to be to to be blessed they would probably talk about their great job their healthy body maybe a really cool marriage awesome kids material possessions more than what they need food in the pantry they would be going to their circumstances and say these are the reasons why i'm blessed i don't think any of us are driving down sunrise boulevard and we come to the intersection of fair oaks and sunrise and we see somebody there with a cardboard sign that says can you spare some change i don't think that any of us would look at that person says that's a blessed person i don't think that we would see someone pushing their shopping cart down this jamb full of recyclables and thinking that's a blessed person i think that we would go to a blessed person as someone whose circumstances are going very very well this person is blessed every every human being on the planet has a mental picture of what it looks like to be blessed every human being doesn't matter what race it doesn't matter what culture every human being has a mental picture of what it looks like to be blessed and because of that mental picture jesus is about to blow our minds he is about to absolutely overhaul everything that we have as far as mental pictures and to help us with that julia george is going to come up and read scripture for us this morning so if you have your bibles open to matthew chapter five come on up julia and uh and and we'll go ahead and read scripture okay good morning my name is julia george and this is the word of god matthew 1 through matthew 5 1-12 seeing the crowds he went up on the mountain and when he sat down his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are those who are 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 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 kingdom of heaven blessed are you when others will value you and persecute you and enter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my count rejoice and be glad for your lord is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you good job thank you [Applause] do not ever minimize the power of the public reading of god's word and julia you did a great job thank you very much for that let's pray father we've heard it we've heard what your word has said and we praise you we ask lord god that these beatitudes sink into our souls in ways that surprise us completely in your son's holy and precious name jesus amen now more of more chances than not even if you are not a believer or even if you're a young believer you just came to christ recently you've heard these beatitudes before they're called beatitudes because the word beatitude is taken from the latin word biatu and it means blessed that's all it means beatitudes but it's very unique because on the surface as julio is reading these words to us it seems pretty cut and dry it seems pretty simple but then i hope by the end of our time this morning we're going to walk away thinking there's more to this than just meets the the initial ear the initial hearing of that it's almost like you're walking you're on the beach and you're walking into the water and you're walking to the water and the waves are coming in on you and they're hitting your ankles or your shin and you're thinking oh that's neat it's really cool it feels so good so refreshing you get deeper and deeper into the surf and pretty soon the waves get a little bit more aggressive you get deeper and deeper and then pretty soon it knocks you off your feet that may be what happens to us this morning with the beatitudes as we look at this first section of jesus words in the sermon on the mount in your bulletin i'd like you to think about this there's a picture somewhere there it is there's a picture of a stained glass window i'd like you to keep this in your mind as you think about the beatitudes we're going to talk about some general things but like on the stained glass there's a frame there are the pieces of the glass and then there's a picture that those pieces make and we're going to use that kind of outline when we're talking about the beatitudes these first few verses of matthew 5 to help us understand that so first of all let's look at the frame and what i mean by frame is just the context right that's all i'm talking about here what's very important for us if we're going to be able to understand the sermon on the mount is to understand the first audience who heard it now you might think it's not that big of a deal but it is if we don't understand the first audience there's a good chance that we're not going to get the meaning of the sermon on the mount and we get a clue of this verse of chapter 5 verse 1. seeing the crowds jesus went up on the mountain and when he sat down his disciples came to him all right so there's the picture jesus sees the crowd and he goes up on the mountain he calls his disciples his disciples at this time there are only four peter andrew james john it's not the 12 and so who are the disciples is it just those four no a disciple is simply someone who follows and this could have numbered a hundred or a thousand or two thousand or ten thousand we don't know but seeing the crowd jesus says this is a good time to do some teaching and so he does what a typical rabbi would do in that culture he would sit down to teach well still it doesn't tell us who the crowd is actually it does if you look back up into chapter 4 verse 23 we read these verses last sunday and when jesus went throughout all galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom i want to stop right there matthew is adamant that he wants us to hear jesus preaching the gospel now sometimes we have been conditioned and i'm one of them that probably helped you to do that is the gospel is that jesus jesus came jesus died jesus rose and that is the gospel but to matthew the gospel is far more than just that it is the entire kingdom of god and we'll talk about that in a few moments and healing every disease and every affliction among the people so his fame spread throughout all syria skipping down down a little bit all the sick came to him those afflicted with various diseases and pains those oppressed by demons those having seizures and paralytics and he healed them and then it says in verse one of chapter five seeing this crowd this is the crowd these are the people that have come to see jesus it's not the influential it's not the successful it's not the celebrity athlete it's not the influence it's our instagram these are the people that you would call the unblessables these were the people that that society had completely rejected they wanted nothing to do with them because sickness or illness was seen as integral to sin and so the people that were coming to jesus we're not the wealthy we're not the famous they were the sick they were the unimportant they were the ones that no one cared about they could care less how many friends they had on facebook how many followers they had on twitter it didn't matter these were the invisible people these were the people who were not supposed to be blessed these are the people that maybe you and i would see on the street and say i don't want to be that i don't want to be them they're not blessed and it's to them that jesus is saying you're blessed and look at what jesus is promising them kingdom of heaven inherit the earth satisfaction they will see god they will be called sons of god they will have rewards what people people who are invisible in society and marginalized are not accustomed to hearing those kinds of promises made to them and it's no wonder why the very last verse of matthew 7 and the first verse of matthew 8 say this and when jesus finished these sayings the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes that's the last verse of matthew 7. the first verse of chapter 8 is when he came down from the mountain great crowds followed him jesus is healing all kinds of diseases casting out demons caring for people showing them mercy and love people who are not accustomed to seeing any of that from anybody and he says this is a good time to teach them and what does he do he gets right into blessing them and he blesses them nine different times so what does the word blessed mean i'll tell you what it doesn't mean it doesn't mean happy if you have a modern translation feel free to take the pew rack pen in front of you and cross out every word for happy that diminishes the meaning of what jesus is trying to say we all know what blessing means it means favor it means hope it means it means that god's grace is with you god's favor is on you get this god is for you and jesus is telling this to people where no one is for them no one is showing them grace everyone would just as soon forget about them and have them be invisible put them in a neighborhood by themselves don't have them around my kids or my people those are the people that jesus is saying if you only knew how good you had it do you know how fortunate you are that's what jesus is saying to these people these unblessables and it's incredible how he's saying this well that was the frame let's look at the pieces now the pieces of that stained glass but i want you to notice a couple of different things here that we'll work on is first of all i want you to notice the tense verse 3 and verse 10 are present tense blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven verse 10 blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven kind of bookend blessings promises saying there's is present tense it is now and jesus wants to convey that to those early listeners that the kingdom of heaven is not arriving it has arrived why because the king of that kingdom is here and boy that had to cause them to lean forward but here's the interesting thing i think anyway from verse 3 through verse 9 it's not the present tense it's the future tense meaning that these things will happen in the future they're not now like the kingdom of heaven but they're going to be a reality and i think that's just interesting how jesus coins that and how he uses that so as we get into this i want us to make sure that we understand this and we do this sometimes and i want you to even if you've checked out in the courtyard or at home i want you to listen to this these beatitudes are not commands i think that sometimes we fall into a ferrous cycle trap that we say well if it's in the bible it must be a command these are not commands jesus does not say be this be this kind of a person what he's saying here is you are this you are poor in spirit you are mourning you are meek you are pure in heart you are a peace you are these things this is who you are so do you recognize that this since this is who you are how blessed you are how blessed you are to be this because you have seen the kingdom of this world and it has kicked you out it doesn't represent you there is no one that speaks for you you have you have seen this kingdom and it is over for you and do you recognize how blessed you are to know that to understand that well let's get into the beatitudes here okay if you have room on your notes and you may not i'd like it each of these beatitudes that start with blessed are blessed they have both a situation and a promise a situation and a promise for example in the first one blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven the situation is poor in spirit and so what does that mean is simply talk jesus is talking to people who are a poor in spirit because they recognize they have zero power they have zero influence yes they are poor possibly financially but they are also poor socially and spiritually and emotionally in eastern countries there's no there's no separation between those two they have lost all hope in themselves remember this is to whom jesus is speaking he's speaking to people who have lost all hope they have simply put up the white flag and said i'm just going to be sick i'm going to be possessed by a demon i'm going to have seizures i'm going to be a paralytic till the day i die and so goal number one for me is not to find a way to make it but rather to find a way to survive because this kingdom has left me in the dust jesus comes to this is blessed blessed are the poor in spirit blessed are you poor in spirit so what's the promise the kingdom of heaven i'm not going to spend a ton of time on this only because in the gospel of matthew the kingdom of heaven is all over the place but the kingdom of heaven is just this god's rule and god's reign just think when the kingdom of heaven when jesus and by the way matthew is the only one that uses the kingdom of heaven everybody else uses kingdom of god it could be that matthew was a jew and he didn't feel comfortable using the word god and so he just simply said kingdom of heaven it's the same thing the kingdom of heaven is god's rule god's reign that's all that this is for those who have no kingdom you are blessed because the kingdom of god has come near to you the kingdom of heaven god's rule and god's reign you are setting yourself up for that how wonderful how fortunate you are that that is happening and i want to just pause here just for a moment because because of the online presence and all that i have no idea who comes online or who sees or who sits with us or anything like that but it could be that you were here this morning and it could be you're here in the courtyard or at home and you know exactly what this is like because your whole life is characterized by loss it could be that you made a monumental mistake early on in your life and you're now paying the consequences of that or it could be that your life has been marked by a thousand many bad decisions and you're done with this kingdom you're done with our culture you're done with the world can i just say to you jesus is talking to you and he's saying this do you know how fortunate you are because the kingdom of god has come to you and you are a prime candidate for that because there is no other kingdom you've tried and it doesn't work the next beatitude blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted well the situation is those who mourn mourn over what they mourn over sin and what sin does and these people that jesus is talking to in that culture they have been told that you are sick you are a paralytic you have seizures or you have demons because there is some evil in you that warrants that you deserve it you deserve it and they are mourning over sin or the consequences of sin and jesus comes along and says to these people blessed do you know how fortunate you are because you have been told your whole life that god is against you and now i am here to tell you i'm the king of my kingdom and i am for you you are blessed that's the situation the promise they shall be comforted whenever i see this i think of luke 18 when jesus sees a tax collector in the temple and a pharisee the pharisee prays oh lord god i'm i'm glad i'm not evil i'm glad i'm not an adulterer i'm glad i'm not a tax collector i'm glad i fast twice a week i give this much money to you i'm glad aren't you lucky to have me on your team and then the tax collector just a few paces over is saying this as he's praying god be merciful to me a sinner that's what i think of when i think of those who mourn this tax collector who by the way was probably at the eve at the bottom of the evil barrel and he said god be merciful to me and the promise is they shall be comforted jesus says about that tax clerk i tell you the truth that person went away that tax collector went away justified they went away at peace with god how about this as far as the application for this one establish maybe you can do the is this even as a family establish a relationship or pray for a family that is torn apart by strife you know of a family maybe your kids are connected to it in school or a family down the street or maybe a family in here or maybe it's your family and you're mourning because you see what sin has done rather than try to diagnose all of the reasons for that which is these people in the first century experienced hold them up in prayer and weep with them and care for them as a way to express this particular beatitude let's go on the next one blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth well the situation is the meek and here's the hard part about who has used the word meek in the last five years i mean we typically don't use that word and because in that culture as well as in ours meek wine rhymes with weak and we tend to think that i know that some commentators say that meekness means power under control folks it doesn't mean that it sounds really cool because we like power and we like power even if it's under control but that's not what the word means a meek person is someone who is aware that they're not all that important that's what a meek person is now that doesn't mean that they're not important or they're unimportant that just simply means they think of themselves as unimportant moses for example i think that he's a pretty important guy but how did he think about himself he thought about himself as someone who's not important that's why the bible says he was the meekest person on the word yeah on on the planet not because he was weak but because he looked at the glory of god and the people of israel as more important than himself and that's what a meek person is and so that's the situation that we have here well what's the promise they will inherit the earth now as i mentioned earlier a little bit i want to make sure and touch on this these beatitudes are not sequential and so it's not like okay i've got to be i want to mourn and so i've got to be poor in spirit first and and therefore and then then meekness is the next step after mourning and the next step is is hungering and thirsting and the next step is merciful we tend to think of that way in the west this is a stained glass window and each of these are pieces of the same picture the reason why i say that is because meekness goes very very well with mourning when a person is overwhelmed by their own sin and they see what sin does in the world that causes them to treat people differently that caused them to see people in a different light in a way of meekness not weakness but in a way that that person is important more so than myself and a meek person is someone who has learned the art of self-forgetfulness i think it was tim keller that said the problem with most people is not that they think of themselves that they think less of themselves but rather they think of themselves less a meek person is someone who thinks of themselves less and jesus says to them they will inherit the kingdom they will inherit the earth the next one blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied the situation hunger and thirst for righteousness think about the last time you were super thirsty did you feel blessed think about the time when you were super hung you hadn't eaten in a long time and you were famished did you consider yourself to be blessed by that and yet jesus is talking to people who understand what thirst and hunger feels like they understand the experience of that and jesus comes to them and says i want you to hunger yes for food and maybe thirst for water but i also want you to hunger and thirst for righteousness blessed are you and by the way when you hunger and thirst after something what's the what's the assumption if you're thirsty what's the assumption you don't have water if you're hungry what's the assumption you don't have food and jesus is saying you folks you have the right because of your poverty because of your poor in spirit because you mourn and because you meet you understand what is wrong with this world there is a conspicuous lack of righteousness of right living people doing right by other people and you hunger and thirst for that day when everything that is wrong is made right blessed are you do you know how fortunate you are that you hunger and thirst for that day that's the situation so what's the promise they shall be satisfied can you be satisfied while hungering and thirsting i think you can if you know where to get food and water they should be satisfied if jesus isn't careful here he could almost come across as patronizing because he's talking to unblessable people he's talking to people who don't get blessings blessings cost you money back then if you want a rabbi to bless you it's going to cost you they've got no money they've got nothing they're unblessable and all of a sudden jesus is saying do you understand how fortunate you are because god is for you you will be satisfied the next beatitude blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy the merciful mercy just simply means treating others in the same manner that god treats them that's all it means you know i've been in i don't know a lot of slums over the years and traveling on missions trips i've been the slums in sao paulo i've been in the slums in mumbai new delhi but in the slums of guatemala they all smell the same they all look the same but one thing that i find is very unique in these slums the people who live in the slums they will not receive mercy from the government in fact many times they're at the wrong end of the whip when the government acts but they understand mercy among themselves and they care for themselves and so jesus is not saying you people need to be merciful he's saying you are merciful you understand that you understand what mercy looks like what it tastes like what it feels like and so what is the promise to them the promise is you will receive mercy because of meekness because of the mourning because of the hungering and thirsting you see the world as god sees it you take the world as god takes it and you see the desperate need for mercy in the world and so do you know how fortunate you are to be merciful because as you are merciful you will receive mercy you are receiving mercy right now because you're hearing about the kingdom of heaven for the first time you're the first focus group of the kingdom of heaven blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god the pure in heart how can these people be pure in heart because they have no pretense that they're not they're no hypocrite they have no performance mentality it's not like they have to go around and look like their actors together as they limp or as they have seizures or they're a paralytic or they're demon-possessed they have no pretense they have no front they have no facade they are what they are that's why they've been rejected and that's why jesus is saying you are blessed because you don't have to be somebody else you're just you and as we progress to the sermon on the mount we're going to find out that jesus is declaring war on hypocrisy and religious performance if that is you or if it is me we are going to be in a boatload of uncomfortability because jesus is coming for us he's coming for the performers he's coming for the hypocrites and so jesus is telling these people who have no pretense no hypocrisy they are just what they are do you know how blessed you are because you will inherit the earth that's the promise you are going to be the one you're going to be the one excuse me you will see god oh this is the best that's even better you shall see god i want to let you know especially if you're not a christian or if you're a new christian or maybe you're here this morning you're just kind of testing the the water here a little bit or maybe you're online with us for the first time and you're kicking the tires so to speak of arcade church and you're considering becoming a christian if you're looking to be a christian because you want lower blood pressure if you're looking to be a christian because you want your best life now if you're looking to be a christian so that you can he can heal your marriage if you're looking for to be a christian so that you can get this then my encouragement to you is just to keep looking because you will be disappointed because the number one aim the number one aim for the christian life is this to see god the bible ends in revelation 22 verse 4 with these words they will see his face that is the aim of the christian life is we want to see god and jesus is saying to the pure in heart you will be able to see god you will see that for who he is blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of god the situation peacemakers we passionately desire to see people making peace now keep in mind the people that jesus is talking to these the people that society has not declared peace to they've declared rejection or war or australization or marginalization these are the forgotten the unblessables these are the people who understand the winners the endorsers the influencers in the world have forgotten them and they despise them and jesus is saying to them you understand what peacemaking is because you are not at peace you understand what is happening in this world and god desires that peace be made between him and humanity and between each other so god is saying you folks do you know how fortunate you are that my favor is upon you do you know how blessed you are not how you will be but how you are where you are because you understand what peacemaking looks like the hope or the promise be called sons of god you will be brought into god's family because peace has been made now keep in mind not one time as jesus mentioned his death burial or resurrection these people are hearing this without that filter you and i are hearing it with the filter of the passion but they were not they're kind of going what is he talking about this is amazing first of all it has been decades since anybody blessed me but then they're blessing me the way i am not the way i should be he is not saying be this he is saying you are this you're blessed because you are this that's what i was talking about as far as the minds are blown to be called sons of god well at this point you might be thinking yourself okay this is really great this is a great kind of person that's a wonderful kind of person to be all of those things i wonder where they are and then all of a sudden jesus does a very unique thing he changes the pronoun he has been talking about those people and now all of a sudden he's talking to you blessed are those blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake that righteousness that you hunger and thirst after you're blessed but keep in mind as you hunger and thirst after their righteousness as you see yourself as unimportant and meek as you mourn for what sin does in your life and the lives of others as you hunger and thirst for that kind of righteousness you will be persecuted because of that there will be people who despise you because of that we're not going to spend a whole lot of time on that this morning because we've got the next two or three months to examine what that righteousness looks like but jesus is saying for theirs once again is the kingdom of heaven how wonderful that is and then he changes that pronoun blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely not because of your voting record not because of what you say on social media but because you follow me you follow the king you see everybody what are you talking about all the blessings everybody wants those things even if you're not a christian you want those things i mean who wouldn't want the kingdom of heaven who wouldn't want to inherit the earth who wouldn't want to be comforted who wouldn't want satisfaction and contempt who wouldn't want that everybody wants that and jesus saying that's my kingdom but you don't get that without the king you don't get the power you don't get the progress without the presence and what we live in today is a country one ginormous story of the tower of babel and we all want the things of the kingdom every human being in this country on this planet wants the kingdom everybody does and we're convinced that we can build the kingdom without the king just like with the tower of babel back in genesis they want to build this tower they want to progress they want to move upward but they don't want god they want to do it themselves and we have done the same thing same tune different century and jesus comes along and says you want this stuff don't you yeah we want this stuff it doesn't come without me it doesn't come without the king which brings me to the picture we've talked about the frame the context we've talked about the individual pieces of the blessings and now let's look at the picture and when you look at the stained glass window that's in your bulletin or online what is the picture the picture is jesus the picture is jesus and so when we look at this passage we ask ourselves do we know of anybody do we know of anybody who is this who is this do you know if anyone who came in poverty and insignificance yes we do do we know anyone who came mourning at what sin does yes we do do we know of anyone who consider themselves unimportant but yet were yes we do do we know of anybody who hunger and thirst after rises to the point that he was righteous yes we do do we know anybody who is so merciful yes we do do we know anybody who is so pure in heart yes we do do we know anybody who is a peacemaker yes we do do we know anybody who is persecuted for righteousness sake yes we do and so every one of these little frames of the beatitudes it forms the picture of jesus christian you want to live the christian life by all means study your bible pray show up online or in the courtyard or in here by all means do those things but when we look at matthew 5 6-7 this is the king saying to us you want to follow me this is the manifesto you want to be one of my disciples this is what it looks like and we're going to wade through and we're going to wade into this off of the beach i'm going get deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into it and all of a sudden there's gonna be one of those sundays when a wave just absolutely throws us head over heels and it crushes us because we come to grips with the fact that we are not this but yet he calls us to be this and that will be the tension that we're going to find as we progress through this beginning with these beatitudes let's stand together as you stand once again i want to talk to those that might be trying a church out and you happen to come online here or you're in the courtyard in here and and you're wondering man this looks this this christian life looks really hard it looks really difficult well you're right if you try to do it on your own it's impossible the point that we have with the gospel is that jesus christ has gone before us and he has lived the life that we have been called to live and he died the death that we were destined to die and he now lives again and he will live for you it could be that today is the most blessed day you have had in a long time because this god who is gentle and lowly this god who is so beautiful and so powerful he is meek and he hungers and thirsts for your soul he wants to forgive you he wants to cleanse you of your sin he wants you to have not just a renovated life but a new life he is offering that to you through his son jesus christ if you'd like to talk about that and you're here today in the courtyard or in in here in the room then we would love to talk to you if you want to contact us online we can do that as well and have a conversation about this incredible god let's pray heavenly father we thank you for these beatitudes we walk away filled with as much mystery as we walked in with it is amazing lord god how your son would talk to people who have not been blessed they are unblessable there is nothing about them that would launch a blessing and yet your son told them nine different ways how blessed they are may we see ourselves lord god as hungering and thirsting after your kingdom seeking your kingdom first above all others rejecting all other forms of kingdoms and just embracing yours for old and young alike we thank you may the god of endurance oh man i forgot again may the god of endurance and encouragement grain to live in harmony with one another i got it that together one voice you may glorify god for which it stands one nation under god you got to know when to hold them when to fold them that's what's coming to my head god the father of our lord jesus christ it is far more important to know that than me waiting through it so it'd be it'd be why don't we just all learn it and then now we don't have to worry about it and we everybody said for the glory of god have a great day i love you [Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Arcade Church

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Id: EZ2sp8F2uRU

Length: 90min 45sec (5445 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 14 2021