This Present Kingdom | Week 2 | Donna Gaines

welcome back ladies to our spring bible study this present kingdom we are so excited to have you joining back with us as we continue our study on the sermon on the mount that's right and a special shout out to those of you who may be joining us for the first time ladies if you have not already you want to go to bellevue.org women and register for the study this way you'll receive our lecture notes for today and paige i think they'll also get everything that we've done so far right yes you will and that is why i say it is never too late to register because when you do you'll get all of our information that we've covered so far um one of the perks for registering of course especially those who are online is you'll get our notes ahead of time and also on thursday you'll get our video our notes and a link to our podcast the afterwards which we absolutely love and lauren i have to say i took so many notes this week yes yes so i have the privilege of sitting in the room with donna jean and dana as they record the podcast and i just have to tell you it is so special to hear them discussing with one another you know right after we experience the bible study on tuesday morning how it's really impacting their lives and one of my favorite things mentioned last week was that in order to pursue god fully we have to ruthlessly eliminate eliminate hurry which is so difficult in our busy lives but i think it's such a good reminder yes and i think it was donna who mentioned how um in this we have a unique opportunity now to kind of really reevaluate what things we bring back into our lives and kind of evaluate like what things really are um spiritually important yeah and what things are just busyness and i have to say i absolutely love the kingdom exercise this week and how it kind of tied that in because yeah really i loved everything yes about the study this week but seriously one of the unique things our writers did for this study is that on the fifth day of our homework we do a kingdom exercise and what that does is it gives us an opportunity to put some practical steps to help us live out what we're studying that week exactly and if you're like me i really appreciate having those action steps because a lot of times you know i will um you have all the knowledge yes so get all the knowledge put it into action yes i need someone to tell me what to do with it i know what you mean for sure those practical things really do help us put our faith into action and this week specifically our exercise was to spend an hour in the word and in prayer and now what i want to know paige is how did you manage to do that with two toddlers and a full-time job please tell me okay it was a struggle to kind of figure out i'm not gonna lie and i think a lot of new moms would agree with me that a lot of times we can find you know little snippets of time yes but to sit down and to take a full hour uninterrupted to spend time in the word and with a lord it seriously takes intentionality like you have to make a conscious decision to do it so for me i am blessed and that my boys still go to bed time at the same time and so that is when i decided to take my word that's what i decided to take my hour normally i'll fill it in with like chores or tv or something else but this week i really tried to stop and use that time after they went to sleep so it's kind of cheating a little bit but no i'm so impressed paige because i just have one and by the time his bedtime rolls around i'm struggling to stay awake for any length of time so yeah i'm really impressed and i like your comment about being intentional because i think if we don't prioritize that time and set aside time to pursue him we won't we just won't so we we have to prioritize in order to have that time for him to instruct us and guide us in the ways that we should go yeah and i think it was gene who mentioned about how if the enemy can't make us bad he'll make us busy which i thought was a lot of fun yes because honestly it is so true and whenever i decide to take intentional time intentional steps to make time with the lord what i'll find is the enemy immediately starts trying to make me busy so you know i sit down for my hour and i'll hear like a toddler kind of cry because he's trying to wake up or i start thinking of my checklist of everything that i need to get done and so busyness really is something um we have to do that we have to just eliminate and yes be intentional on yes and ladies this is why we encourage you to register for the study and participate with us because we have so many great resources for you to help you wherever you are in your faith journey maybe you're just starting to read the word and you need that accountability of a small group to to stay consistent or maybe you've been at this for years but you're wanting to go deeper in your walk with the lord yes or maybe you're just like me and just need someone to give you some action steps yeah so tell me what to do just tell me what to do yes for sure but um if you're joining us back this week we are so happy to have you with us um like we said before you can go to bellevue.org women to register for our study be sure to share this feed on your own social media pages so your girlfriends can join in with us um we are just so excited to be able to come back together here on campus and in our small groups and ladies it's just now i'd love to encourage you all to stand up with us as we get ready for [Music] worship [Music] morning let's minister to the lord this [Music] morning i will bless the lord forever and i [Music] [Music] he has delivered and he has set my feet upon [Music] and i will not be moved and i'll say of the lord you are my shield my strength my portion deliverer [Music] [Music] in time of me [Music] i [Music] there is none i desire [Music] you have made me glad [Applause] and i'll say the lord you are my shield my strength my portion deliverer my [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you have made me glad and i'll say of the lord you are my shield my strength my portion deliverer my shelter strong tower my very presence [Music] m [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you that you are our shield our strength our portion our deliverer the strong power that we can run into when we are so needy and father we declare this morning that you are all that we need regardless of the noise around us in our world father would you keep us focused on you inhabit this place with your presence today speak to us your daughters through your word may everything that's done today bring honor and glory to the name that is above absolutely every other name the name of jesus amen be seated well welcome to bellevue women thank you so much for joining us today for our study this present kingdom the disruptive message of the sermon on the mount this is our second week in the beatitudes last week we looked at the first four the vertical kingdom attitudes that speak to our relationship with god today we're looking at the remaining kingdom attitudes that have a horizontal orientation they teach us about our relationship with each other with each other you know over the past year separation and isolation have taken a toll and our culture has taken several steps backwards and the way that we relate to each other this cancel culture age that we're living in where people are writing each other off left and right is not what jesus was teaching in the sermon on the mount jesus taught a way of living and a way of relating to each other that was counter to the culture of his day and more than 2 000 years later it still is i recently read an interview with daniel kahneman an israeli american psychologist who won the nobel prize in 2002 in the field of behavioral economics when he won the prize he shared a story with the committee of something that really made a big impact on his life and i want to share that with you today in 1942 when kahneman was seven years old he lived in nazi occupied france and under that occupation the jews were required to wear a star of david on their clothing and they also had a curfew of six o'clock every evening well one day little kahneman was out and he was playing over at a friend's house completely lost track of time and before he knew it it was past six o'clock he knew that he had to get home got a minute how am i going to do this and so he took his sweater off turned it inside out and headed home and he almost made it he could see his home but then around the corner came a german soldier and that soldier was dressed in a black uniform the black uniforms were only worn by the nazi ss the most deadly of all the german soldiers when the soldier saw a kahneman he motioned for him to come to him hesitantly the little boy did exactly what the soldier asked him to then the soldier bent down picked him up gave him a hug and as he did that kahneman said that he was terrified that he was going to notice the star on the inside of his sweater but instead the soldier opened up his wallet showed him a picture of his son gave him some money put him down and let him go own home even though he was only a seven-year-old boy kahneman says that he was stunned by the compassion and kindness of that nazi soldier that day later on he would remember that being the very first time he realized how really complicated people are and here's the truth everyone we meet is fighting a battle that we know nothing about if a nazi soldier can show compassion and kindness to someone how can we not those of us who are citizens of the kingdom of god how can we not do the same to live in the kingdom of god here and now means to live the way that jesus lived to die to ourselves to exchange our life for his life to love the way he loved when we can pray for those who persecute us when we can bless those who curse us when we love our enemies when we turn the other cheek that is what it means for heaven to invade earth and that is what it means to live eternal life now as we sing this next song will you lift it up as a prayer to the lord would you ask him to speak to you through his word today and would you surrender your heart even beforehand to whatever it is he's calling you to do [Music] in oceans deep my faith will stand and i will come on your name and keep my [Music] for i am yours [Music] ladies would you stand and join me as we sing [Music] your grace abounds your grace [Music] you've never failed and you won't start now so i will come on your name and keep my eyes on [Music] my soul will rest in your embrace for i am yours are miners you are spirit lead me where my trust is would call me take me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior spirit lead me where my trust is [Music] [Applause] take me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior spirit lead me where my trust is without waters [Music] take me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior and i will call upon your name and keep my eyes above the waves when oceans rise my silver rest [Music] heavenly father we thank you we thank you for your holy spirit that you have given us that we might be able to live this kingdom life here on earth lord an absolute impossibility apart from your spirit much like walking on water but we praise your holy name that nothing is impossible with you and so father would you enlarge our faith would you give us eyes to see as you see and ears to hear your voice this morning as we offer ourselves to you oh father may your kingdom come and your perfect will be done in every one of our lives on earth as it is in heaven and we ask this in jesus name amen good morning dear friends it is so good to see you this morning delighted to be able to see your faces and don't we appreciate it even more after having experienced 2020 and being able to gather once again and study the word of god god has created us as relational beings and we don't do well isolated we need each other and i'm so grateful for each one of you i'm thankful for your commitment to the study to the word of god to those in your small group and i just want to commend you we are looking this morning at matthew 5 7 through 12. we've been looking at the beatitudes which we have said are the how to bes of the christian life it is how we are to be like christ so let's begin in fact i'd like for us to just start back at the beginning and let's just go ahead and read verses 1 through 12. when jesus saw the crowds he went up on the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him he opened his mouth and began to teach 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 gentle 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 have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you you know it's telling us to be blessed to be happy to rejoice even in the midst of persecution but how can we do that the only way is by being filled with the holy spirit and the beatitudes are giving us the path for experiencing that blessed life that life of flourishing and of well-being in fact jonathan t pennington in his book jesus the philosopher said it's hard to be happy if it weren't we wouldn't have 577 thousand mental health professionals 15 million people suffering from depression and a 10 billion dollar industry in bibliotherapy self-help books this is just in the united states alone in fact i was looking at some statistics recently and the rate of depression has more than tripled during 2020. once again we see isolation is not healthy for us so it's very important for us to reconnect to check on one another to pray for each other and to live life with each other we were never intended to live this life alone and the beatitudes are christ's philosophy of life it's our way to live for our own well-being in fact jonathan pennington also said philosophy focuses on character traits and habits that if practiced will result in a flourishing life and society so not only is it for your well-being but when we live according to the word of god it is for the our whole society's well-being so here's a brief outline of what we looked at last week we studied the first four that we said really are directly related to our relationship vertically with the lord blessed are the poor in spirit now we have ours for all of these isn't that fun gene started that last week and so as she was doing them i had to scribble down and find ours for the ones for this week too blessed are the poor in spirit that's redemption because it isn't until we're broken over our sin and we repent of our sin that we can actually enter into this life with christ because it is a life exchange when you're saved it is not simply saying certain words believing certain things it is giving your heart and life to christ and receiving his life through his holy spirit it literally is a life exchange and he becomes our lord and savior that's what happens when we see ourselves in light of his holiness we recognize our sinfulness in fact anybody in scripture that ever saw the lord what did they do they fell on their face what did isaiah say woe is me i am unclean i am unclean we feel the same way when we see him as he is we understand our sinful separation and it causes us to mourn and that's what leads to repentance when we begin to mourn as we see our sin in light of his holiness we repent and we are drawn closer to him which then enables us to be gentle or meek or humble as we studied last week we will not think more highly of ourselves we will think on christ our estimation will be in him our identity is in him and then we will begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness because once you've been saved you see yourself as you are you see him in all of his majesty and grandeur and holiness and faithfulness and mercy you're going to hunger for more of him and the bible promises that when we do we will be satisfied and i gave that one ravenous he allows us to hunger and thirst for him and it is only in him that we're actually satisfied nothing in this world will ever satisfy us in fact the things that we've longed for the things that we've anticipated once we finally get them what happens whether it's the new car the new house a new clothes the knee purse whatever it is what happens after you've had it for a little while it starts to become old does it it's no longer in style and suddenly you don't find satisfaction in it like you once thought you would because everything that is temporal that's of this world is passing away and it is only in christ that we find real satisfaction real purpose and have our needs met so those first four beatitudes focused on our relationship with the lord and the next four will focus on our relationship with others christ's concern is that we be changed from the inside out he was always focusing on the heart in fact jesus said in matthew 15 17 through 20 do you not understand that everything that goes in the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated but the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and those defile the man for out of the heart come evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness slanders these are the things which defile the man but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man jesus made it very clear that outward conformity to the law did not cleanse the inner man jesus saw into their hearts just as he sees into ours and we need to ask ourselves this morning how's my heart how is my heart because a changed heart produces a transformed life you know everything grows from the inside out jesus said unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground is covered buried it won't sprout and grow right and what happens that seed breaks open and it grows from the inside out it's the same way we grow because when we're brought back to life spiritually and the holy spirit comes to live within us in our spirit being in our innermost being we begin to grow then from the inside out and that's what we're focusing on in this study we're not talking about outward conformity i'm not giving you a checklist that's why your spiritual discipline this week was so important to get some protracted time alone with the lord so that you can hear his voice so that you can examine your life so that we can slow down long enough to think about what we're thinking about and make sure we're bringing those thoughts into captivity to jesus christ listen to the message version of romans 12 1-2 this is such a fresh approach to this verse that tells us where to offer our lives as a living sacrifice listen to what he says so here's what i want you to do god helping you take your everyday ordinary life you're sleeping eating going to work and walking around life and place it before god as an offering and remember this was a burnt offering it was totally consumed embracing what god does for you is the best thing you can do for him don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking instead fix your attention on god you'll be changed from the inside out readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it unlike the culture around you always dragging you down to its level of immaturity god brings the best out of you develops well-formed maturity in you so that's why we want to pause every day and offer ourselves to the lord as a living sacrifice everything on the altar jesus said if you want to follow me what do you have to do deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow me you know paul the great apostle was passionate about seeing people saved he was a church planter and as steve mentioned sunday morning he was passionate about going places where people had not yet heard the gospel he wanted to take the gospel to every person in the civilized world in the day in which he lived but he was also passionate that people grow spiritually in fact he said in galatians my children with whom i am again in labor until christ is formed in you he labored to see them saved but it didn't stop there and we said this in the introduction salvation is the door into the kingdom but there's an entire kingdom of god there's an entire bible god's revealed word and will that he has given to us for us to explore so that we can live this life for our well-being and the well-being and flourishing of our society he also said in ephesians that he labored earnestly that they might grow in spiritual maturity he would not stop until we all attained to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of christ their spiritual maturity was of great concern to paul as is ours and your spiritual maturity is of great concern to us it's why we do what we do it's why we write these bible studies it's why we meet together and i want to encourage you one of the best ways you can really grasp what you're studying is to share it with somebody else share it with a child a grandchild a friend a sister a brother a mother a neighbor share what you're learning with someone else because once you can articulate it and you're making it a part of your life it really becomes yours you know when we see ourselves in light of christ's holiness and grace we will mourn over our sin and become humble in the sight of god and man we can honestly say that if there's anything good in me it is christ and i can say that i am a firstborn stubborn strong-willed child who rebellion was so much a part of who i was and i didn't see it because i was trying to be a good girl but i was doing it in my own strength and in my own way and according to my own reasoning and it wasn't until the lord opened my eyes to the truth of what it means to die to my flesh that i was able to come alive to christ and when i saw my sin in rebellion the way god sees my sin in rebellion i was broken before him broken and repentant and suddenly it was vile and disgusting and i no longer wanted to be that rebellious strong-willed person i wanted to channel that will into my love relationship with jesus christ so that he controlled it through his holy spirit so as we move from our focus on hard attitudes that lead to an intimate relationship with christ to the attitude of the heart that blesses our relationship with felon man we're going to look first at blessed are the merciful now for this one i chose reconciliation because what did jesus or what did paul say to us in second corinthians 5 therefore if anyone is in christ he is a new creature the old things passed away behold new things have come now all these things are from god who reconciled us to himself through christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation namely that god was in christ reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for christ as though god we're making an appeal through us we beg you on behalf of christ be reconciled to god we now have this ministry of reconciliation are you actively seeking to see others reconciled to the lord are you serving are you merciful do you see them in their sin and not see their sin but see the person that the enemy is taking advantage of see the person who's been deceived by the evil one maybe by the world system or even their own flesh maybe their family of origin do you see who it is god has called them to be if you do you will be merciful we looked this past week at the parable of the good samaritan in luke chapter 10. and what was jesus explaining when he gave this parable he was asked by a lawyer what's the most important command and what did he say to love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength but he said the second one is like unto it we're to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and what did the lawyer ask well who's my neighbor i'm a good person i love the lord i obey the rules who's my neighbor and what does jesus do he gives them the parable of the good samaritan and we know that this man fell among robbers and that there were two very religious people a priest and a levite who saw him but crossed on the other side of the street because if they had touched him come too close to him they would have been unclean they wouldn't have been able to do their religious duties but you have a samaritan someone that the jews would have looked down on and jesus is putting this samaritan this half breed most jews wouldn't even go through samaria they would walk all the way around to get where they were going because the samaritans were unclean they were not as good as the purebred jews and so jesus is taking the samaritan and painting him in the best light and what does the samaritan do he sees the man who fell among robbers and he stops he takes care of his wounds he puts him on his own donkey he takes him to the end he pays for him to stay there and he asks the innkeeper to look after him and says i'll come back through and if you need more than this money then i'm leaving with you i'll pay for whatever it takes for this man to be well that is mercy mercy moves us to action mercy is the heart of the lord and once we've seen ourself in light of his holiness once we have been humbled before him we will never put ourselves above another in fact the bible tells us that we're to in honor prefer one another so we will be merciful because we have received such great mercy and as you are merciful god will grant you even more mercy it will cost you time money just like it did the samaritan it's going to cost you to open your heart and your life to people and to love your neighbor as you love yourself but that is what christ has commanded us to do there are ways that we can get involved bellevue offers so many ways that we can get involved serving through bellevue loves memphis we have so many pathways that you can get connected with partners across the city that we serve through that ministry a rise to read you can tutor a child one by one you can come alongside a single mom and become her friend and meet with her once a month work through some curriculum and ultimately make sure that she knows jesus as her lord and savior you can volunteer at life choices you can sponsor a child through a ministry like compassion international you can pray for and support a missionary you can come alongside a single mother and help her and befriend her and encourage her there are so many ways that we can be involved and we will just see you know the religious people saw but their hearts weren't moved and i think so often we see but it's just a glance and we're unmoved by what we see around us by the pain by the poverty we have plenty of it in memphis so there are many ways that we can show mercy to our neighbor and love our neighbors like we love ourselves the next one is blessed are the pure in heart and i chose righteous for this and i gave you a list of people now this is just a sampling of the people that the bible calls righteous but if the bible calls somebody righteous they're righteous perfect no but they sought to walk with god and the bible called them righteous you've got righteous abel noah abraham job king david king asa king hezekiah king josiah you know there were 19 kings in the northern kingdom there was not one good king now they had some amazing prophets but not one good king in fact some of the most wicked kings ruled in the north in the southern kingdom you had 20 kings and you had six that were decent kings like hezekiah josiah who sought to lead the people to honor god's word and to live according to god's word and god blessed them as a nation under their reign you've got zacharias and elizabeth that the bible says both are righteous that became the parents of john the baptist john the baptist himself was a righteous and holy man joseph was a righteous man and when he found out that mary was expecting outside of wedlock what did it tell us he wanted to put her away privately he wanted to be discreet about it because he was a righteous man he did not want to harm her but then the angel of the lord came to tell him this baby that has been conceived is actually the long-awaited messiah and joseph took her willingly as his wife and kept her as a virgin until the birth of jesus christ then you have simeon the one who served the lord and the tabernacle and the moment he saw them coming in for christ's circumcision and his dedication what did they do he came to them and blessed them he was a righteous man and cornelius the centurion in acts even though he was a roman citizen because he feared and revered the lord the bible called him righteous so how are we to be righteous and it's not once again about outward conformity to the law it's about an inward heart change it literally comes from the inside out a pure heart is a cleansed heart a heart that loves the lord fully and completely in fact martin d lloyd jones said the pureness of heart therefore corresponds to singleness it means if you like without folds it's open nothing hidden you can describe it as sincerity it means single-minded or single-eyed devotion one of the best definitions of purity is given in psalm 86 11 unite my heart to fear thy name what does it mean to unite our hearts lord bring it together as one give me that single devotion to you help me to love you with all of my heart soul mind and strength that's what it means to be righteous that's what it means to be pure in heart it's to have a heart that's holy devoted to the lord psalm 24 asked the question who can ascend the hill of the lord and the answer is he who has clean hands and a pure heart but aren't we grateful that the actual translation is he who has a cleanse who has cleansed hands and a purified heart because it is in christ jesus that our hands are cleansed and that our hearts are purified the bible says for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation romans 14 17 says for the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit blessed are the pure in heart do you see god when's the last time you paused and acknowledged his presence you done it at a sunrise or a sunset and pause and say god how beautiful is your creation or maybe it's when you're looking at a mountain range and the majesty of the mountains just overwhelms you at god's creative power or maybe it's the waves lapping on a beach and the peace that you feel just listening to the water or maybe it's the wide-eyed wonder of a child their joy and excitement and in that precious child you see the lord or maybe it's a broken woman a woman who's come to the end of herself and she's come to christ who has patiently and faithfully pursued her and she's ready to surrender her life to him there's nothing quite like seeing him and the people he has created in the nature the beauty of all that he has surrounded us with and to recognize it's all fallen can you even imagine what it's going to look like when it's restored can you even imagine what we're going to experience in the kingdom of heaven in fact randy alcorn in his book on heaven said basically what we see now as wonderful i mean the most beautiful thing you've ever experienced is like black and white flat compared to what we're going to see in heaven the full colors colors our eyes have never even seen it's going to be full color 3d we're going to be blown away when we actually get to see an experience what the bible says i has not seen nor has ear heard all that god has prepared for those who love him but he gives us glimpses in this life and we see them all around us if we're in tune with his spirit and we take time to look and really see then he tells us blessed are the peacemakers because you know if we're right with god we're humble we're hungry and we're we're seeking righteousness we're thirsting after him we're going to be merciful we're going to be pure in heart we're going to be purified we're going to be able to see him around us see him at work get in on what he's doing and when we get in on what he's doing we will work alongside him in restoration that's who he is he is the one who redeems he is the one who restores before you can be a peacemaker you really must be entirely forgetful of self because as long as you're thinking about yourself and shielding yourself you cannot be doing the work properly to be a peacemaker you must be as it were absolutely neutral so that you can bring the two sides together you must not be sensitive you just must not be touchy you must not be on the defensive if you are you will not be a very good peacemaker the peacemaker is one who is not always looking at everything in terms of the effect it has upon himself that's from martin lloyd jones book studies in the sermon on the mount excellent book by the way makes you think of galatians 2 20 does it not that we're crucified with christ nevertheless we live yet not i but christ lives in me and i now i live this life in the flesh but i live it by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me if i'm dead i'm not going to be offended and i just have to tell you guys it is incredibly freeing to be able to look at you and tell you you can't offend me because being offended is a choice and i am choosing not to be offended i am choosing to place you in the best light possible i am choosing to love you with first corinthians 13 love and you know what it's not just for your benefit it's for mine because taking up an offense weighs you down taking up an offense can grieve the flow of the holy spirit in your life can quench him and make you out of tune with the spirit i want to walk in forgiveness i want to walk i want to be a peacemaker i want to be one who is restoring people to christ not pushing them away from him because i've had my feelings hurt i've been offended you've left me out or whatever it may be you just make your circle bigger and you bring people back in love covers a multitude of sin love brings down barriers love is what we're called to and if you're a peacemaker you are going to be a lover of people in francis schaefer's book true spirituality he said pressure is put on us by a world that does not want to say no to self not just for a minor reason but out of principle because they're determined to be the center of the universe those people view all of life through how this is going to impact me when you can die to that when you can die to your rights and you begin to live only for jesus christ it's incredibly freeing and now you're looking at life through the lens of the kingdom of god and you're asking lord who can i serve father who can i share the gospel with lord who do you want me to come alongside lord who needs a word of encouragement who can i pray for father ask him to come alongside you and as you get in on what he's doing you begin to see as he sees and you will become a peacemaker paul said in ephesians but now in christ jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of christ for he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall that means that in christ as peacemakers there will be no levels among us there's no such thing as racism in the heart of a believer because there's one race the human race there's no such thing as socioeconomic differences because anything i have i am simply a steward of i hold everything with open palms and if the lord says give it away today i give it away today because it doesn't belong to me anyway everything i have every good thing comes down from our father our heavenly father blesses us with everything that we need so that we can be a blessing so whatever we have belongs to him there's no division in education level and i can tell you if you walk with the lord jesus said i'm going to send you the holy spirit and he will teach you everything you need to know if someone's walking in the holy spirit they can be more in tune with the spirit and the truth of god's word than a phd a theological phd who's not walking with the lord it is not about facts we know that it's about being in tune with the spirit of god this word god's word is god breathed and he's calling us to encounter his living word and let it change us from the inside out well i can just promise you when you start living this way you're not going to fit into the world you're going to be more and more uncomfortable here less and less entangled because you aren't going to fit in jesus said if the world hates you you know that it has hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love its own but because you're not of the world but i chose you out of the world because of this the world hates you remember the word that i said to you a slave is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you paul said to timothy in second timothy 3 indeed all who desire to live godly in christ jesus will be persecuted now i've got a question for you that i have embold on mine that's not on your handout because it came to me later we will not look like the world talk like the world or have the value system of the world now listen to this part if you are indistinguishable from the world if you look just like the world you have every reason to ask yourself if you are really in christ because if we are in christ we've had a heart change we're a new creature old things have passed away all things have become new it doesn't mean we're going to be perfect but it does mean we are going to have a desire to please the lord we're going to have a desire to be in his word and because the holy spirit comes to live within us we are no longer going to be able to tolerate sin and act like it's not there it's going to make us miserable because we're going to see our sin in light of his holiness and we will mourn over it and it will cause us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of god that he may exalt us at the proper time and when he puts us in a position of influence or leadership we recognize this is by your hand only lord and i am completely responsible to you for how i live in this position of influence wherever the lord chooses to place you because he gifts us and places us in his body as he pleases so ask yourself am i different from the world is my value system different do i dress differently do i talk differently do i watch things or not watch things that other people watch and find okay when the holiest the longer you walk with the lord the more sensitive you become to the holy spirit and the less you fit in with this world you know what's really cool is you find that the first four beatitudes parallel the second four those who are poor in spirit will be merciful those who mourn over their sin will be pure in heart because they will repent and that is how our hearts are purified those who are meek humble will be peacemakers and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be persecuted you're not going to be like the world you're going to be counter-cultural you're going to feel like you're swimming upstream but the beauty is we have everything we need to swim with power because we have the holy spirit living within us christ's philosophy of life and perspective is a very different perspective from the world it's absolutely counter cultural the only way we can live in the kingdom of heaven is to die to the kingdom of this world and strengthen the soul of your leadership the author said spiritual transformation is the process by which christ is formed in us for the glory of god for the abundance of our own lives and for the sake of others you know this week's emphasis and spiritual disciplines was on taking an hour and i know for some of you you're thinking how in the world could i possibly feel an hour but if you will try it i promise you it will go by faster than you can imagine and if you will begin setting aside time to be with the lord in his word and in prayer and then lift your request up to him he will begin to reveal himself to you he will begin to speak to you in fact as i was studying this lesson i just love i mean how many times have we read the beatitudes how many times have we read the sermon on the mount or studied the sermon on the mount and yet every time you study god's word every time you open it he's going to reveal to you new truths about himself help you make new connections that help you actually live and walk in the truth that he's revealing to us and i get so excited about it and i love being able to talk to my daughters about what god is revealing to me and this morning lindsay was actually teaching at her church in athens georgia and so we were able to pray for each other she was driving in this morning we got to pray for each other since we were both going to be teaching today i can just tell you there is no greater joy than seeing your children walk with the lord and seeing them excited about what god is revealing them to them through his word and what's amazing is she's teaching me she's now becoming my teacher she's teaching on naaman this morning and as we were talking about it looking at elijah and elisha and comparisons with john the baptist and christ and all the pictures of christ we see in the old testament both of us got so excited there's nothing better ladies than getting into the word of god and i want to encourage you commit yourself to mastery of this word jesus christ is worth your time your focus he should be preeminent in all of our lives and if you will seek to master this book the beauty of it is it will begin to master you as jesus christ becomes lord and master in every area of our lives we are then set free to live and to actually have the attitude of christ which are the beatitudes that we've been studying these past two weeks the how to bes of christ-like character we're going to close this morning by singing a beautiful hymn one of my very favorites and can we sing it as a prayer to the lord we're going to be singing be thou my vision and we've talked about how the pure in heart see god they see him all around them they see him in the eyes and the faces of others they see where he's working and they join him so can we worship the lord this morning and let's make this a prayer of worship [Music] o lord of [Music] [Music] thy presence [Music] and i thought [Music] [Applause] [Music] is which is [Music] [Music] [Applause] now [Music] i [Music] is [Music] jesus my glory my is one may i reach heaven's joys [Music] [Applause] [Music] still be my vision still be my vision [Music] be jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] that is [Music] oh thank y'all so much for leading us to the throne today has it not just been oh what a blessed time in god's word today i hope that you will get started tomorrow working on your lesson for this next week week three we're going to be looking at matthew 5 13-20 what it means to be a kingdom dweller we would love to hear some of your stories of how god is moving in your life as you work through the kingdom exercises every week you can either post those own media social media and tag us or you can respond to the email we send out to you every thursday or just give us a call in the office we'd love to hear your story and hear how god is personally impacting your life through the study but more than that through his living active word in your life oh father that you would be our vision our delight our treasure father lead us this week god us hold us close father i pray that you would use us as a mighty army the kingdom army for you this week may we share with whoever we come in contact with the good news of your son jesus christ of what he is doing in our hearts and lives father i pray that you would give every one of us opportunities to lift high the name of jesus in whose name we pray amen

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 856

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: BellevueChurch, Bellevue Church, Bellevue Church Memphis, BellevueMemphis, Bellevue Memphis, Bellevue Church sermons, Steve Gaines, Steve Gains, PastorSteveGaines, Pastor Steve Gaines, Pastor Steve Gains, Steve Gaines Bellevue Church, Steve Gaines Sermons, Steve Gains Sermons, SundaySermon

Id: PIkSxnk3gy0

Length: 64min 23sec (3863 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 10 2021