Matthew 5:1-8; The second horizontal Beatitude is a challenge from Jesus to His followers to be “pure in heart”. David engaged purity several times in the Psalms, comparing it to the high value of pure gold before the Lord. The subsequent promise for those who seek to purify their lives from the inside was, “for […]
Matthew 5:1-6: The fourth Beatitude is again vertical in nature, revealing God’s acceptance of the indivdual and their acceptance of the Lord by trusting in the goodness of His plan. The central theme is righteousness, which a commentator described as, “a pattern of life in conformity to Gods will”. Beleivers are to “hunger and thirst” […]
Matthew 5:1-4; In the third Beatitude, Jesus addresses the topic of meekness. Our Lord promised, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”. Our Amerian society favors assertive, powerful and influential people as the ‘movers and shakers‘….but God blesses those who keep their strength under control. Samson from the book of Judges is […]
Matthew 5:1-4; After establishing the context of the Beatitudes and unpacking what Jesus meant by denoting, “the poor in spirit” last week, we continued with the 2nd Baatitude. Christ identifies a second grouping of believers who are blessed because they “mourn”, with the promise that comfort will be their reward for enduring. Several biblical examples […]
Matthew 5:1-3; The nine Beatitudes are an outline or “map” of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus defines groups of people who will live with God in eternity. The first four Beatitudes are vertical in nature, describing the characteristics of the relationship between God and believers. The first group are those that God blesses […]
Luke 2:1-12; The 5th Sunday of Advent is focused upon the “unsung hero” of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ…..Joseph. Although he is never quoted as speaking in Scripture, quiet Joseph was similarly chosen by God for his role in accepting a pregnant bride, taking her to Bethlehem for a required census and then delivering her […]
Luke 1:30-38; When the angel Gabriel came to young Mary in Nazareth, his owrds would literally change the course of her life. God’s favor upon her revealed that this teenage virgin would soon become the “Ima” or mother of God’s Son who would be named “Jesus”. This child would fulfil a host of messianic prophesies […]
Matthew 2:1-18; The first two individuals we investigated from the Scripture narrative who were greatly influenced by the coming of Jesus as Immanuel were Saul/Paul and John the Baptist. The third were a group of Gentile astronomers from near East who observed a special star over Judah in Israel and pointed to the prophesy of […]
Matthew 3:1-12; Last week we unpacked the teaching of Paul from Galatians 4 on the purpose of the coming of Jesus as Messiah, “when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law“. However the prophet Isaiah foretold the return […]
Galatians 4:4-7; In his letter to the Galatian church, the Apostle Paul outlines the foundational basis for Christians to celebrate Christmas. While elaborating upon the nature of being an heir under the Mosaic law, he notes that “God sent his Son” at the precise time in human history for the purpose of making believers into […]