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AfterThoughts: January 6, 2018

The Blessed Life

Matthew 5:1-12

 

This morning, Pastor David began a new sermon series, “Sermon On The Mount”, with a message from Matthew 5:1-12.  Reread those verses as you consider these questions.

  • What is your first reaction as you read Christ’s words in Matthew 5:1-12? How are those words “counter-cultural”?
  • In your own words, describe the difference between being “happy” and being “blessed”.
  • In what area(s) do you struggle to keep pace with the “world’s version” of the beatitudes (see below)? Are you willing to surrender those areas to experience the beatitudes as Christ described them?
  • How do you approach your relationship to God with a sense of “spiritual entitlement”? How does John 15:6 address that attitude?

 In your time with God this week,

1. Thank God for the gift of blessing that is not dependent on circumstances.

2. Ask God to help you take STEP 1…“realize you are not God and that you are powerless to control your tendency to do the wrong things”

3. Commit to allow God to use you in His work and in whatever area of your life He chooses.

 

ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY:

 

The World’s Beatitudes

 

Blessed are the rich and successful, because they think they have created heaven on earth.

Blessed are those who can control their emotions, because they never show weakness.

Blessed are the confident and cocky, because they will climb the ladder of success.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after the latest fads and pleasures, because Madison Avenue has prepared an endless buffet for their appetite.

Blessed are the stringent and unforgiving, because they never become someone’s doormat to walk over.

Blessed are the streetwise and experienced, because nothing that is said or seen ever shocks or surprises.

Blessed are the agitators and spiteful, because they are always occupied, they never have a dull moment. 

Blessed are those who are safe, secure, set apart from the dangers of life for they think they will never be harmed.

 

Pastor David mentioned the Celebrate Recovery Program during the message today.

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”

-Eugene Peterson, The Message

“The great paradox [of my life] is that every time I walk into a prison and see the faces of men or women who have been transformed by the power of the living God, I realize that the thing God has chosen to use in my life … is none of the successes, achievements, degrees, awards, honors, or cases I won before the Supreme Court. That's not what God's using in my life. What God is using in my life to touch the lives of literally thousands of other people is the fact that I was a convict and went to prison. That was my great defeat, the only thing in my life I didn't succeed in. “

-Chuck Colson

To learn more about Prison Fellowship, visit http://www.prisonfellowship.org