Well, good morning church, I'm telling you all week long, there's been one thing on my mind, and that is, I am still blown away by last week, this church, investing $500,000 in Nairobi, Kenya for a church plant and ministry Resource Center.  I just think that you guys are incredible, incredible. And I just want to say thank you. Thank you for that. I know that some of you sacrificed incredibly, to make that happen last week, and you are incredible and God's going to be honored. You know, it's one thing to love those people that are beside us. But it's another thing when we began to love all the way across the world, quite possibly with people that you may not ever even see. But you did last week, and I can't wait to continue to share what that looks like in the future of this church.  Well, hey, this morning, we are starting a new series this morning on the greatest message preached by the greatest preacher of all times, and His name is Jesus. This morning, we're going to be launching into that sea of red letters of Matthew chapter five all the way to Matthew chapter seven. And this summer series is going to walk us into these 107 verses of what our ancient friend Augustine in 380 AD first coined as the Sermon on the Mount. So, I want you to know that what we're going to do is we're going to pull this incredibly rich couple of chapters apart. And from the beginning, I just want you to understand that these three chapters, they have the chance to change your life.  They have a chance, they have a message that can mold and transform your walk, that can mold your heart, they can point you in a direction that only these things can give you this satisfaction. And I'm not saying that just for as a hyperbole or as a hype message. I'm being absolutely for real, that the Sermon on the Mountain can change your life. Because it's Jesus speaking into our hearts, into these people's hearts of what it looks like to live for Kingdom living, to live for the kingdom. And it seems so much of this message, I'm going to be honest, on the front end, so much of this message over these next weeks, alright, we're trying to hook you now so that when you go spend your four months on some Island somewhere, you can still get into it right? It seems so counterintuitive, so much as counter cultural what Jesus is going to give us and I just want you to know that you're going to feel tension, you're going to feel pushed back in your soul, you're going to feel a deep longing on some days to run away from it. But on Sundays, you're going to feel a deep satisfaction of the father just showering His mercy over you and showing you that there's this freedom that is offered in these moments. 

Matthew 5 through Matthew 7 in the Sermon on the Mount, let me just kind of lay a little bit of foundation for it. The reality is, these three chapters are not written as a guide of how you get to the kingdom of heaven, okay? They're not a symbol for you. What does it look like to give your life to Jesus or what does it look like to step into a relationship with Jesus? These three chapters are written as a context of what does it look like as a follower of Jesus to walk out my walk in Jesus and to live as a kingdom liver, alright?   So I want you to know that while you may be here, and you're kind of testing out this thing called Christianity, this thing called a relationship with Jesus, what we're talking over these next couple of months, they do have a secondary application for you because you're going to see the love of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus, the kindness of Jesus, but the reality is these three chapters are spoken for people like a lot of you who know Jesus and now the goal is how do I live Kingdom living towards Jesus? Secondly, I just want you to know that all of the message in Matthew chapters 5 through 7, they carry this theme of a now and a not yet okay?  Now, I know this a little bit deep for some of you, so let me explain what that means, okay?  It means this, everything in the pages of this sermon on the Mount, they carry a theme of what can happen to us in this moment, in this world, in this day, in this year.  They all carry that theme; you're going to be able to see that in all of these things. But there's a secondary connotation in them that they also carry this theme of what is it going to look like one day, hallelujah, right? One day, when Christ returns the full manifestation of the kingdom of heaven, what is it that we are living for? So, when you read it, read it in a now but also read it in a not fully yet, okay, kind of context. And when you're reading this, the third thing that I want you to know, and this was super important.  That this message that we have right here, these three chapters that we're going to read over these next couple of months, they are certainly just a summary. Okay? They're just a summary and you say Matt, how do you know they're a summary? Well, a couple different ways. Number one, there's been never a preacher on this planet worth anything that had a 15-minute message. Okay? That's just all I'm going to say to you. Alright?   There, it isn’t going to be 15 minutes this morning, I'm just going to tell you to get a snack. Okay?  But what Jesus did in this moment, is what we have preserved for us it's a boiled down version of what the Holy Spirit thought was the most important words that Jesus shared. Otherwise, most theologians believe that this could have been a day, up to three days of teaching, that is all boiled down into 107 verses and if you're a slow reader, it's like 15 minutes. If you're a medium reader, it's like 10. Okay, so it's not a message. It's not like the devotional on the mount. Okay, it's the Sermon on the Mount. So, here's what we're going to do over these next nine weeks, we're going to pull some nuggets, we're going to pull some scripture, we're going to pull some sections from this, and we're going to pull them into our lives and we're going to see what it looks like to live as Kingdom livers.  Now, we're not going to get to all of it. I promise you.  My first attempt, I tried to break this down into weeks for us for these next couple of weeks ended up being 26 weeks. Alright? It ended up being 26 weeks, like well, that might be a little bit long for summer. Okay?  That might carry us through like Easter, I don't know, it might be a little while. But what we've done is I've boiled it down to nine. Alright?  So, I want you to know, in the middle of this, you need to read once, maybe twice a week, at least just read this. 

Just read it, grab a cup of coffee, read the Sermon on the Mount, because even this morning, after studying this for probably about 25 hours this week, something hit me this morning that I realized I never seen before. And that can happen to you too. And I promise you, we're not going to get through all of it. Alright, so what I want to do this morning, we're going to jump into our text. We're going to read where we're going, then we're going to pull it apart this morning because that's the only way I know how to do it. Matthew 5:1 it says this, "Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on to a mountainside and he sat down.  His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted because 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 because of me."   Jesus says, Now, verse 12, you may want to highlight this one, the first part of it at least.  "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."  

Lord Jesus, bless your text this morning, and God pierce our hearts, show us that we're to be doers of the word and not just hearers of the word and guide us through this text this morning, Jesus and it's in your name, Amen. 

On the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee, there is a natural spot that forms a natural amphitheater, that is the spot that Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, and it is known as the Beatitude. The Beatitude place, it is the mount of Beatitudes literally and from the fourth century on, from the three hundred on there's been pilgrimages of Christians that have gone to this spot to celebrate the incredible wisdom and the incredible challenge that Jesus gave on this mountain. Now, I don't want you to think of like a large like Rocky Mountains kind of thing, think of kind of a rolling sloped hill standing near a lake where you could talk and actually your voice traveled way beyond where it would have naturally, that's what we have here. It's been so popular through the years and in about 1936, I believe the catholic church built a church there that is actually called the Church of the Beatitudes. They built it in a shape, an octagon shape and it has eight sides to the church representing each one of the Beatitudes that we're going to look at here in a few minutes. And every year, people go to this place. And if you're going to Israel with us on the 26th of December, we will stand in this spot and actually read the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus would have done it. So, I want you in your mind when you're reading this text and thinking about this idea to have this in your mind that there's this outdoor teaching people from the region knew Jesus, they heard about Jesus, they had come into the context of hearing what Jesus was about to say. Now chapter five, verse one says this, let's dive a little deeper, it says this. "Now when Jesus saw the crowds," now I want you to leave that verse on the screen, because the crowd is important, because which crowd is it talking about? A lot of times in the Bible, when it uses the word crowd, it's a really negative thing, right? The crowd of Zachea and the crowd that crucified Jesus, the crowds that were chanting, Crucify Him, give us Barabbas. But in this context, the crowd is a carryover crowd from Matthew chapter 4. It's those that heard Jesus’ teaching and heard about his kingdom and heard what was going on. That's the crowd that's mentioned. They're following him because they're intrigued into his eternal teaching. It says that he went up onto a mountainside, and he sat down. Now this is pretty cool.  

I have to just mention this, because of this, when you come to church, we worship together, most of the time we're standing, we're sitting some, but when somebody like me gets up, you get comfortable, you fire up your favorite candy crush app, and you just soak in the word, right? That's just kind of how it works for a lot of you. But in this day, the rabbi that is Jesus, the preacher, Jesus would have got up in front of the people, and he would have sat down, and the crowd would have stood. Maybe we should try this on one Sunday, right? Where I bring a good stool up here, let you guys just stand through the message. And they did this for incredibly, spiritually important reason. And here's the reason.  They couldn't sleep while listening to something standing up. That's really the reason, which is another good reason why we should do this, because in about 20 minutes, I can see you alright.  So, he sits down on the mountainside, keep reading, "His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them."  Now, the “them” is important, right?  Because we've gone from the crowds to now, we're at the “them”.  Who is the “them”?  The them in this message is the large group of disciples, those that have followed after Jesus, and those that have had a relationship with Jesus.  Now I want you to listen carefully, because this is important. The primary audience of the whole sermon on the mount, I just said it a minute ago, is to believers in Jesus.  It's to people like you.  It's to people like me, it's not for people trying to obtain salvation. It's people that are learning, listen to me, how to walk out their salvation, how to live, you're going to hear this over and over as Kingdom livers.  The secondary application or the secondary people or audience is just the crowd. They're the crowd that was maybe on the outskirts of what's going on. And maybe they just stopped by, and they were amazed at what they were hearing or what they had seen out of Jesus. And listen, the crowd when they heard this teaching, were incredibly perplexed. In fact, they pushed against it. They didn't want to hear it, and they were absolutely offended. And listen to me.  If you read secular literature about the Sermon on the Mount, even to this day, you will see that the world does not like the teaching that Jesus is about to give them.  Why?   Because it talks about making oaths and making them and living by them. Why?  Because it talks about God's disdain for divorce. It talks about God's disdain for hating people.  It talks about a seeking his agenda over our agenda. That's not something that our world likes to gather into.  Right?   It's the stuff the followers of Jesus jumps into. So, I want you to know that over these next weeks, when you're listening to the Sermon on the Mount, and when we're teaching over this, if there are not places in the Sermon on the Mount that offend you, they get up into your crawl a little bit. If there are not places that convict you, then your conviction button is broken. It's just broken. Because what Jesus is about to tell us is so countercultural. 

It is so against what God or what our culture tells us God should be. There are some hard things that Jesus gives us right here for living in the kingdom, but listen to me, you can't do it on your own. You can't, will your way into these things, you can't do it by following a set of rules. Jesus has to do it through you. And in you. In fact, let me give you the purpose of the message of the Sermon on the Mount all in one kind of spot. So, you have it for these next weeks. Jesus says the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is this, I put in your notes, you can write it down. It's to challenge and equip believers, all right, at the heart level. Now that's important at the heart level, not the law level, to fully live, pursuing the kingdom of heaven, and not this temporary, current world. That's the purpose and this was huge. Why? Because the purpose of the religious leaders of this day, and the purpose of religious leaders of our day goes completely against what Jesus says about the teach here. Why? Because the religious leaders of the day thought that they could just live the law, thought that they could just live the statutes thought that they were just good enough and strong enough and religious enough, right? That they could meet God, they could get to God, they prided themselves in following the rules. But Jesus, He steps up onto this hillside, and He flips the script, He tears down this culture of this and He says, look, if you know Me, and if you have a relationship with Me, and if you love Me, Jesus looks at them and says you're going to be drawn to Me. And then the outflow of your heart is going to be Kingdom living. The outflow it's kind of like this. Let me let me explain it like this.  I was thinking all week about how do I get this point across? Here's how.  Due West Road is about 45 miles an hour speed limit, right? For most of us? We'll put that in there. 45 ish. Now, when you're driving down Due West Road and you're doing whatever you're usually doing, right, you're driving and if a police officer gets behind you, at that moment, will adjust your ish down to 45. Right? You will adjust down to 45 miles an hour. Why? Because the law is behind you. The law is behind you, and you know the law.  And the law is with you. And you will remain at 45 miles an hour until one or two things happen. Number one, that guy pulls off and goes somewhere else, or number two, you pull off and go somewhere else. And then you will get back to your ish, whatever that may be in your life. Right? That's like living by the law. We live by the law when we know the law is behind us. But what Jesus is saying here, it's like this. Those of you that have kids, do you remember that first drive home from the hospital with kid number one in that car seat? You had that baby at Northside drive you drove 40 miles an hour on to 285 home? Why? Because it's the law. No, because that isn’t the law.  It's because you love that Joker in the backseat that you just cramped down into that car seat so hard, it can't breathe, and you are white knuckling your way home. Why? Because of your love for that kid, you have adjusted your living, to make sure that you're going to arrive safely. 

You see, that's the context of the Sermon on the Mount. These people were living like the law was behind them. And as soon as it pulled off, they were going to go wherever they wanted to go. Here's what that means for us. That means for us that if your devotion to God is solely based on a bunch of religious laws, then you are going to continually be so frustrated. You're going to continually be so frustrated. And if you've got this I got to follow, I got to follow up got to follow it's so hard and listen to me, you're going to fail, you're going to fail. But here's what Jesus says to us. He says, hey, listen, if you will just turn your devotion and turn your heart based on desiring me, then the rest of the stuff falls in place. That's the Sermon on the Mount. That's what he's teaching us in this moment. He says, look, you're motivated by the law, that's okay. But if you're motivated by love, God is honored we follow Him and what we're going to see today is ultimately that we're blessed because of what we do. So, when Jesus gives these principles, please I know I’m spending time in this. Please don't see them as a bunch of absolute laws that cramp you down.  See them as a set of guide rails that help you live the blessed Kingdom life that God has gifted you with? And He's going to gift you with. So, let's jump back into the text because we have to.  Alright, this is where we're going in this Jesus. He moves past this moment right here; this introductory moment and He moves into these things called the Beatitudes.  If you've been around church, you've kind of heard that word a lot. But what Jesus does is He gives us these blessing moments, He gives us this encouragement, He doesn't throw a bunch of laws, and just give us a whole bunch of jargon after it, He gives us this absolute idea of what it looks like to live a blessing.  The Beatitudes are these eight statements that you can kind of put them up against the 10 commandments, if you think about it, the 10 commandments are an Old Testament set of laws, right? They are the Thou shalt not's, right?  They are the don't do these things, or you will, that's the Old Testament, they start on a vertical relationship with God, they move into a horizontal relationship with other people. That's the 10 commandments. The Beatitudes in the New Testament are not a list of Thou shalt not's, they are a list of what you should be, here's how you should live. And a result of that is going to be an incredible blessed life. Now, let me give you four just kind of fundamental beatitude thoughts. Number one is this, the Beatitudes are a package deal. They're a package deal. 

And I know that we're really good at picking apart things and only taking things that we like, but the Beatitudes are all a package. You can't take number one without taking number seven.  Does that make sense? You can't have two and three and then just leave eight out on the side, the Beatitudes are kind of like going to Costco for one can of tuna, you're going to get eight. Alright?  There's nothing you can do about it. It's just how it works. You can't have one without the rest. And there are also a set of normative living. It's not if you want to be a super Christian, you live these things. No, they're a package deal of what it looks like to live the normal Christian life. They are also a progressive list. So, when we see them, I want you to think of being progressive, they start at how we approach God in a relationship with God. And they end with what it looks like when we're living so much that we're being persecuted for God.  They progress through in their rank. But also, number three, the Beatitudes, they open the door for an inner happiness.  Ah Matt, that sounds so nice. It does, doesn't it?  They do, they open this door for this inner happiness. And here's what I know, you might not say it out loud, but you're not going to find it where you're looking for it anywhere else. You might find it temporarily. But what He's telling us right here is, hey, I want to bless you. It's what Jesus is saying in the Beatitudes.  In fact, the word blessed in here, we don't really use this word. But let me just give you another kind of thing that can kind of rattle in your mind. The word blessed literally just means oh happy are.   You might want to write that somewhere in your notes or on your Bible.  Right beside the word blessed are, just right Oh happy are.  Because that's what it means.   Oh, happy in Jesus are and then you can fill in the blank for the rest of it. You see, there's no other time in Scripture that Jesus uses the same word eight times to make a point other than this one right here. Number four, the Beatitudes, they all have an attached promise. They all have an attached promise from God that's given to us. So don't think of it as this Mosaic Law, that’s being showered down on you.  Think of it as God going, hey, if you'll do this, I will gift you with this, I will give you this, I will bless you with this. So, the Beatitudes are these eight-character traits of what it looks like to live the happy or the blessed Kingdom living life. So, believers this morning, these were not just for the first century Christian, they are for us as well. So, I want to walk through them really quickly. And I want to give them to you in some common terms. If we want to be a blessed kingdom, liver, number one: Jesus says that we need to be completely poor.

We need to be completely poor. Now I know the air just left the room, right? It just left the room. Listen, a little bit of wordplay here. It has nothing to do with money. Nothing to do with money, what Jesus is talking about right here. In fact, look at what Jesus says in verse three. He says, "Blessed are," or oh happy are "the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Now this is hard for us to understand, but I want you to think of it like this. I want you to think of it like Jesus saying, blessed are those who are completely dependent on a holy God for every single thing in their life. That's what he's saying here. That's what poor in spirit means poor in spirit means that we come to God with our hands 100% open and say this to God, God, I have nothing to offer you except for what you had given me. I got nothing. I can't bring anything. I'm totally deprived. I am totally lost except for the fact that you have stepped into my life, and I now offer my soul to you. That's what poor in spirit means. We're not talking about poor when it comes to material things. In fact, the word poor here is the strongest word in the Greek language that you can use for poor.  This don't mean a little bit poor; this means po.  You can't even put the "r" on the end of this one? Alright?  It is poor. And here's what it means.  It means we come to God first with an understanding that we're nothing without Jesus. What if the first thought of your day would be to hit the floor and go, God, I'm nothing without you today. I'm nothing without you today.  How impoverished spiritually, I am. And God, I need you one out there set it like this. He says that "Happiness or blessedness begins when we see our emptiness and receive His fullness." You see, I think a lot of times we try to backdoor our way into it, right? We're like, hey, I'm all happy now I'll turn to God. And God's like, no, that's not how it works. It works when you bring yourself to me and say, God, here I am. This is the opposite of self-sufficiency. 

It's the opposite of fair pharisaical church pride is the opposite of self-reliance. This is a spirit to where we come before God. We say God, I'm completely reliant in my spirit on you to move.  On you to move. But listen, what's the promise? What's the promise to be poor in spirit? What does he say?  It says that we will obtain heaven. Why? Because it's the first step of salvation, is it not? The first step of salvation is when we realize that we are broken in need of a Savior. The first step of what he's saying to live this blessed life is when we say God, 'm broken before you. And I got to have you step in today. Number two:  Oh, how happy not only the poor in spirit, but oh, how happy are the brokenhearted?  You see, Jesus here, I love this because it seems so backwards to me. happy are those who are just broken. That doesn't even make sense, does it? But it does. Why? Look at verse four. "Blessed are those who mourn," for what happens, "for they will be comforted." There's a double meaning here. The first meaning in this Jesus is saying is blessed are those people that are in a state where something happened to them in their life, and their tails have been kicked. Maybe a death may be a divorce, may it be a life changing situation. It is in those moments, you are blessed. He's saying, because at those moments, the Heavenly Father wraps his arms around you. And it is only in the suffering that you can understand how much God loves you. That's the first side. But the better side of it is blessed are those people who mourn over their sin and over the sin of humanity. That's the deeper meaning here. Why is that? Because it's at that point that God puts us on the anvil of life as the blacksmith and he gets the impurities out of us. And what does he do? Look at the promise.  Alright, don't look at the command without the promise. The promises are that God comforts us. He comforts us. Do you know that there's sometimes that God withholds comfort until we put our sin on the table and say, God, here it is?  That's why we're happy when we are honest, before God, because we're pouring spirit before God, we realized our sin and the sin of humanity before God and it's at that moment God goes, finally, finally, now I can work.  2 Corinthians 1:3 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comforts. You see, Jesus steps in when we're broken over our condition. You want to live as a kingdom liver?  Be poor in spirit and lift your condition up before God, and go God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I need You.   

Keep going number three: Kingdom followers, it gets harder. I'm telling you, it's progressive, are extraordinarily meek.  Now look, we don't like this word, meek. We don't like it in America. Why? I think it's because we have a misunderstanding of the word. See, when we think of meek, we think of weakness. We think of cowering in the corner. We think of a person that has no power or no backbone to them. But listen, this is so misunderstood. Look at what it says in verse five. This can't be what Jesus is calling us to then look at verse five. "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Listen to me. Jesus was the meekest man to ever live and there was no weakness about Him. There was no weakness. Why? Because meekness does not mean weakness. meekness, listen to this. Meekness is not thinking less of myself, it's thinking of myself less.  Does that make sense?  It's not thinking less of myself.  Ahh, look at me I'm a nothing. No, no, that's not what meekness is.  Meekness is me knowing who I am and putting you ahead of me and putting your agenda ahead of my agenda and putting ultimately, God's agenda in front of my agenda.   Philippians 2:3-4, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather, in humility, value others above yourself."  You can put that word meek above humility they're really close. And here's what that means the Greek word meek can be translated to domesticate a wild animal. It can literally be in that translation. That's what it means. When you domesticate a wild animal. Do they lose their power? No, what happens to them, they submit to the power of the master. So, listen, when Jesus calls us to be meek, he says, hey, put down your agenda, and take up my agenda, even though you have power, use that power for my agenda. So, we're to be people who decline a domineering of our own agenda, and we submit to God's agenda and look at the promise. Oh, I love this promise. The meek will inherit the earth. When you inherit something, do you know what it is? It's yours. But how does a meek cowering person inherit the earth?  They inherit the earth because they're submitting to the one with all power and His name is Jesus. Hopefully you're seeing that it's making sense and what's going to happen when the meek inherit the earth?  They're going to rule over the earth, they're going to rule over the new heavens and the new earth and those people that have lived their lives puffed up, only one of two things can happen to them either A-they aren’t making it to that day, or B-they're going to be ruled by those who are. Keep going. 

Number four: whoa, we got to go.  Number four: Kingdom followers are happy when they pursue righteousness? When they pursue righteousness, the rest of those first three, we've kind of emptied ourselves, right? We're poor, we're mourning, we're meek, we're emptying that stuff out of us, and now He flips it, and He says, you are to pursue righteousness. Look at verse six. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." What does this mean? That means we push with everything inside of us to pursue when you hunger and thirst. Now I'm not talking about hey, it's almost lunchtime, a little bit hungry. I'm talking about you haven't eaten in days, right? When you are pursuing, hungering and thirsting for something, you are running after it with reckless abandonment. And that's what He calls us for righteous. But Matt, I thought that when we gave our life to Christ, we are fully righteous. Yes. I love it when you ask questions I want to answer. But here's what that means. That means you are fully given righteousness. But God has called you to be a vessel of him that is at the full level all the time, and he continually pours His righteousness into us. Now, what does that look like? That looks like the beaker is overflowing, but the flow of God's mercy and grace and power and righteousness continues in so that it oozes everywhere. Remember the volcano project? That's what he's talking about?  Pursue righteous as you are righteous but pursue more righteousness and look at the promise it gets even better. The promises you'll be filled, you'll be filled.   Can I tell you every single counseling case I have starts with the same premise? I feel empty, I feel broken. I feel nothing. I feel numb. But what happens when we pursue righteousness? He fills us. He fills us now, and he will fill us later. He fills us.  Why?  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who had no sin to become sin on my behalf, so that I may become the righteousness of God. That's the filling. It's like a cup being constantly filled over the blessings that we're going to be filled. 

Number five: Kingdom followers are continually merciful. Continually merciful. Now I just felt the air leave the room. Why?  Because Mercy is not a trait of humanity. But it is a trait of God that He calls us to live. Here's what this means. Just because you don't have a merciful personality, it does not give you the right to just be a jerk all the time. That's what that means. God has clearly called us to be merciful. Why does God want us to be merciful? Because he has been merciful to us, right? What is justice? Justice is getting what we deserve. Right? That is, we are getting what we deserve. We hear justice, but what is mercy? Mercy is not getting what we deserve and that's exactly what Jesus has done for us. Why? For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. So now what God says is, hey, I have richly lavished you with mercy. You are a recipient of My mercy. Now you are to be a dispenser of My mercy, a dispenser.  And listen to me real closely, when we do not give mercy. We are being hypocritical, and we are being judgmental at the same time. We're being hypocritical because we're not giving something that God is so richly lavished on us. We're not living what we're preaching, right?  But we're being judgmental in the fact that I'm looking at you say that I deserve mercy. And I deserve the second chance, but I'm not going to give it to you. And I'm judging you deemed, no. You see how horrible that is. So next time your little fingers start typing, or next time the phone starts going, you have been called to be merciful. And look at the promise right here in Kingdom living.  The promise is this, you'll be shown mercy. And God knows I need mercy. That's Melissa. I'm telling you; I need it.  Ask my kids, ask the people that work here.  If I need if I need mercy, I need to give mercy. I need to give it.  

Number six: Kingdom followers are happy when they focus on a pure heart.  When they focus on a pure heart.  Remember the context, right. The Pharisees thought that they could live this thing out.  There were nothing but whitewashed tombs. They were trying to live all the laws, but their heart did not matter. Jesus flips the script. I love it. Look at verse eight. Blessed are the pure in heart. For they will see God the hearts the center of who we are, right? It's the real us. We can hide a whole bunch of stuff on the outside of us. But the real you is what is in your heart. It's your emotion. It's your faith. It's your understanding, your reason, it's your drive. Look at the promise, though. I love this. What's the promise of the heart? For they will see God. How many of us will see God? We're going to see God when our hearts are pure. Why? It starts at salvation. Right? Why? Because it's not the law that gets you to heaven. It's not the law that keeps you in heaven. It's the fact that you have a new heart, a pure heart. He has taken that heart of stone; He's replaced it with a heart of flesh. Let me ask you, how's your heart? 

Number seven, they get harder. I'm telling you they keep getting harder. Kingdom followers are happy when they make peace. When they make peace. Now notice there's two words that I put here. Make and peace, make peace. Look at verse 9. "Blessed are the peacemakers," circle that were peacemaker, "for they will be called children of God. This is incredibly important. Why? Because Jesus wants it to be a goal of your life and my life, to be a peace maker. Alright, not peaceful. Peaceful is hmmm, I'm peaceful. No, that's not it. Peacemaker is one that even in the midst of battle, pauses it and makes peace. You feel where this is stepping? Just a little bit? So next time you start to type, ask yourself, Is this a peacemaker statement? Is this a kingdom peacemaker statement? Matt, are you telling me a compromise the truth? No. But I am telling you don't be a jerk about it. I am telling you to pause and be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove with the truth. That's what he's saying.  But look at the promise that's attached to it. They will be called children of God. They'll be called children of God. This is the only beatitude that has a relational promise. What does that mean to be a child of God? It means somebody who mimics the Father's heart or the mother's heart. Why? Because what did Jesus do when He came to this earth on the cross? What did He do? He made peace between a Holy God and sinful man. He closed the gap. And what is he called us to do?  To live that life. And what does He promise us? That we become sons and daughters of His.  Blessed are the peacemakers.  Let me ask you real honestly. Are you bringing peace? Are you making peace?  Are you like, Matt I just try to stay out of other people's business? That's not what it says. It says make peace. 

Number eight: Kingdom followers, I told you they got harder, are persecuted.  They're persecuted. Now listen, this is important. They're not just randomly persecuted. Because I'm telling you, you can be persecuted just for being weird. And some of you are, alright. I'm just kidding. You're like Matt, please know. I mean, but for real. You can be persecuted for a lot of things. It's not what He's talking about right here.  Read the verse, to be persecuted for righteousness’s sake. Matthew 5:10 says, "Blessed are those who were persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs," He circles back around to it, "theirs is the kingdom of heaven."   Blessed are you, this is the only one that He kind of gives a little cliff notes explanation to.  I love it. He's like, hey, I know you're going to struggle with this one. Let me give you a couple verses that explain it.  "Blessed are you when people insult you," this is verbally, "persecute you,” that would be physically is what he's talking about there, "and when they falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me," that's when they actually speak up against you and make false accusations. What do we do for those people? We love them and we make peace with them. That's what he's already told us. Right? Why? Because this last line, this is our walkout right here. "Rejoice and be glad, because greatest reward in heaven." Not great is your reward on this little bitty sliver of humanity that we call this life. Alright?  This thing is a temporary nothing, but of heaven. Great is your reward. And when we're persecuted, the promise is the kingdom of God. It's the kingdom of God. In fact, the promise is 2 Corinthians 4, "Therefore do not lose heart, though outwardly we're wasting away yet inwardly we're being renewed day by day."  Ahh, I love this, verse 17, "For our light and momentary troubles," they don't seem like at some time, but they are, "are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes on not what is seen, but it was unseen. For what is seen is temporary. What is unseen is eternal."

That's the message of the Beatitudes.  Eternal happiness and blessing far outweighs the momentary stuff. Two thought and then we're leaving.  The Beatitudes give us two things. Number one: they give us a mirror. They're a mirror. You say Matt, what are you talking about? What does a mirror do? The mirror shows you who you are. That was a really cool thing in high school when you thought you had it all together, right? But as we age, it's like, yeah, that's me. That's the Beatitudes. They're made to be something that is put in front of us that says, am I living a kingdom life? Yes, or no? 

So, here's the challenge this week. Put them in front of you. Lord, am I living this? God? Am I living a poor in spirit life?  God, am I living a life that is mourning? Am I living as a meek person? God, am I living as a person that is hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Am I living a merciful life? Am I living a pure in heart life? Am I living a life Lord, that is absolutely making peace and God in my making a heart that is being persecuted? use them as a mirror this week. Maybe you get together with that person that's in your life this week and go, hey, listen, I'm really good at lying to myself. Could you help me? Where am I blowing it? That's scary. But it works. So, they're a mirror, they show us who we really are. 

But number two: they show us, catch this, they're also a flashlight. They give us vision. They give us vision into tomorrow. And they give us vision in how God says this is Kingdom living. So, as you take them this week, look. They're incredible, incredible reminders of how to live eternal. But they also are attached with some incredible blessings. They're not just laws, they're blessing statements of, oh happy are those.  

Lord Jesus today, as we walk into this moment of decision, and God as we just sit in this text. God, I just pray that you're stirring in the hearts of believers that it would show them that living for your kingdom has incredible purpose. Living for this kingdom that we live in right now is so temporary.  God, I also just pray that you're stirring in the hearts of those people that just need you. God during this next song, I just pray that if there are people that need to surrender their heart to you, that if something in their soul is saying that I need Jesus, that God they would have the boldness to step out of their seat wherever they are. Come find myself.  I'll be over here to the side or maybe just fire the app up onto the next steps text and punch in there that today I want a relationship with Jesus. That God they would have the boldness to display that today.

God I'm praying for others right now that are just struggling to make this their church home. God, if we have people here that are just like, hey, who are we God our life is going to be mimicked, mimicking these commands in this church and God, if there's people that want to walk that path and let's do it together. God, I pray for people that are at home right now that aren't back into the groove of meeting with your church.  God, I pray if there's nothing health that’s holding them back that God they would get out of the mold of just whenever they feel like it, and they would gather back with us. God move in these next couple of minutes. Show us your heart. Speak to our souls and it's in Your name that we pray, Amen.