Table of contents for Beatitudes as a Model for CAYA

1. Peace – It is well with my soul
2. As Merciful as a Samaritan
3. Persecution – Are my hands clean?

We apologize for the audio quality of this message.
In today’s message we conclude our focus on the Beatitudes by finishing with a discussion on persecution (Matthew 5:10). But today we think of persecution in terms of not so much what people do to us, but what we do to other people. As we look at Exodus 1 let’s consider the following:

We invite persecution when we forget: Pharaoh forgot all that Joseph had done for Isreal, thus paving the way for the persecution of the Hebrews. When we forget the story that makes us who we are we pave a way for the enemy to speak and act through us. Let’s not be guilty of forgetting who we are as a church and all these Beatitudes we’ve spent so much time talking about.

When we forget, we fear: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Men hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they are so often separated from each other.” Can we rise above our own issues and seek to pull down walls of separation, so that we can take chances on knowing people, so that we can prevent fear, jealously, hate and the so many of the effects of fear?

When we fear, we force: We force the minds of others, we fabricate lies and deception when we fear others. As a result, imprisonment and exile are impressed upon others – and this is in the context of Christian / church life!

Let’s make sure that as a church we cause ZERO fatalities! Let’s put our hearts and minds on guard against forgetting, against fear, and against forcing others so that we will have no fatalities.

Table of contents for Beatitudes as a Model for CAYA

1. Peace – It is well with my soul
2. As Merciful as a Samaritan
3. Persecution – Are my hands clean?

In this message we look at the example of the “Prince of Peace” from Matthew 14:22-34. Here is the often heard story of how Christ walks on water and Peter steps out to meet Him. Peter then takes his eyes off Christ and begins to sink. When he calls out for Jesus, our Savior hydro-planes across the water to take Peter’s hand and lead him back to the boat.

As you listen consider these:

• Peace is not circumstantial – being at peace is not something that has to happen when all is calm and still. We can experience peace even during storms.
• Peace is not always continuous – as much as we desire to live as Christ, there may be times in our life when we are not at peace, yet we can still call upon our God to hold our hands and help us.
• Peace is not “concatenated“ – Do we define our God by what He does and doesn’t do for us? Or do we define God by who He is to us? Yes, Christ comes and holds Peter’s hand but the storm does not cease until they walk back across the water and get into the boat. As we experience difficulties in our life Christ may not always change the situation immediately, but He does say that He will be there with us. (And I included the definition just in case anyone still doesn’t believe it’s a real word.

Table of contents for Beatitudes as a Model for CAYA

1. Peace – It is well with my soul
2. As Merciful as a Samaritan
3. Persecution – Are my hands clean?

So, we’ve talked of being poor in spirit, mourning, meekness, and hungering & thirsting for righteousness. Today we talked about mercy (Matthew 5:7) through the lens of the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37.

As we speak of mercy consider the following:

• The merciful show no condemnation
• The merciful show action – they “do it”
• The merciful follow through

As you listen to this message remember that we live a life of mercy by first being merciful to ourselves, then to those closest to us and beyond.

May your heart and your life be blessed by what you hear.

In this message we continue our study through the Beatitudes as a Model for Church life (and for personal life, too) as we look at Matthew 5:6 – hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for Christ.