Sermon Central
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The Gospel Of Jesus: A New Attitude [sermon On The Mount] Series
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on May 3, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: The Beatitudes will give us a new attitude UPWARD, a new attitude OUTWARD, and a new attitude INWARD. Link included to formatted text, handout, and PowerPoint Presentation.
A New Attitude
“The Gospel of Jesus”
--formatted text, audio, and PowerPoint are free at:
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/NewAttitude.html
Last time:
How do you Enter the Kingdom?
A change of attitude toward…
• Self – v. 3 – ‘poor in spirit’
• Sin – v. 4 – ‘mourn’
• Savior – v. 5 – ‘meek’
[see http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Expository-Matthew.html for entire series]
Today:
How do you Express the Kingdom?
How can God show thru? If you are going to be a part of His kingdom, you’ll have to learn to live a kingly life.
vv. 6-8 tell us of 3 new attitudes which should ‘be’ our attitudes:
1. A new attitude that is upward—A change in desires.
v. 6 This is an insatiable desire for God and the things of God. It’s not the kind of thirst you have after playing ball on a hot day…it’s the kind of thirst you would have after days in the desert without even a drop of water. It’s not the kind of hunger you have when you’ve missed lunch…it’s more like when you’ve gone several days w/out eating! Perhaps better English words to use would be ‘parched’ and ‘starving’.
Jesus says, blessed are those who have that kind of hunger and thirst for God! One of the proofs of a true salvation is that you have a new desire to know God and to make sure you are right with God! We all drift away sometimes, but there’s something that pulls you back when you have this hunger and thirst.
Ill.—raise your hand if you’d trade me your house for a glass of water. No one? I guarantee you there exists a set of circumstances where you would. Crawling on your face in the Sahara w/ tongue swollen and lips chapped w/ a mouth full of sand, on death’s doorstep, you’d give this preacher your house and everything in it, and even make a pledge to tithe!
And Jesus says, blessed are they that are desiring righteousness in that manner!
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. [2] My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God…
It’s not just a passing thought. It’s not like the children of Israel had:
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
No, this is a hunger that motivates you to action, it demands to be fed, and each morsel makes you want another! The person who really wants something doesn’t just sit around waiting for it to come to them…no, they are motivated to ‘make it happen!’
Maybe you’re saved, but you’d say, I don’t have that kind of hunger for God. Maybe you need a new attitude that is upward! It doesn’t necessarily happen just because you got saved, and if it did, it can quickly wane and flee away.
There ARE some things you can do to help you to develop that longing for the Lord…a passion for the Christ!
You’ve heard the old saying, ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.’ That’s true, but you can put salt in his oats!
So, how can you put some salt in your oats?
It may be that you’re sick, and need to get better.
Ill.—when you have the flu, the last thing you want to do is eat or drink! You wanna get better first.
Sin is harmful to our spiritual digestive tract. But it also affects our taste buds. Sin will dull your spiritual appetite. Let’s face it, if you feed the flesh then, for the moment, you feel full / filled. But your spirit will starve!
For many Christians, the devil’s weapon of choice isn’t out and out sin, but rather, just ‘stuff.’ Now I’m talking about things that aren’t sinful in and of themselves, but you just get so involved in so much stuff that you don’t make God the priority He deserves to be! For instance, hobbies can be nice, but need to stay in the right balance…if they end up taking the place of God, or coming before Him, they can become sinful.
Summer is coming on, and the weather’s getting nice. There’s nothing wrong w/ the lake, w/ picnics, etc. But all you have to do is just let that take the place of a church service, and you’ll quickly begin losing your spiritual appetite!
Maybe sin, maybe just stuff, but Satan’s goal is the same, to kill our taste buds!
Deal w/ the sin, throw away some ‘stuff’, and watch what happens…
v. 6 The promise is ‘they shall be filled.’ Know what that means? You can have as much as you want! You can keep feasting! You can be as close to God as you wanna be! God can be as real and personal as you want Him to be.
