Sermon Central
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Sermon On The Mount - Beatitudes
Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jun 18, 2011 (message contributor)
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1. At The Poverty Line
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
Being financially secure, being well educated, having the respect and admiration of your neighbors, none of those get you credit in God’s kingdom. We’re all charity cases there.
Are you happy? If not, what would it take to make you happy? For most people, happiness seems to have something to do with our circumstances. In our youth-obsessed culture, perhaps we feel we have to look backward to imagine happiness. “What is happiness?” and “How can I get happiness?” are two ...read more
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2. It Begins With Mourning
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
Mourning is the first step on the journey back to God.
Mourning is what happens when your eyes are opened, your heart is opened, to something so manifestly wrong with your world that you can neither bear it, ignore it, or affect it. Mourning is the first step on the journey back to God. I recently listened to a very interesting conversation about ...read more
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3. Neither Wimps Nor Wolves
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
The wolf who has learned to guard the sheep has a permanent place at the master’s fire.
Do any of you remember the old musical Camelot, about King Arthur and the Round Table? It was popular back in the early 60's, it’s one of the reasons the Kennedy White House started being called Camelot. The reason I bring it up is because of Lancelot. Remember Lancelot? Until he and Guenevere ...read more
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4. A Healthy Appetite
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
The proper response to mourning over the reality of suffering, and the key to meekness, is not conquering desire, but learning to desire the right things.
How many of you are planning to watch a football game today? How many of you are mourning the defeat of the Packers??? Anybody care about the fate of the Titans? Have you since switched your allegiance to the Rams or the Bengals? Now, who’s not going to watch anything? Who doesn’t much care one ...read more
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5. Unstrained Mercy
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
None of us can forgive the wrongs done to someone else. We can, however, show mercy to anyone who is suffering - whether forgiveness is involved or not.
Every week it seems like there’s another new disaster. The 10 plagues that Moses visited on Egypt to convince Pharoah to free the Israelites almost pale in comparison. Talk about plagues? We hoped that 2021 would see the end of Covic19 but noooooo. And as if that weren’t enough, an earthquake ...read more
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6. Heart-Eye Coordination
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
"To an impure heart, God cannot be seen anywhere; but to a pure heart God is to be seen everywhere.” -- Charles Spurgeon
How many of you wear glasses? I’ve worn mine since I was seven years old. I was able to wear contact lenses for about 20 years but after about 40 they don’t work so well. And since I got cataract surgery and don’t need glasses for distance, I’m using reading glasses – so I have to take them on and ...read more
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7. Peace Work
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
God’s peace is not the same as the world’s peace - even though people filled with God’s peace DO bring peace to the world.
We human beings are not naturally peacemakers. On the contrary: we’re naturally trouble-makers. A few years ago a group of people tried walking across America on a mission of peace. They couldn't get along and divided into two groups by the time they were half way across. According to the ...read more
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8. The Gift Of Persecution
Contributed on Nov 24, 2022
Persecution is the flip side of peace-making. If we live out the first 7 beatitudes, this one, the 8th, follows on their heels as surely as water flows downhill.
About 35 years ago, a Romanian pastor came to visit the church I belonged to, a nice white church in a rich western suburb of Minneapolis. He had gotten to know my pastor, who had been involved in a Bible-smuggling ministry when the Iron Curtain was still up. Pasor John asked him what he thought ...read more