Mt. 5:3 Amplified Bible: Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) ….
Did you make any for 2014
- We make resolutions to change our life
- Think for a moment, what are the things you most want to see developed in your life?
Does this list include poverty of spirit, mourning over sin, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, showing mercy, maintaining a pure heart and a peacemaking spirit
- Or does your list show some other path to supposed blessing?
Golden Corral Restaurant Slogan “Help Yourself to Happiness”
- Wouldn’t it be nice if a helping of potatoes or meat or pasta or dessert would be all that was needed to provide happiness?
Drinking their brand is supposed to bring happiness
“You only go around once in this life, so you have to grab for all the gusto you can get”
- What’s gusto? – Webster “hearty or keen enjoyment
Fairy tale endings “… and they lived happily ever after”
BLESSED
Blessed are [a certain type of people] for they [something is true of them].
Are these propositions: If you do this, then God will do that?
The descriptions seem nearly impossible.
- Meek, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers?
Vernon McGee
“The Sermon on the Mount is Law lifted to the ninth degree. Man could not keep the Law in the Old Testament. So how in the world can he keep, in his own strength, the Sermon on the Mount which is elevated to an even higher degree
- Is this what it takes to enter the kingdom of heaven?
McGee again: They are be-attitudes, not do-attitudes
Last Week Greek Roots
Blessed comes from the word bless – “held in reverence”, “to consecrate”, “make holy”, “give thanks”
2nd meaning is - "supremely happy, blessed”
Greek means “fortunate” or “happy”
From a root word meaning “lengthy”
- Does not make much sense to go from poverty to persecution
- Better understanding is being on the right path or the way the Lord wants us to go
Psalm 146:5 (AV)
5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
Psalm 39:7 (AV)
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Our Desire Is To Have The Beatitudes Our Way
- We want the ending of these verses
• v.3.- The Kingdom of Heaven
• v.4 - Contentment
• v.5 - Inheriting the earth
• v.6 - Being Satisfied
• v.7 - Being approved
• v.8-9 - Having Christ without repentance
- “Blessed” is “an inner satisfaction and a contentment of heart,
- A completeness that does not depend on outward circumstances for happiness
How To Have A Bad Attitude
1. Allow your attitude to be based upon your circumstances.
2. Adapt WHEN and THEN thinking. WHEN I get a new car, get married,
get divorced, pay off bills, Kids in school, get over this physical problem, THEN I will be happy.
3. Wallow in pity. Spend all your time wrapped up in yourself
4. Allow how you feel dictate how you live
5. Use the Bible as suggestions that you can either take or leave
How Are The Blessed – Blessed?
– Go Beyond the Circumstances
1. BELIEVE
– Saturate yourself with HIM
- Through His Word (Meditate) Prayer
Psalm 32:1–2 (AV)
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
2. BEHAVE
– Separate yourself from Spiritual Pollution
- Chemical spill shuts off water to 300K in WV
- Schools and restaurants closed, grocery stores sold out of bottled water, 9 counties effected by the pollution
- Dangerous chemical in the water supply "has put hundreds of thousands of WV’s at risk, severely disrupted our region's economy, and upended people's daily lives."
Psalm 50:23 (AV)
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Psalm 50:23 (ESV)
23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
3. BELONG
- Submit/Surrender yourself to God
1 Peter 5:6 (AV)
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
