Women's Bible Study - September 18th, 2024 - Let Go and Trust God
First B Jackson
2024-09-18

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Would you pray with me as we start today? Lord Jesus, we come before you. King of kings, Lord of lords, you are worthy. You're worthy of this time. You're worthy of our attention.

We tell you thank you this morning through our worship. Thank you that your arms are open wide today to us.

We tell you we love you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's lift our voice together today. Let's just stay on that. Just think about this truth. Just really think about it.

And he made a

way so that we could come to him. Sing, oh, Oh, come to the altar. The father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was born You know, the Bible says that in James that if

we draw close to the Lord, which is what we're doing right now, if you fix your eyes and your heart, your thoughts, your affections, your worship, on him it says that if we draw close to him, he promises to draw close

to us. That's a promise.

So expect when you're worshiping. Expect when you fix your eyes on him that he is gonna draw close to you. And when he

does, listen. Listen to what he's speaking to you.

This is a relationship.

Lord, what is it that

you wanna speak to us today? As we cry out to you in our desperate need today, what is it? What is it that you're speaking to us? Maybe you're trying to dispel lies. Maybe you're trying to speak identity.

Lord, as we cry out to you, as we confess our desperate need for you today, we give you permission to speak to us today. We're listening. We're running into your arms today. We come expected to be changed by you today, to encounter your love. We don't just come here just as an act of just well, it's something I have to check off my list, but we come here ready to be changed, truly changed by you.

Confess to you today. Confess to you that we're weak and without you, we can do nothing but in you and through you. There's true joy. There's true contentment. We ask for that today by your spirit.

Let's confess it together. Lord, I need.

Lord, I need you. My righteousness, oh God, how I need you.

Just think about that one more time.

My one, you're my one defense, my righteousness. Oh,

Lord, we confess that to you, that you are strong in our weakness. Sometimes the Lord speaks in pictures and words, and just as we were singing that, I felt like the Lord just impressed upon my heart. It was just a picture of someone going to a well. And they were throwing the bucket down, and they were saying, Lord, I'm so dry. I'm so empty.

I'm so at a loss of what to do. And specifically, in their marriage and with their children, and they were just like, Lord, I have nothing. I got nothing. And they cast a bucket into the well, and then they're not patient enough, and they pull the bucket up really quick, and it's empty again. They're like, but Lord, where are you?

Lord, where are you? And they cast the bucket again, but then they get impatient and they quickly pull the bucket up. And I just felt like the Lord impressed upon my heart that if you'll wait on him today, that if you'll throw the bucket of your life, of your needs, of your deepest, deepest needs today where you're crying out, if you'll just be patient with him that. To to

able

do We're do in midst midst just receive that today. Let me just pray that over you. Lord, today, if there's hearts in here who are at the end of their rope, they need you. They need you so desperately, and they've cast that bucket many times. But then they've turned back to their own strength before waiting on you.

Lord, I pray that today you would show them that you are right there. Give them the patience and the courage to trust fully in you today. And, oh, when they do, Lord, just overwhelm them with your living water, your grace that never runs dry today. That's what we ask. We just confess in our weakness.

Lord, we need you. Every hour, I need you. Every minute. Come be with us as we dig into your word to Deborah. Speak to us.

Change us today. We expect to leave here different because we met with you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Lord, we need you.

Thank you. Luke, am I am I on? Yes. There I am. Alright.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. On your table, we have a handout from Natalie's teaching last week and from what I'm gonna go over this morning with you, the beatitudes. Does this sound right?

Because it's kinda echoing back to me. Does it sound right to you? It's a little weird and echoey? Okay. Luke is on it.

Alright. Let's just open in prayer. Lord, it's a little chilly in here, so fire us up with your word. Warm us to your word, Lord. Thank you that you teach us how to do exactly what Lissa was saying.

Just how to connect with you, how to come to you, and the blessings that come when we do that. And I just pray that there's just new epiphanies today about how you want us to do this thing called life with you. Give us a word. May every single one of us leave today with a word from you. We just pray this in Jesus' holy name.

Amen. Alright. I hope you had time to open your study guide. You were we were supposed to be in chapter two this week, which covers the Sermon on the Mount. And that in the Bible is Matthew chapters five, six, and seven.

And, the gospels are called the good news and in your small group today, your small group leaders are just gonna share the really good news of how we come to Jesus. But, there's an overarching good news of when we do that, how do we live with him? And, I just wanna ask you, what makes the gospel so good? What makes it so good? Well, about ten years ago, I was really sick and just with some stomach issues I've had all my life, so I just kept ignoring it, kept ignoring it.

And my husband's like, I think this has gone to a whole new level. You need to see a specialist. And I was like, I'll be fine. This this always happens to me. Don't worry about it.

We're in California, and I am so sick that I have to go to the doctor. And I by God's grace, I got into this specialist, and he ran a bunch of tests, did a bunch of and he was the cutest guy. I think he was Pakistani and he was so stressed out by me because he comes in the room and he's just staring at me. And I'm like, everything okay? And he's like, no, everything is not okay.

I have some really bad news for you. And I'm like, see, this is why I didn't wanna come see you. And he's like, Deborah, don't joke around. This is serious. He's like, we ran these tests and you have ulcers in your intestines, you have ulcers in your stomach, and your esophagus probably is ulcerated as well.

And when you hear bad news, I mean, at some point, he did kinda sound like Charlie Brown to me, like, because my mind was just like, oh my gosh. But my first response to him was, is there any good news? Like, is there anything we can do to turn this around? And he's like, yeah. There there is some good news.

It's simple, but it's not easy. He's like, it's gonna require a major change in your life. Like, your system is just not like everybody else's. You can't be like everybody else. You're going to have to eat different.

You're going have to change your habits when you eat, how you eat, what you eat. And he's like, you just need a complete overhaul in the habits that because he and I had talked and I was like, I know I have this weird thing that my husband, he he just doesn't understand me, like I have to go to bed exhausted. Like, I just have this thing where I have to be so productive. If I'm not exhausted, it wasn't a good day. And, I knew the Lord was working on me because that's not truth.

That's not truth at all. That is not the walk of a Christian. And so, that bad news, I will tell you, prompted me to make major life changes. And you know what, sometimes I go to bed, I'm not tired at all, and I'm like, it's okay. It's good.

It's good. But I have been ulcer free for ten years. Yay. Because I was willing to make those changes, but I feel like sometimes, you know, especially the sermon on the mount, Jesus' first teachings, they were his most important teachings. And when we open it and he says you have to walk a narrow path.

Like you you have to look different than the world. We're like, that's bad news. I don't want that. I don't wanna make all these changes. And Jesus is saying to us before he unpacks the Sermon on the Mount, he calls the first part of the teaching the beatitudes because he's saying, if you're willing to make these changes, they're gonna be incredible blessings for you.

The Sermon on the Mount and the beatitudes are not a message of salvation. This is not about salvation. This is about what happens after salvation. And Matthew says, if we will do these things, we're going to enter into this intimate relationship with God Almighty. I mean, can we just pause there for a second that God is going to be personally involved with our life?

That's that's pretty remarkable. Don't you think that he loves us so much, cares about the details of my mundane life in Jackson, Wyoming? That's pretty incredible. And in the Jewish phraseology when Matthew says we will enter into the kingdom of heaven, do you know what that means? In the Jewish time when he said this, to say the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, they're they mean the same thing, the Jews would have known that meant to experience God on a personal level.

That's what that phrase means, kingdom of heaven. It doesn't mean where we go for all of eternity. It means we're entering into the kingdom of heaven when we become a child of God and we turn to God and we experience God. That's what that means. And basically, Jesus is telling us in the beatitudes, this is how you follow me.

This is what a disciple looks like. And what were his first words before he even started to teach? The first word of the gospel is repent, and then Jesus said, follow me. And, we today say that a disciple is a follower of Christ, right? So, what does a disciple look like?

John Mark Comer says there are three characteristics of a disciple, a follower of Christ. He says, first, we make the choice to be with Jesus. We make the choice to be with Jesus. You made the choice to be with Jesus today. He's gonna he's gonna bless you for this.

He's gonna give you a word today. I believe that. And then we make the choice to become like Jesus. When we open his word, we're filling our mind with with what he thinks. The the Bible is just essentially his thoughts.

So we make the choice to become like him, to start thinking like him. And number three, then we start acting like him. We do what Jesus did. So we make the choice to be with him, to become like him, number two, and then number three, to do what Jesus did. So we're aligning our mental maps to be in line with the truth and Jesus says the first step to doing this, this is where it all starts, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Now, you read poor in spirit, you're like, what does that mean? And on your handout, I included that Jesus is basically saying that the poor in spirit are those who just are willing to say, help me. Help me, Jesus. I need you, Jesus. They are willing to say, you know what?

I'm not God. I'm not omniscient. I'm not all powerful. I need you, God, in my life. I don't have all the answers.

And Jesus said, if you are willing to get to the point to say help me, I'm going to help you. You will be blessed. What does this word blessed mean? It's not some ooey gooey sentimental feeling. This word blessed, this is so cool.

In the original language and the Jewish people would have known this, this word blessed literally means to bring to be so close to God that he shines his face upon you. That is why in the New Testament, the blessing they used to pray was what? May the Lord bless you and keep you and shine his face upon you. May you experience his presence. And I was thinking about this and I was like, wow, that is so cool because if I'm willing to say, Jesus, I'm drawing close to you.

Help me. I need you. And this means that you're shining your face upon me. The implication is what? What does light do to darkness?

It dispels it. It gets rid of it. So Jesus is going to get rid of the darkness in my emotions, the darkness of depression and doubt. That's what he does when we draw near to him. And, you know, I was just thinking, isn't it interesting that for centuries and centuries and centuries in human history, we did not have all the comforts and conveniences that we have today?

We did not have refrigerators and electricity and hot showers, and people were basically happy. And today, we have every comfort known to mankind and throughout America. Psychologists will tell you the rate of depression, anxiety and stress is really off the charts. And shockingly, it's not just with adults, it's with our children as well. Why?

Why is this? I just wonder, is it because we're not drawing near to the Lord anymore? We're going to everything out in the world to give us answers, to give us blessings, and God's like, you're going in the wrong place. Those blessings are not the blessings I'm talking about. The blessing that I'm talking about, this word blessing means a profound happiness.

And I know, Melissa was like, Deborah, don't say happiness. I'm like, I know, Melissa. It doesn't mean like the American word of happiness which is I'm happy if everything's going great, but the second everything isn't going great, the second I get sick or the second my friend dies or the second we're in financial crisis, I'm not happy anymore. It doesn't mean that kind of happiness. It means this deep, profound, I am okay and everything's gonna be okay because I've got Jesus on my side.

That kind of happiness, like the fruit of the spirit of joy that implies hope that everything is going to be okay. And this first beatitude is where we start with God. I want you to picture it like a ladder. If it is to be of any use, if a ladder is to be of any use, like I was thinking, my husband gets the ladder out when we put the Christmas tree up and he has to get to the top to put the star in the tree, right? So he has to take the first step up the ladder and the first step is just saying, I need you, Jesus.

That's my first step up the ladder and it's really interesting that in Genesis 28, Jacob is traveling through the desert and he lies down to go to sleep at night and he has this really powerful dream And in Genesis 28, it says that he saw this ladder resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on the ladder. This ladder, God used to symbolize this connection with us that he wants to be connected to us and God provided the means of the connection. He provides the ladder. The ladder starts with the beatitudes and it's very interesting that in a few chapters before 28, in Genesis 11, we see mankind saying, I got this. I don't need you, God.

I'll build my own ladder to heaven and actually, they built this amazing tower called the Tower Of Babel. Was the Lord pleased with that? Not at all. You can read about it in Genesis 11. It did not end well for them.

God says, You come to me, you say that you need me and you will be blessed. And that leads us into beatitude number two. Blessed are you when you mourn for you shall be comforted. What does this mean? This is basically saying, Jesus is saying, if you and I are gonna be in relationship together, I want you to be transparent with me.

There is no emotion that you just can't lay it out with with Jesus. And when we come to him and we say we need him, quite often, you know, there's gonna be a sadness for the bad sins that we've done, or for sure, the sins that people have committed against us, or maybe there's just sadness in life. There's a mourning in life. Bad things happen in this life. And Jesus says, whatever you're going through, you made a mistake, you just repent and come to me.

Even if you're feeling horrible about it, I'm gonna comfort you. How does he comfort us? He says, you're forgiven. It's done. Let's move on.

And if someone has committed a sin against you that you are still struggling with, I beg you, take it to the mat with Jesus because pain buried, it never dies. Trust me on this. It never dies. You've gotta get it out of you because it's gonna create a stronghold over you. So you take it to the Lord and he will comfort you.

He will get you through this. Matthew eleven twenty eight, I love how many times in the gospels Jesus says, come to me. Why are you picking up your phone? Why are you grabbing that extra glass of wine? Why are you exercising until you're exhausted?

Why are you shopping like crazy? Just come to me. This is where you're gonna be blessed. You're gonna have that deep sense of inner happiness and well-being. Come to me if you're weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

And I love this next line. He says, Take my yoke and learn from me. Learn my ways. Why? Because I'm gentle and humble at heart, and I will give you rest.

The message says in that learn from me, the message translation says, learn my unforced rhythms of grace. Okay. Now, what does that mean? My unforced rhythms of grace. I will tell you what this means for me.

Going to Jesus with my sadness, my doubts, with whatever I'm mourning and grieving, there's just this sense of peace that comes over me because I can relax in his divine control. That's what the unforced rhythms of grace means to me. I can relax in his divine control. He's got it. He's got it.

I don't need to be in control of every situation. And thank God he's in control because he's much better than we are. And there is a blessing, Jesus is saying, in the suffering. There is no blessing in pain. There is no blessing in mourning.

That's not what he's saying. He's saying, but under that rubble of pain, when you come to me, there is a blessing waiting for you. But you've got to come to me. So two weeks ago, when we started the Bible study on September 4, I shared how I'd gone back to California to be with my friend of thirty four years, my first mommy friend. And this friend Jane and I went through so much together.

That night, early in the morning on September 5, Jane Jane passed and went to be with Jesus after suffering from ALS. There have been so many blessings under that rubble of pain. Personally, what Jesus did for me, I was driving down Highway 89 like two days later, maybe the day later, and I'm just so sad. I'm mourning. I'm sad for her husband who texted me and said, oh my gosh, all of a sudden, my house is so empty.

And for her daughter, I've known her kids since they were babies. Just texting with her daughter, I'm just crying. And this was so the Lord. When I first came back to the Lord twenty nine years ago, I was obsessed with Maranatha Pray sixteen and seventeen. And they're oldie but goodie songs, they're so good.

And I'm driving in my car. I do not have these songs on my Spotify. And all of a sudden, my car starts playing He Will Restore from Maranatha Praise 17. And I was like, oh my gosh. And then I just listened to the words of you've to look up this song, He will restore.

And it was the Lord saying to me, Deborah, Jane is great. Jane could not be happier. Jane is restored. I know it's hard for all of you but you're going to be with her soon. In the scope of time, you're going to be with her soon.

And it was his way of comforting me. Blessed are the mourned, for they shall be comforted. And you know what's interesting? I I hope that you all have been able to watch the Chosen series because I just love how they portray this amazing God that we worship, Jesus. And one thing that struck me in The Chosen is some people Jesus healed.

We were praying for healing for Jane but that wasn't God's will and some people he didn't heal And in the chosen, you see the sick and the suffering and those in pain coming to Jesus. And you know what? You see a lot of them leaving Jesus sick and suffering. Their circumstances didn't change, but they changed. They changed because there was a new blessing they felt from taking it to Jesus.

They left different. They left with a new hope inside them and a new peace. Okay. So first, go to him. We say, we need you.

And then we're honest and transparent with our emotions. And that leads us to the third ladder, the third step on the ladder. Blessed is the humble for you shall inherit the earth. Do you know what a humble person is? A humble person is a person who has the right perspective about who God is, who I am, and who others are.

And I will tell you that my journey with Jane showed me a lot because there were a group of friends that prayed over her. And there was, you know, a couple of the friends that demanded healing, declared healing over Jane. And it would bother me so much because here's the deal, who are we to demand anything of God Almighty? Seriously? He is God Almighty.

We humbly come before him and we say, if it's your will, Lord, would you please do this? But if it's not if it's not your will, I'm gonna trust that you know what's best. And I would tell Jane, Jane, we are not God. Only God knows what's best. We're gonna ask for healing.

But if he says no, he still loves you and he is still with you. So we don't demand of God. Okay? He is God. Isaiah fifty five eight and nine says, as high as the heavens are above the earth, So high are his ways and thoughts over our ways and thoughts.

You and I are not omniscient. We don't see the full picture, but he does, and we trust him. Now, I thought this was so fascinating. In the original language, in your Bible, it might say, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth or meek or humble, it means the same thing. And you know what this word means in the original language?

The meek or humble person is one who exhibits self control. And I thought, that's a weird definition. But then when you think about it, it makes so much sense because the blessed person isn't the person who allows their emotions to control them. They are the person who takes control of their emotions. Paul said Paul says says it like this, we are the person who takes our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.

That makes sense to me because when something horrible and ugly like ALS happens, it's natural for us to lose control and say, God, where are you? This is not good. Are you a good God? Do you really care? Are you there?

But that is who he says he is. He is good and he cares and he is helping. In the end, I would tell Jane because she she couldn't talk at all, so but she could use one finger to text, so we still text until the very end. And you know that verse of Philippians four, six and seven, don't be anxious about anything, but with everything, you know, and that was just too much for Jane toward the end. So, I would say, Look, you have two words you're gonna say every day.

And I would make her promise me she was saying these words to Jesus, help and thank you. Help and thank you. When you are in that place in your spirit where you're like, I can't even pray. I can't even think of a promise. You say, help me, Jesus, and thank you, Jesus.

Because if you are asking him to help, he is showing up to help you and we're gonna say thank you. That is what Philippians four, six, and nine. So the humble person is the person that trains their nervous system to trust Jesus. And this isn't about trying, trying, trying, this is about training because in our natural self, we don't trust them, guys. We don't.

We don't trust them. It's crazy to me that us humans will turn to everything else. We will turn to the drugs, we'll turn to the alcohol, we'll turn to a friend that doesn't even care about Jesus for advice, we'll turn to the media, we'll pick up our phone and the humble person says, no, you're God Almighty, you made me, you have a purpose for me, you absolutely freaking love me. I'm turning to you, I am trusting you, Jesus. I am trusting you.

They have a right perspective about who God is and who they are. But you know what else? They have a right perspective about who everyone else is because there is no such thing, and this was the overriding message of the beatitudes. Jesus was telling the people, I don't care if you're rich or poor in Galatians, he says, it doesn't matter what color you are, what language you speak, what country you're from, it doesn't matter if you are in Christ, you are blessed. You are blessed because you are a child of the king and you are going to live in this eternal family with the king and your family members.

So, in the kingdom of God, a humble person understands there is no such thing as a nobody in the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. Everybody is a somebody. Every single person is a somebody. I used to have these little mantras with my kids growing up, and one of my things with them when they walk out the door to go to school, I would say, Listen, if there's somebody sitting by themselves, you invite them to your lunch table. And I would say, every person matters.

Every single person matters. Every person matters. Everyone matters in God's kingdom. Everybody is a somebody in the kingdom of God. Now, the kingdom of the world?

No. Not everybody matters in the kingdom of the world. You have to prove yourself in the kingdom of the world. The kingdom of the world says, well, like Natalie said last week, if you're stick thin, and if you're rich, and if you're accomplished, you matter in the world. But Jesus says, forget the world.

You're in a different kingdom now. When you become my child, you've entered into a different realm with me, and you matter. You are a daughter of the king now. Wow. Hallelujah, right?

Okay, and that just threw up a hunger in us. Number four, blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for righteousness for you shall be filled. Now, the world says hungering and thirst for what brings me satisfaction, which is usually instant gratification. Right? But the thing with that, have you noticed?

It does fill you up for a second or two, but then what? That new blouse, it just gets stained and ugly, and you need another one. It's never enough. It's never enough. But when we hunger and thirst for God's will in ways, it just fills us differently.

It's a satisfying filling. It's just different. Charles Bridgen says, it's not enough for me to know that my sin is forgiven. I have a fountain of sin within my heart and bitter waves flow from it. He says, oh, that our nature could be changed, and Jesus says, guess what?

You can't be changed. You can. When you fill up with me, there is just this different nature that flows from us and we move from when he says do the right thing, we move from thinking, what can I get away with? To no, I wouldn't do that. I couldn't do that because that would bring such sadness to my Lord.

Our souls were made to be in line with Jesus, to hunger and thirst for righteousness because it gives us a different kind of filling and belonging. And this leads us to beatitude number five. Blessed is the merciful for you will be shown mercy. And I included this on your handout, that if we're honest, we kinda have a double standard about mercy. We love it when we screw up and God doesn't zap us, and we're like, thank you, Lord, because mercy is not getting what you deserve.

I love it when I promise to do something for my husband and I completely zone out and he's like, it's okay, I got you. I love that. But when someone screws up with me, sometimes my first reaction isn't mercy but justice. Right? I want justice and God says, blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

And you know what Jesus says to us? He says, this morning when you woke up, I have a whole new list of mercies over your life for today. My mercies are new for you every single day and if we really believe that, shouldn't we be the most merciful people on the face of this planet? Do you think there are merciful people out in the world? Well, let me ask you, like I was thinking about this because we did a study on mercy.

So, what does mercy look like practically? And I want you to consider, am I a merciful person? So a merciful person and you don't see too many people doing this today. A merciful person asks questions and then listens. Then listens.

Greg and I just went out with this new couple. At three hour dinner, we got in the car and I was like, well, I loved her. She was just lovely. And Greg's like, well, I didn't like him. I was like, really?

Why not? He goes, Deborah, for three hours, I asked this guy questions, he did not ask me one question. Not one question in three hours. Craig's like, I don't want go out with him again. The merciful listen, the merciful take time and are patient with others.

How patient are we? I feel like my patience is being tested on both ends of my life. I've got my elderly parents who want me to call them all the time and then they go into like a two hour story and I just want to shoot myself because I'm like, oh my God. I mean, tick tock, tick tock but I'm like, no, my parents have value. They matter.

I love my parents and they're not going to be here forever. So, I'm going to take a deep breath, I'm going to say, tell me more. Okay? Merciful. The merciful are kind and the merciful are generous.

The merciful are generous. You know, when Jesus said give to the poor and this is in your study guide, he just assumed, if you love me and I bring people that need help into your life, you're gonna be generous with them. He just assumed that. Do you know the number one trait we get from historical documents on why the early church just went boom? Because they were so generous.

Families would go rescue babies thrown out in the field to die. Families would take the unwanted into their house, Christian families. They would sell something that was valuable to them to help feed the poor in their community. They were incredibly generous people. We think we think we just have an option with us that our money is our money, and God says, Are you crazy?

You're going to stand before me someday for how you steward it, and there's some parables about that in Matthew. What I gave you, the merciful forgive and the merciful focus on the good in others. You know, some people wonder, why was God so merciful with King David? I mean, King David man, if you just go down the 10 Commandments, it's like bowling. King David had a strike.

I mean, he just knocked them all down. And you just wonder, why was God so merciful with him? Is it because maybe that King David was so merciful with his enemy, King Saul? I mean, King Saul not only rejected David, betrayed David. He led a campaign to kill David.

Okay. I mean, I have some enemies in my life, but to my knowledge, they haven't tried to kill me. And David had every opportunity to take revenge. And not only did he have opportunities to take revenge, he had the world behind him going, do it, do it, you have every right to do it. He's trying to kill you.

And David said, no, that is the Lord's job. I am not touching the Lord's anointed one. David showed incredible mercy and God showed him mercy. How merciful am I? How merciful are we?

Well, there's something climbing up that ladder that happens when we're merciful. We have a more pure heart. It's just the weirdest thing. When we reach out in mercy, whether it's forgiving or being generous with others, it has a purifying effect on our heart. Blessed is the pure in heart for you will see God.

Now, this definition of pure has two sides of the definition here. To be pure of heart means that we have to constantly push back against our own selfishness because we're all selfish. I just spent a long weekend with our three year old and one year old grandsons. Now, inclination is not to share their toys. Their inclination is not to give away everything.

Their inclination is, That's mine, Nana, and I will not be sharing that with my brother. We are selfish. We are just wired selfishly. So, we have to push back against that. But the other idea of purity, the other definition is that we have a single undivided heart, that we are fully devoted and committed to God.

Okay. So, how do we get there? Well, it's interesting that David would write about this in Psalm one nineteen. David's like, Okay, Lord, he asked the question, How do I stay pure or become pure? And he answers it.

He says, I know the answer. By obeying your word, David says, I try to find you, Lord. Don't let me wander from your commands because I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. So how do we keep a pure heart? We open his word.

We open his word and we let the Holy Spirit in us bring this to life through us, and then we come together in community, and we process together. That's super important. That keeps our heart in line. But here's the thing, You know, when we ask God for help and we ask him for guidance and we ask him, we go to him in prayer. If you're not seeing your prayers answered, just consider what James said.

James says, make sure that you've made the decision to trust God. Don't waver. Don't have one foot in the world and one foot like, oh, maybe I believe, I don't know. I'm checking it out. James says, just go for it.

Just say, I trust you, Lord. Because he said, if you are going to not ever cross that line and just say, you're God, I trust you, then don't expect to receive anything from the Lord. Don't expect to see God move in your life because this is what James says in James one eight, because your loyalty is divided between God and the world, and you will be unstable in everything you do. I don't wanna be that unstable person. Blessed are the pure in heart who are fully committed to the Lord because they're gonna see God move.

They're gonna see him move in a powerful way. I have the most amazing story about this with Jane that is just a little too raw for me to share right now, but I'm gonna share it toward the end of Matthew because it perfectly lines up with the end of Matthew. But if you commit to trusting the Lord, you're gonna see him move in your life like you can't even believe. And Matthew says, you're gonna be blessed. There's gonna be this sense of well-being.

It doesn't matter if bombs are going off around you, you're okay. You're okay. And that's what happened to Jane and I can't wait to share it with you. The seventh beatitude is blessed are the peacemakers for you will be called children of God. When we are loyal to the Lord, when we have made that decision that I'm not gonna have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of heaven, it's it's for you Lord, I'm gonna live for you.

We become more like him and who is he? He's called the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace. I know that I don't need to tell you this, but we live in a very sensitive world where people are super easily offended. I mean, I feel like with some people, I'm just walking on eggshells like, oh my gosh.

Like, my my friend sent me this hilarious picture of her with a red hat, and it says, relax. It's just a red hat. And I was like, that is so funny because, oh my gosh, we're so offended today, aren't we? You know what Dallas Willard says? He says, you wanna know how you can tell if you're growing in the Lord?

You wanna know if you're becoming mature? It's gonna be really hard to be offended. You don't have a spirit of offense because you know who you are. You know who you are in Christ. Theologian John Stott said, when we come to Christ, we come to him with hard hearts and really thin skin.

But as we grow in our relationship, our skin becomes thicker and our hearts become softer. Can I just tell you it is impossible to walk in a spirit of offense and walk in love and unity? And Jesus says, will you come alongside? I need my people to break down the walls, to be the bridge builders, the peacemakers. Now, I can tell you, this is really hard.

This is not easy because quite frankly, people are offensive and rude. When we were going through COVID, Greg and I knew this group of friends. They weren't our close friends, but we often socialized with them. They sat at my table many times for dinner. And the conversation came up about COVID, and I really didn't say much, but they decided they didn't like how I was dealing with COVID and what I thought about COVID.

So I was completely canceled. I mean, if they saw me over the next few years, they would turn and go the other way, and I'd be like, okay. That's fine. So I'm, you know, writing the commentary for this Matthew study. We're going through this Matthew study, and I'm in this section, and they had just come back to town and I saw them, and I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, I'm just gonna make up a name, I want you to call Sandy and ask for forgiveness.

And I was like, excuse me, Lord, no. No. No way, Jose. I was like, Lord, you're omnipresent, you were there. I not do I'm having this argument at my kitchen bar.

I'm like, I did not do anything. Why am I asking for forgiveness? I'm like, you know what? That wasn't you, Lord. I think that was some crazy that was the devil talking to me.

And so, I get in my car and I get this overwhelming sense, call Sandy and ask for forgiveness. I'm like, Okay, I'm going to do it, but you need to help me here. You need to help me. So I call her, and I'm like, please don't answer, please don't answer, please

don't answer.

She answers like on the first ring. And she's like, hey. And I'm like, Sandy, look, I know you're back in town, I know we just saw each other, and it was just so weird and awkward, and I I really don't understand what happened, but will you forgive me? I mean, I must have done something offensive. You know, I'm driving.

It's like dead quiet. I'm like, hello? Did you hang up? And she's like, I didn't hang up. She goes, Deborah, you didn't do anything.

She's like, I I am sorry. I handled that so wrong. I was so afraid. And I handled the whole situation so crazy. And, you know, she starts talking.

I'm like, look, I'm fine if we just move forward. Really, I'm fine. And she's like, really? I'm like, yeah, let's just move forward. Let's put that behind us and move forward.

And then a couple days later, I texted her, we went to dinner and it was great. Now, when we are peacemakers, there is a blessing that comes into our life and I'm not it's simple, but it's not easy. It took a lot for me to call her and say, Will you forgive me? Blessed are the peacemakers because we just break down these ridiculous walls. And that leads us to the last one.

You know, it's kind of crazy because Jesus says, Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Now, Peter said, Make sure you're not being persecuted for sin's sake. If you're a troublemaker in a busybody and a gossiper, well, okay, you're gonna be persecuted. You should be. But Matthew's saying, if you are persecuted for righteousness sake, yours is the kingdom of heaven.

And why? Why does it have to be like this? And I'll tell you why. Because there are two forces at work. There's the kingdom of the world led by the Prince of Peace, the devil himself, and there's the kingdom of heaven by Jesus.

And when we represent him well, the word tells us to some we will be the fragrant aroma of Christ but to others, we will be the stench of death. And they're gonna push back against us because they don't wanna hear that. What does that mean, the stench of death? That means that in Ecclesiastes, God said, I have planned an eternity in everybody's heart. This is why we ask, what's next?

Because we all know we are are eternal souls. We we know we don't die and become warm food. I don't care what the atheists say deep, deep down in, they know that's not true. And they don't want us reminding them of that. And I would just say to you, you know, our persecution in America is like nothing compared to what North Korean Christians, Chinese Christians, Afghani Christians, all the Stan Country Christians, what they're experiencing, Nigerian Christians, they take a stand for Jesus, it could cost them their life, and it often does.

But I would say to you, if you are not being canceled by someone or being pushed back against by someone, are you really living in the kingdom of God? Are you on that really wide path just going along with the world? Somebody is not going to like you. Who cares? Who cares?

I know who I am in Christ. It's okay. Henry Nouwen says, What are you going to do with this life? Is it going to be meaningful? Are you going to bear fruit?

And fruitfulness only comes from our vulnerability of saying, I need you, God. Recognizing who we are, we're powerless, really. We need God Almighty. And he says, But here's the thing. If the ground of your life is going to be fruitful, it's going to have to be broken up a bit.

I mean, think of a farmer, they take the plow to the dirt. The plow is hard, and it breaks up the dirt. It's painful. And we have to go to the Lord and say, Okay, it is painful to call someone and say, I'm sorry. It is painful to forgive.

It is painful to be generous because even though, Lord, you say we're more blessed to give than receive, sometimes it kind of feels like I'm more blessed to receive than give. So, is counterintuitive. But if I do it his way, if I allow him to plow up that thinking of the world or my old thinking and fill myself with his thinking and then actually follow it, there is a blessing that we cannot even begin to imagine. It's just incredible. I've been doing this for twenty nine years.

I promise you it works. It works. So here's the question I want you to ponder. What would it take for you to say that you are blessed? What would it take for you to say that you are living the good life, the blessed life?

Just put your name in. Blessed is Nancy because. Why? Blessed is Aaron. Why?

What would it take? Does it line up with the Lord? What does it what would it take for you to say you're blessed? Jesus says, you come to me and I will bless you. Lord, thank you so much for your amazing word.

Thank you for this time together. Bless these women who braved the rain and difficult parking to be here. I just pray they have a whole new sense of who they are in you. There's there's this this sense of well-being and that you bless their week. Thank you, Jesus, for your word.

Amen.

Close your eyes with me for just a minute before we move on, and let's just come to him. Let me just sing this over you, and just picture the father singing this to you, inviting you to come to him.

I'll run to the father declares, fall into grace. I'm done with the hiding. No reason to wait. My heart needs a surgeon. My soul needs a friend, so I'll run to the father again and again and again.

Lord, we just declare that we run to you again, again, and again. Lord, we need you every day, every moment. There's no shame in declaring our great need for you. I love that line. My heart needs a surgeon, and my soul needs a friend.

Lord, you are everything. Whatever our need is, you are there.

Sometimes we need you to

come and pick us up like we fell off our bike and dust off our knees and wipe our tears and hold us, and sometimes we need a swift spanking of correction. You are a good, good, good father. You know what we need when we need it. So we run to you today. Be with us in our small group time.

Speak to us. Thank you that you are a good and trusted faithful faithful friend and savior. We tell you we love you in Jesus name. Amen. Do we have any announcements today or does everybody know where they're going?

Raise your hand if you don't know where you're going. If you don't know where you're going, just meander into a group and sit down and they'll just fold you in.