Sermon
The Beatitudes (Part 3) | Frank Brancato
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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It's great to be here with all of you.
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Today, we have a wonderful crowd as has been mentioned.
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It is Mother's Day, we're very thankful for recognizing mothers
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and we recognize them everyday there, that special in our life.
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I'm honored to be your speaker and I hope that what we have to
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consider for a little while this morning would be encouraging to
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you and edifying to you in some way.
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This morning, we're continuing our series on the great Sermon
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on the Mount. And as I've said, many times, it
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was the greatest sermon ever preached.
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We talked about the reasons why I believe it was the greatest
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sermon ever. Preached will not go into that
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this morning, but in particular, the part of The Sermon on the
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Mount, that we're going to continue to study, is the
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Beatitudes in the Beatitudes cover, the first 12 verses of
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The Gospel, according to Matthew chapter 5, And today, our sermon
Matthew 5 chapter mention
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is to be attitudes part 3. Let's just noticed very briefly
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what we've noticed in the first two parts.
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I'm going to very brief about this in review but they all flow
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together so we have to bring them up.
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This is what Jesus said when he began this great sermon.
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He first said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the
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Kingdom of Heaven. If you want to go to heaven, you
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have to be poor in spirit. And we talked about what it
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means to be poor in spirit being poor in spirit.
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Literally means I am destitute of spirit.
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I am nothing without God from a spiritual perspective.
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I'm nothing without Jesus. I need Jesus.
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In my life, I have a sin problem.
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I don't know what in the world's wrong with that has a wonderful
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thing. What you're saying is you're not
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saying that I am some weakling somewhere.
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You're saying this, I have no strength except it comes from
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God, that is the source of my strength, and from a spiritual
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perspective, I am spiritually destitute without God.
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I need the Savior got a sin problem that leads us to number
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two, Then Jesus said, blessed are they that mourn mourn over
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what mourn over those since the personal infractions that we
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have against God? And I got to say something about
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guilt, I know we live in a society of people today that
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don't want us to be guilty about anything.
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But guilt is good. Perpetual guilt is bad.
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God does not want us to live in a state of Perpetual guilt.
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He gave us a plan. Notice how it works, I'm poor in
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spirit. I got a sin problem, I got to do
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something about it. There's a plan.
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I obey the gospel I'm baptized for the remission of my sins.
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I Rise to walk in newness of life.
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I'm forgiven and therefore I am comforted, that's great stuff
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but there's more What about after we obey the gospel?
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You know what you're going to do?
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You're going to mess up. You're going to send in your
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life. Everybody since 1st, John 1 and
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verse 9, if you confess your sins, he's faithful.
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And just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse, you of all
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unrighteousness, even the contamination of that sin will
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be removed, great stuff. I'm forgiven again when with
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Godly sorrow and repentance. I asked for forgiveness, I'm
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comforted because I'm forgiven, but then there's number three.
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What about the things that we habitually struggle with
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everyday? A lot of our struggles are the
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same things that we fall back to because those are our
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weaknesses. What about that?
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There's a plan for that too. Love this James 5:16 confess
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your faults, one to another and pray one for another that you
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may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of
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a righteous man avails much healed forgiving comforted and
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one more The context of the passage is sin, personally,
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fractions against God morning. Over those sins.
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But what about the things that we mourn over in life?
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What about the Christian morning over the injustices in the
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world? What about all the bad stuff?
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That's just really not fair. What about that?
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The child of God is also comforted?
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Why? Because we know that God is
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ultimately in control. Wonderful, stuff!
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Are you seeing the picture? Now, we have the proper
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relationship with God, and now it gives us a third thing that
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we have to have. It is the mental disposition
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that every child of God, must have to go to heaven.
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And that is the spirit of meekness.
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Meekness you remember is not weakness.
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It is the epitome, it is the ultimate strength.
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Jesus says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden
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and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn of me
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for, I am what I am meek and lowly at heart and you shall
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find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
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burden is light. Having a state of meekness, by
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the way, is the idea of being unassuming.
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It is a making a choice to put yourself aside but the And
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others first in your life. And I got to say this too, it's
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not weakness, its strength, it gives you the perseverance and
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staying power and courage to make it to the end.
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That's all part of meekness. Now, Jesus says, you got to rid
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yourself of all your self-righteousness as our
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brother prayed in our prayer. I am nothing without God.
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I got a gigantic void in my life.
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God blesses those that fill that void with his righteousness and
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in order to fill that void with his righteousness you have to
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hunger and thirst after it. And Jesus says As if you do
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that, you will be filled, wonderful stuff.
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And that's through the word of God.
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Remember we talked about that word filled, interesting, word.
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It's a word that actually is a word that's used to describe the
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fattening of animals in the stall.
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You got the word of God, you need nothing else.
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That's how you find out about God's righteousness and you feel
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it yourself with the word of God, okay?
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That's the first four Beatitudes that covers through verse 6 of
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Matthew, Chapter 5 and now we come to verse 7.
Matthew 5 chapter mention
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All these are building on one another.
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All these are intermingling with one another and this is what
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Jesus says in Matthew 5 and verse 7.
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Here, it is. Blessed are The merciful.
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I got to tell you something. Do not underestimate the
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importance of having Mercy to other people.
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Do not become unmerciful to others in your life.
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Do not think that you kind of get it in nobody else does, or
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maybe if somebody else is a little weaker than you are or
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struggling or babe in Christ, and you're wondering why they
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just don't get it, be very careful.
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Have mercy. Have mercy.
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I'm going to make a couple bold statements here, both statement.
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Number one. If you're going to be a citizen
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in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, you must not should you must
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show Mercy to others. Bold statement, number two, if
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you can't show Mercy to other people, you are not poor in
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spirit. And Jesus says, if you want to
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go to heaven, you got to be poor in spirit.
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If you're not, merciful, you're not pouring Spirit me, show you
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what I mean. One scholar said it like this,
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those who in poverty of spirit recognize their need of mercy
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and are led to show Mercy to other people as well.
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Citizenship in the kingdom comes with God's mercy, through his
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son. Jesus Christ, notice how it all
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works. It begins at Ephesians chapter 2
Ephesians 2 chapter mention
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beginning in verse 4. But God who is rich in Mercy
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because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we
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were dead in trespasses made us alive together, with Christ by
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Grace, you have been saved. This is what God has done for
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us. Now, please get this.
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Mercy, love, kindness, forgiveness.
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And Grace all go together. They're all linked together.
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That's what God has done for us through.
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Jesus Christ's Mercy. Love kindness forgiveness and
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Grace all, go hand-in-hand. So, because of that and because
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of our appreciation for that, there is a law of reciprocation.
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We have to be the same way to other people.
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Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 6.
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Beginning, in verse 14, for, if you forgive men, their
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trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you, but if
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you do not forgive men, their trespasses, neither will your
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father, forgive your trespasses. So When we receive these
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blessings from God, don't you think it ought to kind of give a
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little memory jogger? What's been done for us and
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appreciate that so much, that we're willing to extend that to
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somebody else too. I'm going to say some more about
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forgiveness in just a minute. But let me just say this first,
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you know, the amazing thing is when Jesus was speaking about
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Mercy, he is speaking to people that lived in a Roman world and
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the people that lived in a Roman World.
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New very, very little about Mercy.
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In fact, the Roman world was characterized by Conquest
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domination and human and Justice Mercy, was viewed.
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As a sign of weakness. It was viewed as a sign of
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unmanned leanest. One, Roman philosopher said
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this, Mercy is the disease of the Soul.
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I can't even imagine living in such a Time.
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One scholar. Said it, like this, though.
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If you don't understand the concept of Mercy, understand
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this to despise Mercy is to glorify brutality.
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It's the flip side of that. Now remember what Jesus did in
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Luke chapter 23. It starts back in the Garden of
Luke 23 chapter mention
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Gethsemane. He says, my soul is exceeding
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sorrowful even unto death. He prays to his father, three
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times. If it be possible, let this cup
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pass from me. But not my will, but thy will be
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done. Finally, they determine resolve
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if there's no other way except I drink it.
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Your will be done. We know the story.
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He's beaten and scourged a horrible mock trial.
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He's taking a got this brow, he's nailed to the cross.
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You remember what Jesus said? He could have felt anything and
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said anything but this is what Jesus did.
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He said, father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.
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You know what? Jesus did when he was on the
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cross. Because of Mercy.
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He forgave them. Now I got to tell you something,
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folks, my whole life, I've heard people say two things my whole
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life. I'm not going to forgive until
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they beg my forgiveness. I've heard that Number two, I'm
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not allowed to forgive until they repent.
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Do you know that none of those things are in the Bible?
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Book chapter verse, let me have it and it in there.
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What's in there is God doesn't forgive without repentance,
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we're not talking about God, weird about you.
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Did you know that you could forgive someone of anything?
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You want to forgive them up for any reason you want to do it, it
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is never ever wrong to forgive. And by the way, there's a
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wonderful blessing or a positive benefit.
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In forgiving someone that has wronged you, even though they
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have not asked what you're saying is.
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I'm not going to be negatively influenced by what you've done
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to me anymore. I'm going to let it go.
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And people that say, I'm not going to let him off the hook
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that easy. No, you're not letting them off
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the hook, you're letting you off the hook.
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Let It Go. What a better way to live in it.
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What about Steven? They're stoning Stephen to
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death. He looks up into the heavens in
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the Bible, says the heavens were opened.
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And he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
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And Stephen said Lord lay not this sin to their charge.
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Now they still had to answer to God.
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Don't misunderstand me. What I'm saying is Steven,
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forgave why? He was merciful.
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He showed Mercy. All right, I'm gonna get very
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specific and very practical. I love specific, I love
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practical. Why would you do it?
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What is the Practical benefit of doing this?
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Jesus says, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain
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Mercy. All right.
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Those who show Mercy or promised a measure in return And that's
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witnessed by the way, into weighs practically speaking,
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those who show Mercy are probably going to get it from
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other people at least within measure.
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And I got to say, if your merciful, you may be the most
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merciful person in the world, it doesn't mean everybody's going
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to treat you that way. It doesn't mean that, but you
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are going to see the Promise there.
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There is a promise that you're going to, at least receive a
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measure of it. You know what I'm talking about.
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If you're an unmerciful person, by the way, nobody showing you
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Mercy. This is the way life is, but if
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you extend Mercy, Two other people.
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You will at least receive a measure in return in a practical
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sense. Here's the greatest blessing of,
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although when it comes from God, you're not going to receive it
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within measure. You going to get it without
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measure? And that's the most important
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part. If you show Mercy to others,
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you'll get Mercy from God in James chapter 2 verse 13.
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Look at this for judgment is without Mercy to the one who has
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shown, no mercy. And then it says Mercy triumphs
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over judgment. What does that mean?
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The word triumph in the new King, James is the word rejoices
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in the Old King James, and it means this, it means to Glory
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against to exalt over or boast oneself to the injury of
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according to mr. Thayer the me.
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Meaning of this verse is very similar to First.
1 John 4 chapter mention
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John chapter 4 and verse 18 said perfect love cast out fear of
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the judgment. folks, when a Christian is live Faithfully,
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And has showed Mercy. He has nothing to fear in the
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Judgment two things, though, live faithfully and shown mercy.
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And by the way, we say live Faithfully, it's everything
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encapsulated in that we don't have time to go into all that.
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Live faithfully and show Mercy. You have nothing to fear in the
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Judgment, it's only when a Christian has lived unfaithfully
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or has been unmerciful that he must fear.
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Robertson said this Mercy triumphs or boast against the
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threat of judgment because it leaves the Judgment with nothing
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to condemn. All right.
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As it is with everything else in our Christian Life, Mercy must
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demonstrate itself in action. It must it's not just an
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attitude of the heart. It's an extension of the hand,
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James 1:27, a very familiar passage pure and undefiled
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religion before God and the father is this to visit the
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orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself
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unspotted, from the world. So, what's the point?
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The point is this, we have to be merciful, right?
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We just said that, we get it. But God doesn't need our Mercy.
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We do. Other people do.
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So if we want Mercy from God, we have to extend that Mercy to
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other people. How do you do that with your
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attitude? And your actions and I'm going
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to make a point about attitude. Please.
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You may say, I don't do bad things to people and that may be
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true. You may be the most wonderful
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person that never does bad things to people.
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I'm talking to all of us now because we can all fall short.
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We can all fall into that Trap, please, listen to me.
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Let's all of us, me too. Watch our attitudes.
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And don't ever have the attitude.
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It could never happen to me. be careful as the Bible says, take
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heed, lest you also be tempted Because when we think it could
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never happen to us, and we have that mentality, guess what?
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We just messed up. We just send don't have that
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condescending attitude. That is an unmerciful.
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Attitude Mercy is always demonstrated an action by
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attitudes and actions as well. And God deals with us is in the
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same way and that's why we got to be.
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So careful. So Jesus says, blessed are the
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merciful for they shall obtain mercy and then he says this in
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verse 8, he said Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
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God? This is so important
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Christianity. Please get this has to be more
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than an external display of piety.
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It has to include inner substance.
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We've talked about the heart many times.
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I'm going to a little bit of a different, maybe a little
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different spin today, may be a little different things that
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maybe I'm not spoke about. We're going to talk about
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actually how this is to because I think everybody wants a pure
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heart, right? We all want that, let's talk to
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her. Yeah, I want that for you talk
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about how you get it. How do you get a pure heart?
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How do you know if you have one and how do you get it?
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Well, first of all, Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart.
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For they shall see God, it has to be intercept status.
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It has to debt, has to manifest itself from what's on the
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inside. After instructing, his followers
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to be merciful. He now addresses the proper
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motivation behind the act. So having a pure heart, is the
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motivation behind the ACT. The Pharisees and the scribes
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were notorious for outward. Signs of piety.
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Outward shows of piety, look at me, their motives were wrong. if
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your motive is wrong and it comes from a wrong place and if
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it comes from being patted on the back or getting the
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recognition of men, Jesus says, in another passage you have your
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reward meaning you're not getting anything from God,
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whatever pat on the back man, gave you, that's all you're
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going to get when the motive is wrong, in Matthew chapter 23, I
Matthew 23 chapter mention
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don't have time to go into that, we study this in the past but
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very briefly, The scribes and Pharisees were all about going
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about keeping the Traditions. Keeping the law for the wrong
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reason to be seen of men. and Jesus says, on the outside, what
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you are, you are like whitewashed sepulchres briefly
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now briefly briefly, After the spring rains you remember they
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would come with the lime powder. They'd mix it with water and
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they would paint the grapes in Jerusalem before the Passover.
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Why they didn't want to be ceremonially unclean for
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touching a grave before the Passover.
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So people would come in I read historians said they would come
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into Jerusalem and all of these beautiful Graves would dot the
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countryside and on the outside they be beautiful and glistening
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and shining in the sun right? We know that what did Jesus say?
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Oh but inside your Dead Man's Bones.
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You know why? Didn't have Pure Heart.
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It wasn't the right motive. You're just whitewashed
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sepulchers. And that's what happens when
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your desires to be seen of men. Jesus rebukes such in purity of
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heart and ironically, by looking for men's, praise the Pharisees,
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missing God, one scholar said it like this.
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There's is the fragile reward of Earthly recognition and not the
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Eternal reward. Of God's abiding, presence.
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I got a taste of this congregation is filled with
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people that do a lot of wonderful things for other
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people acts of service. And that is wonderful.
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And I know for a fact because I know you, you don't do it to get
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the praise, the glory, or the Pats on the back.
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I know that of you. So now, I'm going to make this
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next Point, show you the scripture.
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I'm not talking to you. I think my people here, my my
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brothers and sisters in Christ. Here are not guilty of this.
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But this is what Jesus threw out there and we need to be careful.
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This is what happens when you do things to be seen of men is what
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Jesus says. So when you're going to do great
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things, great do it. But in Matthew 6, beginning in
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verse 1, take heed that you do not do your charitable Deeds
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before men to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward
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from your father in Heaven. Therefore when you do a
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charitable deed do not stand, do not sound a trumpet.
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Before you as the Hypocrites, do in the synagogues and in the
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streets that they may have Glory from men, are sure that I say to
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you, they have their a reward. Okay.
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The blasting of the trumpet, you remember this, there was those
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13 trumpet shape coffers that come to the conference in the
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treasury. They rich people put the money
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in, right? They would bring a trumpet ear
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and blast the trumpet, look what I'm doing.
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The Lord was so practical. Don't Blow Your Horn when you're
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doing you giving, don't sound the trumpet to be seen of men,
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just do the deed. That's pure in heart for the
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right motive, for the right reason.
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Okay. Jesus says, those that are truly
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pure in heart, this is wonderful.
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If you want to see God, you got to be pure in heart.
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Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
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Now you're the picture here is of a subject Desiring the
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office, or the extremely desired, the audience with this
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King and spiritually. Speaking Fowler said this those
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who come into God's presence are not necessarily those who
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meticulously perform, but those who are personally pure.
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Now, I got to tell you this. If you are personally pure, it
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will manifest itself in performance.
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I'm not saying we need to not perform for the Lord.
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I'm not saying we that the outwards Stuff doesn't matter.
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I didn't say that. What I'm saying is those who
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come into God's presence and have a relationship with God.
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And those that are going to see God, one time someday are not
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those. That necessarily just check the
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boxes and meticulously perform one thing after another guy, got
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it. I'm in.
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It's those that are pure inside. Those that are changed inside.
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Where Christ is formed in them. Let's notice what James says
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about this in James 4. And 8.
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How do you have a pure heart? I want to have one, don't you?
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How do you have it? James 4:8 draw near to God and
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He will draw near to you. That's number one, but we're
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going to get to what that actually means in just a moment.
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So I'm going to tell you what it does.
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Not mean. Drawing Near to God is not just
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somebody that says I love God and talks about God and says
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words of Praise about God, but lives their life, any way they
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want to live but they feel as though they have a relationship
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with God. So they're just speaking about
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God and they feel like I'm drawing near to him because of
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that. That's not what it means to draw
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near to God. But here's the thing.
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If I want God to be near me, I have to draw near to him.
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How do I do that? To have a pure heart.
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I have to draw near to God the word drawn near is this.
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It conveys the thought of entering into communion with God
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as acceptable worshippers if I want to have a relationship with
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God and I want to draw near to God.
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So he draws near to me. I have to be an acceptable
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worshipper of his. That's number one. and, you
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know, in the church, We are a kingdom of priests.
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That's what we are. You know, that means practically
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speaking. That means every Christian has
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not only the ability but the responsibility of bringing
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spiritual sacrifices before God, and that's through our life.
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That's through our life that's through worship.
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Every Christian is a priest. According to 1st Peter, 2, and
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verse 5. So as we approach God In
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Worship, it's going to Aid Us in overcoming the world number one,
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but number two, it's going to help us with a pure heart.
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If somebody says, well, I'm struggling with my Pure Heart.
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Well, maybe it's because they're not Drawing Near to God.
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How do you draw near to God as an acceptable worshipper of him?
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But there's more. Then he says this.
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You got to cleanse your hands. The word cleanse means to free
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from the defilement of sin and false to purify from wickedness,
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according to Thayer. Now let's get practical.
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You know what this means, folks. This just means this if I really
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want to draw near to God and I want to have a pure heart, I
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want all that stuff, I got to remove the simple stuff in my
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life and any time, the word hands is used and that's the
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reason it's used here. By the way, hands is a figure of
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Deeds. So if I'm doing Deeds that are
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sinful, I need to stop doing those deeds and that's called
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cleansing. My hands.
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You know, at some point in time, forgiveness is about is endless.
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If we repent every time and ask God to forgive us, that is true.
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But at some time, at some point, we need to make the determined
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resolve. I'm not going to do that
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anymore. That's called cleansing your
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hands, removing the sinful deed in your life.
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Take it away. Stop doing it.
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You've heard me say this before? My dad got sick and tired of me
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doing the same stuff over and over by me.
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He says, why don't you be sorry before you do it?
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Ouch. He was right.
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Be sorry before you do it. Cleanse your hands.
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Remove the evil Deeds. That's number two.
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That's what's required. Now, the idea here, by the way,
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the illusion goes back to the practice of the priests in
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approaching God, in Exodus chapter 30, washing their hands
Exodus 30 chapter mention
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carefully in the Tabernacle, but the cleansing from dirt was a
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ritual foreshadowing of figurative cleansing that
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Christians must do to approach God and that is get the sins out
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of our life. Hands are symbolic of Deeds.
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Okay, then us. What else do we got to do?
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Then you got to purify your heart.
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Under the Old Law, they were concerned about ceremonially
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being ceremonially clean around the time of the Passover, as
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we've already noticed. But here we're not talking about
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being ceremonially clean. We're talking about being
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morally clean from sin purifying, our hearts.
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That's the inner man. So how does it all work?
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I want to have a pure heart, I want to see God, that's what
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Jesus said. Here's how you do, it cleanse
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your hands and your Deeds, change your life, remove the
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evil deeds and the sinful things in your life.
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Remove those things purify, your hearts, your inner life and
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approach. God, acceptably and acceptable
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worship and you will have a pure heart. but then, in James 4, and
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8, this last phrase here and I think sometimes this is a
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struggle. You double-minded.
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The double minded individual. Is the person who is constantly
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bouncing back and forth. Between right and wrong.
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If you're struggling in your life and I don't know if that's
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you or not. I have no idea. but if you're
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struggling with life, And you're struggling with your spiritual
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life. And you're bouncing back between
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right and wrong all the time. The problem is James says,
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that's double-minded. The Bible talks about having
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your mind, or your eye, be single in James 1 and verse 8.
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He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
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What is unstable in all his ways means the word, unstable refers
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to an individual, who is unsteady uncertain or fickle.
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It brings to mind a drunken man, staggering or weaving.
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So, I'm just saying this folks, that kind of Lifestyle will not
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work, you're destined for failure.
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But there's an easy fix draw near to God, He will draw near
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to. You cleanse your hands, you
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sinners. Cleanse your hands and purify
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your hearts, you double-minded. That's what James says, and the
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beauty of it is is Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart
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because guess what You're going to get to serve.
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You're going to get to see God. Remember Jesus says you can't
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serve two masters, okay? Got to have a pure heart.
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Then Jesus says this finally our final verse in verse 9 Then he
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says, this blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be
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called the sons of God. The Lord here is describing the
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rudimentary disposition of his subjects.
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Jesus Christ. Is the Prince of Peace.
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And do you know what he wants from us?
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He wants us to be people of peace to.
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I got to say something very positive about this congregation
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again. And I am thankful, and I don't
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think we pray about this enough thanking God enough.
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This congregation is at peace and that is wonderful.
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I know places that are not at peace.
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I've known places that really struggle over covid.
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Splits happened terrible things. They were not at peace.
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I know what it did here for us. Manhattan bound us together.
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It strengthened our faith. It strengthened our bonds.
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If a congregation is not at peace, you cannot grow.
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And congregations that are a turmoil.
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All the time are not growing. Its destructive.
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So I'm very thankful this congregation is at peace and we
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need to thank God for that and pray that it always will be that
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So what does Jesus want? Jesus wants us to be proactive
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in mending broken relationships. Broken relationships that are in
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our life, you know, Jesus does not say, blessed are the peace
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lovers. He says blessed are the peace
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makers. You may love peace.
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You may enjoy its benefits. But never involve yourself in
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the process. Okay.
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How can you be a peacemaker and I'm going to touch on this first
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one at the very end. I'm going to make a little
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clarification point at the end, but I'm going to give the two
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basic statements of this of how you become a peacemaker.
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Number one, You must actively seek to restore.
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Broken relationships between your fellow, man.
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I'm going to clarify that later. But that's a fact.
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If you want to be at peace, you have to mend broken
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relationships. If there's stuff going on
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between you and somebody else fix it, Be at peace.
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That's number one. Another way we could be a
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peacemaker and we must be a peacemaker.
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Is this number two? We must seek to bring our
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neighbor to at peace with God through obedience to the gospel.
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So Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He wants us to be like his
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subjects. He wants us to be like, God in
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that regard. How do we do that?
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Be at peace among each other. And bring people by the power of
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the Gospel, so that they could be at peace with God.
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Let me give you two versus acts 10 and verse 36, the word, which
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God said to the children of Israel preaching, peace through
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Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all another
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passage, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 15 and having shod your
Ephesians 6 chapter mention
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feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
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So in every relationship, we have to seek peace.
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Husband and wife. Relationships in the church.
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And relationships with people outside of the church.
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Got to do our best. To be at peace.
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Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers God loves peace, and
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He blesses, those who make it. In fact, James says the
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following about peace and James 3 and 18.
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Now, the fruit of righteousness is sown in Peace by those who
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make peace in addition. Paul said this in first
1 Thessalonians 5 chapter mention
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Thessalonians, chapter 5 and verse 13.
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And to esteem them. Very highly in love for their
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work sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
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Jesus says this. The benefit of being a
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peacemaker. You're going to be called the
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sons of God. The word Sons.
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There also is used there as an emphasis to describe a
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relationship with your father. You may be a father.
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You may be a son, in general? We all are if you're a male.
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Or you have been a father or son.
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But that's what we are continually because that's the
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relationship that we have. That is the picture here.
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We're going to be the sons of God.
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We're gonna have a relationship with God.
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We're emulating our father just as God makes peace through his
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son. His children must live in peace
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with their fellow man. Now I got to say this, remember
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when I said I'm going to clarify the point that I made about
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mending broken relationships with other people because I'm
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going to tell you something, you may try and it may not work.
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And there's nothing you can do about it.
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So, Romans 12 and 18, if it is possible as much as depends on,
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you live peaceably among all men.
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So ask yourself this. Am I doing my part?
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And having peace, mending broken relationships.
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In all the relationships that I have in my life.
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Am I just doing my best to do that?
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Because you know what? And if you've done that don't
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you see, it's kind of like, forgiveness, your ridding
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yourself of all the negative stuff.
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You're not going to be negatively influenced by that
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anymore. You're going to feel better and
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live better do better. Everything's better.
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Let it go. Okay, in conclusion.
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What did Jesus say when put them up really quickly?
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Again, I'll be very, very brief. Blessed are the poor in spirit
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for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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I'm destitute without God, I'm destitute without Jesus, I gotta
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send problem. Then what I'm going to mourn
-
over those sins, I'm going to be comforting because I'm going to
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do something about it. I'm going to be forgiven when
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I'm washed in the blood of Jesus at baptism.
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I'm going to be comforted. Furthermore I'm going to be
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comforted when I repented those things and ask God to forgive
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me, I'm going to be forgiven. I'm going to be comforted moving
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forward, wonderful stuff. It's going to understand and
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give me the idea of being the spirit of meekness.
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And Jesus says, I'll inherit the earth and that means I'm going
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to inherit my allotted portion of Heaven, aren't you?
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Kind of get the point but when I go to heaven, I gotta be poor in
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spirit. If I don't be forgiven, I got a
-
moreover, my skin. I want to inherit the earth.
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Meaning I want to go to heaven. One day, I got to be meek.
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Okay. What else I got to?
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Fill the void that I have deep inside of me with God's
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righteousness. That's through the word of God.
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I got a hunger and thirst after it.
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Then what I'm going to understand that God has been
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merciful to me. So I'm going to be merciful to
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others, and I'm going to obtain that Mercy in measure from other
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people, and without measure from God, It all stems from being
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pure in heart. And if I'm pure at heart, guess
-
what? Here's that theme again I get to
-
see God one day. And then it's going to cause me
-
to be a peacemaker. And I'm going to be called a son
-
of God. Or the sons of God.
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Because I'm emulating my Father in heaven.
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I'm through this morning. Thank you so much for your kind
-
listening and I hope these things were helpful and
-
encouraging to you in some way, we never close a time when we
-
teach them the word of God without extending an invitation,
-
and we'll do that. Now, here's the invitation.
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If a person wants to become a child of God, the steps are very
-
simple and Romans 10:17, we need to hear the word of God.
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The Bible says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by
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the word of God. But then there's more there's a
-
choice to be made in Hebrews 11 and verse 6.
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We have to believe with all your heart without faith.
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It's impossible to please him for.
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He who comes to God, must believe that he is, and that he
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is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
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And then this, we must repent of our Sins acts 17 and 30.
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Truly these times of ignorance, God, overlooked.
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But now commands all men everywhere to repent.
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All that means is this I'm changing today, right here, I'm
-
changing and it's going to lead to a change of my life.
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And the best part is, it's going to change my relationship with
-
the Lord great stuff. If you're willing to do that,
-
you're willing to do this. Say the greatest words you will
-
ever. Say in all of your life acts
-
8:37 to confess, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, then Philip
-
said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.
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And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
-
son of God. Upon taking those steps.
-
You're now a fit candidate to go down to the point of Salvation
-
and that's it. Baptism to have your sins washed
-
away. Mark 16:16, he who believes and
-
is baptized, will be saved. But he, who does not believe
-
will be condemned. If you've never taken those
-
steps of obedience, and you've never become a child of God,
-
we'd love to assist you in that today.
-
If you will, we'd love to do that for you and with you maybe
-
a half, maybe you've straight away.
-
Maybe there are things in your life that you need to correct,
-
maybe haven't been living like you should Good, great thing.
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Second law. Pardon just repent of those sins
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confess them and we'll pray with you and for you, and God will
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forgive and restore. We thank you for listening to
-
our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.
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Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional
-
information or you would like to receive a free Bible
-
correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at her
-
Church of Christ Bakersfield Calm our service times are on
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Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
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please, make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our
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honored guest