SUNDAY MORNING LIFE LESSONS

SUNDAY MORNING 
March 2, 2014 
By Tommy Goode 
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The Beatitudes 
This is what he taught them:  “God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.  God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them.  God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full.  God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.  God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.  God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. “God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too. Matt. 5:2-12 (NLT) 

Life Lesson 
Great athletes teach us that before they win the medal or the tournament, they first imagine winning – see it, then do it! These medalists illustrate for us that wining results from discipline, training, and endurance. Readiness and fitness are the advance guard of achievement. The sermon Jesus’ preached on the mount (Matthew 5-6) teaches the qualities of spiritual victory in the hear-and-now, as well as in the hereafter. There is quite a lot of spiritual fatigue, moral fog, and cultural smog that weaken our commitment, cloud our view, and limit our vision. We must be filled with Jesus’ spirit and faith to imagine the realities of the Kingdom of Heaven. Repentant, belief, conviction, sorrow, gentle, humble, just, merciful, pure, peacemaker, righteous… These words should reflect the core characteristics of the body life of Jesus’ followers. Just hanging on is simply not the sentiment of the Beatitudes of the kingdom. Being kingdom persons is neither being reluctant, passive, nor abrasive. It is, however, living life with attitudes about right and wrong in the market place and in the neighborhood that say, “not on our watch,” “not here and not now,” “not if we can do something about it,” “not in our neighborhood,” “enough is enough,” “we are different,” “it matters,” “not that way.” 

Blessings, 
Tommy 

Easter

Transformation

The Coming of The Spirit into the life of the believer is The Confirmation of The Resurrection – The Affirmation of Our Faith in The Resurrected One.  To infuse our communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ requires that there must first be a radical departure from typical church ministry, i.e., ministry as usual.  This departure is away from a mindset of ‘church building’ toward one of ‘community building’ – community transformation begins with transformative churches.  This departure  embraces the need for new transformative expressions of church starting (like the cowboy church style).  It builds on the biblical premise that God loves the community (the world of people around us) and that according to the New Testament He scattered His churches throughout the communities of the world to manifest His Incarnational Presence and Coming Kingdom.  It is behavior based on belief that Jesus came, prophesied, died, arose, and ascended to redeem human beings and human systems from the fallen-ness of sin to the abundance of life in God.

In the spirit of Easter, we can be a band of believers who covenant around prayer and care for the community.  And, we can  prayerfully seek its welfare socially, economically, and spiritually?

Living as transformed persons means that we can and ought to make a difference right where we live.  We must be compassionate, courageous, contagious followers of Jesus.