I'll be preaching a message called - "Trust and Obey." Jesus is teaching His disciples that following Him is not a substitute to obeying God. In fact, the standards are higher than that of the Pharisees and the scribes. He will give a series of "You've heard it said...but I say to you." Ultimately, the only way people can obey such high standards is through the help of the Holy Spirit. He is indispensable to live the Christian Life.
Unfortunately, many Christians run from their surrounding or become indistinguishable from it. Instead, we are to be the flavor and the light. In other words, we are to make our world better tasting and brighter by our presence. We will be seeing through the Bible as well as history how God’s people reclaimed their world for God when they returned to this very important passage. As I've said it before, the best days of our nation are ahead. They may not look exactly like some past nostalgic era (which never existed) but they will be better than ever, where people will glorify our Father in heaven.
We live in a world that is defiled by sin and evil. It clouds our vision of God. Every time we try to visualize God, some impurity of life gets in the way. It requires a solid commitment to repent from sin and submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Then and only then will we see the hand of God all around us. As Hebrews 12:14 also reminds us, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” In this message we will seek to answer three important questions: 1. Who are the pure in heart? 2. What does it mean to see God? & 3. How does this blessing work?
Mercy is often confused with meekness. But meekness is giving things over to God while mercy is reaching out with love to the offender. It is a spirit of generosity towards those who are least deserving. Jesus often reprimanded the scribes and the Pharisees saying that God desires mercy not sacrifice. He wants us to reach out to those who are least deserving and show them the love of Christ. He wants us to see things from the perspective of the other person. He wants us to give the offender the benefit of the doubt. That’s mercy. God has shown us this mercy in Jesus Christ. In fact, he has gone a step further and shown us grace by giving something that we don’t deserve.