Riding for The brand
The Sermon on the Mount!
Sermon 2, Do you have the right attitude!
Ephesians 4:23–24
(NLT)
23 Instead, let
the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature,
created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
·
The
holy spirit must be the one working in you
·
He
has to be the one to do what does not come natural, Change you attitude, your
human nature to one that is Christ like.
·
And
then and only then can we become: holy, Blameless, righteous in the sight of
God
Today
we take on the first 4 beatitudes and they really work on your attitude and
start to define the position Jesus must find us in to start a transformation
from the inside out!
Do you need fixed, are you broke?
Have you ever rode a
wild horse?
·
I don’t see many out
running barrels or working cattle
·
I don’t see the
grand kids on them
·
To use a horse it
has to broke
·
It must be broke and
then restored to be used
Matthew 5:3 (ESV)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
The Beatitudes are a
ladder and the first rung on that ladder is Brokenness
·
Are you broken?
o Has God got to you,
has he broke your spirit
o Are you totally
lost, without hope? If so God will find you
o If you think you’re
the scum of the earth God can never use me, you’re ready for kingdom work!
He
is looking high and low over the planet for one kind of person—the weak, the
rejected, the one who feels the most insignificant. He isn’t looking for the
strong, the person that has it all figured out so if you feel so absolutely
penniless spiritually, God has been looking for you. Yep! He’s already found
you!
·
The way Up is Down!
Mark Twain: “God must have liked
poor people because he made so many of them!”
o Are you humble, are
you are you at your very bottom, at your lowest
o If you are going to
enter the kingdom of heaven you start at the bottom
o We MUST never
outgrow being broken
o The world might see
you as poor, but what matters is how God sees you
·
Being poor in spirit
is a phenomenon that ignores all natural explanation.
o It is as
supernatural as the dead being raised
o The blind being
healed or the deaf being able to hear.
o If you are poor in
spirit, God has already worked on you as powerfully as raising a person from
the dead.
Brokenness
is when you realize you have no bargaining power and all you can do is beg for
mercy! You no longer try to explain yourself, or making excuses, you stop
pointing fingers and you start seeking salvation. It’s the first and the last
step a Christian makes. You never stop being broken and God never stops fixing
you!
Are you happy not being happy with yourself?
Matthew 5:4 (ESV)
“Blessed
are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
As
we move from one beatitude to another we are climbing the ladder and when we
are broken when we recognize our need and see our sin we start to mourn or
grieve over our own sin!
Isaiah said it best
when he realized how filthy his own sin was:
Isaiah 6:5 (NIV)
5 “Woe
to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among
a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Two kinds of
suffering!
·
Ineffectual
Suffering
o Do you complain every
time suffering enters your life
o Do always question
God and get angry
o Do you blame
everyone around you
o Are you constantly
looking for sympathy
o Are you questioning
Gods timing
o Are you trying
always find a way out of suffering, looking for the wide path
Ineffectual
Suffering in moaning instead of mourning! It’s not letting God come along side
and help mold you through it!
·
Effectual Suffering
o It’s when you dignify
the trial you’re going through
o You see the
suffering is from God
o You know God is
working in you and welcome it
o It takes place when
the pain makes a positive difference in you.
o It is when the testing
of our faith develops perseverance, patience or faithfulness.
o
When this happens, then the trial worked! It
was God’s intent that the trial would make a positive difference, so that when
it does, it is pleasing to God.
·
It’s about God
Getting your attention
o When we suffer maybe
then we will fall to our knees
o Its Gods way of
tapping you on the shoulder
o What trial are you
going through
o How is God trying to
get your attention?
o It might just be the
best thing to ever happen to you!
·
It’s about exposing
your sin!
o When you go through
suffering or trials do you see your sin
o It takes the holy
spirit to see your sin
o It’s not about
others sin
o When you see your
sin it humbles you
o It’s about discipline
·
We suffer for two
reason
o We suffer sometimes
even if what we are doing is right
§ Maybe you have been falsely
accused
§ The bible is full of
references that state we will suffer for following Jesus
o We suffer when we do
wrong!
§ Let’s face it sometimes
we screw up
§ Sometimes we suffer
the consequences of our sin
§ We will get slapped
on the wrist sometimes
Don’t worry, God
will comfort you. I don’t know when, maybe during the trail or after the
suffering, but there will be comfort God promises that!
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)
The
temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God
is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.
When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
You
will suffer and you will sin, it’s all in how you handle it that makes the
difference. Will you learn from it or will you whine through it? That the true
question. Will you let God use it or will you just continue to fall over and
over again!
Lord it is hard to be humble!
Mac Davis said it
best!
Oh
Lord, it's hard to be humble
When
you're perfect in every way
I
can't wait to look in the mirror
Cause
I get better lookin' each day
To
know me is to love me
I
must be a hell of a man
Oh
Lord, it's hard to be humble
But
I'm doin' the best that I can!
Wow that brings back memories!
But Jesus puts it
this way:
Matthew 5:5 (ESV)
“Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
·
Are you the person
that needs to tell everyone, every Good deed you do?
o There is just
something about us that craved attention!
o Are you
self-righteous
o Are you arrogant
o Are you defensive?
If
you are then you’re seekin your glory here on old planet earth! God tells us to
leave the glory for him, to be his servant. Too many of us want to get the
glory, and that’s where we stop on this ladder, that’s where we stop on the way
to seeking Gods attitude he wants us to have!
·
Here is what Jesus
wants!
o He is looking for unpretentious
people
o He is looking gentleness
o He is looking for a
kind and gentle heart
o He is looking for
Grace!
o He is looking for
utter and total transparency so he shines through!
This
is not natural; it is the polar opposite of what the world tells us is right. But
when you climb the ladder Jesus lays out for you it becomes necessary, it
becomes natural with super-natural help. To be
truly meek id to totally surrender to Jesus, just like the woman in Luke 7 she just kept her eyes focused on Jesus, and humbled
herself before the Pharisees! Nothing she did fit the social norms, but she was
walking the ladder!
Are you ready for the buffet?
If you have a good
appetite, you are in Good health!
Matthew 5:6 (ESV)
“Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
I
ain’t no Dr. but if you’re hungry, you’re in pretty good health. It’s the same spiritually
if you’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness you’re in pretty good shape!
·
Can you live without
God?
o After your broken
and you mourn your sin, you repent and then you learn you can’t live without
God
o Do you want to be
with Him everyday
o When things are bad
do you seek him
o When things are good
to you look to what’s next with Him
o If you can live
without God, you’re not hungry!
Maslow’s
Hierarchy of needs says it best our first need, the first thing we must have is
food, same with God when your truly broken and you seek mercy, and you stop
pointing fingers and find out you are not worth of the Grace Jesus shed on the
cross, then you’re hungry, every day for Gods anointing!
·
What is your
appetite for?
o You want to know
what the world wants turn on the TV
§ Sex
§ Self-worth
§ Self- promotion
§ Greed
o You want to know
what God desires for you open your bible
§ Do you have an
appetite for the word
§ Prayer
§ Helping the needs of
others?
§ Growing God kingdom?
This
most likely happened when some major event occurred, a death, a loss of some
sort. Rarely was it something good, and then it happened you start to get
hungry because through your brokenness God showed you true healing!
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