The Paradox of Persecution

Text: Matthew 5:10-12

Thesis: those who's life is an example of Christian character will receive true happiness despite having to deal with satanic suffering

I. The Reason For Persecution

-verse 10...blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

-this verse clearly states that not everybody who is persecuted can be considered blessed...only those who are persecuted for righteousness sake will be blessed

-this verse suggests that we will be persecuted for being just like Jesus

1. persecuted for being united with Christ - suggests the closer we get to Jesus, the more we will be persecuted

2. persecuted because the Holy Spirit is at work in us - ever since we got saved, the Holy Spirit has been working in us to transform us into looking less like the world and more like Jesus

II. The Requirements For Persecution

-verse 11...blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account

-we are persecuted not only because of righteousness but also because of Jesus himself

-not only because of our desire to be like him, but also our desire to submit to him

how do we know we are being persecuted for our faithfulness to Jesus

1. mocked because of Christ...says blessed are you when others revile you

-this word revile means to throw something in one's face...they mocked and ridiculed Jesus and if we are faithful to Him they will mock and ridicule us

2. marked because of Christ...when others revile you and persecute you

-this assures us that we will be persecuted...they will come after us for being faithful...because we follow Jesus we will have a bulls eye on our backs

3. maligned because of Christ...when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account

-because we are faithful to Jesus, there will be people who will flat out lie on us...and just make up all types of stuff against us

-but there is a blessing for those who can endure the lies of this world

III. The Reward For Persecution

-verse 12...rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you

-the good news about persecution of the saints is that all of this struggle is not for nothing...there will be a reward for those who suffer for Christ

-how we respond to our persecution will determine if we receive this reward

1. cheerful attitude...rejoice...word means to express joy as a direct result of the grace of God

-in other words, when we think about the fact that we are going through this period of persecution only because of the grace of God it should give us joy

2. celebratory approach...rejoice and be glad...means to show joy by leaping and skipping or to have ecstatic joy

-making through our suffering should do more than cause us to smile but it should make us want to jump for joy

Peace in the Midst of Conflict

I failed to post my outline from two weeks ago, so I am posting it now!

Text: Matthew 5:9

Thesis: God blesses those who expresses a desire to calm the troubled waters with a lofted position in the His family of the faithful

I. Peacemakers Embrace the Cross

-peacemakers are those who have accepted the absolute necessity of the cross into their lives

-peacemakers know in their hearts that Jesus' cross was really their cross...and because of their sins against God, it should have been them hanging between two thieves and not Jesus

-this mindset enables children of God to live a life that will not look to retaliate when attacked

II. Peacemakers Encourage Communication

-peacemakers are willing to build bridges and break down barriers when burned by conflict

-peacemakers are never passive about reaching out to those they are in conflict with seeking a resolution to every problem

-peacemakers take the initiative to restore broken relationships

III. Peacemakers Extend the Hand of Cooperation

-peacemakers are willing to promote unity and talk not in divisive terms of US and THEM, but rather of WE

-peacemakers look past silly differences to make us all united in Jesus Christ

Sunday Stuff

These Sundays right before holidays are always tough here in Jersey. I have been blessed to be able to preach in many cities around this country, and one thing I have noticed is that people tend to go to church more consistently in other parts of the country than they do in the northeast.

Our here it seems that God has a whole lot of competition to deal with on Sunday mornings. There is NY Giants football in the winter, pop warner football in the fall, and don't even mention the Jersey Shore in the summer. When it comes to holidays like Memorial Day, you can be assured that people in the northeast have to begin preparing on Sunday for their cookouts on Monday, so they stay home from church.

I try not to let that bother me, but I know that God is everything to me, and I can give Him a couple of hours on Sunday to worship His name, and then go and do the other things that I want to do to get ready for Monday. So as you can expect, I was not pleased when our attendance was way down today, but I told the members who were there that the Lord was pleased with their faithfulness in their worship. I told them that God never lets our faithfulness go unrewarded.

Jamal really ministered to us today during our worship period by bringing back an old hymn of the church, One More Time, One More Time, I'm glad to be in the service, One More Time. It got so good that I had to get a little piece of it myself. I am extremely happy with my music ministry, they are outstanding young men who really love Jesus and love what they do for Him. God Be Praised!

I concluded our series on the Beatitudes entitled Developing Christian Character, with an exposition on Matthew 5:10-12, which I labeled The Paradox of Persecution. Jesus closes out this section of his great Sermon on the Mount, with a warning to the church that there will be a wave of persecution on the horizon for those who consider themselves to be children of the King. He tells us that if we follow the first 7 principles of the Beatitudes, we can be assured that persecution will come to us. If we are not feeling the pressures of persecution, then it is a clear sign that we are not following at least one of the first 7 principles. But the paradox of our persecution is that God blesses those who are willing to endure suffering as a child of God. I am thankful that God will bless us for patiently enduring the persecution of this world.

A Clean Heart

Text: Matthew 5:8

Thesis: Jesus pronounces his blessedness only to those who's purity is not relegated to the surface, but seek to reside at the center of our hearts

I. The Perception of Purity

-Jesus did not say blessed are the pure...it would have validated the belief system of the Pharisees who specialized in showing holiness on the outside but had dirty hearts on inside

-for purity is not found in outward expression but rather an inward commitment

a. free from corruption - pure in heart means to be without blemish which occurs at the moment of salvation and causes us to acknowledge our affliction to sin and receive the forgiveness of the Lord

b. fixed on Christ - pure in heart also means to have unmixed motives...suggests that our motives must be centered on pleasing Jesus and not ourselves

II. The Process of Purity

-being able to possess a pure heart is not easy...but it is possessed through a process that we all must go through

a. spiritual process - one of the greatest untruths is that in order for a person to change they must change their environment.

-while that is an important part of change, that alone will not suffice...for man's problems originates not from our environment, but rather from their heart

-man needs a changed heart to be truly pure

b. practical process - we need our heart cleansed daily through a closer relationship with the Lord

-James 4:7-8...submit therefore to God; resist the devil and he will flee...draw near to God and he will draw near to you; cleanse your hands you sinners; purify your hearts you double-minded

III. The Promise of Purity

-verse 8...blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God

-this verse has the same promise that each of the beatitudes possess...present and future fulfillment

a. present fulfillment - those that are pure in heart will see a vision of God physically in this world

1. see God through creation

2. see God through circumstances

3. see God through his care

b. future fulfillment - there will come a time when seeing God on earth will not be enough, but we will see God in eternity, face to face

Sunday Stuff

I was not in the pulpit at the First Mount Zion Church last Sunday, as I had the expressed pleasure of preaching for Bishop John Vaughan and the Calvary Christian Fellowship Ministries, in Ewing, NJ, so I was extremely excited to preach to the wonderful people that the Lord has given me stewardship over.

Our early morning prayer was really great because we are really expecting something great from the Lord in the next few weeks regarding our new location. I could feel the prayers of the people going out and we are anticipating the Lord answering every one of our prayers.

Penny did another powerful job in teaching our Sunday School class, as she is leading them back to the basics which I desire to be taught to our congregation as we prepare for the next phase of ministry. She concluded her teaching series on how to study the Word of God, with a lesson on identifying the context of a specific passage of scripture. The congregation were active participants once again as they have become excited about the lessons week by week.

Our worship leader Jamal led the congregation in a great mixture of hymns and quartet songs (which is starting to grow on me a little) and they were completely into the worship in songs. I then led them in singing one of the favorite hymns from my childhood, "This May Be My Last Time" which we transitioned into "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, Since I Laid My Burdens Down". I had a ball with the Music Ministry.

We continued our preaching series on the Beatitudes which is entitled Developing Christian Character, with an exposition on Matthew 5:6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied, which I labeled Satisfaction Guaranteed. The first three principles found in the Beatitudes lists what man needs to walk as a Christian, but the fourth principle gives man a solution to that which has inhibited them from walking as a Christian ought. For in order to walk as a Christian ought, man must come to the understanding that we have an obligation to live our lives inside of the Will of God.

After worship, the weather in New Jersey was outstanding, so Penny and I came home, changed clothes, and went to dinner to enjoy the rest of the day. God Be Praised!!!!

A Humble Spirit

Text: Matthew 5:3

Thesis: a true humble spirit occurs when a child of God sees themselves for who they really are

I. Express A Need For Help

-this suggests that we must recognize that this key principle of Jesus Christ cannot fulfilled through our own strength, but we are totally at the whim of a power greater than we are
-because of the sinfulness of our flesh we are unable to keep the laws and principles of God, so in order to make this transformation, we need the Lord to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves

II. Empty Yourself of Yourself

-before we can exhibit greatness in God through an abiding of his principles, we must empty out those things that hinder us and allow god to pour humility in us
-in other words, there must be an emptying before there can be a deposit
-if we pour out the old things of our sinfulness and disobedience, God will pour in something greater than what we poured out

III. Enables You to Receive Your Inheritance

-verse 3 says...blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
-those who allow the Lord to pour into them a spirit of humility, will receive a great inheritance
-every child of God will enjoy resting in eternity, when they possess a humble spirit

The Pursuit of Happiness

Text: Matthew 5:1-12

Thesis: true happiness is achieved by our willingness to turn away from temporal things and head directly towards the spiritual

I. True Happiness is a Free Gift For Saints

-we must recognize that we shall never get anywhere in our search for happiness until we give up trying to find in on our own efforts and receive it for what it is
-a free, unwarrented, undeserved gift from the Lord

II. True Happiness is Found in the Forgiveness of Our Sins

-we must realize that the blessing from the Lord that is most central in the life of every individual is that we need God to forgive us from our sins
-we pray for many things that we don't need but we want, but the thing we need to pray the most for is that God will offer us forgiveness

III. True Happiness Focuses on Our Savior

-we must put our focus on the actions of the savior to be blessed by what he did to provide the happiness we need
-we need to put our entire focus on the cross of Calvary

Sunday Stuff

We had a pretty interesting day at FMZBC. First of all I have been sick for the last four days, so much so that I could not get any sleep Saturday night, my nose was completely stopped up, my ears were popping, and I had a cough that I thought was going end up with one of my lungs in my lap. Needless to say I was very concerned about my energy level during our worship service, and to top it off, I had to preach at an afternoon service, I had no idea how the day would turn out.

I want to report that the Lord showed up yesterday during worship, and he made an exchange, he took my physical weakness and gave me his strength, and I was able to make it through the day. God Be Praised!!!

The Lord led us to begin a new preaching series on yesterday on the Beatitudes housed in Matthew 5:1-12, which I have tagged the series, Developing Christian Character. This was Jesus' famous message known as the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus sets out to provide keys on how to live as a believer ought to live. And as our church is inching closer and closer to our new location, this series is designed to show us that a new building does not a new church make. We cannot expect to do the same things, be the same way, and get different results. I am so excited about this series. Please pray for the series.

Yesterday, I introduced the series with a topical message (something I rarely do) on the word that opens each lesson in the Beatitudes, the word blessed, in which I labeled the message, The Pursuit of Happiness. This word blessed has multiple meanings in the original language. Firstly, it means to bless, or to consecrate and set aside for the service of the Lord. It is where we get our custom of blessing our food before we eat it, to ask the Lord to consecrate both us and our food to be used for his service. Secondly, it is defined as words that we get our English derivatives benediction and eulogy, which means to speak well of. Later on in this sermon, Jesus says bless them that curse you, which suggests that when people put their mouth on you, don't fire back, speak well of them and watch the Lord take care of them. Thirdly, it means to be spiritually happy, which suggests to us that while we as humans seek happiness in many places, the only way to experience true happiness is to find it in Jesus.

I had the pleasure of preaching for the 55th Pastoral Anniversary of Bishop B.F. Jackson, pastor of the St. John's Methodist Episcopal Reformed Church of Elizabeth, NJ in the afternoon, and it was a joy and and honor to stand and deliver my convictions about Jesus Christ during this grand celebration. The St. John's Church did a marvelous job in the celebration, and I ask that you would keep them in your prayers as a transition is soon to take place there.