SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: Third value is renouncing all rights.
SPEAKER_01: Renouncing rights to something of the happiness that we long for, and it's renouncing all our rights and saying, God, I just want what you want.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't get there without first being poor in spirit, without first experiencing that poverty of spirit that you feel in other people's lives.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: You begin to say things like, instead of, God, I want this or I want that, God, what's your will?
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you want me to do?
SPEAKER_01: What are you calling me to?
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you are going camping?
SPEAKER_01: Any this summer?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody going camping?
SPEAKER_01: Anyone gonna be uh on a lake fishing?
SPEAKER_01: Anything like that?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know if any of you guys are into ornithology or into birds and stuff, but if you go to any of the reservoirs, any of the rivers, any of the streams in uh this part of the country, you have this distinct sound and this distinct look of a red-winged blackbird.
SPEAKER_01: And I um I grew up uh part of my life in a cabin uh kind of out in the country on my granddaddy's ranch, and red-winged blackbirds were everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: So I know that sound, and I know the red winged blackbird because of the feature of the patch that's right near the wing, right here on the wing.
SPEAKER_01: So you see that, and they love cattails and they love to be back along the edges of a of a lake and stuff, but those are the features, and you see those features, you know that's a red-winged blackbird.
SPEAKER_01: But also, you're in the city in suburbia and you hear that cooing sound.
SPEAKER_01: That cooing sound, and and oftentimes when you hear that, all you gotta do is look up on a telephone line, and you see this kind of bald, small-headed bird with kind of a gray-white uh look where the wings cover like 90% of the body, and that's a dove, a morning dove.
SPEAKER_01: And that you see, and you know that's a dove by the features of the dove.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember, and my kids remember this, that a number of years ago we were out in our backyard, I think we were playing volleyball or badminton on our little court there, and there was this white thing, we saw a white thing up in a tree back about 25 yards in the forest, and we went out there and it was a snowy white owl.
SPEAKER_01: And it and we walked up and we've got pictures of it, and I mean we got within probably uh 15 or 20 feet of the tree and probably uh about 25 feet from the actual owl, and it never flew.
SPEAKER_01: It just stayed there and it would just look at us.
SPEAKER_01: It was really cool.
SPEAKER_01: But we knew it was an owl because the features of an owl.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're looking at the Beatitudes.
SPEAKER_01: And the Beatitudes, for you that don't know or not familiar with that term, is a term that's been given for the greatest sermon that Jesus ever gave, and many would believe the greatest message anyone has ever given in the history of speech making.
SPEAKER_01: And it's called the Sermon on the Mount, and it's in Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
SPEAKER_01: And we're in a series on a kingdom of God revolution, and Jesus has just started his early ministry, he's just getting started, he just got baptized, he spent 40 days and nights in the desert really grappling with some issues of temptation from the devil.
SPEAKER_01: We covered that.
SPEAKER_01: Then he said, he said a very interesting thing.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: And then immediately he goes up.
SPEAKER_01: He goes up on this mountaintop.
SPEAKER_01: And many believe because Matthew, who wrote the book of Matthew, was a Jew, and his main audience was to convince Jews that Jesus was the Messiah, that the picture here is Moses going up on Mount Sinai, writing a new law, speaking of a new law, replacing the old law, which we'll come to later.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, not replacing it, but fulfilling it through being the new Moses, Jesus being the new Moses.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's interesting about the Beatitudes.
SPEAKER_01: The Beatitudes give us features of what it looks like to be a Christian, to be a believer.
SPEAKER_01: Like the red-winged blackbird, like the morning dove, we see features and we say, Well, that's a dove.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a red-winged blackbird.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the the Beatitudes, the first 12 verses of Matthew chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount, are features of what it means to be a believer.
SPEAKER_01: So, what does it mean?
SPEAKER_01: What are the features of a born-again Jesus follower?
SPEAKER_01: Great question.
SPEAKER_01: For many, it's what you believe.
SPEAKER_01: And believing in truth is essential.
SPEAKER_01: It's really, really important what you believe.
SPEAKER_01: Because the scriptures say that you believe with your heart, you'll be saved.
SPEAKER_01: So belief is important.
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: Belief is important.
SPEAKER_01: James tells us, though, that demons believe and they shudder.
SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe it's it's our works, it's what we do.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's that's how we that's how we can identify ourselves as Christians by by not just what we believe, but also what we do.
SPEAKER_01: Well, doing is really important.
SPEAKER_01: And working out our salvation with fear and trembling is really important.
SPEAKER_01: But then Jesus says, Hey, I saw you cast out demons and you preach the gospel, and he says, get far away from me.
SPEAKER_01: I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: So we know that belief in and of itself isn't just one of one feature, not the main feature of what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And even our works.
SPEAKER_01: So what are the features?
SPEAKER_01: And I believe that's what we have here.
SPEAKER_01: What we have here, men and women, is the features as Jesus gave us of what it means to be a kingdom of God, Jesus follower.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have watched American, I think it's called American Ninja Warrior?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that it?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, got some whoops from that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I've only watched it two or three times, and when I did watch it, on one particular occasion, and I don't know if they still do this because it's been on for a while, but they had these rings.
SPEAKER_01: So the guy is at the beginning, because don't I think the challenges get harder and harder as they go.
SPEAKER_01: These guys are, I mean, these men and women are unbelievable how in shape they are.
SPEAKER_01: But but they get harder.
SPEAKER_01: So this is what I'm about to share with you, is kind of an easy one.
SPEAKER_01: But what I recall is there was a ring, and then there was another ring, and then there was another ring, and the way they had set it up was the rings were on a line that got, that had a tilt to it, so they got higher and higher, and I and it looked like to me, from observation, they got further apart.
SPEAKER_01: So, do you understand what they did?
SPEAKER_01: Is you had your first ring was kind of was kind of the beginning point, but then you had to really get some momentum to get the next ring.
SPEAKER_01: Then they would swing, what I recall, swing back and forth, and then kind of pull, pull, especially on this back one.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, these guys had practiced beforehand in their training, they would release the back one, then the momentum would carry them through, and they'd be able to grab the next one and so forth and so on, right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's what the Beatitudes are like.
SPEAKER_01: They actually build on each other.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't get the first ring, you can't get the second ring, you can't get the third ring.
SPEAKER_01: So if you start with verse 12 of Matthew 5, you say, I could never do that.
SPEAKER_01: Of course you can't, because you're you're you're well ahead of the process of what God has to do in our lives to give us the happiness and joy we're really searching for.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, if you have your Bible with you.
SPEAKER_01: And we've already been in the Beatitudes for a while, so I'm gonna do a review really quick.
SPEAKER_01: Because verse 3 is the beginning of these blessed, these blessed challenges, and I call them kingdom values.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you are taking notes, write down eight kingdom values.
SPEAKER_01: Eight kingdom values.
SPEAKER_01: These are kingdom values, these are values of the kingdom of God that God wants us to experience.
SPEAKER_01: And then he starts off with makarios in the Greek or beatus in the Latin, blessed, which means everlasting, ever-increasing, ever-deepening happiness.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you'd like to be happy at least sometime in this life.
SPEAKER_01: All right, these are for you then.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so this is the first ring.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't get the first ring, you can't get the second ring, you can't get the third ring.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, look down at verse 12, where it talks about rejoice exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophet.
SPEAKER_01: Who wants persecution?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants persecution, and guess what?
SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't even be able to handle persecution at any high level in your own life unless we get the first beatitude right.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3 says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So we talked about a couple weeks ago that the first value is need for God.
SPEAKER_01: It's being poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_01: It's you understanding the poverty of your own spiritual life that you do not have what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: You do not have the capacity to walk in the spirit, you do not have capacity to spend time in God's word and see your faith drink in the very declaration we just made.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: So you have to surrender.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, you have to surrender your capacity, your self-sufficiency, your own personal talents and power to the Lord, and then he says, Then you get all of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You get all the resources of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: When we surrender to Christ, say, Lord, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot be a good Christian.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot be a good wife.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot be a good husband.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I struggle with porn.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I struggle with jealousy.
SPEAKER_01: God, I struggle with anger in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: That's the beginning of happiness.
SPEAKER_01: That's where it all starts, folks.
SPEAKER_01: Is to surrender your own lack of capacity.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's sad, though, is how many think they can do it in their own power.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a real drag, right?
SPEAKER_01: Preach it to me, right?
SPEAKER_01: I do it too.
SPEAKER_01: All of us do it.
SPEAKER_01: We think we have the capacity.
SPEAKER_01: It's called self-confidence.
SPEAKER_01: So it's the American way.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, we do not need more self-confidence.
SPEAKER_01: We need God confidence.
SPEAKER_01: And the only way to get God confidence is to realize you're bankrupt without Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's a good place to start.
SPEAKER_01: And if you look at yourself and when you look in the mirror and you go, man, I do not have what it takes, bingo! You just got up to the plate, the bat, you're ready to go.
SPEAKER_01: You can hit a home run now.
SPEAKER_01: So it starts there.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first ring.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed, happy, excited.
SPEAKER_01: Are those who are poor in spirit?
SPEAKER_01: Those who need God, who know that they need God.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first ring.
SPEAKER_01: Then he says this, because the second one is so related to the first one.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4 blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
SPEAKER_01: Sorrow-bearing.
SPEAKER_01: Luther, Martin Luther the great reformer, said that this means sorrow-bearing.
SPEAKER_01: It means that as you begin to take on the capacity of the kingdom of God within your own heart, you start to notice those who don't have it.
SPEAKER_01: You start to notice those who are not experiencing, and you carry sorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Church, it's not bad to carry sorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Sorrow bearing is a part of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus mourned over Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wept when Lazarus died.
SPEAKER_01: Sorrow-bearing is that as we become more open to the kingdom of heaven in our lives, our hearts begin to be burdened for those that have not experienced the kingdom of God in their lives.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it's the opposite of religion.
SPEAKER_01: You see, what religion does is it begins to it begins to convince you that you're superior from everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I've got the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Or I can't believe they said that, or I can't believe that person acts like that.
SPEAKER_01: Versus becoming a kingdom person.
SPEAKER_01: A kingdom person is not religious.
SPEAKER_01: A kingdom person has a relationship with God and is sorrow-bearing because we're we're we're we're poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And you begin to realize, man, I couldn't have done that without God.
SPEAKER_01: I want my sister to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I want my dad to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I want my neighbor to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So you become, by fiat, it becomes a part of the natural progression.
SPEAKER_01: We sometimes have to carry the sorrow.
SPEAKER_01: We bear the sorrow of those who are not experiencing Christ in their lives.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Third value: renouncing all rights.
SPEAKER_01: Renouncing rights to something of the happiness that we long for.
SPEAKER_01: And it's renouncing all our rights and saying, God, I just want what you want.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't get there without first being poor in spirit, without first experiencing that poverty of spirit that you feel in other people's lives.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's what happens: you begin to say things like, instead of, God, I want this or I want that, we said, God, what's your will?
SPEAKER_01: God, what do you want me to do?
SPEAKER_01: What are you calling me to?
SPEAKER_01: Where do you want me to live, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: What job do you want me to take, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: God, I just want to be in the center of your will.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I God, I don't want me.
SPEAKER_01: I've had enough of me.
SPEAKER_01: Remember when the Lord said to me, Steve, I know what you can do.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you what I can do.
SPEAKER_01: Man, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: It's awesome when you realize what God can do is way better than what you can do.
SPEAKER_01: All He needs is somebody of poverty and spirit so he can do it.
SPEAKER_01: And so He's looking for us to renounce our rights and our plans.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you in this room are going to move in the years ahead.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we're a very mobile country now.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll be making choices about jobs and houses and locations.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you will be thinking about maybe moving back to where your parents are because you've got aging parents.
SPEAKER_01: All those kind of things are going to be questions that many of us grapple with.
SPEAKER_01: And the answer to those kinds of situations and the quests of our souls is to ask the question, God, where do you want me to be?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I may want to be here, but Lord, where do you want me to be?
SPEAKER_01: And I want to be where you want me to be because I'm blessed.
SPEAKER_01: How many want to be blessed?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I want to be happy.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, you're blessed if you're meek.
SPEAKER_01: And you're meek is it meaning that you're renouncing your rights.
SPEAKER_01: Christ only gave this character quality to himself.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I am meek.
SPEAKER_01: Because Christ was the one who humbled himself, came to the earth, and only wanted what the Father wanted in his life, and so it is for us.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it's awesome when you know you're in the center of God's will.
SPEAKER_01: And it is miserable when you're debating about that.
SPEAKER_01: You want to be miserable?
SPEAKER_01: Let me just tell you the key to being miserable.
SPEAKER_01: The key to being miserable is just keep doing what you want to do.
SPEAKER_01: Never talk to God about it and just see where you end up.
SPEAKER_01: It's great job security for me because then you come to us and you say, I want to know God's will, I don't know God's will, and we'll try to help you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here because most of us are all messed up.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So when we begin to realize that we don't want our will, but we want his will, when we start really meaning when we pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy not I, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's the key, that's the door to happiness.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he means about being meek.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say amen if that sounds cool to you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, good.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: We start renouncing our rights.
SPEAKER_01: We only want God, what God wants.
SPEAKER_01: We've opened up our heart to the ways of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We're mourning for those who mourn.
SPEAKER_01: God's comforting us in that, and then guess what?
SPEAKER_01: You run out of you.
SPEAKER_01: You run out of power, you run out of righteousness, you run out of strength.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the one thing about the Christian life that's amazing is it's the only faith, and it's the only thing we do that the more we eat, the hungrier we get.
SPEAKER_01: The more you drink, the more you eat of the kingdom, actually, the more thirsty and the more hungry you become.
SPEAKER_01: So, next value is listen, passionate for a right relationship with people and God.
SPEAKER_01: Passion for a right relationship with God and people.
SPEAKER_01: Passion for a right relationship.
SPEAKER_01: That's what righteousness means.
SPEAKER_01: It means right relationships.
SPEAKER_01: And when we start getting involved with people, do you are any you guys have any trouble with relationships?
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: Man, if you're not having some problems in relationships, you're not risking enough.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just tell you, man.
SPEAKER_01: You start getting involved with relationships, they're messy.
SPEAKER_01: And you and that's the reason we we love our covenant of harmony around here, you that follow it.
SPEAKER_01: Is that we get, we follow Matthew 18, we talk about it, we go through the issues, we work it out, right?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Because in most of the churches, all you do is run.
SPEAKER_01: You just run to the next church.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as you have a problem, you cut and run.
SPEAKER_01: You cut and run.
SPEAKER_01: I know I've been doing this for a while.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's made up of people.
SPEAKER_01: And people are weird.
SPEAKER_01: And families are weird.
SPEAKER_01: Every family in this room is weird.
SPEAKER_01: So if you say, I got a weird family, they say, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, hey, how weird is yours?
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you some stories about mine.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's got a perfect family, nobody's got the perfect marriage.
SPEAKER_01: And and actually, the more you get involved, then the stickier it becomes.
SPEAKER_01: Like I was on a phone call this morning with someone who's who's got some struggles in their in their family and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I and I don't know if this is good advice or not.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give it to you, and you can tell me that was dumb advice.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm weird, all right?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm yeah, I swim in the ocean of weirdness with all of you.
SPEAKER_01: But it was a situation with a death in the family, and I shared that we'd had a bunch of deaths in our family on my cousin's side, and I just, you know, I've chosen because I am so not around.
SPEAKER_01: They they live in the southern states to not be involved in stuff.
SPEAKER_01: So I hear stuff, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You hear what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: I hear there's squabbles here and there.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be involved in it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: Because, from my perspective, all I remember is fond memories.
SPEAKER_01: I have fond memories of doing fun stuff with my family.
SPEAKER_01: I want to keep it that way.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's asking my advice, and I ain't giving it.
SPEAKER_01: Because I would screw it up anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Because I said, why don't you guys reconcile?
SPEAKER_01: And they go, Well, you can't believe what happened 27 years ago at the family reunion.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I had a I had a catfish I was bringing in.
SPEAKER_01: And Larry stole my rod and he brought it in.
SPEAKER_01: He told everybody that he could, I mean, I don't know, it's stupid stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care, you know, and so guys, listen, man, stay in your lane.
SPEAKER_01: Man, stay in your lane.
SPEAKER_01: Just say, say to your neighbor, stay in your lane.
SPEAKER_01: Just stay in your lane, man.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a mess out there.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I got enough to worry about.
SPEAKER_01: With me.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I look in the mirror and I say, hey, you're beloved, you're loved by God, you're cherished by God, I say to myself, and then I walk right out and I'm in it.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm messed up.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So when he talks about hungering and thirsting for righteousness, I think what Jesus is reminding us of is that you dry up.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you hunger and thirst for righteousness and you then you start giving and you start working, man, you're gonna get slapped around a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Man, you're gonna get nailed, you're gonna get hammered, and you can't not keep trying in those relationships that God's called you to in your lane.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I don't have a lot of capacity for outside of my lane.
SPEAKER_01: And and that's the reason sometimes I can't get involved with tons of people in the church because I've got to stay in my lane, because at the end of the day, I'm married to Liz, and I've got my kids, and I've got to work on that, I've got to make that a priority in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And when I make that a priority in my life, I'm joyful, I'm happy, and then there's more of me to give to others.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: So, so hungering and thirsting for righteousness is that when we hunger and thirst for right relationships, you're going to get ripped off.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have things happen that hurt and it's painful.
SPEAKER_01: And so you go back to God and say, God, I don't, I don't trust my righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have any more righteousness, I need your righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So hungering and thirst for righteousness means you've dried up your capacity.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have it anymore, and you come back to Him and you hunger for it, you open God's word, men and women, be in God's word, reading God's word, even when it's boring, even when you don't feel like it, but you read it and you worship the Lord and you and you and you get on your face sometimes before him and you cry out for his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Man, he's gonna give it to you.
SPEAKER_01: There's always more from that well.
SPEAKER_01: That well never dries up.
SPEAKER_01: That well never dries up of his righteousness toward you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you'll cry out for it, he'll fill you up again.
SPEAKER_01: And then you'll use it up again, and then he'll fill you up again.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran pastor who was killed by Hitler, said this about this kingdom value.
SPEAKER_01: As if their own needs and their own distresses are not enough, they take upon themselves the distress and humiliation and sin of others.
SPEAKER_01: They have an irresistible love for the downtrodden, the sick, the wretched, the wronged, the outcast, and all who are tortured with anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: They go out and they seek all who are enmeshed in the toils of sin and guilt.
SPEAKER_01: When he speaks of being merciful, he speaks of compassion here, church.
SPEAKER_01: That we would be a compassionate people instead of a judgmental people.
SPEAKER_01: The church today, for many outside the church, see us as judgmental.
SPEAKER_01: We tend to have these standards of rightness that we lay upon others that cause them to feel judged.
SPEAKER_01: And yet even Jesus said, I didn't come to judge the earth.
SPEAKER_01: He speaks of us being a compassionate people.
SPEAKER_01: And here's Jesus looking out, actually in the book of Matthew, looking out, we'll cover this later, upon Jerusalem, and he has compassion.
SPEAKER_01: It pains his heart to see the disarray of the Jewish nation.
SPEAKER_01: And he weeps for them.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, I like a hen, I just wanted to pull you in this brood and take care of you and be there for you.
SPEAKER_01: And yet you're not interested.
SPEAKER_01: And so to have compassion means, men and women, that we begin to start asking ourselves, God, how would you use me in a hurting world?
SPEAKER_01: Where can I serve?
SPEAKER_01: Where can I be you?
SPEAKER_01: Where can I be your love to a to a hurting, broken world?
SPEAKER_01: I saw the movie The Shack the other night.
SPEAKER_01: Loved the book, The Shack.
SPEAKER_01: I know that it was very controversial.
SPEAKER_01: Many evangelical pastors really railed against the book.
SPEAKER_01: I personally loved it.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason I loved it is because I didn't see it as theology.
SPEAKER_01: I saw it as a modern-day parable.
SPEAKER_01: You ever try to put theology into a parable when Jesus tells a parable?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it'll flip your wig if you're a theologian.
SPEAKER_01: Because he does not care.
SPEAKER_01: There's no systematic theology with the parables.
SPEAKER_01: Especially when you have a woman representing the father.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's all kinds of stuff that gets you all, you can get all wound up about.
SPEAKER_01: Get over it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I would say.
SPEAKER_01: What's the point?
SPEAKER_01: The point, to me, the the crowning point of the shack was, at least in the movie, I thought it was strong in the book too, was this that you can't have mercy for yourself without God's ability to show you that you're beloved.
SPEAKER_01: But then, men and women, to see what others have been through, to see what made them what they are because of the pain they went through that's never been healed.
SPEAKER_01: And when you and I too, when we become judgmental, think one generation back or two generations back, because what's coming out of that person that's so hurtful and so wrong was probably something that was hurtful and wrong that was done to them.
SPEAKER_01: And it seems like with Jesus, because he spent so much time with sinners, and he spent so much time with people who came out of prostitution, and those that came out of all this stuff in their life that had made them tax collectors.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Zacchaeus.
SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus up in a tree.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest thing Jesus could have done at that time was to go to his house.
SPEAKER_01: That was the most significant sign of honor that Jesus could have given anyone.
SPEAKER_01: And there's thousands all along the side of the road.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody would love to have Jesus at their house.
SPEAKER_01: He picks Zacchaeus, he's the chief of tax collectors.
SPEAKER_01: He's a swindler.
SPEAKER_01: He works for the Romans.
SPEAKER_01: He's, if Vince was here, Vince, he's a mafiaso.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
SPEAKER_01: He may have killed people to get payments.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus comes to his house and something happened.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus never preaches a sermon there.
SPEAKER_01: But something happens in Zacchaeus and he's willing to pay back everyone four times what he had swindled them out of because he truly repents.
SPEAKER_01: Because I believe he felt the goodness of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, God calls us to compassion for everyone around us, starting in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I'll know we're starting to get it.
SPEAKER_01: When every person who comes in this facility on a weekend feels loved, at least a little bit, and experiences God's love for them and his compassion for them.
SPEAKER_01: That when those kids go down in that children's ministry, that we so love on that children, they can't wait till the next week.
SPEAKER_01: Then anytime during the week, when people come in this facility, they feel our love.
SPEAKER_01: And they feel our compassion.
SPEAKER_01: That's living.
SPEAKER_01: The Beatitudes, the compassion.
SPEAKER_01: And then lastly, for today, verse 8 blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
SPEAKER_01: Wholehearted.
SPEAKER_01: The value of being wholehearted, the pure in heart, shall see God.
SPEAKER_01: Guys remember the story of Saul and David?
SPEAKER_01: So Saul, who's got all the equipment and all of the personality that goes with being this cool guy, he's taller than everybody else, he's more handsome than anybody else in the land.
SPEAKER_01: It appears that he probably came from wealth and he's the first king, but he continually disobeys God.
SPEAKER_01: There's a problem in his heart, and David comes along, never looking for a kingship, never looking for a crown, never desiring to be a warrior.
SPEAKER_01: All he is is a shepherd in a field, but he's pure in heart.
SPEAKER_01: He's wholehearted.
SPEAKER_01: And so the Lord turns his eyes from Saul and he sees David and raises up David at 13 years old to be the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what that says to me.
SPEAKER_01: It says to me, men and women, that as we become more and more pure in heart, as we become more wholehearted to the Lord, we will see God.
SPEAKER_01: God reveals his heart to the pure in heart.
SPEAKER_01: God reveals his wisdom, he gives vision, he gives understanding, he gives discernment to those who are pure in heart.
SPEAKER_01: As a worshiper and a warrior.
SPEAKER_01: Worshiping Him, making that a priority of your life is raising up Christ in your heart every day, fully pleasing to him.
SPEAKER_01: Even as you see those areas, those dark places of your life, say, God, I am not gonna quit.
SPEAKER_01: I'm all in for you.
SPEAKER_01: Now turn in your Bibles to Psalm 24.
SPEAKER_01: I want to close with Psalm 24.
SPEAKER_01: A beautiful picture, a Psalm of David.
SPEAKER_01: David the wholehearted.
SPEAKER_01: I've written, here's what I do, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Like I'll just show you my Bible here.
SPEAKER_01: You can some of you can see it.
SPEAKER_01: You can see it on the film that you're the movie here.
SPEAKER_01: A generation who seeks after the presence of the Lord is what I wrote up here.
SPEAKER_01: And so Psalm 24 to me is a picture of the next generation, that generation that are going to be seekers, God seekers with their life.
SPEAKER_01: I believe it's the psalm of the whole hearted.
SPEAKER_01: It's the psalm of the whole hearted.
SPEAKER_01: The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.
SPEAKER_01: For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
SPEAKER_01: Who may ascend unto the hill of the Lord, or who may stand in his holy place?
SPEAKER_01: He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.
SPEAKER_01: You know what he's saying here?
SPEAKER_01: David is saying, he's saying the key to a pure heart is the marriage of our outer life and our inner life.
SPEAKER_01: So you hear what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, if it's just all about our outer life, then we're missing the point of a changed heart.
SPEAKER_01: But if it's all about just the heart and it doesn't cascade into our outer life, then we're just a mystic.
SPEAKER_01: But he's saying, there's a generation that I'm raising up that have clean hands and a pure heart.
SPEAKER_01: They can ascend into the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 5, he shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: It's really interesting.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him who seek your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone know the story of Jacob?
SPEAKER_01: Not exactly the guy that most of us would emulate in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob is the supplanter.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob is the conniver.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob is the one who pulls the wool over his brother to get his birthright.
SPEAKER_01: Remember Jacob?
SPEAKER_01: He's a shmo.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob's a shmo.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, this is a generation, because there in that wilderness, while he's running from God and running from his brothers, he has a vision.
SPEAKER_01: In the vision, he sees a ladder, and in that ladder, he sees the angels coming to and fro, and he surrenders his life to Christ, and he's in the presence.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you in this room are supplanters.
SPEAKER_01: You're running from something.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: This song's for you.
SPEAKER_01: That's good news.
SPEAKER_01: God uses runners, God uses deceivers.
SPEAKER_01: God uses swindlers.
SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus.
SPEAKER_01: Probably a you know multimillionaire by the standards of the time.
SPEAKER_01: And he he repents, starts giving stuff away, and salvation has come to his house.
SPEAKER_01: So, church, the pure in heart is when God gets a hold of us with his presence.
SPEAKER_01: And when he gets the presence into us, his power flows through us.
SPEAKER_01: Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in.
SPEAKER_01: Who is the king of glory?
SPEAKER_01: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
SPEAKER_01: Lift up your heads, O you gates.
SPEAKER_01: Lift up you everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in.
SPEAKER_01: Who is the king of glory?
SPEAKER_01: The Lord of hosts, he's the king of glory.
SPEAKER_01: That's the point of the Beatitudes is to invite the King of glory in, the kingdom of God, beginning to experience the King when we become pure in heart with all of our problems and issues, and we start to become poor in spirit, and compassion starts to flow through us.
SPEAKER_01: We're inviting the King of Glory into our home.
SPEAKER_01: We're inviting the King of Glory into our marriage.
SPEAKER_01: We're inviting the King of Glory into our singleness.
SPEAKER_01: We're inviting the King of Glory into our classes and our college classes.
SPEAKER_01: We're inviting the King of Glory into our jobs, our parenting, and all that we do.
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.