Matthew 5:1-16

Have you ever imagined being one of Jesus’ committed disciples and sitting near him as he talks about living. Here, he speaks to his closest followers about attitudes that flow from a pure heart. Jesus’ words are very exciting to read and yet very difficult to apply!

Jesus paints a picture of happiness in verses 3-10, and then he gives us a strong image of how followers are to “look” to the world. Basically, he says, “this is why you’re here…to be different.” (my paraphrase of verses 13-16)

Yesterday we read about a higher calling that affects what you do—fish for people. Today’s reading impacts who we are to be—different. Not “weird” different…but “different” different.

Different so you stand out in a crowd…not because you’re crude but you stand out because you’re a person with character. You are different because of whose you are.
Jesus uses the images of salt and light to help us see that we are to counteract decay (salt) and darkness (light) which are symbols of living the world’s way.

I love the how the message bible outs it; “You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth…and you’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.”

Are you living a life that’s different from the world’s way? Not a life that brings attention to itself, but a life that counteracts the decay of hatred and brings light to the darkness of evil? How can you be different today?

Hope you are all well. Some time a go I heard Paul De Jong when I attended a conference at Abundant Life Bradford, his preaching style and wisdom was great. I have come across his blog and resources. Below is an excerpt from his blog that I thought would bless you:

Thought: “Effective sustainable leadership requires a commitment to replenishment.”
Ask yourself this question, what is my replenishment plan? As leaders we are constantly giving out and as we carry such a large emotional load, without the input we just cannot expect to last. This year it is our family’s 24th Hillsong, 24 years of committing to be refreshed in this environment on an annual basis. I had to learn this the hard way years ago but replenishment is not a luxury, it’s a mandatory part of my planning schedule.

I would say if you are constantly giving out, you need at least three times a year where you place yourself in an environment of major input. Consider this, if we constantly give out of our emotional world and do not replace what we have been giving out, we will end up leading dry. Input needs to match output for us to remain balanced.

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

It reminds me of a film I watched the other day called Short Circuit, a classic, Jonny Five is alive. Ever since I became a Christian I have hungered after input. I use the covenant seminary website called worldwide classroom. I download Abundant life messages, I listen to Mark Driscoll at Marshill Bible church, I have just downloaded all of Paul De Jong’s messages and am working through them. I read at least a book a month. I read my bible.

I believe we have a responsibility to grow. We do this to allow God to shape us and mold us into the people we are meant to be. So we can either be a couch potatoes or a go getter.

May you seek input, may you allow God to grow you and may you become a go getter not a couch potato.

I was reading Matthew 5:21-25 today. Jesus raises the bar, takes it to the next level! I believe the context of the scripture is that the teachers and Jews of the day would have had the attitude that they are good people and that’s enough. They would have said “I am not a murderer so its all good” But Jesus says that actually being angry at someone is not good and even if you call them a fool.

Now it’s not the word fool that’s the issue but the intention behind it. How many of us have got angry in the last month. Someone pulled out in front of us or said something to us that we didn’t like. Jesus then goes on to talk about grudges. he says that before we bring our offering gift to the altar. Another way of putting it “Before you come to God in worship” Sort out the differences you have.

Often in anger, name calling and disagreements we give room for grudges to build. Anger and grudges can consume us, take our focus off of God and onto revenge, offence or much worse. It’s not a place that God wants us to be in. Our freedom from this is so key that God says you need to be free from it before we come to Him in worship. This involves speaking face to face and talking things through.

Sometimes its a matter of settling things on your side even if the other person doesn’t accept and holds onto their grudge you can move on in God. I have found it to be much better to be completely free before God in worship. I have also found it easy to lose my peace and become angry or offended. Giving ourself an anger/offence MOT regularly will help us to be totally free before God.

Jesus example is the greatest example of forgiveness we will ever see, as he was nailed to the cross he cried out ‘Father forgive them they know not what they do’ Whilst reading the scripture this morning I was reminded how I had not dealt with a situation well and that I needed to apologise and put things right. Which I have done. My life policy is to apologise when I get it wrong. And I will get it wrong. So who is it that you need to speak to? What is it that you need to let go of? God can help you do this, if you let Him and today you can live free. I will post another post I made from our church blog a while ago which was a prophetic time I had with God to do with forgiveness.

May God bless you and move you forward

http://listenlearnliveit.wordpress.com/

I read Matthew 5:13-16 this morning. It talks about us being the salt of the earth.

Salt adds flavor, we as individuals are called to add flavor to the world around us. We are not meant to be bland but tasty. As a church we are to add value to the world around us. Salt is used as a preservative, in other words it lenghtens the life of our food. All known life needs salt to live. As individuals and as churches we bring life to the world around us. Salt regulates the water content in our bodies. As individuals and as churches we should regulate the world around us. We should shape the world around us. We are not meant to be bystanders watching the world go by, we are to set the pace and lead the way.

Jesus warns us that if salt loses its saltiness it is good for nothing. We are called to be a people of flavor. Lets be who we are called to be. In the words of Craig David an R&B artist ‘Whats your flava?’

I read an article about the worlds most powerful torch. It is the world’s brightest and most powerful flashlight. This flashlight is easily capable of melting plastic, lighting paper on fire within seconds, and if you want, frying an egg or a marshmallow on a stick! At 4100 lumens, The Torch is 100 lumens more powerful than The Polarion Helios, the former most powerful flashlight. This torch shines big time!

Jesus refers to us as the light of the world. Light provides heat to cold rooms, it transforms darkness, it provides life to plants. Light truly is a powerful life giving and transforming part of the universe. as individuals and as churches we are called to bring light to the darkness, life to the lifeless, to be transformers of situations and shapers of cultures.

Have you ever placed a mug or bowl over a tea light it goes out and becomes useless until you re-light it. Have you noticed that if you take the light shade off in your room how it gets so much brighter! Well Jesus doesn’t want us to snuff out the light we have been given, he doesn’t want us to be ashamed of the good news. He doesn’t want us to form little communities within communities and do church and christianity where no-one can see us. He wants us to be public to stand on the hill and shine, shine, shine. Imagine going to the highest part of your town or city and shining the worlds most powerful flashlight and seeing what attention you get.

We don’t do this so that people will praise us, we are not saying look how good we are and how bad you are, we are not saying we are perfect. We do it so that people will see our good deeds and glorify God in heaven. We are motivated by Gods love for us. Its not a matter of trying to persuade you, we are confident and certain of the love God has for us and this flows through our very being. Just like when you buy a torch from the shop it wont work until you put the battery in and then the battery cause power to flow through the torch until it cant help but shine. We are like the torch that was on the shop shelf, before we met with God we had no light, no power. But now that Jesus is a part of our life we have been given the power to shine.

Folks the kingdom of heaven is here. We see lives transformed, we see people getting healed and theres more to come.

Will you play your part, will you allow your light to shine, will you shake your saltiness all over the place. Like every human you have a choice.

May God bless you and move you forward

http://listenlearnliveit.wordpress.com/