What if God is trying to get your attention? Would you notice? God called to Moses in an extraordinary way during his ordinary life (which is the only life any of us have to live). God's waiting for us to show up and wake up to his presence throughout our week. So the question is not, "Is God trying to get my attention" but, "Am I paying attention?"

SLIDES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Exodus 3.1-15

// CORE IDEA: God is lighting up bushes all around us in our everyday life. The question is not, “Is God trying to get my attention?” but, “Am I paying attention?”

// QUOTE: “Each moment is a revelation of God.” (Jean-Pierre Du Caussade)

// We can't expect to be led without listening.

// Each moment is an invitation to 1) Pay attention to God and 2) Respond appropriately.

// Faith is not the absence of doubt, faith is trusting God in the midst of it.

// The answer to the question "Who am I?” is “The one God is with.”

// We want a step-by-step process but God promises His unfailing presence.

// BENEDICTION:

May you walk each step this season on hallowed ground, aware of God's presence and aligned for God's purpose. May you remember that our God is, was, and always will be with you and within you wherever He sends you. Amen.

Pastor Jamie Coleman of Nexus Community Church talks about their unique, apartment-based ministry in northeast Dallas. He shares a 3-step process for helping Christians envision ministry among the poor beyond that of simply relief work: exposure, engagement, and redemptive entanglement. He also offers 5 missional practices that every Christian can live out in their daily life that will help create the conditions in which transformation ministry can take place: the B.L.E.S.S. practices.

We've come to the final Beatitude on Jesus' list of those who are "Blessed" even when there seems to be evidence to the contrary. Jesus is describing those who stand firm for what's right despite all objections and everyone's expectations. Can these people really be alright (much less happy or flourishing) when it seems like everyone's out to get them? How can we keep going when it seems like we're swimming upstream? Kingdom vision allows us to be awake to God's presence and aware of our place in the story God's shaping -- even when we're knocked down and dragged out.

SLIDES --

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Matthew 5.10

// FOCUS STATEMENT: Kingdom vision keeps us AWAKE to God's presence and AWARE of our place in the story God's shaping.

// Jesus is describing those who stand firm for what's right despite all objections and everyone's expectations.

// The Bible is the story of an oppressed people learning to SEEK & FOLLOW an UNSEEN & FAITHFUL God in the midst of their failure and forgetfulness.

// When persecution hits: do we LEAN IN or BAIL OUT?

//Maybe we bail on God because we read opposition as a mark God's abandonment instead of faith's authenticity.

// We want to escape persecution but Jesus teaches his followers to expect it.

// MATT. 5.11-12 (NIV): “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION --

// What are ways you can "Stay awake" God's presence this week?

// Think about your reaction to opposition, do you lean in to God or bail out?

// What story are you telling? Would God's version line up with yours?

// Where do you need to stand firm for the kingdom all objections and everyone's expectations?

In relationships the question is not "IF" you'll be involved in conflict but "WHEN?" Perhaps a better kingdom question is "HOW can I reconcile this conflict?" This is the heartbeat of the ones Jesus is describing in this Beatitude. The reconcilers who step into the messy middle of hurt, hardship, or hang-ups. There is a clear call to peacemaking for all kingdom citizens because we've learned the trade from our heavenly Father. We're blessed when we work at the Family business and bear a Divine resemblance to the God who is always at work in the world bringing peace where there chaos. So how might we be invited to live into our family name?

SLIDES/RESOURCES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Matt. 5.9

// FOCUS STATEMENT: The peacemakers work at the Family business and bear a Divine resemblance.

// 1. What is Jesus describing? 2. Do we fit the description? 3. What are ways we can live into our family identity?

// Beyond "Nice" or "Appeasement" or "Tolerance," Jesus describes the Kingdom person who actively steps into the crossfire to work toward "SHALOM."

// TNC CORE PRACTICE #5 -- BRING PEACE: We commit to partner with God in his mission to bring his Shalom (holistic peace and well-being) to our neighborhood.

// Jewish word for "Son" is used to connect a person to another person or attribute.

// COLOSSIANS 1.19-22 (NIV): For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight,

// The reconciled will be called children of the Reconciler when His kingdom comes in fullness.

// EPHESIANS 4.1-6 (NIV): I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

// The Kingdom call is to turn from retaliation and to work toward reconciliation even though it is costly.

// Are Christians known more often as peacemakers or peace breakers?

// The more we divide, deride, and demonize, the less we bear a Divine resemblance. Peace must be made when not maintained.

// QUOTE: “The peacemaker, as the person whom Jesus blesses, seeks to reconcile -- not by pretending there are no differences or by suppressing differences, but by creating love of the other that transcends differences or that permits the people to join hands in spite of differences.” (SCOT MCKNIGHT, The Sermon on the Mount)

// PRACTICAL PEACEMAKING:

1. In heart ATTITUDE: Blessing persecutors, forgiving enemies, loving all as neighbors…

2. In short ACCOUNTS: Asking, "What do I need to OWN?…CONFESS?…LET GO?"

3. In sacrificial ACTION:

/ RESOLVE conflict (Matthew 5.23-25; Eph. 4.3; 1 Pet. 3.11)

/ REFUSE retaliation (Matt. 5.38-42; Rom. 12.14; Rom. 17-21; 1 Pet. 3.9)

/ RELEASE hate (Matthew 5.43-44; Heb. 12.14)

// QUOTE: "The only thing harder than hatred is love. The only thing harder than war is peace. The only thing that takes more work, tears, and sweat than division is reconciliation. But what more beautiful things could we devote our lives to? Until the courage that we have for peace surpasses the courage that we have for war, violence will continue to triumph, and imperial execution rather than divine resurrection will have the final word.” (SHANE CLAIBORNE, The Irresistible Revolution)

Have you ever met someone that just seemed to be "In tune" with God? Someone that exuded a calm, clarity, and grace that just radiates from the inside out? Those are the kinds of people Jesus is describing in this Beatitude. The seekers who are wholly devoted and in tune with the frequencies of heaven. So what might a wholly devoted "You" look like? What if we could live from a clean and clear center? Would we "See God"? What does that even mean, anyway? We'll explore these questions and more in the sixth part of our series on the Beatitudes.

SLIDES/RESOURCES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Matthew 5.8

// FOCUS STATEMENT: The "Pure in heart" are the wholly devoted who are in tune with God.

// TOO SEE OR NOT TO SEE? We have a deep longing to see and be seen by our Creator.

// GOD TO MOSES: “No one can see Me and live” (Exo. 33.20)

// JOHN: “No one has ever seen God...” (John 1.18)

// PAUL: “God...who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see." (1 Tim. 6.15-16)

// We have a deep longing to see and be seen by our Creator...but if we can't see God, what is Jesus promising in this Beatitude?

// GOD TO MOSES (Part 2): "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence...” (Exo. 33.19)

// JOHN (Part 2): "We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3.2)

// PAUL (Part 2): “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.” (1 Cor. 13.12)

// BOTTOM LINE: We can see glimpses of God's glory in the present and one day we will see God's fullness in his presence.

// QUOTE: EMILY DICKINSON -- “They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of him as somewhat of a recluse.”

// Our hearts get out of tune with God when we're looking in all the wrong places...

// REFLECT: What would a WHOLLY DEVOTED ____________ LOOK LIKE?

// PSALM 86.11 (NRSV): Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.

It's been said, "You can't give what you don't have." Surely this is true for those who give mercy to the needy and the undeserving. The "Blessed" can give mercy because they have first been transformed by God's mercy. The world sees such compassion as costly, inconvenient, and inefficient. Maybe we need to let Jesus expand our vision of a kingdom in which mercy is given and received and hearts are transformed.

SLIDES/RESOURCES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Matthew 5.7

// The kingdom of God is a realm in which "Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2.13).

// What is mercy? Who is Jesus describing?

// Beyond "Nicety" and "Pity" -- mercy is the marriage of empathy and compassion.

// Jesus is describing those who give mercy because they have received mercy .

// In opening our hands to receive God's mercy, we let go of what we're holding against others.

// Isn't this what God did? God, "who is rich in mercy" (Eph. 2.4), "did not count our sins against us" (2 Cor. 5.19) when Jesus opened his arms on the cross for the world.

// SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 2.1-10

// QUOTE: DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (The Cost of Discipleship)-- "[Jesus] was not ashamed of his disciples, he became the brother of mankind, and bore their shame unto the death of the cross. That is how Jesus, the crucified, was merciful. His followers owe their lives entirely to that mercy. It makes them forget their own honor and dignity, and seek the society of sinners. They are glad to incur reproach, for they know that then they are blessed. One day God himself will come down and take upon himself their sin and shame. he will cover them with his own honor and remove their disgrace. It will be his glory to bear the shame of sinners and to clothe them with his honor. Blessed are the merciful, for they have the Merciful for their Lord."

Humans are hardwired for longing. We want to be connected to something beyond ourselves. We want injustices to be addressed. We want fulfillment. So the question really isn't "What are you longing for?" but "Where are you looking for your longings to be filled?" Into human history steps Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus came not to offer us a new religion, concept, or spirituality but to offer himself as the true home for our misplaced longings in our hearts and in our world. Kingdom vision sees Jesus our hunger and thirst satisfied in him.

SLIDES/RESOURCES--

// FOCUS SCRIPTURE: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5.6, NIV)

// Righteousness = "Right-ness" or Justice

// The Beatitudes are not prescriptive, they are descriptive. They're not about commanding behavior (Be sad, meek, persecuted...!), the Beatitudes are about casting a kingdom vision that's upside down from the world's vision and values.

// We need a kingdom vision of...1. Longing for Righteousness and 2. Fulfillment

// Jesus is speaking of those who burn with desire for the wrong to be made right, whether in themselves or within the world.

// "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." (St. Augustine)

// "For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6.33-35, NRSV)

// Jesus offers HIMSELF to those who are burning with desire for the wrong to be made right, whether in themselves or within the world.

// When we're "Unfulfilled" -- could it be a misplacement of our longing?

// Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?...Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John 4.10-15, NIV)

// ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Revelation 7.16-17 / See also, John 6.35, 4.10, 10.11; Psa. 23; Isa. 49.10, 25.8)

// Jesus is the Good News for those who are hungry and thirsty -- he is (and will be) the fulfillment to the longing in our hearts and in our world.

We don't often hear the word "Meek" in everyday conversation. The meek are the unimportant ones -- the walked over, the looked over, and the stepped over. But these are the overlooked ones Jesus sees and pronounces "Blessed." He's walking in solidarity with them as their example. In this series we're letting Jesus expand our vision of who is within reach of God's blessing so that he might transform our view of ourselves and our neighbors.

SLIDES/RESOURCES--

// FOCUS SCRIPTURE: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matthew 5.5, NIV)

// The Beatitudes are not prescriptive, they are descriptive. The Beatitudes are not about commanding behavior ( Be sad, meek, persecuted...!). The Beatitudes are about casting a kingdom vision that's upside down from the world's vision and values.

// Let Jesus expand your vision of who is blessed despite the world's evidence to the contrary.

// SIMON & GARFUNKEL ("Blessed") / "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit / Blessed is the lamb, whose blood flows / Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on / Oh lord, why have you forsaken me?"

// Even when you're sat upon, spat upon, or looked down upon...you are squarely within reach of God's blessing and you are securely within God's kingdom.

1. KINGDOM VISION OF MEEKNESS

// First we need to say that meekness is not weakness -- meekness is the intersection of HUMILITY and GENTLENESS.

// Jesus in Matthew 11.28-30 (NIV) -- 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle (MEEK) and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

// Meekness is the intersection of humility and gentleness. A true view of self and a gentleness toward others, a humble heart revealed in a gentle hand.

// The kingdom practice modeled by Jesus, the meek one, is GETTING DOWN TO LIFT OTHERS UP

// SCRIPTURE: Philippians 2.3-7; 1 Peter 2.21-25

2. KINGDOM VISION OF INHERITANCE

// Think of what you're LONGING FOR but all you see are IMPOSSIBILITIES: Obstacles... "Not yet's"... Closed doors... Am I really blessed?

// We need kingdom vision while we wait between the promise and the inheritance. When you live by faith, expect to face obstacles rather than avoid them.

// A KINGDOM VISION OF INHERITANCE: Trusting a Father's gift in the Father's timing.

// DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (The Cost of Discipleship) -- "To these, the powerless and the disenfranchised, the very earth belongs. Those who now possess it by violence and injustice shall lose it, and those who here have utterly renounced it, who were meek to the point of the cross, shall rule the new earth. The renewal of the earth begins at Golgotha, where the meek One died, and from thence it will spread. When the kingdom finally comes, they shall possess the earth."

Jesus told a crowd of desperate and expectant followers, "Blessed are those who mourn." What did Jesus mean? Is this just a greeting card version of "Don't worry, be happy?" Maybe there's something deeper at work here. The Beatitudes (or "Blessed's") expand our vision of who is within God's reach despite the world's evidence to the contrary. In that sense, Jesus' message is actually Good News for those living in the midst of Bad News. What if grief, suffering, and pain don't get the last word? Jesus gives us a kingdom vision of mourning and comfort -- mourning even as we look to the morning.

SLIDES/RESOURCES--

// The Beatitudes are descriptive, not prescriptive. The Beatitudes are not about commanding behavior (Be sad, meek, persecuted...!). The Beatitudes are about casting a kingdom vision that's upside down from the world's vision and values.

// Let Jesus expand your vision of who is blessed despite the world's evidence to the contrary.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5.4 NIV)

// THIS MESSAGE: 1. A Kingdom vision of MOURNING / 2. A Kingdom vision of COMFORT

// 1: Kingdom vision sees both what is and what will be. Mourning as we look to the Morning.

// We come from a long family line of people who aren't afraid to lay it all out before God, look suffering right in the eye, and then dare to believe that sin, death, and pain don't get the last word.

// Our faith calls us to engage with suffering, not escape it

// Jesus rescued a suffering world through suffering to bring us into new life on the other side of sin and death.

// DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (The Cost of Discipleship) “[The disciples] bear their sorrow in the strength of him who bears them up, who bore the whole suffering of the world upon the cross. They stand as the bearers of sorrow in the fellowship of the Crucified: they stand as strangers in the world in the power of him who was such a stranger to the world that it crucified him. This is their comfort, or better still, this Man is their comfort, the Comforter.”

// When you can't fix it or rush passed it -- SIT WITH GOD IN THE MIDST OF IT

// We might be SORROW BEARERS in the world, but we were never meant to bear the sorrow alone

// 2. In Jesus, there is both a promise for comfort then and his presence of peace now.

// PHILIPPIANS 4.4-7 (NIV) -- Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, w hich transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

// “The peace of God which transcends all understanding” comes in the presence of the Prince of Peace through prayer, petition, and even thanksgiving.

// DALLAS WILLARD (The Divine Conspiracy) -- "Is it true that 'Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal?' It is true! That is precisely the gospel of heaven's availability that comes to us through the Beatitudes. And you don't have to wait until you're dead. Jesus offers to all such people as these the present blessedness of the present kingdom--regardless of circumstances. The condition of life sought for by human beings through the ages is attained in the quietly transforming friendship of Jesus.

At the beginning of the most famous sermon ever preached are the famous "Beatitudes" (or "Blessed's"). What should we make of this list of people Jesus calls "Blessed"? Are they attitudes to "Be"? Am I really supposed to mourn, hunger, and be poor in order to get on God's good side? The truth is that the Beatitudes are not about commanding behavior ("Do this or that") but about casting a kingdom vision -- a vision that's upside down from the world's standards. Jesus looks at the spiritually bankrupt and proclaims "Good News" for the last-picked, bottom of the barrel, religious zeroes. The hope of this series is to let Jesus expand our vision of who is blessed despite the world's evidence to the contrary. Now that's Good News.

SLIDES/RESOURCES--

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Matthew 5.3 (NIV)

// FOCUS STATEMENT: Let Jesus expand your vision of who is blessed despite the world's evidence to the contrary.

// The Beatitudes are not about commanding behavior ("Do this or that"). The Beatitudes are about casting a kingdom vision of kingdom citizens.

// "And so he said, 'Blessed are the spiritual zeros--the spiritually bankrupt, deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars, those without a wisp of 'religion'--when the kingdom of the heavens comes upon them.'" (Dallas Willard / The Divine Conspiracy, 100.)

// "Blessed" is sometimes translated "Happy." "Blessed" describes someone who is happy, content, and flourishing under God's reign.

// What does Jesus mean "Poor in spirit?" In Jesus' Jewish worldview, the "Poor" had religious undertones -- these are the oppressed, deprived, needy.

// This is the Good News -- when we couldn't get to God, God came to us .

// Those who are poor in spirit -- the spiritually bankrupt -- receive God's kingdom because their hands are empty

// "Thus, right at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contradicted all human judgments and all nationalistic expectations of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is given to the poor, not the rich; the feeble, not the mighty; to little children humble enough to accept it, not to soldiers who boast that they can obtain it by their own prowess. In our Lord's own day it was not the Pharisees who entered the kingdom, who thought they were rick, so rich in merit that they thanked God for their attainments; nor the Zealots who dreamed of establishing the kingdom by blood and sword; but publicans [tax collectors] and prostitutes, the rejects of human society, who knew they were so poor they could offer nothing and achieve nothing. All they could do was to cry to God for mercy; and he heard their cry." (John Stott / The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 40)

// “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule." (Matthew 5.3 in The Message)