It took quite a long time for me to find a church in which to be planted, a church which was serious about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20 King James Version)

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.)

and in the scripture which exhorts

“"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth."
--2 Tim. 2:15.

I encourage you to be careful in your prayer life and the things you ask of God.

I admit to being lazy in many respects. One of them is in my commitment to studying as I should.

I asked for work to do in the church and my pastor gave me this job. Little did I know that my prayer for work to do in the church would commit me to both of these critical commissions.

I daily thank God for gentle reprimands for He could have reminded me of my duties in a much more dramatic way.

Today, I would like to encourage you to look at one of the beautiful promises left for us by our Lord, Jesus the Christ. We commonly refer to this gift as “The Beatitudes”.

In Christianity, the Beatitudes (from Latin beatus, meaning "blessed" or "happy")[1] are blessings from Jesus recorded in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke. The blessings in Luke refer to external situations while those in Matthew refer more to spiritual or moral qualities. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

We will look first at the beatitudes as recorded in Matthew.



THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS


"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10



Jesus Christ gave us the eight Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded for all posterity in the Gospel of Matthew, the first Book of the New Testament of the Bible. Matthew's Gospel is directed to an audience steeped in Hebrew tradition. The Gospel of Matthew stressed that Jesus Christ is the Messiah foretold in Hebrew Scripture, our Old Testament, and that the Kingdom of the Messiah is the Kingdom of God in Heaven. Jesus offers us a way of life that promises eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The teachings of Christ Jesus were simple but unique and innovative at the time of his life on earth. He began teaching about 30 AD during the ruthless Roman occupation of Palestine. At the time there were four major groups in the Jewish religion, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and the Zealots, all of whom presented a different viewpoint to the Jewish people. The Pharisees demanded strict observance of the Mosaic law expressed in the Torah, but also accepted the oral tradition of Jewish customs and rituals. The Sadducees were mainly from the priestly families and strictly accepted the Law of Moses but rejected oral tradition. The Pharisees, unlike the Sadducees, believed in the resurrection of the dead. The monastic Essenes awaited a Messiah that would establish a Kingdom on earth and free the Israelites from oppression. The Zealots were a militant Jewish group who wanted freedom for their homeland, and were centered in Galilee; one of the Twelve Apostles was Simon the Zealot.

The Ten Commandments, given to Moses on Mount Sinai in the Old Testament Book of Exodus, relates a series of "Thou shalt nots," evils one must avoid in daily life on earth.

In contrast, the message of Jesus was one of humility, charity, and brotherly love. He taught transformation of the inner person. Jesus presents the Beatitudes in a positive sense, virtues in life which will ultimately lead to reward. Love becomes the motivation for the Christian. All of the Beatitudes have an eschatological meaning, that is, they promise us salvation - not in this world, but in the next. The Beatitudes initiate one of the main themes of Matthew's Gospel, that the Kingdom so long awaited in the Old Testament is not of this world, but of the next, the Kingdom of Heaven.

While the Beatitudes of Jesus provide a way of life that promises salvation, they also provide peace in the midst of our trials and tribulations on this earth.



http://www.jesuschristsavior.net/Beatitudes.html


REFERENCES

http://www.jesuschristsavior.net/Beatitudes.html
1 The Navarre RSV Holy Bible. Four Courts Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2001-2005.
2 St. Gregory of Nyssa. The Lord's Prayer and The Beatitudes. Ancient Christian Writers, Paulist Press, Mahwah, New Jersey.
3 St. Augustine. The Lord's Sermon on the Mount. Ancient Christian Writers, Paulist Press, Mahwah, New Jersey.
4 Pope John Paul II. The Splendor of Truth, the encyclical Veritatis Splendor. Pauline Books & Media, Boston, 1993.
5 Pope Benedict XVl. Jesus of Nazareth. Doubleday, New York, 2007.
6 Brown RE, Fitzmeyer JA, Murphy RE (eds): The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1990.
7 Spielvogel JJ. Western Civilization, Sixth Edition, Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, California, 2006.



May God always be a blessing in your life!