A Different Kind of Righteousness | Beatitudes Week 10
Throughout Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he calls for a deeper, more thorough transformation that occurs in layers. All are good but some are better. What are they? And how do we move from one to another?
The Peacemaker | The Beatitudes Week 9
It is almost a cliché to say that society is polarized. In fact, we are coming apart faster than any other Democratic nation. Yet a too heavy emphasis on this has kept most of us from tending the old, private, and still undisclosed conflicts of our own doing. These are the hardest places to make peace. Using a popular story of the OT (Jacob and Esau), we’ll look at what is involved in making peace and discovered that the conflict often lies, not in the space between us, but in the space within us.
Blessed are the Pure in Heart | The Beatitudes Week 8
In Matthew 5:8, Jesus declares, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” But what does this kind of purity actually look like? David, though deeply flawed, is remembered as a “man after God’s own heart” because of his relentless return to God in humility and repentance. Psalm 51 offers a window into David’s response to failure—not one of self-pity or denial, but of heartfelt confession and longing for a clean heart.
We are invited to examine the state of our own hearts: Are we hiding, pretending, or drifting? Or are we allowing God to search, cleanse, and transform us from the inside out? Purity isn’t merely the absence of wrong—it is the presence of God’s refining work in our inner lives.
Blessed are the Merciful | The Beatitudes Week 7
Joseph’s life was radically changed by the betrayal of those he loved. What must he have felt? Surely there are few people who can speak so powerfully on the topic of mercy than Joseph himself. Let’s look closely and gather wisdom from his story that may change our story.
Blessed Cravings | The Beatitudes Week 6
What are you hungry and thirsty for? And how do our cravings affect the way we live? Is it possible that the way of Jesus invites us to a hunger and a thirst that also fills…
Blessed are the Meek | The Beatitudes Week 5
We’ve nearly discarded the word “meek” from our vocabulary: partly because we don’t understand what it means, and partly because it feels impractical, fragile… not fit for our moment. In every life, though, there comes a moment when we need a power that’s more than forcefulness, and a fortitude that’s based on more than blind optimism. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
The Holy Hush | The Beatitudes Week 3
Sooner or later there comes a hush in every person’s life, that moment when the unthinkable happens, when the last option has failed and we’re alone with our thoughts. What then? “Blessed are those who have lost what is most dear to them, for they are embraced by the One who is most dear to them.”
Quiet Desperation | The Beatitudes Week 2
Who are the most holy among us? It’s not always who we think it is and despite our intentions to become more holy, we have learned habits that move us in the opposite direction. What are those habits? And how do we unlearn them?
Right Side Up | The Beatitudes Week 1
The Beatitudes are not commands to achieve but radical declarations of blessing that reveal the Kingdom of God, where the overlooked and broken are already favored.