Those "Other" Beatitudes

I.              Introduction

 ·         Blessed are who?  The poor?  The hungry?  Those who weep?  Those who are hated?  Those who are ostracized and excluded?  Those who are insulted, spurned and defamed for His sake??

·         The more of these, the more blessed you are

·         To whom does Jesus say, “Woe to you!”?  The rich?  Those who laugh?  The comfortable?  Those who are well fed?  Those who are well spoken of?

·         We might be the very people He’s talking about

·         The most important thing is to be pleasing to God

II.            The Beatitude Of Being Poor

·         The poor…the hungry…they hold a special place in God’s heart

·         They are blessed because they have something to look forward to in God’s kingdom

·         The events from the text take place early in Jesus’ ministry

·         When someone speaks well of us, we must not be saying much

III.           The Woes Jesus Accords To The Rich

·         The obsession with wealth has a tendency to get our values all out of whack

·         Do you value making more money than your duty to God?

·         We must keep things in perspective

·         The obsession for and desire for wealth can deaden us to the spiritual rewards that await those who faithfully serve God

·         Luke 6:24

·         Christians should anticipate the future

·         We don’t want to start serving our possessions

IV.          Our Faith Takes A Lot Of Pride

·         We must practice living the Christian life on a daily basis

·         Nothing worthwhile comes easily

·         It takes a lot of practice, a lot of commitment, and a lot of sacrifice to resist temptation

·         If we look back, our sins will catch us

·         The Christian life is worth living moment by moment, day by day, month by month, year by year

·         Jesus demands more of us in than anyone else or anything else

·         If our destiny is eternal life, we must love Christ as He loved us

·         When we are exposed to Jesus, the more ready we are ready to embrace the unembraceable

V.           Conclusion

·         Jesus is our higher standard of living, who blesses us to be a blessing to others