A Different Kind of Christian - Unsettling Times | Unshakable Faith

It was um however many years ago it was 1988 uh and I was speaking to a several thousand young people in Washington, D.C. at a national conference.

And I introduced a phrase to them that ended up kind of catching fire all over the country.

But I just told them that God had created them Not just to go make grades or to just go make friends or to go make money or to go make out But God had created them to go mad, to go make a difference.

If you've been around me very much, you've heard that phrase and probably heard it over and over again.

Very few people know how it started.

And it started, there's only one person who was there when it started, and that was little Lisa.

Lisa was uh, I think in second grade, and uh the leader of the pack, our firstborn, my princess And Lisa said, um, Daddy, I 'm I'm really sad because the kids at school all talk dirty.

And they disrespect their parents, their mommy and daddy, and they say things that hurt other people, and they're mean, and they're mad.

And uh she said, it's really sad to go to school.

And I remember uh that morning in uh the kitchen I said, well, honey, you know, one of the reasons that they act that way is because they've never seen anybody act any other way So they think that's the only way to be.

But if you were to go to school every day and show them a different kind of person , Maybe they'd want to be that too.

So when you go to school, why don't you go to make a difference?

Kind of like this.

And out of nowhere, I said, so why don't you go mad?

Go make a difference.

And her attitude changed.

And um I thought, you know, it's kind of nice to be the person who, when they go, well everybody talks like this.

Well, not not not everybody Everybody's selfish, but not everybody.

Everybody's mean and mad, angry.

Not everybody.

So from that time on, and the boys will tell you too, uh, Karen would do all the responsible stuff.

You got your books today, be nice to your teachers.

Yeah, okay, I'm the one on the back porch yelling down the stairs, go mad!

You can imagine the next-door neighbor is probably going, Gladys, Gladys, I think we should call someone.

That Nimpu Punchcraft next door is telling his kids to go be crazy.

Call somebody No, no, he's just telling them to go make a difference.

That conversation I had with Lisa There's something like that, I think, in the mind of Jesus in Matthew chapter 5, when he in essence is saying in a world that is corrupt, and messy and sad and angry and dirty.

I want someone to show them there's another way to be And some of them will want to be that way too.

So I guess I want to tell you to go mad as well, now that you know what it means.

What kind of Jesus followers is our world seeing today?

Well, they're seeing some of us just kind of resting like Well, you know what?

I got this.

I got my Jesus thing.

I got my niche.

I've got my Jesus schedule.

I've got my Jesus budget.

I'm good.

And then we're just kind of resting.

Then they see some others retreating, who are actually becoming more like them, than them becoming more like us.

And then they see others of us who are ranting.

And ranting not necessarily about eternal things that will matter in heaven.

But just having been sucked into the cesspool of anger and hostility and tribalism What they're supposed to see is us radiating was so cool that um A man who's on the county governing board for our area, I went to tell him about the Leadership Center.

And he said, Ron, you know, years ago I met your wife in cardiac rehab.

And he said, every time she came in, she just radiated.

She kind of lit up the place.

And I thought that's a that's a a wonderful testimony.

And exactly what Jesus had in mind in Matthew chapter 5.

Verses 13 to 16, these are tremendously important statements because now he is going to show us What his kingdom of heaven, what it is like when heaven is the drumbeat for someone living in the kingdom of earth, but living out the kingdom of heaven.

Let's go to Matthew chapter 5.

You are the salt of the earth.

You know these verses.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, How can it be made salty again?

In those days, a lot of times what they got from the Dead Sea and salt would go rancid, and that's what he's referring to It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Then he says, you, you are the light of the world.

You are a town built on a hill that cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp, and if they light a lamp, they don't put it under a bowl.

That would destroy its purpose.

No, they put it on its stand And gives light to everyone in the house.

Notice one light gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way Let your light shine before others.

Now, here's the interesting sequence of events.

That they may see your good deeds And look at this.

As a result of what they see in you, they're going to end up doing what they're not doing now for sure.

They're going to end up glorifying your father in heaven.

Obviously you're going to have to explain to them that your father in heaven is why the good deeds in your relationship with him But the one is going to lead to the other.

That's how the fulfillment will happen that we, the loyal soldiers of the rightful king are fighting to see that he is enthroned in the hearts of others, that others make him king.

And that's how it's going to happen Well, before this, Jesus has spelled out good deeds for us.

And what is going to attract that kind of attention I was thinking, what does salt and light have in common?

You wouldn't normally put them together.

You know, you don't shine light on your steak to give it more flavor or on your popcorn.

That's salt, but you don't, if you're in a dark room, you just don't throw salt in the air.

You turn on a light.

What a light and light and salt don't seem to have anything in common.

Yes, they do.

They both change their environment.

Whenever you put salt on is different.

If it it keeps things from decaying, from rotting, if you have some bacon this morning, You know, probably, you know, that's a preservative right there.

Um you got health food, I'm sorry if I brought a preservative there It's a bad thing.

But so you got salt and then you got light.

And guess what?

It doesn't take much to change things.

You don't put, you don't just empty out the salt shaker on your popcorn or your meat.

It just takes a little to change the flavor of something much bigger than it.

You don't have a light as big as the room, so there's no room for you No, no, no, no, it just takes a little light to light up a whole dark room.

You don't have to have a lot to change the environment.

Not a lot of salt, not a lot of light.

Jesus said, here is my plan for you.

This is why you're here.

I want you to be one person Who changes a lot of people and changes an environment when you're in a place with me and you, you are the light in that room You alleviate darkness.

You don't just shake your head and say things are really getting bad, aren't they?

All the evil stuff that's happened.

Come on, that doesn't do anything.

Don't curse the darkness.

Be an alternative.

An attractive, winsome alternative.

Salt keeps things from going rotten.

Take you out of the room, take you out of the picture, take you out of the workplace, take you out of the neighborhood, and things decay faster.

So uh it 's a phenomenal picture.

He said, my agenda for you is you are a difference maker wherever you are.

Some years ago we were up at uh Camp of the Woods in um several times actually in uh New York State and uh they have like here you know you have these phenomenal Meals.

So that morning, everybody, we all come out of our rooms kind of at the same time, marching like zombies down uh down, and all of a sudden there's a power outage And it there's no light source in the hall except electric light, and it is pitch black, and suddenly we can't see a thing.

We're trying to get down to breakfast and We are stuck in the total total darkness.

Turns out what happened was that 40 miles away, a squirrel had gotten into a relay station and it chewed through one of the cables up there.

Years ago there was a cartoon about Rocky the Flying Squirrel.

Yeah, this is Rocky the Frying Squirrel, apparently.

If you like your squirrel fried, it's uh well done actually by then Um so I mean you know Karen and I go down the hall I you know I grab her hand I grab a hand and we you know we're down we get down in the lobby turns out I'm holding hands with the guy across the hall.

I didn't realize it was I thought the hairy hand was a little different.

So um But you know what happened that day?

Here's a lesson I learned.

What was the problem?

You said, well it was dark.

Nope.

Dark is always dark.

There ain't nothing unusual about darkness being dark.

The problem that they was the failure of the light.

It wasn't that dark was dark.

When we look around our world and lament what's going on, let me tell you folks, that's not the don't don't curse, don't blame the darkness.

Darkness is going to be dark.

The light is failing.

It's the failure of the light.

So, um Dr.

Martin Luther King said, darkness cannot drive out darkness.

Only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate Only love can do that.

So Jesus said they're going to see your light, and as a result, they'll see your Lord.

That's how it's supposed to be working.

They see your light, they see your Lord.

So here's the question.

Are we an echo of our culture?

We get bombarded with cable news, social media, all kinds of negativity, darkness.

So are we becoming more and more an echo of our culture or a choice?

Are you a choice?

Are you an echo?

of the culture around you.

Jesus said, I want you to be a living choice It's interesting when you look at the negativity and the anger and divisiveness and everything around us.

That there's there's a contagion to it, but Peter of all people told us how we should be making people feel when we tell them about our Jesus.

Now I say Peter of all people.

This is 1 Peter 3.

15.

Because remember, this was the guy that was the wannabe ear surgeon.

Who chops off an ear in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Great Peter.

This is the man who reaches for his sword and Peter and Jesus has said, put your sword away Yeah.

You know what he says?

He says, give a reason for the hope that you have with gentleness and respect.

So the question is, how do you make people feel?

Do they feel they've been treated gently?

Do they feel like they've been treated respectfully?

You know, I I was overwhelmed with all of the tributes to Karen that came my way.

I didn't I mean I wasn't surprised, but I thought I knew about the difference she made.

I didn't know a ton of it.

And I got hundreds.

I got notebooks full of tributes to her.

And they are a common theme.

She made me feel.

She made me feel.

And and it would be things like loved, cared about, important, heard, like I could go on.

Do you know what what if people wrote that about you?

Just put, hmm, makes me feel.

Remember somebody wisely said For all the teaching and talking we do very very people will remember very little of what you said But they will remember how you made them feel.

You think about people who have impacted your life negatively or positively, teachers, family members.

You remember how they made you feel.

You associate that feeling with them.

So how do what would people say about you?

She makes me feel he makes me feel Jesus is going to give us a blueprint so we can get the kind of answers that uh they had about Karen.

Because we are his walking kingdoms Display windows.

Display windows for the beautiful things he does with a life.

We show them this is what it's like to see Jesus in charge of a life.

And that is what will interest them in your Father in Heaven.

So in his Sermon on the Mount, which immediately precedes the verses we read, Our king introduces us to a magnetic difference that draws people to you and to him The Beatitudes.

And you know what I call those who choose to live that way?

The beatifu Because as we go through this, I think you'll agree that most folks, maybe even the church, haven't met a whole lot of folks like this.

So may I welcome you to the Beadafu, the blesseds?

So let's take a look at the second passion that made the early believers, those first believers , Have it so that as it was added to the church daily, daily, daily, people being saved.

When's the last time you saw that?

Daily Every day, new people coming in.

Well, look at the community as it's described in the book of Acts.

It's a living Beatitudes.

They saw it and they wanted it.

So this is what changed the world 2,000 years ago could still change the world.

Starts with each of us making the choice to be that person.

So fasten your seatbelt Before most, oh, and that passion is living a life that's a light.

Last night we said the first passion that drove them 2,000 years ago, that changed the world back then. was the authority that decides the outcomes.

It all belongs to Jesus.

Today it's the life that is a light.

Because before most people will believe in a Christ they cannot see.

They will need to believe in a Christian.

They can sing.

That would be you We um at an Italian restaurant across the street from our Euthor Christ office years ago Tony was the owner and he was always very busy and and and very um uh not easy to talk to And I went in late for lunch one day.

I never stayed very long.

I usually took it with me back to my desk, but I stayed that day and ate there.

And And we I've been going there for a long time.

And so I was paying to a couple other people behind me.

And he said, I want to ask you a question.

Yeah, what you got, Tony?

He said, um, he said, what do you do?

And that's always so fun to explain.

And um so out of nowhere I said, well I'm a manufacturer's representative.

He said, for who?

I said, for the manufacturer.

He said, what do you mean?

Now I'm not making up this conversation.

Only in Jersey, folks.

And and I said, no, well the manufacturer of you and me.

He said, you work for my mother?

I'm not making this up.

I said no no no.

I said this is the manufacturer of your mother and her mother and her mother and her mother He said, that's funny, you don't even look Italian.

I'm not, I'm telling you, this is how it went.

This is straight Jersey, folks.

So I said, no, no, no, I'm talking about the I said, the the the one who made us all the manufacturer of this whole world.

And um, and and he said, oh.

He said, you one of those born-again things?

Are you a born-again thing?

You've never been called a born-again thing.

I said, depends on what you mean by that, Tony.

I said, if you mean, am I in a cult and I have antenna in my forehead?

I said, I'm not that I said, but if by that you mean, by the way, Tony, do you know who said that?

Do you know who made up that phrase?

Born again?

No.

Well, actually, it was Jesus.

Oh.

Yeah, Jesus said that, and he said he used that example to show the difference that he can make in a life because it's like a fresh start, a new start, like being born.

Again.

Something only he can do.

Well, these people behind me are really trying to pay their bill, so we didn't get to go a lot farther that particular day, but he really blew me away with his one last parting comment.

Pick it up another day Tony said, all I know is, every time you come in here, you're always happy.

You know, I thought we really are being watched.

I mean, I'm getting my slice, you know, big deal.

But we're being watched for the difference.

Is it there?

And what are they seeing?

Let's look at the eight superpowers and don't get nervous, they go fast.

Eight superpowers of a magnetic Christian. as defined in what we know today as the Beatitudes, the blessed hours.

Let's take a look at Let's take a look at them right now, and then we're going to slow down just long enough to visit each one of them.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.

His disciples came to him.

He began to teach them.

Now let me just make a point here.

Notice it's when he saw the crowds.

Do you know why that is, I think?

Because they had seen miracles.

But he wanted them to know that what it means to have a relationship with him is more than miracles, more than meetings.

It's choices about the kind of person you are.

So he's like, okay, a lot of people are following me now.

We better stop and let them understand what this is really going to.

All right, now he said, blessed are the poor in spirit.

For theirs is, there it is, the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, hmm, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek.

For they'll inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart. for they will see God.

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

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

Theirs, here we go again, is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me You are the light of the world.

A tower built on a hill, it cannot be hidden.

And then he goes on with not hiding the lamp.

And let them see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

He has just shown us What the Kingdom of Heaven walking kingdom display window is like Um there was a column in a Chicago newspaper some years ago.

And it uh told about uh the colonist told about a uh um reporter that he knows who um had gotten a call from the school.

You never know if that's going to be good news or bad news.

And the teacher said, veteran teacher said, I just I need to tell you about something I saw in the playground today.

You might want to write about it.

This is eighth graders.

And the picture was, you know, you got your little clicks all over the playground.

And one Young man with a lot of disabilities, thick glasses, can't really see very clearly, over by himself as usual.

And everyone 's here buzzing, you know, he's alone.

And suddenly, one of the top athletes in the class, one of the most popular boys leaves his crowd and goes over there.

This is the teacher watching this the whole time.

And he says to the young man with the disabilities, would you like to play catch?

And he said, no, everybody will laugh at me.

I don't think I can do that.

He said, well, don't worry.

He said, if you make a mistake, we all make mistakes.

Don't worry.

So he took a ball and gently lobbed it to him, and the boy threw it back.

And pretty soon some of the other jocks see this going on.

And they come over because they like this guy and they see, well, it's okay for him.

They come over and they they start throwing the ball gently back and forth with this boy Pretty soon like half the playground is over there around the boy who'd been all by himself in the playground.

And that literally changed the way that boy was treated the rest of the school year.

And the teacher said to the reporter on the phone, it's the most moving thing I've ever seen in 28 years of teaching.

That was your son who went over there.

You see When you do it the Jesus way, you become a thermostat instead of a thermometer.

Thermometers just reflect the temperature of the things going on around them.

You're hot, I'm hot.

You're cold, I'm cold.

You're nice, I'm nice.

You share, I share.

You hurt, I hurt But see, if you're a thermostat, you can change the temperature.

In a family, in a classroom, in a locker room, in a gym.

At work.

So here's the temperature we set.

First of all, blessed, and I'm going to say, when Jesus says poor in spirit I say they are selfless.

Poor in spirit actually is the word for beggar.

When you're looking up in the Greek.

And see, we are living in a me first world.

You know, hey, uh, listen, in a conversation, wait a minute, well, well, that's enough about me.

Um, why don't you talk about me for a while?

We are in this totally self-sufficient, self-promoting, self-centered, all about self.

I love the definition that D.

L.

Moody gave about humility.

We have a wrong idea about humility.

We think it's it's saying, I am a worm, I am useless.

Thank you for insulting the God who made you.

He didn't make junk.

No, he said humility is self-forgetfulness.

Poor in spirit is dependent.

Poor people, dependent, humble, admitting your need Bringing nothing.

Needing everything.

Leaving with the kingdom.

That was the equation.

I bring nothing I need everything and I'm leaving with the kingdom as a result.

One of Billy Graham's adult grandchildren asked him , How have you stayed so humble over the years?

And I can say from personal experience, Billy Graham was always all about you.

Never wanted to talk about himself.

How have you stayed so humble over the years, especially in light of all you've accomplished?

His grandson said, he of course doesn't think he's humble.

But he answered, when you start each day in the presence of the living God by praying and reading your Bible, it's hard to go through life feeling big He said, my granddad has shown me by his life that God does everything through people who understand they are nothing. and does nothing through people who think they are everything.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Not self-reliant, but poor and God reliant.

I saw maybe a uh small taste of that on an on Eagles Wings outreach in Maine four or five years ago.

I don't mean to embarrass him, but Weston was doing one of the first gospel wrap-ups.

Our last night is the night of giving a public invitation.

It's a challenge.

Right out in the middle of a reservation setting.

And uh West gave his hope story, went on with the gospel, and invited these young men and women.

It's very hard ground.

Number one, it's New England.

Number two, it's New England Native Americans.

And the response was almost overwhelming.

First thing he did after he was done is he came over to the vehicle I was in.

And um hung his head in the window and just wept for about five minutes, unable to speak And when he could talk, I said, uh Wes, what's going on?

And all he could get out was this.

Why me?

Why me?

I said Wes.

That's why.

Because you're asking that question.

And as long as you keep asking why me, God will be able to use you like this Bringing nothing, needing everything, leaving with the kingdom.

Poor in spirit Then he says, blessed are those who mourn.

I wonder what what's that about?

You know what I think it is?

They are tender-hearted.

Yeah, the people who are lighting up their world are people with in a hard-hearted world where you can be canceled in a minute because you said one wrong word that was taken wrong.

These are people who are tender-hearted, who are not afraid to feel, not afraid to let their feelings be shown.

In Matthew, I think we have this, Matthew 26.

You have that?

Yeah, here we go.

This is the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus knows he is going to melt down there.

There's no other, it's not overstating it to say he was melting down in the Garden of Gethsemane and he doesn't go alone.

He intentionally takes his three guys with him To say who what guy wants to be seen melting down like this?

He says, he took Peter and two sons of Zebedee along with him, began to be sorrowful and troubled.

Boy, you read this in the Greek, it's just.

Awful.

Then he said to them, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Stay here and keep watch with me.

Jesus is not afraid to grieve and feel and be weak and vulnerable.

He in fact brings them along with him.

I wouldn't have done that.

But he's a he is he is he 's not afraid to show his tender heart.

Ephesians 4. 32 says, be kind to one another, tender-hearted to one another, tender-hearted In a harsh, hard-hearted world.

Be vulnerable.

Be approachable.

I keep being told from people who've read, Hope and Your Heart is Breaking.

You gave us permission to grieve.

They said you were so honest and I I was.

I was raw honest about how deep the hurt was.

That was just God writing that through me.

And uh the stories of what's come back are incredible.

Little girl was supposed to be home from school and she wasn't there yet.

Dad was waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.

He's worried, where is this daughter of mine?

Finally she comes home just in time for dinner and he said, Honey, where were you?

A little irritated.

And she said, Well, I stopped at Megan's house Well, why didn't she get home sooner?

Well , her dolly, she broke her dolly Yeah?

So why were you helping her fix her, Dolly?

She said, no, Daddy.

I stayed to help her cry.

Boy, I'll tell you, if you're that kind of person in this kind of world, oh that's light.

That's light.

To help them cry And you can be a harbor for broken hearts when it's pretty hard to find a safe place when you're falling apart.

Thirdly, Jesus said that blessed are the meek.

Now, you know, if you were to draw, if I said draw a picture of meek, you know, someone's like.

Mortar mouse, you know, mousey guy.

That's not what that means.

It is not wimpy weakness.

This is not be a wimp.

It is restrained strength.

It's exercising strength while avoiding harshness.

I mean, what did Jesus say in Matthew 11, 28?

He said, uh 29.

He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in spirit.

He said, I am meek.

Well, if Jesus was meek He wasn't weak, meek.

Don't think just because they rhyme that they're the same thing.

No, he was strong.

He was strong with the truth of the kingdom.

But I think this is, they are gentle.

I remember when um Jordan was um uh oh he was I don't know, three, four years old.

And he was an explorer man.

He would check out every and he would run from one thing to another and pick it up.

And sometimes when he picked up was fragile.

And he would grab he he he he was he's still like this running.

Oh you know his whole it's it might be a family deal.

I don't know what it is, but I mean he's on the go all the time.

But when he was little, he'd like and he'd and he'd he'd grab it.

And sometimes Lisa taught him a word.

She didn't reprimand him.

She just said, Jordan, remember this word.

Gentle.

Gentle.

And if she saw him going for the heirloom vase, she'd go, gento?

Gentle?

He'd go, oh, okay.

That's right.

That could break.

And uh eventually he would say it himself.

He didn't need to be told.

He would go, gentle.

I want to be quick.

I want to grab.

Listen The voice of Jesus is saying to all of us, uh, that person is breakable.

If you only knew their story.

I have found out people's story and I've been so ashamed of what I felt about them and what I thought about them when I heard, when I learned their story I saw the need behind the deed, and it totally changed everything.

Well, you may not hear the story, but listen to the voice of Jesus going, gentle?

She's breakable.

Oh, she may be mean.

She may be tough.

He may be he may he may not look he done gentle at all.

Gentle?

Gentle?

For I am meek and lowly in spirit, he said.

When you take my yoke upon you, that's how you treat people.

And remember what Peter said?

Gentleness and respect?

They're gentle people.

Then he says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

I put down they are passionate.

Listen, when you're hungry , you're not thinking about much else.

I mean, we're passionate about meeting that need, aren't we?

He said, blessed are those who have a hunger. to be more like me, basically.

They are passionate spiritually, which is interesting because we live in a complacent world.

And if you are passionate Spiritually, a passionate person in a complacent world is noticeable.

You're never there You're restless to be better in a complacent world.

Everybody has an appetite for more.

I want more success.

I want more friends.

I want more likes.

I want uh uh more money.

I want more house.

We all have this more thing in us.

When that is directed to righteousness, now my appetite is saying, this is what I want more of.

That's what I want to feed.

That's what I'm hungry and thirsty for.

I want to be more like Jesus than I've ever been before and as much like him as I can be before I meet him.

He said, your appetite for more will be directed to righteousness.

So how are you doing so far?

Selfless?

and hungry for righteousness and tenderhearted gentle.

How are we doing?

Blessed are the merciful.

Here we go again.

We are living in an unforgiving culture, folks.

Good night.

Used to be three strikes and you're out.

Now it's one strike and you're out.

Literally.

You say that everything is a buzzword.

Everything makes somebody mad We can't be like that.

Remember, Lisa?

Show 'em there's another way to be, girl.

They are merciful.

Which is showing kindness.

I look this up.

It is showing kindness towards someone you have the power to punish It's showing kindness towards someone you have the power to hurt.

Mercy is all about restraint.

I could treat you this way.

I might be justified in returning what you're giving me.

But no.

It is a restraint that says, I will give you what you don't deserve, just like God did for me.

I will give you mercy.

Later on, Jesus will give a parable.

And in that parable, he will talk about the king who forgave the servant little and showed him mercy.

And this and the servant who was owed little and couldn't forgive the person that owed him.

He was shown mercy, but didn't give mercy I love what James 2. 13 says.

Mercy triumphs over judgment.

We need to hear that one.

Mercy is more powerful than judgment He said they are pure in heart.

What does that mean?

I said they are innocent.

Did you know that Romans 16, 19 says, be wise about what is good, know a lot about what's good, but be innocent about what is evil.

Our TV show I used to enjoy.

I have to, you know, save them on DVR because you know telling when I'll get time to watch them.

And lately they've just taken a turn for just ugly.

And I had about five of them.

I just, I said, I can't do this.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Delete, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete.

Because you see, blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God.

If you've had a hard time getting your prayers answered If you're having a hard time figuring out God's will, well maybe one of the reasons you're having a hard time seeing God is because there's junk in between.

The pure in heart get a clear view of God, can tell what he wants, will know what he wants.

But you've got junk in your heart.

Your vision is clouded by that.

When Doug was on the Hopi reservation For uh about 12 years when he got there.

I mean the Hopi Reservation is pretty remote.

It's on these high mesas in northern Arizona.

And um I gotta be careful because Tiffany, um, don't get mad at me.

Uh so far I'm okay.

Um and and uh but um You know, if something broke there, took a while usually to get a repair man there.

So Doug was able to use the practical how -to skills that he learned from me Which left him largely paralyzed.

And uh so he said, Dad, I'm just getting cold showers, so I'm not really taking too many It's cold up here right now, and I'm losing friends.

And he said, um, because I just can't, and and I don't know what, well, so well repairman did come.

And uh he said, well Doug, it was pretty easy to fix.

He said, actually, the line From the propane tank to the hot water heater had some soot in the line.

All I had to do was get the soot in the line out.

You know why things might not be working for you?

They're soothing the line.

Now we're back to the founding word of the kingdom of heaven.

Repent.

Maybe there's something you just need to get out of the line right now.

Attitude.

Action.

Treatment of people.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

In a dirty mind and world.

Sorry to pick on Jordan twice.

It's all because he was on the video, but um He uh he was pretty quotable.

Um Rick was having uh one of those nice nighttime conversations, go-to-sleep conversations And Jordan had some concerns, some fears, and Rick said, well you don't have to worry, Jordan, because Jesus loves us and he's in heaven and he's watching over us and taking care of us.

Jordan goes, how can we be sure he sees us?

Okay, could you just take my answer, please?

I just told you, no, he didn't do that.

And um he said, well, because he's up in heaven and he can see everything and he loves us, yeah, he sees us.

And besides, you've asked Jesus into your heart, so he lives in you.

Jordan goes, so I'm Jesus' house?

Yeah.

Uh, is mommy Jesus' house?

Yeah.

Are you Jesus' house?

Yes.

Is Blake Jesus' house?

Well he was too young to know how to accept Jesus.

Not yet.

You know what?

We are all Jesus' house, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

That's not your body to do with what you want to do.

That's not your mind to put into it what you want to put into it.

Those aren't your eyes to look at what you want to look at.

This is his.

Yeah, we're Jesus' house.

Keep it pure.

Pure in heart.

See God Which by the way I think means you have nothing to hide, which is a wonderful way to be.

By the way, the flip side of this, Jesus talks about just a few statements later when he says this.

Anyone looks at a woman lustfully Has already committed adultery.

Boy, was that radical?

Has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

That's the flip side of pure in heart.

I'll tell you this.

Let me say to the men here Guys, if you are truly the pure in heart and you guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life, and you do not let the poison, the junk, the second look, the undressed lady in You'll be one of the few men that a woman can feel safe with, all women.

And not many guys that make a woman feel safe and not checked out, looked over, lusted after.

You'll be one, though.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

For they shall see God.

The peacemakers.

Well think about in a world that's this, oh, we need a few of those on social media.

This is a polarized, tribalized, broken world.

Seems like more than ever It's all about winning.

It's all about putting down the person who doesn't agree.

You know what the Greek word means here?

Peacemakers is joining together what has been separated.

In other words This person, this kingdom of heaven demonstration, cannot leave things broken.

They will do everything they can to fix what is broken I read in a Christian magazine a man knows a leading surgeon.

In fact, she is chief of staff in a major hospital in Georgia.

She's a former missionary doctor at Bangladesh.

He said I asked her, what do you enjoy most about being a surgeon?

She said, I love Saturday nights at the hospital.

When I get to repair all the awful things that happen out there on a Saturday night, I get to help fix so much that is broken, helping fix things that way.

That's part of the gospel, isn't it?

I love fixing what's broken, she said.

Would you be the person that people on all sides of an issue feel safe with?

Yeah, you're the safe person.

Meek, merciful, selfless , safe The peacemakers.

Because you're all about healing.

You're not about winning And it says, blessed are the persecuted for my name's sake.

I said, they are the committed They are in a world of people who fit in when it gets hard, when it gets costly, I will change.

I will be a chameleon.

I'll change colors to fit in But this person is a follower of Christ who is not wishy-washy, who is faithful to him even when it costs them.

And that's impressive.

Now, for the magnetic, what I call beat a few, there's a spring that feeds all their relationships. with the lovable and the unlovable.

I call it proactive love.

What's the opposite?

Reactive.

Not proactive.

Matthew 5, 43.

You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor.

Yeah, be good to the people that are good.

Hate your enemy.

But I tell you, love your enemies.

Love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you.

Is this what you feel like doing?

Remember I said when Jesus is asking us to do things that are counterintuitive?

Counterculture?

This is not what you feel like doing.

That you may be children of your Father in heaven.

He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?

Poor Matthew's writing this down, recording this.

Are not even tax collectors?

He included it.

That's pretty good.

Are not even tax collectors doing that?

And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?

Do not even pagans do that?

Be perfect, therefore, or complete, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

So this is proactive love.

In a world where we wait to see how somebody treats us before we decide how we're going to treat them.

Jesus lifestyle, the kingdom lifestyle, when he is king and he's having it his way in your life.

You already know how you're going to treat them, no matter how they treat you.

This is revolutionary.

This makes you a light.

This makes you the salt that keeps us from being totally rotten.

Everybody else is reacting like crazy.

You don't.

You're proactive.

This different kind of Christian is light wherever they go.

And whoever they're with, and it is a different kind of Christian than many Christians today.

You might be the one person that someone feels safe with.

And that'll make you a life changer.

Hey, I want to give you a fill-in-the-blank.

Just make a make a little thing here You are the light of blank.

Now, if Jesus were saying that to you What tribe of people, what environment are you supposed to be light of?

When he's talking to you Calling you by name, he said, now you, I put you where you are, you are the light of what?

Might be a social media account.

It might be a place you work.

It might be a neighborhood.

It might be in one person's life.

Who or what are you the light of?

What's one of them?

Write it down Let's let's bring this down to our life now.

You are the light of what?

Who?

Where?

When um Karen was taking care of Jordan Blake when they were like four and two or something like that, um she was alone with him in the house and a bad thunderstorm came up.

And every time the thunder rolled and the lightning, they kind of were freaking out.

And Karen was just brilliant in these kinds of things.

She said, tell you what, guys Every time you hear thunder, come to me and I'll give you a thunder hug Get a thunder hug from Noll from Grandma.

And they did.

And they come running.

And they'd come running and get another.

And things were okay after they got the thunder hug.

Folks, we need to be the thunder huggers.

Because people are living in a storm all the time, at home, at work, on social media, everywhere they are, they're living in stormy conditions.

Be the thunder hug.

Come to me.

You'll be cared about, you'll be loved, you'll be heard, you'll be tendered, you'll be gentle, you'll be comforted Man, what a what a who wouldn't want to be around that?

Now, let me just wrap up by saying this.

Jesus radical prescription for change Part of what's radical about it, looking in the face of the Pharisees and the Sadducees who had righteousness down to a T.

When it came to behavior and rules.

But Jesus is not about primarily about changing your behavior.

It's about changing your heart.

Let me give you some examples.

Matthew 12.

You brood of vipers, he said.

This is Jesus talking to the Pharisees.

How can you who are evil say anything good?

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

You want to get an EKG spiritually?

Find out what your heart's like?

Well, if you can listen to a recording of your conversations and even your online words this past week.

What is that indicative of?

What does that say about your heart?

Matthew 15, Jesus says, a good man brings good things out of the goods stored up in him.

And an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart And these defile them.

Jesus keeps hitting this.

And then verse 8, these people honor me with their lips.

They got all the right words.

They sound so picking spiritual, but their heart is nowhere near their lips Their hearts are far from me.

What is he caring about?

That's the problem in our society.

We want to change behavior.

You can't change behavior too.

You change a heart.

And only he can change a heart.

That's why getting the gospel out is the way to change the world.

Because it changes darkness to light in a human heart And the actions follow.

So what I call his mountain manifesto is about what's in your heart.

Did you notice over and over again?

It's all about what's in your heart.

And it requires more than just saying, amen, brother.

Guess what he's calling for?

Repentant choices.

I said in our fourth meal thing last night I was talking to some folks and I said, you know, um what Jesus says is so opposite of our instincts, our background.

Our environment.

You can't just agree with it.

You have to choose it.

You have to boldly Defiantly, choose it.

Meekness, humility, gentleness, mercy, hunger for righteousness, peacemaking.

And what is what is repentance?

Metta noia, change of mind.

For a habit to change, a heart must change.

For a relationship to change, first of all, a heart must change For a family to change, somebody's heart's got to change.

For a community to change Hearts have to change.

Having looked over the Sermon on the Mount and parts I didn't even talk about today, I think we have some what I would call repentance cues.

Questions like this.

Where have I allowed darkness in my heart?

Where am I leaving a relationship broken?

Where have I allowed sinful fantasies into my heart?

Jesus said, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Where have I broken promises?

Where do I harbor a desire to get even?

And then he said, whatever you do to impress people, you already have your reward.

You won't get it in heaven.

Where am I living to impress other people?

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Those who live this way are rare, and things that are rare are exceedingly valuable.

You're a walking kingdom.

Showing what a life can be like when Jesus is king.

And I believe you'll be a magnet.

It draws them to crown him as king On Eagles Wings was finishing an event in North Dakota.

It was our last night.

It was the night we gave the public invitation.

And a storm was brewing, and I mean it looked ugly and it could have really rained out the rest of the night.

Our team got to praying and literally it stopped the storm.

We were able to get to the basement of the church where we were staying, just before it all broke loose.

People had come to Christ, God's work was done that night, and then the storm.

All of a sudden all the lights went out.

It 's everybody's pitch black all of a sudden.

That was the guys, actually, screaming.

So um it was like it was just sudden and it was freaky, you know.

All of a sudden somebody um that found a candle somehow and was able to light one little candle in that room changed everything.

Where there had been chaos, there was now peace.

And where there was fear, there was now everything back to normal.

One little light changed everything.

My friend For your little dark corner of the world with lots of darkness there?

You're the candle in the dark.

You're the light in a dark room.

Don't let anything dim that light Or for God's sake, don't let anything put it out.

Because if your light is dimmer out, It's totally dark.

Let's pray together Just take a moment.

Start a conversation with the Lord to finish later.

I I I don't know how any of us could not have something here that um Needs changing.

Change.

Repent.

Change.

Repent is a change word.

You can talk to him about it more later, but.

You are the light of the world.

Let them see your good deeds.

So they'll know your father in heaven.

This is what it's like to be someone who shows what one life is like when Jesus is King.

They'll probably never see that if they don't see it in you.

Take a minute.

Lord, you uh you see deep down in our hearts.

We've all got the Christian thing down pretty well.

And we love you and do things for you.

Believe all the right stuff.

But There are parts of us where they're not seeing you, they're seeing us.

They're seeing the me, not the messiah.

Help us not be content with that.

And as we start chapter one of volume two May we live as the light you just described for us Reminds us of how much we need you.

Because we can't be like you without you.

It's exciting.

It's exciting that we have more ground to get with you, which means we're going to go deeper with you than we've ever gone before.

And our great adventure is not all behind us.

Maybe the best of our great Jesus adventure is just ahead.

I have the joy of praying in Jesus' name.

Amen.