Beatitudes

What it Means to be Blessed

Aug 24 2017

What it Means to be Blessed

(audio sermon by Gary Sampson)

Old Testament material blessing is a sign post to New Testament spiritual blessing. Jesus, Mary, Paul, the Twelve had little materially, but much spiritually.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Speakers notes follow – More

What it means to be blessed

May 8 2014

What it means to be blessed

Psalm 1:1-6, Matthew 5:3-12

Why do we say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes? Apparently it comes from the time of the Bubonic Plague in 590 AD. Sneezing was the first sign that you had the killer disease and Pope Gregory ordered that the sick stand in lines to receive a blessing in the hope that they would be healed. But here we are hundreds of years later still saying ‘bless you’ and there is no plague! We bless the sneezing person as a matter of tradition. But it isn’t the only time the word ‘blessed’ is used in such a frivolous way. In some church circles now days when someone says, ‘Hi how are you’ the response is a traditional ‘I am blessed brother.’ Usually the person says it without even thinking what they’ve said. So I want to address this question today: What does it mean to ‘be blessed’ – what does the Bible say about it? More

The Blessed Attitudes

Sep 6 2013

The Blessed Attitudes

Matthew 5:1-16 The Beatitudes of Christ

The church has often associated blessing with abundance, but in the Beatititudes Jesus associates it with lack. He says blessed are the poor in spirit (those who lack confidence), blessed are those who mourn (those who have lost something), blessed are the meek (those who hold back), blessed are those who hunger for righteousness (those who admit they lack righteousness), blessed are the pure in heart (those who are pure inside where it’s not often noticed), blessed are the peacemakers (those who sacrifice self to unite with others), blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness (those who lack comfort in their stand truth).
Jesus taught this to his disciples while on a hill watching the crowds gather to hear him. And it seems that he was comparing the oppressed crowd before him with the civil and religious rulers who imposed themselves upon them. More

1 2