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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.
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Psalm 34:18 says, the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such with a contrite spirit. But guess who's comforted those first who mourn? Those that admit it, that can feel it, they don't medicate it, they don't run from it, but they take a moment, yeah, this is what I did. And this was the outcome of what I did. God, I own it, but I give it to Jesus on the cross. Repentance is simply saying, lord, I did it. I'm changing my mind about it, and I give it to Jesus on the cross. Are you with me with that? Now, if you're really walking with the Lord, I mean truly walk. I'm not talking about, you know, these folks, they call themselves. I'm talking about real followers of Jesus. We'll all go through seasons of brokenness. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. And our breaking is part of the making. Then he goes on. He said the next step. He said, blessed are the meek. And we talked about the fact that meekness is not weakness. In the Greek, it's praus. Praus. And what that term means is strength under control. It's the powerful picture of a mighty stallion, a mighty ox that does what it's trained to do instead of using its strength to run wild. A horse with its 'Thousand, some are £2,000, but, you know, 800 to a thousand typical pounds of muscle could very easily throw off its rider. There's no human being that could stop, literally a horse that doesn't want to be stopped. So in those moments when you recognize meekness is when Jesus was before Pilate, and he said, you know, Pilate, I could call 12 legions of angels, but he said, instead, not my will, thine be done. So meekness is even though you have the ability to do something about your situation, but if God says no, if God says, wait, you wait. So a meek person is one who could deal with the fact that life doesn't always go their way, but it keeps moving forward anyway. But Jesus said, come unto me, all you who labor, and a heavily, I'll give you rest, for I am meek and lowly. When Jesus describes himself, he calls himself what meek Jesus could have become the greatest world leader we had ever seen. He could have created the airplane. He could have created rockets. I mean, Jesus could have done anything he wanted to. But he walked by foot. He submitted to a cross. Meekness is not weakness. Jesus was a carpenter by train. He had strong hands. He was a strong man. That's why they were surprised that he died so early. If he was that weekly thing we see, you know, the pictures drawn on the various cathedrals, he couldn't have last, you know, Ah, they hurt me. No. Jesus was strong enough to endure the beating, all the blood that was lost. Then they beat him up physically, the Bible said. Then they beat him with a stick. Then they crucified him. So meekness is an important characteristic in a believer's life. And all meekness really is is your ability to control your passions. Now watch the promise connected with meekness, for they shall inherit the earth. So the mindset of the meek is, I'm not going to give up what God has for me to get even with you. Am I the only one that has had to learn? Sometimes it's better to bite your tongue than eat your words. We gotta stop letting our emotions overpower our good judgment. It's something I've learned through my pilgrimage and my journey. When you're hungry, when you're angry, when you're lonely, when you're tired, all those initiatives mean some halt. Slow down, take a minute, breathe, collect yourself. Otherwise you're about to give the greatest speech you'll ever regret. It's going to get worse before it gets better. We got to climb. We got to climb this ladder, but I got to do my job and get you there. Verse 6. Then he moves us to the next rung. He said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You know, hunger and thirst are natural. It's intense, it's motivating. But hunger and thirst is also a sign of health. And when you lose your hunger and thirst for God and the things of God, it lets you know something is wrong. You know, if I went two or three days without eating, it would let me know something is wrong. And what happens is our lives begin to gradually fade away the moment we stop caring about things God created us to care about. Blessed are those who keep their hunger, who have a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Is that what it says? Not just a hunger and thirst for a new car, new house, new girlfriend, boyfriend. Those things are good in their place. But their chief hunger is to be right with God in areas that we're not. And you know, a lot of us, we kind of just kind of go with the flow and we've lost our appetite and we don't realize the loss of appetite is a sign of illness. But God wants to bring us back to our senses and give us our appetite back. Watch the promise, for they shall be filled. Now here's the deal. The self righteous are already so filled with their righteousness, they have no room in their belly for God's. But never lose your hunger. And then he pushes us to the next rung on the Ladder. He says, blessed are the merciful. Now we reach halfway. We're halfway up Jacob's Ladder. This is the fourth blessing. And up to this point, most of the Beatitudes about getting our hearts right before God. But once we reach this step on the Ladder, it's mostly dealing with our interactions with other people. So just like the cross is horizontal and vertical, you gotta get your relationship with God right. How many of y'all know some super spiritual people? They're the meanest people. I mean, they talk about Jesus all the time, you know, all this stuff and got them titles and all the rest. And they say they got it right. But the problem is the cross not only has a vertical beam, it has a horizontal beam. You know, if you really got it right with God, you're going to get along with the people in your life, you understand? So you got to get along with people who are your peers and God who is in heaven. He said, blessed are the merciful people who are perceptive to the pain and the suffering and the hurts of others. Those who have been humbled on the first rung of the Ladder by realizing their poverty of spirit. But then they had the courage to step to the second rung of the Ladder. And they mourned as they saw the impact of their sin, their choices and their mistakes in life. And. But God comforted him and kept him on that second rung. And then they moved to the third rung of the Ladder. And in that rung they suffered temptation, but they still showed meekness and obeyed God. They were pulled in all these directions, but they still went God's way and said, not my will, God, thy will be done. And now we're at the fourth blessed are the merciful. You see, spiritual growth is not an event. You know, as anointed as you know, God has made others in the body of Christ. As whatever God's done in my life as your bishop, let me tell you something. It's very, very important. Maturity or growth in the Lord is not an event. It is a process. No one will ever be able to lay hands on you. And you just automatically Go up. It's a process. And you gotta go through seasons. You gotta take steps. Every step is dependent on the previous step as we climb this ladder. Blessed are the merciful. Jesus said this. He said, whoever is forgiven little loves little. And what he was saying is folks that understand the magnitude of the chasm between them and God and recognize that Jesus was the bridge over troubled waters. He laid his body down to connect both sides. God in heaven and man on earth. And those of us that think, well, you know, I'm better than the next person and you know, I'm a pretty good. You don't get it. But when you really step on that first rung of the ladder and you realize your poverty, you realize your need. You recognize the level of forgiveness God has extended you. When you realize that you could be more patient, more loving to others. And the reason I do what I do, I don't have to do what I do anymore in my life. But because he loved me, he forgave me. I owe him. I am indebted. I live my life trying to fulfill a date, debt and obligation to fulfill my calling. Because while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. And I know. And in fact, if he showed me everything, I'd probably just die. But he gave me glimpses of how bad it was and how deep a ditch I was in. But he reached down and he saved me. And it makes me grateful. So I worship out of gratitude. I preach out of an indebtedness I give because I'm thankful. Not because I could ever earn what God has done for me, but because of his goodness. Is anybody in the room listening this morning? Blessed are the merciful. Now we need to or we ought to call things what they are. Mean, baby. That's not for you, daughter. No. That's not God's plan for you. No, son, you need to stay in your lane. You need to call things what they are. But don't you ever look down your nose and start to gloat. Keep your words sweet because you may have to eat them. Blessed are the merciful. The merciful are folks that don't expect too much. Those are folks that get over small things quickly. But here's the promise. For they shall obtain mercy. And once again, when you remember your first step that time, you realize your sin, in need of a Savior. And you experience the mercy of God for yourself. And you reflect the process that you've been on. You can't look down your nose at anybody. Cause you know how easily you could have been blown off that ladder, you know that it wasn't. In your own strength. You got to wherever you are today. And what you need to keep in mind is whether you drown in 10ft of water or water a mile deep, you're equally dead. I don't care how much better you are than the person next to you, you are dead. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. And just because you might have been a little bit better than me doesn't mean that Jesus didn't have to come down for you. Jesus still had to pay a debt he didn't owe because you owed a debt you couldn't pay. I'm talking about Jesus right now. And as we get to verse 8, I want you to to again reflect on the fact that he didn't start with blessed are the pure. Because like I said, not everybody be able to make it. That's a step too high. But I could deal with my poverty. I could see that right from where I am. That's the first step. God will meet you right where you are. But the Greek here for pure, speaking of an undivided heart, a heart that is clear in its affections, straightforward in its focus. He's talking about a heart without mixture. Scripture likens our faith to gold. And gold is one of the few things in nature that when we put it in fire, it becomes more valuable. And in this or on this step of the ladder, this is when everything in your life seems to go wrong. And you say, lord, I made so much progress. I thought you loved me, and I thought you were for me. And Lord, if you love me, wouldn't everything be perfect? Wouldn't? No, no, no, no. God loves you so much that he begins to purify. And I've used this illustration once before. There's a goldsmith that was teaching an apprentice, and the goldsmith would heat the gold up. And as the gold was heated, the impurities in the gold would come to the surface. And he swiped the impurities off the top of the gold. And he'd do this over and over and over again. And sometimes he might have done it seven or eight times. Other times he did 10, 11 times. It kind of depended on the level of impurity that was in the gold. And the apprentice was trying to figure out, well, I got to do this after you. Well, how do I know when the gold is done? And the goldsmith said, well, when I can see my reflection in the gold, so there's no more black on the top. When you boil it up, it's gold. And by the way there, gold mirrors it. You can see reflection in gold. And what God is saying to us is he's not through with the fire until he could see his reflection. He could see his face in you. Instead of tests and trials, the destroying the believer, all it does is increase the quality of our faith. Blessed are the what? Pure in heart, as with the poor in spirit. I want you to notice the location of the purity. You see, your heart is the most valuable thing you have in your life. And because of that, God will put your heart through a. Through the fire, to make it pure, to make it single, to refocus it, to make it more spiritually productive. The fire is not God's rebuke, it's really his love. I want you to be more valuable to your children, more valuable to your church, more valuable to the people in your life. You say, Bishop, that's your opinion. Proverbs 4:23. Solomon says, above all else, above everything else in your life, you need to learn to do one thing. Guard your heart. We only guard what's valuable. And if it wasn't valuable, he wouldn't tell us to guard it. The most valuable thing you possess in your life is your heart. He said, above all else, guard your heart. For everything you do flows from your attitude. So you could do the right thing with the wrong attitude and poison what you do. And you can do the right thing, but don't even get it all right. But you have such a right attitude, God gives you a pass. You lose when you let your enemy make you as bitter as they are. The goal of what the devil is doing is to make you as nasty and as mean, as critical as he is. Don't give him the joy of seeing you that way. He said, blessed are the pure in heaven. Watch the promise. For they they, not everybody, but they shall see God. God's reward to the pure in heart is the ultimate reward. They can see God. They can see God in a baby smile. They can see God in a child taking care of an aged parent. They can see God in someone who doesn't have a lot but still gives much. The pure in heart can see God in creation. The pure in heart can see God in others. Though it's difficult at times to see. The pure in heart can see God in scriptures, and the pure in heart can even begin to see God in themselves. But it takes a refining process for God to get us here. And then he moves on to the final rung on the ladder. Now, I said there are eight steps, but there's really seven. And the eighth is the benediction, but we'll see that in just a second. Blessed are the peacemakers. Billy Graham said, to be a peacemaker, you must know the peace giver. These are those who use their time, treasure and talents to be channels and instruments of God's peace on earth. Now, there are people that will compromise anything and just about everything not to be criticized and to keep peace. But a true peacemaker is a person that by this level has earned enough respect from a life well lived to make peace. These are folks that you know. You still face conflict even though you're a peacemaker, but you have learned to overcome evil with good. So evil comes your way, but you overcome evil with good. At the cross, we threw all our evil on Jesus, but on the third day, he rose from the grave and overcome evil with, yep, good. They remember that Jesus was willing to take blows from both sides. They're willing to put themselves in the middle of the conflict. And just as Jesus took blows from humanity, the Romans, at the instigation of the Jews, put him on the cross. But then God laid on him the sin of the world. And he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God turned his back and he was on the cross alone. And he took blows from both sides. And if you're gonna be a peacemaker, sometimes when you get in the middle of a conflict, you gotta take blows from both sides. Sides. But the peacemaker, when you reach that level, you have really reached the highest level of all the Beatitudes. When it doesn't matter what they think of you or they think of you, it's about God. Your will be done. Lord. Lord, help me reconcile this issue to your glory and your care. And watch what this final group is called for. They shall be called. Watch this. Sons of God, not that called himself. Now, everybody, you might have the bumper sticker, but I don't know what they calling you in traffic because some of y'all need to take that bumper sticker off because of what you do. For they shall be called the sons of God. When you reach this level, you no longer have to convince people you follow Jesus. They can see it. They may not be able to explain it, but down in their bones they know you are different. At this level, you stop fighting petty battles with petty people. Your only motivation is to know God and to make God known. It's a high place and it would be good if he stopped here. But he didn't. He said, blessed, happy, enviable, fortunate and you're going to see blessed twice when it speaks of this subject of persecution. How many of y'all want to hear about persecution? Be honest. No, you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't. But it's good medicine. Watch this. Blessed are those who are persecuted. This verse used to get me mad. Like, Lord, I'm not built like that. Listen, Lord, I'll train like Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly, Leroy Green. Remember the Last Dragon? Yep. Y'all know? Yeah. Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris, all of them put together. Just let me knock a brother out every now and then. God, don't. You know, everybody don't understand. Nice. But if you really traveled up this ladder and you discovered your own personal poverty, you've really spent some time weeping over your sins. You know what it's like to obey when you've been tempted. You know what it's like to hunger and thirst for righteousness. You were merciful and forgave even when it was hard. You faced your own heart, dealt with your impurities, and you followed after peace. And after you've traveled that journey, you remember, you know what? You've been wrong, too. And if God would have knocked you out, you wouldn't be here. If God would have struck you dead, you wouldn't. You wouldn't be here. So they just on a different level of the ladder, and you start to learn to be patient. He said, blessed are the persecuted for righteousness sake. I said it wrong, but you know what I mean. Jesus adds a qualifier. Don't be mean to people and call it persecution. It's not persecution when you don't pay your bills and a repo man shows up. It's not persecution when you gossip and you get fired or you come out and someone keys your car. What Jesus is saying is, as you climb this ladder, everyone is not gonna get you. Everyone's not gonna like you as you climb. But you have climbed too high to come down. You've come too far to only come this far. Jesus is saying, in order for you to fight the good fight and win, you gotta learn how to roll with the punches, roll with the punch, roll with the punch punches. And it kind of completes the circle here. Because the poor, it said, for theirs is the king of poor in heart. But then he says, here, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He completes the cycle and he takes us back to where we started. And I find in life, you know, God will. Certain things are. Certain steps I kind of forget, and that got away from me. And he'll take Me right back there to take me, take me through it. But let me tell you something. If all you have is the kingdom, you are right, rich. It's the sweetest type of poverty if all you have is God's kingdom. But going through these steps is just proof that you're not a counterfeit. Now, I said in the earlier messages that this was spoken to Jesus disciples. The context. He was speaking to learners, people that were trying to do this thing. Not just someone wanted to hear, you know, ah, this is exciting. Oh, that's exciting. No, someone that wanted to learn something. And he was saying, these steps, these are the marks of discipleship. And if they're seen in your life, you are not a counterfeit. You have truly entered the kingdom. And then he continues, and then I'm going to be done. Blessed are you when they revile you. Jesus came down from heaven, but Jesus is also streetwise. Jesus knows haters come with the territory. And he knew that all persecution wasn't going to be you put in prison, you beat up. He knew a lot of it was gonna be verbal. So he said, blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you. You see, jealousy is the best compliment you can receive. I was struggling in a period cause I had these folks I didn't even understand. I didn't even think I had nothing. And I was dealing with issues. And God spoke to my heart. He said, boy, no one would be jealous of you if you ain't have anything. So jealousy is a compliment. And when folks begin to bite at you and criticize, it means you got something. And it makes them feel insecure because of what you got. You know, I think you need to write all your haters a letter. Dear haters, just be patient. God has so much more for you to be mad at. God is just getting started. And if it impacts you that way, I'm sorry. But I'm gonna keep growing. I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep doing what the Lord has called me to do. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Again, I know this is hard, but you got to put your big boy pants on. You got to know vengeance is the Lord. He says, I will repay. God will work it out. I have. I have been young, but now I've grown a little bit older. And I ain't never seen the righteous forsaken. God will see to you. He will turn it around. He will work it out. If you Let him, if you let him. And he said, rejoice, because you have a different perspective. You know that God's got it. Listen, the Romans persecuted Paul, put him in prison. Same thing with Peter. They killed. They killed a disciple, all the rest of the stuff. But guess what? In just a matter of a couple centuries, all of Rome was Christian. God knows how to turn a thing around. And listen, just because it's painful doesn't mean it's not God. See, I don't know, you say. I don't want to say. Amen to that. Listen, Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow him. But the reason that Scripture messes with us is because we don't realize Jesus won on the cross. He endured the cross for the glory that was set before him. Billions of people now call that man nobody knew, born in that unknown part of the world. Call him Lord. Jesus didn't lose at the cross. On the third day, he got up and he win. He won. So if God tells you to take up your cross, he expects you to win too. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Put in common vernacular, let your hater become your motivator. For great is your reward in heaven. The more difficult the journey, the sweeter the reward. But watch this. When you climb the ladder this high, you step into a different class of people. For so they persecuted the prophets of old. So as I end here instead of the ladder, I want to switch the analogy here to links in a chain. If you let God build in you each of these areas, you become a link from the present to the prophets of old. What was on Elijah, what was on Daniel, what was on David begins to come on you. Now, we talked about this maturing process, and Jesus ends with talking about persecution. And it seems a little hard and harsh, but some say Nelson Mandela said this. Some say Gandhi said. I don't know who said this, but someone that was seasoned conflict in change made this statement. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you. And it's difficult when people laugh at you, but then they fight you. So by the time you get to the seventh rung, you got some real enemies. People don't fight. You know, somebody that's not worthy of their opposition, they fight you because you're a threat. The devil sees you as a threat. If he's fighting you and what God's trying to say, expect there to be challenges, expect there to be a fight. But then he ends. Then you win. Let me say it again. First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you, then they fight you. But then you anybody in this room want to win? Anybody on a journey to be successful in the Lord.
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Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember, you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Greer Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. Get started by visiting Derekrer.com by clicking the link in the description.