Valleyview Friends Church

Jesus is asking us to be salt and light with authenticity in our living, honesty in our testimony, frankness in our worship and intentionality in our holiness.

Big Idea: The beatitudes are Jesus’ way of saying that door to God’s kingdom is open to all, that what we value is often very different from what God values, they tell us of the deep satisfaction God offers to each of us and they call us to a holy life.

God gives us a prescription for the peace of God in our lives: Rejoice in the future promises as good as they are, and rejoice in our present circumstances however difficult they may be.

Ruth 4 calls each of us to act as redeemers in our lives, families and communities seeking to break the cycles of the past and to trust in the future God has for us. Big Idea: You and I are called by God to receive and join his plan to break cycles of sin, build the kingdom and live so that generations are blessed by your choices.

One of the holiest decisions you make is to walk the way of honoring God when everyone else says that way is foolish.

Be a Boaz. Use all that God has given you to bring others into the family of God.

Devotion says never give up. In the our case it says never give up on God and who he says you are.

Your decisions are holy and have the power to welcome the hand of God or the hardship of sin into your world.

Holy living results when you have counted the cost of following Jesus.

The Christian has the hope of Jesus no matter what story they find themselves in.

The Christian is called to live in a way that all their thoughts and actions are pleasing to the Lord.

Easter invites you to see the risen Jesus and join his kingdom. As I read the scripture text for today I want you to pay particular attention to all the seeing that happens. You will hear in particular two words, look and see. On Easter morning people were looking for the crucified Jesus but they get the opportunity see the risen Jesus, now they must decide what to believe and what to do.

The story of the triumphal entry asks us to put aside our demands and expectations of Jesus and asks us to see and receive Jesus for the King and Savior he is.

Your greatest calling is to love one another with the love of Jesus that is sacrificial and redemptive.

You must be wary of guilt and shame, more than any emotion they have the power to drive you away from God and the people you love, but they also can alert you to the need to repair your relationship before its too late.

Biblical grief draws you into the presence of God and invites you to depend upon God. Biblical grief opens your eyes to the good gifts of God. Biblical grief does not ask you to forget those you love, but Biblical grief gives you a way forward, to live, to be blessed even after loss.

When it comes to anger You have a choice: Let your anger be a destructive force bringing out the worst in you, or strive for godly anger that is born out of love seeking the best for others by rescuing, protecting and building them up.

Fear is a terrible master that robs your life, however fear is meant to point you to God and deepen your faith.

If you want to taste forgiveness and the life it brings you need to submit to Jesus. God calls you to put off your old self, to renew your mind and then to put on Christ. Only then can you be a person marked by forgiveness. A person who is renewed by both receiving and giving forgiveness.

Barriers to forgiveness choke relationships and threaten the joy of life. These barriers must be addressed directly, judiciously and without delay. The good news is many of these barriers are in your control, the bad news is that some of them can only be addressed by the other and the best news is that God has handled the barriers that are impossible for you and me.

Real forgiveness is biblical, cross shaped, it identifies the truth of the matter, views the wrong doer with empathy, cancels the debt and seeks reconciliation.

You need forgiveness, it is essential to life. Without forgiveness the past becomes your master, bitterness will devour your life, lastly outrage and revenge become your default.

The Christian is to live a holy life as a witness, to show others the life they are really meant for and who they really are before God.

The Christian, really everyone, should take seriously the business of holiness, it is our eternal vocation.

As we encounter what the Bible has to say about the holiness of God we should grow in our response to God, our awareness of our sin and our hunger for God.