Water City Church

Closing message in our series recentering on the Beatitudes. This week, we sit with the question: What is persecution in our actual context? The Kingdom of Heaven is not fragile. The kingdom of God will not be defeated. The kingdom is still open to all. “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are...

Luke 24 "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.  So I will pray that you trust God.” Mother Teresa

John 20 - Faith comes before understanding... "Almost nothing that makes any real difference can be proved.  I can prove the law of gravity by dropping a shoe out the window.  I can prove that the world is round if I’m clever at that sort of thing – that the radio works, that light travels faster than sound.  I cannot prove the greatness of the great or the beauty of the beautiful.  I cannot...

“And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume...” Mary took the most precious thing she possessed and spent it all on Jesus. Love is not love if it nicely calculates the cost.  It gives its all, and its only regret is that it has not still more to give.

Guest Speaker: Rachel Yokers

It’s the most demanding of all the Beatitudes, because there is no hiding. “Rules for Self-Discovery: 1. What we want most; 2. What we think about most; 3. How we use our money; 4. What we do with our leisure time; 5. The company we enjoy; 6. Who and what we admire; 7. What we laugh at. A. W. Tozer

Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” Harper Lee,  To Kill a Mockingbird

"No one is just one thing, even the worst of us.  That doesn’t excuse anyone’s behavior, but it does complicate a narrative we might otherwise want to make very simple.”                                                                         MikeCosper, Land of my Sojourn

Jesus' words, "Blessed are the meek," are a counter voice to the growing number of angry alpha pseudo-religious. They are an invitation... They are a challenge... They are healing... “We may say as a general rule for life that it is never right to be angry for any insult or injury done to ourselves – that is something that no Christian must ever resent – but that it is often right to...

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4 "Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break,"  Shakespeare, Macbeth

As a follower of Christ, what is our place in this moment? The way of the Kingdom of God is a different path. “Blessed are the poor. Blessed are you who are conscious of your lack of merit and readily open yourselves to the divine mercy.”
 Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish

Before Jesus ever began his sermon, the disciples first came to him. Are we willing to come to Jesus... even when that means God is going to disrupt our lives?

Matthew 2 The Joy of the Magi is on display, contrasted against Herod's rage. “Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful p...

Herod the Great is yet another example of the anti-peace of this world. Matthew 2:1 - 18 "It is clear how such a man would feel when news reached him that a child was born who was destined to be king.  Herod was troubled, and Jerusalem was troubled, too, for Jerusalem knew well the steps that Herod would take to pin down this story and to eliminate this child.  Jerusalem knew Herod, and Jerus...

Luke 1:5–25 “Blessed are the ears which hear God’s whisper and listen not to the murmurs of the world.” Thomas A’ Kempis

Matthew 18:26 - 35 There are times when the most loving and Christlike thing you can do is say:  “I forgive you…but this relationship has to change.”

Jesus is teaching us to pray in all directions:   The Now:       Give us today our daily bread.  The Past:      And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  The Future:    And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

“One of the most curious facts of the Gospels is that there is no definition of the Kingdom.  The Kingdom is described in pictures and in analogies and in its demands and effects, but it is never in so many words defined.” William Barclay

In prayer, as in life, knowing God shapes all that follows. “To hallow God’s name means to treat His name as ultimate, as weighty – to center our entire being around who He is, not to reduce Him to a category of convenience.” Tim Mackie

“We live, as Jesus lived, in a world all too full of injustice, hunger, malice and evil.  This prayer (The Lord's Prayer) cries out for justice, bread, forgiveness and deliverance.  If anyone thinks those are irrelevant in today’s world, let them read the newspaper and think again.” N.T. Wright 

Guest Teacher: Rachel Yokers

In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher declares that limitations point to the meaninglessness of life. Yet, rightly understood, these limitations actually draw us into a life of true meaning.

Ecclesiastes teaches us that joy is God’s gift, even in the midst of life’s contradictions. “Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel...

How are we to navigate this present moment? What are our fixed points? The ancient paths - Love God, Love others AND Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Jesus says all the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in these. “Those who lead disorderly lives tell those who are normal that it is they who deviate from nature, and think they are following nature themselves; just as those who ar...

“Happiness can be found neither in ourselves nor in external things, but in God and in ourselves as united to him.”
 - Blaise Pascal Ecclesiastes 1 “I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” - Richard Feynman