The Favor of God Will Change Your Life! (Have The Right Attitude & Remain Faithful!)

the bible teaches about a lot of things the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ the bible teaches us about the beginning of time and how creation was formed were given the ten commandments we are introduced to many different characters in the bible from moses noah jonah elijah and esther in the word of god shares parts of their lives with us so that we can learn from them and see how god worked through them we're told amazing stories of faith stories of absolute trust in god and on the opposite end we can read stories about disobedience and sin in the book of revelation we're told of the future we're told of the return of jesus christ now in all the teachings that can be found in the bible there is one teaching that we don't tend to explore as much as others and what i mean about this is that we love to read about the lives of people like daniel and how he went into the lion's den david going up against goliath souls turn around to him becoming paul but there are certain passages of scriptures that aren't as popular these days but are vital to our lives as christians passages like hebrews 9 verse 27 would say and as it is appointed for men to die once but after this the judgment or proverbs 28 verse 13 which reads he who covers his sins will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy these are scriptures that aren't here for our entertainment but rather to remind us that we ought to strive to live lives that are free from sin because we will one day have to stand before the lord and be judged now there is one passage of scripture which i would like to highlight today and this passage of scripture is concerning our attitude in fact the word of god calls them the beatitudes these are the hallmark traits of a true christian and i want you to critique yourself against this list how does your life measure up to this teaching by jesus what are you lacking where do you need the grace of god think about that and reflect on these beatitudes as i read them matthew chapter 5 verse 3 to 11 [Music] blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god [Music] blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account do you hunger and thirst for righteousness are you pure in heart are you a peacemaker people of god the answers may be uncomfortable but we need to be honest with ourselves because god sees that which is hidden he sees the heart do you desire to be blessed by the lord of course we all desire to live blessed lives we all desire to have the favor of god in our lives but what does the bible say about blessings allow me to share a few scriptures with you jeremiah 17 verses 7 through 8. blessed is the man who trusts in the lord whose trust is the lord he is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes for its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought for it does not cease to bear fruit take note of that the bible is saying when you trust in god you are blessed when you rely on god you're blessed when you have faith in god you are indeed blessed now psalm 1 verses 1-3 says blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law he meditates day and night he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper so based on this passage of scripture you are blessed when you don't follow the advice of the wicked you're blessed when you don't listen to the counsel of the ungodly when you don't give ear to those who do evil you are blessed when you don't stand in agreement with those who take pleasure in evil and the reason that you're blessed when you separate yourself from evil is because bad company corrupts good character light and darkness cannot be in partnership and so from both passages of scripture that i've shared with you jeremiah 17 7 tells us that trusting in the lord brings blessings psalm chapter 1 tells us that staying away from evil company brings blessings now what i want you to really grasp is the cause of the blessings when jesus is central in your life when you have given him the throne to your heart then not only do you trust him not only do you have faith in him but you become protective in the sense that you guard your heart you guard your eyes and ears because you don't want to give the devil any room to discourage you or for him to have the opportunity to chip away at your faith blessings don't come because of what you do blessings come because of who you have in your heart and so to each and every one of us we should not chase blessings we should chase jesus christ chase the one who can bless rather than chasing the individual blessings chase jesus christ our lord brings blessings with him jesus christ brings blessings of peace with him he brings the blessing of joy the blessing of eternal life so chase god not the blessings [Music] [Music] you