The Goodness of God - Part 16 - The Beatitudes, Part VI

♪ We're living in victory ♪ The battle's won in victory ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We're living in victory ♪ Through our Lord Jesus Christ ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee

♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way ♪ New Orleans, Tennessee ♪ We've overcome whatever comes our way Peace and quiet. To rest, to peace, amen? Peace and quiet. The first part, Irene, means peace. The second part, Pollo, means to make. We are supposed to make peace, amen? A true peacemaker does not unite themselves with error, with lies, manipulation. That's a problem with a lot of governments and politicians. They make these deals and before you know it, they're getting off. They go in with the right intentions, the right heart, and all of a sudden they start making these off-sided deals. Before you know it, they've got themselves in a quandary, a position that they wish they weren't in. But it's because they weren't led by God. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 34,

he did not come to bring peace but a sword. What? He didn't come to bring peace? I thought he was the Prince of Peace. A lot of people have said, oh, this is confusing. No, you don't understand the Word. There's nothing that contradicts itself in the Word. If you see a contradiction in the Word, you need to ask the Lord to give you light, to give you revelation of it. Isaiah 9, 6 calls him. It said, and his name shall be called, wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, amen? This is not a contradiction. But how can he be the Prince of Peace but he brought a sword? You know, we had a governor and a president years ago, talk quietly but bring a big stick. Amen. The more strength you've got, the more quiet you can be. That's why we need God on our side. Ultimate strength. Ultimate power. Amen. And walk in peace. It's quite simple to think about this if you understand it. How Jesus can be called the Prince of Peace, but He also has a sword. And He draws His sword in the interest of peace. Well, that didn't make sense. Oh yeah, it does. Think of this. There are so many people that are so full of pride, hate, bitterness, no love, no humility. And they need contained. Amen. Iran, Persia. Leaders killed their own people for control, for their own ideals, for money, for evil ideas. No, they need controlled. If you had a cancer, as I mentioned this in the last message, if you had a cancer tumor in your body, you would want it removed before it spread, before it took over and destroyed your whole body. Cut it out. If you want peace in your body from cancer, you need to get it out. You need to get

it cut out dead. Amen. Which is why they go in, they cut out a tumor so that you can have it out of your body and be in peace. You say, well, where's the scripture to back all this up? I'm sure glad you asked because we're going to go into that. Jesus came to bring peace by going to the cross where He was beat, pierced in the side, became sin and went to hell. How is that peace? Because if you look at the end results of Him being raised from the dead after He bought and paid for all of our sin that we are redeemed from the curse of the law, man, we can enter peace and peace eternity, have peace with God. Because of that, we receive Jesus and confess our sins. We are made right. We are made in peace, right standing with God. Glory to hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. So when you surrendered your life to Jesus, and if you haven't, you really need to before someone does cut you and you take out of this world and meet your creator. You don't want to meet the creator, the judge, without being received by Jesus as a son of God. Amen. When you surrendered your life to Jesus, He took your sin. You could look at that as He cut your sin away. He washed it totally clean, totally out. He washed it away. Amen. Colossians 1 20. And having made peace, hence we are peacemakers. He made peace through His blood on His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. Colossians 1 20. He was beat, He was stabbed, went to hell so that we could be reconciled with God. Amen. Making peace with us in God even though we were traitors, even though we sinned, came short. Glory to God. Romans 5 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ because of what He did. He became a peacemaker. We're supposed to be like Him. Matthew 11 12 says, And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. We're supposed to take things by force? Well, what does that mean? The NLT. I think it gives you a better better understanding of it. Matthew 11 12 in the NLT says, And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing. We're supposed to be forcefully advancing and violent people are attacking it. They're attacking. They're trying to shut down the word from going forth. I'm going to read it out of the Amplified. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Oh, I'm getting some light on this. The Lord's helping me. What about you? I'm going to walk in peace. I'm going to be a peacemaker. Amen. Just like my heavenly Father. Just like Jesus. Matthew 11 12 in the Amplified says, Truly I tell you among those born of women here, there is not anyone risen greater than John the Baptist yet who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Well, glory to God. And from the days of

John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault and violent men seize it. By force, as a precious prize, a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exercise." Oh, fight. Fight the good fight of faith, amen? We need to resist the enemy, glory to God. We need to humble ourselves, resist the enemy, trust God. If God is for us, who can be against us? No one successfully because we win. We are more than overcomers, more than conquerors, but yet we have to do it His way. That's Romans 8.31 and Romans 8.37, amen? We do not compromise the word of God for a temporary peace, no. We never sacrifice truth for a false peace. That's one of the problems in the Middle East. If you think of World War II, when the end of that war came, Japan and Germany, they were like, please, we won't have an army, we won't do anything, whatever you want. What's going on right now in the Middle East has always been little fake peaces where they're, yeah, give me some time to reload in my back, to make sure in the back behind me, to start making military weapons, to do things, to start supporting terrorist groups. No, they don't really want peace. It's all based on deception and lies. Whenever you get to the point where you are hurting so bad that you are willing to say, hey, whatever you want, just please stop, stop attacking us, stop coming after us. That's whenever you truly want peace, amen? And it's based on truth at that point in time. Romans 8.31 says, when shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us? No one successfully, as I said. And then verse 37, yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who

loved us. We win, but we do not compromise, amen? When we read these verses, we read the verse I'm going to read next in the merciful message, but it also applies to being a peacemaker. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life to which you are also called and have confessed a good confessions in the presence of many witnesses. We got to fight the good fight of faith. That if we get the word out, that we get truth out, love out, that they will turn to God because the goodness of God draws men into righteousness, are doing what is right. They see his goodness, amen? Every one of us that are believers have a ministry of reconciliation. I taught a series on ministry of reconciliation. It's available on our website. It's available on YouTube and different outlets, amen? It's based on 2 Corinthians 5 verses 14 through 21. You have a ministry of reconciliation, amen? A ministry of reconciling people to God, telling them what God has done for you. You may not be called to the fivefold ministry, in other words, preaching, teaching, but you do have a ministry. Glory to God, just think of that. You can be in prison for murder, rape, anything, and yet God has a call on your life for a ministry of reconciliation. No matter what you've done, if you repent, then because of what God did and what Jesus did becoming a peacemaker for you and me and going to the cross, you can be in ministry. Glory to God and have eternal rewards. We're going to talk about some of those rewards. Matthew 5, 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Revile? That comes from a Greek word, onideso. Onideso means to reproach, to upbraid, to blame, to discredit, to disgrace, to criticize. You ever been lied about, discredited, disgraced? Well blessed in God's eyes if you're doing it for the kingdom, for doing things that are right. Amen? You know, that happens in the press all the time. People try to do something right, but because of somebody that has ungodly ideas led by Sainton and some of his things in their own flesh, they misrepresent. The press is so, they're professionals about this. Not the truth, the way it used to be, manipulation. They'll take a portion of what a person said and then they'll say this is what the person said. No, they took it out of context. Amen? That's what happens with a lot of false doctrines. Sainton leads people to take a... little piece of a piece of a scripture and it comes up to error, evil stuff. Matthew 5 12, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. They persecuted Jesus. Man we're in a good line if we're getting persecuted. Every Christian should get persecuted from time to time because they're standing for what is right. If you haven't been persecuted, mocked, made fun of, oh you're one of those Christians, something of that nature, you need to check yourself. Are you really being an example, a light to the world? Are you hiding it? Are you ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Psalms chapter 84 verse 11 says, For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will be withheld from those who walk uprightly. I don't want good things held from me. The final beatitude to cap it all off is persecution. That's a beatitude, it's a blessing because we're doing it for the purpose of doing what is right. Amen. Right living, right doing, doing what is right. Amen. We do not have to look for persecution. If you're doing what God's called you to do, people will persecute you. Satan will come and attack you if you are affecting people in a godly manner. Amen. Persecution will find you. The word persecute in Greek comes from the Greek word dioko. It means to put to flight, to press, to pursue, to chase away, to follow after, to harass. It is like someone who constantly follows you, pursuing you, trying to cause disturbance and getting you upset. Amen. It's like some of the cities today, the inner cities, you got people that are following people that are trying to speak truth, trying to speak godly values and they're trying to harass them. It's ungodly. They're trying to get you off the plan of God and get you in the flesh so that you respond in the flesh, hindering the blessings of God in your life. Don't do it. Keep your mouth shut. Amen. Go forth and do what God's called you to do. Amen. God is your avenger. The word righteousness comes from dikaiosun. It means doing what is right or living godly. Blessed are you when you are teased, harassed for living godly. Amen. Moses, he went through this. A matter of fact, he suffered affliction. He laid down his robe, his place in the palace to go forth just like the Hebrew slaves. He tried to protect him and he had to go and live in the desert, but he became very humble, a very humble man and he was the most used man by God in all his time. I don't know about you, but I've never walked up and spoke to something

or a sea split, things of that nature, called forth different things and some of the miracles that happened in his life against all the gods of Egypt, those ungodly gods. They are demons, losers, big ol' L tattooed right on their forehead. Anything you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose. Philippians 3.6, Paul was writing to the Philippians and he said, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning righteousness which is in the law blameless. See, before Paul got saved, he persecuted Christians. He killed Christians. He pursued after them, but verse 13 and 14 of the same chapter, let's read Philippians 3.14. It says, I pressed towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He pressed on to do what God's called him to do. That's what you and I are supposed to do, amen? Press on and he was, he persecuted Christians before he got saved and right with God and then he was persecuted after he got saved, amen? It happened, we see that in Philippians, Thessalonians, Hebrews, amen? But he ran after the prize, the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ and boy, does he have a prize. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven, glory to God. That is God's way of doing things. We are blessed as we do get God's way. Well, let's review the things that we talked about in the Beatitudes. Matthew 5.1. In seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. The CEV says, God blesses those who depend only on him. It doesn't mean financially poor. It doesn't mean broke. It doesn't mean broken down, beaten, weak. It means that they are humble in spirit. Blessed are they who mourn.

We talked about that. It doesn't mean grief. It doesn't mean, oh, woe is me. It's a sorrowful for sin or a condoning sin, encouraging, agreeing with sin. Blessed are the meek. Meek are, that means humble, gentle. Comes from the Greek word praos. That means that you don't explode every time something doesn't go your way. Doesn't mean you get into strife. It means that you're peaceful, looking for it. Doesn't mean you're weak at all. It's actually strength that is yielded to God, amen? It's being able to keep your peace, your calmness, keep your cool, man, in a situation where you just wanna hurt people. You wanna revolt back, you wanna yell, give them a piece of your mind. No, the weakness. They shall possess the earth, amen? They didn't go off. They maintained their cool. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. These are people who seek the word of God, endeavor to be a doer of the word, seeking to do what is right, amen? It's being a strong Christian, boldly going to the throne of God, amen? It's not just salvation, but salvation in favor, amen?

Verse seven. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. That word mercy, as we talked about, Hebrew has said. God has an overwhelming desire to do you good. That's the blessing. Mercy comes from the Greek word elemen, means actively compassionate. It's love and action. What are you doing? Are you just sitting back, waiting for people to be a blessing to you? Or are you endeavoring to be led by the spirit of God, demonstrating love, amen? Matthew, it talks about in Matthew 6, 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Yes, it does say that. Things will be added to you as you seek him, as you do what he wants you to do. And part of that is being merciful. As you sow mercy, you will reap mercy and goodness, amen? Verse eight. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Oh, I wanna see God, you know. I wanna see his goodness. Pure in heart. It's a reflection of what's in you. Your desire to serve God, to do right, amen, has to do with your inner being. Glory to God.

We talked about how Jesus explained in Mark 7, 21, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetous, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within in the file of man. We need the word in us to be cleansed with the renewing of our mind, to be cleansed daily with the word of God, amen? Then you stay in the word, you meditate on your word, and then you become pure in heart, because what's in you, what's in your mind, your thought life, what you read will get in your heart, and it will come up out of you, and you will walk in love, walk in peace, walk in goodness, walk in mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers. We talked about that coming from the Greek word, irinopoios, and it means free from strife. We are supposed to make peace. I talked about the old six shooter, the peacemaker. We are supposed to make peace, amen? And how the sheriffs back then, they made peace. They're carrying a big old gun, they're gonna make some peace, amen? It means to make peace. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Oh my, so the final one is persecution, because you are living right, you're doing right, amen?

We talked about that. Well, you know, with this, there are different blessings in heaven, in eternity, and I'm seeking after the prize. I want the blessings. Oh, you may say, I'm gonna be happy if I get in the door. You say that now, but when you get there, you're gonna look back and say, oh man, there's so much more I could have had, I wish I would have done more. There are five different crowns mentioned in the word, in the New Testament. These aren't all the blessings, these are just crowns, part of the blessing. Five different heavenly rewards or crowns are mentioned, and that believers can have. The victor's crown, that's in 1 Corinthians 9, 25 through 27. The crown of rejoicing. Amen. And that's in 1st Thessalonians 2.19. The crown of righteousness, 2nd Timothy 4.8. The crown of life, James 1.12 and Revelation 2.12. Amen. The crown of glory, that's in 1st Peter 5.4. There's five crowns here. Amen. And I want, boy do I want crowns because I want eternal rewards. And if you got right with yourself, you do too. You want the blessings of God. Daniel 12.3 says, And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven and those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. What he's talking about is where there's different stars, different brightnesses, different rewards in heaven

just like there are stars here. Some are brighter than others. I want those rewards. There's a young man, a woman in the Bible in Matthew 19 where she said, Can my two sons sit next to you by your throne? And Jesus said, It's not up to me. There are different rewards and I want as many rewards as I can. The way you get that is fulfilling the call of God on your life by being a doer of the word. It doesn't mean that these are, these are not for preachers. There's preachers that will get zero reward. They won't even, they're not even saved. There's people that are priests that don't, that aren't even saved, haven't even received Jesus. And your reward because you have received Jesus is greater. Don't do a bunch of work without getting rewards in eternity. You have to receive Jesus. Amen? If you have not received Jesus, that's where it starts. Eternal blessings, eternal rewards start by receiving the greatest gift of all which is Jesus Christ. He bought and paid for your sin. All you have to do, let us know if you do this. Amen? Say, Heavenly Father, I ask you to be my Lord. Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. I believe that you went to hell, died on the cross, went to hell. You became sin and took my sin. I ask you forgiveness. I ask you for cleansing. I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Glory to God, if you did that your names are written in the books in heaven for eternity as a child of God and you have rewards in front of you. Glory to God. Well, this is Mike Kennedy with Living in Victory. Have a blessed, prosperous day. Amen? Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Have faith in God. Have faith in His Word and win and keep on winning. Amen? More than an overcomer. Have a blessed day.