To Be or Not to Be Attitude, part 1

Jesus gives us a list of attitudes we should live by and live with in our daily lives. Attitudes that we may not understand or really want to apply to our lives. Over the next several blogs we will look at some of these and how they may apply to us.

Matthew 5: 1 - 12
 Jesus saw the crowds. So he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him. Then he began to teach them. He said,
"Blessed are those who are spiritually needy.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
Blessed are those who are sad.
They will be comforted.
Blessed are those who are free of pride.
They will be given the earth.
Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for what is right.
They will be filled.
Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be shown mercy.
Blessed are those whose hearts are pure.
They will see God.
Blessed are those who make peace.
They will be called sons of God. 
Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
 Blessed are you when people make fun of you and hurt you because of me. You are also blessed when they tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. Be joyful and glad. Your reward in heaven is great. In the same way, people hurt the prophets who lived long ago."

Blessed is spiritually needy. WOW! Spiritually needy, what is that. We are all spiritually needy, each and everyone of us. It is all the way we look at it or even realize that we are needy at all. People look to fulfill that need in many ways, some turn to work, others to entertainment, and so many other things. Our spiritual need is Jesus Christ, He is the only person that can fill that need. When we come to that realization in our lives and accept that we not only need Christ, but desire Him in our lives. When we except Him into our lives we in turn recieve the Kingdom of Heaven! What a blessing!! Our need becomes a great reward when we relieve our need and turn to Jesus to fill that need.

The Seed, Where is it Falling?

Jesus, the world's best story teller, tells His Disciples and the crowd a story of a farmer in Matthew 13: 1 - 23.  The seeds are God's Word,  the Gospel or Good News of His love for us. The interesting part of this story is the ground that the seeds fall on, you see, we are the ground. Interesting side note that just occurred to me, in the Book of Genesis God created man from dirt or the dust of the earth. Jesus was pointing out that God's love is for us and it is how we respond to His love.

 Jesus gives us four types of soil samples that we are one of them; the question is which one are you. The first ground that the seed falls on is the path. The path is hard and worn, birds come along and eat the seed and it never has a chance to take root and grow. The second ground is full of rocks. The soil is very shallow and the plant grows quickly. The sun comes out and burns the plant up. For us that just means problems come along and we forget about God's love and we turn back to us. Next we have the third ground that Jesus tells us about and that is the throne filled ground. Have you ever felt that the world around you is choking you off? These thrones are just like the thrones of the flesh that the Apostle Paul prayed about and Jesus told him, "My grace is sufficient for you".God's love, His grace and His mercies are sufficient to see us through. Finally we have the good soil that the Word of God takes root and grows to bear fruit and yield a good crop.

The question is what soil are you? Things can change in our lives, the path can be tilled, the rocks can be removed, the thrones can be burned out and thrown away. We can all be good soil and yield a good crop of God's love in our lives it is up to you what you want. His love, His gift of His only Son was given for you and me. So what are you going to do with this Man named Jesus, who died just for you?

Rooted Kids

Psalms 1
¹ Blessed is the one who obeys the law of the Lord.
He doesn't follow the advice of evil people.
He doesn't make a habit of doing what sinners do.
He doesn't join those who make fun of the Lord and his law.
² Instead, he takes delight in the law of the Lord. He thinks about his law day and night.
³ He is like a tree that is planted near a stream of water. It always bears its fruit at the right time. Its leaves don't dry up. Everything godly people do turns out well.
⁴ Sinful people are not like that at all. They are like straw that the wind blows away.
⁵ When the Lord judges them, their life will come to an end. Sinners won't have any place among those who are godly.
⁶ The Lord watches over the lives of those who are godly. But the lives of sinful people will lead to their death.

Rooted Kids is a new children's ministry that is a part of a new church, South Oaks Community Church in Eagan, MN. Our goal in this ministry is to root kid's lives in Biblical Worldviews, in good moral principles, and in the World of God. Psalms 1 is our Ministry Verses. We want young people to be like the tree planted by the stream, growing strong, growing big, and producing fruit that others may see Christ in them.
Just as Jesus grew in favor with God and with men. It is our desire at Rooted Kids to help kids to grow as Jesus did. South Oaks Community Church and Rooted Kids have our first preview Sunday on August 14. For more information follow this link; South Oaks Community Church.
Hope to see you there!!