Choose Your Kingdom Week 3: Monday Recap

Matthew 5:4 in the Sermon on the mount- "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" may seem backwards from reality if you are mourning a great, personal loss, but when considered through the lens of grieving over your sin, it makes perfect sense. Today, consider the sinfulness of your sin. The utter rejection of God, the hanging of Christ on the cross, and begin to mourn over your sin. If Jesus wept over you, you can weep over your sin as well. Watch how God will bring comfort to you when He shows you how He has forgiven sin and accepts us into His family when we repent.

Choose Your Kingdom Week 2: End of Week Encouragement

What should a person do with God's blessing in their life? Your blessings in life are to be shared, not hoarded. In Luke 6:24-26, it suggests that if hoarding worldly riches is what you live for, that's all you'll get. Psalm 112:5,9 says, "Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice... he scatters abroad his gifts to the poor..." In other words, such a person shares what God has given him. Back to Luke 6:35-38 - Give to those in need, whether friend or foe, and the blessing you give to others will be given to you in good measure, even overflowing. Not to pad your nest egg, but to give away. God knows whom He can trust with resources to give away. Today, look for someone to pour a blessing of money or time into. Be blessed and share the blessing.

Choose Your Kingdom Week 2: Midweek Miracle

Jesus' first teaching to the crowd was: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven", a "beatitude" or blessing is a benefit or favor bestowed upon a person by God. Here it means when a person gets to the place where they realize they are spiritually empty, unable to deal with their sin, that God can step in and cleanse their soul. That is a great place to be- on spiritual empty and knowing that you need help. Isaiah 1:18 gives wonderful hope- "Though your sins are staining your soul like scarlet, they shall be washed white as snow". How can you deal with that position of spiritual poverty? Romans 3 is clear: "Righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." We have all sinned. We all fall short of God's perfect expectation. But we can have our sins dealt with, and be accepted by God by receiving the gift offered by God; Christ's shed blood and death on the cross as a payment for our sin. As Romans 3:25 recommends, put your faith in the blood of Jesus shed for you. Then, as the Sermon on the Mount says in Matthews 5:3, you will be blessed with the kingdom of heaven.