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PBC Sermon

Series

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BE- ATTITUDES

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AttitudesSlowly but clearly it was as if the whole TV set was speaking only to me. Looking at Reinhard Bonnke I saw clean-shaven freshness and innocence. I saw peace and deep tranquillity and I saw a power, strength and confidence which seemed so out of place hidden behind that smiling countenance.

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Then I looked at Stephen Grenfell and suddenly in Stephen’s place I saw myself transposed on the screen and there, rudely exposed, was the ugly real me. Yes, there was the fast bowler whose intense hard eyes were once pictured and headlined in a magazine article under the banner of “The man who loves to hate”.

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AttitudesI saw the cynic, the know-all, the ego so full of pride, the selfishness and the one-track ambition that seeks recognition and gratification, no matter what the expense. … But worse, sitting there “alongside” Stephen Grenfell I had the cheek and audacity to question what Jesus Christ stood for, there represented by Reinhard Bonnke.

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Indeed, there I was seemingly pointing a finger from out of the mud and darkness at the shining light of Jesus Christ. Inside I felt sick, sick, sick, the type of nausea that is empty and soul-destroying.

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When we are different, Jesus says we’re

blessed ... happy ... to be envied

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Matthew 5:6

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

for they will be filled / will be satisfied

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dikaiosune

righteousness … right-ness … justice

for things to be right, whether by God’s standards or by man’s

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Matthew 5:7

BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL,

for they will be shown mercy.

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AttitudesPsalm 103:8-10

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

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Matthew 5:8

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART, for they will see God. katharos = clean … untainted … undiluted• unmixed … complete purity• singleness of heart … PURE

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AttitudesJeremiah 29:11-14

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD

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Matthew 5:9

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS,

for they will be called sons of God.

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Attitudes2 Corinthians 5:17-19Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ

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Matthew 5:10

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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AttitudesMatthew 5:11

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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1 Peter 4:14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

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2 Timothy 3:12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

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John 15:20–21 20Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. … 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.

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AttitudesMatthew 5:11

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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The fundamental choice:• to believe the WORLD ?• to believe the WORD ?