A STUDY IN THE BEATITUDES
Throughout this installment of our year-long journey, The Words of Jesus, we sit with the opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount. We sit with words that overturn our assumptions about the good life. Here we encounter the unfiltered Jesus, not a softened caricature, but God’s King who speaks with authority and grace.
Jesus calls the poor in spirit, the grieving, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers truly blessed.
These are not personality traits to admire from a distance; they are invitations into the life of His kingdom. As we listen carefully to what He actually says, we unmask common misconceptions and discover the blessing that meets us in our weakness. We get to better know the Savior who leads us through resurrection into faith.
Above all, we aim to make much of Jesus.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
In The Beatitudes through the Ages, Rebekah Eklund explores how the Beatitudes have affected readers across differing eras and contexts. From Matthew and Luke in the first century, to Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham in the twentieth, Eklund considers how men and women have understood and applied the Beatitudes to their own lives through the ages. Reading in the company of past readers helps us see how rich and multifaceted the Beatitudes truly are, illuminating what they might mean for us today.
Throughout The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard skillfully weaves together biblical teaching, popular culture, science, scholarship, and spiritual practice, revealing what it means to “apprentice” ourselves to Jesus. Using Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount as his foundation, Willard masterfully explores life-changing ways to experience and be guided by God daily, leading to a more authentic and dynamic faith.
Author, pastor, and professor A. J. Swoboda has witnessed many young people wrestle with their core Christian beliefs. Too often, what begins as a set of critical and important questions turns into resentment and abandonment of faith. Unfortunately, the church has largely ignored its task of serving people along their journey of questioning. With After Doubt, Swoboda equips the local church to walk alongside those who are deconstructing their faith and show them how to reconstruct it. This book pairs well with this year’s Easter message.