Matthew 5:8

If you brought a copy of scripture with you this morning, you can find the Beatitudes, Matthew, chapter 5, Matthew, chapter 5, as we continue in our series, “Blessed” or “Blessed,” however you want to pronounce it.

And let’s just start off by saying “Happy Mother’s Day!” And let’s give a round of applause to all these moms here! Hope you’re off to a great day! It’s beautiful out there. I think of Mother’s Day, and this is not a Mother’s Day message per say, but when I think of Mother’s Day, I think of my own mom, obviously. And I could relate to Mark Twain, who said,

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” Mark Twain

Actually my mom was incredibly loving. She was a stickler for grammar and for etiquette and for discipline. And I think I learned my very first theological lesson. My first lesson in theology was on my mother’s knee. [Air spanking] “God help you if you ever do that again!” She talked about God… so I learned something about God on that day.

Anyway, Matthew chapter 5. We’re working through these Beatitudes out of scripture. This is Jesus talking about what the kingdom of heaven looks like here on earth, and He says,

[Matthew 5:8] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

I was watching a documentary, which I highly recommend by way, a Netflix documentary  called “Turning Point.” It basically has to do with the history of the Cold War, the nuclear armament build up in the United States and Soviet Union, you know, the former Soviet Union, by and large. But in this documentary, they referred to 1961 a Soviet cosmonaut. The Soviets were the first to actually round the earth in space, and the cosmonaut from this atheist country, boldly and famously declared that he looked out his capsule and he didn’t see, he said, he said,

“I did not see God,” Soviet Cosmonaut

and therefore, implying God doesn’t exist. The great Southern Baptist preacher, W.A. Criswell quickly remarked, he said,

“Let him step out of his spacesuit for one second, you’ll see God quick enough!”

W.A. Criswell

(congregation laughing) Every God-fearing person knows that one day, we will all see God. But did you know you can see him now? Our text tells us so. Matthew 5:8… with a pure heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Now when you look at this Beatitude, one of the first things that probably jump out to is the very word “heart” which is replete. The word is used an amazing amount of times in the Bible. But it’s not the kind of usage that is the word “heart” doesn’t mean what comes to mind and so many of our minds. When we think about heart, it’s not just your emotions. It is your emotions, but most of us use the word “heart” and we just sort of isolate our emotions. ‘Oh my heart,’ you know, ‘Oh, it breaks my heart,’ you know, ‘it blesses my heart.’ That is not the meaning of the word “heart” in scripture. It does have that emotive element to it, but when the Bible speaks of the word “heart,” when it uses the word “heart” like here, this word “cardia,” you know, we get a word cardiac from this word, that it means everything about you, that very center of your being, the very thing that makes you pulse in more ways than just humanly in your body. It carries the idea of your intellect, your emotive, your emotions, and your will. It’s all there. So, for instance, when the Apostle Paul says,

[Romans 10:9]”…If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.”

He’s talking about the all of you. You are believing intellectually that Jesus is God, that He became a human being, that He died for your sins on the cross, that He rose from the dead. You understand He died in your place. There’s something intellectual about that part of your heart. There is the emotive element. You feel the conviction of your sin. You understand that you’re separated from God naturally, and with your will, you say, ‘I trust You.’ ‘I believe in You.’ ‘I give my heart to You.’ So there’s a whole lot wrapped up in the word “heart.” Is there not?

And by the way, because of the superficiality of so much of that which has to do with our heart, we make this beeline to our emotions only. Jesus gave a parable. You remember the parable of the sower and the seed. Remember that in Matthew chapter 13? A sower went forth to sow and he’s chucking seed all over, and it’s landing on all kinds of ground; hard ground, no impact on that person. And by the way, it’s one of the only parables where Jesus interprets it for us. We don’t even have to preach the parable of the sower. Jesus preached it for us! He not only gave the parable, later on in the very same chapter He explains the parable, and He starts talking about the seed which represents the Word of God. The soil represents individual hearts. He said, ‘There’s seed that falls on hard ground… Doesn’t go anywhere.’ That’s you who could care less about God, Christianity, the Gospel. It just bounces off your heart. But then he talks about the seed that falls on rocky ground. And then He explains… we might… if we were left that we wonder, ‘What’s the rocky ground? What’s the rocky ground?’ Jesus tells us what it is. It describes the person, and some of you may be related to this. You receive the Gospel. You heard that Jesus died for you, and you’re sort of moved by it and you say, ‘I’ll pray that prayer.’ And you pray the prayer and He says, “You receive it with joy!” It’s like, ‘I know Jesus!’ But there’s no root because it’s rocky ground. It goes down… plunk… hits the rock, springs up, falls over. So if there’s no root, there’s no shoot and, thus, no fruit. That’s the Gospel. If you really receive the Gospel with all of your heart, there’ll be root, there’ll be a shoot, there’ll be fruit, and fruit that last, I might add, whenever it enters into your heart.

So to be clear, and we wanna make this clear, Jesus did not come to change societies. I mean, all of society in the world will eventually be changed by what Christ has done, but He didn’t come primarily to change societies. He came to change hearts, and when you change the heart, you change the society around the heart and everything about it. Change only to the society, and all you’re doing is holding the flood waters of sin, so to speak, for the day in which it just overwhelms us. He sort of hits on this, that is Jesus again, when He took on the biggest hypocrites of His day, the religious hypocrites. So the Pharisees and the Sadducees, just before He died, He let them have it with both barrels! — And He said to them specifically, here’s one thing He said to them in Matthew 23, he said,

[Matthew 23:25-26] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee!” (Pretty harsh words from Jesus!) “First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

I think one of the greatest problems today, as it was then with Jesus, and every time slot in between, every era in between, is the over emphasis on the outside of our cups and lack of emphasis on the inside. Who wants to drink out of a dirty cup? Right? Jesus says the emphasis should be internal, because if it’s internal, the external will take care of itself. Later on in the same Sermon on the Mount, look at down to verse 27, he says,

Matthew 5:27, “You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his (what? in his) heart.”

So some here would be quick to judge somebody for adultery, and yet you’re doing the same thing in your heart when you fantasize over you know what.

So remember back in the olden days, in the Old Testament, there is the story of King Saul. He’s bankrupt, and so God sends His prophet, Samuel, to the house of Jesse to find the next king. And so Jesse brings out one strapping dude after another. Remember that? But really the one God wants… is a little scrawny guy out there looking at the sheep or managing the sheep, because, Samuel says,

[1 Samuel 16:7] “…man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.“

So who you are in your heart, that’s who you really are. Who you are in your heart is who you really are. And Jesus says,

[Matthew 5:8] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.“

… and by implication, we don’t naturally have pure hearts.  And the indictment is in. Jeremiah, the prophet said,

[Jeremiah 17:9-10, KJV] “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins…”

Right? So Jesus, now back to the New Testament, said, ‘If our hearts,’ listen to this, ‘If our heart,’ listen, ‘If our hearts are not right…’ Are you listening to this? ‘If our hearts are not right with God, then our worship will be superficial, and our faith will be man-made.’ If your heart isn’t right, your worship will be superficial, and your faith will be man-made. Where’d He say that? In Matthew 15 verses 8 and 9, Jesus said,

Matthew 15:8-9 (ESV) “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

‘These people draw near me with their mouths. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts, they’re far from me. In vain, they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.’

So if your heart isn’t right, your worship will be superficial. It doesn’t matter how loud you sing or how expressive you get. It’ll be totally superficial and your faith will be manmade, which is legalism.

So many scriptures were coming into my mind as I was studying this passage! I had to almost resist some because it was going to turn out to be just one big topical message! I mean, here’s one. Acts 8… the Gospel is going forward. People are coming to Jesus, and this magician by the name of Simon makes a decision for Jesus. Simon the magician. The Bible says he hears the gospel, he believes the gospel, he gets baptized. Pretty cool… sounds like a done deal. Right? He’s saved! Then Peter comes along and doing all these miracles in conjunction with people getting saved. And Simon is a magician. So he goes up to Peter and says, ‘Hey, I’m a magician. And what you’re doing is like really cool! So could I give you something for that Holy Spirit thing that you’re doing?’ Now that’s not exactly what he says, but it’s kind of a paraphrase… pretty accurate. And Peter says, basically, ‘You can go to hell with your money!’ That’s another paraphrase! Basically, this is what Peter concludes by saying. He said, ‘Your heart is not right with God!’ which has led a lot of people think, whatever decision he made wasn’t real. This is one of the reasons, whenever I work with new Christians, I love to give them a big picture of God ’cause I think I can’t give them a big enough picture of God. So we focus on the three O’s that God is “Omnipotent.” He’s all powerful, right? that God is “Omniscient,” that He knows everything right into your heart. And that He’s “Omnipresent,” that He’s everywhere simultaneously at the same time, right here in our midst. Do you believe that, by the way? You really believe that?

I used to have a radio program, (a little shameless plug! I’ve got the cassette tapes to prove it!) back in the ’90s, and they said, “Why don’t you name your program?” I said, “Cool!” I was just so enamored with Revelation 2 where Jesus described Himself moving amongst the churches. He says, “I’m in your midst.” I liked “in the midst.” So I said, “Hey, here’s the name of the program, “In the Midst.”” They said, “Heh, heh…That’s really dumb!” They didn’t like my name. So they wouldn’t let me use it as a name. They said, “It does make any sense.” Which I can get it if you take it out of the content. What does that mean “in the midst?” So I had to rename a different name, but I was enamored with that expression, Jesus “in the midst of” the churches. Listen, don’t worship the Lord Jesus as if He were here. Worship Him because He IS here! He’s “in our midst.”

Now, He tells us here in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” ‘They’re the ones who are going to see, God.’ Pure. That should be the other word that jumps out here. Now, I know what probably came to your mind. When you think of the word “pure,” you think of clean. Right? And that is certainly implied in this word, “katharoi.” It does mean that, but that is not primarily what it means. This word for “pure” literally means “to be unalloyed.” It means “to be unmixed.” And that is the primary meaning of the word “pure,” “to be unmixed,” and that will help you to understand what it means to have a pure heart. In Romans 16 and verse 19, another obscure verse that caught my attention a long time ago, Paul says,

[Romans 16:19b [ESV] “…but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.”

“I want you to be wise towards that which is simple, wise is good, rather, and simple towards that which is evil, simple, towards that which is evil, simple, towards that which is evil. “Simple” is a different word with the same meaning. It means “to be unmixed…” to be unmixed.

Now if you’re a parent, (this is Mother’s Da), if you’re a mom, I’m guessing most of you have not allowed your little ones to watch whatever they want to watch. Right? You police that. You make sure they don’t watch certain things. Why is that? Why is that? And where does that begin to change? I thought of that because some of you are probably going to go see this comedian. So take a few moments to watch this. [a video is shown of a skit from a Christian comedian removed for Copyright reasons]

Now that’s hilarious! — and why is it so funny? — Because of the truth embedded in the funny! Right? What parent doesn’t protect their kid from shows they shouldn’t be watching? And why is that? Why do you do that? — Because of mixture. That’s why. Because you’re not ready for them to face the reality of the existence of evil alongside truth in their lives as of yet. Right? And some of you might be thinking right now, ‘Exactly!’ Exactly!’ And some of you are thinking, ‘Yeah, well, how do I get them ready for that?’ That’s a good question! And the answer is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their hearts, — un-mixed, the true Gospel — so that you get them to give their heart, like you need to, completely to Jesus Christ. The Psalmist put it like this.

[Psalm 86:11b] “… unite my heart to fear your name.“

When we began this series, I’ll remind you, (If you’re a first timer, you’ll catch it.) when we began this series in the Beatitudes, we went to 1 Peter chapter 2,

[1 Peter 2:11-12]

11 “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.’]

and we reminded all of you that are Christians, and I never assume you’re all a Christian. I’m assuming there are several of you that are not Christians. So just, all of you, listen up. But we said if you’re a Christian, Peter describes us as “sojourners and exiles.” Remember that? And we gave the literal definition of those two words. A “sojourner,” the word “sojourner” literally means “to be beside the house.” So picture a house and you’re right beside it — Beside the house. The word “exile” literally means “beside the people.” And we made the comment in that very first opening salvo in this series, no matter where you are in this world, you’re always beside. And that’s the way God intended it. He never intended His followers to be isolationist. He never intended us to build communes. ‘We’re all just hanging out having kumbaya with one another.’ He intended for us to make an impact in this world! And this is why Paul said in Philippians 2,

[Philippians 2:15, “… that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…”]

that he desired that we would be “blameless, innocent children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine His lights in this world.” So notice what he says, “in the midst” and “among.” This is God’s intention. And this is what we should be raising our kids to be, “in the midst,” making a difference.

A couple of years ago, I took a bunch of people from this church (some of you might have been with me on this) on a Reformation tour in Europe. Anybody remember that? We brought back pictures,  whatever. We ended up in Geneva, Switzerland, which was really cool! We saw the Reformation wall. It was really cool! We didn’t see a scientific phenomena that’s there where there are two rivers that actually meet together before they converge. And they literally run side by side together without mixing. One is called the “Rhone” and the other is called the “Arve.” The Rhone River is crystal clear. The Arve is muddy. They literally come together and they do not mix! Now, don’t ask me to explain why it is, but it’s a powerful illustration! There is one reason, however. The Rhone on the left originates in the Swiss Alps, the crystal clear waters of the mountains, and it’s a crystal clear river, whereas the Arve originates from a lower altitude and picks up a bunch of mud and crud as it goes. And this is as God has called His children to be, literally running side by side, because we’re always beside without getting mixed, and it’s possible, it’s possible, to live that way, to make an impact without capitulating to all of the things that will take us down.

So for the balance of our time, I want to talk about keeping a pure heart by not mixing. I’m capitalizing on the word “pure” here, okay? Keep a pure heart by not mixing…. It’s Mother’s Day, so the preeminence of Christ with the priority of your children. How’s that? Don’t mix the preeminence of Christ with the priority of your children. So when we say preeminence, we’re talking about first place…  Jesus says in

Colossians 1:18,

[Colossians 1:18, “And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.“]

that in all things He might have the “preeminence”. That means “first place.” Now, I’m gonna say something that might seem controversial, but it shouldn’t! God never intended your children to take first place in your life. (Can I get 3 ‘Amens’ out of that? I got six!) Listen. I can’t think of anyone I would rather spend more time with than my kids. I love hanging out with my kids! I got a bunch of them. But the problem is when you put them in first place, you start to mix, you get befuddled in your understanding of God and your purpose in this world. We need to sit before the face of God, before we stand before the faces of men, including our children. Charles Spurgeon put it like this.

“To go out into the world without locking up the heart and giving the keys to God is to leave it open to all sorts of spiritual vagrants.” Charles Spurgeon

Wow! So keep a heart, a pure heart by not mixing.

And now to the men and to the husbands —Your devotion for your spouse with your attraction to someone else’s, because the one is love and the other is lust. Don’t mix ’em up.

Keep a pure heart by not mixing your hatred for sin with your hatred for the sinner. This is where it gets a little more dicey these next couple of them. The Psalmist said,

Psalm 97:10, “O you who love the Lord, hate evil!“

Psalm 97:10. Have you ever read that? “You who love the Lord hate evil.” That’s an attitude that we’re supposed to have toward evil. God wants us to have that attitude, but herein lies the problem. We sometimes mix that with the person who’s committing the evil, right? It’s hard to detach hatred for the things people do from the people themselves. Can I get an ‘Amen?’ It’s true! I confess, I’d like to bust somebody in the chops… somebody just the other day…! — because I was having a hard time separating those two! So keep your heart pure by not mixing your hatred for sin with hatred for the sinner, very closely aligning, and maybe, well, no, no, maybe even harder, — your disdain for the actions of a brother or sister with hatred towards him. Remember what John says in first John? He says in first John 4:20,

1 John 4:20, “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, (he’s a what?) he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.“

This one is the hardest for many, because it’s way easier to excuse the actions of an unbeliever and show pity toward them than to do the same to somebody who claims to be a Christian. Right? ‘You know better!’ So we confront, sometimes we discipline, and we often distance ourselves from them, and the scripture would affirm that. But consider this. These are powerful thoughts that the Apostle Paul ends his letters to the Thessalonians with. In second Thessalonians 3:14 here’s what he says.

2 Thessalonians 3:14

14 “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note” (that word means “to mark” them) …take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.“

Now a lot of people just stay right there. ‘That’s it, baby! Yeah… Boom shocka locka! You’re done! you’re toast! I’m done with you!’ And yet in the very same breath, Paul says,

[2 Thessalonians 3:15, “Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”]

Don’t regard him as an enemy. Warn him as a brother. So there’s the idea here. If you’re going to keep and cultivate a pure heart, don’t mix your disdain for the actions of a brother. You should disdain that if they’re bad or evil with hatred towards them.

If you’re going to cultivate a pure heart, then don’t mix your love for God with your love for entertainment. I know I’m going to messing here, but it’s what happens. I mean, ask yourself, what are the things that occupy your mind during the day? — Is it the next sporting event? — The TV series you want to binge? — The vacation Get-away? — The sporting event? — The shopping spree? The sporting event? Listen, it’s not wrong to look forward to those things. It’s the mix that messes.

I’m telling you, I get this! I have the same struggles, but this is why I’m so committed to my time with God early in the morning, to clear out the debris! And again, this is what Spurgeon said “to go out into the world without locking up the heart and giving the keys to God is to leave it open to all sorts of spiritual vagrants.” (Oh, I can’t wait to meet this guy when I get to heaven!)

Keep up your heart by not mixing your personal politics with biblical Christianity. I told you I was going to go to meddling! I’m so sick of this! I get it! You love Jesus. You’re going to vote for somebody whose politics match yours. I think that’s right as a follower of Jesus, but I love what Billy Graham said. He goes,

“I’m not for the right wing. I’m not for the left wing. I’m for the whole bird.” Billy Graham

So quit mixing these things up!

Keep a pure heart by not mixing your passion for health with your passion for holiness. So the Apostle Paul said in… 1 Timothy 4:8, he said,

1 Timothy 4:8, “…for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.“

‘Bodily exercise has some profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life which is now here on Terra firma and the life which is to come.’ Now, notice that Paul didn’t throw good health out the window. He didn’t do that at all. In that same epistle he told Timothy,

[1 Timothy 5:23, “(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)“]

‘Take a little wine for your stomach’s sake in your frequent infirmities.’ We get that. And I would like to live a few more years with some good health. But last I checked my times were in his hands. And here’s the deal. I think that all of us need a good dose of the reality of mortality. All of us need a good dose of the reality of mortality. And by that I mean the reality of our life limitation. We’re going to die. The older I get, the better I was. I get it. But the bottom line is we need to contemplate these things! There are kings in the past that were, that were, that the first, there was one particular king that was told that his first, I think I shared this some time back, his first item of business when he was enthroned was to pick out his gravestone so as to not lose… to stay tethered to the reality of mortality. And I think everybody should write down Ecclesiastes 7, Ecclesiastes 7, one of the wisest chapters in all of the Bible on the reality of mortality. And it’s where he comes out of the shoot saying,

[Ecclesiastes 7:2] “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,” (In other words, it’s better for you to be at a funeral than a party) “for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” The reality of mortality.

And finally, keep a pure heart by not mixing your fear of God with your fear of men. And this might be the greatest struggle that I encounter with Christians, your fear of your fellow man. Your fear of what somebody else is going to think, — your fear of whether somebody’s gonna, you know, de-friend you or whatever, unfriend you, de-friend you… whatever. But fearing men… don’t mix fearing God with fearing men. The writer of Proverbs says,

[Proverbs 29:25] “The fear of man lays a snare…”

Have you ever heard that? And a snare has gotta be one of the most ruthless designs for hunting ever invented. It’s very effective! It’s basically a wire sticking out of the ground, and an allurement is put on the other side. The animal goes through the wire… Bang! The wire closes up, and the more the animal struggles, the tighter it gets, and it chokes the life right out of them. And that’s what the fear of man will do to you. It’ll choke the spiritual life right out of you when you’re worried about what somebody else is going to think! So don’t mix your fear of God with fear of men. Why? Because Jesus said, [Matthew 5:8] “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall (What?) they shall see God.”

Listen carefully to this as we bring this to an end. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to make good people new! You might be a good person, person to person, man to man, woman to woman, but you’re lost in your sin and you need to be forgiven. You need the blood of Christ! You need to believe the Gospel with intellect and emotion and will. Jesus did not come to make you a better version of yourself. He came to make you into the image of Himself! And if you want to see God, you’ve got to look to Jesus. In John 14, after Jesus said, you know,

John 14:2-3

2 “ In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,

that where I am you may be also.”

You know, Philip jumps up and says, ‘You know, hey, Jesus, just show us the Father. That’ll make do. That’ll suffice the whole… show us the Father!

[John 14:8, “Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”]

And Jesus says, ‘Philip, how long have you been hanging out with me? If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father. You’ve seen God.’

[John 14:9a, “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.“]

You want to see God, look to the life of Jesus and you’ll see Him, and then maybe in the process you’ll come to know Him.

Back in the middle of 1800s, a very young Charles Spurgeon teenager was on his way to church in the middle of a snowstorm. Couldn’t make it. So he took a little beeline and went down a little path and got into a little primitive Methodist chapel. Methodists actually preached the Bible in those days. He got in there and the pastor wasn’t even able to get there, it was so bad! It was just a handful of people. And they had one deacon who… no pastor, so he just got up and started preaching. Grabbed a text from the Old Testament and said, “Look to me, all you ends of the earth and be saved. Look to me!” Spurgeon described it. He described the deacon as, quote,

“…really stupid. He did not even pronounce his words rightly.” (But then he said) “But it didn’t matter. Just fixing his eyes on me as if he knew all of my heart, he said, “Young man, you look very miserable!” (How would you like that in a handful of about six or seven people? And then he yelled at him! He said, “Young man, look, to Jesus Christ! Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but look and live!”

Which is exactly what some of you have! You have nothing to do but look to Jesus Christ! Embrace Him with all of your heart using your mind, your emotion, and your will, and humble yourself and say, “God, I am an unworthy sinner. I believe Jesus died for me and rose again. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, all of me, so that I might be saved. And for those of us who know Jesus, remember, we’re always beside. Right? — Not isolated… Like Vance Havner said,

“Christians should be insulated, not isolated, moving in the midst of evil, but untouched by it.” Vance Havner

How about you? How is your heart right now?

Let’s pray. Father, thank You for the Good News of Jesus Christ, for these Beatitudes that describe what the kingdom of heaven is like, pure in heart seeing You. God, forgive us of our sins. Forgive us for the add-mixure of things that have sort of befuddled our walk with you. Those of us who know you. Help us to seek you with all of our hearts, cleanse us of our sins, and help, I pray, those who are in this room or watching online who have never from their heart, intellect, emotion, will placed their faith in Jesus, and that today they might give more contemplation to this, and be drawn to You as can only happen Lord, if you’re involved in it. So please get involved right now in their heart, so they might, like the young man who would eventually turn the world upside down as a great preacher, hear that deacon say, “Look! Look! Look to Jesus… and be saved!” And we will give You the glory. In His name we pray. Amen. Let’s all stand. [Music]