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Feb 17, 2019

Blessed with Purity

Passage: Matthew 5:8

Speaker: Brian Land

Series: Sermon on the Mount

Category: Grace Brevard

Keywords: beautiful, grace, hearts, holy, pure, sin, unclean

Beatitudes 1-4 show us that, as we come to God with our infinite need, He, through the perfect life, death and resurrection of Jesus, satisfies us with His Infinite Love. Beatitudes 5-7 reveal how that impacts our life by calling and equipping us to be in hopeful, honest and sacrificially loving relationships with God and each other. This beatitude (“pure in heart” and “seeing God”) is a back and forth dance regarding our relationship with the Lord because, when we “see God” (truly encounter the radiantly pure glory of Him), we realize how impure our hearts truly are, forcing us to turn to Jesus, who has, does and forever will purify our hearts so that we CAN stand in the presence of and in relationship with our Awesome God.

Order of Worship

CALL TO WORSHIP: Zephaniah 3:14-17

Music: 

  • The Joy of the Lord
  • Come Thou Fount
  • For the One
  • In Christ Alone
  • Jesus Loves Me
  • Band: Guitar & Vocals - Bill Huffman, Vocals - Emily Jones, Keyboard - Don Briola, Cajon - Paul Kennedy

READING: 1 John 3:2-3 ESV

PRAYER:   (from The Book of Common Prayer)

ALL: Our Father in heaven, we have come to worship you, the Lord our Maker, for you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture, the sheep of your hand. We come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; He is our advocate with the Father; He is the only Mediator between God and Man.  Through him we come boldly to your throne of grace. And we acknowledge, Father, that our hearts are exposed to you, our desires known by you, and no secrets are hidden from you. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts we pray, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we might perfectly love you, and magnify your holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

GRATITUDE: Hebrews 10:16-17

MESSAGE: Blessings of Purity

CENTRAL TEXT: Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

RESPONSE:  Communion

BENEDICTION: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 ESV

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

  • Hebrews 1:1-3
  • Psalm 51
  • Psalm 24:3-6
  • Proverbs 4:23
  • Proverbs 20:9
  • Job 42:6
  • 2 Peter 1:16-18
  • Matthew 17:1-13
  • 2 Timothy 2:20-22
  • 1 Peter 1:22-25
  • Ezekiel 36:26-27

MEDIA:

2.17.19 GBV Album

DISCUSSIONS QUESTIONS:

  1. Have you ever been with extreme “greatness”?
    1. How does it or would it make you feel?
  2. Read through Isaiah 6:1-7. This is an incredible vision of Isaiah meeting God “face to face”.
    1. What was Isaiah’s reaction? Why?
    2. What was God’s response?
  3. Why aren’t we in this much “shock and awe” of God?
  4. What would it mean to simultaneously be terrified of yet drawn to and comforted by God?
    1. Which describes you better?
    2. What concerns does this bring up?
  5. Do you find yourself more concerned with your external purity (behavior) or internal purity (motivations, love, attitude)?
  6. If your heart isn’t “into it” should you even do “good works”?
  7. How is it that we have both a “pure heart” because of Jesus but a filthy one because of sin?
  8. How is it that Christ’s life, death and resurrection “purifies” our hearts and enables us to stand before God without being burned up?
  9. How can this draw you deeper into Jesus?

QUOTES:

  • “Our real sense of what’s really sacred is regularly on display” - David Dark
  • “We all have clutter in our hearts and that’s what needs tidying.” - Marie Kondo
  • “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” - Soren Kierkegaard
  • “If God is life, he who sees him cannot fail to see life itself.” - Gregory of Nyssa.
  • “Each man in the presence of God has the task of paying attention to himself.” - Soren Kierkegaard
  • “In my experience, Matthew 5:8—”Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”—has been the most helpful verse in the Bible in battling the temptation to lust. The key is that Jesus fights pleasure with pleasure.” - Kevin DeYoung
  • “Purity of heart must never be confused with outward conformity to rules. Because it is the heart which must be pure, this beatitude interrogates us with awkward questions like these: 'What do you think about when your mind slips into neutral? How much sympathy do you have for deception, no matter how skillful? For shady humor, no matter how funny? To what do you pay consistent allegiance? What do you want more than anything else? What and whom do you love? To what extent are your actions and words accurate reflections of what is in your heart? To what extent do your actions and words constitute a cover-up for what is in your heart?” - D.A. Carson
  • “Seek God in the miserable, erring, and laboring ones, [for] that is where one sees God, there the heart becomes pure, and all arrogance lies down.” - Martin Luther
  • “To love another person is to see the face of God.” - Victor Hugo

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