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The Beatitudes

Posted on 14 Nov, 2018 in All languages, Bangla, English | 0 comments

 

The Beatitudes

Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Every word that comes from the mouth of God, spoken by the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is blessed and anointed by The Holy Spirit and is to us wonderful and we love to hear it, it tastes like sweet honey to us. We love the Word of God because we love Jesus, we love to hear it because faith comes through hearing. The sermon on the Mount in Mathew chapter 5-7 is the most powerful, radical and challenging sermon ever preached and to me the Beatitudes are among the most sweet words ever spoken by Jesus.

All the words that Jesus speaks are lovely, it says in Luke 4 that people marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus, but some words hit our inner man and the heart more than others, and the Beatitudes pierce right through me. I marvel at Jesus’s words in the Beatitudes, they are amazing.

We all want to be blessed and we are blessed being in Christ, but who doesn’t want to hear Jesus Himself say: blessed are you, Konrad! Blessed are you, Patrik, Naomi, Bishnu and everyone else in here. Therefore we should listen attentively to what Jesus says, who is blessed and who is not, which Jesus tells about in His woes.

The word blessed is almost the same thing as happy, but it has a deeper meaning. This world speaks about happiness, and it means something else than Jesus does. They think about a partner, family, house and a car, and that is not wrong, but if you only have that and don’t have Jesus, life will still be empty and oftentimes boring, as if something was missing. And that something is always Someone, and that Someone is always Jesus. Only Jesus can give you the life that you look for, only Jesus can fulfil your life and give you true and lasting happiness. Only Jesus.

This I know from my own life. I had everything. Apartment, a good and exciting job, a good economy, girlfriend, I went to parties, movies, journeys, I had everything. But on the inside I was always unhappy, discontent, lonely, restless, sad. My life seemed meaningless and empty. But Jesus gave me a new life.

Even though our joy is in Christ and the blessings that we seek are spiritual, it does not mean that I don´t feel blessed sitting with these three ladies…

Happy belongs to this world, but blessed to the spiritual, heavenly world, to God’s Kingdom. But you can be happy and blessed by God already here on earth if you seek the Kingdom of Heaven and have your joy in the Lord, your heart with Jesus and your treasure in Heaven. Your joy and happiness should be in Christ, not here on earth, in what Jesus did for you on the cross at Calvary and in who Jesus is, for Jesus is amazing and to follow Him is the greatest thing in this life. That is true and lasting happiness.

The Sermon on the mount is radical and seems absurd to this world. Only those who have spiritual eyes can see the beauty and the truth of these words. Even believers in Christ should wake up and see the deep truth and beauty of these words. I will take some of the verses.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

To be poor in spirit does not mean to have little of God’s Spirit. No, it means to have little of your own spirit, to have died to self, to more and more forget “me, myself and I”, to put Jesus in the center of your heart and your thinking. It means that you understand that you are totally dependent upon Christ, without Me you can do nothing. You can do more in five minutes under the anointing of Christ and doing the will of God, than trying to serve Christ for five years in your own strength and will. Let God do more, and you do less.

It also means that you are small in your own eyes. The apostle Paul was one of the greatest of the apostles, but considered himself being the least, not even worthy to be called an apostle. He said that he was nothing. Paul was prostrated when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and realised that he had been persecuting the Son of the Living God. Paul was made into nothingness, and therefore he was used greatly by the Lord. If you have just a small place in your heart, God can have a great place. Be small and let Jesus be great. To be made small comes through deep prostration and humility.

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

How can we be blessed when we mourn? Because it’s written in Psalms 126: Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. 6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him. (Check NKJV)

Only those who have cried, mourned and suffered can experience the deep, inner and overwhelming joy that Jesus gives you when the time of testing is over. And one day it is over, either here on earth, or in Heaven. There it will be only singing, dancing and joy for Eternity.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

To be persecuted for righteousness’ sake means first of all, I believe, being persecuted for the Righteous One, which is another Name for Christ. I don’t think that you are persecuted here in Bangladesh, but there is a resistance to the Name of Jesus all over the world, also in Sweden today, a strong resistance, coming closer day by day to hatred. It’s sad and troublesome. But in Sweden we are not persecuted, but I believe we might be rather soon. But then Jesus says we are blessed, because ours is the Kingdom of Heaven.

And the fact is that when persecution comes, the church gets up on their feet. Jesus pours out His Holy Spirit and the gospel is being spread even more radically and boldly. Some people in Sweden call me a radical preacher, but I have still not started to pray for persecution, but who knows, maybe tomorrow I will. And if then a persecution starts in Sweden or in Bangladesh the next week, I will have all God’s people against me saying: oh, no, Konrad has been in his prayer closet and prayed for a persecution! A little bit of a joke…

But Jesus is far more radical than any other preacher. He goes on saying:

Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

The Beatitudes just get more and more radical. What Jesus says here is absurd to those who are not looking upon the world with spiritual eyes. Spiritual eyes means that you live for the Kingdom of Heaven, not for this world. Jesus says we shall rejoice and leap with joy when they hate us because of His Name.

In the Book of Acts 5:39 it’s written: They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

The apostles rejoiced when this happened, because they knew it was because of Jesus. And it couldn’t stop the gospel, they’d still preach it, because the power of the Holy Spirit was upon them.

So the next time someone ridicules you or say a hard word because you belong to Jesus Christ, don’t feel sad, rejoice in your heart and praise the Lord. Yes, oftentimes you must do it silently, just inside of you, or at home, but still do it, because your reward will be great one day.

Then you think: that’s easy for you to say, Konrad,  living in a Christian country. But that’s not what’s happening in Sweden today, it’s turning more and more Anti-Christ, and even great parts of the church will despise you and even hate you if you tell them for instance that Jesus doesn’t approve of outlived homosexuality. You will receive hard words, and that has happened to me many times.

At first I used to feel sorry for myself and was sad for days and weeks, but now when it happens I go home, and I think of the words of Christ, and I rejoice because Jesus said that my reward will be great in Heaven. I must trust the words of Christ more than my feelings. Jesus told me to be glad, and I want to do as Jesus says.

And in the Book of Revelation it’s written: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”.

Think about these words, take them to your heart! Blessed are you! Happy are you, because Heaven is your home! One day you will see Jesus in His full glory, and you will also share the glory of Christ! You will be singing and dancing, no more tears, no more mourning, only unspeakable joy. You will enjoy an amazing grace and a sweet and everlasting peace before Jesus Christ. The Beatitudes want us to turn our hearts and eyes towards Heaven, towards what’s coming, and not the here and now! We belong to another world, another Kingdom. Live for what is coming.

I don’t know exactly what awaits us before Jesus comes, but the Lord has shown me that for Sweden troubles and suffering are ahead, and maybe also persecution of followers of Jesus Christ.

But if or when that comes, don’t forget the promises of God! Blessed are we when we suffer for Christ’s sake! Blessed are you then, because the reward that awaits you and that lasts for an Eternity, will be exceedingly wonderful and great. The price is worth paying, because the treasury of Heaven is indescribably great. And blessed are you who listens today, because you ARE invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

My beloved brothers and sisters, Jesus is coming soon. I don’t know when, only the Father knows, but I see the signs and I feel it in my heart. In Luke 12:37 Jesus says: blessed are those whom the Master, when He comes, will find watching. Blessed are you, exceedingly happy are you, if Jesus finds you waiting for His Coming when He comes back. Amen.

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Very welcome!

This homepage contains many sermons in English, both spoken and written form. If you search for the word “English” in the search field you will always find them since the Word English is always in the title of non Swedish messages.

Enjoy your stay.
Konrad