Persecution (Matthew 5:10-12)

MOTIVATE –        In Iran, on July 3, 2017 Amin Afshar Naderi was sentenced to 15 years in prison (10 for acting against national security by organizing and conducting house churches, and 5 for blasphemy). –        In Turkey, a father named Byram became a Christian and had his 9-year old daughter kidnapped because of his faith….

Peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)

MOTIVATE This past week reflects the world’s need for peace. –       In Charlottesville, VA and UVA there were protests and counter-protests of white nationalism. Sad over this disturbing and depraved acts of hate and violence. –       The back and forth rhetoric of war has increased between U.S. (Trump) and N.K. (Kim Jong Un). NK is…

Pure In Heart (Matthew 5:8)

MOTIVATE –        Friend S told me she would put skittles and m&m’s in the same bowl just to confuse people. While that amuses me because we share the same humor and perhaps strange personalities, we can all agree that our preference is purity. We’d rather have a pure bowl of m&m’s or a pure bowl of…

Merciful or Merciless (Matthew 5:7)

PLAY AUDIO: MOTIVATE There once was a Hollywood actor getting all the attention that celebrities get: photographs, conversations, asked for autographs. A group of teen girls asked to take a selfie picture with this actor. They gathered around him and one of the girls snapped a picture. The actor became very upset with the group…