Matthew 5:13 I love it when I hear people being described as the salt of the earth. I wonder who you think about when that expression is used. Let me tell you about three people who spring to my mind. Some years ago I went to stay with an elderly...
Matthew 5:10-12 This is the last of Jesus’ Beatitudes. They are all amazing statements, and they give us the best possible introduction to Jesus’ teaching. He was introducing his disciples to an upside-down kingdom. When you see things from Jesus...
Matthew 5:9 There is apparently an unofficial United Nations motto that says: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will take flak from both sides.” Any suggestion that the making of peace is easy will only come from those who haven’t started mak...
Matthew 5:8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. One of the greatest privileges of my life in recent years has been to spend a good deal of time with people who are blind or partially sighted. I am constantly blessed by t...
Matthew 5:7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. The simple fact is that we rely totally on the truth that God is merciful. We have sinned against him and those around us and if he were to insist on being just then we w...
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. For us, hunger and thirst will normally be very brief experiences, easily satiated by going to the fridge or turning on a tap. But many Jesus was speaking to originally...
Matthew 5:5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. It’s impossible to exaggerate the revolutionary nature of Jesus’ words. He was introducing his disciples to a totally new upside-down kingdom. This Beatitude remin...
Matthew 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. If you listen to the news regularly you will be well aware that a lot of mourning goes on in our world. It always has. Today there will be people experiencing the agony of losing...
Matthew 5:3 Jesus said: “God blesses those who are poor and realise their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” This is the first of Jesus’ famous sayings at the start of his Sermon on the Mount, popularly known as the Beatitudes. It...
Deuteronomy 31:7-8 Moses said to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous!...Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Forty years before Moses spoke thes...
Deuteronomy 30:11-12, 14 Moses said: “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hea...
Deuteronomy 14:22-23 Moses declared: “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honoured—and...
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 Moses declared: “Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other god...
Deuteronomy 14:2 Moses declared: “You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure.” The word ‘holy’ means something that is special. Moses wanted the peopl...
Deuteronomy 11:26 Moses declared, “Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!” The book of Deuteronomy gives us the sermon that Moses preached as the people gazed at the promised land. God had told Moses that he would n...
