God’s got your back

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you Lord, our strength and salvation.

Transcription from the embedded video

Jesus took his friends out into the countryside to teach them something about what it means to be a follower of his. Blessed are you when you are poor in spirit, blessed are you when you mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are those who are merciful, blessed are peacemakers, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, blessed are you when you are reviled, when you are hated for me, for Jesus, he says.

It turns expectations upside down, Jesus is sharing with his followers some of the challenges that are going to face them in the future and he is saying, you know what, God’s got your back. Blessed are you, be happy! Be happy because God has got your back, when you feel so poor in spirit that you don’t know how you’re going to do this. When you feel like there is nothing you can do and everything in the world is overwhelming. When you just want to sit down in a corner and go, “I can’t do this”… the whole of the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven will be there for you.

When you mourn because someone has died, God will comfort you. Because as a follower of Jesus you know, that those who have died are with God, and God will comfort you. Blessed are you when you mourn, because you will be comforted.

Blessed are those who are merciful. How difficult sometimes: “Forgive us our sins, our debts, our trespasses, as we forgive those who sin, who are indebted to, or have trespassed against us.” Blessed are those who forgive others.

Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Blessed are you when people hate you because you are a follower of Jesus. It’s okay. God’s got your back. The resources of the Kingdom of Heaven are there for you.

May you know, that you are blessed. May you know, as a follower of Jesus, may you know that the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven are there.

If you ever worry, if you’re ever doubtful, turn to Jesus, have a look at Jesus and say, “Hey, I’m feeling poor in spirit, I’m feeling lost, I’m feeling I’ve got so much grief.” And Jesus will remind you, “Blessed are you. Happy are you. God has got your back.”

Amen.

[Today’s sermon was delivered, unscripted, from a hillside in Slaithwaite and then transcribed below. The reason for this was that Sunday’s service will be a short, simple ‘family friendly’ service and the sermon will be an interactive discussion with those congregated at St Bartholomew’s and St James. So there is no predefined and scripted sermon, however, preaching unscripted is not the same as unprepared.]