Happy Are The Harnessed - Part 2

Culture bridges the power of personal ambition assertiveness and achievement Jesus through the list for me. Is this the Turning Point of the beverage or losses absolutely and makes the case for why meekness is often misunderstood as needed now more than ever. This lesson is that this is the conclusion of his message happy, harvest well, thank you so much for joining us. We are going. Beatitudes member on someone said these are attitudes that you should have so please be your attitudes. Let's please Beatitudes well Jesus is teaching us actually have been to the very place where this was taught maybe five or six times now the mountain Beatitudes where these lessons were taught by the Lord Jesus it's in Israel support of our Israeli tour that we take when we take a bunch of people there to see the holy land, and I have taught the Beatitudes where Jesus taught the Beatitudes. I wasn't nearly as powerful as he was. I promise you, but I was just telling everybody what he said and were doing that right now, today, as we open our Bibles together. Today were going to finish up what we tackled yesterday for the first time in the whole subject of meekness. Blessed are the meek, what is that mean and how should anyone ever aspire to be meek, figuring that out together as we open our Bibles each day tomorrow here on Turning Point were going to start talking about happy are the hungry, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness while will get to that tomorrow and I hope you be with us throughout the rest of this month. As we understand the Beatitudes.

Okay, let's get back to our discussion of meekness in chapter 5 when Paul is in the cluster of nine fruits is meekness fruit of the spirit is what it's meekness in the Bible. There are two people who embody this concept. One is Moses in the Old Testament, but the other is Jesus Christ and the new and in the book of Matthew chapter 11 verse 29.

We hear Jesus say this about himself, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest on yourselves.

Jesus said about himself.

I am meek, the best definition I ever heard of New Testament meekness is this power under control in the New Testament sense of the word, a man who is meek feels anger on the right. Grounds against the right people in the right manner at the right moment for the right length of time. He does not become angry with those he ought not to become angry with any does not become angry with those he should be angry with it is power under control. It is the virtue of the man acts with gentleness and it is in his power to act with severity. If ever there was a man that was Jesus Christ. I was get exasperated when I hear and usually other liberal preachers and they talk about Jesus in terms that would let you think he was and if eminent week. Mandy Pandy kind of a person and I have never understood where they have gotten that from the Bible. It's no wonder a lot of men reject Jesus they don't reject the real Jesus. They rejected Jesus we created by her own inability to read the Bible, but I want to tell you something, Jesus was a man's man.

And even though the Bible says he was meek and Paul writes in second Corinthians 10 about the meekness of Jesus. There are times when Jesus got angry that I went to the New Testament and reminded myself of some of them you remember the time when Jesus was healing a man with a withered hand and sees and the scribes got all over his case because they said, Lord, you're doing this healing thing on the Sabbath and you should do in this in Mark 35 says Jesus looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts. Jesus, God angry on another occasion was the disciples were try to keep the little kids from getting next to Jesus to remember that story and the Bible says in Mark chapter 10 in verse 14 that when that happened. Jesus was greatly displeased are two very intense words, which means he was angry. On one occasion Jesus was giving a little speech about people who caused little children to stumble. Everyone who's tempted to be involved in anything like that today should read Jesus words and these are the words of Jesus.

Listen to this.

Jesus said it would be better for somebody like that if they put a millstone around his neck and they drown him in the deepest sea, the words of Jesus sequestering sure you got the right version.

Jesus said that but my all-time favorite story of his manhood took place one day when he walked into the temple. We don't often understand the legitimacy of what he did but let me tell you what he did in the temple there was a court that circumvented the temple proper called the Gentile court and into that court alone.

Gentiles were allowed to come in when allowed in any the other temple proper, but they could come there and often they would come there and they would hear about God. Well, in the process of time, the priest who cared for the temple got greedy and here's what they did in order to come to offer a sacrifice in the temple.

You had to bring in animal mammal had to because you had to be blessed and be right. The priests would disallow any of the animals that were brought to sacrifice and they would tell the people you have to buy your sacrifice at one of our shops which we have set up in the Gentile court so they have absolute monopoly on the business people would bring their sacrificial animals a walk-in not accepted, not accepted yet to go there by one and if they were in a worship.

They go on by and so extortion was going on. It was fraud. One day Jesus walked into the temple proper and he saw what was going on. He said this should be a house of prayer which you folks have done to you what there were many weakness in Jesus that day the picture in your mind. He would overturn all the tables upside down.

You could hear coins flying everywhere. I'm sure birds were flying everywhere. He made a pot of some cords he took that quickly started to beat the whip in the air and here's one man chasing all these people out of the temple proper just one man, who is that the meek and lowly. Jesus got angry but let me show you something that I learned that I will never forget meekness never gets angry at that which happens to itself. It only gets angry that which happens to others when Jesus was spit on when they took the crown of thorns jammed down on his brow.

When the un-mercilessly.

You never hear Jesus say you have no right to do that to me that's never sitting in fact in the book of acts were told he was like a lamb before the slaughter opened not his mouth. But when Jesus saw unrighteousness when he saw children being hurt when he saw Gentiles being denied their opportunity to hear about God in the temple and Jesus got angry and you know there's power in that there is we often think that if a person doesn't show his power. He doesn't have it, but the real strength of a person is to have power not use it. Jesus was meek but he was not week Henry Ward Beecher defines meekness like this. He says it's maintaining peace and patience in the midst of helping provocation and I love what Thomas Brown said he said meekness is taking your injuries like you take your pills not shooing them but swallowing them down the whole company you've ever had to swallow an injury. Somebody did something that was nothing you could do about you just had to swallow you once you swallow it you need let go of it. I think life is made up a lot swallowing stuff is his life. Fair whoever thought it was and inevitably throughout life.

There are times when things happen that make no sense that don't have any right or right to any of it and you just have to admit, say, Lord understand I except I swallow Jesus Christ was meek, you know, in the Bible. There are number of places where it tells us that as Christians we need to have meekness in our life and I want to show them to you.

This quality of power under control. First of all committed to the Lord and then in control of ourselves. First of all, in James chapter 1 and verse 21 we read this. James 121 tells us that we need meekness to receive God's word. It says receive with meekness the implanted word, I want you think you would need meekness to understand what God well one the reasons why want people to understand the word of God. First of all, I don't even know they need to understand the word of God. I never understood why people don't take advantage of the opportunity to learn the word of God that is so available to us in our culture today. Why don't they do that because they assume they don't need or why is it that when people come to the word of God, even to study it. It didn't seem to take effect in their life because you cannot be filled up with your own wisdom and God's wisdom all the same time.

And the reason why so many people don't grow by virtue of their studying the word of God is because of this quality that's missing in our lives. We don't come to the word of God, minus our own wisdom and strength and say Lord I want to you myself up to your word and understand what it says and you show me what it means in got implemented in my life. The longer I study this book and I've said this to you before, the more convinced I am that this book is so out of sync with what's going on in the world today that apart from a spiritual experience by the spirit of God in your heart, helping you to understand it and then implemented. You will never make it work.

We rushing to the word of God read a verse or two and we off on our thing doing our stuff in, we don't have meekness and if we don't have meekness will never ever grow in the word of God is incredibly important to show you another one.

Galatians 61 Galatians 61 says that when somebody stumbles in their life that we are spiritual excess is you who are spiritual are to restore that person in the spirit of there it is again. Galatians 61 says we need meekness not only to receive God's word but we need meekness to restore fallen Christians member is someone more in power than when they know they've got something on you Metro ever is the temptation to wield power greater then when you confront someone you know has done wrong. What is meekness. Meekness is power under control. Nothing is more important in dealing with broken people than this quality gentleness sometimes used to translate this word is at the core of it. How easy it is to be judgmental to let all of our righteous indignation hang out to pontificate with pious platitudes and spiritual sayings with the spirit that is needed when you find somebody in trouble is the spirit of meekness somebody has said that meekness is the spirit that makes correction a stimulant instead of a depressant thing about that one for a moment. Meekness takes the person who's fallen and lifts them up and gives them hope and doesn't leave them in despair when we do in our churches. Somebody gets in trouble, we jump up and down on we talk about we get on the prayer chain.

Would you believe given a spiritual sound. We don't restore them in the spirit of meekness. Paul writing to the Galatians says when the brothers in trouble and how do we deal with that. We go to them or put on around them in the spirit of love and humble meekness and loneliness say hey I'm on your side. What can I do how can we help thirdly, we need meekness to reach others with the gospel. You have to turn to let me read it to you first Peter 315 says sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you and do that with meekness and fear.

We think we can document to the corner and browbeat them into saying okay.

I remember an occasion back in Fort Wayne when I was a pastor back there. We have the evangelism explosion program in our church when we would go out and talk to people about the Lord one morning I was in my office and I got a call from a man who lived in the community and our church was in a rather affluent community in Fort Wayne and this guy was a businessperson of some professional guy and this was the gist of the conversation. He said reverent message I should give you a pastor the church down the corner right. He so when your people was in my house last night and he said he wouldn't leave until I prayed a prayer, so he said I prayed the bag on prayer and he said in the prayer I got right now is that you never let them come to my house again. I just want to report to you what a pleasant experience. Thank you and hung up only turn it he will reveal how many people we run off in the other direction because we haven't come to them with the spirit of meekness. Christianity is not sharing something that we know a lot about somebody else doesn't know anything about Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he can get bread that's all it is Hudson Taylor great missionaries of our day was once dressed in Chinese costume waiting for taken across the river in a rule richly dressed Chinese man was waiting for the same boat and when the boat came the Chinese man decided he'd move up to the front of the line and not realizing that Hudson Taylor was a foreigner he can't cook them over the head with a stick knocking down in the mud and took his place.

Hudson Taylor said would happen, his first impulse was to get up and lay the man out when he said God would let me do it and when the man discovered that Taylor was not a native. He said my word.

He said you're a foreigner and you didn't strike back.

Hudson Taylor said friend.

This is my boat. If you get in I'll take you wherever you want to go with Dr. Taylor on the way to taken him wherever he wanted to go.

Told him about the Lord Jesus Christ and not hard to believe that the man accepted Christ, for he saw the Spirit of Christ in the witness is not a missing ingredient a lot of evangelicalism today or am I just seeing things in the spirit of Jesus sharing our faith in meekness is one last finished. We need meekness to remain unified in our churches look with me at Ephesians 4 versus two and four are still have your Bibles open Ephesians 42 through four. Listen to what Paul wrote to the Ephesian church as his words he said with all loneliness and meekness with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Listen carefully. Paul said, if you really have unity in your churches. You gotta work at it.

Can I get a witness so you come from churches that have been totally destroyed and you know that they were working at it but they were working the unity they were working at disunity, he says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And I've written my Bible may be the most difficult endeavor. Anyone ever undertakes watch. It's not just hard work.

It's hard work in a special spirit. He says were to do the work of unity in the spirit of meekness.

Ladies and gentlemen. In any gathering of believers.

There will always be both people and pockets of power and if there is to be unity in that gathering of believers. It will first be because they are jealously endeavoring to maintain the unity and secondly, listen carefully, it will be because they understand that the attitude with which we approach each other in Christ body must always be one of meekness and gentleness and loneliness nobody ever comes to the table with all the right answers, but we must come humbly in the spirit of Jesus so often in churches were unity is fractured his name and the issue that's the issue. It's the spirit of the issue and Paul said, if you keep unity in your church.

You gotta do it in meekness and long-suffering so the Bible says that a person who lives in such a way will inherit the earth. It's not peak performers who inherit the earth. It's meek performers who inherit the earth meekness is resting and trusting and committing and delighting in the Lord and letting him all my life and that it is living in the power of the Holy Spirit with my life and my attitudes with my spirit always under control, never going beyond where God wants me to go but never failing to go where God wants me to go always under control. Leslie Flynn and one of his great little books tells a story about some kids at work building a tree house on their backyard treehouse all built. They decided it was such exquisite place that they should start a club and so they formed the club for their treehouse and after they got the club form. They decided if they had a club they needed some rules, like a little Constitution. So after they talked about it and meditated on it. They came up with three rules and they posted them on the wall in their little treehouse.

Here are the rules. Number one. Nobody asked big number two. Nobody asked small number three. Everybody asked medium that's kinda like what we've been talking about is so easy to act big, sometimes even out of acting small, we get a little glory. That's not meekness either. Meekness is in between its power under control and Jesus was like that. I need to type I read these and at first, the overwhelming sometimes they almost terrorize me and then they develop within me this hunger want to be like that.

I want to be like Jesus, is that your heart be like he is in your world, the spirit of God we can be growing in Christ is allowing Jesus Christ to before me. You may not think it's possible for you ever to express the attitude meekness. But if you love the Lord Jesus Christ to control your life.

You might be surprised what will happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Well tomorrow we begin our discussion of spiritual hunger and thirst. Blessed are the hungry for they shall be, for they shall be satisfied and join us as we talk about that is very interesting about spiritual hunger and physical may sound like they would be exactly alike, but in reality there exactly the opposite will have to wait till tomorrow to find out what that means but I will join together here in the Bible study room as we open the Scriptures together. Thanks for listening message you just came from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Jeremiah senior cost is God touching your life is about point PO Box. San Diego, California 9216 sided Jeremiah.hope/Cleo copy of David's new Bible study John of Christ is Jeremiah Bible study series and gift of any amount you can also purchase the Jeremiah study bottle and the new English standard and new international versions, standard or lodgment in the new King James Joyce of several Jeremiah.old/radio join us tomorrow as we continue to be happy. According to Jesus Turning Point for