Certain events and moments in time have changed the course of history. A few, a precious few, have even changed the course of eternity. Take for example the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His life changed not only history but even eternity.
Jesus’ delivery of the Sermon on the Mount is one of those pivotal events. In what is now undoubtedly the most famous sermon in the world Jesus took righteousness to a whole new level, all in one fell swoop. He defined religion in a way that was then, and is still
today, countercultural, radical, and even revolutionary.
The sermon itself can be preached word-for-word in eighteen minutes, but you could spend a lifetime studying it and never completely search out its depths. The introduction alone—the subject of numerous books, essays, and discussions—is so powerful, so inspiring that it carries its own name exclusive of the Sermon on the Mount:
The Beatitudes. In these few verses Jesus introduces the core belief system that
changed the world.
As you study what it means to be blessed of God and how those blessings are manifest in our lives, you will see that this is the practical side of living in a real world. As we live out the blessings, we become a light shining in the darkness, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. We become ambassadors for the Son of God.
We then have the opportunity to impact world— all because we studied the introduction to a two thousand-year-old sermon.
Copyright © 2010 by Kay Arthur, David and BJ Lawson. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
