Sermon OTM - Matthew 5:8-9

Jesus is sitting on a mountain overlooking Sea of Galilee

He is teaching a course on “Christian Spirituality”
- we are now five weeks into his introduction: The Beatitudes
• prior to teaching this course, Jesus had been announcing, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
◦ the course he teaches is meant to prepare us for that kingdom
◦ the Beatitudes reveal characteristics of the abundant life--the truly "good life"
• Jesus is not giving us a new list of rules
◦ he isn’t telling us what we should be doing, but describing what his followers are becoming
• all through this course, Jesus is working from the inside-out
◦ this is obvious in the next Beatitude we’re going to probe

“Blessed are the pure in heart”