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Click here to listen to the sermon. 15mins 

Jeremiah 17v5-10     The Lord examines the heart.

1 Cor 15v12-20          The resurrection of the dead.

Luke 6v17-26            Blessed are the poor.

Do you want to know God better!

Jesus’s teaching in Luke 6 is not predominantly about levels of poverty of materials possessions, but rather about spiritual awareness, meekness or arrogance.

v20 Jesus looked at his disciples, working men and women lean and skinny perhaps and said.

“Blessed are you who are poor….who hunger…weep…insulted and rejected…”

v24 The tone changes and we can imagine Jesus turning and looking at the Pharisees and Sadducees gathered, perhaps portly in stature from over indulgence. “Woe to you who are rich….well fed…laugh…favoured….”

The Jeremiah reading also contrasts these two types of people.

v5” Cursed is the one who trusts in man….strength… heart turned away from the Lord….”

v7 “Blessed is the man who trusts the Lord…confidence in him…tree planted by the water…”

v10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind….”

When we are so full of ourselves we are not listening to the Spirit.

When we are pre-occupied with self and our own needs, we are not hearing the gentle promptings of God.     John 14v26. 15v5. 16v12-15.  Galatians 5v16-26 Live by the Spirit.

That is why when we want to hear God, we instinctively know to draw aside and be quiet for a while, or meditate or even fast.  Mark 1v35.  John 1v47-50.  Acts 10v9-20.

Then we often re-enter the business of life until we notice we have lost God again.

Those that practice a life of self-reflection and sustained periods of quiet are often the ones who have centred their lives in Christ and managed to broadly maintain that centredness.

·       Poor in Spirit.    Or meekness of spirit.

·       Hunger after God.     A thirst for more of God.

·       Weep for the pain of the world.      Experiencing God’s heart for the suffering.

·       Insulted and rejected.       Because there is something special about them, which convicts others.

As we come into Lent, we are invited to get to know God better and encouraged to know ourselves better. To draw nearer to God.  To re-centre our lives in Christ.

We do this by being less ‘Self’ orientated and more God orientated. Clearing the clutter.  Romans 8v5.

By quieting our lives down, drawing aside, limiting the activities, turning off the TV, creating longer sustained periods of quiet in our lives to focus on meditating on the Lord.

Our Lenten Material is designed to encourage you to do just that over these next 40days.

If you want to get to know God better.

Create space in your daily life and learn the art of daily self-reflecting on God. You will begin to recognize what he is saying to you.

Centre your life in Christ!

He’s a great adventure!