Matthew 5:3-9

We should realize first of all that the dog mentioned in this verse is not the friendly, gentle, Irish setter that probably wouldn't mind at all if you held him by his ears. This is the wild, snarling, alley dog with a mean disposition and bared fangs. It would be improbable that you can get close enough to him to grab him by the ears in the first place. But if you could, you'd face a desperate dilemma; you'd be afraid to Hold on and afraid to let go.

Well, it's a graphic illustration...

That mourn over their alienation from God. - Over their past years of ungodliness. - Over the evil that they have wrought in the world. - Over their neglected opportunities of usefulness. - Over their moral unloveliness. - Over their insensibility; - their irresolution; - their bad memory for sacred things. - Over the unsatisfactory condition of the church. - The sin and danger of those near and dear to them. - The oppression, unrighteousness and misery that desolate the whole earth....

Man is without God. He walks in the mansion of the King of kings, wondering who contrived it, and what has be come of its royal owner; sometimes even doubting if it ever had a contriver, a proprietor. To his mind, God, if he is at all, is an absentee. He examines the treasures around him studies them, weighs them, grasps them, and speculates of the Creator as of one who may be or may not be. Generally, in deed, he speculates not at all. In his conception, God is so remote that it is idle to...

Christ is the Prince of peace. Peace on earth is the object of the Messiah's mission, said the angels in their song. His followers are accordingly sons of peace. They have peace with God, and they are pacificators; they follow peace with all men. Their great object is to induce men to lay aside their hostile ties, and renounce their resentments. This is their vocation in the world. They seek to extend the empire of their Master; but as that empire (and that alone) is peace, they seek no...

Matthew 5:1-16

Emerson's advice to Lincoln about hitching his wagon to a star - is the lesson Jesus sets for us in the Beatitudes. These blesseds shine like stars far above us, in their brightness and heavenliness. We may say that we never can reach them and that therefore there is no use in our trying to reach them. But the Master would have us strive after the highest...

Matthew 20:17-34

Jesus was setting out for Jerusalem on His last journey. Did He not know that He was going straight into danger? He was safe in Perea; why did He not stay there? Why did He leave this shelter - and go straight into the den of lions at Jerusalem? He knew all that awaited Him - but He did not shrink from it; He resolutely set His face to go, because it was the way marked out for Him. The...

John 10:10

Christ always wants abundant life. He is infinitely patient with the weak - but He wishes that we be strong. He accepts the feeblest service - but He desires us to serve Him with the whole heart. The smallest faith, even like a grain of mustard seed, has power with God and can remove mountains - but God is best pleased when we have a

Matthew 5:1-16

Emerson's advice to Lincoln about hitching his wagon to a star - is the lesson Jesus sets for us in the Beatitudes. These blesseds shine like stars far above us, in their brightness and heavenliness. We may say that we never can reach them and that therefore there is no use in our trying to reach them. But the Master would have us strive after the highest...

You say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing”— and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. § The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them;...

Blessed are the meek.I returned and saw under the sun that—the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill. § A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our...