Additional information that could be used to create this warrior image of Jesus could be taken from biblical reports where he ransacked the temple, knocked the soldiers to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, scolded his christian mysticism disciples, and his prophesied return as a lion that will slay the billions who don’t know him. Overall, the gist of the sermon was that Jesus was neither peaceful nor passive, so if you chose to be passive, it would be a sin, and Jesus would reject you.

If i go back 20 years or more, I was one of those people who was so sure that every single word in the Bible hinged upon what God required me to know was true. So when God endorsed the mass killings that occurred almost regularly in the Old Testament, it all fit in with what was believed to be an omnipresent being that had the right to do with us as he pleased because we are subservient to him and had no rights of our own.

It was quite a journey from where I believed every single word in the Bible was inspired and and organized by God to how i see it today. I’ve come to understand that although God may have inspired many of the authors of the Bible, their narrow perception of God prevented them from hearing what he was saying and so they wrote what they believed he would say. Your background and mine are probably not alike. You have been different places than me. You have married a different person than me. The jobs you have had, over your lifetime, are different than mine, and we could go on and on listing our differences. Just like the fact that we have many differences, we also have many similarities. You eat food; I eat food. You breathe oxygen and need water to survive and I breathe oxygen and drink water to live. Again, we could go on and on and list where we are alike. One of the places where many of our lives are similar is the fact that many of us struggle with depression and discouragement. I have suffered from discouragement and depression, both. If you have ever been depressed or discouraged, you and I have something in common.

There are many ways that we can treat depression or discouragement; some of those treatments help and some won’t. Many of us only look to Christ as a last resort; but the Creator of the world should be our first and our main avenue of support when we run into problems. I’m ashamed to say it; but, in my most recent bout with depression I almost put God completely out of my life. The interest on my depression compounded daily, as i left God, the solution, out of my life. There is so much of God’s Word that can be a help to those of us who are either discouraged or depressed.

Matthew 5: 1-12 are the beatitudes of Jesus Christ. This section of the Bible has been of great help to me. In this lesson we will just be looking at Matthew 5: 1-6. Matthew’s writings in this part of chapter five try to encourage four different groups of people. First, he brings encouragement to the poor in spirit. Then he goes on to talk to mourners, the meek, and those that hunger after righteousness. Before we go on to talk about the promises He made to each group, we need to look at the first verse of Matthew, chapter five, “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. ”

Matthew 5: 1-6, “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. ”

In the first verse of this passage the scene is set. Here we see a mountain. Personally, I picture the lower part of a mountain where the grass is dry and thirsty for water. I picture bare spots in the grass and the weeds that make up the seating area for Jesus’ followers. I picture a somewhat overcast day, with the sun shining at the edge of the clouds. Of course, this is only speculation; but the facts are Jesus is on the mountain and Jesus sees His followers. He not only sees His followers as individual people; but, He sees them completely.