E.P.I.C. Word of Truth

Blessed Are They That Mourn – Part 2 (Matthew 5:4)

In Matthew 5:4, Jesus, in part, speaks to these very experiences: "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."
But what does it mean to mourn in the way Jesus speaks of? This is not just any mourning; it is a righteous mourning, a mourning that flows from the heart of God Himself.
Jesus promises comfort to those who mourn in this way. But this comfort is not the fleeting solace of worldly distractions; it is the profound, enduring comfort that flows from the very heart of God, who is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).
This comfort is rooted in the cross, where Christ bore the full weight of our sins and opened the way for ultimate healing and restoration.
Righteous mourning, as spoken of in Matthew 5:4, is a deep, spiritual sorrow that aligns with God’s heart. It is not merely the grief that comes from personal loss or disappointment, but a mourning that arises from the recognition of the devastating effects of sin—both in our own lives and in the world around us.
This mourning is a profound sorrow over a child who has turned away from the faith embracing the lies of the world.
It is a mourning that recognizes the breakup of a marriage is not just the end of a relationship; it is the tearing apart of a sacred covenant that God has ordained.
It is a sorrow that grieves over the loss of what God has joined together, recognizing the spiritual implications and the reflection of Christ’s love for the Church. This mourning is accompanied by a deep reliance on God’s promise to bring beauty from the ashes of brokenness.
The death of a loved one brings profound grief, but for the believer, this mourning is also righteous because it acknowledges the intrusion of sin and death into God’s good creation.
This mourning is comforted by the assurance that we will be reunited with our loved ones in the presence of God. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (I Thessalonians 4:14).
Psalm 34:18 says, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” For the one who mourns in righteousness, there is the assurance that God is near to the brokenhearted and that He is a God:
who redeems brokenness,
who can bring beauty, and new joy into your life from the ashes,
and who uses even our deepest sorrows to conform us more to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28).
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The Omnipresence & Immanence of God

Pause with me for a moment and consider the staggering truth that confronts us. The God whom we worship is not a distant deity, confined to the lofty heavens, removed from the turmoil of this world. He is not a God who merely watches from afar, unconcerned with the pain and suffering of His creation.
No, our God is both omnipresent and immanent. He is everywhere at once, and He is intimately near—so close that the very breath in your lungs is a testimony to His sustaining power.
Let the weight of this sink in: The Almighty, who spoke the universe into existence, is not just beyond the stars; He is also right here, in this very room, in this very moment.
The Psalmist cries out in Psalm 139:7-10, "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me."
Can you fathom that? There is no corner of this universe, no depth of despair, no height of joy where He is not present.
You cannot escape His presence—nor should you want to! For this omnipresent God is not just everywhere:
He is with you.
He knows your fears.
He knows your struggles.
He knows your heartaches,
and He stands ready to hold you, guide you, and comfort you with His omnipotent hand.
This is not a God who is indifferent or aloof.
This is a God who cares.
A God who is involved.
A God who is near.
So, let us approach this truth with awe, with trembling, and with a heart yearning to know more of this God who is both transcendent in His majesty and immanent in His grace. Let us dive deep into the riches of His omnipresence and immanence, and may our souls be forever changed by the revelation of His glorious nearness.
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Doctrine of Angels - Part 2

Link to notes talked about in this episode: Faith Foundations
Imagine a vast, invisible world teeming with spiritual beings – most of which are, thankfully, ministering spirits. These spirits are ancient, they are powerful, and they are purposeful.
They were all created by God before the foundation of the world. These beings, known as angels, move at the command of the Almighty, executing His will with unwavering precision.
Yet, not all of these beings remain in the light. Some have fallen, having rebelled against their Creator, casting themselves into darkness, becoming the enemies of our souls. These fallen angels, led by Lucifer, now seek to deceive, to kill, and to destroy.
This is not merely a cosmic tale of good versus evil. This is our reality. These angels, both holy and fallen, are woven into the fabric of our lives and our spiritual battles. They are not distant, ethereal forces; they are active, engaged, and integral to the drama of redemption.
In this message, we will embark on a journey through the Scriptures, where the veil between the seen and unseen is drawn back. We will encounter the terrifying reality of fallen angels and their moral corruption.
We will end with a crescendo of hope, a trumpet blast of victory. Though the fallen angels wage their war, the battle is already won. Christ, our conquering King, has triumphed over them at the cross, disarming principalities and powers, and making a public spectacle of them (Colossians 2:15).
In Him, we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), and no force in heaven, on earth, or in hell can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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7 Last Plagues (Revelation 15)

As we delve into this text, I want you to feel the weight of what is at stake. This is not just an ancient prophecy; it is a divine warning and a call to worship. God’s justice is not to be trifled with, but neither is His grace.
He offers you a way of escape, through the blood of the Lamb. But that offer has an expiration date. The question before us is urgent: Will you stand with those who sing the song of the Lamb, or will you face the seven last plagues?
Let us approach this passage with reverence and trembling, with awe and with urgency, knowing that what we are about to explore is not fiction, but the very future of this world—a future ordained by the sovereign hand of God. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to respond to the truth that is set before us.
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Blessed Are They that Mourn (Matthew 5:4)

With Matthew 5:4, there are so many different ways and angles you can look at this text. Originally, we were going to have a message on mourning and meekness, and then, the more I wrestled with this text, the more I thought about it and prayed over it, I realized we need to spend just some time on the mourning aspect maybe even a couple of messages on mourning before we move on to Matthew 5:5.
This message is going to be about mourning, and exactly what mourning or kind of mourning Jesus is talking about. What Jesus is telling us here is that this mourning is a righteous mourning.
With that, we are going to look at mourning over sin, which is the main application of this passage, but this passage also covers the comforting of all those who mourn righteously and so we are going to look at several different aspects of how you can mourn righteously.
I think the main areas in which you can experience this righteous mourning are:
(1) mourning over your sins and the sins of the world (which is the primary application of this text),
(2) mourning over a wayward child, a prodigal, child,
(3) morning over the loss of a loved one, and
(4) mourning over the dissolution of a marriage.
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The Harvest of the Earth (Revelation 14:14-20)

John sees "one like unto the Son of man" sitting on a white cloud, wearing a golden crown and holding a sharp sickle (Revelation 14:14). This imagery of “one like unto the Son of Man” signifies the authority of this figure to carry out this harvesting.
Notice verses 15-16, “another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth…” (Revelation 14:15-16).
We see here “one like unto the Son of Man,” at the cry of “another angel” thrusts in his sickle and reaps the harvest of the earth, gathering the faithful to God (Revelation 14:15-16). This harvest represents the righteous being brought into the presence of the Lord.
Mark 13:27 "And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven."
In stark contrast, another angel emerges from the temple in Heaven, also holding a sharp sickle. This angel is instructed to gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, representing the wicked, and cast them into "the great winepress of the wrath of God" (Revelation 14:17-19).
The ensuing imagery of blood flowing from the winepress, reaching "unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs" (Revelation 14:20), vividly depicts the severity of God's judgment upon the unrepentant.
May this sobering vision drive us to deeper faithfulness and a greater commitment to the Lord, as we await the day when He will bring His righteous judgment upon the earth. May we be found faithful, proclaiming His gospel and standing firm in our testimony, until that glorious day when we are gathered into His eternal kingdom.

From Slaves to Sin – to Kingdom Living (Matthew 5:1-3)

The Sermon on the Mount is widely recognized as the heart of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. Although almost 2000 years have passed since Jesus uttered these words, they remain as relevant today as when the Savior's lips first breathed them.
One author described the Sermon on the Mount this way:
“After nineteen hundred years the Sermon on the Mount still haunts men. They may praise it, as Mahatma Gandhi did; or like Nietzsche, they may curse it. They cannot ignore it. Its words are winged words, quick and powerful to rebuke, to challenge, to inspire. And though some turn from it in despair, it continues, like some mighty magnetic mountain, to attract to itself the greatest spirits of our race (many not Christians), so that if some world-wide vote were taken, there is little doubt that men would account it ‘the most searching and powerful utterance we posses on what concerns the moral life.’”[1]
The Sermon on the Mount does express the ethic of the Millennial Kingdom, but it also applies to all of God’s people at this moment in history.
The righteousness described in the Sermon on the Mount should be the goal for the character and conduct of every believer today.[2]
“Although the Sermon on the Mount may drive sinners to seek God’s forgiving grace, the sermon was intended to be a description of the effects of God’s transforming grace. Believers should recognize that the righteousness described in the Sermon on the Mount is not attained through mere human effort. On the contrary, this amazing righteousness is progressively produced in Jesus’ disciples through the expression of God’s saving power.”[3]
 
[1] (Hunter, 1965)
[2] (Quarles, 2011)
[3] (Quarles, 2011)

The Self-Existence, Eternity, & Transcendence of God

The attributes of God are not that of which He is composed. The fact that God is God should indicate to us that God is not composed of anything, He is not a sum of His attributes.
Anything that is composed of different parts, or attributes of its nature, had to be composed by something greater than the composition. If God, the Almighty Father, had been composed, then something greater than God would have had to do the composing.
But God is not composed of His various attributes, God is not made of parts, God is not made, God simply is, and always was, and always will be. A.W. Tozer put it this way:
“God’s attributes are not God; that is, I say that God is self-existent, but that’s something that I posit about God – that isn’t God. I say that God is holy, but holiness is not God. I say that God is wisdom, but wisdom is not God. God is God!”[1]
Now, I want you to imagine for a moment the vastness of the universe. Picture the innumerable stars, galaxies, and celestial wonders that stretch beyond our comprehension. Now, consider the One who spoke all of this into existence with a word.
Imagine the One who was before time itself began, who exists in perfect independence, needing nothing and needing no one, yet choosing to create, choosing to create so that He could love, and so that He could redeem, so that He could redeem a race that would reject Him, blaspheme Him, and eventually crucify His own Son.
With this message, we are going to explore a little bit of that God, and the attributes or qualities of that God that led Him to do just that.
We are going to explore the profound and awe-inspiring attributes of our God: His Self-Existence, Eternity, and Transcendence. These are not mere theological concepts, but truths that reveal the very nature of the Almighty. They should shake us to the core and draw us into deeper worship and adoration.
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[1] (Tozer, 2015)

Angelology: The Doctrine of Angels - Part 1

The Bible speaks often of angels, and yet their true nature, purpose, and activities are subjects shrouded in both wonder and misconception. Today, we will journey through the Scriptures to explore the characteristics of these extraordinary beings, who serve as messengers, warriors, and ministers of God's divine will.
Imagine with me for a moment a realm teeming with beings of unimaginable power and purity, a realm that intersects with our own in ways we often cannot see, that we cannot begin to comprehend, but at times we can profoundly feel or sense.
This realm is not a product of human imagination or the stuff of ancient myths; it is reality. It is a reality described in the pages of the Holy Scriptures. Today, journey into this realm as we begin our study of the Doctrine of Angels.
Our study will encompass three key areas:
Creation and Existence of Angels
Characteristics of Angels: Angels are spiritual beings created by God, possessing remarkable power, intelligence, and holiness. They are innumerable, and though they are spirits, they can take on physical forms when required by God's purposes.
Organization, Nature & Employment of the Holy Angels: The Holy Angels, those who have remained faithful to God, are organized into various ranks and orders. We will explore the archangel, Michael, the captain of the heavenly host, and Gabriel, God's special messenger.
We will look into the seraphim, who stand in the presence of God, crying, "Holy, holy, holy," and the cherubim, who guard the glory of God. We will also consider the roles of the ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14).
So, as we open the Scriptures and explore these profound truths, let us do so with hearts full of reverence and minds eager to understand more fully the mysteries of God's creation.
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Proclamation, Compassion & Mental Infirmity (Matthew 4:23-5:1)

First, we observe Jesus teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
His message was one of repentance, hope, and the imminent arrival of God's Kingdom. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus preached with authority and clarity, captivating the hearts and minds of His listeners. This was not just a proclamation; it was an invitation to enter into a new relationship with God, a relationship defined by grace and truth.
Second, we see Jesus healing all manner of sickness and disease.
His miracles were not mere acts of compassion; they were signs of the Kingdom's power breaking into the world. Every healing was a foretaste of the restoration and wholeness that the Kingdom of God brings.
Lastly, we witness the multitudes following Him.
From Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond Jordan, people flocked to Jesus. They were drawn by His teachings, His miracles, and His undeniable presence. They came seeking healing, hope, and the words of eternal life that only He could provide.
As we embark on this series exploring the Sermon on the Mount, let us remember the profound impact of Jesus' ministry that drew the multitudes to Him.
It was a ministry marked by powerful preaching.
It was a ministry marked by compassionate healing.
And it was a ministry marked by a magnetic draw that transcended social and geographical boundaries.
May we, too, be drawn to His words, seeking to understand and live by the principles He taught. May the Lord open our hearts and minds as we journey through His Word together.