16 October 2022
Two-Minute Features | 23 October 2022 | 09 October 2022

The Rich in Spirit & the Celebrated (TMF:1965)

Friday, October 21, 2022
Peace to Live By: The Rich in Spirit & the Celebrated (TMF:1965) - Daniel Litton
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       The truth offends. Sin offends. But didn’t everyone speak well of Billy Graham. Well, pretty much. What about that, though? We are located in American society. Things are a bit different here. He was almost universal revered; there was a great respect for the man because of the fact Christianity has been embedded into our culture. Notice, however, you really don’t see a person like that anymore, do you? Perhaps Rick Warren comes close, but I don’t think everyone speaks as well about him as they did Billy Graham, and that’s certainly not because of anything Pastor Rick has done. It’s because society is changing. Then James talks about the fact that it’s the rich who really hurt us. For one, you don’t have to worry about a poor person suing you usually because they don’t have a lot of money. It takes money to sue. Just like the rich, isn’t also the highly educated and pompous who are often the problem?

The Poor in Spirit & The Problem People (TMF:1964)

Thursday, October 20, 2022
Peace to Live By: The Poor in Spirit & The Problem People (TMF:1964) - Daniel Litton
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       What does it mean to be an heir of the kingdom of God? What came to my mind right away was The Beatitudes. Turn over quickly to Luke chapter 6. I want us to look at Luke’s account of The Beatitudes. See the same theme here? I sure do. Poor versus rich. James must have been referencing this. Note how Jesus started with the word poor to denote all kinds of different people: the monetarily poor, the hungry (those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, as Matthew tells us), the one’s who are sad, for they weep, and of course, the ones who are hated. So, then, it is the poor in money, the poor in food, the poor in happiness, and the poor in good relations. What about the rich? What does Jesus say about them? Who are the problem people? Those, we could say, who are full of righteousness (I’m sure lots of people are flying into our heads), the ones who laugh now (perhaps they’re not concerned about sin), and the ones of whom everyone speaks well of.

Living Negatively vs. Living Positively (TMF:1963)

Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Peace to Live By: Living Negatively vs. Living Positively (TMF:1963) - Daniel Litton
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       They are no longer like the disciples were during Jesus’ earthly ministry, lacking in faith. Did not Jesus talk about this all the time? He said that people need to have faith. He waited to see if people would indeed have faith. He rebuked his disciples on more the one occasion for not having it. He got so tired of not seeing it. He arrived at the point where he told his teachings in parables, remember, “so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand’” as he said (Luke 8:10, ESV). That’s why I can safely call the person who lacks in faith, or doesn’t have it, in the negative existence. That’s why I can say the person doesn’t have the power of God flowing in their lives. How can it? The person doesn’t believe, so the person cannot receive. The person doesn’t exercise real trust in God regardless of what they say. The disciples would also be quick to say they believed, but then couldn’t demonstrate it with their actions. I’d rather see the actions.

Being Rich in Faith & Heirs of the Kingdom (TMF:1962)

Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Peace to Live By: Being Rich in Faith & Heirs of the Kingdom (TMF:1962) - Daniel Litton
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       It is easy to look the best of everyone. Just blow a few hundred dollars on your externals and in most churches you're probably going to rank high up amongst the best looking. What good is it, though, if we look the best externally but have a shallow heart, a heart that is filled with evil thoughts? That isn’t a fun life to live. Yes, I can remember my high school days where I cared way too much about how I looked and what other people thought about that. James says, "Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.” You see, that’s the point. We are to be “rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.” This is the transformation, the change, when a person matures more and more, when they move from the negative side to the positive side, from paddling against the current to going with the current, that is when they see the positive existence. They have been tried in life and learned to have faith.

Similar Christians Flocking Together, Part 2 (TMF:1961)

Monday, October 17, 2022
Peace to Live By: Similar Christians Flocking Together, Part 2 (TMF:1961) - Daniel Litton
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       But we can see cliques within a single body of believers. Often these cliques can be based on positions within the church. Like, for instance, all the leaders may tend to hang out together. This can become problematic when the group develops a feeling of superiority or awesomeness about themselves wherein they feel the are best and brightest within the church. Of course, this reminds me of the quote from President Calvin Coolidge where he said, “nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.” That may sound a little brash, but the point is that it’s not just the leaders, or the ones we perceive as the leaders, who are the talented. What are some of the evil thoughts we can conjure up in our minds related to this area? These are decisions that people make inside their minds. If we are judging others by an external evaluation of what we perceive the person’s wealth to be based on superficial facts, then we are acting pretty shallow to begin with. We are saying we really only care about the material. Isn’t the person that is rich in heart that God is pleased with?