Beatitude Series, What Is A Disciple?

1. Poor in spirit.

Disciple:   A person that subjects himself to the disciplines of another.

There are many religions in the world today, and all of them have specific beliefs, and practices that make up all of their own disciplines that they must adhere to in order to achieve what they seek.  In this series we are primarily concerned with the disciplines of Jesus Christ, so we will not list all of the false religions, and their disciplines.  We are going to explore the disciplines of Jesus Christ, which are the primary principles that a follower of Christ must adhere to in order to be considered as a true "Disciple of Christ".     Matthew 5:1 is the beginning of Jesus' explanation of the key attributes that He considers as essential components for Believers that are endeavoring to be His disciples:

"When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him."  Matthew 5:1

Because of the miracles that He was doing, and the things that He was saying, news of Him spread quickly, many people were curious, and came to see Him.  Also there were many who wanted especially to hear what He was saying, because they wanted to be His disciples, and they drew near to listen.  We are going to do that in this series, we will examine the Beatitudes, and see exactly what He was/is saying.

Family Devotions - The Beatitudes

Rich read Matthew Chapter 5. Mary followed along in her Children's Bible and then we had her read several of the Blessed are..., at the beginning of the chapter.  We found this wonderful song on You Tube and sang it several times.  We got out Mary's bucket of percussion instruments and we each took one and played along with the song the second time.  Mary really like the "shake, shake, shake, of the salt of the earth" part of the song.  It is so great to do impromptu music.  Kids love it!  Here is the link to the video to the song and a pic of Rich and Mary playing along.  Have a blessed day as you follow Him.  We are so very happy to see all those following along with us!

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/5yxs5wFpnGg

River of Life

This morning we read from Ezekiel 47 about the river flowing from the 3rd temple.  How it started out small and without any tributaries it got bigger and bigger.  Whereever it went, it brought healing and life.  It had trees on it's bank that bore beautiful fruit.  Mary painted us a picture that I thought was so precious.

We sang a couple of songs:

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/s-pvjjvgxFY

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/yK51tdxYpNs

Our family devotions are simple but very meaningful.  Rich asked Mary the next morning questions about the passage in Ezekiel 47 and she answered them all correctly.  We don't always have a set day for our family devotions and a lot of it is spontaneous, letting the Spirit lead.  We are always encouraged and edified.  Such a great family time and a true faith builder.  God bless you today as you seek to follow the Lord and help your family to do the same!