You might want to listen to this six-lesson audio series: “The Beatitudes: The First Thing That Jesus Taught.”

Why?

Because it’s an interesting text for many reasons, only some of which we mention here.

As you read through the first twelve verses of Matthew 5, commonly styled the Beatitudes, you will note that there’s …

• No reference to faith.

• No reference to repentance.

• And no reference to baptism.

In fact, there’s no explicit reference anywhere to God’s redemptive plan as we usually explain it in these twelve verses.

Yet, what Jesus first taught in “the beatitudes” was all about salvation.

More importantly, it was all about the truths (the concepts), that produced a certain kind of individual (the character), that lived a Jesus-kingdom-disciple kind of way (the conduct).

And that, if we get it, provides the foundation — the why — that lies beneath our faith. That prompts our repentance. That yields our will to Christ’s, first, in our baptism, and then continually throughout life.

Starting where Jesus started in this text — I/you/we are wholly/completely lost before a holy God, and continuing to the point that we — me, you, all of us, can stand against all the persecution that Satan and his minions can muster … that’s the message, in thumbnail version, of what Jesus taught in this text.

I don’t know about you, but I need that reassuring message from Jesus every day.

With God’s blessings, I hope you listen to this series and follow the slides along the way.

In Christ,

Jody Apple