First Church Oklahoma City

When we sing in worship more is happening than what we often imagine. We are proclaiming our faith through the lyrics, moved by God through the melodies, and touched by the Holy Spirit through our participation.

Complications occur when a death is out of order. We will examine why death out of order is so difficult, how we can comfort our loved ones who have experienced an unexpected loss, and the source of hope we can offer.

Jesus knew what it was to grieve. When His dear friend Lazarus died Jesus entered into the grief of the community when He cried with them. Jesus knew grief and He is there with us in our grief.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Persecuted for Righteousness

Persecuted for Righteousness

Blessed Are You Persecuted

Blessed Are The Persecuted

The Blessing No One Wants.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Being a peacemaker means daily practicing simple acts of kindness.

If Jesus, the victim of our sins, can forgive us for his death, how much more so should we forgive our enemies, instigators, and victims alike.

Think of a situation in which you are avoiding peace because it would take too much effort, cause too much conflict, or create too much trouble for you. What is God calling you to do in that situation?

Peace means not only freedom from all trouble, but enjoyment of all good. Peace is not just the silencing of the violence of warfare and strife, but a state of well-being and fullness. And this gets to the heart of some of our problems today

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Jesus blessed purity of heart as Jesus knew from out of the heart flow our words and our actions. It's not just enough to refrain from outward sins. We must be pure from the inside out if we are to see God.

We mock the gospel when we reduce the demands of the gospel to simply believing that Christ died for our sins, giving intellectual assent to that truth and accepting by faith the eternal securities it offers us. But the true demand of the gospel is a changed heart, a pure heart, an unadulterated heart, a heart washed clean, a heart free from chaff, a heart purged of discontent.

The heart is what you are, in the secrecy of your thought and feeling, when nobody knows but God.

How pure is your heart? Are your actions pure, showing a pure heart?

When Jesus speaks of a pure heart, he speaks of a heart that has been purged and cleansed so that it is unadulterated and unspoiled. That’s the high calling of this beatitude and it puts us at odds with our culture from the outset.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Mercy is extended to the downcast and outcast, but certainly not to the wealthy or powerful, no matter how blameless their actions have been. The way mercy is lived out today has little resemblance to the mercy Jesus spoke of so often.

Mercy is at the very heart of our relationship with our Lord and mercy must be at the very heart of our relationship with others

Mercy is never easy and it is rarely simple.

Where are you currently seeing mercy extended?

Have you experienced a time when you have seen others receive more mercy than you received?

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

The thought that God only blesses the righteous was the viewpoint of the Pharisees and the religious elite of Jesus’ day. But Jesus blessed those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Why? I think it’s because when we focus on our motivations rather than the end results, we get to the heart of the matter. For example, if we focus only on attaining righteousness we will focus only on our outward actions. Our sinful actions will get our attention. But if we focus on our hungers and thirsts, we will begin to examine the affections of our hearts. And that is where true righteousness is birthed.

What sin do you love more than you love righteousness or even the Lord Himself? Remember that we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Nothing should take the place of God as the center in our lives.

Is there a hunger for which you are seeking to satisfy that still keeps you unsatisfied when you fully attain it?

What is God calling you to do today in order to practice total righteousness?

As you continue or begin a fast we need to ask ourselves, what is the purpose of this fast? What do I need God to do in my life through this fast?

How might you begin to start hungering and thirsting for God as much as you hunger and thirst for other things?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

As you begin this season of Lent, what area of your life is God calling you to sacrifice?

Meekness does not mean weakness.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. How should we understand meekness?

Today we'll take a look at what meekness is not.

The beatitudes are not commands but they are statements of the world turned upside down!

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

How are we to be poor in spirit? How we can experience spiritual poverty? How can we move from pride to repentance?

As we begin to study the Beatitudes, we must first begin to understand the Kingdom of God.

What are the Beatitudes all about? Pastor Lesly shares in today's Lenten devotional.

We use the word "love" to mean so many different things. Love has become such a diluted word in our society because it takes on a new meaning depending on the context in which it's used. So what is love? By Jackson Witt, Youth and Young Ministries Director

There are not easy answers when a mom or dad dies, even when the death is expected. There are no easy answers when there is a tragic death. There are no easy answers when a death is out of order, when children die before parents. There are no easy answers when any death occurs. In this message we will examine the easy answers often given at funerals and in the face of death. We will also look at Jesus' words in the face of death, how we are called to put our hope and trust in Him, and how faith in Christ is the only answer that matters in the face of death.

So, if not easy answers, what answers can we offer when there is estrangement and brokenness in a family? In this message, we will examine some instructions from the Apostle Paul to the early church and how those instructions can be tremendously helpful when we experience divisions in our families. We will explore the roles of speaking the truth in love, building one another up, and the power of forgiveness.