Sunday, December 30, 2007

Reality Check Conference - Paul Washer - Session 6

I dropped by Tim Challies book table to buy his book and hoped to meet him, but unfortunately, he's under the weather and missed the session tonight. Praying that he'll be better in the morning! Ryan was feeling unwell today as well. He stayed in the room and napped while we explored Chattanooga. We brought him back a "Sausalito" which is a turkey sandwich with salsa and pepper jack cheese. He ate it and by 10 PM was working out in the fitness center. Oh to be 16 again!

Paul Washer:

When he began, the big question on everyone's mind was, "Will he get through the Beatitudes?" "Will he even get through the first three?" Unfortunately, we were left in suspense as he mentioned how we had been feasting on God's word through Jono Sims' talk and he asked, "Did your heart burn within you?"
"Did justification excite you?"
"Is glorification music to my ears?"
"Is this what I long for?"
"Do you Need Him now more than ever?"
"Have you changed since your conversion?"

Or have we taken the flu shot of American Christianity and been inoculated into apathy and boredom over these precious doctrines?

"Blessed are those who mourn..." Matthew 5:4

"Lives [of true converts] are marked by mourning over sin." This is written in present participle tense - it is ongoing. Confession of sin is not just giving a laundry list of our sins to God. It is saying, when convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, "Lord I hear you and I speak back the same thing - I agree."

"We want you to see your sin because God wants you to see it so he can deliver you from it."

Examples of Biblical mourning:

  • Ezra 9:5: Oh God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you.
  • Luke 18:13-14: The tax collector: God have mercy on me a sinner.
  • James 4:9-10: Grieve, mourn and wail; turn your laughter into mourning.
  • 2 Corinthians 7:9-10: Made sorrowful to the point of genuine repentance according to the will of God.

In contrast, Judas was an example of unbiblical "worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Cor. 7:10).

There is what seems to be a paradox in the life and sanctification process of the sinner. Washer says that those who complain about (and even teach against) those who preach sin and repentance don't understand this:

The more you see of God's holiness, the more you see the poverty in your life (Matthew 5:3) the more you mourn, the more you see his grace and the more indescribable is your joy.

As the Christian matures, there is an exchange. For the immature Christian, his joy is in his performance of works for God. As the years go by, his focus becomes the finished work of Christ (see indescribable joy above). We can't be the source of our own joy. We must embrace poverty of spirit and his all-sufficiency and exchange our works for His joy. Woah!

He then shifted gears to our response to the sin of others.

"Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed" (Psalm 119:136).

"Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it" (Ezekiel 9:4).

Our response should not be to tear sinners apart, but to pray for them and to mourn over the lost condition of our generation.

In Jonah 4:11 the Lord says to Noah, "But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

"God was more concerned for animals than we are for the souls of men!"

"The world does not want to mourn, and because of that, it will never be happy."

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Flying through the Beatitudes.....

Blessed are the meek....

We are to have a mild disposition before God and bend to His will. "...they will inherit the earth."

Psalm 37:11 "But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace."

The rest of Psalm 37 describes those who will inherit the land as:

  • Not envious of those who do wrong
  • They trust in Him
  • They do good
  • They delight in the Lord
  • They commit to the Lord

"The greatest offense against God is not to believe in Him. Has he ever failed you? Has one of his words ever fallen to the ground undone?"

OT sidebar to teenagers:

The most beautiful thing to a godly man is simple and faithful woman.

The most handsome man bears joyfully the yoke of his master and submits to his will.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...

Hunger and thirst = crave ardently; to painfully want.

Do you feel that? Are you desiring to be more righteous? Does it even enter your mind? One of the greatest evidences of conversion is that you find righteousness only in him and grow in righteousness for his glory [emphasis mine] (Phil. 3).

Blessed are the merciful......

Those who are the most zealous about righteousness tend to be the most critical. Note the order of these two: righteousness - mercy. "A godly man never looks at a fallen brother and says 'how could you?' They say, 'Why didn't I?" (see mourning and poverty above).

Who are we to be merciful to? Those who refuse the Gospel.

Matthew 23:37: Jerusalem, Jerusalem,....how I have longed to gather your children together but you were not willing.

Mark 6:34: Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

We must pity the lost and have compassion on them.

Washer said we are living in the "greatest moment in human history." [I think he meant in terms of the spread of the gospel....I might have missed something here.]

"Don't sit there filled up with self. Go preach the gospel. Don't wait to be "called." Ask God to send you. Go find a country and preach the gospel. Woe to us if we do not go and have mercy on the lost. If that doesn't fit into your theology, then your theology is demonic!"

He said people are going to hell not because of Hollywood, but because of Evangelicalism in America. [yes...he's very subtle :)].

He closed by saying if he could re-do anything in his Christian life he would know God more and be more like his son and spend less time on "activity."

"Give yourself to being like Christ as he manifests Himself in this book [Bible]. "

He closed in prayer and called Jesus the "Rock so infinite that we cannot fall off thee but that we can only fall into thee."

Gary and I were really challenged by these two messages tonight - spurred to action even. Some things God is telling us to do - that it would be easier not hear. Paul Washer said something yesterday about how God can't fill buckets that are already full. He needs to empty them before he can begin to fill them. He alluded to that tonight - something he said to the young people - telling them that God would put them through a lot of pain and challenges in order to conform them into his image. It sure doesn't stop when you get older, does it?

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Saturday - Session 5 - Jono Sims

Jono Sims started his talk with the words "verbal, plenary, inspired scripture." Not the usual words you'll hear at a youth conference!! But then, this is no ordinary youth conference. There are no vendors hawking glowsticks or t-shirts in the lobby (although there is a small room with a few book tables). There is no dancing in the aisles during driving musical numbers. There are youth groups scattered here and there, but by and large there are groups of families and clusters of adults. I would have probably been more appropriately labeled a "family conference." I think it would fit in quite nicely with Voddie Baucham and others who have a heart for "Family Integrated Churches." Baucham has a quote on his church's website from Dr. Alvin Reid who says, “The largest rise of youth professionals in history has been accompanied by a decline in youth evangelism effectiveness.” This conference is the antithesis to traditional youth ministry methodology.

Jono Sims addressed this by saying that all of the youth ministry training materials and conferences today push the idea that you must dumb down the message in order for today's teenagers to understand it or make it easier for them to take. He rejects that notion by saying that these same kids are taking classes at school that require incredibly complex higher level thinking skills such as algebra II, trig, biology, chemistry, etc. God has given us this incredible book and he wants us to wrap our arms around it and embrace it! (thus giving him the chutzpah to begin a talk at a "youth conference" with the words 'verbal, plenary, inspired scripture')

Sims' talk was on Titus 3:1-8 and was about salvation. He posed the question, "Do I have the salvation that Paul, through the Holy Spirit, describes, or do I have something else?"

First, he went through the reasons we need to be saved: Total depravity... Romans 3:10-12 (there is no one righteous), Romans 3:23 (all have sinned and fall short), Ephesians 2:1 (you were dead in your transgressions), Isaiah 59:2,(your iniquities have separated you from God) James 4:4 (friendship with the world is hatred toward God), Romans 1:18 (wrath of God is being revealed against all ungodlessness by men who suppress the truth).

He then went through the list of vices in the chapter and said this is what those without Christ look like to God.

Next, we must understand something of why God reached out to us with salvation. It was no [as many are wont to teach] because God needs our fellowship or because it makes God complete. It was because "the kindness and love of God our Savior" (v. 4) and "he saved us....because of his mercy" (v. 5). The word"saved" here is the word we get "soteriology" from [another word you don't hear at youth conferencees].

From what/whom did God save us? From whom did he save Noah? From Himself. Sims says, "God has protected us through salvation from his own wrath."

Next, he talked about the three aspects of saving faith and their respective time periods in the life of the believer:
  • Regeneration/Justification - Past
  • Sanctification - Present
  • Glorification - Future

"...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) This verse is demonstrates the three time periods/grammatical tenses as well (past, present and future tense), which are also demonstrated in Titus 3.

Verse 5-7: Washing of rebirth and justified by his grace - Regeneration/Justification (Past)

Verse 5: Renewal (bring back anew again) - Sanctification (Present)

Verse 8: Devote themselves to doing what is good - Sanctification (Present)

Verse 7: Heirs having the hope of eternal life - Glorification (Future)

"The message has been sent that you can be justified and glorified without being sanctified. It-is-a-lie!"

"If you think you're going to heaven and you're living like hell, you're going where you're living - you've embraced a false gospel."

I came away from this talk incredibly overwhelmed with a feeling of love for the gospel! The sheer beauty of it brought tears to my eyes. Indeed, his mercies are new every day!!

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. " Lamentations 3:22-23

Reality Check Conference - Day Two - Session 1

We started the day with a busy breakfast in the hotel. It was jam packed with guests, many of which were teenagers. I saw a plastic bag puffing up in the microwave in popcorn-like fashion and asked the staff-member what it was......no kidding......scrambled eggs!! Let's just say the taste was commensurate with the cooking method. Since seating was in short supply, we shared a table with a family from Atlanta (not with the conference) and found that the woman is a cousin of Cleveland Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook! Very cool! The grandma works at Ty Cobb Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Jeff Noblit spoke today about the spirit of fellowship that exists among Christians - to a lesser, it exists among baseball fans as well.

Paul Washer:

Paul continued to teach through the Beatitudes. At this rate, I estimate we will need to extend our stay for another 10 days. He made it through Matthew 5:3 this morning :)

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

He defined holiness as this: "To be holy as God is holy is to esteem God as He esteems himself and love God as He loves Himself."

That's perhaps different than we are traditionally taught to think of holiness. Usually we think of it as what WE DO.....our behavior (good or bad).....but that makes it about us rather than about God. A change in our thinking and our focus away from self and onto the magnification of God will result and the changes in behavior that we traditionally think of as holiness. Considering everything we do in terms of the effect it has on the kingdom and in esteeming and loving God is the proper attitude.

He also reiterated something he said last night: that when listening to the words that Jesus spoke, we can't avoid that the Sermon on the Mount was a priority for Jesus. Washer called it the "Christian Manifesto."

So, back to the Beatitudes.....

He compared the world's views to Jesus' views of the Beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit...
World: Be self-confident and independent
Jesus: Absolute need of God

Blessed are those who mourn...
World: Have a healthy self-esteem
Jesus: Mourn over their fallenness and the fallenness of the world (which places eyes on Christ)

Blessed are the meek.....
World: Be driven and a go-getter
Jesus: Seek the glory of God and submit to his will

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness....
World: Seek the treasures of this world and be satisfied
Jesus: Recognize this world is temporal and seek to conform to Christ because this is not our home. Blessed are the misfits.

Blessed are the merciful...
World: Demand the best from people and distribute rewards/benefits based on merit
Jesus: Reflect God's mercy to others because of the mercy we have been given.

Blessed are the peacemakers....
Arggg......missed this somehow

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness...
World: Devotion to self and compromise all other loyalties. Self-preservation is the goal. One of the greatest sins of pastors - fear of preaching the truth. Moderately religious and don't make waves.
Jesus: Pure in heart who have undivided loyalty to God and His kingdom. Persecuted because they are radically Christian.



As I'm writing this, I'm watching Fox News and hearing a story about a girl who entered a contest to win Hannah Montana tickets. She made up a story about her father being killed in the Iraq war!! The mother is making excuses and saying they thought it would be OK to make up a fictional story. The way of the world and the way of Jesus are indeed indeed in conflict.

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Poor In Spirit:
Poor = Destitute in merit - helpless and powerless to bring anything to God. Fall upon the mercy of God and call out to Jesus Christ. Can't say it much more clearly than that!!

He said that he gets criticized for preaching on sin too much but says, "We make much of sin so you will make much of Christ."

He gave examples from scripture of Poverty of Spirit:

""Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6:5

The story of the prodigal son: "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." Luke 15:21

The tax collector: "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Luke 18:13

Paul: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24

He said that in many churches today, if you come with this attitude, you will be told that you are taking this too far, that you shouldn't be so negative.

[I will add that this message is EVERYWHERE....God loves you just the way you are...you are God's image-bearer, you shouldn't put down what God has created. These are not necessarily untrue statements, we are made in the image of God and if we are in Christ our sins are forviven and as far as east if from west, so far has he removed our sins from us Psalm 103:12 . However, that is just half of the story. ]

Washer continued: Poverty in spirit will increase through the life of the believer. In other words, it is one of the signs of true regeneration. God said to Isaiah, ""This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. " Isaiah 66:2.

He then spoke to the young people in attendance, the young men in particular: "Young people, you have so limited your usefulness to God because you don't listen to anyone because you think you know everything and you surround yourself with people your own age who are as dumb as you are." At that point there was an eruption of "Amens" throughout the crowd :)

He spoke about the importance of prayer: Jesus is rarely seen walking to somebody. He is seen walking by somebody and they come to him. He wants to be called.

He than started letting everyone know that the most important point was coming up so that if anyone was daydreaming they had better start paying attention.

GREATEST OFFENSE AGAINST GOD BY TEENAGERS:
It shows pride, ignorance and railing against God.......God has given you authorities in your life to protect you: The government and your parents - you are not poor in spirit unless you honor your parents. Even if your parents are not Godly or wise, unless they are asking you do something that directly contradicts scripture or are breaking the laws of the state, you should honor them (and let God deal with their issues). God will bless you for it, even when your parents are wrong. He said this in a much more powerful way than I can convey with a lousy computer. I was choked up when he said it (and resisted the urge to elbow the boys on either side of me). It also makes me think of my own parents who are not Christians and whom I must still honor, though it is not always easy.

He mentioned a sermon someone did on the life of Princess Diana and how she would still be alive if she would have obeyed and honored her parents and the government authorities. Hmmm....I wonder about the sovereignty of God in that, but that would certainly be an intersting sermon!

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How can we create poverty of spirit??

One way is through fellowship with other Godly people. He told the kids there to memorize Proverbs 13:20: " He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm."

He stressed again that young men, especially, need to be with older Godly men. Fathers: is there any difference between you and the younger men?

15-17 year olds: Stop being boys and act like men - The world cannot wait until you're 35 for you to be men!

Finally.......although this seems to be a contradiction [and it certainly does....this was a VERY unusual conclusion!] Don't worry about it... "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil. 1:6. For HIM it will be easy to accomplish.

Maybe later I'll have time to go through Jeff Noblit's talk....I'm out of time for now. We had a fun afternoon exploring Chattanooga. What a charming city! We went to the arts district for lunch and stumbled upon a great deli in the basement of a travel agency. Next door was "The Groovy Shop" which gave me flashbacks of "The Odyssey Shop" in my hometown of Bedford, OH.....lots of incense if you need to clear your sinuses!! After lunch we drove up to Lookout Mountain and saw the incredible view. Of course, being nerdy homeschoolers we had to read all the educational signs about the history of the incline and went down to the basement to see the mechanical workings and discuss grease points and, gears, electricity and such : )

Off to the evening session...







Reality Check Conference - Day One

Reality Check Conference - Day One

Watch the conference live here

I've been wanting to try my hand at blogging for some time now and thought perhaps (not quite) live-blogging from the conference would be the best way to start. After all, if Tim Challies can do it.... : ) Actually, since he's probably in the main room, I thought it would be good to have someone blogging from the "cheap seats," i.e. the "overflow room." I'm going to write mine before I check out his blog. It will be interesting to see how Mars and Venus view the same conference.

After a grueling 10 hour drive from Ohio in a near constant driving rain (which was almost like an Ohio white-out) we arrived at the Staybridge Inn, i.e. the "overflow hotel." I'm thinking that we got the better deal. We have a suite with a separate bedroom and kitchenette, indoor pool and free breakfast in the morning. Our 13-year old son has claimed the 2nd double bed and our 16-year old son is taking the pull-out sofa.

When we finally made it to the "overflow room" we felt very special because our name badges were emblazoned with orange traffic pylons and the word "overflow." The room is a good size theatre with a large screen, very cushy, velvety seats with mini desks attached (think college), and lots of room to stretch out. We entered to nice praise music playing in the background and I mentioned to my son that this was going to be a lot different than the "Battle Cry" conference we had attended two years ago! Before that conference began there were all sorts of activities meant to "warm up" the crowd....beach balls....happy-clappy songs and the 'is-everyone-pumped-up-and-ready-to-rock' stuff that is the standard fare at most youth conferences. Nope, none of that here.

That said....when the worship time started, we were, unfortunately, treated to a strobe light show from the big screen. They were having (major) technical problems with the equipment and the screen was flashing in and out for the entire evening. Not just once and a while, but every two seconds or so. By the time Paul Washer was speaking they gave up entirely and we all stared (in typical brain dead American fashion) at the blue screen of death for the rest of his sermon. It's really unfortunate, because it was SUCH a distraction. Living with a couple of techies, I know the guys running it were doing everything humanly possible to make it work. I'm sure it was probably killing them that this happened. Hopefully tomorrow they will have the glitches fixed.

Matt Fowler:

The first speaker was Matt Fowler from 1st Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals. He preached on John 6:22-27. Although he's a rather young man (I'm thinking under 30?) he's a very powerful preacher and expositor of God's word. I filled half of the little blank book they gave us with notes and decided I really need to start some sort of organized system for keeping sermon notes. I'd love to hear suggestions. Some of my notes:

John 6:25 - the crowd said to Jesus, "When did you get here?" Although they had seen him feed the 5000 and witnessed other miraculous signs, they were still blind. They didn't understand that he could also walk across the water.
  • Christianity is more than theology and words. There must be the reality of Christ in the lives of His disciples.
  • Apart from the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, no one will have the reality of Christ in their lives (or the saving knowledge of Christ).
  • John 6:26 - "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill."
  • They sought Jesus because of what he could do for them: food - and they had to keep coming back for more.
  • Some seek Jesus the: socialite, gift giver, psychotherapist, banker, soup kitchen, job promoter. (HT: Joel Osteen, PDL & Emerg***)
  • 6:27 - "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."


Jesus' demands on the seeker:

  • Do not labor for the temporal - that labor is vanity (bigger barns, eat, drink, be merry)
  • Don't labor for food that perishes (Matt 6:19)
  • That kind of food enslaves (can't serve 2 masters Matt 6:24)
  • That food leads to death - some are so enslaved they don't know it.
  • Why labor for the eternal food?
  • Leads to eternal life - John 6:48-50 - Manna in the wilderness - those people all died.
  • Those who eat Jesus' bread will have eternal life
  • The Eternal food is Jesus Himself. "He's so much better if we'll let Him be who He is."
  • This food satisfies. He is the giver AND the gift. John 3:29 - Rejoice at the mere VOICE of the bridegroom!
  • This kind of labor glorifies Him. Matt. 13:44 - The kingdom is like a treasure and the man sells all he has to buy the field. This kind of labor points the lost world to Him.


Paul Washer:


We "saw" Paul Washer for a brief few minutes before he dissolved into the blue screen of death. However, his powerful voice was booming through the theatre and he God used him through the Holy Spirit to probe some places in my soul that I needed to go.


On our short drive back to the hotel we tried to pinpoint what his "thesis" was (being homeschoolers we can't resist!). My 16-year old was slightly frustrated, but only, I think, because he's used to a typical 25-minute 4-point sermon with a clearly defined intro and conclusion. He announced at the beginning that he would be preaching through the Beatitudes. He said that he didn't really know how he would go about it as he was really digging into it deeply himself and didn't have a clear plan for how he was going to preach through it. Now with a lot of preachers, you hear something like this and you're thinking....uh oh.....but I've listened to enough of Paul Washers sermons to give him the benefit of the doubt.


So back to the thesis. Here's how I would write it: "In contrast to God speaking to Moses on Mt. Sinai, God incarnate sits on a mountain and opens his mouth. Because of this, our privilege is great and our responsibility is equal. For some it would be better to have never heard of Christ or His word because we treat it so lightly. 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.' (Luke 12:48)"


  • To the teens who think they know so much: 20 years from now "You will be more unholy than you are now."(paraphrase) The more you learn of the holiness of God and the more you study his word, the more you see how short you fall. This brought to mind a discussion on the Teampyro blog a couple weeks ago where someone was claiming that the older he got the less he knew. He was trying to make the same type of claim (at least I think he was) that Washer was making about holiness. It doesn't fly if you buy Washer's point about a mark of a true disciple....
  • Jesus said he spoke in parables so that the crowds would not understand Him Matthew 13 . The difference between the multitudes and the true disciples is that when they didn't understand the parables, they said, "we must understand." (Matthew 13:36 etc.) This is one big difference between true disciples and those who do not know Him.
  • Our youth ministries are filled with the wrong messages. The message we need to tell teenagers: "There is no way apart from submitting yourself to, 'Thus saith the Lord.'" Amen? Amen.
  • How many wear out a Bible and say, "I must know this else I die"?

However, lest we all start feeling self-righteous about our dog-eared and highlighted Bibles....

  • Do we study it just to know more than everybody else?
  • How has the Sermon on the Mount impacted your life? Do you live it or do you just "know" it in the academic sense?
  • He applauded those concerned with "truth" but have you wrestled with the demands of Jesus as much as you have wrestled with the Books of Romans and Ephesians?
  • Our generation will be held more accountable than any other. Not only do we have the Bible, we have the great Christian writers and teachers...The Reformers, Puritans, Edwards, Sproul, Piper, Spurgeon...etc.


What should our response be to Jesus teaching?


"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old-what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us." (Psalm 78:2-3)

  • If you are his people, LISTEN (Hebrew: Listen = obedience)
  • Incline your ear (open your earlids)
  • Young people: Forsake it all and find Godly companions who will do the same. Surround yourself with Godly older adults who will teach you.


Summary:
I was left with such a strong, strong feeling that I don't have enough of a strong, strong love and passion for God's word. He talked about believers in jungles in South America and prisons in China who have a scrap of paper and write what they can remember just so they can have a tiny scrap of God's word. We have more of God's word on a t-shirt than some of these believers have and we treat it so lightly and spend so little time with it. But it is also a message that has to have legs. We need to be "doers" as well as "hearers" of the word.


It really struck me, as I listened to him, that his message might have even received some "Amen's" at an Emergent convention. It intrigues me to think that someone like Paul Washer can call us to a love for truth and God's word and at the same time demand that we live "in the way of Jesus," as the EC folks like to say. It would sure separate the men from the boys, to use a cliche. Those who are in it for the social liberalism or because they have created a "Jesus" in their own image wouldn't last very long in a Paul Washer sermon. Either the Holy Spirit would drive them to their knees in repentance or....wow, wow, wow....whatever....more and more...


Two other quick things before I go to bed (after taking a peek at Tim's blog). Mike Corley was at the conference tonight. Paul Washer only got through the first 2 verses of the Beatitudes :)