The Gospel Of Jesus – Heaven on Earth

WEBVTT

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Many Christians, when they think about the Gospel,

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think about ‘the Gospel,
about Jesus’.

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But I think it's really important
to think of ‘the Gospel of Jesus’.

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What was the Gospel for Jesus?

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And if we read the scripture,

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over and over again,
‘the Gospel of Jesus’ was about

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‘the Gospel of the Kingdom of God’

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or ‘the Gospel of the Kingdom
of Heaven on Earth’.

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And in the Beatitudes,

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Jesus introduces us to
a way that we can incarnate

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that ‘Kingdom of Heaven on Earth’.

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Because the first verse of the Beatitudes is

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‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for
theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’

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and the last verse in the Beatitudes is

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‘Blessed are those that
are persecuted for righteousness,

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for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’.

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The Beatitudes actually suggest
that if we practice these attitudes,

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we can incarnate something
of the Kingdom of Heaven now.

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So Jesus’ passion is that
we will bring

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the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth.

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And the Beatitudes is a simple,
eightfold step by step process,

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by which we can embody the
Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

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Now, when I read my books on
the Beatitudes I actually asked

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my Muslim friend, Nora Amath,

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to launch these books.
Because I said,

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I think it's really important
that the Beatitudes be seen as

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a way for all people
not just for Christians.

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In fact, I said to her that I think

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the Beatitudes
are the ‘Shari'a of Jesus’.

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And I wanted her as a Muslim to
launch my books on the Beatitudes

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so that Jesus would be
liberated from Christianity

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and his words could
resonate with people of

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all traditions and religions.

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So she read the books on the
Beatitudes and she launched them

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and she said: ‘You may
think it strange that

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here is a Muslim woman in a hijab
launching this book by a Christian.

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But when Dave asked me to read
these books on the Beatitudes,

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I said “Yes I certainly will”.’

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And she said: ‘Now I know that
as a Muslim. to be a true Muslim,

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I need to practice the Beatitudes,

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because they are the way that we can embody

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this truth in the context of
a world of poverty and violence’.

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And so she puts the Beatitudes
up on her fridge

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and puts him up on her website.

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Because in the same way,

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I learned about
the Bismillah from her,

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she learned about
the Beatitudes from me.

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And we are becoming better
Christians and better Muslims

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from our engagement with each
other around these texts.