The Blessings of a Transformed Character
It is for you — freeing you from the burden of anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness.
"Did you deserve what Jesus did for you?"
It restores relationship — but it cannot happen without the other person's willingness.
Ephesians 4:32 · Matthew 6:14-15
The Blessing of a Transformed Character
Sermon Title: The Blessing of a Transformed Character
Preacher: Tony Padgett, Brookfield Church of Christ
Date Preached: January 4, 2026
YouTube Video: Watch the Full Sermon (Length: 44:21)
Key Scriptures: Matthew 5:3-12, Matthew 11:29, Ephesians 4:32, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Isaiah 53, James 1:14-15, Philippians 3:20
What Does It Mean to Be Truly Blessed?
The world says you're blessed when life is going well — when the bank account is full, relationships are easy, and people speak well of you. Jesus says something radically different. In Matthew 5:3-12, He turns every worldly definition of success upside down and invites us into a far deeper and more lasting kind of blessing — the blessing that comes from a character genuinely transformed by the Holy Spirit.
That was the message Tony Padgett brought to Brookfield Church of Christ on January 4, 2026, as he opened a year-long journey through the Sermon on the Mount under the theme Pursuing Excellence in Christ. January's focus: Blessed Are the Different.
The Foundation of Transformation: Humility and Repentance
Tony began with the first two Beatitudes — blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are those who mourn — and called them the doorway into everything else.
"Poor in spirit" doesn't mean financial poverty. It means acknowledging a simple but sobering truth: without Christ, we are spiritually bankrupt. The Greek word narthex describes an entryway or porch. Tony used it beautifully — humility and repentance are the porch of transformation. You cannot walk into genuine change without first stepping through honest self-examination.
He challenged every person in the room to ask: Am I the person God wants me to be — in my marriage, as a parent, at work, in my friendships? If we are willing to be honest, we will find areas where we are lacking. And that recognition, far from being crushing, is the very beginning of freedom.
On mourning over sin, Tony drew a powerful contrast between Judas and Peter. Both failed. Both felt grief. But Judas turned his grief inward and it destroyed him. Peter turned his grief toward God — and was restored. Godly sorrow leads to repentance; worldly sorrow leads to death (2 Corinthians 7:10). Satan wants us to grieve over our failures while looking at ourselves. God wants us to grieve while looking to Him.
The Focus of Transformation: Righteousness and Mercy
The middle Beatitudes reveal where transformation is pointed. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness — not our own righteousness, but God's standard of living, pursued through obedience to the gospel.
Tony was direct: you cannot earn your way to heaven. Not through good works, not through education, not through philanthropy, not through personality. As Romans 1:17 declares, the righteousness of God is revealed through faith — and when we are baptized into Christ, we receive His righteousness, not our own.
The Beatitude about mercy led Tony into one of the sermon's most practical and personal moments — a teaching on forgiveness. Citing Ephesians 4:32, he urged the congregation to carry forgiveness into the new year, not for the offender's benefit, but for their own.
"Forgiveness is not reconciliation. Reconciliation requires two people. Forgiveness is for you. Free yourself from that burden of anger and hatred."
The offender, Tony noted wryly, may be at McDonald's having a happy meal while you sit carrying the weight of bitterness. Forgiveness releases that weight. And the stakes are high — Jesus himself said that if we choose not to forgive others, He will not forgive us (Matthew 6:15).
The Fruit of Transformation: Peace and Perseverance
The final movement of Tony's teaching focused on peacemakers and the persecuted. He drew an important distinction: Jesus doesn't call us to be peacekeepers — passive, conflict-avoiding, going along to get along. He calls us to be peacemakers, actively working to reconcile people to God and to one another.
This is the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). The message? Hear the gospel, believe it, repent, confess, and be baptized. There is no other path back to God. Tony told a vivid story about a Jewish man encountering Isaiah 53 — the passage Jews rarely read in synagogues — and watching the room fall silent as they recognized it described exactly what Jesus did. The Scriptures have always pointed to Him.
Tony closed with one of the sermon's most memorable frameworks: the sow-and-reap cycle of character. A thought becomes an action. An action repeated becomes a habit. A habit shapes character. And character determines destiny. He called the congregation — like the prodigal son — to say I will in their minds before their feet ever move.
"Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." — Romans 12:2
A Word from Barry
Having preached at Brookfield for 23 years, I know how Tony's teaching lands with this congregation. They are not looking for motivational speeches — they want the truth of Scripture delivered with conviction and love. Tony brought exactly that on January 4. His framework — foundation, focus, fruit — gives every serious disciple a practical roadmap for transformation in 2026. The Beatitudes aren't a checklist. They are a portrait of a person whose inner life has been genuinely shaped by God. That's who we all want to become.
This Week's Challenge
This Week's Challenge: This week, I challenge you to identify one pattern of thinking that needs to be "renewed" (Romans 12:2). Write it down. Then write the thought you want to replace it with — rooted in Scripture. Practice redirecting to that truth every time the old pattern surfaces. Character transformation always begins in the mind. Start there this week.
Small Group Discussion Questions
Tony said "poor in spirit" means acknowledging we are spiritually bankrupt without Christ. How does genuine humility open the door to transformation in ways that self-confidence simply cannot?
Compare Judas and Peter — both failed, both grieved. What made the difference in their outcomes? What does "godly sorrow" look like in your own life when you fall short?
Tony drew a clear line between forgiveness and reconciliation: forgiveness requires only one person, reconciliation requires two. How does that distinction change the way you approach a relationship where trust has been broken?
The sow-and-reap cycle teaches that thought leads to action, action to habit, habit to character, and character to destiny. Looking at your current habits, what character are they building — and what destiny do they point toward?
Jesus called his followers peacemakers, not peacekeepers. In your family, your workplace, or your congregation, what does active peacemaking look like versus simply avoiding conflict?
Watch, Share, and Go Deeper
Tony Padgett's full sermon is available on YouTube. This is the first message in the 2026 Pursuing Excellence in Christ series through the Sermon on the Mount at Brookfield Church of Christ. Test your understanding with the interactive quiz and study game, and come back next month as we continue with January's theme: Blessed Are the Different.
The Beatitudes are not a passive portrait — they are a call to become a certain kind of person. That person starts with humility, pursues God's righteousness, forgives from the heart, and actively works for peace. In 2026, may that be the character that defines us.