1 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,800 Well thank you to our worship team. You can probably tell from my voice that I'm not 2 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:42,260 100% today. So I'll either run out of voice or run out of energy but hopefully 3 00:00:42,260 --> 00:00:47,920 it'll happen about the same time. Yeah, give it the old college try, right? Which 4 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:54,940 for me was 11 years so you should have low expectations how this is gonna go. 5 00:00:54,940 --> 00:00:59,160 We're kicking off a new series today, which is part of the reason I'm here, and 6 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,720 not home in bed because I'm really, I love this. I actually love this more than 7 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:09,560 anything to be able to be here and to be able to share God's Word together. We're 8 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,760 kicking off a new series called Kingdom Manifesto, which you'll see you see there 9 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:17,280 on the screens and I'll dive us into it in a moment, but I want to give a couple 10 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:21,880 of plugs here for some things that are really important and really exciting. 11 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:26,320 First is the next opportunity we have for baptism. I think you'll see that there is 12 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:32,600 March 9th coming up. Just over a month from now, March 9th, we not have that? 13 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,560 That's okay. Take my word. March 9th. If you're interested in baptism, I would love 14 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,600 to connect with you. You can connect with Preston, Tammy, anybody on our team. There 15 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,960 it is. It'll happen right here during our morning service. I know there's already a 16 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:50,600 handful of you that have reached out to me and expressed an interest in being 17 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,680 baptized and I just couldn't be more excited to kind of help take that next 18 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,040 step if that's what you're interested in. Maybe you're unsure. Maybe you're like, 19 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:03,080 I don't know. Let's have a conversation and see if that is for you. The other 20 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,480 thing, you've heard me talk a lot about this, but here we are tomorrow. We kick 21 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:12,880 off Alpha tomorrow night at 6 o'clock over at Cottonwood Elementary. There's 22 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:18,240 10 of you that are registered ready to go. I could not be more excited for that. 23 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:24,560 I will be there and it'll be great, but this is the last opportunity. It's not 24 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,560 too late. It's never too late to just say if that's of interest to you, if you have 25 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,120 questions about the faith, if you have questions about the Bible, any and all, 26 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:37,040 that's a safe place for you to do that and to have that dialogue. I get to 27 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,560 facilitate it. It's just such a great joy. So that kicks off tomorrow. You just go 28 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,600 to our website for either of those things. There's a baptism form on our 29 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,880 website. It kicks it straight to me. I'll follow up with you. Alpha's on our 30 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:54,160 events page. You just go there and hit RSVP. Okay, I have limited words so we 31 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,880 better jump in. Kingdom Manifesto, a study through the eight Beatitudes 32 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:03,800 statements that we find from Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the 33 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:08,080 Mount in Matthew chapter 5. And if none of that makes any sense to you, I'll 34 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,520 clarify it in just a moment, but let me first tell you why I picked this series. 35 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,240 There's several reasons. First, if you recall when we kicked off our minute-by- 36 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:22,440 minute Bible reading program, which now we're into February, we kicked that off. 37 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,720 We first rolled it out the end of December, if you can remember that far 38 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:30,160 back. It obviously went into place January 1, but when we rolled that out 39 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,160 to you, I said that you could expect us to be intentional about staying 40 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,280 connected to it. In other words, it wasn't just going to be something that we 41 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:41,760 kicked off on January 1 and then never engaged with beyond that. And so if 42 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,160 you're still reading along with us, which I hope many of you are, Preston told me 43 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:50,360 the other day that we have 190 of you subscribed, which is exciting. Even more 44 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:55,800 exciting is that nobody has unsubscribed, which is a miracle. So I felt really 45 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,240 happy about that. It's just those little wins, you know. But if you're still 46 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:05,680 reading along with us, when you get to Wednesday of this week, February 5th, you 47 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:11,040 will for the next week or so read through the Beatitudes in your minute-by- 48 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,880 minute reading. And so there's, we want there to be some continuity between what 49 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:20,320 you're digesting and then what we are hopefully sharing and considering on 50 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,680 Sunday mornings as well. So that's the first reason in picking the series. We 51 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:28,000 want there to be that continuity. The second reason is that it is sort of my 52 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,320 practice, if you've been with us now at LBC for a while, to make sure that we 53 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,480 don't go too long in between series that ask us to look closely at the life of 54 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:42,400 Jesus and His words to us. And so whether that's the I am statements or whether 55 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,800 that's questions for Jesus or whether that's the Beatitudes, which is what 56 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:52,600 we're going to do today, if being a follower of Jesus is what Christianity 57 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:57,360 is fundamentally about, then it's prudent that we are regularly and 58 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:02,720 spiritually digesting anything and everything related to Jesus. All of 59 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,200 scripture is inspired by God. All of scripture is important. It's useful. It's 60 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:12,320 helpful. Fundamental to being a follower of Jesus is knowing what Jesus said to 61 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:17,520 us and how He instructed us to live. And so it's just been my practice since we 62 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:21,160 planted the church to make sure that at least once a year, if not more frequently, 63 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,560 a series that we're in is just a direct touch point to the life of Christ. And 64 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,400 certainly the Beatitudes, which are a small part of the larger Sermon on the 65 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:34,040 Mount, which stretches from Matthew chapter 5 to Matthew chapter 7, these are 66 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,200 some of the most important and most foundational teachings that Jesus gave 67 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:42,360 to us. And there's eight of them. Eight Beatitudes, which we'll individually 68 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,520 consider over the next eight weeks with a few detours along the way. I 69 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,720 should say we'll have Baptism Sunday and then one month from today, you're 70 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:55,280 hearing about this for the very first time, we turn five years old as a church. 71 00:05:55,280 --> 00:06:00,200 Have you ever been to a five-year-old birthday party? Yes? You can expect 72 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:05,520 something similar. I'm not kidding. We're gonna have a birthday bash and it's 73 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,040 gonna be really special. A lot of things that are in the works to make that 74 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:13,440 happen. So we'll step out of the Beatitudes for a couple weeks for those 75 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,720 two Sundays. So we're essentially, that's a long way of saying we're in this 76 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:22,200 series until Easter, if you can believe it, in early April. The calendar just 77 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:27,680 keeps turning, doesn't it? Weird how it works. All right, the Beatitudes. What are 78 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:33,040 they? The Beatitudes are eight declarations spoken by Jesus, as I said 79 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,400 at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. And each one begins the same way. 80 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:41,840 Blessed are, and then he gives the statement. All eight of them start the 81 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:46,560 same way. We should be careful not to understand the Beatitudes as just kind 82 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:53,720 of a list of abstract, catchy sound advice that we could pick up from, you 83 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,320 know, any of the old sayings that we like to float around. Things like, you miss a 84 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:01,520 hundred percent of the shots you don't take. Anybody ever heard that before? Or 85 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,560 hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard, right? Like we have 86 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:10,520 these catchy sayings that kind of you can put on coffee mugs or put on a shirt 87 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:15,880 or whatever, and they may be true and they may be helpful even. But I want to 88 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,800 assure you that what Jesus was saying was far more than just some catchy 89 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:24,640 statement that you may or may not want to apply to your life. Rather, these were 90 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:30,160 in essence eight invitations from Jesus to the people who were gathered there on 91 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,680 the sermon on the mountainside, I should say, to hear this sermon, the most famous 92 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:40,120 sermon ever preached, and by extension to us today. These are eight invitations by 93 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:44,720 extension to us today to come follow him and to live our lives in as close 94 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:51,480 proximity to him as we possibly can. James Howell said this, when Jesus spoke, 95 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:57,600 he did not think of it as an audition in which he aims to please us, so we will 96 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:03,440 let him keep talking on the stage of our lives. We are the ones auditioning, and yet 97 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,680 Jesus left us some space, not overwhelming us with the unbearable 98 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:12,160 force of his words, but asking questions, teasing us into a new perspective, 99 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:17,760 allowing us to stick around, luring us to hang close. The closer we live to Jesus, 100 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:23,440 the more Jesus is on our minds, the more that we will understand the Beatitudes. 101 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:29,560 John Stott, great theologian, many years ago said the Beatitudes set forth the 102 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:35,480 balanced character of Christian people. They are Christ's own specification of 103 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:40,880 what every Christian ought to be. Each quality is commended in as much as each 104 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:46,320 person who exhibits it is pronounced blessed. Steve Sin said the Beatitudes 105 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:51,920 have often been called the Beatitudes. They describe a state of mind and heart 106 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,480 that is contrary to human nature. The fact is the Beatitudes are in such 107 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:02,320 contrast to human nature that we can't be like them without supernatural help. We 108 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,600 can only experience a lifestyle that manifests these attitudes by letting 109 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:13,240 Jesus himself live in us and through us. So if that's true, if that's true, what 110 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:17,000 Steve Sin, the quote I just gave you by Steve Sin, if that's true that we 111 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:22,160 can't do them apart from supernatural help, then it's very appropriate that 112 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,440 Jesus starts to Beatitudes with the one that he did and that's the one we're 113 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:30,960 going to consider today, Matthew 5.3. Blessed are the poor in spirit for the 114 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:36,640 kingdom of heaven is theirs. Some have said that you have to consider the 115 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:42,840 Beatitudes as interdependent and somewhat linear. In other words, if you 116 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:48,960 take away one, you in essence affect all the other ones. And beyond that, there's 117 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:53,640 an intentionality to Jesus's order of the Beatitudes. They liken it almost to a 118 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:57,800 ladder, if you would, and you have to start on the lowest rung of the ladder 119 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:01,520 before you can go to the next one and to the next one and the next one. Not one 120 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,400 can be skipped, they're interdependent. If you pull out one, you affect the 121 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:10,160 meaning of them all. And so that seems to be the case here in how Jesus started. 122 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:15,160 Blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. What did 123 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:19,280 Jesus mean by the term poor in spirit? We don't go around saying that very often. I 124 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,680 don't know what the modern term would be because I don't think a word like 125 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:28,160 depression really captures what Jesus was after. But certainly, it's at least 126 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,920 been a while since I had a conversation, you ask somebody how they're doing, 127 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:38,520 they're like, I'm kind of poor in spirit today. You're like, come again? If he had 128 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,120 just said blessed are the poor, we would understand that actually probably a 129 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,760 little easier, wouldn't we? Like there's some, there's some, we can 130 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,040 comprehend that. We understand what poverty looks like, whether we've 131 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,320 experienced it ourselves or certainly as we look around the world. But his 132 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,600 statement was not that, it was blessed are the poor in spirit. What did he mean? 133 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:02,200 Well, before we consider that, let's just take a quick aside and let me tell you 134 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:08,300 what he did not mean. It's not a self-deprecating, loathing, suggesting that 135 00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:12,760 we have no value as human beings, much to the contrary. In fact, we have great 136 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:18,680 value. If you read in the account of creation in the book of Genesis, right, let 137 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:23,660 us make man in our image. We're the only part of creation made in the image of 138 00:11:23,660 --> 00:11:28,640 God. It speaks to the value that all human beings intrinsically hold, right? 139 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:34,880 We have great value. So this is not a self-deprecating like, oh, woe is me, kind 140 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:38,800 of like I have no value, God has no regard for me. That's not what this is. 141 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:43,600 There's a great quote from Kent Hughes that explains it well. He said, let us 142 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:48,640 understand what poverty of spirit is not. It is not the conviction that one is of 143 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:53,820 no value whatsoever. It does not mean the absence of self-worth, as one 144 00:11:53,820 --> 00:11:59,480 theologian put it, ontological insignificance. Try that phrase at lunch. 145 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:05,120 It does not require that we believe ourselves to be zeros. Such an attitude 146 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:10,160 is simply not scriptural. For Christ's death on our behalf teaches us that we 147 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:16,480 are of great, what, value. You have great value as a human being. So then what is 148 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:21,280 it if it's not that? A simple way to understand it is this. It's my definition. 149 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:27,240 To be in poor in spirit means to recognize our spiritual bankruptcy. To be 150 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,880 poor in spirit means to recognize our spiritual bankruptcy. Jesus is concerned, 151 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:35,680 at least here in this moment, with spiritual realities, not material 152 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:40,600 possessions. He had plenty to say about material possessions elsewhere. You can 153 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:43,800 read, in fact, you can just keep going and sermon on the mountain, you would see that. 154 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:48,520 But here his interest was around spiritual realities. If you start talking 155 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:53,580 about actual monetary wealth, you might divide the room. Not there, on the 156 00:12:53,580 --> 00:12:57,800 mountainside, they were all poor. But here, maybe you divide the room, or other parts 157 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:00,920 of our city, you divide the room. He's not talking about that, he's talking about 158 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:05,600 spiritual realities. And while there can be some interesting correlations between 159 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,840 the material world and the spiritual world in and of itself, your financial 160 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:14,440 position fundamentally does not necessarily tell us your spiritual 161 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:20,520 position. It would be unfair to assume that it does. So Jesus says the starting point of 162 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:25,240 this whole thing, the lowest rung of the ladder that everything else has to build 163 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:30,640 upon and will build upon, is recognizing your spiritual need for me, for Christ. 164 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:36,160 And for those of you who have battled an addiction of some type, which is probably 165 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:40,800 more of us in the room that we probably realize. But if you've ever talked to 166 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,480 someone who's walked that road of addiction and maybe overcome an 167 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:48,880 addiction, they'll often say, and accurately I should say, they will say 168 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:53,980 that the first step is admitting you have an addiction, right? It's admitting 169 00:13:53,980 --> 00:13:59,120 that you have a problem and then also a desire to change it. That doesn't change 170 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:03,800 it, but that is the first step. That's similar in nature to what Jesus, I think, 171 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:08,400 is saying to us here. The first step up this ladder of the Beatitudes, the first 172 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:13,420 rung, is admitting that you have a problem and recognizing that you need 173 00:14:13,420 --> 00:14:18,400 nothing else or no one else to fill it other than Christ himself. We're just 174 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:23,160 saying it, Christ is enough. So what is that need? It's the need to be made right 175 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:27,840 with God and to experience forgiveness of sins, which ultimately separate us 176 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,720 from God. If you go back to the story of Adam and Eve, I feel like we go back 177 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:37,520 there frequently because it kind of set the tone for humanity, right? If you go 178 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:42,720 back to that moment, like there was perfect union between man and God in the 179 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:48,160 creation, in the garden. And when Adam and Eve sinned against God, that union, that 180 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:52,800 perfect union was broken, it was fractured, and something now has to 181 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:58,640 reunite, unionize us, if you will, reconnect us, reunite us with a holy God 182 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:03,040 because we have this inherent sin problem. Even if you've never committed a 183 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:08,320 sin in your life, God bless you, you're probably at the wrong church, but Adam 184 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:16,800 and Eve passed you their sin nature. So you have a need for it. So a good way to 185 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:21,040 think of this is that I don't come to the table with a check that will pay my 186 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:27,920 debt and make me right with God. I don't know the the laws of bankruptcy, 187 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:33,160 thankfully, by God's grace, I haven't never walked that road, but I would 188 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:38,480 imagine that there's some financial strategies to how to try to mitigate 189 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:44,560 that whole problem. Jesus is like, there's no check you can bring to the table to 190 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,680 correct this problem. Rather, you come to the table, I come to the table with 191 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:52,800 absolutely nothing, and the Bible reinforces this truth. This is Psalm 51, 192 00:15:52,800 --> 00:16:01,240 this is David's lament from his adultery. Be gracious to me, God, according to your 193 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:07,040 faithful love, according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion, 194 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:11,120 completely wash away my guilt, cleanse me from my sin, for I am conscious of my 195 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:15,760 rebellion and my sin is always before me. In other words, I'm distinctly aware of 196 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:21,200 how spiritually bankrupt I am against you. You alone have I sinned and done 197 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,160 what is evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence, you're 198 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:29,040 blameless when you judge. Indeed, I was guilty when I was born, I was sinful when 199 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,640 my mother conceived me, indeed I was guilty when I was born. I had that in 200 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:39,520 there twice, sorry about that. But you get the point, right? Like, from birth and 201 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:44,920 certainly through the actions that we read about in the scripture, the affair 202 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:49,720 with Bathsheba, the whole thing, like you said, there's not been a moment in my 203 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:54,440 life where I've not been spiritually bankrupt, essentially. What did David 204 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,160 mean when he wrote the Psalm? Before I was born, I was spiritually bankrupt, I 205 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:01,840 brought this, I brought nothing into this world to make myself right with God. 206 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:07,880 Romans chapter 3, as it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There's 207 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:12,880 no one who understands, there's no one who seeks God, there is no one who has a 208 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:19,560 spiritual penny to offer God, not one. Romans 7 verse 18, for I know that 209 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:25,000 nothing good lives in me, that is in my flesh, for the desire to do what is good 210 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,520 is within me, but there is no ability to do it. In other words, I have, I am 211 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:34,240 incapable of paying this debt and so therefore I'm spiritually bankrupt. I 212 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:39,080 mean, have you ever had a financial need or want but the inability to take care 213 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:44,840 of it? All the time. That's life. That's just, that's a picture of the spiritual 214 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,440 condition of each of us, that's kind of what Paul's writing about, like I know 215 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:53,280 what the right thing is to do, I know what I even I would like to do, but I 216 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:57,920 have the inability to do that. Just the same way, like I would like to get out of 217 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:03,320 debt, I'd like to pay off my house, I'd like to, whatever, financially, but I have 218 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:09,520 the inability to do that, for example. And that's just, that's a picture of the 219 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:13,120 spiritual, spiritual condition of each, that we each of us find ourselves in 220 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:16,480 apart from the forgiveness of Jesus. And that's what Jesus is saying. Nothing 221 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,640 else matters until you realize, first realize two things. Number one, you have a 222 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:25,840 problem, you have a debt, you have a sin debt, separates you from God, and number 223 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:31,000 two, you have the inability to fix that problem on your own. So blessed are the 224 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:37,760 poor in spirit, he says. And whenever it fits, and it fits here, I like to go back 225 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:41,280 to John 15, we get the question a lot, where does your name come from? Living 226 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:47,120 Branch Church, came right here from John 15, 5. I am the vine, you are the branches, 227 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:54,360 the one who remains in me, so your living branch, right? And I in him produces much 228 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:58,040 fruit. Here's the important part relevant to today, because you can do nothing 229 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:04,560 without me. There is a spiritual bankruptcy to your, your existence apart 230 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:10,080 from me. And I remember the day so well, there was four of us, my wife Kendra, 231 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,720 Preston, another gal who's now in Nashville, back in the early days before 232 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,760 anybody else knew about Living Branch Church, before we even knew it was gonna 233 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:23,360 be called Living Branch Church. I can remember sitting in, in a house we 234 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:27,000 previously owned in the living room, and just talking and praying and trying to 235 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,320 figure out things like, what do you name a church? Like no one's ever done this 236 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:37,480 before. And we kept coming back to John 15, and this idea of abiding in the vine 237 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:42,520 of Christ as a branch, so that we stay alive. Why is that necessary? Because of 238 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:47,160 how Christ finishes the statement, because you can do nothing without me. So 239 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:50,320 if you want to translate into the context of what we're considering today, 240 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:58,280 you would say LBC is spiritually bankrupt apart from Christ. You won't 241 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:05,360 spend your way to success as a church. Many will try. You won't program your way 242 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:12,160 to success as a church. You won't hire your way to success as a church. You won't 243 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:17,280 engage the community on your way to success as a church. Instead, what you'll 244 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:21,840 do is you'll abide in Christ and allow him to bear good fruit that impacts 245 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:29,160 others around you. That's success, if you will. So then what's the accompanying 246 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,720 promise from Jesus about being poor in spirit? He finishes it this way, the 247 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:38,800 kingdom of heaven is theirs. That's a very open-ended statement, right, from Jesus. 248 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:44,080 It almost has a tone of like this royal inheritance, right? Like, hey, the estate 249 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:49,280 is yours, I signed it over to you, congratulations. When Jesus says kingdom 250 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:55,520 of heaven, he simply means this. He means salvation. That's what he means. When you 251 00:20:55,520 --> 00:21:00,040 realize you have a problem, you have no ability to fix it on your own, good news, 252 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:06,720 here comes Jesus with the cure, with the kingdom offer. The salvation is yours. 253 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:12,680 That's John chapter 1 verse 12, but to all who did receive him, he gave the right to 254 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:17,360 be children of God, to those who believe in his name. He gave the kingdom of God to 255 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:22,760 them. Romans chapter 10 verse 9, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and 256 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,400 believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 257 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,280 Salvation is yours. The kingdom of heaven belongs to you, but before the 258 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,760 before the gift is received, we come to a place of realization that we in fact 259 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:40,600 need it. You ever received a gift from someone and you're like, did they mix up 260 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,880 the cousins in the name draw because I don't have the first clue what this is 261 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:50,360 or why I need it. Maybe it's just me, but you've received gifts, you're just like 262 00:21:50,360 --> 00:22:00,320 thanks, like cool, put it on the shelf and re-gift it. Hello white elephants, right? 263 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:07,200 So the kingdom of heaven belongs to you, but before the gift is actualized, come 264 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,720 to a place of realization for our need for it. In essence, we must admit our 265 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:16,920 spiritual poverty. We must be poor in spirit. So for the last few minutes 266 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:24,320 together, what I want to do is consider two outcomes of being poor in spirit. 267 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:29,080 Apart from, I should say, the main outcome, the primary outcome, which is the gift of 268 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,720 salvation, which is primary, most important outcome, leads you to saving 269 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:37,160 faith in Christ. But I just asked the question, are there any other outcomes 270 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,920 that might influence my relationships with others around me? This certainly 271 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:45,880 influences my relationship with God, but does it have any influence on others 272 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:51,360 around me? Being poor in spirit unquestionably has a direct impact on my 273 00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:56,040 relationship with God, in that it drives me to repentance, it drives me to 274 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:01,760 faith. What about the impact of this on my relationships with others? I think 275 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,880 there are two outcomes. They're gonna feel really similar in nature, but I'll 276 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:09,280 differentiate hopefully between them. The first is this, being poor in spirit 277 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:15,400 makes us rich in humility. So there's a contrast. We're poor in this capacity and 278 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:21,120 we're rich in this capacity. Being poor in spirit makes us rich in humility. 279 00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:24,240 That's such a profound statement that you need to ponder it while I take a 280 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:35,200 sip of water. Okay, I apologize, I must sound terrible to listen to you, but none 281 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:41,640 of you offered to come do it, so here I am. There's a great illustration of the 282 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,760 Bible at this very point. It's the parable of the Pharisee and the tax 283 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:48,160 collector, Jesus tells it in Luke chapter 18. I'm gonna read it for us, 284 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:53,320 beginning verse 9. He also told this parable to some who trusted in 285 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,960 themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. In other 286 00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:00,480 words, they had no awareness of their spiritual bankruptcy. This is a parable. Two 287 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:04,480 men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other is a tax 288 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,680 collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself, God I 289 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:14,240 thank you that I am not like other people. Greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, 290 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:19,200 even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of everything 291 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:25,080 I get, but the tax collector standing far off would not even raise his eyes to 292 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:29,760 heaven but kept striking his chest and saying God have mercy on me, a sinner. I 293 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:35,040 tell you this one went down to his house justified rather than the other because 294 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,840 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself 295 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:46,720 will be exalted. There is an epidemic in the global church today, certainly at 296 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,560 least in the American church, which I feel like I have a pretty good picture of 297 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:55,960 from my perspective. This is just my perspective. That we've somehow, the 298 00:24:55,960 --> 00:25:04,120 epidemic is we somehow got into a place where we grade sins. This sin is worse 299 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:09,240 than that sin, this sin is worse than that sin, this sin is not as bad as this 300 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:14,680 sin because culturally it's okay, but this one's on the news all the time. It's 301 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:22,960 just, it's toxic, it's deadly to grade sins. And just to kind of dump it back 302 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:27,400 into the financial analogy, which is kind of the picture that Jesus has been 303 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:34,520 painting for us, if you ask me if I'm financially rich, my answer is what? It 304 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:41,040 depends. What's my basis of comparison, right? Am I rich compared to some of the 305 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:46,040 sweet, incredible people that we've met in these remote villages in India? I'm a 306 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:53,320 billionaire compared to them. Am I rich compared to Tim Cook of Apple or Lebron 307 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:59,640 James of the NBA? I'm extremely poor if they're my basis of comparison, so it 308 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:05,520 becomes relative, right? In the financial sense, it's totally relative. Are you 309 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:13,040 rich? Depends. My basis of comparison. In the spiritual sense of the word, it's not 310 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:19,240 relative. Jesus was as objective as you can be. It's objective. Jesus would say 311 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:25,720 wrong is wrong, sin is sin. And I was thinking about this, was reflecting on it. 312 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:33,080 I used to meet with an individual periodically a number of years ago, and it 313 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:37,000 would happen this way every time that I would sit down with this individual. At 314 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,200 some point in the conversation, they would somehow always figure out a way to 315 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:46,200 circle the conversation back to, so what are you gonna do about 316 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:55,480 so-and-so who is doing such-and-such wrong? No, thank you. I just have zero 317 00:26:55,480 --> 00:27:01,360 tolerance for that. The same way would be really foolish for me to determine my 318 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:05,600 financial position based on someone living in an impoverished third world 319 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:12,760 country or living the lifestyle of a famous athlete. It would be equally and 320 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,600 really foolish for me to determine my spiritual position based off of someone 321 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:23,760 else around me. And the point of Jesus' parable was that the tax collector, who 322 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:29,840 by the way was the far less noble character in culture at that time, of 323 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:37,080 course, the tax collector ironically was the one who had a posture of humility, 324 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:42,880 right? Have mercy on me God, I am spiritually impoverished. Those are not 325 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:47,240 the exact words that he used, but you get the picture, you get that, that's the tone 326 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:53,360 of his of his prayer and his crying out, beating his chest, cannot look, 327 00:27:53,360 --> 00:28:01,360 cannot lift his eyes to heaven, he said, right? Just couldn't do it. And so being 328 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:07,400 poor in spirit hopefully makes us rich in humility. There's a second outcome and 329 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:12,680 I mentioned these were will feel really similar in nature, but here it is. Being 330 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:18,360 poor in spirit means I'm the last to cast the stone. So I'm taking this 331 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:22,040 straight out of the story of the adulterous woman in John chapter 8. Here's 332 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:26,520 how it reads, at dawn he went to the temple again and all the people were 333 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:31,160 coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them. Then the scribes and the 334 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,320 Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery making her stand in the center, 335 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:39,640 just total act of shame, right? Teacher they said to him, this woman was caught in 336 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:44,280 the act of committing adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such 337 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,760 women, so what do you say? Of course there's a lot to this, one, they're 338 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,360 trying to trap him, it's the Sabbath, a couple things going on here, right? 339 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,960 Nevertheless, they asked to trap him in order that they might have evidence to 340 00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:01,120 accuse him. Jesus stooped down and started riding on the ground with his 341 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:05,200 finger. When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said, the 342 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:10,720 one without sin among you should be the first to throw stone at her. Then he 343 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,840 stooped down again, continued riding on the ground. Wouldn't you have just loved to 344 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:20,560 have been there? Not in the circle because he was after you. It's just 345 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:27,440 watching from afar like, oh no, oh no. You just see where it's gonna go, right? 346 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:32,300 He stooped down again, continued riding on the ground. When they heard this, they 347 00:29:32,300 --> 00:29:37,240 left one by one starting with the older men. Only he was left with the woman in 348 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:44,080 the center. This is so powerful. When Jesus stood up, he said to her, woman, 349 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:51,520 where are they? Has no one condemned you? No one, Lord, she answered. Neither do I 350 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:58,040 condemn you, said Jesus. Go and from now on, do not sin anymore. What was Jesus 351 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:04,760 saying? The one who among you is who is not spiritually impoverished, go right 352 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:11,080 ahead. You throw the first stone. It's yours, it's your title, it's your 353 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:15,720 position. I'll notice Jesus didn't say that she was innocent. Some people 354 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,000 misunderstand this, be like, well Jesus was just okay with this adulterous woman. 355 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:26,040 No, not at all. How do we know? Because of what he says there at the end, go and sin 356 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:32,840 no more. You haven't been innocent. You have a problem. It was a sin problem. Jesus 357 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:37,160 recognized it, he called it out. So this message is not to say that we don't 358 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:42,920 recognize when we have a sin that separates us from God. That's the meaning 359 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:47,120 of 1st John chapter 5, which I'll translate for you. If you see a brother 360 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:52,000 or sister in sin and sin not leading to death, you go to them and correct them 361 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,520 and pray for them so that you might turn their soul back. Like it's a biblical 362 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:02,320 thing, it's a right thing. But that is done from a posture of humility rather 363 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:08,800 than spiritual pride. It's done from a posture of humility. I was reflecting 364 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:14,600 recently with, well first with my wife Kendra and then eventually was kind of 365 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:21,560 sharing with some of our staff as well. I was just reflecting on 2024 for us as a 366 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,120 church and I said to her, I feel like 2024 was the year that the foundation 367 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:30,120 settled. For those of you who've ever bought a new house, how many of you ever 368 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:33,480 bought a new house, brand new house? What do they tell you? What does the builder 369 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:39,040 tell you? Hey don't be surprised if in a few years you see some cracks in the 370 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:44,920 foundation. Why? Because it just takes a little while to settle. It just takes a 371 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:50,480 little while to settle. And it's not so much that we had cracks, so this analogy 372 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:56,120 probably completely breaks down right here. But I do feel like year four 373 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:02,680 especially, we're near five almost, was the year that the foundation settled for 374 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:10,480 us. And what I mean by that is for those that wanted us to be stone throwers, they 375 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:17,120 realized that this wasn't going to be a great fit for them. And we often hear 376 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:23,480 from so many of you how at home you feel at LBC and my suspicion is because we've 377 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:29,120 been very intentional about not standing at the door throwing stones, but rather 378 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:34,160 standing at the door and welcoming others saying, hey we get it, they also 379 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:40,840 used to throw stones at me. I was just having a conversation Tuesday with 380 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:47,600 someone in my office and they, pretty sure, they said to me prior to coming to 381 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:53,240 LBC I hadn't been to church in like 20 years. And so there's a culture of grace 382 00:32:53,240 --> 00:33:01,440 here that I think is magnetic to others. It's not a not condoning wrong, evil, or 383 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:12,160 sin, but there's also a misunderstanding that any amount of grace has to include 384 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:18,320 stone throwing. And I just don't see that. I don't see that from Jesus, I don't see 385 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:23,200 it in the scripture. Rather I see it to say like, hey before I can confront you 386 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:30,960 your sin, I have to confront my sin. And so if my Bible reading and my worship 387 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:35,200 and my church attendance causes me to think more about the sins of others 388 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:42,320 than my own, then I'm likely missing Jesus's invitation to be poor in spirit. 389 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:49,280 That we be ever aware day by day, moment by moment, of our need for grace and 390 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:54,720 mercy and the mercy of Jesus in my life. It's not self-deprecating. You have great 391 00:33:54,720 --> 00:34:00,600 value as a human. If you're unsure, Jesus would not have gone to the cross if you 392 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:04,760 had no value. But Jesus went to the cross because you had so much value and that 393 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:08,800 had to get fixed. And the only way it could get fixed is by his sacrifice. And 394 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:15,240 so if my Bible reading and my worship and my church attendance causes me to 395 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:19,120 think more about the sins of others than my own, then I'm probably missing Jesus 396 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:24,680 invitation to be poor in spirit. We looked at a portion of Psalm 51 earlier. 397 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:31,640 Later in that same Psalm, David writes this, you do not want to sacrifice or I 398 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:37,360 would give it. You are not pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifice pleasing to 399 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:42,480 God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humble heart God. 400 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:49,720 What was David saying? There's easier ways to get through this, but 401 00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:54,840 those aren't the ways that you'll accept. Right? Let me think about this way. Those 402 00:34:54,840 --> 00:35:00,960 of you that are married or in a relationship, if you've ever hurt the 403 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:06,520 other person, I'll just be transparent with you. None of you have ever had a bad 404 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:14,520 day in a relationship, so it's just me. Okay. It is far easier for me to stop and 405 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:20,120 buy some overpriced flowers for my wife than to walk through the door and say, 406 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:26,880 can you sit down so I can apologize to you. So that's what David's saying. If I 407 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:31,720 could give you a sacrifice, God, don't you know I would. If you wanted to, if you 408 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:36,920 would accept a burnt offering, there's chickens as the day is long outside. I'll 409 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:41,120 bring one right in. The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken 410 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:47,760 spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart God. So what was he saying? 411 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:52,760 If I could repay this sin debt in some other way, surely I would. But the only 412 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:55,840 thing that you'll accept is my humble heart that recognizes my spiritual 413 00:35:55,840 --> 00:36:03,640 impoverishment. So let's translate it to language that works for us today. You 414 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:09,360 do not want my money primarily, God, otherwise I would give it. You do not want 415 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:14,240 my service, otherwise I would give it. Now this is not a license to stop giving 416 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:19,220 and serving. It's really helpful that you do those things. You do not want my 417 00:36:19,220 --> 00:36:25,000 church attendance, otherwise I'd be here every Sunday. What you want is my humble 418 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:32,560 heart that recognizes my spiritual impoverishment. John Mark Comer said 419 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:38,000 this about this particular beatitude. He said, Jesus blessed the poor in spirit by 420 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:43,080 the thousands, gave them the Sermon on the Mount, and then sent them home, still 421 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:49,880 poor but blessed. Jesus's agenda, this is so powerful, Jesus's agenda is to make 422 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:57,360 wounded people whole. Wounded people whole. And the context of the Sermon on 423 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:02,240 the Mount is, I mean of course they were, monetarily speaking, they were very 424 00:37:02,240 --> 00:37:06,640 impoverished. Very impoverished. And so don't you know you would receive that a 425 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:11,400 little bit even differently from Jesus, right? Like, huh, we're already poor in 426 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:16,040 terms of material possessions, and now you tell us to be poor in spirit. Like 427 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:24,200 what gives here? In the spiritual world, physical realm, poverty. But it's 428 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:28,680 interesting because it seems as though he sent them out from the Sermon on the Mount 429 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:33,240 distinctly aware they're blessed, and as wounded people they are made whole in 430 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:38,800 him. And Jesus's agenda was to make wounded people whole. That's our agenda 431 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:44,640 as well. It's the agenda of our church. It's the agenda of my life that, not 432 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:48,880 because I can do it, but I can hopefully lead and introduce people to the one who 433 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:55,040 can. But you know, I've said it before from the stage, it's one beggar telling 434 00:37:55,040 --> 00:38:02,600 another beggar where to find bread, right? And if you forget where you found bread, 435 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:09,840 you, you, you, you're not living in that invitation from Jesus to be poor in 436 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:17,080 spirit. But so, so begins ground zero is a place of our own awareness of our, of 437 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:21,120 our own spiritual bankruptcy. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven 438 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:25,600 is theirs. Amen? Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your 439 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:32,520 faithfulness to us. Forgive us, forgive me if no one else, but certainly for me, 440 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:39,600 forgive me for too many moments where I've just forgotten where you brought me 441 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:48,360 from, and I'm quick to grade sins around me, like man, I'm glad I'm not like him. 442 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:57,240 I'm glad I didn't do that thing. And yet the invitation before us, the invitation 443 00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:02,000 from Jesus to the people gathered on that hillside is the same invitation to 444 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:10,160 us today, that we would come in humility, distinct awareness of our own need for 445 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:19,840 you. Forgive us for forgetting where we found that bread of life to begin with. 446 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:27,680 So may we be winsome people for the gospel, maybe winsome people for the 447 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:33,040 hope of Christ. And certainly, most definitely, that comes from a posture of 448 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:39,400 being poor in spirit, recognizing our need for you, recognizing our total 449 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:46,680 depravity, but then also ever aware of the gift of salvation that is ours in 450 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:52,760 Christ Jesus. What a gift it is. But it can't be received until we have an 451 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:57,960 awareness that we need it. So I pray for my friends in the room today who, maybe 452 00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:04,680 this is a new message for them, maybe they've never heard this before. God, 453 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:07,840 would you give them the courage to just ask the next question and take the next 454 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:12,800 step? Whether that's through visiting our fresh start area today, whether that's 455 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:19,640 through finding someone near them, just say what is this all about? So we just 456 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:28,240 thank you. We thank you that while we were still in darkness, you rescued us. 457 00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:33,880 May we never move too far from that so that those who would come through the 458 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:37,160 doors of our church, those whose paths would intersect with us in the 459 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:43,760 marketplace, they would understand what this grace and this love of Jesus is all 460 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:55,360 about. May we be poor in spirit today, in posture of humility, quick to extend 461 00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:59,520 mercy and grace, slow to throw stones, 462 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:05,280 treat others as you have treated us, giving us grace and forgiveness in 463 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:13,960 abundance. So we just sit here in the quietness of this room. 464 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:28,720 Would you maybe bring to mind just an area of our lives, a spot in our heart 465 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:37,480 that is prideful, we've kind of lost our way, we somehow think that you owe us 466 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:43,960 this or that we can buy our way out of it. 467 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:51,200 Thank you for your faithfulness to us. Thank you for your grace and your love. 468 00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:57,440 Thank you that even when we deny you, you cannot deny yourself. And thank you that 469 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:02,880 you receive us back with open arms. But there's a realization that we 470 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:09,280 need you to forgive us. So we ask that you would do that today. In your mighty 471 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:28,800 name we pray, amen.