WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.199 All right, maybe seated. 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.759 So that is the first Beatitude. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.040 There are nine Beatitudes. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:11.199 The Beatitudes is this a series of statements that Jesus makes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:19.920 So there's nine Sundays going through June and July, and we are going to take one Beatitude per Sunday going through the summer. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:25.359 So we're going to begin in verse one, work our way through this, and then focus in on that first beatitude. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:32.159 And so seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:37.759 So this word, disciple, this speaks, it's a rich word. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.280 It's a follower. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:44.399 It's somebody who has wholeheartedly given themselves over to a teacher. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:54.960 And so in this case, you have Jesus as the teacher, Jesus is the rabbi, and here he is beginning in in his renowned sermon with these nine statements. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:58.799 I read this version of the Beatitudes this week. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:04.079 Might hit you a little bit differently than what we tend to read in Matthew 5. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.599 Blessed are those who don't have it all together. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:09.840 Anyone just want to amen? 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:10.640 Any amens? 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:11.760 Heather, amen. 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:13.200 Scott nodded. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:20.719 Blessed are those who have run out of strength, ideas, willpower, resolve, or energy. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:26.560 Blessed are those who ache because of how severely out of whack the world is. 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:33.359 Blessed are those who stumble or trip and fall in the same place again and again. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:41.280 Blessed are those who on a regular basis have a dark day in which despair seems to be a step behind them wherever they go. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:47.760 Blessed are you, for God is with you, and God is on your side, and God meets you in that place. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:52.400 So these are actually not commands. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:57.359 These are not commands of what you should go do. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:13.599 These are descriptions of a person who has seen that they're more flawed than they originally thought, more broken, more imperfect, more sinful than they originally thought, but they're more loved by God than they could dare to dream. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:17.840 And they actually need this teacher who's teaching this. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:25.680 They need him, they need his way of life, and they need his death and resurrection to be for them their righteousness. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:38.879 And then these become descriptions of that person, not commands for us to go and put ourselves out in tougher and tougher striving to do. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:43.360 So this past week I was listening to a podcast, This American Life on NPR. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:44.319 Don't know if you listen to that. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:46.000 I listened to it and it was an old podcast. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:47.280 It was from 2003. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:49.120 It was about this island called Nehru. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:51.840 Has anybody heard of this island called Nehru? 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:53.840 I'd never heard of it either. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.520 It's this tiny island. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:58.080 It's about one-third of the size of Manhattan. 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:04.560 And this island tends to pop up with like thoughts of conspiracy theories and stuff like this throughout history. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:15.919 Supposedly, when the uh the Soviet Empire dismantled and about$70 billion was liquidated out of the USSR, it went into Nehru. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:17.360 Nehru took the money. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:27.039 If you want to fund a terrorist group, you can use Nehru. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:33.280 Like Nehru over and over and over again is just synonymous with this sort of activity. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:47.919 And so this whole podcast was about how does this tiny island, which is in the middle of the Pacific, is desolate, there's nothing on it, it is ugly, it is stripped down, it is barren, it is 1,200 miles from the nearest other land. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:50.159 How did it become like this? 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:52.080 Because it was it was not like this. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:53.680 It had not always been like this. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:58.240 At one point, this was an incredibly beautiful island. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:04.240 And this is what hit me when I was listening to it, and then I was thinking about this passage, blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:11.039 Because at one point these people were poor, but they had a beautiful island. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:15.840 And then these businessmen came in and they discovered that this island had phosphate. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.000 And they say to all these poor people, we can make you rich. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:29.120 And they strip the land, but these people get cars, they get roads, but the land is stripped, the island is stripped, and then the businessmen leave, right? 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:30.079 We know this story. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:31.680 And the people had been rich for a little bit. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:39.680 They had their shiny cars and they had their roads, but their island was totally, completely just demolished. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:57.680 The phosphate eventually ran out, the money was all spent, and now their paradise is all destroyed, and now this island is just worked down to the point of like they have a building with computers in it, and we'll take any evil person's money and we'll hold it for you. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.160 And that's what we'll do to survive. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:04.959 So they were poor before, but it was beautiful. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:12.000 And then they were rich, and the wealth actually stripped them of everything good about living in that place. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.759 And we all know this story, like not necessarily in physical wealth, right? 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:17.920 I mean, physical wealth can do that, or it might not do that. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:21.120 I mean, it's but this is an interesting metaphor, right? 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:25.279 Because we've seen this, we've seen it with a person, or maybe you've seen it with yourself. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:34.959 When your spirit grows proud, all of a sudden any of the beauty that it had is stripped away. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:38.319 Because now you're judgmental toward people. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.959 There's no kindness left, you're you're self-oriented, you're selfish. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:43.680 Right? 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:51.759 Because all of that, like the idea of compassion or kindness, uh authenticity, all of that came out of poverty of spirit. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.120 It came out of humility. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.600 And so we come up against this thought, right? 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:59.680 I mean, it's the same thought that these people on this island think today. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.040 It's the same thought. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:04.399 We were better off when we were poor. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:10.879 And so we come up against this thought with our own selves, thinking about Jesus' teaching about blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:17.120 We come up, oh, like, oh, we're actually better off poor in spirit. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:20.879 So you have a handout in your uh bulletin there, and this first quote. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:24.000 I have a couple quotes here, ran into this week as I was studying. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:25.279 This first one is by David Brooks. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:31.199 He's a prolific, very insightful writer for the New York Times in this article called the moral bucket list that he wrote. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:32.000 Listen to this. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:35.360 We live in the culture of the big me. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:39.600 The meritocracy wants you to promote yourself. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.600 Social media wants you to broadcast a highlight reel of your life. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:48.000 Your parents and teachers were always telling you how wonderful you were. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:54.319 But all the people I've ever deeply admired are profoundly honest about their own weaknesses. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:07:07.600 They have identified their core sin, whether it is selfishness, the desperate need for approval, cowardice, hard-heartedness, or whatever. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:13.759 They have traced how that core sin leads to the behavior that makes them feel ashamed. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:24.720 They have achieved a profound humility, which has best been defined as an intense self-awareness from a position of other centeredness. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:26.480 That was in the New York Times. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:27.199 Isn't that great? 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.000 Fantastic. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:29.759 Just pure truth coming out of that. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:35.519 That's Matthew 5, 3 right there, which is Jesus, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:36.399 Now here's another one. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:38.079 Paul Zall, one more quote, hang with me. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:44.319 Paul Zall is a priest and author, he expounds on this idea of poverty of the spirit or poverty of the soul. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:50.959 Here's what he says deep down, we're so incredibly consumed with anxieties and fears. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:08:03.120 And so the point of the Sermon on the Mount is simply to express the truth of human life, that the truth of the human life is an inward conflict between I ought to be and what I am. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:09.439 And this causes enormous anxiety, fear, trouble, guilt, and anger, just to name a few. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:13.120 When I talk about this, people think I'm saying that he's attacking you. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:20.480 But all he's doing is exposing the fact that before the law or the standard of God, the only possible response is humility. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:28.240 Before what God is really speaking to human beings, instead of trying harder, the only possible way of dealing with it is humility. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:40.080 The moment that I recognize that I, by my own efforts to atone or to expiate, or to do better, or to fly right, or to do more, to work harder, to be nicer, or are doomed to perition. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:42.960 At that moment, there is a release. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:51.600 And the release spells joy, power, significance, exuberance, happiness, creativity, love, and come to find out holiness. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:55.200 So let's dig into Jesus' beatitude. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:58.879 I think that gets our minds and hearts a little warmed up for this. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.759 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:08.879 So we're going to look at four different words of four different phrases and pull out three different points by doing that. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.279 So the first word is blessed. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.519 Blessed, blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.759 So this is a little hard to translate for us. 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:24.000 Something like supremely fortunate, maybe deep happiness. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:30.960 Author Philip Yancey, he says the closest thing in our culture is just for us to think of it as lucky. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:37.200 Because for us, it's the kind of happiness you cannot deserve. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:46.240 So point number one is to be blessed is to receive goodness beyond your ability to deserve or merit. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:53.519 So right away you can see how these statements are not about us meriting the thing Jesus is talking about. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:10:01.519 This is about a description of a person who has been broken and receiving the goodness of God given to them. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:07.440 So point number one, to be blessed is to receive goodness beyond your ability to deserve or merit. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:11.600 Second word, this phrase, pour in spirit. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:14.559 So this word spirit, this is the core of who you are. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:20.000 This drives how you feel, how you think, the way you make decisions. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:21.840 This is the Greek word pneuma. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:23.279 You say that. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:30.879 This is the vital principle inside of you. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:39.519 What is the vital principle buried in the core of yourself that drives you? 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.879 Jesus is saying that place should be poor. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:55.360 Not ugly, not a self-hatred, but that place should be a place where merit does not reign. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.840 So that's that next word, poor in spirit. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:01.919 Poor, it means bankrupt. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:03.840 You just you have nothing. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:04.960 You have nothing to offer. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:07.200 You have nothing to offer this situation. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.559 It's a continuous state of utter poverty. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:12.080 It's not self-hatred. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:16.480 It's just that you cannot work it up on your own effort. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:19.440 So you are bankrupt in your pneuma. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:28.879 Your most vital principle that drives how you feel and think and who you are and the way you make decisions, all of that is bankrupt. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:29.679 Right? 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:31.279 And I know it sounds depressing, right? 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.279 You go, this is incredibly depressing. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.559 No, it's the most freeing thing you can know. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:46.480 So our church gives money to uh support a mission in Guatemala called Impacto, and I received an email this week from some things going on down there. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:52.159 And in this email, uh it's talking about a mother in this town called San Juan. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:12:11.120 And in San Juan, they had set up, they've set up this program called Happy Tummies, and Happy Tummies is a program for little kids, and every day, every day, these little kids they can come to this building and they can get a meal, and there will be people, adults there who will love them, feed them, help them with their homework, and give them a Bible lesson. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.120 And they can come every day. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:17.360 And so Happy Tummies is there every day for these kids. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:18.559 So there's this mom. 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:20.399 She has three little girls. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.840 And the mom to support herself, she's prostituting herself out. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:25.279 The dad's ran off. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.039 They're missing rent, so they're bouncing around town. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:33.840 The kids are in tow, you know, maybe displaced for a while and then finding another room somewhere. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:46.000 The mom won't show up for her shift at Happy Tummies, so the way that Happy Tummies works is that the parents have to come and serve like once a week, so that the parents can begin to get ministered to also. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:58.720 And so the way that it works is you got to show up for your shift, and eventually part of it is that your kids can't keep coming, but of course, they're gracious within that rule, and they ask all the other mothers, please let's be patient with her and her situation. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:12:59.840 They're praying for her. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:02.559 And the kids just keep coming throughout this whole process. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:08.320 Every day they show up, every single day they show up. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:10.399 They're always showing up for that meal. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:18.799 They're always showing up for those sweet missionaries and those locals to feed them and to help them with their homework and to talk to them and love them. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:22.960 They just keep showing up to receive. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.720 Because these little girls don't have anything else. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:29.360 And this is our second point. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:31.120 Poor people receive. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:33.360 That's what poor people do. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:39.919 See, for poor people, even seeking is receiving. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:51.679 For me, for a long time, I would hear something like this this beatitude, and I, and it's not a command, but I'd go, okay, well, maybe I'm not gonna seek poverty of spirit, but I'll I'll seek Jesus. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:14:01.120 And what I brought to that was, and I'm pretty sure I had a t-shirt that said seek Jesus on it, but I always brought to it my performance ego. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:16.399 And so I brought to it a lot of merit and a lot of performance, and I was gonna do this and I was gonna do it hard, and I was gonna do it better than anybody else, and I was gonna be really passionate and zealot and radical and every other, you know, really great word we can throw at it. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:23.840 But I wasn't willing to bring any poverty. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:25.519 I didn't want to go there. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:27.440 I didn't want to admit that, right? 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:35.039 Like I didn't understand that I had always been that, and I was being that in that present moment, and I'm that right now more than I realize. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.240 And that that's that's actually what this is talking about. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:49.279 That even seeking Jesus is a posture of poverty, of receiving what He has done for us. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:52.320 That for poor people, seeking is receiving. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:53.440 Poor people receive. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:54.960 That's what poor people do. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:18.799 And what that does is so wonderful for us because it brings us always to a position of confession and repentance and to a position of seeing more and more how wonderful and sufficient Jesus is for us and how full God's love is for us, and then it frees us from constantly feeling like we have to pretend like we are perfect or passionate, even when we're not. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:35.440 And humility is just the understanding that we are continuously, utterly poor when it comes to our ability to overcome guilt, to secure a right relationship with God, to even maintain that right relationship with God, to have some sense of self-worth. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.039 We're coming in that saying, I'm I'm bankrupt to those things. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:40.720 I'm bankrupt to that. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:46.320 That my pneuma, the core vital principle, is bankrupt. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:57.279 And Jesus is teaching something revolutionary to us and to the human spirit because he's saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:04.559 Lucky are you, lucky are you if you see you are bankrupt in your pneuma? 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:08.159 So that last phrase is, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:13.519 So the kingdom of heaven, it brings in this idea of who or what reigns in your heart. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.799 What is the energy that fuels you? 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:33.360 Is it your desire to please or perform or pretend your desire to manipulate or to mask, or is it a humble posture of open hands, of imperfection, of receiving the grace and sufficiency of God that is so incredible? 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:41.759 See, God Himself showed us in history that the person and the work of Jesus is enough for us, right? 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:48.000 He took on our sin, all of our pride, all of our inability to do this very thing. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.919 That none of us are good at this, none of us are great at being poor in spirit. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:58.320 And he took that on the cross and he said, I'll take, I will take all of those shortcomings, I'll take it all. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:16:59.840 That's what the cross is about. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:08.079 Him taking all of that and then putting upon us his righteousness so that we are secure by his work and not by our work. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:16.559 And so you don't have to live in the energy of the kingdom of your own self anymore, which is exhausting, right? 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.119 You're free from that slavery. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:28.319 So maybe maybe you're here and you have felt this because in your self-justifying pursuits, you constantly look down on other people. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:29.440 Right? 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:30.960 Trying not to feel poor. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:32.559 You don't want to feel poor. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:44.720 And so when you start to feel poor, it's easier to just judge someone else, and then you won't feel as poor because you don't want to face that, even though that's where you that's where confession and freedom is at. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:52.000 Or maybe you're just a shadow of yourself in front of anybody else because you're still not sure. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:54.480 You're still not sure if anybody would love you. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:59.759 If you really let them see that you're actually a lot poorer than you pretend to be. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:05.599 Or maybe you're trying to save yourself by ignoring your grief or depression because you think you have to be perfect. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:08.079 Right? 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:16.720 And in all of those things, and there's a lot of other scenarios, your pneuma, your core vital principle, is self-sufficiency. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.880 Rather than saying I'm really poor in my pneuma. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:26.720 And this is point, this brings us what we need to hear, which is this last point, number three. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:34.480 You are incredibly, ridiculously lucky if you come to see that you're bankrupt. 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:36.720 That's what Jesus is saying here. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:42.799 Because then the true Redeemer can reign and love and be with you. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:46.000 Finally, you're you're open to that reign. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:53.599 And now the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, starts to do some work inside of you. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.200 We're free to be poor. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:00.559 We're free to be humble. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.519 This week I took my little girls uh for some ice cream. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:08.160 And so as I was paying for their ice cream, I actually thought about this. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:10.160 Um, I pay for everything. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.480 I pay for everything for these little people. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:23.200 They because I think it was because the ice cream was so overpriced, like, it was like, wow, that was a lot of money for that ice cream. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:31.119 You know, and so as I was paying the overpriced ice cream, I was thinking, like, they're not even aware how overpriced this is, they don't care. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:40.480 Uh, and they have no ability to pay for this, nor do they have ability to pay for like their new swimsuits or skirts or go to the doctor, right? 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.440 They are ridiculously poor. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:44.640 They really are. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:47.599 They're absolutely poor. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:56.000 Yet, in my care, they're free. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:06.079 What Jesus is saying is in his care, though you are poor, you're free. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.160 He provides for you. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:15.039 And in that we can begin to see other people, we can actually care for other people, right? 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:19.519 Like, oh wow, holiness actually comes out of this. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:21.440 We can love people. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:30.240 I mean, even the fact that we're not good at being poor in spirit shows you how poor we are and how good and loving God is to us. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:34.559 So, my brothers and sisters, may you bask in the great grace of God. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:37.519 You and I are wonderfully poor. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.559 But in Him we're wonderfully rich. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:47.200 May your pneuma rest in the sufficient, perfect love of God for you. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:48.640 Let's pray together. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:56.000 God, thank you that we can be honest. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.200 That we are not perfect. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:12.400 God, we confess this morning that we love to pretend before you and before each other, that we have our acts together when we don't, and we hate to face our poverty. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:16.799 Makes us feel very needy and weak. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:30.079 God, would you help us see that this is the place where you minister and you set us free, and your spirit works, and a new life is born. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:39.759 God, would you help us to see that we are already poor in spirit? 00:21:40.400 --> 00:22:06.480 And would you help us to see it that we might live in this luck, this blessed, deep happiness of having you reign and not us having to control our lives, feeling like we have to redeem ourselves or save ourselves with our cleverness or control or our beauty or a religious activity. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:10.079 But we can rest in your work for us. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:18.400 That your work was perfect, that your love is perfect, and that the cross of Jesus is sufficient. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:21.599 We pray this only in the name of Jesus. 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:22.480 Amen.