03-05-2023 – “Blessed Are The Poor in Spirit”

March 5, 2023

Speaker: Jim Shepherd

Passage: Matthew 5:3

Service Type: Sunday Mornings

Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Introduction

First half of the Beatitudes describe what we need to become.

Second half of the Beatitudes describe how we are to help.

Blessed - What does this mean?

Does "blessed" mean happy?

Blessed means, “being near to God.”

Each step we take toward God we are more blessed.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

Who are the poor in Spirit?

Traits of the spiritually poor:

No need to justify themselves (they are who they are) (sinners),

Humble (nothing to offer a righteous God),

In need of righteousness,

They understand sin separates them from God and a need for Jesus.

They have total dependence in and openness with God.

We are all beggars before God.

"Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"

It's what all of us hunger for above all other things.

It is what we are starving for.

It's home for each of us. (Are you homesick?)

It is ultimately wherever Jesus is.

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me,

he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

Jim Shepherd