Matthew chapter 5 and verse 3, let's stand for the reading of God's Word. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 3, let's read it together, shall we? Matthew 5, verse 3, the Word of God says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let's pray. Lord, help us now as we look at this amazing sentence. Act with eternal truths, really the doorway to your kingdom, and where it all begins, where it all starts. I pray today, give me the words to hear, give me the words to say, give us ears to hear. And yes, Lord, that I could hear you, to know exactly what I'm supposed to say. I pray that our lives will be touched and changed because of this verse and this moment. We pray in Christ's name, amen. You can be seated. So two weeks ago, I preached on an introduction to the Beatitudes. And then last week I said I couldn't preach on this verse until I told you about the kingdom of heaven. And this week I'm gonna give an introduction to, no I'm not, no more introductions, all right? Today we're gonna dive right into the Beatitudes, Matthew chapter five, verse three. Blessed are the poor. Now remember, this is the beginning of Christ's public ministry. He had already preached a message, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's basically saying, I'm here. The Messiah you've been waiting for is here. It's time to change your mind and get on board, because everything that God promised is about to happen in regards to the Messiah. And then he gathers his disciples together and a big crowd gathers to watch and jesus preaches his first recorded sermon In the scripture, it's called the sermon on the mount matthew chapter 5 6 and 7 the most famous sermon ever preached is the first recorded sermon by Jesus Christ. He talks about a lot of amazing truths. He's setting the stage for his entire ministry. He's setting the stage about this coming kingdom. He's giving the new rules for the blessed kingdom. People sit down, they listen with rapt attention. What's this man going to say? The disciples are gathered around him. The crowds gathered behind them. Everybody waiting to see the words that were gonna come from this mouth who speaks like no man had ever spake. What's he gonna say? What great truth is he gonna tell us? And the first words out of his mouth, blessed are the poor. Say what? Excuse me? Blessed are the poor. That's not what they expected to hear. I have known many poor people. I've been poor myself at times. I grew up in the country where the media always presents inner city poverty, which is terrible. But you know, there's a lot of poverty in the Midwest. I'm talking about people living in broken down trailers, kids don't have food to eat, parents strung out on drugs and alcohol. Had a bus kid one time that she came to church that morning And she rode Brother Bo's bus. The night before, her mom had stabbed her stepdad. One was in the hospital, the other was in jail. Walk into the house, lice, cockroaches. I've been in these houses. sitting on furniture that is barely recognizable as furniture, yards with no grass, vehicles that don't run in the yard. I mean, I've known some poor people. I have never met someone that wanted to be poor. I've never met a rich person that said, you know what? I just wish I was poor. I wish I couldn't afford a house to live in. I wish I didn't have to drive this nice car. I wish I didn't have to wear these expensive clothes. I wish my life was wrapped in poverty. I've not heard people talk like that. I have rarely heard someone proclaim the virtues of poverty and encourage other people to be poor. Hey, you know what you need in your life? You need to be homeless. Excuse me? You know what you need? You need to be broke. You need to have no money in the bank, debt up to your eyeballs, no options. What you really need is to be broke. Nobody talks like that. And of course, that's not what Christ is saying. But imagine these people gathering around Christ to hear what Glorious words are gonna come from his mouth. What great truth is he going to speak? And he starts off his message with, blessed are the poor. This statement would have been a shock. You see, the Jewish religious leaders for generations had distilled the Old Testament commands into a perverse form of outward righteousness. while neglecting the need for inward holiness. And oftentimes, they would equate prosperity with righteousness. Isn't that what happened to Job? Job goes through a bad time. What's the first thing his friends said? Ah, you must have done something wrong. Because if you'd been living right, these bad things wouldn't have happened to you. God never taught that. While it is true that, boy, if you choose to oppose God in your life, bad things can happen, that doesn't mean the only reason bad things happen are because you've done something wrong in your life. Job was a righteous man in the eyes of God. God's testimony of Job was he was righteous. He was the best man in the East. But Job's friends made the same mistake a lot of people made back then and a lot of people make today. There must be something wrong. Boy, if God's pleased with you, you're gonna be rich. God's pleased with you, you're gonna have power, you're gonna have prestige, you're gonna be well thought of. And the entire Jewish religion was based around these Old Testament truths that had been squeezed and twisted until it was simply an outer religion that overlooked the need for inner cleansing. We see this in Matthew 12, verses 34 and 35. Christ condemned the religious leaders for this error multiple times. Listen to these verses. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of his mouth bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. Jesus is saying, listen, I see the outward, and you're trying to clean up the outward, but the inside's dirty. He even called him a viper. Poisonous, dangerous, your teaching is dangerous. It's poisoning the people to give them wrong doctrine. He said in Matthew chapter 23, Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful, but are within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. What's Jesus saying? God sees the inside, sir. A religious leader, God sees the inside. A rich man, God sees the inside. A person well esteemed, God sees the inside. This was a common theme in Christ's ministry. And he had to address this false doctrine in his public ministry. In Christ's first message, he attacks the vile roots of mankind's greatest sins. I wonder what you would put on the list of mankind's greatest sins. Well, there's some to put on the list, aren't there? There are some really bad things to put on the list. But do you know what the greatest sins of humanity are in the eyes of God? Number one's pride, because it is the sin of sins. Every sin has its root in some form of pride. And the second greatest sin of mankind is self-righteousness. Making one self-righteous, striving to make yourself righteous without the help of God. A liar who claims to be honest. A thief who claims to be trustworthy. A blasphemer who claims to worship. The list goes on and on. God sees the inside. And in his first message, he begins to attack the vile roots of pride and righteousness. But he didn't do it confronting them head on, he did it with a shocking statement, blessed are the poor. Blessed are the poor. This statement was shocking for another reason. Christ declared that the kingdom of God was not the haven of the rich and powerful. You've got to understand, comparing the other religions of the world, riches and honor were a part of worship. read a little bit about the Egyptians and how that when an Egyptian king would die, they would take tons of gold and jewels and everything else and bury them with them because that was gonna be their entrance into heaven, their idea of heaven. Matter of fact, they would kill their wife and have them buried with them so they could take their wife to heaven. They might take their kids and they would take their favorite servants. But the way that they would buy their way into heaven, they could take their riches with them into the afterlife, as they would be buried with them. That's why the archaeologists would find these Egyptian tombs, and they'd be filled with treasures. And they're not the only ones. South American Indian tribes and everyone else. And the Greeks and Romans had the idea, you know, put some coins on the eyes so when they're going across that river, they can pay their way into the afterlife. Gold and wealth and fame and fortune and prosperity has been a part of many religions throughout the world. But Jesus comes along and says, blessed are the poor. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God is not the abode of the rich and powerful. He claimed that God's kingdom was for the poor and needy. God's kingdom was for the slave. God's kingdom was for the widow and the widower. God's kingdom was for the abandoned child. God's kingdom was for those in debt and poverty. This was a shocking revelation. Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Now kings and the rich were welcome if they were willing to become poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. God's not saying that you have to give away all your riches to enter heaven. He's saying that you have to give up your pride and your self-righteousness. That's why the rich young ruler, you remember the story, came to Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus knew that in that question, there was a sense of self-righteousness. What do I have to do? I'm pretty much there, I think. What do I have to do? Jesus said, keep the law, keep the commandments, and he mentioned a couple. And the young man in his pride said, all these have I kept from my youth up. You ever heard someone say, oh, I'm not a sinner. Talk to someone, to the Lord, hey, you know, should we go to heaven? Oh, I've never sinned, I'm not a sinner. I'm gonna go to heaven because I'm a good person. Same attitude, same spirit. So what was Jesus' response? Go and sell all you have, and give it to the poor, and then come and follow me. And the man went away sad. These are the Bible's words, for he was very rich. He wasn't just rich. He was very rich. But it wasn't the riches that kept him out of heaven. It was his trust in the riches and his pride and self-righteousness that were keeping him out of heaven. And Jesus just exposed the condition of his heart. blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven now before we go any further we need to define some words here so that we can understand what the bible is saying first we see the word blessed or blessed what is this blessedness we talked about this repeatedly throughout the year, but I wanna give it to you again. Divine blessing is an act of God conferring some good to persons, places, actions, or things. So blessed is talking about God conferring, bestowing, giving some good, and in the Bible you can see persons, places, actions, and things can be blessed. And then we see ultimately, The blessing is the favor of God expressed by power, increased protection, joy, et cetera. And the blessing of God is the source of true happiness. That's why the word underlying the word blessed here has the idea of deep abiding happiness, but it's happiness not through your circumstance, it's happiness through the divine blessing of God on your life. It's God's favor on your life as the source of your happiness. I don't know anybody that doesn't want to be blessed. Anybody here could use the blessing of God? Anybody here use the favor of God? Boy, I certainly can. I need it. I need my cup full. So we see the word blessed. And then we see the phrase poor in spirit. What does that mean? discuss what does the word poor mean. Poor literally means, according to Webster's 1820 dictionary, wholly destitute of property or not having property sufficient for a comfortable subsistence needy. So poor means you're needy, you don't have what you need. Sometimes it's the absolute absence of things, and sometimes it's you've got some but you don't have enough. You don't have enough money to pay the rent, you don't have a place to live, you don't have enough food to eat, you're in need. And so when we add this idea of poor in spirit, the word spirit speaking of spiritual, so the phrase poor in spirit speaks of spiritual poverty. Spiritual poverty. What does that mean? Spiritual poverty describes those who understand their spiritual need. Spiritual poverty describes those who understand their spiritual need. They say, listen, I've looked at myself. I don't have what I need before God. I don't have what I need to be pleasing to God. I don't have what I need to go to heaven. I am in spiritual poverty. Now you can be materially rich and have spiritual poverty. So we see what the word blessed means. We see this spiritual poverty. And then it talks about the kingdom of heaven. We talked about that last week. This speaks of God's heavenly kingdom. Now we discussed last week again that Christ did not intend to set up his kingdom when he came to die for the sins of man. He came the first time as the suffering lamb to pay for the sins of mankind. He will come again as the conquering lion to set up his earthly kingdom. The kingdom of God simply means this is the realm where everything is subject to the commands of the Almighty. In this age, God has given an invitation for sinners to join His heavenly kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ. And as we talked about last week, in this age, the kingdom of God resides in the hearts of men. Luke 17, 21 says, So the kingdom of God starts right here. You say, well, am I a part of God's kingdom? That's up to you. Have you trusted Christ in your heart and have you made that heart faith decision where you can be born again. You can have your sins forgiven. So we've understand that blessed speaks of this divine favor from God is the source of true happiness. We see the poor in spirit speaks of spiritual poverty. We see the kingdom of heaven speaks about God's realm, where he is one day he will be in full total control as he sets up his kingdom on earth. But in this age, he gives an invitation for mankind to join his kingdom through faith in Christ. Now we can put all this together. And I wanna give you three thoughts as we conclude our service today. I wanna give you three thoughts about this verse, the poor in spirit. Consider three facts about the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Number one, the poor in spirit are convinced of spiritual poverty. They're convinced of spiritual poverty. Do you know you can be poor and still be filled with pride? I've known a lot of people like that. Do you know that you can have nothing in this world and still shake a fist of pride at God? And on the contrary, you can be very wealthy in this world and still submit yourself to God, recognizing your spiritual poverty. This is all about the heart. This is a spiritual matter. Now the sad thing is what Jesus taught us is riches often cause people to trust themselves and their wealth instead of God. That's why he said how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It's difficult to get a rich man saved. Why? Because they're rich. Don't need anything. And they have to be broken down. They have to come to some acknowledgement where they are willing to trust God. Most of the wealthy Christians I know trusted Jesus before they got rich. That doesn't mean a rich man can't be saved. And that doesn't mean that we give up on them. We should pray for them. We should pray for the business leaders in our community. We should pray for our governors and state legislatures and the business leaders in our state. We should pray that God would save everyone. There's nobody we give up on, but we understand that there are challenges. Someone who feels like they're highly educated, they tend to have a lot of pride and self-righteousness. Someone who's had it pretty easy in life tends to have a lot of pride and a lot of self-righteousness. Sometimes difficulties can come into a life and they harden someone, that's their defense mechanism, is they become hard and self-righteous and self-reliant. I saw a man speaking, and he runs a large business in our nation, and they asked him about what he thought about God, and he said, well, honestly, God's for sissies. He said, I don't need God. I'm strong, I'm tough, I'm a fighter. And what happened is he allowed the negativities in life to come in and harden him in such a way, well now he's even hard against God. And now he's rich. And so he's got all these walls being built up. Do you know the common people heard Jesus gladly? That's what the Bible says. Do you know the poor tend to get saved faster than the rich? The uneducated tend to get saved faster than the educated. Those that have been through deep trials tend to get saved faster than those that have never been through any trials or deep ones. It's nothing about the education or the money or the experiences, it's all about the heart. You have to get to the place where you're convinced of your spiritual poverty where you say, I don't know what to do anymore. You have to get to the end of your rope. You know, I think about Jonah. Jonah didn't want to go do what God told him to do. He went down to Joppa. He went down to buy a ticket. He went down into the ship. The next thing you know, he's in the belly of a whale at the bottom of the sea. And there's a message I preach to young people called, how low must you go? How low you gotta go before you figure this thing out? You know, some people never figure it out. Some people die without ever realizing I am spiritually in poverty. I have nothing to offer God that's acceptable to Him. I can't buy my way into heaven. I can't earn my way into heaven. But somewhere along the line, you've got to come to the place where you are spiritually destitute. and you're convinced of it. Let me show you a few verses. Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. There's two worldviews out there, depending on those from Scripture and those that are not from Scripture. One worldview says man is basically good, and under the right conditions, mankind can build a utopia, Because mankind is basically good. Now I have to say that's not been my experience. I think mankind has good intentions. But good intentions, one man said, pave the way to hell. Good intentions go away very quickly under stress and trouble. The biblical worldview is that man is infected with a terrible disease called sin. It's a spiritual disease that causes death and damnation, and the only cure is faith in Jesus Christ. Mankind is not good. Mankind is flawed, and we are sinners. And we need God's help to become righteous. This is part of the spiritual poverty, where you recognize, wow, I need God. Look at Romans chapter 3 in the famous verse 10. Well, let's look at verse nine. What are they then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before both proved, Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. The Jews didn't like the Gentiles. Gentiles didn't like the Jews. You're all sinners. Everybody, doesn't matter what race you are, what religion you are, what culture you come from, everybody's a sinner. The ground's level at the cross. Verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous or perfect, no, not one. There is none that understandeth." Then he goes on to list our spiritual poverty. There's none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. You might say, well, I sought God before I got saved. If you did seek God, it's because he was drawing you to him. You didn't seek him on your own. Nobody seeks God on their own. And so we see, verse 12, they are all gone out of the way. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. That's in the eyes of God. You say, well, somebody might do good. Yeah, but God understands the motives and everything attached to that. So there's none that do us good. Verse 13, their throat is an open sepulcher. It's like an open grave. Boy, an open grave stinks. Bad things come out, disease and corruption. And so imagine the words of mankind. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues have they used deceit. They lie. The poison of ash is under their lips. They have venomous words where they hurt each other with them. Verse 14, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. There has never been more cursing in my entire life than today. You go to the store, blankety, blank, blank. You turn on this thing, blankety, blank. You turn on that thing, blankety, blank, blank. It's like, and I often tell people, do you know any other adjectives? They're like, what's an adjective? It's, yeah, use different words to describe things. And just the filth of mankind just coming out and it's being more and more acceptable. Bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness. Verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood. How quick we are to attack one another. Verse 16, destruction and misery are in their ways. Boy, you go your own way. Does that lead to happiness or misery and destruction? Verse 17, the way of peace have they not known. Verse 18, there's no fear of God before their eyes. Now what? Now we know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and that all the world may become what? Guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. See what's he saying there? Everybody's a sinner and he describes some ways of sin that we have in common. And then he says, well, you think you're gonna earn your way to heaven by keeping the law. The law is there to prove that you can't keep the law. And when you compare yourself to the 10 commandments, when you compare yourself to the law of God, it stops your mouth. I guess I am guilty. The law is there to prove us all guilty. And even somebody might say, well, you know, I've never committed adultery. That's why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you don't know what that verse means. You think it means that you haven't physically committed adultery, but God says it means that you've committed adultery in your heart, your mind. And you say, well, I've never murdered anybody, but God says that murder, have you ever murdered someone in your heart? Dear friend, when you and I are confronted with the Ten Commandments, we are guilty. There's nothing to say other than wow. I'm spiritually destitute. I have nothing to offer God. That leads us to number two. Number one, the poor in spirit are convinced of spiritual poverty. Number two, the poor in spirit are conscious of divine need. They're conscious of divine need. What does that mean? I need God. I don't just need a counselor. I don't just need some religion that's gonna make me feel better about myself. I just don't need a change in luck. I just don't need a windfall. I don't need to win the lottery. I don't need to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I don't need to turn over a new leaf. I need God. You become conscious of your divine need. Look at Isaiah chapter 64. Isaiah chapter 64, we'll look at two portions of Scripture in this chapter. Isaiah chapter 64. Look at verse six, but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as what? Filthy rags we do all fade like a leaf a leaf falls down it gets brown and crunchy and dies and turns to dust That's our righteousness before God like the wind they have taken us away the filthy rags there I don't I don't even want to describe that to you It basically means the most filthy rags you can imagine being used to clean up bodily fluids It's It's filthy, it's unthinkable. And God says, what you don't understand is your attempts at goodness are gross to me. because they're all defiled. There's no way we can have any act of goodness because we're so tainted by sin, we're unclean. That shows our spiritual poverty. But look at the man who God's looking for. Go back up a few verses, look at verse one of Isaiah chapter 64. Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that you'd tear the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that thou, the mountains might flow down at thy presence. He's talking about, Lord, I need your presence. I need you. I need to see you. Boy, that's what we're talking about, the divine need. Where's that desire that says, I need God in my life. Boy, we beg and we complain and we cry and we scream for the things of this world. When's the last time we got on our knees and said, oh, dear God, I need you in my life. I need you in my marriage. I need you with my kids. I need you with my job. I need you with my finances. It's God that we need. Verse two, as when the melting fire burneth and the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thy adversaries, that thy nations may tremble at thy presence. He's talking about like an erupting volcano with spewing and making everything around it know it's there and the ground shakes and the lava pours and goes into the ocean. The ocean boils with the fervency of this heat. Verse three, when thou dost terrible things which we look not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. He's begging for God. Look at Isaiah chapter 66. God's response. Thus saith the Lord, verse one, thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build me? And where is the place of my rest? He said, you want me? You wouldn't know where to put me. You have no place for me. Look what he says in the beautiful verse two. For all those things hath my hand made and all the things have been, saith the Lord, but to this man will I look. even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. The prophet's like, God, we need you, we need you, and God says you're unclean. We need you, God, and he says, you want me? Let me tell you how to get my attention, the Almighty says. When you're poor. Poor in what? Spirit. when you're poor in spirit, you have a contrite or a humble heart and you tremble at my word, you listen to what I say, you have respect for what I'm telling you, you take it as it's from God. God says that's the people I pay attention to. I see what happens is the blessed or the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We have this idea of convinced of spiritual poverty, and then we have a conscious of divine need, we need God, and it's only through Jesus Christ can we have him. And then lastly, the poor in spirit are consumed by the true riches. Once we're convinced of our spiritual poverty and we're conscious of our divine need, we can seek the true riches that come from God. Do you know that there are blessings to being poor? There have been times in my life where I've had money, and you can walk into a store, and you can buy pretty much anything on the shelf. It's almost like a burden. But you know when you're poor, you walk in, and you walk by, you can walk by 1,000 products, I can't afford you, I can't afford you, I can't afford you, I can't afford you, I can't afford you. It's freeing, and you can only get the things that you need. Whenever your poverty gives you clarity about what's truly important, do you know that putting a roof over your head is far more important than what kind of roof it is? I need more square footage, I need nicer this, we need better this, we need better that. If you've gone through a day or a time in your life when you didn't have a place to live, let me tell you, dear friend, you'll thank God for anywhere to live. When you've gone through times in your life when you didn't have anything to eat, that'll bring in perspective when you can't afford what you wanna eat. You've gone through times where you're barely surviving. What people think of you become far less important. Here's what I'm saying, is that poverty gives clarity about what's really important. Do you know that there are some people that will lose their families because they have high paying jobs? but a poor person knows we might be poor, but I'm gonna take care of my family. I don't know what that means. I don't know what that costs. I'm gonna do my best to be a good husband. I'm gonna do my best to be a good wife. By the grace of God, we are not going to lose our family. We can go without things. We can go without stuff. We can eat off the generic aisle, but we're not going to, it clarifies what's important. Do you know you can't buy a good testimony? You can lose a good testimony that fast, but you can't buy one. A poor person says, I may not be able to buy anything, but my name means something. I'm going to work to be honest and righteous, trustworthy. See, whenever you are aware of your spiritual poverty, you can begin thinking about what's really important. Now, can we be honest? I'd like to have both, right? I'd like to have enough, and maybe more than enough, and these things. And that's possible. That's totally possible. It's not an either or situation. But what is true is you have to be poor in spirit regardless of everything else. If the other stuff is keeping you from being poor in spirit, burn it all. Because one of these days you'll curse it if it made you miss out on what's truly important. But if you can be poor in spirit and walk into a nice house, praise God. If you can be poor in spirit and drive a nice car, praise God. If you can be poor in spirit and have a high paying job, praise God. but the spirit's what matters first. See, the Jewish leaders got it wrong. Cleanse the outside of the cup. And Jesus said, no, no, no, you fix the inside and the outside will take care of itself. And that's what Jesus was saying at this first sermon. Blessed is the poor in spirit. My kingdom is for those who understand they're spiritually destitute and they're willing to address their poverty. Your heavenly destination, the poor in spirit prize their eternal home, the poor in spirit prize their communication with God, the poor in spirit prize their spiritual behavior. I finish by saying this. What glorious words. What glorious words. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You only get to the kingdom of heaven through spiritual poverty. You only get all the blessings God has for you by being convinced of your spiritual poverty, becoming conscious of the divine need, being consumed with the true riches. I'm not gonna ask you what's in your bank account today. That'd be discouraging for a lot of us. For some of us, it'd be exciting. For most people I know, that'd be discouraging. I'm not going to ask you what's in your bank account. I'm going to ask you what's in your spiritual account. Are you lifted up with pride? I'm doing pretty good. We got it all set. Everything's OK. I got this handled. Boy, you're in trouble. I wonder if each one of us today just need to empty that old spiritual account and say, God, I need you. I'm destitute without. That makes all the difference. Amen. Let's bow for prayer. Father, thank you for the truth. I pray that you'd help each one of us to. Consider. Our pride. Our spiritual condition when it comes to pride. Or self-righteousness is the way to hell. Humility, belief in Jesus Christ is the way to heaven. I'm so thankful, Lord, your kingdom is not just for the rich and powerful, but your kingdom is for every man, woman, and child who will become poor in spirit. And trust you and your word, your son. And I pray that through this recognition of our own poverty that you would give us the blessing that