June 18, 2025 • 25 mins
What does Jesus mean when He declares, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”? Through a powerful opening story about bringing water and the gospel to a remote Ghanaian village, we discover that spiritual poverty has nothing to do with material circumstances and everything to do with recognized dependence on God.
True spiritual poverty isn’t about physical lack, emotional distress, or natural personality traits. Rather, it’s a divine work of the Holy Spirit that begins at spiritual rebirth and grows as we walk with Christ. Those who are poor in spirit acknowledge their emptiness without God and hold fast to Him through life’s darkest valleys.
The biblical examples paint vivid portraits of spiritual poverty in action. We witness Jacob’s transformation at the Jabbok River, where he emptied himself and emerged with a new identity and walk. We see David in crisis at Ziklag, choosing to seek divine guidance before taking action. We hear Peter’s desperate confession when others abandoned Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
What makes this teaching so revolutionary is its promise—the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who recognize their need. While crowds remained comfortably at the mountain’s base, only the disciples—those hungry enough to make the climb—heard these transformative words. The kingdom isn’t a distant reality but the present reign of God in surrendered hearts.
Like David’s prayer in Psalm 86, we acknowledge: “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.” This posture of dependence isn’t weakness but the pathway to experiencing God’s strength. Will you join those climbing the mountain, recognizing your spiritual need and embracing the kingdom that awaits those who know they can’t make it on their own?
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Episode Transcript
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Ebenezer Asiamah (00:04):
Let us turn our Bible to the book the gospel
according to Matthew, chapter 5.
Matthew, chapter 5, we readfrom verse 1 to 3.
Seeing the crowds, he went upon the mountain and he sat down.
His disciples came to him andhe opened his mouth and taught
(00:31):
them, saying Blessed are thepoor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
Shall we pray, father.
We thank you that your presenceis here.
We thank you for preservingyour word for us.
Your word is quick, powerful,sharper than any two-edged sword
.
Father, we pray that your wordwill find residence in our heart
(00:53):
tonight.
Help us to receive your wordwith understanding.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forgiving us the Holy Spirit to be
our helper.
Open our eyes, o Lord, that wemay behold wondrous things from
your word.
Bless your name in Jesus' name,amen, amen.
So in the year 2019, I had aprivilege of going to some
(01:18):
villages in Ghana, and theassignment was very simple.
And the assignment was verysimple I was supposed to find a
village with no church and alsoa village which lacks clean
drinking water.
So there was one particularvillage that we went to
somewhere in February of 2019,called Song Song, and so this
(01:42):
village, since Jesus said it isfinished has never heard a
gospel before, there's neverbeen a gospel meeting in the
village before, and on top ofthat, they lacked clean drinking
water, and so the people haddug a dam, and when it rains it
(02:03):
fills up, but during the dryseason there's no clean drinking
water and they have to walkmiles before they can have
access to water.
Now, when we went there duringthe day, we worked with a team.
We started drilling for water.
As a matter of fact, there havebeen attempts in previous years
to drill for water, but theycouldn't find any water.
(02:27):
What they do is that the eldersin the community come together
and they write to the Muslimcommunity and ask them to help
them, and they have Arab fundsthat they use to build a mosque
and try to get water.
So when we went to the village,there's no electricity, there's
(02:49):
no hospital, nothing.
But they had a very nice mosqueand we saw that they tried to
build them some borehole, butthey couldn't find any water.
But God being so kind and beingso gracious to us, when we
started, in the evenings wewould meet and we would share
the gospel with them and prayfor the needs of the people, and
(03:12):
during the day we would work onthe boho.
When we started to drill forwater, the first attempt there
was a gushing of water inabundance.
So the people were so excitedand they were so thankful
because they've never seen suchabundance of water before.
By God's grace, in the weekthat we spent there they were
(03:37):
able to get clean drinking water.
But the best of it is that theyhad the living water as well.
The gospel had reached themBefore then.
There were people in thecommunity who had never heard
the name of Jesus before, butthey heard his name, they got to
(03:58):
hear his gospel and they wereglad.
But I saw something in thatcommunity In the evenings where
we would share the gospel withthem, the people, especially the
women, would come with waterand they said pray over this
water for us, because we believethat if we are sick and we
drink it, we will be healed.
We saw that they were verydesperate and they had turned
(04:24):
their desperation to God, andeven though they were poor
physically.
But now I saw that they weregetting poor in spirit, and that
is what we are going to talkabout tonight, what it means to
be poor in spirit.
Now, before we delve into it.
I just want to establish thefact that number one we're going
(04:48):
to talk about what the poor inspirit is not Okay.
So I've asked a number ofpeople since I got to know that
I'll be speaking on the subjectblessed are the poor in spirit.
I asked people.
So what is the poor in spirit?
And I've heard all kinds ofexplanations.
And I was with a friend indowntown.
(05:12):
He said well, these are thepoints in spirit.
He pointed at the homeless.
I said, oh, okay, but as amatter of fact I've been there
and I've tried to witness to ahomeless person and the person
told me young man, if I'mlooking for God, I know where to
find God.
They don't want to haveanything to do with God and so
(05:35):
somebody can be poor physically,but they are not poor in spirit
.
So the first point is the poorin spirit is not about material
poverty.
One person can be physicallypoor but may not have any desire
(05:56):
for God or need for God.
Likewise, a person may beabundantly blessed, but they
still have a need for God.
And in the Bible I find Job tobe a man who was very blessed by
God.
The Bible says he was therichest man in all the East.
Yet this man had suchdependence on God.
(06:20):
When he was rich, he dependedon God.
When he lost everything.
He lost all his 10 children ina day and he lost all his
resources, all his money, helost his health, but he was
still dependent on God.
And when you read Job, chapter23, verse 12, he said I have not
(06:41):
gone back from the commandmentsof his lips.
Behold, I have treasured backfrom the commandments of his
lips.
Behold, I have treasured hiswords more than my necessary
food.
And so Job was a man who wasvery desperate for God and he
had the spirit of dependence.
And that is what the poor inspirit is.
(07:07):
Number two the poor in spirit isnot just being sad or depressed
.
Our feelings or emotional statemay not necessarily mean that
we are poor in spirit, but if asad heart turns to God, that can
be poor in spirit.
When you read Isaiah, chapter57, verse 15, it says that says
the high and lofty one whoinhabits eternity, whose name is
(07:33):
holy, I dwell in a high andlofty place, but with him, who
is of a contrite heart and ahumble spirit, to revive the
heart of the humble and torevive the spirit of the
contrite ones, and so one can besad.
But in the sad state ordepressed state when we tend to
(07:53):
God and we recognize that weneed God, in that state it can
be poor in spirit.
But just being sad or depresseddoesn't necessarily mean that
we are poor in spirit.
The third thing that I want tomention is that poor in spirit
is not a natural trait.
We are not born with it.
(08:16):
We don't inherit it from ourparents.
1 Corinthians 2, verse 14 saysthat the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit ofGod and he cannot know them.
They are foolishness unto him.
He cannot know them becausethey are spiritually disincent,
(08:36):
and so the poor in spirit issomething that the Holy Spirit
has to work in us at the newbirth.
When we believe in Jesus Christand we receive him as our Lord
and our personal Savior and westart to walk with him, that is
the beginning of being poor inspirit.
(08:57):
Now, from the scripture, we readit says that Jesus, seeing the
crowds, he went up on themountain and he sat down.
His disciples came to him.
So it wasn't the crowd thatcame to him on the mountain, it
was the disciples, and themessage was given on top of the
(09:19):
mountain.
Sometimes the crowd don't makeit to the mountain Because there
are so many reasons, so manyexcuses to give not to go up the
mountain.
It takes somebody who isdesperate for God and who is
hungry for God to make thateffort to follow the Lord
wherever he goes, whether it'son a mountain or in a valley.
(09:40):
And so the disciples.
Disciples are followers of JesusChrist.
They are students and learners.
They had a relationship withJesus.
They followed him up on themountain and the first thing
that Jesus, when he looked atthe disciples, said to them is
blessed are the poor in spirit,for this is the kingdom of
(10:02):
heaven.
Blessed are those who aredependent on God, those who
recognize their need for God.
As a matter of fact, when Iread it in my local dialect
English is not my first languagewhen I read it in my local
dialect, it says blessed arethose who know they need God.
(10:25):
I'm like, really.
So that is what it means.
It's talking about the spiritof dependence and recognizing
that we need God.
I want to point some things out.
Number one what the poor inspirit is.
(10:45):
I've already said it that thepoor in spirit are the children
of God.
They are disciples of God.
They've been born again, theirspirit is regenerated and they
have a relationship with theLord.
Romans, chapter 8, verse 15 to16, says for you did not receive
the spirit of slavery to fallback into fear, but you have
(11:07):
received the spirit of adoptionas sons by whom we cry Abba,
father.
It says the Spirit himselfbears witness, with our spirit,
that we are children of God, andso it is a work that was
started by the Holy Spirit atthe new birth, and when we come
(11:30):
into relationship with JesusChrist, we become children of
God, and as children aredependent on their parents, we
begin to cultivate that heart ofdependence on God, recognizing
that we need him, and it'seither God comes through or we
don't have any hope, like thepeople in the village that I
(11:51):
talked about.
There are no hospitals, noschool, no electricity, nothing,
and so they know that it'seither God answers them or they
are dead, and so they channelall their attention and all
their desire on God.
Number two the poor in spiritrecognize that they are empty
(12:13):
without God.
Poor in spirit recognize thatthey are empty without God.
Have you ever felt that withoutGod, you are empty?
I want to share a story with youabout a man I love so much
called Jacob.
Jacob did everything in his ownstrength and in his own wisdom,
(12:39):
but he could not get ahead.
He used deception andeverything, he lied to his dad
and took the blessing.
But he came to a point in hislife where he recognized that
without God he has come to theend of his life.
And that was a time where Godtold him to go back and face
Esau.
I remember Esau had made acovenant that he was going to
(13:01):
kill him and he was so afraid.
Jacob was afraid and he came toa point he let all his
possessions go.
He let his wives and everybodyhis children go and he was left
alone.
And there was a river calledJabbok, and I looked at the
(13:22):
meaning of that river and itmeans emptying.
So Jacob came to a place wherehe had to empty himself and that
was when the angel of the Lordencountered him and he wrestled
with him and he said unless youbless me, I will not let you go.
And I thought his father, isaac, had already blessed him.
(13:42):
So what other blessing is hehungry for?
What other blessing is heasking for?
He was asking for the trueblessing.
The angel said what is yourname?
He said I'm Jacob.
He said well, you shall nolonger be called Jacob.
You are now Israel.
A praise with God, because youhave wrestled with God, you've
(14:03):
wrestled with man and you haveprevailed.
And from that day, his life wasnever the same.
From that day, he never walkedthe same way.
The way he walked changedbecause the angel touched his
body and he changed his ways.
And when Esau met him, he saidno, I'm not seeing Jacob.
(14:23):
This is not how Jacob walks.
This is a new person.
This is a new, completelychanged man.
Even his walk shows this is notJacob.
I cannot kill him.
And we all know the story.
They reconciled.
So Jacob recognized that he isempty without God.
Have we ever felt empty withoutGod?
(14:45):
Unless God comes in, we aredead.
I remember when I was in Ghanaand I really desired to be with
my family, to be with my wifeand see my son for the first
time, I was in a moment ofdesperation.
There was no visa to come toAmerica.
It's not easy to get to America.
It's a battle.
(15:07):
It's a battle and there was noway.
And my son is growing.
People are asking me when areyou going to see your son, when
is your wife coming?
And my wife was also goingthrough the same thing.
People were asking her when isyour husband coming?
When are you going to Africa?
It was overwhelming and Irecognized that unless God
(15:32):
intervenes, I'm stuck.
And one morning I was just therein prayer waiting on God and a
friend of mine, a very goodfriend of mine.
He called me.
He said you know what?
I'm going to Ghana, I'm goingto the US.
I said, wow, you are going andI'll be with Mark.
(15:52):
I'm like, wow, so you get tosee my son.
That's great, that's great,that's great.
As soon as we finished talking,I said God, I'm happy for my
friend that he's going to theStates and he'll get to see my
son, but please, do it for mealso.
(16:13):
And I just was praying andasking God, please, please, do
it for me.
By the grace of God, when myfriend came to the States, I was
already here and it was amiracle that only God could do.
(16:40):
Another person that I see waspoor in spirit was David.
I love David so much.
I named my son David, and Davidreturned to Ziglag and he
recognized that wives gone,children gone, the whole village
(17:03):
was burned and he was in greatdistress.
His men were in distress tooand they spoke about stoning him
.
And in the midst of thatdifficult moment, what did David
do?
The Bible says that Davidencouraged himself in the Lord,
his God.
(17:23):
He got his strength back in theLord.
When all odds were against him,when his own friends were
conspiring to get rid of him, heturned to God and he got a
strength in the Lord and he saidGod, shall I pursue them?
Yeah, of course your family isgone.
(17:44):
Yes, but why is he asking?
Because he knew that until hedepend on God though, he may
pursue, but it will come tonothing without God.
So he spent time and quietedhimself in the presence of God
and asked him Lord, should Ipursue them and will you deliver
(18:08):
them into my hands?
God said pursue, and you shallsurely overtake and, without
fail, recover all.
And when he got that word fromthe Lord, he took the step.
And we all know the story.
God helped him to recover.
All the poor in spirit are thosewho need help from God.
(18:30):
They go.
I need your help.
David said I will bless theLord at all times.
His praise will continually bein my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast inthe Lord.
The humble shall hear it and beglad.
He said O magnify the Lord withme.
Let us exalt his name together.
(18:51):
He said I sought the Lord andhe heard me, and he delivered me
from all my fears.
He said I sought the Lord andhe heard me, and he delivered me
from all my fears.
He said those who seek him,those who look to him, will
always be radiant.
Their faces will not be ashamed.
Then he said this poor mancried and the Lord heard him and
(19:12):
delivered him from all histroubles.
The poor in spirit are thosewho cry unto God.
This poor man cried.
The Lord heard him.
Psalm 34, verse 5.
Another thing I saw is that thepoor in spirit hold fast to God
(19:34):
and shows great trust in God.
I've already shared about Jacob.
I've shared about David and Job.
I want to talk about Peter for alittle bit.
He was among the disciples whomade it to the mountain and he
was poor in spirit.
(19:54):
There was a time in Jesus' lifewhere everybody left him.
Everybody was leaving, and thiswas after a great miracle where
they had been fed with breadand they wanted to make Jesus
king.
And Jesus spoke about unlessyou partake in my body and in my
blood.
You have no part in me.
(20:15):
People were like no, are wecannibals?
No way, no way.
So everybody started departingfrom Jesus and Jesus turned to
his disciples and said will youalso go?
Then Peter spoke.
He said to whom shall we go?
You have the words of life.
(20:36):
We have believed that you arethe Holy One of God.
Such is the words of a man whois poor in spirit, peter.
All that he went through hisups and downs, he still held
fast to God.
(20:56):
Now let's look at the promise.
He says this is the kingdom ofheaven.
What is the kingdom of heaven?
And I love this church so much.
We are so blessed withwonderful teachers that I get so
comfortable sitting and justreceiving.
It's so rich the teachings thatwe receive here.
(21:17):
You know, last Sunday we got toknow that the kingdom of heaven
is the reign of God and that iswhat God desires for all of us
that he reigns in our heart andin our minds.
So the kingdom of God, or thekingdom of heaven, is a realm
(21:38):
where the throne of God is andwhere he reigns and rules as
king.
It is a place where his will isdone.
The poor in spirit inherit thekingdom of heaven Us.
We are inheritance for beingdependent on the Lord.
(22:02):
We have a kingdom.
It's already started in ourheart, but the full
manifestation will come one day,when we see his face.
We shall be like him.
It will be the consummation ofthe kingdom of God, where God
will reign completely in ourheart and in our lives and his
(22:24):
will will be done in absoluteperfection.
That is what we look forward toas citizens of heaven.
Love the scripture.
That says our citizenship is inheaven, where we eagerly await
a savior from the Lord, jesusChrist, the man.
Jesus Christ.
That is where we are going andthat is where we are destined
(22:50):
for as children of God.
I want to close with a psalm,psalm 86.
It's a psalm of David and Iwant to pray that prayer over us
even as we move to our groupdiscussion.
It's a very beautiful psalm, sojust join me in prayer as we
(23:11):
pray Psalm 86.
Thank you, lord.
Hear me, lord, and answer me,for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I amfaithful to you.
Save yourself and who trusts inyou.
You are my God.
(23:32):
Have mercy on me, lord, for Icall to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant, lord, for I put my trust in you.
You, lord, are forgiving andgood, abounding in love to all
who call on you.
Hear my prayer, lord.
Listen to my cry for mercy.
(23:54):
When I am in distress, I callto you because you answer me.
Among the gods, there is nonelike you, lord.
No deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you have madewill come and worship before you
, lord.
They will bring glory to yourname, for you are great and do
(24:16):
marvelous deeds.
You alone are God.
Teach me your way, lord, that Imay rely on your faithfulness.
Give me an undivided heart thatI may fear your name.
I will praise you, lord, my God, with my heart.
I will glorify your nameforever, for great is your love
(24:39):
toward me.
You have delivered me from thedepths, from the realm of the
dead.
Arrogant foes are attacking me,o God, ruthless people are
trying to kill me.
They have no regard for you,but you, lord, are a
compassionate and gracious God,slow to anger, abounding in love
and faithfulness.
(24:59):
Turn to me and have mercy on me.
Show your strength in behalf ofyour servant.
Save me, because I serve you,you, just as my mother did.
Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and
be put to shame, for you, lord,have helped me and comforted me
(25:22):
.
We bless your name, lord.
We give you praise In Jesus'name, amen.
Let us turn our Bible to the book the gospel
according to Matthew, chapter 5.
Matthew, chapter 5, we readfrom verse 1 to 3.
Seeing the crowds, he went upon the mountain and he sat down.
His disciples came to him andhe opened his mouth and taught
(00:31):
them, saying Blessed are thepoor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
Shall we pray, father.
We thank you that your presenceis here.
We thank you for preservingyour word for us.
Your word is quick, powerful,sharper than any two-edged sword
.
Father, we pray that your wordwill find residence in our heart
(00:53):
tonight.
Help us to receive your wordwith understanding.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forgiving us the Holy Spirit to be
our helper.
Open our eyes, o Lord, that wemay behold wondrous things from
your word.
Bless your name in Jesus' name,amen, amen.
So in the year 2019, I had aprivilege of going to some
(01:18):
villages in Ghana, and theassignment was very simple.
And the assignment was verysimple I was supposed to find a
village with no church and alsoa village which lacks clean
drinking water.
So there was one particularvillage that we went to
somewhere in February of 2019,called Song Song, and so this
(01:42):
village, since Jesus said it isfinished has never heard a
gospel before, there's neverbeen a gospel meeting in the
village before, and on top ofthat, they lacked clean drinking
water, and so the people haddug a dam, and when it rains it
(02:03):
fills up, but during the dryseason there's no clean drinking
water and they have to walkmiles before they can have
access to water.
Now, when we went there duringthe day, we worked with a team.
We started drilling for water.
As a matter of fact, there havebeen attempts in previous years
to drill for water, but theycouldn't find any water.
(02:27):
What they do is that the eldersin the community come together
and they write to the Muslimcommunity and ask them to help
them, and they have Arab fundsthat they use to build a mosque
and try to get water.
So when we went to the village,there's no electricity, there's
(02:49):
no hospital, nothing.
But they had a very nice mosqueand we saw that they tried to
build them some borehole, butthey couldn't find any water.
But God being so kind and beingso gracious to us, when we
started, in the evenings wewould meet and we would share
the gospel with them and prayfor the needs of the people, and
(03:12):
during the day we would work onthe boho.
When we started to drill forwater, the first attempt there
was a gushing of water inabundance.
So the people were so excitedand they were so thankful
because they've never seen suchabundance of water before.
By God's grace, in the weekthat we spent there they were
(03:37):
able to get clean drinking water.
But the best of it is that theyhad the living water as well.
The gospel had reached themBefore then.
There were people in thecommunity who had never heard
the name of Jesus before, butthey heard his name, they got to
(03:58):
hear his gospel and they wereglad.
But I saw something in thatcommunity In the evenings where
we would share the gospel withthem, the people, especially the
women, would come with waterand they said pray over this
water for us, because we believethat if we are sick and we
drink it, we will be healed.
We saw that they were verydesperate and they had turned
(04:24):
their desperation to God, andeven though they were poor
physically.
But now I saw that they weregetting poor in spirit, and that
is what we are going to talkabout tonight, what it means to
be poor in spirit.
Now, before we delve into it.
I just want to establish thefact that number one we're going
(04:48):
to talk about what the poor inspirit is not Okay.
So I've asked a number ofpeople since I got to know that
I'll be speaking on the subjectblessed are the poor in spirit.
I asked people.
So what is the poor in spirit?
And I've heard all kinds ofexplanations.
And I was with a friend indowntown.
(05:12):
He said well, these are thepoints in spirit.
He pointed at the homeless.
I said, oh, okay, but as amatter of fact I've been there
and I've tried to witness to ahomeless person and the person
told me young man, if I'mlooking for God, I know where to
find God.
They don't want to haveanything to do with God and so
(05:35):
somebody can be poor physically,but they are not poor in spirit
.
So the first point is the poorin spirit is not about material
poverty.
One person can be physicallypoor but may not have any desire
(05:56):
for God or need for God.
Likewise, a person may beabundantly blessed, but they
still have a need for God.
And in the Bible I find Job tobe a man who was very blessed by
God.
The Bible says he was therichest man in all the East.
Yet this man had suchdependence on God.
(06:20):
When he was rich, he dependedon God.
When he lost everything.
He lost all his 10 children ina day and he lost all his
resources, all his money, helost his health, but he was
still dependent on God.
And when you read Job, chapter23, verse 12, he said I have not
(06:41):
gone back from the commandmentsof his lips.
Behold, I have treasured backfrom the commandments of his
lips.
Behold, I have treasured hiswords more than my necessary
food.
And so Job was a man who wasvery desperate for God and he
had the spirit of dependence.
And that is what the poor inspirit is.
(07:07):
Number two the poor in spirit isnot just being sad or depressed
.
Our feelings or emotional statemay not necessarily mean that
we are poor in spirit, but if asad heart turns to God, that can
be poor in spirit.
When you read Isaiah, chapter57, verse 15, it says that says
the high and lofty one whoinhabits eternity, whose name is
(07:33):
holy, I dwell in a high andlofty place, but with him, who
is of a contrite heart and ahumble spirit, to revive the
heart of the humble and torevive the spirit of the
contrite ones, and so one can besad.
But in the sad state ordepressed state when we tend to
(07:53):
God and we recognize that weneed God, in that state it can
be poor in spirit.
But just being sad or depresseddoesn't necessarily mean that
we are poor in spirit.
The third thing that I want tomention is that poor in spirit
is not a natural trait.
We are not born with it.
(08:16):
We don't inherit it from ourparents.
1 Corinthians 2, verse 14 saysthat the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit ofGod and he cannot know them.
They are foolishness unto him.
He cannot know them becausethey are spiritually disincent,
(08:36):
and so the poor in spirit issomething that the Holy Spirit
has to work in us at the newbirth.
When we believe in Jesus Christand we receive him as our Lord
and our personal Savior and westart to walk with him, that is
the beginning of being poor inspirit.
(08:57):
Now, from the scripture, we readit says that Jesus, seeing the
crowds, he went up on themountain and he sat down.
His disciples came to him.
So it wasn't the crowd thatcame to him on the mountain, it
was the disciples, and themessage was given on top of the
(09:19):
mountain.
Sometimes the crowd don't makeit to the mountain Because there
are so many reasons, so manyexcuses to give not to go up the
mountain.
It takes somebody who isdesperate for God and who is
hungry for God to make thateffort to follow the Lord
wherever he goes, whether it'son a mountain or in a valley.
(09:40):
And so the disciples.
Disciples are followers of JesusChrist.
They are students and learners.
They had a relationship withJesus.
They followed him up on themountain and the first thing
that Jesus, when he looked atthe disciples, said to them is
blessed are the poor in spirit,for this is the kingdom of
(10:02):
heaven.
Blessed are those who aredependent on God, those who
recognize their need for God.
As a matter of fact, when Iread it in my local dialect
English is not my first languagewhen I read it in my local
dialect, it says blessed arethose who know they need God.
(10:25):
I'm like, really.
So that is what it means.
It's talking about the spiritof dependence and recognizing
that we need God.
I want to point some things out.
Number one what the poor inspirit is.
(10:45):
I've already said it that thepoor in spirit are the children
of God.
They are disciples of God.
They've been born again, theirspirit is regenerated and they
have a relationship with theLord.
Romans, chapter 8, verse 15 to16, says for you did not receive
the spirit of slavery to fallback into fear, but you have
(11:07):
received the spirit of adoptionas sons by whom we cry Abba,
father.
It says the Spirit himselfbears witness, with our spirit,
that we are children of God, andso it is a work that was
started by the Holy Spirit atthe new birth, and when we come
(11:30):
into relationship with JesusChrist, we become children of
God, and as children aredependent on their parents, we
begin to cultivate that heart ofdependence on God, recognizing
that we need him, and it'seither God comes through or we
don't have any hope, like thepeople in the village that I
(11:51):
talked about.
There are no hospitals, noschool, no electricity, nothing,
and so they know that it'seither God answers them or they
are dead, and so they channelall their attention and all
their desire on God.
Number two the poor in spiritrecognize that they are empty
(12:13):
without God.
Poor in spirit recognize thatthey are empty without God.
Have you ever felt that withoutGod, you are empty?
I want to share a story with youabout a man I love so much
called Jacob.
Jacob did everything in his ownstrength and in his own wisdom,
(12:39):
but he could not get ahead.
He used deception andeverything, he lied to his dad
and took the blessing.
But he came to a point in hislife where he recognized that
without God he has come to theend of his life.
And that was a time where Godtold him to go back and face
Esau.
I remember Esau had made acovenant that he was going to
(13:01):
kill him and he was so afraid.
Jacob was afraid and he came toa point he let all his
possessions go.
He let his wives and everybodyhis children go and he was left
alone.
And there was a river calledJabbok, and I looked at the
(13:22):
meaning of that river and itmeans emptying.
So Jacob came to a place wherehe had to empty himself and that
was when the angel of the Lordencountered him and he wrestled
with him and he said unless youbless me, I will not let you go.
And I thought his father, isaac, had already blessed him.
(13:42):
So what other blessing is hehungry for?
What other blessing is heasking for?
He was asking for the trueblessing.
The angel said what is yourname?
He said I'm Jacob.
He said well, you shall nolonger be called Jacob.
You are now Israel.
A praise with God, because youhave wrestled with God, you've
(14:03):
wrestled with man and you haveprevailed.
And from that day, his life wasnever the same.
From that day, he never walkedthe same way.
The way he walked changedbecause the angel touched his
body and he changed his ways.
And when Esau met him, he saidno, I'm not seeing Jacob.
(14:23):
This is not how Jacob walks.
This is a new person.
This is a new, completelychanged man.
Even his walk shows this is notJacob.
I cannot kill him.
And we all know the story.
They reconciled.
So Jacob recognized that he isempty without God.
Have we ever felt empty withoutGod?
(14:45):
Unless God comes in, we aredead.
I remember when I was in Ghanaand I really desired to be with
my family, to be with my wifeand see my son for the first
time, I was in a moment ofdesperation.
There was no visa to come toAmerica.
It's not easy to get to America.
It's a battle.
(15:07):
It's a battle and there was noway.
And my son is growing.
People are asking me when areyou going to see your son, when
is your wife coming?
And my wife was also goingthrough the same thing.
People were asking her when isyour husband coming?
When are you going to Africa?
It was overwhelming and Irecognized that unless God
(15:32):
intervenes, I'm stuck.
And one morning I was just therein prayer waiting on God and a
friend of mine, a very goodfriend of mine.
He called me.
He said you know what?
I'm going to Ghana, I'm goingto the US.
I said, wow, you are going andI'll be with Mark.
(15:52):
I'm like, wow, so you get tosee my son.
That's great, that's great,that's great.
As soon as we finished talking,I said God, I'm happy for my
friend that he's going to theStates and he'll get to see my
son, but please, do it for mealso.
(16:13):
And I just was praying andasking God, please, please, do
it for me.
By the grace of God, when myfriend came to the States, I was
already here and it was amiracle that only God could do.
(16:40):
Another person that I see waspoor in spirit was David.
I love David so much.
I named my son David, and Davidreturned to Ziglag and he
recognized that wives gone,children gone, the whole village
(17:03):
was burned and he was in greatdistress.
His men were in distress tooand they spoke about stoning him
.
And in the midst of thatdifficult moment, what did David
do?
The Bible says that Davidencouraged himself in the Lord,
his God.
(17:23):
He got his strength back in theLord.
When all odds were against him,when his own friends were
conspiring to get rid of him, heturned to God and he got a
strength in the Lord and he saidGod, shall I pursue them?
Yeah, of course your family isgone.
(17:44):
Yes, but why is he asking?
Because he knew that until hedepend on God though, he may
pursue, but it will come tonothing without God.
So he spent time and quietedhimself in the presence of God
and asked him Lord, should Ipursue them and will you deliver
(18:08):
them into my hands?
God said pursue, and you shallsurely overtake and, without
fail, recover all.
And when he got that word fromthe Lord, he took the step.
And we all know the story.
God helped him to recover.
All the poor in spirit are thosewho need help from God.
(18:30):
They go.
I need your help.
David said I will bless theLord at all times.
His praise will continually bein my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast inthe Lord.
The humble shall hear it and beglad.
He said O magnify the Lord withme.
Let us exalt his name together.
(18:51):
He said I sought the Lord andhe heard me, and he delivered me
from all my fears.
He said I sought the Lord andhe heard me, and he delivered me
from all my fears.
He said those who seek him,those who look to him, will
always be radiant.
Their faces will not be ashamed.
Then he said this poor mancried and the Lord heard him and
(19:12):
delivered him from all histroubles.
The poor in spirit are thosewho cry unto God.
This poor man cried.
The Lord heard him.
Psalm 34, verse 5.
Another thing I saw is that thepoor in spirit hold fast to God
(19:34):
and shows great trust in God.
I've already shared about Jacob.
I've shared about David and Job.
I want to talk about Peter for alittle bit.
He was among the disciples whomade it to the mountain and he
was poor in spirit.
(19:54):
There was a time in Jesus' lifewhere everybody left him.
Everybody was leaving, and thiswas after a great miracle where
they had been fed with breadand they wanted to make Jesus
king.
And Jesus spoke about unlessyou partake in my body and in my
blood.
You have no part in me.
(20:15):
People were like no, are wecannibals?
No way, no way.
So everybody started departingfrom Jesus and Jesus turned to
his disciples and said will youalso go?
Then Peter spoke.
He said to whom shall we go?
You have the words of life.
(20:36):
We have believed that you arethe Holy One of God.
Such is the words of a man whois poor in spirit, peter.
All that he went through hisups and downs, he still held
fast to God.
(20:56):
Now let's look at the promise.
He says this is the kingdom ofheaven.
What is the kingdom of heaven?
And I love this church so much.
We are so blessed withwonderful teachers that I get so
comfortable sitting and justreceiving.
It's so rich the teachings thatwe receive here.
(21:17):
You know, last Sunday we got toknow that the kingdom of heaven
is the reign of God and that iswhat God desires for all of us
that he reigns in our heart andin our minds.
So the kingdom of God, or thekingdom of heaven, is a realm
(21:38):
where the throne of God is andwhere he reigns and rules as
king.
It is a place where his will isdone.
The poor in spirit inherit thekingdom of heaven Us.
We are inheritance for beingdependent on the Lord.
(22:02):
We have a kingdom.
It's already started in ourheart, but the full
manifestation will come one day,when we see his face.
We shall be like him.
It will be the consummation ofthe kingdom of God, where God
will reign completely in ourheart and in our lives and his
(22:24):
will will be done in absoluteperfection.
That is what we look forward toas citizens of heaven.
Love the scripture.
That says our citizenship is inheaven, where we eagerly await
a savior from the Lord, jesusChrist, the man.
Jesus Christ.
That is where we are going andthat is where we are destined
(22:50):
for as children of God.
I want to close with a psalm,psalm 86.
It's a psalm of David and Iwant to pray that prayer over us
even as we move to our groupdiscussion.
It's a very beautiful psalm, sojust join me in prayer as we
(23:11):
pray Psalm 86.
Thank you, lord.
Hear me, lord, and answer me,for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I amfaithful to you.
Save yourself and who trusts inyou.
You are my God.
(23:32):
Have mercy on me, lord, for Icall to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant, lord, for I put my trust in you.
You, lord, are forgiving andgood, abounding in love to all
who call on you.
Hear my prayer, lord.
Listen to my cry for mercy.
(23:54):
When I am in distress, I callto you because you answer me.
Among the gods, there is nonelike you, lord.
No deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you have madewill come and worship before you
, lord.
They will bring glory to yourname, for you are great and do
(24:16):
marvelous deeds.
You alone are God.
Teach me your way, lord, that Imay rely on your faithfulness.
Give me an undivided heart thatI may fear your name.
I will praise you, lord, my God, with my heart.
I will glorify your nameforever, for great is your love
(24:39):
toward me.
You have delivered me from thedepths, from the realm of the
dead.
Arrogant foes are attacking me,o God, ruthless people are
trying to kill me.
They have no regard for you,but you, lord, are a
compassionate and gracious God,slow to anger, abounding in love
and faithfulness.
(24:59):
Turn to me and have mercy on me.
Show your strength in behalf ofyour servant.
Save me, because I serve you,you, just as my mother did.
Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and
be put to shame, for you, lord,have helped me and comforted me
(25:22):
.
We bless your name, lord.
We give you praise In Jesus'name, amen.
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