Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
Key Passage: Matthew 5:3
Date: June 7, 2024
Matthew chapter number five, if you would please. Matthew chapter number five in God’s word this morning. I’m going to start a new series today on the Beatitudes. Matthew chapter number five. There are also four of them found in the book of Luke.
But we’re going to be in Matthew chapter five. Typically, most will say there are eight Beatitudes; there are actually nine blessings here. Many will kind of bring the last two blessings together as one. We’ll look at that. We’ll let you debate about it for a while, and then we’ll get to it later on. But the Beatitudes.
They all start with “blessed.” How many out there like to be blessed? Anybody out there like to be blessed? I don’t know about you, but does anybody like to be blessed in their finances? Oh, I thought I’d get some hands on that. Anybody like to be blessed? Any of you, like me, New Year’s, you wouldn’t mind losing a couple pounds? You like to be blessed in that? My hands—I would be. Okay, the honest people raised their hand on that one. But blessed.
They all start with that. In fact, we’re kind of just titling the series, “How to Be Blessed.” If you’d like to say, “I’d like to find out how to be blessed,” we’re going to be talking about that the next eight or so Sundays. So make sure you come Sunday mornings. This is the first of the Beatitudes today: “How to Be Blessed,” part number one.
In Matthew chapter number five this morning, we’ll start in verse number one. Would you stand, please, if you are able, just in respect to the Word of God? Matthew chapter number five. We’re starting in verse number one: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount here, the Beatitudes. Verse number one, Matthew five. If you are there already, would you say, “Praise the Lord”?
Good deal. Here we go, verse number one: “And seeing the multitudes.” Well, he didn’t know how many, but I think probably over a thousand. Later on, he had 5,000 men plus women and children—I think thousands. Some say he was sitting down; I think he was standing up, so about a hearing. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain.
When he was set—and I don’t think he means he sat down, but he got set in a spot, a place—his disciples came unto him. By the way, you’ll never do wrong when you come to Jesus. It is always a good thing to do: just come to Jesus. They came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, “Here it is.” He starts this sermon on the Mount, we call it. Look at this first thing he says, verse number three. This is one for today: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Would you read verse number three out loud with me, please? Here we go: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
You may be seated. I think it was last summer we studied the Ten Commandments—the Law, the Old Testament Law—when Moses was up on Mount Sinai. Put cell phones and everything up. Listen, I put it all up there. There we go. The Ten Commandments over there in the Old Testament was how God specifically—not just applies to all of us, we preached on that—but how God wanted the children of Israel to live by this law. Now we come over here, the New Testament, and it’s Jesus on a mount, and he’s telling about his kingdom, what it would be like.
Specifically, now it applies to me and you, but it’s specifically over in the Millennium Reign one day when, if you’re saved, you’ll be here on the earth for a thousand years underneath Christ. This is a little bit, oh, if you will, the constitution or the laws of the kingdom there. It does apply to me and you today. The Law, the Old Testament Law, was primarily about outward actions: Don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t bear false witness in all these sayings. This was more about the inward—your heart. The Law leaves you realizing there’s no way. If you look at the whole Ten Commandments, you’ll say nobody lives up to those perfectly. Nobody ever has. It leaves you kind of, “Whoa, we’re in trouble.” But this…
The Beatitudes start off with you being humble enough, and me being humble enough, to admit that I’m not good enough to keep that. See, it gives us an answer to it. So let’s just dive into this thing. We’ve got ladies having a nursery meeting in just a moment here, so we’ve got to hurry along, amen, because they have chocolate in that meeting. We can’t keep ladies from getting chocolate, you know. So let’s get a couple words out of this thing here.
First word we want to look at, Matthew 5:3. He starts off, “Blessed are the…” What’s the next word? Poor. Poor. Now, not necessarily talking about in your wallet. Okay? In fact, the first time this word “poor” is used in the Bible, it is actually over there where Joseph and Pharaoh are talking about his dream. Remember he’s talking about the seven years—seven good years and seven bad years. It starts off: seven, man, just strong, fat, huscular. Is that a word, huscular? I invent words; I’m good at that, you know. But these big old, just well-favored cows is what they are, kind the King James calls it. And then there are seven poor—first time it’s used in the Bible—ill-favored, skinny. Man, they’re just skin and bones. You can count the ribs on those cows. First time the Bible uses the word poor.
Here’s the interesting thing. Remember what happens? The poor cows eat up the fat cows. You remember that? Now that’s the first time. It’s always significant the first time God uses a word in His Word. Now here’s the thought: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Here’s the thing: When I’m tempted, or you’re tempted, to get a little cocky, a little proud, a little haughty, you know, a little nordin-awlish, the reality of how poor we really are eats that up.
You see, when we get tempted to be critical, and we look at everybody else and point out all their flaws, and we start talking about people and looking at all their bad points—wait a second. Somewhere comes along and says, “Whoa, the honest truth is, I’ve got a whole lot of problems myself.” And me being poor enough in spirit causes me to eat up my pride. By the way, don’t all of us once in a while get a little proud? If you’re saying, “No, not me,” you’re proud right now, friend. We’re all there from time to time.
When you get to that point where nobody can tell you anything, and you never admit you’re wrong, and you’ve got it all together and everybody else has got all the problems, you better stop and realize the reality: you’ve got a whole lot of issues. When you realize, man, your issues, your problems are galore—let’s talk to your spouse about your list. Somebody say amen right there. Now be good spouses, all right? But when you realize, man, I’ve got a whole lot of issues myself, and who am I to be looking down my nose and getting this know-it-all attitude, this pride for them? Who am I? How am I to do that? Then that’s the poor eating up the fat cows. That’s what he’s speaking about. I want to use this word poor: bankrupt. The reality is, man, I’ve got too many problems to be proud.
By the way, can’t help you out with something here? If all your friends want to do is talk about everybody else, maybe you need to get a new friend. Listen, if you’re going to be blessed, the Bible says “blessed”—He starts off, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Now let’s just for a moment talk about the reality of how poor we really are. Can we just look at that just for a brief moment here, all right? First of all, you didn’t make yourself; God made you, friend. I mean, God took you out of dirt and formed you. If God did not form you, you wouldn’t be formed. And if he didn’t breathe in you the breath of life, you’d just be a piece of dirt, friend. That’s the reality of it. Let’s just get honest about it all.
Beyond that, once he formed us and breathed in us the breath of life, we’re all sinners. Even without Jesus’ shed blood, we’d all be on our way to hell, friend. I mean, we burn forever and ever and ever. That’s just the reality of it all. If we look at the truth of it all, we’re all pretty poor folks. If we ever think we’re all that, whatnot, hard workers, whatnot, why don’t you go down to Vanderbilt Hospital, go to the drug unit where babies are born whose moms had drugs in them, and they’re coming off those drugs, and they’re just breathing in pain and crying, and their whole body hurts because they’re born as a drug baby? Can I remind you, you didn’t do anything to not be born like that? That’s the reality of it. We’re poor. When I see the reality of how truly bankrupt I am, that eats up my pride if I’m willing to face it. And Jesus starts the whole sermon off. He says, “Blessed are the poor.”
Now, let’s keep going. Let’s get a couple other words in here, because the ladies are not listening to me. They’re thinking about chocolate; that’s what’s going on. Here’s the next word. What does he say there? He says, “Blessed are the poor in…” What’s the next word? Spirit. Now, everything’s in the Bible for a reason: poor in spirit, in attitude, if you will. The spirit you and I carry about us. Can I say a couple of things about a spirit? A spirit can come on you real quickly.
Isn’t it funny in movies? When it’s supposed to be a scary part, they play this certain music, and all of a sudden this spirit comes on you. What’s about to happen? They say in restaurants, they sometimes play faster music; they get you eating faster so they can get you out, get the next customer, and make some more money, you know. But just spirits—music can bring spirits on, and different things. It’s funny. Ball games are funny. A team will have a spirit about them. Our church men, some of them played a basketball game Thursday night. The other team was killing us at first. They were beating us by 17 points. They had a pretty good spirit about them. But we began to make a couple shots finally. Finally, all the men—the rust was all over the court. I mean, the rust was starting; there’s some metal behind it all, you know—and men began to play a little defense, and we began to make some shots, and their spirit changed, boom, like that. The whole spirit changed. A spirit can come on you very quickly in an attitude. Boom, something happens, and it takes you back somewhere, and your spirit changes.
Here’s what I’m saying about all this: If I’m not careful, if I don’t watch it, somebody asks my opinion about something, and I’ll turn around and have a spirit of pride about me because one person asked my opinion about one thing. This spirit comes on, and man, you just got a little pride about you. You just got a little swag about you, if you will. A spirit can come on somebody so quickly. He’s saying this for a reason: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Somebody gets just a little bit of attention, boom, it changes the whole spirit up.
Little popularity, little recognition—boom. Some of these college athletes that are good athletes—it bothers me when they do so well because I think if they’re not careful, that’s going to end up hurting that person so much. When they’re not careful, the spirit is going to come on there. And whoever it is, and spirits—he said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Spirits can change boom on a dime. If I’m not careful, boom, I’ve got a prideful spirit, and I don’t even know what happened to me. It happens so quickly. Can I say spirits spread quickly?
You can be somewhere and have a good spirit, and one person can come in, and it’s amazing—they don’t even have to say anything—but the whole spirit of the thing changes. Y’all don’t know what I’m talking about. He’s talking about being blessed, having a poor spirit. Here’s another thing about spirit: Spirit changes everything you do. Watch it in teams. Boy, they’ve got a good spirit; they’re on top side, and they just do everything to the best of their ability. They’re executing in there. Boom. But let that spirit change, and they just start falling apart. Dumb mistakes start happening. Why? Spirit. See? And “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” I have to watch this spirit, this attitude, because it can get me so quickly. Before I know it, I have a proud spirit.
Here’s the thing: When I get a prideful spirit, nobody can tell you anything. Nobody can tell me anything. If our spouse says, “Hey, hey, you know, could you calm me down a little bit?” [I respond] “What? What are you talking about? What’s wrong with you? I haven’t done anything wrong! Come on, no, look at me!” You’ve been there before now. Here’s what I’m saying: When we get stuck in a proud spirit, we’re never wrong. If I get stuck in a proud spirit, nobody can tell me anything. And here’s the problem with that: If I remember right, what does the Bible say? “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” D.L. Moody said, “Stay humble or stumble.” So I get stuck in this prideful spirit, and pretty soon, if I get stuck there, God says, “All right, all right, fellow. Now I’m going to have to humble you.”
Can I say this about God humbling you? You’re not blessed. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” see? How many of you would like to see revival? I’m talking about how many of you like to see national revival? Revival in America? Do you like to see that? I love it. I try to pray for that every day. Can I say that national revival starts with local revival? And local revival starts with personal revival. Can I show you where personal revival starts? Look over, if you will—keep your finger there—look over in Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57. Let’s just look and see where personal revival starts. Where does it start? Isaiah chapter number 57.
Look in one verse, Isaiah 57. Verse number 15 is an amazing verse right here, with so many things in this verse. Isaiah 57. Look at verse number 15. He says, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” “Contrite” means broken, if you will—contrite and humble spirit. There’s again our attitude. To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Now look, if I want revival in my life, first of all, I have to humble my attitude. First of all, I have to admit, I need revival. If I’m only busy pointing out everybody else’s flaws, everybody else’s mistakes—everyone has them. Friend, you’re not even at first base, because first base in Jesus, we started off: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” I have too many flaws to be pointing out everybody else’s problems. That’s how you start this thing. God said, when I get that contrite and humble spirit, those are the people whose spirit and heart I revive. I don’t know about you, but I like it when God revives me. That happens when I have that contrite and humble spirit.
So we have this thing: we have “blessed,” we have “poor,” we have this thing of “spirit.” Now let’s just briefly look at this word “blessed.” It starts off “Blessed.” Let’s look at this saying. It’s an interesting thing about it. Jesus is beginning his public ministry; he’s fairly early into it. He’s establishing in this sermon who he is, what he is, and what he came to do. It’s interesting: Jesus starts off his whole sermon with “Blessed.”
The Old Testament—who can help me out? What’s the last word of the Old Testament? Last word, Malachi 4:6? Curse. Yeah. The Old Testament ends with “curse,” but Jesus starts off, and the first thing he says is “blessed.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” By the way, Jesus said over there in John 3, “The Father didn’t send me to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.”
Now, here’s the thing before we get too much into it: Jesus starts off with this word “blessed.” Friend, do you realize every blessing you ever have had or ever will have is through Jesus? All the good things. If I get what I deserve, I’ve already mentioned it’s hell, because the best I can do is filthy rags. All the blessings I have are through Jesus. The good thing about that is it not only helps us from getting proud, but it helps us stay humble.
The older I get, the more I’m impressed with someone who is not just humble, but who stays humble even after God blesses. Because my flesh—well, God blesses a little bit, “Look at me,” you know, all that. That’s the natural thing; that’s what happens. But when I realize all the blessings I have are because of Jesus, that enables me to stay humble even when God is blessing. So I’m blessed because I’m poor in spirit. I realize my blessings are through Jesus, because of Jesus.
I’m big on the first time a word is found in the Bible to help me understand the word. So let’s talk for just a moment here about this word “blessed” and the first time you find it in the Bible. Where is that in the Bible? It’s actually over in creation, Genesis 1. We won’t look it up, but the first time the word “blessed” is used, the Bible is talking about the sea animals and the birds. It’s in Genesis, let me just read it for you, 1:22: “And God blessed them,” first time it’s used right there. “God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’”
That’s the first time. It’s huge. The second time it is used is the sixth day when God made land animals and mankind, all right? By the way, we weren’t created over millions and billions of years from some little bitty cell. In six literal days, God made this earth, amen? It wasn’t 6,000 years. No, the Bible says, “the evening and the morning were the first days”—six literal days. I’m not going to follow the science of the Bible. Science has changed so many times. I’m going to follow God’s Word. Here’s the thing: the second time the word “blessed” is used, it’s talking about land animals and mankind, Genesis 1:28. “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’”
Do you notice how this word, “God blessed them,” relates to what? They’re fruitful and multiply. So he says, okay, if I’m poor in spirit, does that mean me and my mate are going to have a whole lot of children? Is that what it means? Woo! Somebody says, “Whew, I don’t know if I want to be blessed, Pastor. I mean, I’ll tell you what, now.” All right. Some of the older folks are saying, “Whew, I’m not going to be poor in spirit; I guarantee you.” I believe he’s talking about this. I believe he’s saying, if you’d like to grow a little bit, if you like to go to the next level a little bit, if you like to be fruitful, have some fruit in your ministries, if you like for your marriage to take a step up—it may be, I don’t know, it may be even financially. That’s one of God’s blessings. It’s the cheapest one of His blessings, but it’s a blessing sometimes. But maybe it’s talking about financial for your life, but it is fruitful, and you multiply. Sometimes we get stuck; we’re never growing in the Lord, see.
He says, “Blessed”—it has to do with something about happy. Yeah, it has to do with that, but much, much more than that. Some will say different things, but no, he’s talking about, “Hey, you’re fruitful and multiplied.” The first time this word is used, you’re blessed. If I like to grow in my Christian life, I’d like to have more answers to prayer, more power in prayer, more joy in my life, and more victories in my life. You want to be blessed? God talks about it. All right, God said, let’s talk about this thing. The first thing he says is “poor in spirit.” Pastor, my marriage, we just can’t grow. Can I suggest both of you get poor in spirit? God says He’ll bless. I understand you can’t control your mate, and I’m not asking you to, but you can do your part.
“Blessed are the poor.” I like to grow, and I like to have some victories in my life. I feel like I keep going around the same block. I’m back here where I was six months ago. I’m back here, and I can’t get past that. The Bible says, “Blessed”—you’re fruitful, you’re multiplied—but “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” When I get this attitude that I’ve got it all together, and I’m pointing out everybody else’s problems, I’m always looking at everybody else, and nobody can tell me anything, I’m not going to grow. I need to get dead honest about the thing: Man, I’ve got a whole lot of problems myself. I’m setting myself up for God to grow me, to work in my life, change me, reveal truths to me that I’ve never seen before, and help my home and my childhood and all that. But when I’m poor in spirit, that’s when I’m blessed.
Jesus starts off this whole thing. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Can I say that you’re never going to get to the next level without some humility? In God’s kingdom, the way up the ladder is to go down. Jesus is establishing everything right off the get-go. He says, “Hey, blessed are the poor in spirit.” Are you tired of being stuck? God is the one who grows; I can’t grow. You can’t even grow yourself. But listen, the first thing Jesus says is “blessed”—I bless you, and be fruitful and multiply—when I’m poor in spirit. I need some help here; I’ve got a whole lot of issues myself. Poor in spirit. Now let’s get one more thing. We’re done for the afternoon here—I’m not saying how long this last one will take, though. All right, so don’t put your shoes on yet, ladies, okay? We’re not done here. Go back to this verse; let’s get the last thing in here, verse number three. He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is…”
“…the Kingdom of Heaven.” Now that’s interesting. “Kingdom of Heaven.” I learned something in this study: “Kingdom of Heaven,” that exact phrase, is found 32 times in the book of Matthew. Only one time is it “Kingdom of Heavens” in Matthew, but you don’t find that phrase anywhere else in the New Testament. You don’t find that in Mark, Luke, or John. You don’t find “the kingdom of God” and things like that. “Kingdom of Heaven” is so much in this book of Matthew. Now, help me out, all you Bible scholars out there. Matthew describes Jesus as a King, right? King of the Jews.
Matthew has, if you read it, a lot talking to the Jewish people as a nation. Mark describes him as a servant; Luke describes him as a man; John describes his deity. But here’s your thing: it’s for all of us, but it’s very much written to the Jewish people in Matthew. Jesus is King of the world, but specifically set on the throne of David—remember that, we’ll talk about that sometime. So he’s talking about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Picture this: Jesus here on this mountain—I think he’s standing there on the mountain or sitting, whatever they’re going to say—on this mountain. All these Jewish people are around him, probably thousands. They are thinking about the Messiah coming. They want the Messiah to come. Remember, the nation of Israel at that time was under the rule of Rome. They are ready for this Messiah, this deliverer. The government is going to be on his shoulder. He’s going to be the head guy; he’s going to be the president. They are ready for this leader of Israel to come. They knew the promises about him setting on the throne of David and all that, a descendant of David. They knew all that. So they are ready for this guy to come along and kick off the Roman government and say, “Hey, we Jewish people are in charge here. We’ve got our Messiah. He’s going to be on the throne. The government of the world is going to be on his shoulder.” That’s what they had mentally going on. Then the true Messiah, Jesus, comes along, and he’s not talking like that in their opinion. He starts off. They’re like, “All right, if this is the Messiah, let’s do it. Let’s take over the government. Let’s rule. Let’s be the head honcho.”
Jesus starts off this sermon, “Blessed are the poor in spirit?” Come on, we’re supposed to rule with a rod of iron. You’re supposed to take us into leadership here. Do you understand how Jesus was totally different than what they humanly were thinking? He starts off, “No, man, you’re going to be in the Kingdom of Heaven; you’re going to get there humbly.” Can I talk about the natural man regarding heaven for just a second? The heaven that we think of—in heaven, the third heaven—naturally, if I hadn’t read my Bible, I would think good people go to heaven, bad people go to hell. And I’m going to get good enough; I’m going to work at this thing; I’m going to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I’m going to get good enough to earn the Kingdom of Heaven or earn heaven. I’m going to get there. But friend, it doesn’t work like that. Nobody ever gets to heaven by being good enough because, friend, the honest truth is you’re not good enough. We’re all sinners. The best person in the world, whoever it may be, is still at best just a sinner. I get to heaven by first of all humbling myself: I’m a sinner.
Let’s go back to this thing of Jesus and the Jewish people. Man, he just told them something. They’re like, “What in the world?” Can you imagine two of those Jewish men saying, “What’s he talking about here?” Think about it. As a nation, unfortunately, the Jewish people missed their Messiah. It would have been interesting if they would have accepted him—what would have happened? Remember, John the Baptist said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus first, actually a couple of times before this, said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But they rejected Jesus. Remember they were in John 1:11? “He came unto his own” (talking about the Jewish people), “but his own received him not.”
So the Jewish people rejected the real Messiah as a whole. That doesn’t mean a Jewish person can’t get saved. Some do, praise the Lord. I have a sister-in-law I’m praying for to get saved. But as a whole, they rejected Jesus. Now wait a second. What has happened to the nation of Israel for the last 2,000 years? Persecution. Six million in the Holocaust, World War II, and so many others that are not mentioned. Even today in our time, I have a hard time with the word—help me out—anti-Semitism. Yeah, this comes from the devil. But why doesn’t God change things? Well, the Jewish people rejected the Messiah; they are being chastened.
Things are starting to change in the end times. The Bible tells us they will be regathered and they won’t be trampled underfoot again. You can see that happening, and praise the Lord for it. But you can’t deny the fact that the children of Israel have been chastened for a while now, because they didn’t accept Jesus. He came on a whole different turf than they were thinking about. Jesus came saying, “Hey, we’re not ready to set that tone up like you think. We’re coming poor in spirit”—the opposite of what they expected. If we’re not careful, we go fleshly. Let’s go be a great Christian! Why don’t you just humble down and look to God? Not for having good desires—that’s a wonderful thing. A friend’s going to be God.
Let’s get back. We’ve got to draw this net together here. Can I say that I think he’s not just talking about the Kingdom of Heaven as far as in heaven one day? I think for the Jewish people, the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. They rejected it. Things are all right; we have another time frame now. Can I say this? Jesus would like to set His Kingdom of Heaven up in your heart? Look at these verses real quickly, real quickly. It’s very interesting. Verse number three, you there, Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” All right? Now watch all these others: Verse number four, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Verse seven, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” For this first one: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I think yes, yes, future, yes, but right now too. Can I put it this way? Boy, I would like for Jesus to be King of my life. All right, humble down, get poor in spirit. If Jesus is going to be allowed to set up His kingdom in my life, in my heart right now in 2020, and be able to just change some things and bless your life and be the ruler of your life and send His sweet spirit in your life, He starts all: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I believe it applies to the future also, but I believe it applies right now. Let’s for just a moment here. We’re going to be done, and I mean that. We’re actually fixing to land the plane. Amen. We’re not just circling; we’re coming in for landing. Ladies, you don’t put your shoes on yet, but you’re right there at it, you know. Your husband—they kicked them away from you—so gather them back up.
I was witnessing to my wife’s grandmother years ago. She was older, and I was trying to get her to say, “Hey, man, you’ve got to let Jesus pay. He has sin; He’s got to pay that debt.” She said, “I always pay my way. I’m just that type of person. I pay for—I mean, I pay for everything. I pay for my way.” I said, “Man, boy, you’re not going to go to heaven like that. Nan, you’ve got to let Jesus—you can’t pay it your way, Nan.” She was in a nursing home or hospital somewhere, older. “Nan, you’re going to have to ask Jesus to pay it. You can’t pay it, Nan.” Praise Catholic, if I remember right—works, being good enough. You can’t pay it. You’re going to have to ask Him to pay it. And praise the Lord, Nan humbled herself. She said, “All right, I can’t pay it.” She bowed her head and asked Jesus Christ to pay her sin debt. I believe she’s in heaven because she got poor in spirit: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Original File: How to be Blessed - Part 1 - Pastor Paul Chisgar 12620