Blessed Are the Poor - Luke 6:20

If I haven't met you, my name is Pablo Moreno and I I served with

Reggie at Trinity, but on my full time job, I served as a as

a chaplain with the Idaho Air National Guard.

I'm the full time chaplain out there and been working.

Thank you. Thank you.

Been work, been with the Air Guard for 10 years and I've been

full time for 4. But I, I was on staff here my

whole 20s. I'm 40 years old now and I moved

on 10 years ago to go from ministry to military.

And it's interesting because November of 2014, I taught my

last Sunday here on like November 10th or something.

And some of you guys were here. I think Alyssa was here, Dan was

here. So it's cool.

It's being back here. So I taught my last service on a

Sunday night. And then that Wednesday, I I

went to boot camp. And if any military members

here, raise your hands. I love you guys.

Thanks for showing love. Yeah, give him a hand, too.

Always good to show love to our service members.

So I went to boot camp at 30 years old.

Who does that? You know who, who goes from

ministry to military? You know, because I thought I

would at that time be here my whole life.

I thought I would still be serving with Noah and Tuck and

and and Tommy and then the crew. But God called me elsewhere.

So I go into to boot camp and it's like typical boot camp that

you see in the movies. You know, you get to Lackland

Air Force Base midnight and you're tired.

You've been traveling all day and you get there by bus.

And who comes on the bus? People of all heights, shapes,

sizes and colors with their hats brim tilted down, walking up and

down the bus aisles, giving you the stink eye and knowing

they're going to make your life miserable for the next 8 1/2

weeks. So, so you're quiet up and down

the aisles and then with all unison and all accord, they go

get off my bus. And, and we are like little kids

in kindergarten, you know, just trying to get off this, this

sergeant's bus. And, you know, during those 8

1/2 weeks I was there, I saw God do cool things.

I really did, you know, and to be honest, I wasn't trying to be

spiritual at boot camp. I was just trying to survive.

I'm 30. I'm just trying to play the

game. I'm not trying to argue with

these folks. I'm not trying to be something

like GI Jane or anything. I'm just, I was trying to get

through and get my GI Bill. I'm ask the truth and and so by

God is so gracious, as much as I was just trying to keep my head

down and and go through God, God will still pick you up and and

use you. So I ended up being one of the

three guys who were in charge of a flight of 40 people.

And and when you get there, I don't know if you've ever been

in a situation where it's so stressful that your body gets

wrecked. You know, it's, it's stressed

like you're, you're not sleeping well and your your bowel is not

the best. You know what I'm saying?

Things aren't moving properly, right?

And so it goes on for about two weeks.

And so I'm just, I'm just trying to grind, you know, I'm just

trying to move forward. And, and you got my people on my

flight crying at night. Like they're in their bed

crying, no joke, crying for their moms.

Like what did I do? You know, and, and, and one day,

one night where I buy our bunk. So it's it's go, go, go all day,

every day. It's go, go, go.

And one night am I my bunk? And I'm just kind of chilling,

just sitting down this praying and just like, Lord get me

through this. And one of my my bunk mates,

Smith. So Marino, what's up?

Smith? He goes, why are you always so

calm? Like we're over here stressing

and you always seem calm and just joyful.

And I go, bro, can I be real with you?

I'm not going to be cheesy, but can I be real?

He goes, yeah, I go. I follow Christ, man.

And God is he the Prince of Peace?

He's in my heart and I I'm I'm moving forward.

He was Marino. How do I get that peace because

I haven't pooped in two weeks, man.

I don't know what's wrong with me.

I I I I need peace because I'm stressed.

I go well, bro, I can't guarantee a poop, but I can

guarantee Christ. You know, like so so we pray.

I go well, let's pray right now. Let's just start with asking

Christ into your heart I go, you ever received Jesus?

He goes well, let's just start there bro.

I can't guarantee I'm not a doctor unite Doctor Quinn.

So we pray and and we kneel and, and someone looks over to us and

they go, what are you guys doing?

You know, we're, you don't, it's not normal to see two grown men

kneel by their bread boot camp. Well, this guy Smith tells this

guy, I'm not, I'm not doing well, you know, like I, I

haven't slept, I haven't pooped and I and this guy goes, why

haven't pooped either? Can I pray with you guys?

And like, come on over, bro. You know, so like, I mean, as

much as it wasn't like it wasn't like sexy ministry, it was God

use whatever, you know, and I was able to lead genuinely the

other guys as well to the Lord by just trying to change, keep

my head down and get through and just just be like Christ.

So I'm gone for 8 1/2 weeks boot camp, follow up with follow on

training, gone for another four months and gone six months total

and I get back by come back to a whole different world.

You know, no one, no one prepared me for what life looks

like when you're gone for six months.

And even those in country training, a lot can happen in

six months, you know, So I get back and things were different.

I mean, sincerely, things were different.

I, I came home and I was told originally I was going to have

about 3 months of bomb the job training.

So I was counting on that to give me some time to, to look

for a job because I wasn't working here anymore looking for

a job. And the first day I get back,

you told me Moreno, we got to say let you know something.

There's been some budget cuts because you know this, there's

always government budget cuts and stuff.

And it happened then too. You don't have three months of

on the job training. You actually have three weeks of

on the job training and we got to let you go, go.

OK, how am I going to tell my spouse I'm unemployed in, in, in

three weeks. Then I get back also with what

else is different to my home? Something is different in the

home and I couldn't put my finger on it yet, but I knew

something was broken and that's something I would never get back

together, put back together again.

And and then apart from that, when you're apart from a church,

part of a church for 10 years, it's full time and engage was

thriving. We were, we were rocking and

rolling like it was fun. I come back, I'm, I'm jobless,

broken home and I feel directionless.

God, what are you doing? Engage was going well, like we

were doing cool things at boot camp and now it's like I'm

hopeless, directionless and as the Bible puts it, I was poor

and empty. And on top of all that, my body

was not responding well. I mean, sincerely, I, I've had

migraines and I would wake up with hives all over my body

because I just from the stress and, and honestly, blood was

coming out in places I never thought would come out of like,

it's like joke, like what is going on with my life?

God, how many of you can relate? How many of you been there where

what I'm saying rings true in your heart?

And maybe you're there right now.

Maybe you're one of the ones where doge has affected and at

50 years old, you're having to start over.

Maybe you're maybe you've gone through a situation where you

you heard words come from the mouse mouth of your spouse that

you'd never thought you'd hear, and you're picking your

shattered heart off the floor. Maybe your body is working

against you and you're trying to figure out what is wrong with me

and you're trying to bring a sense of normalcy back into your

life. Maybe you've made some mistakes

and there's so many to count. You don't know how God can ever

make stricken a straight what we've made crooked, or work

together for good a bad situation.

Maybe you're here, directionless, hopeless,

wondering if God even cares, if God still has a plan for you.

Do you know what's crazy about being in those seasons where we

feel poor, broken and needy? Jesus says, as we'll see this

morning, that this place and posture is the very key that

opens the door to unique blessings and experiences.

To understand the deeper things about God and the ways of His

Kingdom, Things that we would not have understood unless we

came to Him with an awareness of our emptiness, with an awareness

of our neediness, with an awareness of our brokenness and

poverty. And we'll see today that as we

impact the first of the beatitudes, the beatitude we're

going to look at today is a foundational teaching of Christ

and, and one when applied and lived out, can reframe how we

live, how we think and how we grow in our walk with him.

It's often been called in Matthew, the Sermon on the

Mount, but in Luke's gospel is called the Sermon on the plain,

But it has the same revolutionary truths.

It's, it's, it's the manifesto of Christ.

It's not just some spiritual advice.

These beatitudes, not just behaviors we should put on our

fridge and think, OK, I'm going to, I'm going to aspire to be

like that. It's an invitation to live under

God's rule and blessing and and to learn about the Kingdom, how

it works and what it looks like when it shows up real in our

lives. So Jesus is talking to his

disciples. He's looking at people who have

said, yes, I have decided to to follow Jesus.

No turning back. No turning back.

Those who want to go deeper, grow deeper and live at a higher

level when it comes to really seeing the Kingdom of God work

through their life. These are people he's talking to

who don't want to go through the motions of religion, but they

want to see a life transformed and God use their lives to bring

transformation around them. And he starts with this in Luke

620, it says this. He lifted up his eyes on his

disciples and said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is

the Kingdom of God. The first point of three I want

to make this morning is if you're a note taker, God's

Kingdom is upside down. In this statement, Jesus is

giving us insight into how things work in his Kingdom.

The upside down Kingdom, God's Kingdom and the world are very

much in opposition and what is considered good in the world is

bad in Kingdom of God, and what is considered blessed in God's

realm is considered cursed in the other.

Now everything about this statement that we just read

challenges what they and we have been taught about success and

blessing the world. The world says wealthy, you

know, the blessed, the powerful man, they're blessed.

The comfortable, they're blessed.

The the ones who seem to have it all together, they're blessed.

But Jesus says no, no, no, blessed are you who are poor.

This word blessed comes from the Greek word macarios, which means

deeply satisfied, which means spiritually fulfilled and

approved by God. It doesn't matter how old you

are, everyone wants to feel fulfilled.

Everyone wants to feel satisfied and everyone wants to be feel

like they still matter to someone, still feel approved by

someone. Doesn't matter how old you are,

everybody longs for that. And the human heart is

constantly on the hunt looking for a sense of satisfaction,

fulfillment and approval. And if we aren't looking to

Christ to fill that void, like the old country song says, we're

looking for love in all the wrong places, the heart will try

to find it. Those things and the wells of

fame, fortune, fixation and fake relationships.

But like Jesus told the woman at the well in John chapter 4,

John 4 · chapter mention

everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again as she had

a trail of broken marriages relate behind her and was living

with someone who is not her husband.

Everyone who goes to the wrong well, Jesus says if we drink

that water, you're going to be thirsty again.

The destructive things that our flesh is drawn to at times are

like drinking ocean water. It will only leave us more

thirsty, sick and disoriented. So when Jesus says blessed are

you who are poor, he's not. He's not glorifying poverty for

its own sake. He's saying no, no, this is the

best posture and position to to put ourselves to discover true

satisfaction, true fulfillment and true purpose.

It's by allowing his spirit to bring us to a place where the

cry of our heart is God. I have nothing and I know I'm

nothing apart from you. And it's there where we discover

everything we were looking for was always an about face away

military. We we use this term about face

like when it's time to turn around, they say about face.

And and when it comes to following Christ, everything we

are looking for sincerely is is the breath away.

God, I need you. It's it's an about face away.

Lord, I'm turning back to you. Second point I want to look at

today is this when we say I can't, God says yeah, but I

can't. When we say I can't, God says I

can. Do you know why God is drawn to

a posture of poverty? Because it's real, it's honest,

and it's humble. James, 46, says God opposes the

proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Pride says I got this, I'm the man.

Poverty, says God, I can't do this without you.

I am not the man. And God replies, that's right,

only I can do this for you. You see, the last 10 years of my

life, this has been so true in in, in my life and what I've

experienced and what I've seen and felt, it's been filled with

painful and heartbreaking experiences.

Unemployment, broken relationships, temporary

homelessness. And you know what truth I've

seen played out over and over in the midst of it?

At the end of ourselves, that is the beginning of God.

At the end of ourselves is the beginning of God.

When we stop, God will start when we stop striving and

stressing, controlling and complaining, and instead call

out to God and give Him space to do His thing, space to work in

His providential ways, because He sees us when we think, He

doesn't, and He thinks about us and He hears us.

Psalm 4017 says, As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord

takes thought of me. You are my help and my

deliverer. Psalm 6933 says for the Lord

hears the poor. Remember how I said I came back

jobless, man, again, the truth I've seen over and over is when

I stop, God starts when I don't, when I when I simply show up,

God shows off. That's what happens when I when

I just show up, God shows off. So I get back and I'm

unemployed. I'm just figuring out life, man.

And I, I'm in the break room one day during drill, during, during

work, the work day. And I, there's this guy in

there. I can't remember his name.

I'll call him Mike and Mike's happy and he's joyful like like

he's just glow and I go, dude, why are you such a good mood?

He goes Marino, I just found a job like you Dick, We're like,

you know, when you're on the hunt and someone's got food,

you're like, show me where I can get that bro.

You know, he goes there's a place on base called heroes for

hired. I go, What's that?

Well, they help military folks find a job.

Tell me where it's at. So I didn't even I didn't even

ask permission. I just left my office right

there shop and I went and I went to find that place.

See this lady, sweet older woman, she was OK Tell me about

your background. What have you done?

And I'm like youth bastard, you know, teach Bible, you know, I'm

just trying to trying to put into like resume form things

that I've done in the last 10 years.

She was OK. So you have administrative

skills. I go, yeah.

OK. So you, you public speak.

I go a little bit and she goes, OK, so I'm telling her all these

things. She goes interesting.

I just had a job emailed me to this morning that that they're

looking to hire someone. I go, OK, what is it?

She goes, well, it, it says it's for the child, Idaho National

Guard Child and Youth program. And it says must be willing to

public speak, must be willing to do outreach, must be willing to

put on camps, must be willing to teach.

Crick. I'm like, are you kidding?

And I knew that's my job. I, I I knew it must have a

bachelor's or master's degree. I go, don't have that.

She goes, well, you don't have that.

I go, no, I don't have to. Well, she doesn't have to try.

Yeah, doesn't have to try. So.

So I applied and it was like a pool of 30 and then, you know,

you know the drill, then Chan and then final three and then,

and then it's the in person interview.

So I go in and I'm like, Lord, you know, I need a job, man.

You know, I got a mortgage, I got bills to pay and, and I, I

do my interview, I do my thing and, and I got the job.

And there are people who applied who had masters in an actual

like educational world experience.

But but God hooked it up. This relational dynamic of me

coming to God with nothing and Him making a way or a way or way

out of way forward when I felt stuck and trapped is one that

has repeatedly played out over the last 10 years.

Repeatedly. It sounds crazy, but in God's

Kingdom I've learned that the way up is down.

The way up is down. When we need Him to lift this

out of the pit, we kneel down and pray in humility and

brokenness. And the way in God's Kingdom,

the way to move forward, is to stand still.

The Israelites experienced this in Exodus 14.

They had just fled from Egypt. They've come to their first

major obstacle in their journey. They got the Red Sea in front of

them and Pharaoh's army coming in hot behind them.

And Exodus 4/14/13 says this. But Moses told the people, don't

be afraid. Just stand still and watch the

Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will

never be seen again. And the Lord himself would fight

for you. Just stay calm.

And you know the rest of the story.

You know, Moses goes and cries a little bit and God says, what

are you doing? Get out there and put your stick

over the water. You know, and, and and the Red

Sea parts and they walk over on dry land and Pharaoh's army is

swallowed up by the water. Are are you in a season where it

feels like you can't move forward into something, but

there's something behind you putting pressure on you?

Maybe. Maybe it's an unknown future

ahead of us and a path of pain and brokenness behind us.

We feel paralyzed. Maybe it's a cold marriage in

front of us and it's prodigal kids behind us.

My family feels like it's falling apart.

Maybe it's in a secret addiction in front of us and brokenness

behind us. Who can I talk to about what I'm

really going through If I told him this, they would all they

would all bail. Who who can I trust with my

brokenness. It's a stressful job in front of

us and buried dreams and goal behind us a blessing we get when

we come to God with the heart that says God.

I don't know what to do. I have nothing is we get to see

the King of the Kingdom in his Providence to work on our

behalf. As we as we apply his word to

our life and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, That's what

it means that theirs is the Kingdom of God.

We have access to the King and the ways of his Kingdom.

The needle moves when we act in obedience to his ways.

Psalm 119 one O 5 says your word is a lamp to my feet and a light

to my path when we come to him. Yeah, change.

I mean, I'm just telling you from experience.

It ain't going to happen immediately around us, but but

there will be something that begins to happen within us where

we get the peace to move forward when everything is chaos, where

we get the the grit and the resilience to get back up when

the world is trying to kick us back down.

We, we, we discover who who God is and how he works.

I love the story of Corey 10 Boom, long past Dutch Christian

who who helped hide Jews during World War 2.

She she later found herself in prison in Nazi concentration

camp and she lost everything. She lost her freedom, lost her

family, her comfort, her security.

But in that place of utter desperation in the concentration

camps, she discovered the sufficiency of Christ like she

never had before. And she famously coined the

phrase, you will never know that Jesus is all you need until

Jesus is all you have. You will never know that Jesus

is all you need until Jesus is all you have.

Man, that quote, it's taken on a whole new meaning in my life.

I mean, it really has. The last 10 years, there's been

separation, there's been heartbreak, There's been

starting over. I mean, I got back and it's

like, Lord, it's, it's so hard. You know, you see people on the

stage, the worship leaders or Tuck or, or myself, and you

think that, man, they must have it all together.

They must have it figured out if they've reached that status.

No, the only thing we've figured out is that we don't have it

figured out. That's it, guys.

The only thing we have figured out is that we don't have it

figured out and we're just one beggar trying to show other

peggars a place where we can all go get some bread.

That's all. That's how it works.

I'm just one beggar trying to show other beggars a place where

we can all go get some bread. Where's that job?

Where's that food? Where's, where's that strength?

So, so there's been heartbreak and starting over and, and just

like Lord, is this how it works? Like when you, when you try to

follow you, it's like everything I try, I try to do, it just dies

or, or breaks or, or leads to heartbreak.

Was this how it works when we try to follow you?

Because we think when we come to Christ, like it's going to get

better. I don't know if my journey has

gotten more hard, especially I try as I try to do ministry.

It's gotten more hard. And so, so each time, though, as

I have felt at times where I've licked at the floor of hell with

my tongue, God has picked me back up and says, let's, let's

keep going. Pablo, we, we got this, We got

this. And, and one thing I have

learned as I, as I've repeatedly come to Christ is, is he, he

can, he can make good from the bad.

He can make straight what's been crooked and, and what's taking

place in my journey, especially the last two years has been,

it's been really awesome to be to be honest.

I mean, it's been painful, but there's been some good.

So, so the door has opened up for me to become the full time

chaplain for the Idaho Air Guard.

And it's not normal, the National Guard to.

Is it normal to be a chaplain? Right.

But to be hired as a full time, it's just funding, resources,

all that kind of stuff. It's not normal.

But the point is to have a full time person.

And technically, I'm not even the full time.

I'm not even a technical chaplain.

They said in the military you have to have a master of

divinity, you see, to become an official.

It's not like Calvary Chapel. Can you teach the Bible?

You love Jesus. Get up there, brother.

You know, we need a children's ministry direct there.

OK, OK, that's not how the military, they have a little bit

more restrictions. And so they said probably we

want you to be our Chapel, but you have to get your Mdiv at

that time. I don't even have my bachelor's

yet. I go, OK, oh, global, let's do

this. So I got my bachelor's from

Boise State in a year. And the master's program usually

takes about at least four years, you know, and I started it in

January of 23. And, and the Lord put on my

heart, it's time to grind. It's grind time Pablo, you got

to get this done. And so for some reason I had on

my heart and my mind October of 2024, so 20 months later to get

my master divinity. So I need 75 masters credits in

20 months. So I began the clock and I got

after it and and I I did it. And every time I would check in

with one of my Co workers, he'd be like, Pablo, how's school

going? It's going great.

You know, I'm moving forward. He goes, what do you think

you're going to graduate? Oh, I'm looking for October 24.

He goes, what? That's twenty months.

Dude, you're crazy. You can't do that.

Go. And when someone tells me I

can't, God can't, right? I'm not going to say I can't.

And I'm like, and he kept saying that.

He kept saying that and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

I'm like, hey, because he was like, it took me 6 years to get

my MD. Like you can't do it in 20

months. I go.

And so he kept saying it, you know, so, so how do you think?

So, OK, so, so the next time he said that I go, bro, out of all

sincerity and respect, I'm going to ask that you tell me I can't

do that anymore and, and just let me do it, OK?

Don't, don't put your negativity on me.

I, I said it very kindly, but I'm going to say, I'm going to

say, don't tell me I can't anymore.

And, and do you know what happened October of 2024?

Boom, baby, graduated, graduated from Liberty University with a

3.9 GPA. In the midst of, of my life

imploding, God gave me the grace to keep, to move forward.

He's where God guides, he provides.

I mean, this is not cheesy Christianity, it's real

spirituality where he guide and he doesn't just show up, he

shows off. How do you get a 3.9 in 20

months, you know, 75? How does that work?

And, and then what also happened is so my technical title is I'm

a religious affairs airman. It's kind of like a chaplain

assistant, right? The military.

And so in function, I serve as a chaplain, but that's my

technical title. And, and then that's, that's

what I do. And then I was notified last

week that for the year of 2024, I was awarded the Religious

Affairs Airman of the Year for the whole Air National Guard for

the whole country. They give me a call.

I'm like, what? Like, are you?

Are you kidding me? And then and then, like, it's

like where it rains, it pours, man.

And then. And then usually when you come

in as an officer in the military, you start as a second

Lieutenant, right. And then second Lieutenant,

first captain major and so on. OK.

But if you have some experience, they let you kind of expedite

the process. So I get told Marino, because of

your experience and what you got going on, we're not going to let

you come into the second Lieutenant.

You're going to come in, You're going to come in as a captain.

And so come October, I'm going to come in as a captain chaplain

in the, in the Air Force. Man, God is awesome.

God, God's awesome. And, and I'm only telling you

this because I'm, I'm a broken man who's trying to figure out

life. I wasn't trying to be the best.

I was just trying to give God my best.

Honestly, guys, and all these things, I wasn't trying to be

the best. I've just been trying to give

God my best in the midst of brokenness, in the midst of a

shattered life, in the midst of starting over every day.

So the Lord, I don't have much to give, but I got a heartbeat

that beats for you. I'm going to show up.

I'm going to show up. A question I have for us guys is

when's the last time we said yes to God's prompting for our

lives? And it genuinely required us to

say, God, if you don't show up, it's not going to work out.

When's the last time we opened our hearts to God and said,

Lord, can, can you take this? Can you deal with this?

Can you work this out? The last point I want to share

and we'll close it out is this, Let God know and let it go.

Let God know and let it go. Pretty basic, you know where,

where are we at today guys? We're have unexpected

circumstances. God's Providence or maybe even

poor choices brought us. How do we move forward?

Let God know and let it go. Lord, this is what's going on in

my life. This is what I feel called to.

This is the people even trusted to my care.

Can you give me the grace to to do it as you want me to do?

Lord, I need you. Lord, show up.

Lord, show off. Lord, please work on my behalf.

It's just, it's just praying that guys or, or we can bury our

head and act like we don't need God's help and keep trying to do

things on our own. Keep trying to put things

together back on our own, like with super glue and and put our

head in the sand and pretend everything is OK and not

acknowledge what maybe everyone else sees.

Something's not right. You need help when Jesus says

blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.

He's talking about awareness, the willingness to admit our

spiritual poverty. Blessed are you who are poor.

No, you are poor. Can you just admit to it?

Like no, you need me. Can you just acknowledge it?

And it's saying God, I have nothing and I need you.

When when we refuse to admit that we risk becoming like the

emperor's in the story of the Emperor's New clothes.

Remember the story, There's two swindlers that convince a a vain

emperor that they made him a magical outfit that's invisible

to anyone who's dumb or unworthy and, and not want to be seen as

foolish. The emperor pretends to see it

and so do all his officials. And he walks through the city

and what he thinks is royal attire, but in reality he's

naked, you know, and, and, and no one says a word until a child

says that dude is naked. Like what?

What is going on? And here's the connection.

Pride blinds us to our condition.

Poverty of spirit reveals it. The emperor thought he had

something or was something and he wasn't, and he didn't.

And that's what happens when we refuse to acknowledge our

spiritual poverty. We dress ourselves in pride and

performance and false security. We convince ourselves we're

doing fine when in truth we're just walking around spiritually

exposed. Jesus says you are blast when

you don't fake it. You're blessed when you admit

your need. You're blessed when you don't

walk through life pretending you're clothed in righteousness

because you've come to me to be clothed.

Revelation 317 says you say I'm rich.

You say I've acquired wealth and don't need a thing, but you

don't realize that you're wretched, poor, pitiful, blind

and naked. And that's the warning and the

invitation. We can either pretend we're

strong and be like the emperor, deluded and exposed, or we can

admit we're poor and be clothed in the riches of Jesus.

Jesus is saying don't be afraid to see your emptiness because

I'm ready to clothe you and fill you with my Kingdom.

You know, in my journey I've seen many people and the longer

you walk with the Christ, it's like you see more, less, less.

You see less people who are once running with you.

It's like, where'd they go? Well, they started to try to

fill themselves with the things of this world and and then just

like we were running together, like, where'd you go?

How does that happen? It's happened subtly.

And you replace something with Christ, with something of the

world. And once you open that crack in

the door, game over, man, that the flood waters and the dam

will break. I've seen it where those I've

been running with, they ain't here anymore.

It's it's having the courage to live out this beatitude.

It, it enables us to stay in the race.

How do you stay in the race? You don't have to be afraid of

like, am I going to end up like them?

No, you can stay in the race. And the Bible says in Hebrews,

we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus.

He transforms us and he transforms the world through us.

How awesome would it be if every day we woke up as a mom, as a

dad, as a grandpa, as a boss, as a Co worker and says Lord, we're

in the parking lot or we just got home from work.

We say, Lord, I don't know what I'm doing.

You said we don't need to come to God.

We're going on these mission trips or doing these extravagant

things for the Lord. No, it's every day in the

everything things of life when you're just trying to do your

best. And Lord, help me to be the mom

that you've called me to beef with this kid.

I do not want to mess them up. Help me to be the dad you want

me to be for this son. I don't want, I don't want to

make it worse. I don't want to be like Edward

Scissorhands making things worse.

You know? Jonah 28 says those who cling to

worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

As we close out today on my question, I want to ask is, are

we clinging on to something from the past that's preventing us

from taking hold of the future? We can't give what we don't

have, and the only way to live a life that is constantly pouring

out God's love and grace is to come to him, to let go of these

worthless idols and come to him with empty hands and an empty

heart. Says, Lord, would you fill me so

that I can be the the person you want me to be for the people

that you've put into my life? That's my heart for us this

morning is that we would all be beggars trying to lead other

beggars to the place where we can all go get some bread.

Blessed are the poor, blessed are you who are poor, for yours

is the Kingdom of God. Let's let's be people, guys who

acknowledge and are aware of our need for Christ, of our poverty

without him and let him do his thing to transform us and

transform the world around us. I think that's how revival

happens. Revival doesn't happen with the

masses. It begins with the individual.

And when one person begins to live this out, it spreads.

It's it just, it just spreads 1 by 1, person by person, family

by family. Thanks for joining us today.

If you would like to watch the full service, check out the link

in the description. For next steps and to learn

more, visit calvaryboise.com.