Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of 'poverty of spirit' as the foundational beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount, illustrating how recognizing our spiritual need leads to a deeper relationship with God. He shares stories of evangelism successes, highlighting the urgency to seek God and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Bickle stresses that true ministry is not about external success but about cultivating a vibrant heart that seeks to embody the eight beatitudes. He warns against spiritual complacency, urging believers to continually pursue a deeper experience of God's grace and presence. Ultimately, he calls for a collective awakening to the reality of our spiritual poverty and the need for divine intervention.

51 year old Raymond gave his life to the Lord now my point. My point is God's doing this He's just waiting for us to talk about his son Jesus went to the mall in independence with about 35 black folk from four different churches in Kansas City We had evangelism seminar. So rather than just do classroom. We did classroom plus So you gave the seminar and said let's go do it. Yeah, we always do that They don't know we're going to do that, but we always do that at our seminars And got seven people came to Christ at the Independence Mall one of which was this guy He's about a 22 year old guy had his shirt half open had a big red tattoo across his chest Well, that's that's like a bullseye to an evangelist. So I walked up and said hey man, what is that on your chest? I said, what's that say it was scrolling. He says says Israel. I said, oh Israel man, are you a believer in Jesus? No, I Said what's your name Jacob? So, you know Connect the dots so we had a good conversation and his four friends standing beside him as soon as we started talking about God It was like you flipped on the lights and all the roaches left He said they don't like God much. I said I can tell I can tell and so but he did I said you do Don't you see I'm kind of interested in God and so we talked for about 20 30 minutes He gave his life to Christ. My point is they're out there. They're out there everywhere I could tell you four more stories, but my time is up. No, mr. Bickle has a sermon to preach Tell another one or two these are great wait and it's tell one or two more but also give us the Last year or two because you lead the evangelism department last year to some crazy numbers of how many people have been witnessed to and how many have come to the Lord do the evangelism teams like because I can't Pull them up. All I have is round numbers. Yeah round numbers are good. That's an inside joke Then no one got I'm the one in every meeting that wants round numbers because when someone says 318 and 46 I go just give me a round number like 300 and just so we have about 10,000 one-to-one personal Conversations about Jesus with people here in Kansas City and the last year in the last year Yeah we witnessed by some of our larger crowd events to much more than that close to a hundred thousand and Then we have about three or four thousand people that actually pray with us and are introduced to Jesus And have an encounter where they meet the Lord their creator and then the big job the hard job is following up on them quite honestly One more story is yesterday. We had a water back. I got interrupted get three or four thousand people said yes to Jesus Through the evangelism team. Yeah, it's you it's not just us Go ahead. It's it's y'all and it's your intercession and it's the interns and the I hop you and the evangelism Department and the strike team three or four going out was talking about Jesus freely and people respond I mean, it's good news who in their right mind wouldn't respond to good news So if we tell it right, they actually have a big percentage of them to say, you know Will you flip that light on those roaches go they say yes. Yeah, they come back later Okay And we you know You can chase them down a little bit sometimes but you kind of wait for the right ones to fall into your hands yesterday at The water baptism service which you do once a month. I encourage everybody be water baptized. Jesus commanded it There was some people there and so Midstream in the conversation in the teachings. I said who here wants to tell their story of how they got saved I just kind of pointed out one guy said tell me how you got saved. He kind of perplexed said well Actually, I've never been saved. So they'll make a long story short. He got saved He got baptized and the Holy Spirit started speaking in tongues and he got water baptized. Give us one more one more Sneak one word. I don't know the story last week This doesn't count as your one more this is one more plus one But I got the email from four or five people of somebody an unbeliever walked into the prayer room last week Do you know the story? Okay, I Didn't I can't remember all the details walked in off the street just like you know What is this place three or four people answered him an hour later? He was led to the Lord and how to get things up Yeah, there's a lot of salvation taking place in a lot of right in the way. Yeah. Yeah, they come to us on occasion Bless the Lord, but there's more waiting outside the walls that are unsafe So if we go to them, we have the same kind of encounter There's a real active jail ministry here in IHOP that goes down to Jackson County Jail We leave five six ten people to the Lord every week I let a Latino guy to the Lord who had never ever submitted to Christ He's like 26 years old and then as I walked downstairs to leave go back to my car There in the lobby was a previous inmate who'd gotten out that very day I didn't recognize it wasn't dressed in orange overalls. He was dressed in his street clothes He came up to me because he recognized me and one thing led to another I said, hey you want to go to this cool AAFA Divine drama about the heart of a king. He said yeah, so he came to the AAFF with me I didn't say that right a a F a drama and was blessed the point of it is they're there everywhere quickly two points I'm speaking really fast and I told myself I wouldn't do this good talk slow. This is great. Yeah This is awesome coming up March 17th is st. Patrick's Day and everyone is Irish in Kansas City on st. Patrick's Day Typically, we leave 50 to a hundred people to Christ and we confront a whole lot of backslidden Christians also On st. Patrick's Day. So the plan has changed a little bit this year. We're going to only witness prior to the parade So if you want to come with us, we'll hook you up with someone that's more confident perhaps in you But I guarantee you God has divine appointments awaiting anyone who will go into the harvest field And so we're going to meet here seven o'clock March 17th more Information to follow and then also coming up in Kansas City is Cinco de Mayo those who don't speak Spanish. That's May the 5th It's a big celebration for all the Latino community here There is three or four hundred thousand Latinos and they have celebrations all over the city So we go to their party with appropriate materials and God has divine appointments awaiting there also But we're gonna have all that in the bulletin Okay, good. Bless you Mike. Thank you. How then heart what a blessing this man is Several ushers come forward to receive our Sunday morning offering if you would father we just come before you Even now we offer our ties and our offerings to you. There's a statement of our confidence in your leadership It's a statement of our declaration of love For the fame of your name to go forth. We so our finance the name of Jesus would be proclaimed Broad and wide and we thank you in the name of Jesus Lord Even as we sow this money father You would multiply it back to us that we could even invest it again into your kingdom in the name of Jesus. Amen Oh That you are with me I'll fear no evil for your In town close to You You love me Trust you Oh Jesus come Jesus you Oh Jesus No, you've always Faithful to me And I will say The promises are Jesus That's a great song did did you write that song sir Justin yes, I'll take that as yes no, he's got his Things in that case I wrote the song it's turned up Matthew chapter 5 Father we ask you for your blessing on the speaking and the hearing of your word We ask you for the spirit of wisdom and revelation Lord, I ask you for strength in our spirit That the very light of your countenance would shine on our minds and our hearts right now the name of Jesus Amen I'm going to continue in a series that we're going to stay on for several months on the Sermon on the Mount and this Session here. We're going to look at poverty of spirit, which is the first beatitude. There's eight beatitudes We're not going to spend an entire session on all eight of them But we're going to cluster them together two or three each time, but this first one is so foundational to the other seven this first one would be Could be compared to the foundation and the others are the building these stories on a building that come after the foundation Paragraph a just a quick review For those that are joining us for the first time The Sermon on the Mount is a Compre is Jesus's most comprehensive statement on a believer's role in cooperating with the grace of God it's Excellent teaching on the grace of God Now the reason I I emphasize this is that some people conclude that the Sermon on the Mount is somehow different than the grace of God teaching and Because there's such an emphasis in the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus of the believers responsibility to press into God talks about prayer and fasting and giving and serving and seeking God and thirsting and hungering after righteousness and because of Jesus's emphasis on our Responsibility to exert ourself in the process of the grace of God People wrongly conclude it's it's not grace teaching because they have an a wrong idea a very popular idea But a wrong idea that the grace of God is so free which it is free that it has no That there's no responsiveness that believers are Required to participate in in order in order to receive the grace of God. Yes, it is free, but Jesus Calls his people to respond in an aggressive way to receive the grace of God The point being is that in its freeness That the Lord offers it to us. We want it to touch our emotions in our mind. We want it to touch us We want our mind and emotions Impacted by the power of the grace of God and so I make the statement here. It's his most comprehensive statement On the believers role in cooperating with the grace of God It's the litmus test to define and measure what spiritual development really is it's also the Biblical standard to define what ministry impact is when you read the scriptures Ministry impact is mostly described in terms of how it moves the human heart towards God It's not just the the the the size the number of people responding though that that is in the Bible But when I think of my ministry impact, I'm not thinking of thousands gathering I'm thinking of the quality of the response the believer has to obey the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle That's that's Jesus's standard of ministry impact Verse 48 just to remind again. This is a review That the high point of the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5 verse 48 Where Jesus calls us to live perfect now, this is a relative Concept that we are to live in all of the light that we have Now a new believer can do this Again, it's a call to live perfect the Lord saying and all the light I give you obey it in that season of your life So a new believer can do it we can walk in this perfect obedience in that relative sense in every season of our life paragraph B the eight beatitudes now, this is Describes what a vibrant heart is I talk often about the Holy Spirit wants to give us a vibrant heart a heart in which we experience the activity of the Holy Spirit and One facet of having a vibrant heart is that we are pursuing and we have grace It's progressive grace to walk in these eight beatitudes that we find a commitment and a grace to walk in these eight different virtues a vibrant hearts more than that a vibrant heart would be the Holy Spirit speaking to us it would be Enjoying the Word of God feeling his love feeling his presence Those are other facets of a vibrant heart But this is our inheritance. It's not just these eight beatitudes are not just what we're supposed to do It's not just the standard of maturity It's actually our inheritance to walk in this kind of Liberty this kind of freedom described by these eight different beatitudes being poor in spirit Spiritual mourning it takes the power of God to be poor in spirit It takes the power of God to have spiritual mourning to walk in meekness to hunger and thirst for righteousness To show mercy now, that's to show mercy to people that have Mistreated you it's more than that, but it involves that's where mercy really becomes an issue When you're showing it to somebody who hasn't treated you, right? It's embracing purity It's being a peacemaker and enduring persecution with a spirit of rejoicing Now these are these are Expressions of the Holy Spirit's activity in our life. It takes the supernatural power of God to do any of these eight And so Jesus is describing the level of Liberty and this vibrant heart that's alive as well as a heart that feels the presence of God in and hears from God and moves in the prophetic and other things as well Let's look at Roman numeral two here to be poor in spirit Let's read it Matthew 5 verse 3 and verse 4 Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted Now when he says blessed that is talking about a vibrant heart your heart will be alive in God Your heart will experience the power of the Holy Spirit as you commit to these eight different beatitudes He will help you. He will escort you into walking them out progressively Now to be poor in spirit in one sentence means that we are aware of our great need We're aware of our poverty stricken condition That we see that we lack so much Spiritually, that's the idea now the context of Spirit is this the context is that Jesus has provided us spiritual wealth He has provided us this Exceeding wealth in the grace of God. It's freely and fully provided to us It's because of his work on the cross. And so the day we're born again He says to us this wealth of grace the riches of grace is yours Now I want you to seek me. I want you to respond to me so that you Experience the wealth of the grace of God in your emotions. You'd experience it in your thinking You'd experience it on your heart. You'd experience it in your ministry to others This wealth of grace is yours, but you've got to press into God and I'll help you do it It's an and I will release an anointing on you that's beyond your personal abilities and I will do this for you So now a person that's poor in spirit says we see how great the wealth is that you've offered But we see how little we're actually experiencing in our emotions and in our thinking and in our life We're poverty stricken in our experience Compare the measure that you've provided Lord, you've given so much but we want to experience it more and Jesus said it's that awareness of the deficiency It's that awareness of how little you're experiencing that creates an urgency That whatever the price is you will pay whatever way you need to rearrange your life You're gonna seek the Lord and posture yourself in order for him to release more of this in your own own understanding Now sometimes the people describe this these two technical terms our legal position and our living condition our Legal position we have the grace of God fully available to us and it's been paid for The work of the cross is ours. That's our legal position. It's all there But that's not the whole story in the grace of God what about how much we experience what about our living condition and The goal is for our living condition to reach more or to be more in line with our legal position That we would experience the grace in our mind and emotions that more equal to the grace that's provided to us So someone might come up to me and say how are you doing and I could say well my legal position I'm awesome My living condition. Well, I'm not doing that. Great. You might be able to answer and So Jesus talks about being poor in spirit It means do you see the spiritual lack? Compared to that which is made available and if you see it Does it concern you enough to take action and being poor in spirit implies That we take action when we see how the our poverty stricken state Comparative to what's been made available to us. So there's two aspects of being poor in spirit Number one we see how little we are experiencing Our heart isn't godly like it could be godly Our Natural abilities can't make our heart godly. We can use all of our brain power We can use all of our will but we can't make our hearts have godly emotions We need help that's bigger than us. We need help. That's outside of us. We need to look to another source Because we want a godly heart. We want godly emotions. We've exercised our will we've focused our mind We've done everything we can but we can't produce godliness we've come up short in our emotions and So the Lord says, okay, there's help outside of you It's me But you have to recognize you need me for your heart to be godly for me to touch you for me to intervene in a gracious way in your life So seek me The only way you'll solve the problem is if you seek me and if you seek me seek me with confidence That I will graciously intervene even more than your seeking of me deserves Some people misunderstand and they say well if we seek the Lord and then we get a breakthrough Isn't that kind of like earning the breakthrough? I go. No, it's not at all seeking the Lord is Posturing ourself to receive that which is freely available He gives us so much more than our seeking deserves I mean our prayer our fasting our giving our serving our blessing those five kingdom activities Described in Matthew 6 that's the spiritual disciplines in the way that we seek him in those five ways Our fasting and prayer is so weak. It's fragile. It's broken It's not it's not so great, but he graciously gives us far above what our seeking deserves So the the person that's poor in spirit they go, okay, I lack I can't make my heart godly Through my personality. I can't inspire somebody else to be godly through my personality. I'm not witty enough I'm not smart enough to move their spirit I don't have the ability to reach in and move them spiritually So I see my lack and I my experience of what's provided is so low I want more so I'm going to look to a source outside of myself you Jesus That you would move my heart and you would anoint me so I can move the hearts of others So I'm going to seek you with the confidence that you will graciously Answer me far beyond what my seeking seeking could ever deserve That's what poverty of spirit is just in a nutshell We say to the Lord I want more Lord and he says good then he answers back I want more We say I want more of your manifest presence on my emotions. He goes good. I want more of you seeking me and Again, our seeking is so weak and fragile. It's hardly could it be considered worth Earning the presence of God touching us Lord my human abilities can't move my own heart. My human abilities can't move somebody else when I minister to them I need an anointing that's bigger than me. That's poverty of spirit now if we see how poverty strict I mean how low and Superficial our spiritual experience is if we see it and it doesn't move us to action That's called spiritual passivity when we see the lack How much is available and how much we actually experience, but it doesn't move us to action. That's called passivity If we don't see the lack, but we think we're doing great. That's called pride We all were completely missing what reality is If we see the lack and we respond even in our weak and broken way But we put ourself in the position Lord. We want more and we're trusting for a very gracious I mean a hundredfold return for what we invest in the relationship. We want a great return because you're so gracious That's called poverty of spirit If when we see the lack in our life, it doesn't move us to action. It's not poverty of spirit It's feeling bad, but it's still spiritual passivity So we actually have to respond for it to be the biblical definition of poverty of having a poor spirit Now this is one of the most I think it is the most difficult of the eight beatitudes to sustain to cultivate a sense of the magnitude of our poverty stricken situation to cultivate that regularly through the years I Believe is the most challenging of all of the eight beatitudes I believe it's more challenging than giving mercy to people that mistreat us more challenging than seeking purity More challenging than walking in meekness This idea of keeping cultivated in our understanding this idea There's this massive supply that's freely available But we are experiencing so little so therefore the sense of poverty creates Urgency where we keep reaching we keep reaching for more If we do this first beatitude the other seven will fall Will develop far more effectively in our life now when I have a Leader that I'm in a person they say, you know, I'm going out for my hop from the Bible school or from the staff Or whatever and they're saying I'm gonna start a house of prayer or I'm gonna plant a church or I'm gonna start a ministry somewhere The first thing I think of is not do they have a real, you know Attractive engaging personality that people will like them and they have leadership gifts Those are nice things and having leadership gifts are important but the first thing I Think about when a person says I want to go out and do something. I think of do you have the grace? To cultivate poverty of spirit in your own life, and then can you impart it to the people you're going to gather? Because yes, I believe you have the ministry skills. I believe you're a good communicator. I believe you could organize the ministry I believe the money will come in. I believe the people will gather But once they gather Will you cultivate this poverty of spirit in your own life because it has to be cultivated in your own life Regularly not once every year or two and can you impart it to other people because if you can't You can gather people and have a house of prayer or plan a church or have some kind of ministry But the people won't have passion They will I'm they can have passion for a season, but that passion has to be it Reignited over and over and over again, and I've seen many people They start off with poverty of spirit. I mean they have this reaching heart They're pressing into God and they gather some people and they're all have that attitude the month goes by a year goes by and all of a sudden they've lost that that sense of the Magnitude of how little they're experiencing compared to how much he's made available So they lose the urgency and they lose the pressing and now they're just doing ministry skills And those are good and they're still doing the work of the ministry, but without that intensity in their spirit without that fire Now when I speak of the fire of the Holy Spirit in somebody's life a heart or in their ministry I'm not talking about their communication style I'm talking about a vibrant heart And what I mean is somebody will get up and maybe preach or or or they'll do something on a microphone They'll sing or preach and somehow somebody will say boy that guy was so fiery And what they mean is he has a real aggressive personality and I go well, that's not what I call fiery That's just a good. I mean, that's just a real bold big personality and that's cool big personalities are cool I like them, but that's not the same thing as the fire of the Holy Spirit I mean a motivational salesman can do that without the Holy Spirit Or a worship team will get up and and lead and the whole room will be jumping and screaming which is fun But so it says that was so fiery. I go not necessarily every rock concert in America. That's they do that I mean the opening song the guy gets up. They're total unbelievers They're worshiping the devil and they sing their song everybody screams and that's exactly like our conferences. They all look the same. I Mean it looks the same everywhere. I go that's human dynamics that it isn't bad but my point is that's not what I mean by fire fire isn't how enthusiastic the room is and how Aggressive the people on the microphone are that that's just done human dynamics. That's that's not bad. That's not good That's just human fire means the heart is moving is Connecting with the Holy Spirit. There's a prophetic flow even a slight one where God's speaking to them They're speaking to God even a little bit and there's this zeal and this moving forward in growth of these eight beatitudes That's the fire of the Holy Spirit. That's what I call the power of God moving on somebody. And so that's how I Evaluate my ministry and that's when I'm wanting to encourage somebody in ministry. I think of can you see? Sustain a fiery ministry environment. And again, I don't mean loud I don't mean everybody doing something together and with enthusiasm and unity, that's good. But that's not what I mean by fire. Can you? cultivate this urgency in your own life to keep pressing because the press people wear out in it and can you Motivate others to do it if you can your teaching ministry your house of prayer ministry your outreach ministry Your worship ministry will have a whole different kind of a dimension to it if you can keep Poverty of spirit at the very center of your ministry. Well, it's the hardest one by far Now we're here still in in a paragraph a it's Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted now interesting that in the eight beatitudes Six of them have the promise has the word they shall they shall be comforted. They shall receive mercy They shall see God there so Those are future oriented But the first one and the last one of the eight beatitudes the first and the eighth It's not the word the kingdom shall be yours, but it's in the present tense. It is yours It's the word is it's a strategic word meaning Jesus saying if you are if you cultivate This attitude this disposition of poverty of spirit You constantly stir up the awareness of the magnitude That you have how little you are experiencing and how you need help that's outside of yourself It's bigger than you It's the Holy Spirit and you've got to seek him on his terms and he will graciously give you that help if you seek him If you Jesus said if you live that way the kingdom is yours right now. Yes, there is a future dimension of this promise because the kingdom Unfolds throughout the ages to us in a more progressive way, but I like this word. He says you will experience a Vitality and a vibrancy in your heart even now not waiting till the age to come Now the other beatitudes that put the focus of the promises you shall be comforted You shall see God you shall receive mercy. You shall inherit the earth. They do have a present tense Experience as well, but the focus is mostly on the future But this first one the focus is on the present tense now notice in verse 4 though I'm not going to develop it right now. We'll wait until the next session and I'll put several to be attitudes together Blessed are those who mourn They'll be covered it when we see differently in verse 3 poverty of spirit. Then we feel differently When we see our poverty stricken state We mourn meaning it's not a casual observation When we really see with revelation, we can't just say well You know, I'm a mess and I don't have much power in my heart and I feel real bad about myself but That that is seeing in one sense But Jesus is making another point when you see it a level to where it creates a pain in your heart Where it's no longer acceptable where you're actually going to change the way you live you're gonna throw yourself into a seeking of God and Positioning yourself to have your emotion and minds impacted Jesus is saying you are blessed So poverty of spirit we see differently our life then we see our poverty stricken state Mourning again. It's a weightiness. It's it's not casual there We feel differently and the combination of those two together equips us to progressively experience the rest of the Sermon on the Mount Now in this morning, we don't only mourn It's our whole spiritual life. Is it only spiritual morning? The morning is because we have a desperate feeling that we can't stay in this poverty stricken state We have to make progress by seeking God on his terms and trusting him to graciously answer us far beyond what our seeking deserves This morning is only part of the emotional response We still have assurance that God loves us We still have confidence that what we do in smallness he enjoys and values our small contributions because most of our works are small and most of our efforts are small and he Honors them and he enjoys us and we have the assurance of his loving-kindness over us So our life is it only morning, but it has the element of morning in it Now these two issues of poverty of spirit and mourning they really bother people Meaning as I've shared these over the years in my in my 20s I was really invested in those two beatitudes and thought they were very normal Then I got you know, you know about age 30 I begin to travel some with John Wimber and some other places around the world and I begin to talk about these openly and freely and I begin to talk to a lot of National and international ministries and I was surprised how many they thought bah humbug. We don't do that We're not poverty stricken And we're not sad about our ministry. We don't have any sadness or grief about how weak it is I I heard, you know two guys I've told the story before two separate guys a couple years apart You know big conferences that got up and and their statement was this is as good as it gets And I was horrified, you know, I said, oh lord, you've got to be kidding You know, one of the guys I talked to I goes this is as good as it gets because yes, I said well, what about poor in spirit and and I've had many discussions since then with many people and found out that it is not a value in the kingdom of God in many places to have poor in spirit and to feel this weight of Desperation that business as usual is not okay. We have to get a breakthrough We have to seek a breakthrough and we can't measure fully what the breakthrough will look like But we're never going to stop seeking for it And when we get a breakthrough at some level in our heart and even our ministry We're gonna seek for a greater breakthrough and when we get a greater breakthrough, we're gonna seek for a greater breakthrough We are ever going to be Seeing the gap between what the Lord has made available and what we're experiencing. I'm talking about in this age We will our entire lives be blessed if we stay in this place of seeing the truth About how much more God has to give us if we will stay reaching Towards him and the way he describes in the Sermon on the Mount Paragraph II the way we become a poor in spirit is we but as we we become poor in spirit by understanding how much God wants to do in us and So when we when we remind ourselves to the word or through biographies or other means What God does through his people? Then it stirs us up and we say wait if you'll do that through those guys, why won't you do it through me? And so when I read the word Well, I read biographies over the years. I would read how far God was willing to go in moving a man or a woman's heart by the spirit and Then releasing the spirit to move other people's hearts and to release the power of God to impact others So I would read these biographies and I would say Lord this is I want this and This is for me and then that creates this sense of poverty like I get a little bit of that I want a lot more My experience is way too low I want my experience in my heart and in my ministry to others to be far richer than this because your grace is so rich and so That's how poverty of spirit that's how it will grow in us by by Putting ourself in a place where we're constantly Interacting with the information of how much God wants to give the human heart Now all of us all of us have a ministry every single believer has a ministry It's you don't just as we don't well know your ministry just isn't on a stage in a pulpit on a worship team Every person in the marketplace has a ministry Every mom and dad brother or sister in a home has a ministry not just the mom The dad is well, not just the dad the children have a ministry in their home We want to teach young people to see their parents as part of their ministry not to disciple their parents But to serve their parents and release the spirit to their parents and then to their brothers and sisters Our ministry isn't something we do outside the home it begins in the home The people in prison we talked about the prison ministry eight or ten people every week are getting saved or whatever The the number is in the prison outreach. They have a ministry in that prison They don't get out and then their ministry starts it starts the day. They're born again You may be in a hospital bed You have a ministry in that hospital bed to reach out to the people that are caring for you and the others that are around You that are sick and the guy cleaning the floor that comes in your ministry is to touch them So in our ministry most of ministry I would guess 99% of ministry in the body of Christ and all of history is in twos and threes Meaning it's we're impacting two and three people or tens and twenties very few people impact a thousand I Would say less than 1% of the body of Christ impacts a thousand so don't think of ministry just according to 1% how many people that's a wrong concept think the 99% of all ministry throughout history is impacting ones and twos and twos and threes tens and twenties That's what ministry is the reason I say that Some people say I want to get into the real ministry and what they mean is I'm gonna touch a thousand people I don't know. You're in the real ministry if you're if you are Inspiring people and instructing them to live a sermon on the Mount lifestyle if you are Convincing them and encouraging them to walk in those eight beatitudes Beloved it doesn't become more real than that. That is real ministry whether in your home in the marketplace whether in the Prison cell in a hospital bed a student at the University. It doesn't matter what your station in life is Everyone has a ministry and the Holy Spirit Wants your own heart to be more vibrant and he wants more activity of the Spirit in you but he also wants more activity the Spirit through you and The activity of the Spirit through you. Yes, it does involve healing the sick and leading people to the Lord Those kind of kind of traditional ministries that we all understand but his ministry in you is to Inspire and instruct and encourage people to walk in the eight beatitudes and you have people all around you and you can tell your story You can tell your challenges you can tell your insights You can tell who's encouraged you in your journey as you're trying to walk those out And when you share them with other people Beloved you are discipling people and you are doing the work of the kingdom But you want to do it with power and power doesn't mean that when you talk they all fall over That's all and that's not what I mean by power I'm talking about when you talk it makes sense to them and they leave with a Motivation and an inner resolve to actually obey the things you've said about the sermon on the mount. That's the power of God I mean think about it When a person in a fallen world a fallen person in a fallen world is Motivated to obey the eight beatitudes below and those eight beatitudes that obedience will be rewarded forever Because it moves Jesus that well that much beloved if you're moving people in that kind of direction That is real. I mean fallen people in a fallen world. You're speaking to them They are resolved and committed to walk in the eight beatitudes and Jesus is going to reward them forever for it and reward you Forever for teaching on these he says in verse 19 Beloved that's is that is the power of God operating in your ministry. We don't want to think of the power of God is just external Demonstrations of you know where people have an external manifestation and that's the power of God And because that's not the measure of the power of God The measure of the power of God is the internal resolve to obey when no one's looking and to sustain that obey Obedience and if there's outward things, that's cool, too, but that's not the main grit It's like the one guy says, you know I don't care how high they jump when they dance as long as when they land they walk straight with God That's the real point. It's not how high they go. It's how they walk when they land That's what really matters at the end of the day. And so in a Culture I'm talking about in the in America the charismatic culture that puts so much emphasis on visible obvious Demonstrations of power some of them are real lots of them are fake A lot of them are exaggerated but a lot of them are real too, but we can get distracted as to what the power of God Really is Beloved I want to say this the power of God. I want to move in healing. I want to move in prophecy I want to move in all those outward things But I want to be able to move people to be convinced to obey the eight beatitudes and that takes the power of God Whether they flinch when you're talking to them or not if they walk away resolved the power of God was being what was being manifest through you Now one thing I want to talk about go ahead and turn to page two. Is that moms? I believe one of the I Believe the greatest assignment in the kingdom of God in history is moms in their home with their children That's not an important assignment. Only it is the most significant assignment in terms of reaching out and touching people is Touching children in the homes and the reason I say that is that moms must cultivate poverty of spirit Just like the preacher just like the worship leader Because I'm not talking about a mom feeling overwhelmed and exasperated by the workload. I get that I mean that that makes sense. That's not poverty of spirit. That's just human dynamics of all my it's tough and it is But I'm talking about a mom saying to their children I want to be available to you, but you need more than just me I don't want to just bring me to you over the years. I want to bring the ministry of the Holy Spirit I want to speak to your little heart and the spirit move you on the inside and So moms because that's available to moms. It's not just our Natural affections which are critical not just natural instruction critical to very important But it's the ability to release the spirits activity that touches their mind in their heart That takes seeking the Lord for a breakthrough in your own ministry to your children And the reason I say that I've met moms over the years. They said well, you know, I'm not doing the fasting and prayer thing I'm doing the mom thing. I go. There's no ministry that needs fasting and prayer more than the mom thing. I Intensity in terms of time, but that is the number one Battlefield and place of strength and the whole kingdom of God is moms moving in the power of God And again, I'm talking about when they say simple little things that whisper them in their ears It moves their children's heart that takes the power of God. That's bigger than mom's personality. That's bigger than her Love and devotion it takes the anointing and no mom has that without seeking it Just like a preacher doesn't have it just like a person in the marketplace doesn't have it And I talked to guys in the marketplace men or women and they said well We're trying to get divine ideas see the money work get right systems You know have all those things in place and we need the power of God okay, I agree with that, but you have a you have a calling beyond just Offering a service and seeing the finances and the systems work and your service be right You need to release the presence of God in what you're doing too. And again when I mean the presence of God I don't mean you go to your staff meetings and you say come Holy Spirit and hope two people fall down That's not what that's cool if that happens, but that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about that you speak words because you've got an anointing on your life and it might be one-on-one It may be to your competitor. It may be to a customer It may be to a fellow staff member that you're working with It may be to somebody that you're driving in the car with but your words move them to obey the Sermon on the Mount Beloved it takes an anointing to do that. So the business guy the businesswoman. I've heard it said well, I'm just in business I don't do that fasting a prayer part I go is your thing only to build the externals of your business or do you want to impart the presence of God to your? Customers your competitors your staff members your employers your employees you want to do it to everybody don't you that's what you're called to do beloved Matthew 5 3 we have to hunger and thirst for it We see how much God wants to give us and how little we're experiencing it and we're responding in a way. That is That we're giving ourself to God because we want that anointing in our life Let's turn to the middle page to paragraph K Now Jesus addresses being poor in spirit here in a in a very Direct way now each of the eight beatitudes, by the way Jesus gives them one two, three, four, five six seven eight in Matthew 5 He lays them out one sentence But each of them he develops later on in his ministry in the Gospels as well as in the book of Revelation where he elaborates on each beatitude himself He says here's what I meant back in Matthew 5 3. Let me break it down for you And he does it here to the Laodiceans to the church at Laodicea Now look at this at verse 16. He says you are lukewarm You're neither cold or hot and I will vomit you out of my mouth Because you say I'm rich and I have become wealthy and I have need of nothing. He says you don't know That in reality You're wretched. You're poor blind You're met your wretched miserable poor blind and naked. He's talking about spiritually speaking spiritually speaking He's saying this but look at verse 19 He says as many as I love I rebuke be zealous and repent Verse 21, but to him who overcomes I will grant him to sit upon my throne so Be clear of this verse 19 that Jesus is saying. I love you He says I'm only going to tell you what I'm telling you because I love you so dearly You're compromising you're in spiritual pride You don't see your poverty stricken state in the spirit You don't see the gap between the wealth I've made available and what you're actually walking in in your heart your emotions your character your behavior He said he's talking about spiritual pride here Because or you could call it passivity. Maybe they did know some of them But he says here in verse 17, you don't even know so if you don't know how weak you are That's pride if you do know how deficient you are, but you do nothing. That's passivity So one guy picks pride the other guy picks passivity. I want nothing to do with either one of them Because if we know it and we respond to it it's called poverty of spirit now look at this verse 16 He goes you're lukewarm He goes here's why you're lukewarm he says because you're not hot or cold He goes this is how I feel about you. I will vomit you out of my mouth Now he's not saying you're repulsive to me. That's not what he's saying He's not saying I don't love you because in verse 9 he makes it clear. I do love you What I believe he's saying just human using the human analogy here. He's saying your lack of dedication Your lack of Responsiveness to me gives me a stomachache. It makes my stomach hurt because I love you so much I've given you so much. I've made so much available But you respond so passively that it actually hurts my stomach and that's why I'm correcting you Because I love you that much He goes let me give you the essence of it Verse 17 and this describes so much of the church in the Western world He said here's your fundamental problem and and using Matthew 5 3. They did not cultivate and sustain in an ongoing way this This attitude this disposition of being poor in spirit. He says you think here's what you say. I am rich I Have become wealthy I have need of nothing now what was happening is that their ministry was growing Laodicea they were rich they were wealthy the money was up The crowds are up their influence in society was up Their popularity was up the enthusiasm of the people was up I mean people were responding the money was coming in the governor was asking for their advice and they said wow Things are happening. I mean it's never been better than this the externals were growing and increasing But he said you've made a wrong assumption By the externals of my blessing you've concluded that you're okay spiritually because you're growing and your money's up in the Enthusiasm and your popularity is higher than ever He goes you've wrongly Concluded that because of my blessing these externals took place Internally you made a wrong conclusion about where you were spiritually You say I have need of nothing. I mean they know they needed Jesus They knew he was God and they needed him in the generic sense that everybody says, you know on the by every believer Yes, we need the Lord But he goes it doesn't touch you enough to where you press into me you don't think you have a big gap Between what I want to give you and what you're walking in you're pretty comfortable to where you what the place you're living He goes what you don't know. You don't know the truth that your external increase is True, but your internal spiritual life is getting worse and worse and worse and you're completely unaware of it He goes you're wretched now. He didn't mean as human beings. You're just wretches get out of my presence That's not what he meant. He meant your experience of what I made available to you is so much lower Than what I want for you that I call it wretched You're miserable He goes you're not at all walking in what I've called you to walk in because you've ceased to Be zealous like he's gonna say in verse 19 He goes be zealous get the zeal back and seek me like you did in the early days Before you were made passive by the blessing in your life Verse 19 because I love you. I love you even while you're compromising when we respond in zeal We're not earning God's love because he loved us when we were compromising. He loved us when we were unbelievers. We're not earning anything But we're positioning ourselves to come into agreement in alignment with the Lord now this isn't just a Dynamic that happens with a church like Laodicea when they had external momentum and popularity and increase this could happen in a business There's a guy or a gal in business. The Lord blessed them gave him the idea Favorous come things have gone in the right way their popularity their influence But they're but the spirit of the man the spiritual. He's not growing He's actually diminished in his walk with God under the blessing of God but not only in his spirit as he diminished his ability to Inspire and bring others into Matthew into the eight beatitudes He doesn't have an anointing on his life to do that but that doesn't bother him because the money's up beyond any time ever in his business history and Jesus would say to that man Repent the guy would say repent. I got more money than ever more honor. I'm on the cover of the magazines I mean, what do you want? The Lord says yeah, but you're not connected to me anymore repent You're not ministering and releasing my life to people like you did in the days of old Now this is a this is a verse that will always be necessary for IHOP in the last number of years we've had a certain amount of of increase and prominence and an increase economically numerically around the nation's all you know, all these things are happening and Most of our our people here. I can interpret it, right? But some of them don't they think isn't this amazing and I have people come from all over the world and say I hop and They have these glowing statements about how I have touched them and I love that. I love it But I want to say this that I love I hop but I'm not so impressed with us spiritually I'm not impressed with myself spiritually. I have so much more I need to enter into and when I look at us I go I love who we are I'd rather be with this spiritual family than any group in the earth. I love this spiritual family, but I don't buy the press I don't buy that. It's amazing Spiritually, I think the dedication is is remarkable. I think the sincerity is really something that I give much thanks to God for but our spiritual breakthrough and the level of our of the activity of the Spirit in our hearts and Ministering through us. I look at it and say Lord. I am grateful for what you've given us, but I am desperate for more I mean, I'm desperate for more I'm desperate for a greater manifestation of power that moves the Individuals into the eight beatitudes when nobody's looking they would have power to walk those things out. And so I'm grateful because in poverty of spirit. We don't despise The growth we have we don't despise the blessing we have even when it's small, but we're grateful for it I thank the Lord for the increase of my own spiritual life over the years. I'm grateful, but I'm not content I look at myself I go I'm further than I used to be but I'm not near content with where I want to be in my heart Experience and in my ministry experience to others. I want a far greater Manifestation of power inside and outside. Thank you. Jesus. I mean it. I'm not writing it off. I'm not saying oh, it's nothing No, I love you for it. Thank you, but I'm not content Well, I look at IHOP as we're approaching our 13th year. I look and say thank you Lord that all these amazing people But I'm not content with where we are spiritually. We have so much more ground to take spiritually and I believe as we constantly cultivate The this this awareness of the magnitude of our spiritual poverty and how much more God has to give us and that our Good thinking our willpower our clever ideas our gifted musicians can't produce the anointing The crowds may come but that's not the same thing as moving people spiritually to the eight beatitudes That's what I want to see us do that more I want to impact people inside and outside of the spiritual family to where when it's all said and done Not that we can measure it very well But they love the Jesus in a way where they say yes to the eight beatitudes and the secret place of their life I'm going to end with two stories two quick stories. I Have this just referenced a little bit here at the end of paragraph J It's a Howard Pittman I've told this story over the years. I just give you the name Howard Pittman and is the date we have his book in the bookstore called placebo where he's he was a Baptist pastor and he was a Baptist pastor on the weekends and he ministered to orphans and did a whole lot of evangelism outreaches very active in ministry and he was a State parole an officer In in in Louisiana for you know on the on the highways what I forgot the name of a buddy when he was that guy and so So he had that job for about 30 for 20 30 years something like that. So one day he has something happens physically to him and he hemorrhages on the inside and he bleeds to death and They race him to the hospital or it's a near-death experience. They put him in the hospital He's in the intensive care ward for two or three days something like that. I mean, he's like out I don't remember exactly how long but in that period for a day or two or so his spirit leaves his body for a period of that time and he stands before the Lord and So here he is. He's his body's in the ICU and he's hooked up to all these machines and they're thinking telling his wife. We don't think he's gonna make it There's not much Hope he's going to survive this he's just a moment from death. His spirits already left his body He is it's the angel took him He stood before the Lord and the Lord had the most shocking statement to him as well as a very encouraging one The angel I mean the Lord spoke to him. We're talking about the father spoke to him and He said to him. He said I'm gonna send you back and I want you to have this message And this is not a quote This is a summary, but in essence the church in the West is in the Laodicean Attitude in the Laodicean spirit the church in America and throughout Europe through the West are like Laodiceans and I'm very grieved by them I love them but my heart is grieved over where the majority of the church is and I want you to go back and tell them that and So that you really understand what I'm saying he looks at Howard Pittman or the Lord speaks to him and says and you are like that too and and Howard Pittman was shocked because he was so active in ministry with orphans and Evangelistic outreaches and the Lord told him he said you do it so you can get recognition from people You do it So that you feel good about your life You do it disconnected from me You do it for yourself You are a Laodicean you are in that description I want you to do it for me not just to feel good about yourself So people will pat you on the back because you're reaching out to orphans and I want you connected to me I called you to be connected to me. You're spiritually weak. You're wretched. You're poor You're miserable in your spiritual condition. The state of your relationship to me is miserable And I want you to repent and I want you to bring the message back to the church all throughout the West But particularly his focus is America Then he said before you go. I want to tell you this It goes that my son is coming soon. And of course what soon means? well, that's a word that Jesus used 2,000 years ago, so Who knows for sure what that means, but he's told him something. I'm preparing for my son to return I don't remember the exact terminology, but he goes tell them this That before my son returns I'm gonna release such power that they will do greater works than even my son did when he was on the earth The greater works than these minutes miracles will take place. They will do miracles even beyond my servant Elijah And Howard Pittman being a Baptist pastor. He said I couldn't help it. The thought came to me instantly He goes because when you're standing before the Lord, it's really the real you he said my thoughts sprung up The miracles are not for today because I tried to grab that thought bad, but it was already there And he said the Lord rebuked me. He goes you're greatly mistaken I will pour out a spirit of power beyond any time in history But go back and tell the church in essence in America But he said more than that They are the Leo to see in church when I look at that from coast to coast there are clearly a number of exceptions But for the most part the church is content spiritually. I mean they want to grow numerically, but they're content spiritually They're not pressing into God with a feeling of the desperation of where they are spiritually that they need help about That's beyond themselves that will only come by seeking God on his terms and him graciously Giving us more than our seeking would ever deserve When I look at the church in America the reason I'm telling you this because this is one of our values that we really want to emphasize Cultivate throughout every season of our life poverty of spirit. We never graduate from this It's our way into the kingdom, but it's the way of the kingdom in every season of our spiritual life But we have to cultivate it. We have to constantly put before our mind The how much God desires to give it makes urgency awaken in our heart We cry out to God we press it harder get a little breakthrough and then we start pressing it harder for the next breakthrough But you're gonna run into all over this nation many people they don't like this they go brother just this there's a a Growing and I say it week after week Distorted grace message. That's only half of the grace message. The half of it is it's freely given That is the grace message But it's only half the other half is you must respond and cooperate in the way Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount and if we teach the first half without the second half its presumption if we teach the second half respond With aggressiveness without the first half then it's legalism We don't want presumption or legalism We want both halves of the message if we take one half without the other half the overall message is not true It's not the truth. It has truth in it, but it's still not the truth and the church in our nation has been lulled to sleep seduced Comforted patted on the back put to bed with this false Distorted message of grace to where everything is so free they do nothing and if God wants my attention He'll just make the power of God just pop out and there you have it And and I'll then start seeking him when he grips me, but until he grips me in a special way I'm gonna do what I do and thank you for his grace Well, that's what the Laodiceans were doing and when there's somebody say yeah, our crowds are big Our buildings are big our money's big our popularity is big The governor the president wants to meet with us all the top business guys want to meet with us and Jesus would say you say verse 17 you're rich You say you're wealthy you say you're influential you say your crowds are big You don't need to press in until I grip you some special way You don't know that the state of your relationship to me is wretched. Yes. I do. Love you. That's why I'm confronting you But I want you to wake up. I want you to do it my way So the Lord told Howard Pittman he says go back and speak this message He goes and many will resist you, but you if you love them, you will speak this message Amen, we're just gonna end with that Let's stand I want to pray for two groups and have you come up if you want to because you can pray in your seat But if you would