Blessed to be a Blessing - Pastor Naeem Fazal

[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast if you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward. [00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you and enjoy. [00:01:01] Oh, thank you. Thank you, Lucia. By the way, if you're listening, stop lying. I know Kristen's your favorite. [00:01:07] You don't lie in church. [00:01:09] But, hey, so, so glad you guys are here. Welcome, welcome. Glad you guys are really here. We're kicking off a brand new series called Bless you. God bless you. Yes. And here, let me just ask you, first of all, in that whole roll, in the whole video, how many of you are wanting to hear the person sneeze? [00:01:24] Anybody? Any? Please, please. Anybody else besides Ben? [00:01:27] One, Two? Can I get a three? Can I get a four? [00:01:30] No, not her. [00:01:32] If we should remake it, we should remake it. I know we should, because I was like, you only say God bless you unless if the sneeze comes out. There are some evil people. I don't know if you guys know this. They're not in this church. They're evil people. I know some of them that if you're going to sneeze, they tried to. [00:01:49] What kind of. What kind of. What kind of demonic thing is that, guys? Like, what? Why would you do that? Sneeze is the best thing. Do you know why people say God bless you? Because literally, you stopped breathing for half a second. And so when people say God bless you, they go, oh, you came back to alive again. So that's why they were like, there's a sense of like, oh, God bless you. Oh, my gosh, you almost died. I was like, why? Because I didn't realize this. I didn't know this whole phrase till I got here. And especially in the south, and, man, they think they're God bless yous. Very seriously. [00:02:18] I remember, like, first couple of years. I mean, the first time Someone sneezed, and they're like, are you not gonna say God bless you? I'm like, God bless yourself. I mean, bless yourself. Like, what's the deal? What's the situation? And the deal is that you're praying that over people. And I kind of get that, but, I mean, there's some people who are really judgy when it comes to, like, not saying it. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been in a place where someone sneezes or someone doesn't say it? And you're like, am I not gonna hear this? [00:02:51] You know what happens? It happens all the time. So my wife is amazing and also very unique in certain things. Okay. When it comes to sneezing. So I've seen this. It happens all the time. She'll sneeze. [00:03:03] I won't say anything. People around me will look at me with judgy eyes, and I go, wait for it. [00:03:11] Wait for it. And she sneezes a second time. Because she does it in twos. I don't know what it is. She does it in twos. Every time, she does it in twos. So what is our fascination as humans with this idea of saying God bless you or this idea of being blessed? You see, if you look at cultures and you look at different religions of the world, this idea of being blessed or having a blessing is a big deal in every culture, seems like. And everybody's trying to either figure out are they worthy of a blessing, are they blessed, or how to get blessed. And so what's interesting about that is when you think of. And you figure out what Jesus talks to us about, this idea of being blessed, he begins to unpack it. And in one particular place he unpacks it is in the longest sermon that he gave, which is the Sermon on the Mount. If you know anything, if you've read the Scriptures, you know that Matthew 5, he starts off the sermon, and he doesn't end the sermon till two chapters later. Okay. [00:04:10] All the things of Jesus. But he starts off and he talks about the idea of being blessed. [00:04:15] And people call it particular kind of. That part of it. They call it something. Anybody know, for extra credit, they call it the Beatitudes. Be attitudes. Right, The Beatitudes. Okay. Why? Because it's a Latin term that means blessed, this idea of blessing. So when we thought about this, I thought, you know, what we should do is we should have a conversation about this idea of being blessed. And so God bless you is not a statement. This series is not a statement. In fact, it's a Question. The question is, are you being the blessing that you were born to be? [00:04:47] Are you being the blessing that you were born to be? I mean, we say it all the time, but are you and I being the blessing we were born to be? Because I want to convince you you were born to be a blessing. But the choice is yours. If you're going to be a blessing or if you're going to be a burden to people's lives, it's really up to you. And so if we jump into this, it's gonna be nine weeks of this, okay? And so we're going through. Go through every phrase. And the first one, it starts off, and it's Matthew, chapter five. And it says this. Okay, let's see. It says, blessed are the helping out. Blessed are the what? [00:05:17] Poor in spirit for what? [00:05:21] Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, if you've never read this before, you'll notice that there's theirs there. He says, blessed are these kind of people. And then there's a result of that, or there's an after effect, or there's something connected to it. For theirs is something. [00:05:36] Now, here it says, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Like, the kingdom of heaven actually belongs to people who are poor in spirit. And as I was thinking about this verse, I actually got reminded, I don't know why, about this incident that took place. I was having dinner with some friends, and this has never happened. This has never happened. Okay, I'm having dinner with some friends. Now, some of them were friends, some of them were other people. But it was a big dinner. It was a fancy dinner. It was a nice, super nice restaurant, you know, and the waitstaff was amazing. I mean, this was expensive. Have you. You know what I'm saying? When you sit there and you go, wow, the food. The food doesn't just look expensive, it smells expensive. See what I'm saying? You know, I'm like, whoo, this is expensive. But I also knew that I was not gonna be paying. Hallelujah. You know why? Because I am blessed and highly favored, if you guys know what that means. Bj, you in the house? Okay. Anyways. Yep. There you are. There you are. If you tell him how. If you ask him how he's doing, he'll always say it. I'm blessed and highly favored. So anyways, I was feeling very blessed and highly favored because I was not paying the bill, okay? And so we got done. All good. We leave, we're waiting for our car because our bougie friends had the car, you know, valet service and all that. I'm waiting and all of a sudden this wait. [00:06:45] Our waiter comes, I see him coming, and he's distraught. He's distraught. Like, I'm like, what? What just happened? Like, he, like, it seemed like. I kid you not, I'm not exaggerating. It felt like he was kind of almost going to cry. So anyways, he comes up to us and the person who was handing the bill, they have a conversation. And I hear it and I'm. Because now I'm curious. I'm like, what just happened? And he goes, did I do something wrong? [00:07:09] Well, what happened is she did not tip him at all. [00:07:13] At all. And she was mortified by it because this was a pretty penny. Do you know what I'm saying? He was expecting a good tip. And what I realized there is right here is that nothing. You can't really do stuff in spirit because it doesn't count. Does that make sense? Like, you can't tip in spirit. [00:07:33] Have you ever used that phrase, I'll be there in spirit. I'll tip you in spirit? No, in spirit doesn't count. [00:07:41] It does not count. [00:07:43] And it was. I mean, she fixed that. It was awesome. I'm like, oh, my gosh. You know what's interesting about passages of scripture? There are some things that we read in scripture and we just go, oh, this is nice. That's nice. And I'll do this at some point. I'll consider it. And what we don't realize is that the scriptures transform our lives. Not when we say them. [00:08:04] It's not like Harry Potter. Does that make sense? Like Harry Potter spells. You know, you say it and it happens. [00:08:10] So sometimes what we think as Christians is if we just say God's word, if we just say the scriptures, things happen. [00:08:16] Not true. You have to live out scripture to make it happen. [00:08:21] Truth doesn't transform you until you live it out. [00:08:25] And so when it talks about, like, this idea of being you're blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom. Go back to that. Blessed are the poor in spirit. [00:08:35] You have to actually do that. [00:08:38] That we can't do it in spirit. We have to, like, what do you mean poor? Because I don't wanna be poor in anything. Finances. I don't wanna be poor in anything. But what does that mean? And what you'll find here is that it's extremely challenging. Like, I was like, oh, this is going to be a fun little series. And we're like, oh, this is going to. And I thought wow, this is not going to be fun at all. This is not going to be fun at all because this is very challenging. [00:09:03] What does it mean to be poor in spirit? What does it mean? [00:09:09] It means that we. The opposite is that we are not rich in spirit, but we're prideful in spirit. The poor in spirit is an attitude, it's a trait, it's a calling to actually be. [00:09:20] Be people that act like Jesus. That's going to be the tough part. Like Jesus is saying, I want you to act like me. That's going to be the big thing. What it also realizes, what I also realize is that so many other translations, like kind of help us out a little bit. Like for example, this one right here, it's the same verse in a different translation. And notice the reference of the translation. Okay, we'll put it on the screen for you. [00:09:43] You read it. What does it say? Easy. Not easy. Not easy. Okay, it's not easy though. Easy. But it says here, happy are the people who know that they need God very much. They're happy. [00:09:56] The kingdom of heaven belongs to people like what? Like that. Happy. As I thought about this, it is so true that happiness and being blessed are connected to one another. And especially in scripture they're used. The words sometimes switch out here and there. And so as I thought about this, I thought Jesus is inviting us to, to live a certain kind of life which he's calling us to be poor in spirit because he believes that our happiness is tied to it. Like if I were to ask you, are you happy right now? Are you happy where you are right now? [00:10:27] You're like, ah, it depends, it depends relationally I'm okay. [00:10:35] Or you're like, oh, you know what? Financially I'm good, I'm good. Career wise, I don't know if I'm happy. I'm not quite sure if I'm happy. Ah, what about, do you like your church? I don't know if I like it. [00:10:49] That was a joke. That was a joke. You're like, hahaha, maybe not. [00:10:55] Happiness is so interesting, isn't it? It changes all the time. Changes all the time, all the time. But here the scriptures invite us into a conversation that basically tells us that, hey, we want. The scriptures want you to be content. God wants you to be content. He wants you to have a state of mind that you're happy, that God wants you to be happy, but it's inviting us to be a certain kind of people. Here's another translation. It's not an easy one by any means. It's called the Amplified. If you ever read that. It's called the Amplified. Why? Because they just amplify everything. Okay, I'm going to attempt to read this thing. Okay. It says, blessed spiritually. What? [00:11:33] Prosperous, happy to be admired are the poor in spirit. Those void of spiritual. What arrogance. Those who regard themselves as insignificant, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, both now and forever. By the way, don't read this translation. You'll never get through the Bible. It's the longest translation. [00:11:58] But what it does is it tells us exactly what this. Where we need to go with the Scripture. [00:12:05] Basically, it tells us that as we read this, what Jesus is telling us, the first thing that we need to know is that blessed people, people. Blessed people are people who have responsibilities. [00:12:20] They have privileges and they have rights. [00:12:25] They have responsibilities, they have privileges and they have rights. That we have a responsibility. [00:12:32] We have a responsibility to act like Jesus. [00:12:36] Blessed people are people who choose to. When it comes. When they show up in the world, they are poor in spirit. See, it's hard. I don't know about you, but it's hard as followers of Jesus even now, to look around our social media and there's a sense of, like, I will just say this, that. That Western Christianity has this infatuation with power. We just love to be strong. [00:13:04] We love to be in control. We love to tell people what to do. And you know what it is? It's not just the Christianity thing. It's a people thing. We all love it. We love this idea of being in control. And what we don't like is not being in control. What we don't like is not being weak. So we celebrate. We celebrate this idea of like courageous and bold and loud and just up out there. [00:13:27] We don't celebrate the weak. We don't celebrate the meek. We don't celebrate the humble. We don't. We talk about. It's a good thing. You should try it. I'm not gonna do it. You do it. [00:13:36] Why? Because we're like, I don't want to be who. Who. Who wants to be poor in spirit. No, I want to be brave in spirit. I want to be loud in spirit. I want to be courageous in spirit. But here Jesus says, no, I want you to act like me. [00:13:50] And what I do is, I am poor in spirit. Why does he say that? Well, Paul actually addresses it and he explains it. Here's what he challenges his people and he's challenging us to do as well. Philippians 2. 5. He says, Listen, here's the deal. Here's the deal. If you're gonna be a person who's blessed, you have a responsibility to act like Jesus. And here's what you have to know. You must have the same what Attitude that of Christ Jesus that he had, though he was God. Though he was God, he did not think equality with God as something to what cling to. Which means. Which means, like, he was God. He was the guy. Like, I know there's this idea of, like, well, no, no, no. [00:14:35] If we're associated with good, if we're associated with fame, if we're associated with a person, like, how does not. [00:14:45] Who does not brag about knowing famous people? Right? Who does not. If we knew famous people, we'd be like, ah, just hanging out with my bro, you know? Oh, my gosh. Beyonce and I are friends. [00:14:57] Anybody famous? We're like, oh, yeah, you see someone famous, what are you gonna do? You're gonna have the courage to go, maybe I can take a picture. Maybe I can take a picture. Guess what you're gonna do with that picture? [00:15:07] Post it. Exactly. That's the whole point. The point is not to, like, put it in your wallet if you don't even have a wallet these days. What is that? No, you don't do that. You post it because you want to tell everybody about it. You want to tell everybody. And here there is. [00:15:21] Jesus was God, but he made a big deal that he was God and he didn't cling to it. Instead, what did he do? Instead? It says, instead, he what? Gave it up for his divine. His divine privileges. He took the what? [00:15:36] See, again, this is not cool stuff to do. Again. [00:15:40] What Humbles position of a what slave and was born as a. [00:15:46] Yeah, he downgraded himself and became a human. All right, thanks. No shade on us, but okay, okay. But he downgraded. [00:15:55] He says when he appeared in human form, Jesus was like, I'm gonna step down. I'm gonna level down. Not up, I'm gonna level down because I'm not gonna make this a big deal. [00:16:08] It says when he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and then died a what? [00:16:15] A criminal's death on a cross. To the point where Jesus was like, he lived a life that he was not worried about being associated with fame and power. [00:16:25] I mean, think about it. [00:16:28] Not clinging to fame and power and then also not clinging to an image, a certain kind of image where he died and everybody thought he was a criminal, that he deserved it. [00:16:39] I wonder. This bothers me, because if that means I've got To. If that means, like, I've got to act like him. I'm not quite sure if I want to do that. I would rather just say I'm a follower of Jesus, but not act like him. [00:16:53] And that's the problem. [00:16:55] The problem is there's a big difference about the Christian. [00:17:01] The Christ, Jesus, the Christ and Jesus of Christianity. [00:17:09] There's a big difference because Jesus of Christianity that we see here can be manipulated in whatever ways and for whatever agenda because the, the, the. The Jesus of Christianity is a pawn. [00:17:22] But, but the Jesus of the Christ is a person and he will not change. And he calls us to be certain kinds of people, and he calls us to be poor in spirit, to act like him. So are we willing to do that? And I believe the reason why he does that is not because he's asking us for a huge standard. He's telling us this because he's saying, I know you wanna be happy. I know you wanna be a blessing. I know what gives you more satisfaction in life when you're actually not getting things, but you're actually giving things. I want you to be a certain kind of person. And here's what I'm telling you. You. You have to act like me. You have to do this. You have to be poor in spirit, because if you don't, the people around you are going to suffer. You would think, oh, what are you talking about? No, no. He says, you don't understand. If I didn't do this, if I would have come down, okay, from my throne as whoever and not as a human, and put all this. If I come down with all power almighty and all that, and I start preaching or I start telling humanity, they're going to. [00:18:23] They're gonna crumble on the weight of expectations that I have for them because I am perfect. [00:18:29] But yet he came down in a human form again, friends, I don't know if you see the depth of that. He came because he wanted to relate to us, that we were like, we're not perfect. See, he comes in poor in spirit. Why? Because when you and I know this, when you're in the company of talent or your company of what? Just bigness of all around, what do you feel? [00:18:50] Small. [00:18:51] Small. If you have a person who's like, oh, my gosh, if you feel like they're like the sinless person, or that you feel like they've got. They're so smart, or you feel like they're so. [00:19:03] So much, you feel so little. [00:19:06] And here's the problem Jesus is saying is if you and I act proud in spirit. We're gonna act around our families, around our co workers, around the world we live in. We're going to be the biggest business, baddest thing. And we will not. People will not have enough room to breathe around us. [00:19:23] And so you and I have to choose to be poor in spirit. We have to choose regardless of who we are and how much talent we have, we have to choose to be people like that. In fact, the religious people, Jesus criticized them the most. Why? Because they had the most privilege. Back in that day, they had the more privilege. Why? Because they were under Roman Empire. But they, the religious leaders had a lot. They were the most successful people. They had the most resources. They were the wealthiest people there. It was. Everybody else who was not the rich were actually religious people. And these people lived a certain kind of way and were telling people what to do. And so Jesus comes back and here in Matthew 23, he says this. He says the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat. He says they do this. So do, do and observe whatever they tell you. So these people that you know, they sit on Moses seat, which means they sit in power, in a place of power, okay? And they're responsible. But here's what they do, you know, whatever they tell you to do, you should do. But I'll tell you what, but don't observe the works they do. [00:20:28] Don't do that. For they preach, but do not. What, they don't practice it. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with a single finger. [00:20:46] He said, here's the, here's the thing with, with, with, with talent, smarts, whatever. See, you and I have, have expertise in certain things. If we don't, if we don't govern ourselves, if we don't allow ourselves to be pure in spirit, we're going to just bulldozer over other people. Because poor in spirit means what? It means that you're teachable. [00:21:10] Teachable. It means that you're self. Aware. [00:21:14] We're self. Aware. It means that you're open and honest about your limitations. It's not like you don't have any. [00:21:20] It's also that you're open about being dependent on God. [00:21:24] That means you're poor in spirit. Not that you're weak. No, no. But you're choosing to, to be in a place where you're allowing God in. Because spiritual, like, spiritual humility, like unlocks supernatural power. It unlocks it because he says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom, he says. [00:21:44] But the opposite is true, too. Spiritual arrogance blocks supernatural power. It blocks supernatural favor. It just does that, and it affects the people around us. And here he's saying, man, these religious people, they have all these burdens that they're putting on people. Have you ever felt, like, so burdened by someone else's bigness? [00:22:08] It's just. I can't care. I can't. They're just. They're just too much. I can't be around them. They're just all. They got it all together. [00:22:16] Why they're coming across like that. [00:22:19] Coming across like that. And then Jesus, the Matthew 11, it's. It's really great because Matthew 11 shows a picture of what Jesus is inviting us to. To do as well. So this is what he says, hey, I'm going to do. But then he's also inviting us to do this. Okay, here's what he says in Matthew 11. It says this. He says, come to me. [00:22:37] Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry what heavy burdens he could you look at. Look at the stop and consider the attitude, the thought, hey, come to me. [00:22:54] Imagine Jesus saying, hey, are you. Are you carrying some heavy stuff in your life? [00:22:59] Are you just so tired of trying and trying and trying and it doesn't work? Are you. Are you that. [00:23:05] Come here, come here. Have you ever had someone, like, invite you into a space and you're like, I just want to. Ah, come on. Yes, talk to me. What's going on? [00:23:16] What is that person doing when they invite you in? [00:23:19] They're being poor in spirit. [00:23:22] They're choosing to create space for you. And so he says, come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you what. [00:23:32] I'll give you rest. [00:23:34] Take my yoke. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you. Because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find what rest for your souls for my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light. [00:23:55] Jesus is asking us to create and be people that people can come to. [00:24:04] Big question here. [00:24:06] Challenging question. [00:24:08] Are you someone that people can come to? [00:24:14] Or people are like, yeah, they come to me all the time at work. [00:24:18] They're pain. [00:24:20] Okay. They come to you because they're supposed. They report to you. Okay. That's what it is. Okay. No, this is a different thing. This is like an attitude of like, hey, are you. Do you create a space? [00:24:33] Do you have a presence about you that says, I lighten People's lives. As I was thinking about this, I thought about this analogy and I was like, you know what? I need some help with this. Kenny's gonna help me with this. He's gonna bring me two things right now. Kenny, would you come on up? [00:24:48] Kenny, are you here? [00:24:51] Come on, you can do this. All right, don't be shy. Give him a hand, Kenny. [00:24:57] All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Awesome. So as I thought about this, I thought, you know what? What the scriptures are retelling this is that basically you can either be a brick to someone or you can be a balloon. [00:25:12] You can either be a brick to someone or be a balloon. [00:25:16] I wonder. Oh, this is cute. People will remember this, but I'm like, what's the spiritual significance of this? I feel like there's so many interesting things. First of all, just the visual of this. Like, I know a lot of babies. Not because I hang out with babies, but I do know this. [00:25:35] They prefer a balloon over a brick. [00:25:38] You give them a balloon, they're happy. Okay, Any moms in the house? You know what I'm talking about? Any people who babysit? Yeah. You know, you give them a brick, they're not happy. They're not happy. I just wonder how many of us, how many of us not even knowing because we are challenged by. And we don't know, we're not self aware enough that we are carrying around a presence, that every time we engage with people, we give them a brick. [00:26:03] You know, there are people in your life that when you get a text message from them, it is a brick. [00:26:08] It is a brick. Oh, my gosh. And you know, there are people in your life that, man, if you go down, if you engage with them, they'll. [00:26:18] They'll put their stuff on you. [00:26:21] But then there are people who make everything just light and fun. And you go, those are not realistic people. [00:26:31] Yeah, but they're lighter. [00:26:33] There's more fun. [00:26:35] I wonder if God is saying, hey, I'm going to give you. [00:26:40] I'm going to give you a burden. Okay. I'm going to give you something. [00:26:44] I'm going to. I want you to come to me and I want you to give me the brick of your disappointment, your bitterness, your confusion. I want you to give me the brick of what's holding you down, what's weighing your soul. I want you to give me that. And what I want to do is I want to give you a burden. But my burden is a balloon. [00:27:03] I'm going to give you a burden that's a balloon. I'm going to give you a burden, and that burden is for you, a revelation of knowing who you are, of how much I'm working in your life. [00:27:16] I want you to. To exchange the presence you have right now with my presence. I want you to give. I want you to take this. I want you to know that besides this idea of responsibility that people who are poor in spirit have, they also have certain privileges and rights. You see, that's why he says. He says, I want you to do this. Poor in spirit. But here's what you get. You get the kingdom of heaven. You get the kingdom of heaven. This is where the load gets light. [00:27:50] This is how I'm empowered to go. You know what? I don't always want to come across strong. I don't want to come across right and in control and all that. I can take the back seat. I can do this. Why? Because the light load that God's given me is the kingdom of heaven. He says, yours is the kingdom of heaven. See, blessed people have the privilege. Did you know that? The privilege that Jesus. [00:28:12] That Jesus had. What did he have? The blessed people had the privilege that Jesus had in which. That Jesus had the spirit of God in him. And he gave that spirit of God to us. [00:28:24] To us. When he says, hey, hey, hey, listen, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom. He's saying, hey, I mean, I'm telling you that you are part of a kingdom. You're citizens of a world that have given you certain privileges and certain rights. You know this because you have human countries and lands. I'm telling you, I have a kingdom. And you get. You get a privilege. A privilege. And that privilege is that God's very own spirit, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the grave, lives inside of you. And you didn't have to earn it. [00:29:02] You just have to invite it and accept it. And you get that. [00:29:06] If that doesn't lighten your load, if that doesn't make you go up higher, I don't know what will, because we don't realize that he says here, Jesus said, he said to his disciples, he said, listen, before I leave, I'll go. I'm going to do this. He says, John 14. He says, and I. I will do this. I will ask what? I'll ask who the Father. And he will give you another advocate who will what? [00:29:29] Never leave you. [00:29:32] That means not like, okay, until you sin or until you do this. No, we'll never leave you. He'll never leave you. [00:29:40] He is the what? He's the what? [00:29:42] He's the Holy Spirit of God, the true finger of God, he says, who leads into all truth and the world. The world cannot receive him. This is not for everybody. [00:29:52] It's not for everybody. It's for you, though. It's for you because the world's not looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you and now will later be what in you. [00:30:07] See, I don't know about you, but if I don't have to keep proving, if I already know that I'm powerful, I don't have to prove and overcompensate. [00:30:17] But I feel like I live my life sometimes just overcompensating. [00:30:22] I need to be brave, I need to be loud, I need to be dullest. Because deep down I'm weak. [00:30:28] Deep down I'm a little empty. Deep down I'm not quite sure. [00:30:33] And here he's saying, you can be sure. [00:30:35] Yours is the kingdom. You have the privilege of having the Holy Spirit inside of you. That same spirit that raised Jesus from the grave, the spirit of power, of love and sound mind, so deep. So stop second guessing. If you need to be humble, stop guessing and just choose to be humble. Choose to be teachable, choose to be self aware, choose to be yielding to others, choose to have grace for others. Because you have so much power inside of you. And if you don't harness that power, you'll bulldozer over everybody. [00:31:14] You'll bulldozer her. So the last thing is what? Well, we also have rights. We have a right. [00:31:21] We have a right. Blessed people, blessed people have the same right that Jesus had. [00:31:29] What's the right that Jesus had? [00:31:31] To be called the Son of God, who you and I have the right to be called children of God. [00:31:40] See what's interesting about humanity and the search for or the struggle to be blessed, that there's always one question that trips everybody out, and that is, am I worthy? [00:31:55] Am I worthy of being blessed? Because for some of us, we just go, I know so and so, but I don't. I know me and I know what I do and I know what I struggle with. I don't know if I am blessed because you look at other people and it seems like things are really working out for them. You know what I'm saying? I mean, you look at your own industry, you're like, oh my gosh. Or a person in your own field and like they're killing it. She is absolutely killing it. How about this? How about this? God, why are you doing this? I mean, they Pray. And these things happen. I pray and it just bounces off. I feel like. You know what I'm saying? Like, what's going on? [00:32:31] And there, there, you need to know this is that we should never confuse prosperity with blessing. [00:32:43] Never. [00:32:45] We do this. [00:32:46] The prosperous are always blessed. [00:32:51] No, the blessed are always prosperous. We gotta switch the order. We don't pursue prosperity. We. We pursue being a blessing because we were born to be a blessing. Why? Because we have now also the right to it. Why do we have a right to be? Why? Because we are now his kids. That means this. It is not up to you to be eligible, worthy, to be blessed, because you already are. [00:33:24] He's made you right before him. [00:33:29] Here's what John 1 says. But to all who believed and accepted him, he gave the what. He gave the what, the what? [00:33:40] The right to become. Who? [00:33:43] Children of God. [00:33:46] They are what? Reborn. [00:33:48] Not with a physical birth resulting in human passion or anything else. No, it comes from God. [00:33:56] It comes from God. What is he saying here? He's saying God has given you the right to never have to prove that you're worthy of his blessing. [00:34:05] Let me say it again. God has given you the right to never have to prove. It's like this. It's like you trying to prove to your parents, I am your kid. [00:34:16] No, we all know. We all know you're a kid. No, no, no. But I don't feel like I'm your kid. I gotta prove that I'm your kid. And God's saying, stop. [00:34:27] Stop trying to prove that you're my kid. [00:34:31] You're my kid. Why? Because blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom. It's theirs. So here's the challenge. The challenge is for us is that are we gonna take the teachings of Jesus? [00:34:45] Are we going to push back everything that tells us, don't be. Don't be poor in spirit. Don't. No, no, no, no. Come across like you know it all. Be it all. No. Come across all. All high and mighty. That's it. You need to be. You need to come across strong and sure of yourself and all those things. Because that's what people do. No, that is what the world does. And he says, you belong to a different kingdom. [00:35:11] In my kingdom, the people are so happy because they are convinced that they are most satisfied when they're more like the one that created them. [00:35:22] They're blessed because of that. [00:35:24] And so my challenge for us is, what do we need to change? What do we need to change to step into a right response, like our responsibility to act like Jesus or the privilege of understanding and knowing that God's spirit lives inside of us or the right or. You've been struggling with one of those, I think. And for some of you, if you've been ever, if you've been struggling with the right to be loved or the right to be blessed or the right to have God moving for you and in you, I think it's easy, honestly. It's you just believing, stepping across the line of faith and saying, I'm going to. I'm going to believe what Jesus said about me. I'm going to believe him. I'm going to invite him in my life. I'm going to invite him to lead my life. I'm going to. I'm going to let him lead all the decisions. I'm going to do that. And friends, that is the first step for you. [00:36:18] For some of you, the first step. [00:36:21] And for the rest of you, I don't know what God is challenging you to do, but I know that it's going to take so much courage to choose to be pure, to be poor in spirit, but it will open up the kingdom of heaven to us. [00:36:39] So can I pray for you? Let's pray together. [00:36:42] Lord God, thank you. [00:36:45] Thank you for our lives. Thank you for speaking to us. Jesus, God, I pray that as we move towards this idea of what does it mean to be people who are born to be a blessing, what does that look like? [00:36:59] I know you. You'll open up all kinds of satisfaction and contentment in our lives. All a sense of seeing you in a way, God, that we've never seen you before. It'll open up heaven to us. [00:37:13] Because that's what blessed people see. They experience something. [00:37:17] They experience something. [00:37:19] So, God, I pray for us. God, will we have the courage to do that? [00:37:24] And God, for the one person here that's thinking, I don't know if I've ever crossed the line of faith. I don't know if I've ever done this before. [00:37:34] God, would today be the day they would say, you know what? I feel like I've been poor in spirit for all the wrong reasons, but I'm going to be poor in spirit for the right reasons. I'm going to choose to humble myself. I'm going to choose to surrender my life. I'm going to stop trying to pretend or trying to force or trying to gain your worthiness. I'm just going to surrender myself. So, God, I just pray that today would be the day that they would surrender themselves to the God who loves them who has loved them before they were born. [00:38:15] God, I pray that today some of us would just say, jesus, I give you my life. [00:38:22] I give you my life. [00:38:24] In fact, can we just do that together under your breath, if you're cool with that? All of us. Jesus, I give you my life. [00:38:33] Let's say it together. [00:38:35] Jesus, I give you my life. [00:38:40] Would you fill me? [00:38:42] Would you forgive me, God? Would you help me respond? [00:38:47] As we go light a candle or go to the cross, how would you continue to do a work that you're doing in US today? [00:38:59] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina. [00:39:05] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.