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to hear and learn from your wisdom today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Man, this morning I'm preaching on the subject of who is truly blessed. When we look at this list at the beginning of chapter five, commonly known as the Beatitudes, it talks about different people that are blessed. What does that mean? Well, it really means to be happy, to be blessed, means that things are going well for you, you're in a good place, as it were. And in fact, you'll find that the terms blessed and happy are used interchangeably in the Bible to where sometimes it'll say blessed is the man that X, Y, and Z, or it'll say happy is the man that X, Y, and Z. Because this is what people truly want out of life is we all want to be blessed. We all want to be happy. We all want to prosper and have good success. And the world has a very different idea of what that success looks like versus what the Bible says that success looks like. And who is really blessed according to the word of God versus who people out there might look at and say that that person is blessed. Well, the Bible starts out in verse number three and says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Because if we want to be a happy person, if we want to be a blessed person, if we want to have a good life, then we want to be the person described here. And it says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, what does that mean? Well, what it means is the opposite of being prideful and arrogant and haughty, okay. And of course, this is pride month. So we're all getting a bunch of stupid emails in our inbox and seeing a bunch of stupid billboards and advertisements everywhere. Just on the way driving over here, I saw some billboard that said, Anderson Cooper, and it had a big quote that said, you know, I'm gay and I couldn't possibly be any more proud. Okay, well, you're gonna burn in hell Anderson Cooper, you filthy faggot. And let me tell you something, you know, pride is an abomination to the Lord. The Bible says everyone that is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord. And so having a whole month dedicated to pride and sodomy just shows how wicked our country has become that all these corporations participate in that. And they're all bombarding us with all their slogans and rainbows and hey, you wanna donate to this queer over here or that faggot over there. You know, the whole month it's like that. But you know, the Bible does not exalt pride. The Bible doesn't glorify people who are arrogant or full of themselves. The Bible says blessed are the poor in spirit. It's the opposite of being arrogant or prideful and all that popped up is to be poor in spirit. Now stop and think about this. The rich typically have pride because they look at what they've accomplished and they feel good about it and they think they've done it all by themselves and so here they are. And that's why the Bible says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. So it's very difficult for a rich man to be saved because he is usually going to be prideful and look at his accomplishments and feel like well, I'm successful because I was smarter than everyone else or I worked harder than everyone else or I made better decisions than everyone else. And so sometimes being rich could give you that mentality. Okay, whereas a poor person is typically going to be more humble and not feel that way because they typically have to rely on other people a lot. Now when the Bible talks about people that are poor, it's a little different than what we might think of as being poor because we live in the most prosperous country in the world. So to us, a person is poor if they just don't drive a very nice car or they don't eat steak and lobster very often or something and we go sowing in a poor neighborhood and yet the people in that neighborhood are doing a lot better than a lot of people around this world and they still have a lot of amenities that other people in this world would love to have. Okay, but typically when the Bible talks about the poor, it's people that are really struggling, they're really suffering, the kind of person where they have one coat and if you take away their coat from them as surety for a debt, they're gonna be freezing tonight type of thing and there are a lot of people in the Bible that are poor because they're disabled or something and they're asking for alms so they're relying on other people for their very existence and so if you think about it, the poor and the rich have a very different mentality. You know, the Bible says the poor uses entreaties but the rich answer it roughly. So rich people typically don't need anyone for anything and they've got it all covered whereas poor people are typically looking for someone to help them out and so obviously being poor in and of itself is not necessarily a blessing because there are a lot of people who are poor who aren't blessed at all because maybe they're poor by being an idiot or maybe they're poor because they're lazy or maybe they're poor because they're wicked or whatever. Being poor doesn't guarantee that you're blessed although many poor people are blessed if they're godly people. But the bottom line is, it's not about being physically poor, it's about being poor in spirit meaning not having that mentality of the rich man who thinks that he did it all himself and he's so prideful about his achievements. Being poor in spirit is having that humble attitude that is willing to receive help from other people and the Bible says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven because you truly cannot go to heaven without this poor in spirit mentality because if you think about it, salvation's a free gift and it must be received as a free gift. You cannot earn your way to heaven, you can't work your way to heaven. So the rich man who has this philosophy of earning everything and doing everything himself and outperforming others and outworking and outsmarting others to get to the top in his field, that mentality's not gonna work when it comes to salvation, is it? Of hey, I'm gonna outwork the people around me and then I'm gonna get to heaven. I'm gonna be better, I'm gonna sin less or something. That's not gonna work because salvation is by grace through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. There's no boasting in salvation and it's not something that you earn or you get it by being better. Not at all, my friend. You have to humble yourself and admit that you're a sinner and that you don't deserve to go to heaven and then just reach out to the Lord for that free gift, just call upon the name of the Lord for that free gift of salvation. And so that is the poor man's mentality, ready to just reach out and receive that free gift and not to brag or boast or take any credit for it but to realize that Jesus Christ paid for our salvation on the cross and that we just receive it as a free gift. The rich man, remember, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. So that mentality is not gonna get you to heaven. Now, will rich people be in heaven? Yes, because the Bible says that with men it's impossible but with God all things are possible. And there could be a rich man who is still humble, who is not a braggart, who is not a boaster or prideful or arrogant and so that rich man could be saved by fully trusting in what Jesus has done for him on the cross and he could be saved. But that rich man who is saved, he better be poor in spirit. He better spiritually realize that he doesn't measure up and not be prideful and arrogant. And again, I just can't emphasize enough how much God hates pride and arrogancy. And it could be easy for us as Christians to become prideful and arrogant because we're living in such a messed up society, we could start getting to feel like we're better than everybody else when we see the degeneracy of our society and we see that a lot of people today are failing in so many areas because our culture is in decline and we could start getting this puffed up mentality of, oh, well, hey, we're smarter, we're better, we're more righteous, we're more moral. That is a wicked mentality and we need to make sure that we as Christians don't go down that road. We need to stay humble and when we see the derelicts of this world, we need to realize that but for the grace of God, there go I. And it's only through God's word that we have achieved anything that we've achieved as Christians and it's by the grace of God. And even if we have achieved something by the grace of God, we're not supposed to compare ourselves to the people around us, we're supposed to compare ourselves to the word, compare ourselves to Christ and then we'll realize that we all come short of the glory of God and we need to keep that humble, poor in spirit mentality. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Who is the happy man today? Who is blessed today? It's the one who's poor in spirit. If you see some guy who's always bragging and boasting and he's very full of himself, he's not a happy man. It doesn't bring happiness, that doesn't bring a blessed life. He's probably boasting and bragging a lot because he actually feels so empty inside. So he's looking for that affirmation, he's looking for other people to validate him all the time that's why he always has to brag and be prideful. And you know, back to this month that we're in, this this sodomite pride month, you know what, deep down, they know that this is a disgusting lifestyle, that it's an abomination and it's very sinful. So when they put up that billboard, oh, I'm so proud of this, who are they trying to convince? Are they trying to convince me? I think they're trying to convince themselves. They're trying to make themselves feel better. Look at that pronoun, themself. Here we go, perfect, right? You know, because that's what they go by, right? They, because they have so many demons inside of them, their name is Legion, for we are many. But the point is that they have to constantly push this thing, pride, pride, we're proud of this, because in reality, it is such a shameful thing. It's super shameful. It's super embarrassing. It's super despicable. And so they have to push it like, oh, we're proud of this. It's really just overcompensating because they know how bad it really is. And so now let's apply that to actual Christians, okay? When you see Christians going around bragging and boasting a lot, guess what? They're probably also insecure and looking for validation from other people. And we ought not be that way. We ought to just be humble and be content with what we have and with where God has put us in life. And you know what? If God has allowed us to achieve success financially or achieve success in business or success in any area, you know, success athletically or something, you know what? If we've been allowed to achieve any kind of success, then we should just praise the Lord for it and be thankful but we don't have to go around showing everyone, hey, everybody, look at me and let me tell you how great I am and let me just list for you all my achievements. It's embarrassing when people act that way. So blessed are the poor in spirit for there's the kingdom of heaven. I don't care how much money you have, you should be poor in spirit. But number two, he says, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. So again, it's very counterintuitive because the world would look at the guy who brags about how great everything in his life is and say, oh, that guy's really blessed. Look at all his achievements. Bible says the opposite. And then when it says blessed are they that mourn, this will be the opposite of what we would expect because we would think that the guy who's smiling and laughing and jovial is the one who's blessed. But the Bible actually says blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. The one who mourns now will be comforted later. Now if you would, keep your finger in Matthew five, go back to Ecclesiastes chapter seven. This is such a great passage in Ecclesiastes chapter seven and while you're turning there, I'll read for you verse number one. It says a good name is better than precious ointment in the day of death and the day of one's birth. Now look at verse two, this is what I wanna focus on. It's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart. The Bible says it's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. You know, you'd rather go and party and feast and have a good time, but he says, no, if you're smart, you'll actually go to the house of mourning instead because blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. But here's why it's better to go to the house of mourning because it says, for that is the end of all men. Do you see that? It says better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart. Now what does that mean, that is the end of all men? It's saying everybody's gonna end up at that house of mourning anyway. So you might as well go there yourself, okay? Everybody is going to weep in their life. Everybody's gonna suffer. Nobody goes through this life without any crying, without any sadness, without any pain and sorrow and misery. Every single person in this world is going to suffer, period. You can't avoid it, you can't escape it. There's no such thing as just living a life of pure joy, pure happiness and never being depressed or mourning or being sad or suffering. It doesn't exist. The Bible says that is the end of all men. Everybody is going to that house of mourning eventually. So you might as well go there on your own terms. You might as well choose to go there and go and mourn so that you can later be comforted. One of the things that I heard a preacher say many years ago that always stuck with me, I heard this literally like 18 or 19 years ago. His preacher that I really liked, his name was Dr. Don Boyd and he said, schedule your suffering. And that always stuck with me when he said, schedule your suffering. That's kind of a weird statement, right? Why would I schedule my suffering? Because he was basically teaching the same idea that you're going to suffer no matter what. You're going to mourn no matter what. So you might as well just do it yourself. And so he was preaching it in the context of, you know what? Force yourself to read your Bible when you don't want to force yourself to pray when you don't want to. And he talked about fasting and going through these difficult things on your own terms and then you'll live the happy, blessed life. And I've said this a lot lately but it really bears repeating, this idea that what goes up must come down, okay? So today we live in a society where everyone is overindulging in the fun. They just want to go to the house of feasting on Monday. They want to go to the house of feasting on Tuesday. They want to go to the house of feasting on Wednesday and they just want to have fun, fun, fun every single day. They want to watch movies every day and play video games every day and eat junk food every day and just have fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. But the problem with this overindulgence in fun is that what goes up must come down. And so it doesn't make you happy and that's why we have such a depressed society today. Young people today are more depressed than they've ever been when in reality they're having more fun than we ever had when we were growing up. You know, we did certain things as a rare treat that they just continually indulge in. You know, for us, a video game with Pac-Man and Pong and you know, what's that car racing game? The protocol for it. Pole position, you know. So we have these really archaic games and everything and we, asteroids and millipede and stuff like that. You know, it was archaic games and you know, when I was growing up, there weren't even free refills on soda. Like you went to a fast food place, you got one soda. At Taco Bell, you had to pay for the refill and mom and dad weren't paying. They said make it last. You know, going to an all you can eat restaurant was like a super rare event because most meals you didn't eat all you could eat. Most meals you finished your meal and you kind of wanted a little more. Whether you were eating at home or at a restaurant, you ate your meal and you kind of wanted a little more. That was the way I grew up, okay. But then every once in a while you go to an all you can eat restaurant and it was like, wow, I can really get full. But today I believe that probably the average person today is walking away from breakfast totally full, lunch totally full, dinner totally, their life is all you can eat. Because even if they don't go to an all you can eat restaurant, they order food that's all they could eat. And I mean, so it's like, hey, great. You know, all this prosperity and the food and the drinks flow and it's just so many video games and it's like the video game just comes with them everywhere they go. They've got the phone, they've got all the devices and everything like that. The problem is that there's a downside to this is that if we're constantly just indulging in fun, then our body is gonna react to that by doing the opposite by making us sad and depressed. Because I'm telling you what goes up must come down. So if we just flood with dopamine, that high is gonna be matched with a low. It's like people would take drugs. People go out, they take drugs, they get high and then they get super down and super depressed. That's the way our brains work. It's not just drugs that do that. Whereas the opposite is also true, what goes down must come up. If we actually schedule some suffering in our life, if we actually go out and work hard, have you ever noticed that you go out and work a brutal hard day at your job and you put in a brutal eight hours, how good you feel afterward? You feel good, why? Because what goes down must come up. So you're not gonna get through life always above zero, always on the positive side of things, just always on the sunny side, always feeling good, always having fun and you think you can. You think if you just surround yourself with all the foods and the games and the entertainment and the friends and the fun, you think you're just gonna surround yourself and you're just gonna spend all your time above the zero line? Let me tell you something, you are not, both you and I are both gonna spend half our time below the zero and half our time above the zero. Do you understand what I'm saying? We're all gonna go through pain and suffering and hard things and we're all gonna go through joy and happiness and things and you know what, we're all gonna do both. And so here's the thing, I'd rather schedule my suffering, I'd rather decide, well you know what, if it's gonna hurt, if it's gonna be hard, if I'm gonna suffer, if I'm gonna go through pain, if I'm gonna be mourning, if I'm gonna be weeping literal tears, if I'm gonna be crying, if I'm gonna be weeping, hey, I wanna do something worthwhile that matters while I'm down below zero, while I'm down there, you know what, I'm gonna get something out of it. I better be reading my Bible, I better be praying, I better be fasting, I better be doing something for God, I better be working hard at my job, at least I'm making money or something, you know, doing something that matters and so you got to schedule some suffering in your life. And you know what, if you actually decide, you know what, I'm gonna do something hard on Monday, I'm gonna do something hard on Tuesday, I'm gonna do something hard on Wednesday, you know what you're gonna find is that you'll go down below zero and you'll do those things and you'll go through that pain and then boom, now you can enjoy. And you can also even look at that negative time and think, you know, that time was good too. The pain was good, the crying was good, the suffering was good, because look what I got out of it I learned the Bible, I prayed, I fasted, I went to church, I went soul winning, right? You know, people that are going out soul winning when it's hot outside, you know, they're suffering. There's obviously an element of suffering there, it's difficult, it's hard, it's work, but you know what, they're getting something out of it though, aren't they? And then afterward, boom, they're gonna bob back up because of this principle that I'm telling you about the equilibrium of our lives. And so the, you know, the smart person realizes, look, we all live and we all die. We all are gonna be sad, we're all gonna be happy, so instead of just setting your GPS for the house of feasting, set it for the house of pain, set it for the house of mourning, go there, get it done, get it out of the way, because the Bible says, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. It's a lot better to suffer now and enjoy later than to enjoy now and suffer later. Because at least when you're suffering and you can enjoy, you can look forward to the joy. But if you're enjoying and then you just have this suffering hanging over your head, and then once you get into the suffering, it's like there's no joy coming because it's already over. You know, Jesus Christ endured the cross. And the Bible says, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. And so we can suffer knowing that our labor's not in vain in the Lord. We can mourn knowing that we shall be comforted. We can go through the hard things realizing that weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. And then even our suffering is good and the joy is good, whether we're in the negative, whether we're in the positive. You know what, it's all blessed. The morning is blessed. And then the enjoyment is blessed. And so we need to make sure that we get things in the right order. You know, you go and you work hard, and then you get the paycheck. Not you go out and spend a bunch of money on credit cards and it's like, oh yeah, now I gotta figure out how to pay for all this. You know, there's less joy in that. You might think that enjoyment comes from just indulging, but it doesn't. Schedule your suffering. That's why it says in verse three, sorrow is better than laughter. For by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Any idiot can just go down to the house of mirth. Any idiot can go feast and party and go to the nightclub and just indulge. Okay, that's where the fools hang out. The smart person though schedules suffering and then all the good things just flow to them. You don't have to schedule all the rewards. If you schedule the suffering, the rewards roll in. The rewards flow in and you'll find yourself enjoying on both sides, the positive side and the negative side. Now flip over if you would to Matthew chapter five where we were. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You know, I'm giving you a recipe for happiness today. I'm giving you a recipe for how to live the blessed, successful Christian life. Number one, you've gotta be humble. You gotta be poor in spirit. Don't be bragging, don't be puffed up. Have the mentality of a poor person no matter how much money you have. Be humble like as if you were poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Number two, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Schedule your suffering. Okay, do hard things. Go to work when it's hard. Go to church when it's hard. Go soul winning when it's hard. Force yourself to do things that you don't necessarily wanna do. And look, a lot of times reading the Bible's a pleasure but sometimes it's work. Sometimes you have to force yourself to read the Bible. Well, you know what? That's what you do. You force yourself to read the Bible and you get those things done. The third thing it says is blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Now what does it mean to be meek? This is kinda similar to being poor in spirit. Being meek is one who is humble and one who thinks about other people. The Bible says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others. That's what it means to be a meek person. Jesus said, I am meek and lowly in heart. And so, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Some people go through life just trying to seize and grasp as much as they can and just trying to just take the biggest piece of pie for themselves and cut everybody else in line and get in there and get their share and they're not thinking about other people, they're thinking about themselves and just seeing what they can get for themselves but ultimately, it's the meek who put other people first who are gonna inherit the whole earth. What does it mean when it says they'll inherit the earth? It basically means they're gonna inherit everything. You know, that's why Jesus said in Revelation, he said, he that overcometh shall inherit all things. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. The meek are gonna get everything. At the end of the day, the prideful, arrogant, haughty scorners are not gonna get a piece of the pie in the end. Someday, Jesus Christ is gonna return, we're gonna be ruling and reigning on this earth with Christ and it's the meek that are going to inherit literally everything. And Anderson Cooper is going to inherit hell fire and damnation and his worm shall not die and his fire shall not be quenched, okay? And the same goes for everyone like him, okay. So bless are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Sorry, I keep bringing that up because I saw that stupid billboard on the way here. And you know, I have a funny feeling that if I saw these billboards on the way to church and if I am getting my inbox bombarded and my emails and all my apps are just lighting up with all this stuff, I have a funny feeling that probably almost everybody in this room is also getting hit with all this stuff and seeing all this stuff. I really don't think I'm alone on this. So it says in verse number six, bless are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. What are we talking about this morning? We're talking about how to have the successful Christian life, the blessed Christian life, the happy Christian life, how to be satisfied, how to achieve our goals, how to get where we wanna be in life and say, you know what? This is the life I wanna be living. God's blessing me. This is where I wanna be in life. How do you get there? Well, the Bible says, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. And the reason why this person is blessed, the reason why this person is happy is because anything else that we seek after in life is gonna end up leaving us with a little bit of an empty feeling. Now, we've all had achievements in our lives. Maybe we've had small little petty achievements. Maybe we've had great big giant achievements. But what are some of the type of achievements that people might have? Maybe getting the job that you want, getting the promotion that you want, graduating from high school, graduating from college, maybe some type of an athletic achievement. You know, maybe it's just beating Contra without losing any lives or whatever. You know, but there are all these little achievements. Maybe it's, you know, a financial achievement, educational achievement, athletic achievement, social achievement, getting married. Maybe that's a huge goal of just getting married and you get married having kids and then you have kids, right? These are achievements in our lives. I mean, a lot of people, man, they long to have children and then years go by and then they have children, right? Or they're single, single, single, and then they get married. What an achievement, right? So there are all these achievements in our lives and we've all achieved something in our lives, okay? Whether it's, you know, winning a spelling bee or something or getting an award or, you know, finishing some kind of a remodel of your house or something. I mean, just everybody has different things they're working on and goals and achieving different levels in whatever area of life is important to them. Maybe as a pastor, the goals have to do with, you know, breaking a hundred people in attendance or breaking 200, 300, 400 or whatever, just attendance goals or, you know, going from having to work on the side to pastoring full time. You know, those are achievements and we could just go down the list of your life and your job, all the different areas, whether they're recreational goals or whether they're professional goals or whatever. But here's the thing about all of these achievements, none of them is really going to satisfy you. You're not gonna be satisfied. I don't care if you go to the Olympics and win a gold medal. I guarantee you that the one who goes to the Olympics and wins a gold medal, they're excited, they're happy, but I guarantee you that there's a little bit of an empty feeling there. Maybe not the moment they receive the award, but maybe shortly thereafter, where basically there's this feeling of, is that it? You know, is that really what it was all cracked up to be? You know, I've spent years and years and years working toward this goal, you know, and look, I'm not telling you not to work toward goals because I do think that we need to work toward goals in all areas of life, not necessarily a video game. But I'm saying like, when it comes to, you know, your work, relationships, athletics, I do think that you should be pushing to hit goals. I'm not downplaying having goals and achieving goals in our lives, but I'm just telling you the hard truth that if you achieve these goals, they're not gonna provide you some ultimate level of satisfaction and fulfillment in your life where you're just, now I'm satisfied. Like, I've arrived and that's all I needed and here I am and ultimate happiness is now mine. Getting tons of money, becoming wealthy does not bring happiness. Getting married, yeah, it's a blessing and brings happiness, but it doesn't provide just this ultimate fulfillment, you know. I know what the songs on the radio have told you, but you know, these type of relationships, they don't just ultimately fulfill you in your soul completely. Sorry to break that to you, okay, but it's just reality, you know, and you know, having kids is super exciting, but at the end of the day, none of these physical things actually fill you up. They always leave you a little bit hungry and something's always missing, but the Bible says that blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. The one thing that really delivers on its promise is righteousness. Okay, living the godly Christian life actually does bring fulfillment and lasting satisfaction. Now, I'm not saying that you're never gonna feel sad again or something like that because you know, we just saw blessed are they to mourn, but what I am saying though is that when you're living a godly Christian life, you actually are satisfied and blessed and content and happy with your life and you don't feel like something is missing because you have that which is real and that which is the most important thing. You know, this is the one thing that's satisfied. You know, if I hunger and thirst after food, you know, maybe I'll be satisfied in the short term, but I'm gonna be hungry if it's Chinese food, I'm gonna be hungry an hour later. You know, other meals, I'm still gonna be hungry four or five hours later, but still it's not gonna provide just this ultimate satisfaction of, you know, you drink water, you're gonna be thirsty again right away. You eat, you're gonna be hungry again a little bit later. Plus, you know, food doesn't necessarily live up to our expectation a lot of times. You know, some, have you ever just been so excited about a certain meal and you just wanted to eat a certain thing and then you eat it and it's good, but it's just like, it doesn't provide just this ultimate satisfaction or contentment that you thought it would. It leaves you with a little bit of an empty feeling. Okay. And that's just the way life is. That's the way almost everything is. But spiritually, we can actually be filled. If we hunger and thirst after righteousness, if our biggest goal, and look, I'm not saying not to have goals at your job or financial goals or relationship goals, family goals, those are important, but ultimately, if our big goal is living for God, following Christ, being faithful, winning souls to Christ, that provides a different kind of satisfaction. It really satisfies on a whole nother level and it really does deliver. You know, you go out and win souls to Christ, you don't walk away with an empty feeling. You know, because nobody can take that joy away from you. And when you actually are living for God and you never wonder, why am I doing this? You know, a lot of times when, you know, you're doing some kind of, let's say you're training for sports and you're just, you know, you're just doing these hard workouts and pushing yourself. One of the biggest thing that makes you stop that workout is the question, why am I doing this? Like, why am I here? And I ask myself that question all the time. Like, I'll be exercising or something, I'm just like, why am I going through this pain? Like, why am I doing this right now? Because like, number one, nobody cares. You know, it's like, number two, like, you know, I, you know, I'm in okay shape. I'm not like, I'm not like super out of shape or something, like, I don't know, like, why do I need to be here? Like, I'm fine. You know, and it's just like, so it's like, you find all these questions of just like, why am I pushing myself? Why am I working hard in the gym or wherever? It's total vanity because, you know, what's the point? Who knows, who can kind of relate to what I'm talking about? You know, yeah, okay, some people work out a little bit, okay. You know, if you set out like, I'm gonna go run 20 miles or something and it's like, you know, you get like eight miles in and it's just like, eight miles is a good run. Most people don't even run eight miles. Like, why do I need to go 20? It's like, what's the point? I could just stop now and it was a great workout. I could be relaxing. I could be sitting with my feet up, eating, I have other things to do. What am I doing out here? But here's what I find though, is that when it comes to serving God, I never find myself, you know, reading my Bible for hours and just being like, man, why am I here? I don't need to read this much Bible. I could just read less and still get through in a year. I could still get through the Bible in a year with less than this. I don't find myself, you know, I never question whether spending time reading my Bible is really worth it. I never wonder like, is this worth it? Anytime I spend in prayer, I never ask myself, man, is this worth it? I never go to church and wonder like, man, was it really worth it for me to come to church? Like, because I could have been doing something different. I have other things to do right now at work. Is it really worth it to be at church? I don't ask myself that question. When I'm out soul-willing and I'm giving people the gospel, I'm not asking myself, is it really worth it to be here? Is there something else I could be doing that would be better than this? I mean, the thing about serving God is that that question doesn't come up as much. As it does in other areas of life, where you're maybe pushing yourself in a certain area, whether it's, you know, the workout example is an easy example, but maybe just wondering, you know, why are you pushing it so hard in business? You know, when you have enough money. But when it comes to righteousness, it's like, you just always know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And it just feels like it's always valid. It's always worth it. Like, there's just something different about serving God that's just satisfying, where you just feel like, man, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. This is what I'm on this earth to do. Serve the Lord, serve Jesus Christ, and it's just satisfying. And so if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, if you get to where, instead of craving more money or craving these other achievements, if you can get to where you really daydream about and crave about the righteousness of God and serving God and achieving great things for God and winning souls to Christ, you know, you're gonna find that that's a very satisfying pursuit. And that if you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you are gonna be filled, and it's gonna be great. And I believe that's what he's saying here when he says, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. He goes on to say, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Obviously, he's gonna go on in a couple chapters to tell us that, you know, whatever judgment we judge, that's the same judgment we're with, we're going to be judged. And so being merciful to other people will cause you to obtain mercy. And I feel like this, again, ties in with being poor in spirit and being weak. Because the unmerciful person is the very judgmental person who is constantly condemning everyone else for not being as good as they are. And so the merciful person wants to extend grace and overlook people's faults and let things go, and go easy on people who make a mistake or do wrong. And that's a blessed mentality because, you know, God's gonna treat you the same way. And we're all gonna make mistakes. And so if we're lenient toward other people's mistakes, then God's gonna be lenient toward our mistakes. And it says in verse eight, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. That's one of my favorite verses in the whole New Testament. I don't even know what to say about it. It's just such a great verse. You know, it just kinda says it all. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. I mean, you wanna talk about a satisfying experience, seeing God. And I do believe that, you know, there's a sense of, you know, if we're pure in heart with respect to salvation, we're gonna actually someday go to heaven and actually see God. But I do believe that this is also referring to right now that if we are sincere and if we are genuine and pure of heart, then we're gonna see God even now, meaning not with our physical eyes, but with the eyes of faith. Perceive God, know God, and understand God on a higher level. It says blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. And this is a nice way to wrap things up here because again, what I'm emphasizing this morning is that the world's idea of blessing and happiness and success is really the opposite of what God teaches. They teach that it's all about getting as big of a piece of the pie for yourself as you can, being proud of your own achievements, reveling in your accolades and things that you've done, having other people validate you and look at you, respect you and that's what success is to this world. But in reality, not only are we often not gonna be validated by the people of this world, many times we're gonna be persecuted and hated by the people of this world. You know, so if we're seeking validation, you know, the Christian life is not really gonna provide. Because even as a pastor, you know, you work hard as a pastor and do a good job, it doesn't necessarily mean that people are gonna recognize that and in fact, you might even just be labeled with all kinds of, you know, names and you're this hate person or whatever because you preach the Bible and people didn't wanna hear it or whatever. You know, whereas some of the worst pastors in America are the ones getting the most accolades and being lifted up and praised by this world. But are they blessed? They're not blessed at all. In fact, in Luke chapter six, we have sort of the flip side of the Beatitudes. In Luke chapter six, he gives the same type of blessings but then he follows it up with, well, woe unto you that laugh now. You know, cause he said, you know, blessed are they to mourn, they should be covered. You know, woe unto you that laugh now, you're gonna mourn. And he says, you know, woe unto you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers under the false prophets. And so blessing according to the word of God has nothing to do with what the people around you think. You don't need to be prideful and arrogant and constantly seeking validation from other people because my success and your success is not based upon what other people think of us. In fact, we could be totally blessed and have people revile us and hate us and say all manner of evil against us and persecute us and still be happy and blessed in spite of that. Cause we're not looking for that validation. We are just meekly and godly going through our lives. We're poor in spirit. And the only validation we need is from the Lord when he tells us well done, now good and faithful servant. That's all we're looking for. And so I hope that you will not get sucked into this world's philosophy and go out there and try to achieve the success that the world has to offer at the expense of serving God. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. Make the things of God, the work of God, winning souls, church, reading the Bible, living a good Christian life, make these things your priority. Hunger and thirst after those things. Set those kind of goals and put those things first. And look, again, I'm not saying you're not gonna go to the gym and work out. I'm not saying that you're not gonna go to your job and work hard. I'm not saying that you don't wanna get married and have kids and have a good family life. Like all of those things matter. All those things are good. But at the end of the day, make sure that the things of God come first because that's what's gonna provide the real satisfaction. The real filling comes from hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Stay humble, be poor in spirit, be meek, schedule your suffering, go to that house of mourning, pay your dues, pay the cost now so that you can enjoy later. If you follow this formula, if you look over these Beatitudes and make this your mentality and live your life according to this scripture right here, you are going to be a blessed person. You are going to find happiness in this world, which is what so many people are after and they're not finding today. You'll find it right here by following these principles. And you know, maybe you could just pick one or two of these to work on and start there. And just say, you know what, I'm just gonna start by working on not being so prideful. And just being more poor in spirit, being meeker, being more humble. Or maybe if you're already a humble person say, you know what, I think I'm just gonna start and just pick this one blessed are they that mourn. You know, I'm gonna start doing hard things. I'm gonna start pushing myself a little more to serve the Lord and do more and work harder or even in carnal areas to work harder at my job or whatever to put in the time. I'm gonna work on that one. Or maybe you'd say blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. I need to start getting some spiritual goals and getting hungry for some spiritual success in my life and start daydreaming about those goals instead of just only all the carnal goals. I'm gonna put the things of God first in life. Or maybe just look at this and say, you know, I'm gonna quit worrying so much what other people think about me. I don't need to constantly tell everybody how great I am and just worry about what people think and constantly seek validation. No, you know what? I don't mind if everybody's against me or looks down on me, it matters what God thinks. I'm gonna serve God with all my heart. You know, just this is the formula, my friend. Find a few of these things or one of these things and work on it and work toward having God's blessing on your life and having happiness in your life. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and Lord, thank you for all of your blessings and all of the joy that you give us as Christians. Lord, please just help us be wise and take heed unto your word so that we can capitalize on all of the wonderful things that you've prepared for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.