morning brethren there you go Luke chapter 6 and we'll go back up to 17 just to build some context here from last week says, and he came down from them and stood in the plain in the company of disciples and a great multitude of people of all Judea and Jerusalem from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon and came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, right? And we had looked at this last week and we had talked about how these people came from all over, from Jewish nations, from Gentile nations, and they came from all over to see Jesus, to meet Jesus, because they had a need, amen? It says in verse 18, it says, And they were vexed with the unclean spirits, and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him, and there went virtue out from him. We talk about the virtue of Christ and how it's the power of God and how he's the only one that has that. It says, And the whole multitude sought to touch him, and there went virtue out of him. And he healed them all, and he lifted up his eyes upon his disciples and said. All right, so this is where we're at now. Blessed be poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. Amen. And a lot of us, we see it, we're like, none of these things are good. Why is this good? But we're going to get in there and figure out why it's good, right? Because it shows the need for the Savior, right? Jesus, he's speaking to the disciples here. And these men, they had left everything to follow him, right? They left their comfort, they left all the stuff that they had, all their possessions, all to follow Christ, and Jesus tells them they are blessed, right? Notice this, at this point, once they start following Christ, they have nothing, right? But they are blessed, because in having nothing, they actually have everything, amen? And that's the point that we have to get to as well, that we did get to that at some point, and realized that Everything here is worthless without Christ. Amen, and that he is worth more than anything that we do have and it's because In in their poverty and in their sorrows and whatever else they were their hunger. They realized that they had a condition that Allowed God to reach them and to speak to them and that's when he said come out from among them. Amen but through this we're gonna be looking at um, I Poverty of the spirit, hunger for righteousness, and godly sorrow leading to joy, as we've read through these three here. It says, blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. And blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh, right? So first one here, blessed are ye that poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. This doesn't refer to financial poverty, it's more of a spiritual humbleness or humility, amen? So don't think, and pretty much every time the Bible refers to poor, it's the poor in spirit, right? The ones that realize that, what's the difference between the rich and the poor? Financially or spiritually, what's the difference? One has, one doesn't, right? One realizes they have a need, and the other doesn't think they have a need. Amen? And that's why blessed are the poor, because they realize they have sinned. They realize they need a savior, right? They realize they need forgiveness. But the rich in spirit, they have no need for nothing, right? They're Pharisees. They follow the law. They do it all. They don't need nothing. Amen? You see a difference? That's why blessed are the poor. What do you say? Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Go with me to Matthew chapter five. This is a correlating passage, not really correlating, but kind of the same text descriptions that we see here in Luke six. I'll start in one, but we're going to three. Says, and seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Amen. Let's keep going through this real quick. We'll just use this for overall context, and we're gonna come back to it a couple different times, because this, again, goes with six here. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, amen. And this is the, I mean, it keeps going of course, but this is the gist of the overall feeling of what Jesus is speaking to him. He's not saying, blessed are you guys, because you're poor and you're hungry and you need everything, amen. He's like, blessed are you that are poor because you see that you have a need and you see that I'm the one that can give you that need, amen. In Psalm 34, 18, it says, the Lord is nigh unto them that are a broken heart and saith, Such as a as be of a contrite spirit. That's that's the needy right go to James chapter 4 James chapter 4 I'm gonna have you guys turn to everything cuz I'm thirsty this morning and it gives me time James chapter 4 Verse number 6 So but he give it more grace. I Wherefore, he said, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep, and let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Amen. He can't lift you up if you're already up. Amen. If you see no need for Christ, then he can't do nothing with you. That's just the way it is. It tells us to humble ourselves inside of the Lord, right? It says, Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. God resists the proud, but give grace to the humble. Draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. See, we have to understand the condition to be able to realize We need that relationship with Christ, amen? And we're gonna get into the dangers of that as well here soon too, but God gives grace to the humble, and if you have a heart for people, God will have a heart for you, amen? Go to Luke chapter 18. Back to Luke. Gonna look at the publican real quick. Yes, sir. Luke chapter 18, verse number 10. Let's go nine. And he spake a parable unto a certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. All right, so this is not the poor, right? It says, this is a parable unto a certain which trusted in themselves, amen? No need to trust in anybody else, no need to look anywhere else, because they got it under control, right? Trust in themselves, and they that were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, notice that, prayed thus with himself. Amen? He wasn't praying to God because he's God, right? There's nothing higher than him. There's nobody that does better than him. There's nobody that can tell him anything. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not like other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterous, or even as this publican. I fast twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. So then the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Amen? He wasn't justifying anything. He couldn't even look toward God. Amen? Not that he could see God, but he couldn't even look that direction, right? It says that standing afar off would not lift up so much as eyes unto heaven. That's humbleness. That's realizing who God is. Amen? That's humility. I mean, reverence toward the Lord, it says, and he wouldn't lift up his eyes into heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God, be merciful unto me, a sinner. And Jesus says, I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For one exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted. Amen. The Pharisee bragged about himself by the public, and he cried, God, be merciful to me. He said, I know I'm not right. I know that I need a Savior. Amen. I know I need you in my life, because I can't do this on my own. Amen. And Jesus said that that man went away justified, right? That the poor, the one who knew he needed, he had a need, and that Christ could fulfill that need. He came spiritually empty, but he left filled with salvation, amen. Go to Luke 18. Luke 18, oh, sorry, just go down, verse 18. This is the rich young ruler here. Says a certain ruler as saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit or inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? None are good save one that is God. I like that. Because that's Jesus saying that he is God and that you acknowledge me as God, amen? Which means he knows who God is. Says, thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother. And he said, all these have I kept from thy youth up. Now when Jesus heard those things, he said unto him, yet lackest thou one thing, sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when he saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. Notice this here, verse number 22. It says, yet lackest thou one thing, sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. Right? The emphasis wasn't necessarily sell that all you have. It was the follow me part. Amen? But the thing is, is that he had more love, more desire, and more trust in his riches than he did in following Christ. Right? And that's why he wanted him to get rid of that in order to come and follow him. Amen? We don't have to sell everything that we have in order to serve God, but those things can't be as important as God is to us. Amen. And the fact is, is that we will never have those things if in the pursuit of those things, those become more important than God is. Amen. You guys understand that? It's that's what separates us is the lust and desires of the flesh gets in the way of serving the Lord, gets in a way of loving the Lord, gets in a way of testifying for the Lord and living a life that is congruent to his word that others may see. If those things start blocking that view, then that's when things start getting stripped away. Amen. But this man here, He was still missing that part. He had everything. But at the same time, as rich as he was, he was poor. And he was left without that on that day. Amen. The broken sinner in Luke 18, he walked away justified, but he tells us that only the humble will inherit the kingdom of God. And this man wouldn't humble himself. Let's go to Luke chapter 6 or I get we don't gotta go back there Luke 21 or 6 21 says blessed Are you that hunger now for you shall be filled right this hunger for God? It's his word. It's a hunger to for God's presence and a desire to be filled with him. Amen Back to Luke chapter or Matthew chapter 5 It's a desire for the Lord, right? This isn't a necessarily physical food that he's talking about. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled, right? Because if you tell somebody who's hungry, that's not gonna benefit them at all, amen? But the fact is, is that this hunger for the Lord, it can be satisfied. In verse number six, it says, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, right? Go to John chapter six. Y'all getting them pages warmed up this morning? John chapter six, verse number 30. Hold on. Is it six? Yes, 31. It says, our fathers did eat in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not, or Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is, He which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. And they said unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Amen. Think about that. He says that if we are hungry, we will be filled, right? There's no limits in the amount that we can receive from God, amen? That you cannot be hungry enough that He cannot satisfy it, amen? The hungrier that you are toward God, the more that you desire Him, the more of Him He will give, right? And I mean, this is just like... I don't even know, you can get to like super saying Christian type stuff to where you just like, I know that went over a lot of y'all's heads, but that's like part of my childhood. But to where it's like, I mean, everything that Christ did in the Bible, think about this, what caused those things to happen? Faith, yes. That was Jesus' superpower, was faith, his connection with God, and believing that God would do the things that he said that he would do, because he was in the Father's will, right? Everything that Christ did, he did in faith, and therefore, everything that he did, it came to pass, right? Just like everything that the disciples did, when they was casting out devils and healing people and doing all these things, they did it because their faith was great, right? Their faith is no different than ours, except their faith is stronger, amen? And that's why it says, blessed are they that are hungry. Where are we at here? Blessed are they that hunger now, for they shall be filled. Right? We can be filled with the promises of God, but our faith has to be exercised in order to do so. This hunger for God's word and his desire, I mean, it's powerful because There's no limits to it. I mean, we can eat forever, and we can eat more, and we can eat more, and we can eat more, and God can use us more, and more, and more, and more, and he wants to, amen? Go to, where we at, John? Go to Luke 10. Psalm 42 says, as the heart panted after Waterbrook, so panted my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsted for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Luke chapter 10, 38. This is Mary and Bethany here, or Martha, yes. So now it came to pass as they went, that they entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received into her house and she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about such serving and came to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she should help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing, oh man, I need to go about the one thing, sorry, side note, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. While Martha was busy serving, Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened to his words, and Jesus said, Mary had chosen that good part, right? What's the good part here? Amen, serving, worshiping God and serving Him and listening to Him, right? Let me look at this one thing here, Psalm 27, four, it's pretty cool. I have a cheater Bible, has references to other verses and things. Psalm 27. Verse four. Or let's go three. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Amen. What was she doing? She was doing this very thing, right? She was worshiping Him and beholding His beauty that she may desire, or that she may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of her life. And it says, behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple. She was doing these things while she was there with the Lord, amen? Like, think about that. When we spend time with the Lord, we're doing all of those things, amen? We're not just asking what we're thinking for. We're thinking about heaven. We're thinking about the blessings. We're thinking about the trials that he's carried us through. We're thinking about the faith that carried us over. We're thinking about looking back that we didn't see him, but he was there the whole time working things out for our good. Amen. And these are the same things that we see here. What were we at? Luke 10, where it says, but one thing is needful. Right, and then we look at Psalm 27, we see what that one thing is, and that is the Lord, amen? One thing is needful, and Mary had chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Amen, that's good stuff. If y'all don't like it, then find something else to like. Acts chapter 17. 10, where we'll be at, Acts 17, 10. citizen and the brethren immediately sent Paul or yet sent Paul and Silas away by night under Berea who coming thither went to the synagogue of the Jews. There were more, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, right? And if you guys know anything about Thessalonica, that is like one of the only churches that was doing things right. It says, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, right? Because they were hungry. They searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore, many of them believed also in honorable women, which were the Greeks and men and so forth. Here we see they received the word with all readiness and they search the scriptures daily and because of that many believed Amen those who hunger for God they will always be satisfied Third part of Luke six here says, blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh. This isn't just the ordinary sadness here, this is a sorrow over sin and the sinful condition of the world, amen. When he's talking about blessed are ye that weep now, that's what he's talking about is being able to weep over sin. Because I'm telling you the worst part is being comfortable with sin in this world. The worst part is thinking that it's okay or that it's not that bad because All sin is sin in the eyes of God. Amen. Whosoever should keep the whole law and offend in one point, he is guilty of all. A thief is the same as a liar, is the same as a murderer, is the same as fill in the blank in the eyes of a perfect holy God who cannot dwell in the presence of sin. Any sin cannot dwell in the presence of God. Amen. And that's how sin should be to us, is it should offend us, it should bother us. We shouldn't just be like, oh, it's just normal, it's just the way it is, because it won't be like that forever, praise God. Psalm 30 verse 5 it says for his anger endures for a moment but or in his in his favor his life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning amen like I said it's all gonna be over someday go to Psalm 126 That is a hard song to find. You go to like 119 and it just goes like 135. 126 verse number five says they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth weepeth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him. Amen. What are they weeping for? for the lost souls, right? This precious seed that they are planting, those are tears, those are prayers. Amen, that's intercessory prayer to the Lord for these people, for the lost, for your own sin, right? They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Why? Because Christ is able to Fix things, amen? Jesus saves. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his seeds with him. Go to John 16. But it takes a sorrowful heart. It takes one that is not okay with sin. It takes us praying that God would make us not okay with sin. Sometimes that's what it takes. Because I'll tell you, I've been okay with some things I shouldn't have been okay with. I've justified sin in the name of it's not that bad, or everybody does it, or it's normal, you know, it's not really sin anymore. But what does that mean? It's not really sin anymore. It means we've been desensitized, right? That's not good. Where are we at? John 16, verse number 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. All right, hold on, let's go back up. Let's go to 16. "'A little while, and you shall not see me. "'And again, a little while, and you shall see me, "'because I go to the Father.' "'Then said some of the disciples among themselves, "'What is it that he saith unto us, "'A little while, and you shall see me, "'and again, and a little while, and you shall see me, "'and because I go to the Father?' "'They said, therefore, "'What is this that he saith, a little while?' "'We cannot tell what he saith.' "'And Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, "'and he said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves? I love it when he does that, man. He didn't even hear them. They weren't even talking to him. They was over there discussing amongst themselves and he just like intervenes and I know what y'all are talking about, you know what I mean? It just goes into it. It says, now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him and said unto them, do ye inquire among yourselves of that, I said, a little while, and ye shall not see me in a while, or in again a little while, and ye shall see me. Verily, verily, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. And ye shall be sorrowful, and your sorrow shall be turned to joy. A woman, when she is in travail, has sorrow, because her hour has come. But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy of a man is born into the world. Amen. And ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. Praise God for that. And it's easy to praise God in trials because we know that he's with us and he won't leave us. And we know that he works all things out to get her good to them that are called according to his purpose. But in a world that is filled with sin, where iniquity is normalized, God wants us to weep over this sin, right? It should hurt us. We shouldn't be okay with this. It should bother us. We shouldn't be able to grow numb to it or even worse, accept it and do these things ourselves, right? By accepting sin, we're denying Christ every single time. When we read about, when they're there, what should I do with him? They're all like, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Every time we choose sin, that's what we're chanting. Amen? Tell me I'm wrong. Every single time we choose sin, we are choosing Barabbas over Christ. We are choosing the lust of the flesh over salvation, over the sacrifice. Go to Luke 22. This is about denying Christ here. Verse number 61. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Remember that? Whenever the soldiers, they were coming to Christ after the last supper, and after he had got done praying that this cup may pass from me, and he was with his disciples, and these soldiers and these armies were coming to take Christ. And Peter, he was so brave, he pulled out his sword and cut off the soldier's ear and was ready to fight all of them for Christ. And Christ healed him. And he told him that before this is all over, you're gonna deny me three times. He's like, no, he's like, except I die. He's like, I'll never deny you. And later on, we see over and over that Peter denied him three times. And that's where we're at here. It says, and Peter said, or where were we at? Yes. Well, let's go back 61. It says, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cow crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went and wept bitterly. That's a key verse there. It says, and the men that held Jesus mocked him and smote him, and when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked him, saying, prophesying, who is it that smote thee, and so forth. But on the topic of Peter here, he wept bitterly. Why is this a good thing, that he wept bitterly? Remorse, okay, something else. close to it, repentance, right? It's a good thing because most people who deny Christ or that choose sin, it doesn't affect them, right? They're okay with it. They don't feel like they made a bad decision. They've hardened their hearts so much. They pushed the Holy Spirit so far out of their lives that they're okay with sin. But Peter, once he realized that he sinned, he wept bitterly, right? And what does our verse say? Blessed are ye that weep now. Amen? Go to John chapter 2 here. John chapter 2, or 21, sorry. There's a 2 in it. 21 verse 15. This is Peter. This is still the same context, but I want to see what this weeping and this sorrow toward sin can lead to. And it leads to restoration here as we start looking through it. In John 21, 15, it says, So when he had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? This is after Christ is seen again. Lovest thou me now more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord. Thou knowest how I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith unto him again, second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, feed my sheep. He said unto them a third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he had said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus said unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou was young, thou girded thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. I meant to end at the last verse. But we see that God, even though he denied Christ in his sorrow, in his repentance, Jesus restored him, amen. We know in Acts chapter two, he was empowered with the spirit and he preached that sermon at Pentecost and thousands of people were saved, amen. And his tears that were sorrow, that became his very power, amen. Because once we realize that forgiveness, that empowers us to do even more than what we did before. Right? It should, anyways, because I don't know about you guys, but I'm like, I mean, if God forgave me for something, and I'm sorry for it, and he restored me, great. But if he did it a second time, that debt's even heavier now, right? I really got to do it this time, amen? And it was the same way with Peter here. Like, I mean, after he restored him, I mean, Peter, he preached until the death of him. I mean, he went until they cut his head off or something. Wow, he got stoned, didn't he? Oh, that's right, he was crucified, okay. But I mean, he preached the word until the very end there. We'll skip the next example and we'll start looking at the dangers of being comfortable with God's blessings because that's what it really boils down to is we get comfortable with God's blessing, we get comfortable with being blessed and think that we're entitled to God to give us a good life and to forgive us and all these things, but go to Deuteronomy chapter six. God blesses us, but far too often, these blessings, they become carelessness, amen? Deuteronomy chapter six. I'm trying to knock this out real quick. Verse number 10. So then shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which he sweared then to his fathers, and to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of good things, which thou fillest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantest not. Right? These are things that we don't deserve. This is the grace of God. This is the love of God that provides for us and gives to all of our needs. It says, when thou shalt have eaten and be full, then beware. Why should I beware? I'm blessed of God. He's given me all things. I have need for nothing. Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought the fourth out of the land of Egypt. Lest you forget the Lord that brought out your sin and saved your soul and pulled you out of that miry clay and when you was on your way to hell and there was nothing you could do about it and he saved you. Amen? That's why we can't be comfortable with the blessing because it causes carelessness to where we forget about the one that gave us the blessings. Amen. We start praising the blessing. This is what happened with Israel over and over and over and over. The whole Old Testament is about that. How many times do you think that happened? Probably 15 times? 20 times? Israel. love God, blessed by God, so blessed that they forget God exists. They start worshiping idols. God gives them a chance to repent. They reject God. They choose their idols. God sends people to enslave them, to bring them into captivity, to get rid of these idols out of their life, to bring them to a point so low to where they actually realize We forgot about God. They pray to God. They start serving God. God saves them again. And it's the same cycle over and over and over throughout the whole Old Testament, but it's because they got comfortable in these blessings. Hosea 13, six says, the Lord said, according to their pastor, so were they filled. They were filled and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me. Why? They were too blessed. Right? It says, according to their pastor, so were they filled. They were filled, and their heart was exalted. That's what blessings do to us, right? Not everybody's ready for a blessing. Seriously, think about, I mean, people will win the lottery. We'll just pretend financial blessing, because people like to talk about finances, right? People win the lottery. How long are they rich for? Statistically even, not just theoretically, statistically, a year. About a year. Hundreds of millions of dollars in a year. I really believe that if anybody gave me a million, that it would multiply and last me the rest of my lifetime. But I'm sure they all thought the same thing. Proverbs 30 verse nine says, remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? That's a hard place to be in, to where you would rather be complacent and just be right here than to go any further, because you're worried about being so blessed that you might forget God. That's the pride of man. Let's look at pride of man. Go to 1 Kings chapter 11. This is the richest, the wisest man that will ever live. And God made him that way. He is the, I mean, silver was as gravel in his days, right? He was, he had wisdom from the Lord. God made him wiser than anybody. 1 Kings 11, verse number one. Oops, sorry, I'm on the wrong page. But let's look at this. It says, But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, and women of Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, and Zeidonians, and Hittites, of nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go to them. neither shall they come in unto you right these are commandments of the lord says for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods lowercase g false gods amen solomon clave unto these in love and he had 700 wives princesses right and 300 concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father." You want to talk about blessings. Solomon was Financially more blessed than anybody. I mean he was the king of the world and you see these princesses or print print Does say they're princesses? He had 700 wives that were a princess right that means that these other kingdoms were subject to his kingdom and Right? That's why they gave him his daughter, because that's the alliance there, but that's also the protection, but that's also them bowing to Solomon, right? Solomon was like the king of the world at this time, had everything, and still fell because of blessings. He was wiser than any man, wiser than anybody who will ever live, and still fell. God blessed him with wisdom and peace and abundance. And that's another thing, the peace. I mean, it was the most peaceful time in any nation. That's what all these wise were. They were like peace treaties from these other kingdoms. But these blessings, they made him careless. And his heart was turned from God to lust and this lust led to false worship eventually but i mean and as we talked about israel and judges and the kings and prophets and when when they were hungry they sought god when they were desperate they obeyed god but when they propped when push came to shove and God wanted them, they forgot God. Blessing became a curse and they stopped depending on the Lord. Revelation three real quick. I know we're out of time, but we're over time anyway, so we'll just finish it. Revelation three. Verse number 14. We was here last week for our team group, so I'm gonna think of it. So then unto the angel of the church of Laodicea write, these things say at the amen. Amen. The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold, trident, and fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, and thou mayest be clothed, and that thou shame of thy neckiness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve. I said that thou mayest see as many as I love I rebuke and chase and as zealous before and repent. But the key here is this lukewarmness. Where do they get lukewarm at? Yes, we're in Revelation. But where did they get this lukewarm feeling? It was because they were so used to being blessed of God. They just got comfortable. And because they had this lukewarmness, God couldn't do nothing with them because they were comfortable in their pew. They were okay just sitting there. They were blessed of God. They didn't really care if the rest of the world was dying and going to hell, right? They were comfortable. It was okay with them. They were fine. But God doesn't want us there, right? They had wealth and comfort and ease, but Jesus said, you're lukewarm. And God wants our dependence. He wants our hunger. He wants our humility. But at the same time, he wants us to be vigilant, right? He wants us to be watchful that we don't fall into these same sins that these other men came for. That's why Solomon is in the Bible as such. Like, I mean, he could have been worded as just this great king that ruled great and had all this wisdom, all these riches, and God blessed him. but we see the fall of Solomon for a reason. What's that reason? That we don't follow that, that we don't fall into the same sin, that we don't get comfortable with these blessings, that we actually listen to the full word of God and not just the parts that we think are okay with, right? Jesus doesn't call the comfortable blessed, right? He blesses the poor in spirit. He says they get the kingdom, the hungry, they get filled, the sorrowful, they get joy, right? The world says blessed are the rich and the famous and the talented, but Jesus says blessed are the humble, the hungry, the faithful, amen? Flip over to Revelation 2 and we'll finish with this. Revelation 2, verse 4, I'll just go there. It says, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Right? Where do you get that first love at when you're born again? Amen. When you're born again, when that child is born, the first thing it sees is its mom. Who's its first love? It's mom, right? When Christ saved your soul and you are born again, who is your first love? Christ. Amen. Says, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou has fallen and repent and do the first works. or else I will come under thee quickly, and I will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. Now, that's to a different church, but at the same time, that's to Christ's church, amen? He doesn't want us to be lukewarm. He doesn't want us to be okay with just being blessed. He wants us to use our blessings to reach others, amen? And the blessing that we have, they can't stop the reason why we were sorrowful. He still wants us to be weeping and praying for the lost. It doesn't stop us from being hungry. Just because he gave us some food, we still need to be hungry. We still need to be desiring the Lord. We still need to be seeing souls as lost and needing saved. And blessed are you that are so because the more we desire, the more we depend on the Lord for these things, the more that he's going to come through and provide these things. And that's how we serve God with God. Amen. Well, every passage I was going to go to to emphasize that he ended up going to. So we're going to pray.