bankrupt.

Matthew 5:3

"Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

This is the first Beatitude. The first sentence in the very first sermon taught by Jesus. It's not only very important, but it is also the first step.

Two things.

1. Blessed = Happy
2. Poor in Spirit = Spiritual Bankruptcy

The sooner we realize we are incapable of attaining the standard Christ calls us to (Matt. 5:48), the closer we are to finding the One who can help us attain that standard. That calls for humility. Jesus was saying, 'You can't be filled until you are empty.' You can't be worthwhile until you realize you are worthless apart from Christ."

"In the church today there is little emphasis on self- emptying. I've seen many books on how to be filled with joy and other things, but I don't think I've ever seen a book on how to empty yourself of self. Too much of contemporary Christianity feeds on pride. But a person without poverty of spirit fails to understand the grace of God and cannot be a Christian since salvation is by grace through faith. Also, the graces of the Christian life can't grow without humility."

-John MacArthur

blinding love.

Romans 12:1-2

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

I think living in Los Angeles has clouded my understanding of what God's will is. Im not saying that this is what Los Angeles does to everyone, but it is what has happened to me . I have lived here my whole life and now I don't want to let go - I'm in love with it. This selfishness has led to another problem - conforming to this world. I have found myself so consumed with caring for the vanity and the ideals that this world calls important. This in turn has made it hard to present my body as a living sacrifice. It makes me forget that I was bought with a price.

However, the more God reveals Himself to me, the more it transforms me. God renews my mind through the Holy Spirit. Then the cloudiness of the world/self begin to dissipate and God's will becomes more clear. This is what I long for. This is what wish would last forever... Seeing God's will - His perfect will.

Abandon

So, nobody wants to be this person right? It's tough. Nothing to really call your own, nowhere to sleep, hardly anything to eat. Yet we're called to this.

Luke 14:25-33

25)Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26)"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27)And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28)"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29)For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30)saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

31)"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32)If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33)In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

So three things.
1. Hate your father, mother, brothers and sisters, and yourself, you can't be a disciple of Christ. Commonly interpreted as a hyperbole (an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis) Especially in light of Matthew 10:37 "If you love your Father and Mother more than me, you're not even my disciple"

2. If you do not carry your cross, you can not be a disciple of Christ. Deny self, give up desires and dreams to follow God. Repenting and fleeing from sin.

3. Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Of the three this is the most self explanatory, yet most confusing.

Give up everything? Surely he can't mean my home or my wealth or my life, can he? I'm not sorry to tell you that this portion of the verse is not a hyperbole.

The greek word used in this verse is apotasso. It means: say farewell (to), take leave (of); renounce, give up.

Love Jesus above all, so that your love for your family looks like hate. Carry your cross and die to your self daily. Give up everything you have.

Need examples?

Peter James and John
Elisha
Abraham
Moses
Noah

most of all,

Jesus. Who are we to be like?
Jesus.

anti-growth.

It's ironic to think that some of the greatest spiritual growth is anti-growth.

"The right manner of growth is to grow less in one's own eyes."

—Thomas Watson

John 3:30

"He must increase, but I must decrease."

soldiers of Christ

2 Timothy 2:3-4

Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Paul is encouraging Timothy and us to cut ourselves off from the world and not let it distract us. Satan is the king of this world, and he will attempt to cause our stumble through worldly temptation. Our lives must be dedicated to the one who “enlisted us”, we must obey, sacrifice, and be devoted to serving Him. Despite the opposition, tribulation, or persecution we might face, we still need to proclaim the gospel and Christ. We must not let the fear of man stop us from the proclamation of the biblical truth, just like Paul did not. Just like the Soldier, we must endure through suffering and keep our eyes on the victory, eternal life with Jesus Christ. We will see that all our serving will be worth it when we endure suffering through sacrificing to honor and glorify the name of Jesus Christ.

This Kind of Humilty

Philippians 2:1-8

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Everything

Mark 12:41-44

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."

We should give like the widow. We should give God all of our lives, not just a portion of the huge pie. We must give him all that we have. When we remember that God chose us before we were born and remember what Christ did for us, how can we not give Christ everything? Lets not give our lives to things that fade away, lets give our lives to the kingdom of God which will last for all of eternity.

No value

Acts 20:24

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

What are we waiting for?

The bible says that if we know what we are supposed to do and we dont do it, we are sinning. Why do we continue to make excuses for why we are not giving everything up for God. When we come to faith in Christ we no longer are in charge of our lives. Christ bought us, so we must give up our hopes and dreams for what God would have us do. Why do we continue to make excuses for why we havent begun the work Christ has commanded us. We always say "i'm praying about it" - this is good, and prayer everyday is a must; but at somepoint we are going to have to stop praying about it and do the work Christ has commanded us. We know what Christ commands us to do, so lets stop just learning more about it and praying about it, lets start doing it, learning about and praying about it.

Because of Christ sacrifice we have no chioce but to give up our goals and ambitions in life. We must sacrifice all this because Christ sacrificed everything for us so that we could be made right in God's eyes. We must live for the glorification of Christ and nothing less. We must not live for our own selfish desires but we must give them up because God is most glorified when we sacrifice everything for him and when we are content in him alone.

wake and praise

We think that we are special because we get up and praise God at 5:30 am...

Look at David. He must have only gotten 2 hours of sleep.

Psalm 119:62

"At midnight I rise to praise you,because of your righteous rules."

Let's magnify God in prayers of praise as soon as we wake up each day.