The biblical concept of being poor in spirit is foundational to every aspect of the Christian life.

Foundational to salvation is a heart level acknowledgement of our need for a Savior.

Foundational to experiencing God's love is acknowledging our great need of love.

Foundational to heavenly peace and joy is an acknowledgement that this world truly offers us neither.

If we want all that God and His grace offers, we must pursue a lifestyle of being poor in spirit. May you experience more of the

depth of God's love this week as you discover God's heart to minister to those desperate for him.

Welcome to the First 15 podcast. I'm Our scripture for today comes from James 4 verse 6.

Scripture says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Matthew 5.3 tells us,

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Who is this God that he would bless those who are spiritually impoverished

with the greatest gift of all, the kingdom of heaven.

Our God demonstrated his wealth of grace, help, and love to all who were in need through the words and actions of Jesus.

Jesus, who came to reveal the heart of the Father, was undoubtedly drawn to the weak,

desperate, and estranged. And in comparison to his affection for the impoverished, he was

incredibly critical of all those enveloped with mankind's chief sin, pride.

Jesus' ministry made clear what thousands of years of religion, sin, and the rule of the law obscured,

the necessity of being poor in spirit to have true relationship with God.

You see, even today, we buy into a false doctrine that our works somehow justify us to God. Even today, we believe that we must clean ourselves up, do better, work harder, or love more

to have relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Jesus came to obliterate works-based relationship

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