Tonight, I began a new Wednesday night sermon series through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

I had planned on doing another series, on "Total-Life Stewardship." It was very eager to get that study going. But I just could not get a green light to start it. I trust that the Lord will allow me to get to it at another time.

For the meantime, I will be in the Sermon on the Mount for a while. I plan to cover the entire passage. And I do not intend to rush through it. I need to spend this time studying the radical, exacting, and counter-cultural principles of the kingdom that Jesus teaches in Matthew 5-7. My congregation needs these encounter with Jesus, as well.

Please pray for us.

I began tonight with the opening section of the Sermon on the Mount, known as the "Beatitudes" (Matthew 5:3-12). God willing, I will go through each of them individually.

Here is the sermon skeleton from tonight's message:

Title: "Good Credit for the Spiritually Bankrupt"

Text: Matthew 5:3

Sermon Series: "The Sermon on the Mount"

Theme: The blessed paradox of human depravity.

Point: God blesses the poor in spirit.

Outline:

I. What does it mean to be blessed?

A. True blessedness cannot be measured in man-centered terms.

A. It is not about emotional happiness.

B. It is not about favorable circumstances.

C. It is not about material prosperity.

B. True blessedness must be measured in God-centered terms.

II. What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

A. To be poor in spirit is to have a high view of God.

B. To be poor in spirit is to have a low view of self.

1. Spiritual poverty is necessary for salvation.

2. Spiritual poverty is necessary for spiritual growth.

III. What does it mean to have the kingdom of heaven?

A. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit exclusively.

B. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit presently.