Video transcript below
Okay, this is the first video in a series on the Beatitudes. And I’m, I’m just so excited that you, you have joined us. We are going to uncover some of the most precious, hidden gems in the scripture. I’m gonna tell you, but let me tell you how this came about first.
Okay. So I was reading John chapter 10, verse 10, where Jesus says,
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10
And I was thinking, why, why is it, why does it seem like myself, I struggle with feeling like my life is abundant. And why is it that so many Christians I know seem to be so down in the mouth? They seem to be kind of sad-sacked, whatever the term is that you use, that’s probably not very hip. But anyway, the term that would be to describe someone who thinks they have a hard life.
~ I have a hard life.
~ I am just, you know, I, poor me.
~ Woe is me.
~ I have no friends.
~ I have no purpose.
You know, I mean whatever, whatever your mantra is, right? My problems are too big. My problems are bigger than everybody else’s problems, right? Not the abundant life that Jesus is describing.If he’s describing abundant life, what do you think about?
Most of us think about having fewer problems financially, fewer problems relationally, fewer problems at work,more money, more resources, right? That’s what we think about when we think about having an abundant life.
Well, if that’s what having an abundant life is, then Jesus didn’t have an abundant life ’cause remember, he lived in poverty. He had like a few friends, you know, he’d gather these big crowds. They would come around him to be healed and fed and everything else, and then they would leave. Right? And at the end, when he was dying for everybody, he had no one. Sure, his mother, Mary, and some of the women that hung around the cross and went to the grave. But really in, in a culture and time where women were nothing, right?
Jesus really had no one.
And so if the abundant life mentioned, is measured based on things or powerful friends or your accomplishments, then this is obviously not what Jesus was talking about. Don’t you wanna know what he was talking about? Well, I did. And so that’s how this study came about.
I was like, okay, Jesus, you know what? Get my mind in the mind of your mind, the mind of Christ, right? Change my mind. I don’t wanna live my life after the mind of the flesh. Um, I wanna live my mind, my life after the mind of your spirit. Because clearly you are saying that you intend for us to have an abundant life. And I just seem to be struggling.
And so, you know, I’ll tell you, when we ask the Lord to teach us and we come to him with an open heart, like, okay, strip it all away, do what you gotta do, but I wanna live this abundant life that you’re talking about. I want that. He’s so faithful to take our, our wide open heart and say, okay, come here, kid. Come here. I got some things to teach you.
And so what did he do? He brought me to the Beatitudes, right. Okay, so here’s a life confession. Every time I’ve read the Beatitudes in the past, I have said, no, no, no, no. That’s not, that’s not life for Kim. Kim doesn’t wanna be mourning, she doesn’t wanna be meek. She doesn’t want to be poor in spirit. She doesn’t wanna be persecuted. No, you must be talking about somebody else, but that’s not me. That doesn’t sound like a good, a good way to live. That’s, yeah, I’ll go look somewhere else for my teaching.
But, you know, again that’s me thinking about God’s word with the mind of my flesh and instead of my born again soul and spirit, which Jesus Christ inhabits, okay?
We’ve talked about in our Bible concepts videos that we have a body of soul and a spirit, right? And the part of us that’s born again is our soul and spirit. My flesh is never any better even though I am born again. It wants what it wants. It always wants what it wants.It fights against my born again nature. And it’s always trying to get its way. And it doesn’t change when I read God’s word. It fights against me uncovering the treasures that Jesus has for me.
So that’s why I’m so excited about the study. It’s like God’s open the door for me to understand the blessings that Jesus was talking about. You know, the word beatitude means blessing. And of course, if you think about the words of the, of the beatitudes, let’s just read them.
This is out of Matthew chapter five, verses 3 through 12. And Jesus said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for 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.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”.
“Blessed are you, when they revile and persecute you and say, all kinds of evil against you, falsely,for my sake.”
“Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven.”
Matthew 5:3-12
You know, it almost seems like Jesus is kind of teasing us a little bit, because he says blessed, and then he follows that with horrible things like being persecuted and reviled, right?
But again, that’s what we’re not getting is he was trying to teach us is about our spirit, man.This is about our spirit man controlling our life over our flesh, which just wants what it wants, right, in order to understand and experience the blessings that he has for us.
So I want you to kind of take a step back and think about this for a minute. What is it that you, if, if you could have something, one thing that, and as much of it as you wanted, that you would make you feel like you were blessed. What is that one thing?
- Is it more money?
- Is it a better spouse?
- Is it children?
- Is it a better job?
You see, that’s how we think. We think that if we just have that one thing that, lose 30 pounds, or whatever it is, that we will have this great joy, And it will be the kind of joy that will keep us and sustain us.
The Greek word here, blessing, is not talking about a temporal unsustainable blessing. It is talking about a joy that comes from within that is untouched by our circumstances. In other words, it doesn’t matter how much money we have, it doesn’t matter if our house gets struck by lightning like mine did a couple months ago. It doesn’t matter if we lose our profession, we still have this satisfaction, this joy that we know our purpose.
~ We know who we are.
~ We know who God is.
~ We know why we’re here.
And that the circumstances cannot change those things. That’s what Jesus is trying to teach us.
These are the things that if we manifest these attitudes, I’m calling this the BE-attitudes, that if we manifest these attitudes from the inside out,then we are gonna have this joy, this abundant life that Jesus wants to give us here and now, yeah, sure, we’ll have blessings to come as well, but we get to double dip. We get to have that joy. Now if an abundant life is measured by our physical assets or our wealth, our friends (our powerful friends we have), our follows or likes on social media, then we do not have the abundant life Jesus is talking about.
Jesus lived in poverty. He died in poverty. He did not have powerful friends when he was hanging on the cross. He had women standing around the cross, crying over him. He did not have any of the things that we associate with the abundant life as just fleshy non spirit filled people.
But he did!
He was the king. He was the richest person who ever lived because he gave us something that no money can buy. He gave us eternal life.
And when Jesus is talking to the people in the sermon on the mount, keep in mind he wasn’t preaching the gospel to lost people. He was talking to his people, talking to born again, Christians. Jesus was saying, “Hey, this is what people from my kingdom look like.” And things that he’s describing, poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those are my people, those people who manifest those characteristics. That’s how you’re gonna know they belong to my kingdom. You know, Karl Marx had his communist manifesto. The Sermon on the Mount was Jesus’s statement of his kingdom. This is what my people, my kingdom people look like.
Well, again, this is an introduction to the whole series of beatitudes. But I’m gonna tell you, when I kind of thought about that, when God showed me that, I was like, wait a minute, okay. If this is what I’m supposed to be like, in other words, my present attitudes present tense, then, if I’m not doing that, then not only am I missing out on these blessings, but I’m also not representing Jesus Christ in his kingdom. And that was kind of a check for me. It was a spirit check for me. It was like, oh, wait a minute, because I mean, I want to represent Jesus Christ. I wanna represent his kingdom. I truly do. And if I really, truly want that, and that’s the most important thing in my life, then I am gonna dig into this. And so this was my approach when I started studying the beatitudes.
It was, okay, Lord, I’m wide open. Just show me, show me what this means. Show me what each one means. Show me how to apply it in my life. Show me what the blessing is. Because in each of these beatitudes, he says, and this is the way you’re gonna be blessed. And the more I studied them, I was like, oh, wow,this is so amazing!
And so this is what this series is about.
It is about Christians capturing the abundant life that Jesus promises us. The joy unspeakable full of glory, that the Bible talks about — the absolute feeling and security of being completely loved and knowing our purpose.
These beatitudes, if we can inculcate (instill) these into our life, if we can learn these, Jesus said, “oh, you’re gonna experience blessings like you never even knew.” It’ll be like Ephesians chapter three, when Paul said he prayed for the Ephesians that they would have more than they could ask for or imagine. Yeah. That’s what these beatitudes are about, teaching us how to capture that.
So if you are wanting to capture every blessing, if you’re wanting to find that abundant life and what it really means. If you really let go of your predisposed notion that it’s supposed to look a certain way—have a big house, lots of money in the bank—if you’re willing to let go of that notion and let the Holy Spirit teach you, He will lead you into this blessing— joy unspeakable, this abundant life that Jesus intends for us to have as his representative people of his kingdom, then this series is for you.
And I think you’re really gonna love it. I loved learning it. I’m loving rereading it. I’m loving making these videos, and I want every person who studies these and learns with me to experience how, or learn how to experience a life that is bursting with all the blessings of our new nature in Christ.
And so, next video we’re gonna study is the first beatitude, which is, blessed are the poor in spirit. And I think it will be a delightful surprise to you to learn what that means, because it is remarkable and I can’t wait.
Thanks for joining us.
