September 14, 2025

• Welcome and Announcements
• 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
• Better is One Day
• Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:1-12
• He Will Hold Me Fast
• Pastor's Message - The Happy Hurting
• Lord's Supper
• My Hope is Built

Matthew 5:1-12

¹ When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
² He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
³ "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
⁵ "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
⁶ "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
⁷ "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
⁸ "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
⁹ "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
¹⁰ "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
¹¹ "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

SERMON NOTES - The Happy Hurting

INTRODUCTION

• Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount by describing people who are blessed.
• The people in Jesus' day understood the word "blessed" to mean a state of inner joy and contentment that comes from being in right relationship with God. Implied in that is an inner satisfaction and sufficiency that did not depend on outward circumstances for happiness.
• It was not about material prosperity or favorable circumstances, but rather about a spiritual state of well-being and prosperity
• Blessed are the poor in spirit -
• In a nutshell poor in spirit mean having an attitude of complete dependence on the grace of God. It is not only an admission that we are sinners but is also a confession that there is nothing that we can do to make ourselves right with God.
• Poor in spirit means recognizing that apart from faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are completely, helplessly, and hopelessly lost, separated from God and destined for the judgment of hell.
• "There is no one in the kingdom of God who is not poor in spirit. It is the fundamental characteristic of the Christian and of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and all the other characteristics are in a sense the result of this one." - John Blanchard

THE PICTURE OF MOURNING

• The word used here for mourn is one of the strongest words in the Greek language for mourn and means to grieve over, to be sad for, to weep for, to experience sorrow.
• There are many who interpret mourning as a spiritual mourning, mourning for sin and connect it to the first beatitude, blessed are the poor in spirit If indeed there is an order to the Beatitudes and they are not spoken randomly or haphazardly, then it is not hard to seen the relationship between poor in spirit and those who mourn. To be poor in spirit is to be convicted of your sin, and to mourn is to be sorrowful and repentant for it.
• Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. Repentance is more than a once-for-all act that initiates salvation. It is an ongoing choice, a change of mind that sees sin as wrong, confesses it, and rejects it. The change of mind that is the heart of repentance, should become a pattern of thinking, a lifestyle.
• The Christian life is not a life of imitation but a life of a life of transformation. It is the life of Jesus being lived in and through us. It is His Spirit that empowers us to live because the Christian life is a supernatural life.
• It is this aspect of sanctification which can sometimes be hard, humbling and even personally painful that causes spiritual mourning.
• The mourning results in blessing because God gives His comfort which is why I believes that blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted expands beyond mourning for sin.

THE PROVISION OF COMFORT

• When we do mourn for our sin we are blessed because we have the provision of God's salvation.
• Our sin should produce a genuine sorrow and repentance but the reason we are blessed when we mourn is because of the assurance of God's salvation and forgiveness.
• In addition to mourning for sin I want to expand the meaning to include mourning because of sin, to broaden the application beyond personal sin, to the problem of evil and suffering in general.
• I am not going to attempt a lengthy answer at this point but I will point out a few truths. First, God is not evil. Second, God has given people the gift of choice. Third, God is completely sovereign which means He can do what He wants, how He wants, and when He wants.

CONCLUSION

• The reason that those who mourn are blessed is because they shall be comforted. Comforted is a word that means to call to one's side, to summon to one's side, or more simply, to ask for help.