Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

From Background Notes [BN] for May 26^th & 27^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

We are a blessed people, Jesus tells his often despairing audience, because God has chosen to bring down His heavenly rule to earth on those who desperately need it.


Thus, for example, we are not blessed because we are poor, but we are blessed because God decided to stand with the poor in their need. From 5:1-2 we discover an audience larger than the twelve disciples, for Jesus “saw the crowds” and this prompted him to go “up on the mountainside” where his disciples surrounded him, but where he taught the wider group. Mountains formed excellent amphitheater acoustics, as Moses discovered more than a millennium before (see Deuteronomy 11:29 where Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal served this function). Jesus wanted his wider audience to hear him as he pronounced God’s blessings on them.  [BN, 3-4]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene –

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am, 5:30pm