"Poor in Spirit & Those Who Mourn" by Caleb Cole

In this message from Matthew 5, Pastor Caleb teaches through the first two Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and “Blessed are those who mourn.” This sermon explores humility, dependence on God, surrender to Jesus, grief, repentance, and the comfort God brings through His presence, forgiveness, and restoration.

• (00:00) - Welcome and Introduction to the Beatitudes
• (00:44) - Understanding the Sermon on the Mount
• (02:10) - Why Crowds Traveled to Hear Jesus
• (04:35) - A Different Kind of Revolution
• (06:13) - The Beatitudes Must Lead Us to Jesus
• (07:24) - Matthew 5 and the First Two Beatitudes
• (07:50) - What Does Blessed Really Mean?
• (11:45) - Present Assurance and Future Promise
• (13:10) - What It Means to Be Poor in Spirit
• (15:52) - Solomon and the Emptiness of Life Without God
• (20:24) - The Kingdom of Heaven and Full Dependence on God
• (27:07) - Depend on God Daily, Not Just in Crisis
• (29:23) - Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
• (31:29) - Learning to Grieve in a Healthy Way
• (35:06) - Mourning Sin, Suffering, and What Breaks God’s Heart
• (37:16) - God’s Comfort, Forgiveness, and Restoration

Creators and Guests

Host

Caleb Cole

Caleb, a Sacramento native, grew up in a pastor’s home and is a third generation minister. At the age of 12, after one of his grandfather’s sermons, he felt a call from God to be a pastor. He consistently pursued that call throughout high school and college. Caleb attended Central Bible College in Springfield, MO where he earned a B.A. in Biblical Studies and went on to the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary where he earned an M.A. in Theological Studies.

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A life-giving Jesus community for a new generation of people in Sacramento.

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Old Sacramento: 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM & 11:45 AM @ 1200 2nd Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
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00;00;00;00 - 00;00;01;02
Caleb Cole
But my name is Caleb.

00;00;01;02 - 00;00;24;00
Caleb Cole
If you're new. Want to welcome you. We are kicking off an all new series today entitled The Way of Jesus. We are going to look at the Beatitudes. This is the beginning of the most famous sermon in all of the Gospels. The most famous sermon we have from Jesus is also the longest sermon we have from Jesus. 13 years ago our church started.

00;00;24;00 - 00;00;44;01
Caleb Cole
We started in a bank in downtown Sacramento, and the first series we ever did was on the Beatitudes. And so I'm bringing it back. 13 years later, we're going to go back through these eight beatitudes. Today. We're going to hit the first two and the rest of this series, these next seven weeks we're going to hit or six weeks we're going to hit the last six.

00;00;44;01 - 00;01;01;04
Caleb Cole
And so if you have your Bibles, we're going to go into Matthew chapter five. It will be on the screen behind me. But I want to give you a little background on this sermon on the Mount. If you were to read the sermon on the Mount from beginning to end, Matthew five six and seven, it would take you seven minutes.

00;01;01;04 - 00;01;22;28
Caleb Cole
So this is your homework this week, okay. Will you agree to this? Nod your heads. Okay. Your homework. Seven minutes of homework. Read Matthew five, six and seven. Get through the whole sermon on the Mount. Now, historians and theologians believe that this was the Cliff notes version. So Matthew, one of the disciples, he penned this gospel, this account of Jesus life.

00;01;22;28 - 00;01;48;25
Caleb Cole
And he wrote down this sermon and historians would say theologians, that this was probably an abridged version, that most likely this sermon was an hour to two hours long. And we know this from several several other references in the scriptures. But we had people that were traveling, some of them a day to two days journey to hear Jesus teach.

00;01;49;01 - 00;02;10;05
Caleb Cole
So Jesus, this is the beginning of his ministry. He bursts on the scene a few weeks before this and word of him spreads very quickly. His social media blows up. Alright, the followers, the repost, the hearts, the likes are going crazy. And so they've all been hearing about it. And here is why. All right, let's go to Matthew four.

00;02;10;05 - 00;02;39;17
Caleb Cole
We're going to go to three verses before Matthew five. Matthew four I'm going to read verse 2423 through 26. And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread. Everybody say famous throughout all Syria. And they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases, pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytic.

00;02;39;17 - 00;03;03;12
Caleb Cole
And he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. So this is why we know that many of these people traveled a day to day's journey to see Jesus. They're coming from this Decapolis deca meaning ten city. So from ten different cities as well as Jerusalem.

00;03;03;12 - 00;03;26;07
Caleb Cole
They're coming as far as beyond the Jordan River. And so this is a trek, a trip for many of them to hear. Jesus. They would have been people who were poor, people who were sick, people who were struggling, people who are oppressed. And they're going to him because they're hearing, this man is teaching in amazing ways, and he can heal you.

00;03;26;07 - 00;03;51;26
Caleb Cole
And so they travel. We believe the, the, the story or the sermon was an hour to two hours. It says that Jesus sat. And we have the reference in other gospels that the people stood. So I want you to to let this be a moment in you, in your American Christianity, our consumer Christianity culture, that we would understand the idea of sacrifice in the house of God.

00;03;51;28 - 00;04;06;22
Caleb Cole
Right. For some of us, it's hard to stand through 30 minutes. Now if you have a physical reason, I get it. But we stand through 30 minutes. For many of us, especially the 10 a.m. service, I'm not going to going to throw you guys under the bus, but for the 10 a.m. service, it's hard for them to sit through my 30 minute message.

00;04;06;29 - 00;04;35;06
Caleb Cole
We got in, out, in, out here or there. Everybody's getting up, everybody's going. We revoked a few people's privileges this morning. Actually. We said, you need to stay put. Okay. And this is just an example that we have a we struggle with our attention span in American culture. And here they sit and they listen to Jesus for an hour to two hours, teach them they traveled because they were hungry, because they were desperate.

00;04;35;12 - 00;05;20;18
Caleb Cole
And these beatitudes that Jesus gives, these AP attitudes, they represented a new set of religious ideals which were rooted in the spirit of love, humility, kindness. Jesus is speaking to this struggling group. They are living under Roman rule. They're living under Roman occupation. They are primarily Jews. This was a group of Jews that he's speaking to, and he's telling them that while your culture is one of force and authority and power and oppression, how you are called to live is generous and kind and loving and seeking justice, with love being the final word.

00;05;20;19 - 00;05;44;11
Caleb Cole
This was a revolution, but not the revolution the people would have been looking for. They were looking for a political leader, a political revolution, someone to rescue them from the oppression of the Roman rule and authority that tax them and oppressed them and persecuted them and and even jailed them. And yet Jesus says, no, my revolution is going to be different.

00;05;44;13 - 00;06;13;10
Caleb Cole
It's a heavenly kingdom I'm coming to bring, not an earthly kingdom. Gandhi himself stated that he tried to live his life by the ideals that he read in this sermon on the Mount, and at the end of his life. Here's what Gandhi said. I lived as righteous as I could, but my whole life I felt that something was missing.

00;06;13;13 - 00;06;36;00
Caleb Cole
Here's what I want to say to you. I'm going to teach you about these attitudes that we are to have as followers of Jesus. This is the way of Jesus. But hear me, if these attitudes do not lead you into real relationship with Jesus, something will be missing. You could follow all the rules and the laws and the attitudes that Jesus gave you to have.

00;06;36;01 - 00;07;00;07
Caleb Cole
But if it isn't centered on knowing Jesus and relationship with Jesus, then something will be missing. Our whole religious being flows from being connected to our Savior. And so while I want you to live this way, I want you to learn from these ideals that Jesus gives us here. It has to flow from connection to him, our heart to his heart.

00;07;00;08 - 00;07;24;08
Caleb Cole
He said, I'm the way, I'm the truth. I'm the life. No man comes to the father except through me. This is about surrendering to the Savior, Jesus. I choose his way and that means I give him my whole life. So let's read Matthew five. We're going to read the first four verses of these Beatitudes and of this sermon on the Mount.

00;07;24;15 - 00;07;50;12
Caleb Cole
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth. And he taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. These are the two beatitudes that I want to present to you today.

00;07;50;13 - 00;08;16;06
Caleb Cole
Now, when we talk about these beatitudes, I want us to think about what it means when Jesus says, blessed, blessed, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meat. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

00;08;16;07 - 00;08;45;17
Caleb Cole
Those are the eight. When Jesus says, blessed, blessed, what is he meaning? Does he mean happiness? We pursue happiness. In American culture, we talk about I just want to do what makes me feel happy all the time. The problem with our pursuit of happiness in our culture is it is rooted in external circumstances or external things. So we think I'll be happy if I get enough zeros in my bank account.

00;08;45;19 - 00;09;11;29
Caleb Cole
I'll be happy if I got the right fit, the right label, the right tag. I'll be happy once I get the house. I'll be happy when I go on the trip. I'll be happy when I have the car. Happiness in our culture is rooted in accumulation. If I just accumulate enough things, then I'll be happy. And we call it the pursuit of happiness.

00;09;12;01 - 00;09;33;11
Caleb Cole
But I think we all would agree that we know a lot of people with a lot of stuff that are not happy. We know a lot of rich people that have no purpose. I know rich people that hate their lives. And so I think we can all agree in this room that being blessed is better than being happy.

00;09;33;14 - 00;09;55;17
Caleb Cole
Choosing the blessed life is better than a happiness, which is a fleeting feeling. It comes and goes like every time I get a new pair of kicks. I like shoes, man. I'm happy. I'm like, oh, let's go. I'll walk a little different that day. Don't I got a little pop in my step. Bouncing my step I got a little bounce in my step.

00;09;55;17 - 00;10;23;10
Caleb Cole
And then three days, three times later of wearing them I'm like, these are old things I need. I need some new shoes, right? I need that new fit. Why? Because it's fleeting. These are temporary things that will not ever satisfy. But what is blessed? We got to define for us to actually go through these two beatitudes today, we have to understand what blessed means when Jesus said that about every single one of these eight.

00;10;23;11 - 00;10;55;28
Caleb Cole
So what is blessed? Well, we can look at it from the Greek. The word blessed is the Greek word Makarios. And this Greek word Makarios means joyful or extremely thriving. I want you to think about it in that context. Extremely thriving. Are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Extremely thriving are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

00;10;55;28 - 00;11;21;02
Caleb Cole
It almost feels like it doesn't fit. And you say, no, I want to be blessed. But blessed is not determined by our circumstances. I'm morning, but I'm still blessed. I'm pouring spirit, but I'm still blessed. It is a pledge. Here's how I would define it. Blessed a pledge of divine reward for the inner spiritual character of the righteous.

00;11;21;04 - 00;11;45;09
Caleb Cole
In other words, it is Jesus description of the spiritual attitude and state of people who are right with God. It is a state of being to be blessed. It is a state of living that we operate in as followers of God when we are fully surrendered. Now we have to understand these beatitudes. They're made up of two things every beatitude.

00;11;45;09 - 00;12;23;26
Caleb Cole
All eight. Again, I'm giving you a little intro here. They're all ascribed this a beatitude consists of number one, a present assurance, and number two a future promise. So look at it. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Present assurance. For they shall be comforted. Future promise said that wrong, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Future promise. Second one blessed are those who mourn present assurance, for they shall be comforted.

00;12;23;28 - 00;12;50;18
Caleb Cole
Future promise. Jesus explains what these beatitudes, what's happening now? But what is actually coming in the future to those who live this kind of surrendered life to him? This is the kind of person that Jesus wants you to be. These beatitudes, attitudes of being asked how Jesus wants you to be, wants you to live the mindset. He wants you to have the heart.

00;12;50;19 - 00;13;10;16
Caleb Cole
He wants you to operate in the spirit in which you carry. So we need to go through these two today. The first being blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Because I heard this. I've read this. I talked to some people before church.

00;13;10;16 - 00;13;37;12
Caleb Cole
I was like, oh, I'm going to, I'm going to talk about being poor in spirit today. They're like, I don't even know what that means. So how do we define being poor in spirit? Here's what it is. First, it's humility. When I'm poor in spirit, I'm humble in a culture that actually encourages us to be prideful, a culture that actually encourages us, that it's all about me.

00;13;37;15 - 00;13;57;19
Caleb Cole
A culture that tells us to to celebrate ourselves. That we would actually humble ourselves and hear me. Humility is a choice. Some of you battle pride more than others. Some of you, because we have sin, natures are more inclined towards pride than others, and so this may be a harder battle for many of you than it is for some of you.

00;13;57;23 - 00;14;22;24
Caleb Cole
But ultimately it is a call. I'm spirit, I choose humility. I choose every day to lower myself. I choose every day less of me. More of you. God. I choose every day to elevate other people. I choose every day to say I'm going to be and live for others, not just for myself. I choose humility. But here's the bigger part of being poor in spirit.

00;14;22;26 - 00;14;36;27
Caleb Cole
I want you to to soak this up right now. This is the main idea of what it is to be poor in spirit. It is an awareness of your need for God.

00;14;37;00 - 00;15;00;28
Caleb Cole
That I am fully aware that I need God. That apart from God I can do nothing, that I am empty without him. I'm broken without him, I'm sinful. Without him I would not have breath in my lungs. If it was over him, I wouldn't have the talent I have because of him and some of us, we go, but I built this, I did this, I built this business, I built this family, right?

00;15;01;00 - 00;15;25;20
Caleb Cole
I got gifts, I got talents. All of that is because of him. And when I'm aware of that, that's what poor in spirit looks like. It's connected to humility. I'm aware that without him, I'm nothing. What am I talking about? I'm talking about full dependency. That I am fully dependent on God. You know what? It's not. It's not pride.

00;15;25;23 - 00;15;52;10
Caleb Cole
It's not self-sufficiency. It's not in. I got this mentality that many of us have in social media tells us to carry. I got this, I did this, I built this, I accomplish this. No, no, no, it's apart from him. I can do nothing. I need him fully. We can illustrate this really clearly with the life of Solomon. You know, Solomon, if you've been in the church for any part of time.

00;15;52;17 - 00;16;15;29
Caleb Cole
Any amount of time. Solomon was a son of David. He became king. He was known as the wisest king, but he was also known as the richest king. We see in Scripture that he had. He lived a lavish lifestyle. He had everything at his disposal. It says in Scripture that that he had so much gold. It was like rocks in his kingdom.

00;16;16;02 - 00;16;39;11
Caleb Cole
It says in Scripture that he had so much money that they wouldn't even wash his palace or the temple with water. They wash the palace and temple with all, which in this day was extremely expensive. And they put out the pressure washer and they were just like, let's clean off the palace, let's clean off the the temple with the oil.

00;16;39;13 - 00;17;05;12
Caleb Cole
It says that he had money. The Queen of Sheba came and said, I've never seen such wisdom in such riches. It says that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, three for every day of the year. And it also tells us, yeah, this is why we have project kids. You guys should have taken them up, taking them up.

00;17;05;14 - 00;17;30;16
Caleb Cole
It also says that he indulged himself sexually. The Bible is in G-rated. You feel me? Okay, so here's Solomon. He's got everything you could ever want. He's got the respect of all the nations around. They feared him. He had so many thousands of chariots and and millions of of people in his army and all the sex he could ever want to have, he got.

00;17;30;19 - 00;18;07;05
Caleb Cole
And he gets to the end of his life, and he pens a journal that we call Ecclesiastes. And at the end of his life he writes in Ecclesiastes and he writes vanity, vanity. It's all vanity. Talking about himself, he calls himself vanity. What is vanity mean? It means empty. He says, empty. Empty. My life is empty. I had all the money and all the sex and all the things and and all the power and all the authority.

00;18;07;07 - 00;18;30;27
Caleb Cole
And he says at the end of Ecclesiastes, but I see what the purpose of a man is, and it is to serve God. It took him his whole life. You see, he was wise in some areas, but obviously not in a lot of areas. I can only handle one wife. You feel me? You know what I'm saying?

00;18;30;29 - 00;18;59;26
Caleb Cole
Why do I tell you this? Because Solomon is an example of what happens to us. We pursue all the things of this world. We could get all the riches, have all this stuff, have all this sex. But apart from God, we are nothing. Our life was meant to be lived to please him. Many of you are rocking your Kate Spade purses today.

00;18;59;28 - 00;19;29;15
Caleb Cole
Designer, famous, wealthy. Killed herself at the end of her life. Why? Because I know a lot of rich people, a lot of famous people, and they're just looking at the end of their lives and at times in their lives going, vanity, vanity, it's all empty. It means nothing. Why? Because you were meant to be poor in spirit. You were meant to acknowledge, I need God, and when I have him, my life is full.

00;19;29;18 - 00;19;53;26
Caleb Cole
God is not against us having material things. Don't get it twisted. All right? I'm fine with you. Have a material things. The Bible talks about it. The Bible talks about financial blessing. It talks about how God will provide for you, how he'll fill your vats. But ultimately, the greater construct of happiness is what happens on the inside, not what happens on the outside.

00;19;53;29 - 00;20;23;29
Caleb Cole
Jesus is saying here you are better off than the person who is well off but doesn't have me. You could have all the things of this world. You know a lot of rich people who have no purpose, no hope are depressed and discouraged. And then here's what he says. He says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

00;20;24;01 - 00;20;46;19
Caleb Cole
He says, this is the doorway to heaven. How do you get the kingdom of heaven? How do you receive the kingdom of heaven? You are poor in spirit and what is poor in spirit. It is an awareness of my need for God, full dependency on God. And so here's what I want to say to you, because I think there's some of you in this room.

00;20;46;21 - 00;21;09;21
Caleb Cole
You're actually not here. What do I mean? You're not in the space and place of full dependency on God. You're not in the space and place of acknowledging how much you need God. You maybe have come in and say, unaware of your need for God. And so here's what I would say to you at the end of this service.

00;21;09;23 - 00;21;32;04
Caleb Cole
And it meant need to start now that you would beg God to help you get there, that you would in this room say, help me, want you. God. I don't just want all the things of this world, all the treasure and the stuff in the house and the money and and the cars and and the relationships. I want you, I want you first and foremost.

00;21;32;05 - 00;21;58;27
Caleb Cole
Help me to be aware that I need you. God, I can do nothing apart from you. Some of you need to beg him for this today. Why? Because if you are not there, the Bible is clear. You will not inherit the kingdom of God. And this is why I'm telling you. Because I don't want any of you to miss out on what is actually an eternal promise.

00;21;58;29 - 00;22;23;07
Caleb Cole
But what is theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If we defined it. Because whenever you hear that, you're like, this is the King of heaven, what does he mean? Mean, Caleb? Well, first, is Jesus redefining citizenship. The Jews up even now they were big on their heritage. We are God's chosen people. God ushered in his his saving process through us, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

00;22;23;07 - 00;22;50;14
Caleb Cole
He chose us. And Jesus is speaking on this sermon on the Mount to a crowd of Jews, and he's telling them, yours is the kingdom of heaven. I'm not here to establish an earthly kingdom. I'm not here to make the Jews back in political power. I'm here to enter and release something that is heavenly and is actually for all people, not just one group of people.

00;22;50;17 - 00;22;57;24
Caleb Cole
So he's telling them, you are not a citizen of this world.

00;22;57;26 - 00;23;22;11
Caleb Cole
You will either be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven or not. And I want you to receive this now. I think it's great that we identify with with different aspects of our culture. Okay. Like, like hear me. In a few weeks, we're going to celebrate the 250th birthday of America, and we're going to celebrate. We're in a light off fireworks.

00;23;22;11 - 00;23;44;18
Caleb Cole
Some of you guys are legal ones. And and we're going to we're going to we're going to barbecue and we're going to. Yeah. America. America. It's great. My wife, she's Filipino, you know what I'm saying? So we get down all the Filipino culture, you know, we're eating the chicken adobo and the Olympia and the punch. I had it last night straight up punch and limpia last night for dinner.

00;23;44;18 - 00;24;07;02
Caleb Cole
Come on, praise God. And and and and we're going to celebrate Filipino culture. She's got a small group. They call themselves the Asian hood. You know, like the Asians. They get down together where my Asians at. Shout out where my Filipinos at? Come on, come on, come on. All right. So, so.

00;24;07;04 - 00;24;27;11
Caleb Cole
We got Hispanics over here where my Puerto Ricans, where my Mexicans, where my Dominicans. Okay, okay. We even got some Canadians in here. My mom's over here. Give it up for the Canadians. Come on. It's a nice day, you know?

00;24;27;13 - 00;24;54;11
Caleb Cole
We got people of African descent in here. Where am I at? Look, this is all great. We can celebrate our cultures and enjoy our cultures. And I enjoy, you know, all the cultures. But at the end of the day, that is secondary to our primary citizenship. I am first and foremost a citizen of heaven. And every person, no matter what they look like background, skin color, melanin level.

00;24;54;16 - 00;25;19;18
Caleb Cole
Right? It doesn't matter. They're my brothers and sisters. If they love Jesus and that comes first before anything else. So celebrate our culture. But what Jesus is saying is, yeah, you're Jews. That's all good. But I'm not here to establish a Jewish state. I'm here to establish a heavenly kingdom. And this is for all.

00;25;19;21 - 00;25;46;20
Caleb Cole
Not only that, but when he says theirs is the kingdom of heaven, he's telling them that you have access to God's rule and his presence right now, meaning the kingdom of heaven goes with you wherever you go. So if I walk into my job and I'm prideful, meaning I'm not poor in spirit, that means the kingdom of heaven isn't going with me the way it's supposed to go with me.

00;25;46;22 - 00;26;06;26
Caleb Cole
If I go in there and I'm going to hurt whoever and betray whoever, stab whoever in the back to get my leg up. I'm not humbling myself. I'm not walking poor in spirit. I don't bring the kingdom of heaven with me. And what Jesus is saying is, yes, the kingdom of heaven is an eternal promise, and I'm going to actually renew all things.

00;26;06;28 - 00;26;24;16
Caleb Cole
He says. One day I'm coming back and and I'm going to create a new heavens and a new earth. There'll be no more death, no more pain, no more suffering, no more tears. I'm going to do all that. But right now I'm bringing heaven to you. And then you take heaven wherever you go.

00;26;24;18 - 00;26;49;04
Caleb Cole
So he's redefining even the access we have to his rule and his presence in our lives. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven in eternity. But also right now. Do you see that you're carrying the kingdom of heaven with you right now, but you can't carry it if you're not poor in spirit?

00;26;49;07 - 00;27;07;13
Caleb Cole
Here's my one sentence to summarize this first beatitude. If you're taking notes, you should write this down. I will depend on God daily, not just when I'm in crisis.

00;27;07;15 - 00;27;31;00
Caleb Cole
If I'm poor in spirit, my dependance is in God. Every day, every morning, every afternoon, every night. Not just when things are bad, not just when the marriage is struggling. Not just when someone in my family dies. Not just when it's convenient. No, every day I am fully dependent on God. And I acknowledge that. And I tell him that.

00;27;31;00 - 00;27;52;02
Caleb Cole
And I thank him for that, that his presence is with me. I can illustrate this. This might be a little harsh, Philip. So me and me and Philip, we're actually in a Tuesday morning men's prayer group. And the Senate bought you, so you're good. He's on there every single week. But Tuesday morning, 6:30 a.m., we have a handful of guys that get together.

00;27;52;02 - 00;28;18;28
Caleb Cole
We pray on zoom every, every single Tuesday. And it's pretty much the same consistent guys that are always on there. We pray over each other and we confess our sins and it's great. But what's interesting to me is every few months we'll have a guy pop in and he'll pop in for like 2 or 3 weeks, and when he pops in for 2 or 3 weeks, he just pours out all the things he's going through.

00;28;19;01 - 00;28;37;08
Caleb Cole
I'm struggling, struggling financially, struggling. My marriage. Right. It's different things. And I'll pour it out, pour it out and we pray over them and look, there's Grace and I'm glad he's on there. I'm glad he's coming to his brothers. And then we won't see him for like 3 or 4 months. And then 3 or 4 months later he comes back on.

00;28;37;08 - 00;28;59;16
Caleb Cole
And now it's a new crisis that he's going through. Now there's no hate. God's a judge, not me. But here's what I would caution us on it. The only time we go to God and pray is when things are tough. When we're going through crisis, we are not living a fully dependent life. We are not fully surrendered. We are not fully poor in spirit.

00;28;59;16 - 00;29;19;15
Caleb Cole
I'm not saying you're not going to pray more when you go through crisis and struggles. You will. But it has to be a daily relationship. I have to seek God every day. I have to choose him every day. I have to be dependent on him every day. I depend on God daily, not just when I'm in Christ. This is too real, Philip.

00;29;19;18 - 00;29;23;13
Caleb Cole
It's too real.

00;29;23;15 - 00;29;50;17
Caleb Cole
Second beatitude blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Now this one is a little easier to define, isn't it? Okay, Caleb, I get mourning. So when someone dies, God's going to comfort them. No, no, there's a lot more to this than that. So let me show you what is mourning. Define. We look at the original language.

00;29;50;22 - 00;30;14;19
Caleb Cole
It literally means to feel deep sorrow. Last Sunday, I walked in here after the 10 a.m. service. I was out front greeting people, saying, what's up to you? And this husband and wife walked in and I was like, hey guys, happy Mother's Day. She looked at me and she said, I went to my mom's funeral yesterday. She died this week.

00;30;14;21 - 00;30;36;28
Caleb Cole
And I said, I'm so sorry. And there was a moment of mourning that I sensed and I conveyed to her, why don't I tell you this? Because we don't know what people are bringing in here. We don't know what battles people are facing. And I'm guessing there are people in this room right now who are feeling deep sorrow.

00;30;37;04 - 00;31;06;24
Caleb Cole
You are in English. You are mourning something. And I just want to tell you you are blessed. Wait, Caleb, didn't you tell me? That means extremely thriving? Yes. You are blessed even in your morning. Why? Because there is a God that comes in and comforts you in the midst of that. And not only that, but morning in death and suffering is a part of life, and it actually teaches us to be more dependent on God.

00;31;06;26 - 00;31;29;26
Caleb Cole
It teaches us to be more poor in spirit. That's why these two go together. And so we need to learn to grieve church. That grief is a gift from God to drain your system of deep pain. Here's what's unfortunate in our culture about sorrow and grieving.

00;31;29;28 - 00;32;02;25
Caleb Cole
Is that we tell people, especially men, to get over it, suck it up, rub some dirt on it, stop crying. And we teach our men that that is the norm. And so then as men, we grow up just stuffing all the pain, stuffing all the burdens, and stuffing all the feelings. And we wonder why we feel so stressed and why we feel so anxiety ridden.

00;32;02;25 - 00;32;36;29
Caleb Cole
Why we feel so disconnected from God. It's because in the ancient world, they understood morning when someone would die, they would all like put on sackcloth and ashes and they would sit. They would hire whalers to come. When I say whalers like screamers, and they would sit in houses for a week straight and scream and cry and call out to God, they would hire people to weep alongside of them, to mourn.

00;32;37;02 - 00;33;13;04
Caleb Cole
And we tell people, oh, get over it. We're afraid to even check on how are you doing? How are you feeling? Because we're so untouched with our feelings. And I'm a man raising this culture. And that's how how I lived. And my wife will tell you. Caleb's a robot for years. Like she never seen me cry. In these last few years, God has just begun to unlock different things within me and begin to show me that it's okay to to have emotion and show emotion, whether it's frustration or anger or pain or joy or or sadness or mourning or loneliness, it's okay that you're lonely.

00;33;13;06 - 00;33;30;28
Caleb Cole
You know, as a pastor, I feel lonely a lot. It's okay that I feel lonely. And I used to think lonely. Like, that's that's soft. Caleb, you can't be lonely. And then I realized, you know what loneliness is? Just feeling unsupported. How often in my life I felt alone. I felt unsupported, like I'm doing this on my own.

00;33;30;28 - 00;33;47;11
Caleb Cole
I'm carrying this burden myself. And I realized I gotta talk about this. And so me and my wife started doing something. We started doing the emotion wheel every Friday. We learned it in connection codes. You guys should all go through our marriage course the next time it comes back around the connection codes. And so me and my wife, we still use this tool every Friday.

00;33;47;13 - 00;34;04;25
Caleb Cole
So two weeks ago Friday I'm a I'm telling my wife we get we get we go through like joy, sadness anger loneliness. And I get to I get to guilt. I start talking about my son's.

00;34;04;27 - 00;34;29;23
Caleb Cole
How having been the best father at times, and I just started weeping in this coffee shop, I felt so lame. Okay, I'm just going to tell you as I'm doing it right now, and I'm just weeping in this coffee and I can't stop. And, you know, some of y'all are like, yeah, that would give me the IC. Let me just tell you right now, my wife, she felt more attracted to me than ever.

00;34;29;23 - 00;34;38;00
Caleb Cole
She's like, we're going home right now. I said, the kids are in school. Praise God, let's go.

00;34;38;02 - 00;34;42;20
Caleb Cole
I had to stop myself from crying, so I made a joke. Okay.

00;34;42;22 - 00;35;06;08
Caleb Cole
Why do I tell you that? Because it's okay to grieve. To grieve with those who grieve. The Bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice. Mourn with those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. But. But what do I mourn? Do I just mourn my, my, my, my lost loved ones? Do I just mourn when people die?

00;35;06;09 - 00;35;32;21
Caleb Cole
No, actually, when Jesus is teaching this, it's actually more to what your morning that actually mourn that I'm broken in this matters. So what am I mourning? I'm grieving my own sin. What if God's people were grieved over their own sin? And let me tell you, we got a lot of them. Let me tell you, every day I sin.

00;35;32;21 - 00;35;45;22
Caleb Cole
And what if I mourned every time I broke God's heart? When have I grieved? Every time I grieve the heart of God.

00;35;45;25 - 00;36;13;28
Caleb Cole
But you see, you can't mourn correctly as a Christian if you are not poor in spirit. You see, it's more than just grieving over lost loved ones. It's more than just grieving over our own sin. It's also did. I would mourn over the injustice in the world that I would mourn over suffering and lost people do. When I drive down the streets of Sacramento, I don't go all these disgusting homeless in these needles.

00;36;13;29 - 00;36;34;13
Caleb Cole
No, I'm I'm mourning that these people are lost, that they don't know Jesus, that they're feeling the the hole in their heart and the void in their life with substances. I mourn that we need a generation that that mourns for things that matter again.

00;36;34;16 - 00;36;39;07
Caleb Cole
It's not. Whoops, I messed up.

00;36;39;09 - 00;37;16;16
Caleb Cole
It's God, I'm sorry I broke your heart. Now, now let me get to the promise. Right. So. So there's the. I read it to you. There's the present assurance. There's the future promise. Blessed are those who mourn. For they shall be comforted. How do we define this? That his presence is there in my pain? The presence of God meets me in the middle of my pain.

00;37;16;16 - 00;37;41;16
Caleb Cole
It meets me in the middle of my loss. It meets me when when I'm struggling with and it meets me in my in my anxiety. It meets me in my depression. It meets me in my discouragement. It meets me in my my struggling marriage. His presence comes in. They shall be comforted. It's also his forgiveness for sin. Do you hear me?

00;37;41;18 - 00;38;03;16
Caleb Cole
This should come for you. You're going to sin every day. You're going to break God's heart. Men. Many of you looked up porn this week. It broke God's heart. But hear me. It's his forgiveness for your sin. You don't have to stay in the shame and the guilt and the condemnation of your failure. No, I confess it, I mourn it, and then I get up and go.

00;38;03;17 - 00;38;28;07
Caleb Cole
I'm forgiven. I'm free. I'm not going to go back to the same things, though. I'm going to do better this week. It's his forgiveness for your sin. That's what his comfort looks like. And then finally, it's his restoration over time. I said earlier that he will renew you. You will be sanctified. The process of being made holy. Hear me.

00;38;28;08 - 00;38;49;16
Caleb Cole
You, sir. Jesus for ten years and you're fully committed. You're poor in spirit. You give them all that you have. I guarantee you you will be more like him. Ten years later than you were ten years ago. I'm more like Jesus now at 44 than I was coming out of college at 24.

00;38;49;18 - 00;39;14;07
Caleb Cole
He will restore you, but he will also restore all things. He's going to renew the heavens and the earth. He's going to create a perfection for you to live in. This should comfort you that when my life ends, my life doesn't end. And if I am poor in spirit and fully dependent on God, I have an eternal promise of perfection with him.

00;39;14;10 - 00;39;42;18
Caleb Cole
So let me summarize this in one sentence. Blessed are those who mourn. They shall be comforted. I will be comforted by God, not fix it myself or get over it. You don't have to fix it. You don't have to get over it. You can let him come into your pain and comfort you. So, with heads bowed and eyes closed in the room, I'd like to ask you a couple questions first.

00;39;42;21 - 00;39;57;18
Caleb Cole
You're here, you say, Caleb, I've not been born spirit. I have not fully surrendered. I've not lived my life fully dependent on God. And today I need to give my life to Jesus for the first time. And you rededicate myself if that's your own. Want you to lift your hand, go shoot it up. That's you. Yeah. 12345. Six.

00;39;57;18 - 00;40;19;24
Caleb Cole
Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. 11. 12. 13. Amazing. 14. You can put them down. Put them down. Second thing, you're in this place, said Caleb. By morning, I don't know what it is. Morning. I lost one morning. Your relationship morning. Your sin. I'm morning. I'm mourning the feeling I have a morning, a loss of a job, your morning. And you need to be comforted today in this place.

00;40;19;24 - 00;40;32;11
Caleb Cole
Just lift your hands. Say that's me. I'm morning, I'm morning. There's hands going up all around the room. Morning can put them down.

00;40;32;13 - 00;41;00;22
Caleb Cole
Want to ask you right now to repeat this after me. Everyone in here say this prayer with me. Say Jesus. Today I confess my sin and I choose you. Not self-reliance, but God reliance. You are sufficient. You are enough. Today I give you all of me. I surrender wholeheartedly, and I thank you that you give me a promise.

00;41;00;22 - 00;41;28;08
Caleb Cole
And now I know the kingdom of heaven is mine. I received that Jesus and I thank you for dying for me taking my sin so that I could be forgiven and free forever. In your name, Amen. Come on, let's give God a shout of praise for all these people to raise their hands. I want to do something a little different.

00;41;28;09 - 00;41;45;06
Caleb Cole
Would you stand your feet? Here's what I want to do. A lot of people are mourning right now. The Bible tells us to actually pray for one another, to lift each other's burdens. So here's what I want you to. If you're morning and you need to be comforted in this moment, I want you to lift your hands so everyone can see it.

00;41;45;07 - 00;42;08;13
Caleb Cole
Go ahead and put it up. Now, I want you to find someone with a hand near you, and I want you to put your hand on their shoulder. If they got their hand up and you don't put a hand on their shoulder, and we're going to pray, comfort over those who are mourning right now in this room. And so, Jesus, we come before you and we thank you that your Word tells us that you are the comforter.

00;42;08;16 - 00;42;33;03
Caleb Cole
Your Holy Spirit was meant to come and comfort us. Lord, right now we confess our morning. We're mourning our sin. We're mourning loss. We're mourning pain. We're mourning. The state we find ourselves in mentally. We're mourning a loss of a relationship. We're mourning in our marriage, Lord. We're mourning our finances. We're morning. We lost the job. But right now, I pray that you would come for your people.

00;42;33;05 - 00;43;02;23
Caleb Cole
It says they shall be comforted. May your presence touch them right now. May your presence infiltrate their hearts. If we need to grieve, may we grieve. If we need to mourn, may we let out the pain through grieving and mourning that you call us to let out. Lord, comfort those right now. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Thank you guys for praying over one another.

00;43;02;26 - 00;43;17;06
Caleb Cole
Here's what I want to do. If you raise your hand to receive Jesus, our hosts are here in the front. They're going to walk back. They got a card for you to fill out. We're going to send you more information and invite you to a discipleship class if you want to jump in. And we have free Bibles to.

00;43;17;07 - 00;43;40;26
Caleb Cole
So you can also tell them that you need one of those. So just wave at them. They're going to walk back right now and they'll give you a card. You can fill that out. For the rest of you. Here's what I want to challenge you with. You have homework. Seven minutes. Read Matthew 567. All right. And then I want to encourage you to be here through this series, these seven weeks, so we can follow the way of Jesus and be blessed.

00;43;40;27 - 00;43;59;03
Caleb Cole
Who wants to be blessed in this room? Amen. Hey, love you guys. God bless you. Have an amazing rest of your Sunday if you need prayer. Our prayer team will be here. Have an amazing rest of your day. Love you all.

00;43;59;06 - 00;44;02;17
Chrissy Cole
Thank you for being a part of our online community here at Project Church.

00;44;02;18 - 00;44;05;29
Chrissy Cole
We hope that this message and the whole service bless your life.

00;44;06;02 - 00;44;22;07
Caleb Cole
Yeah. And if it did, we want to ask that you would do something for us. First of all, if you're not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, be sure to subscribe. Like this video. But also, we would ask that you would consider financially supporting what God is doing through Project Church. You can give in a variety of ways.

00;44;22;10 - 00;44;37;16
Caleb Cole
You can text project to 97,000. Right now. You can give to our Church Center app, or you can give on our website project church.com/give. Thanks so much for being a part of our online community. And once again God bless you guys. We'll see you soon.