1. The Problem: Sin Brought Poverty and a Poverty Mindset Genesis 3:17-19 NLT - And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.   It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.   By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” 2. The Cure: God Will See To It Genesis 22:6-8 NLT -   So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together,   Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”   “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. Genesis 22:13-14 NLT -   Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.   Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” 3. The Gospel: Jesus Brings Good News to the Poor Luke 4:18-19 NKJV - “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;   To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Five Dimensions of Poverty: a. Emotional – Heal the Brokenhearted b. Physical – Liberty to the Captives c. Spiritual – Recovery of Sight to the Blind d. Mental – Set at Liberty those who are Oppressed e. Social/Relational – Acceptable Year of The Lord’s Favor Matthew 27:27-29 NLT - Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire regiment.   They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.    They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”  Psalms 146:7-9 NLT - He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down. The LORD loves the godly. The LORD protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.