God, why not? We’re influenced by our culture and our culture tells us, society tells us, the advertising industry tells us that we’re successful if we have lots of money, a nice house, two cars, big flat screen TV’s dotted all around the place. Not because they deserve it but because Jesus died to purchase that forgiveness for them. Grieving is grieving, it’s a process, there are different stages of grieving that are well understood by psychologists and counsellors. Maybe just maybe, meekness isn’t what we think it is? God’s Abundant Blessings The pandemic has changed all of our lives. In part it means integrity and virtue, purity of life but that’s still not all of it. Who doesn’t want to be blessed? The first sermon of our 2018 series focusing on the Gospel and money, Abundance: The Overflow of God’s Blessings. Paul begins Ephesians with a call for God to be blessed on account of His blessing us “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. Download audio file, In this world, expectations are incredibly important. I don’t think that there’s a one of us who likes injustice, or evil, or bad behaviour in other people. No, what that means is worshipping God and knowing that we are called children! I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again and I’ve received this command from my Father. The ones who are truly blessed are the ones who recognise who they truly are. We know all that theory but that’s for other people. •• For those who serve and obey Him, He is “the Lord who HEALS YOU.” 2. But then he loses just about everything except his wife. And yet so often our expectations of God’s blessing are exactly the same as little short dumpy Berni back on that park with Mr Moore, his teacher. How come things aren’t easier than what they are? In fact, these days, pretty much, we …. So have a listen, this is the well known Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 to 12 and it’s all about the blessing that God has for us, the kind of blessing we may not expect: When Jesus saw the crowds he went up the mountain and after he sat down with his disciples when they came to him. Jesus, the Son of God, miracle man, could do anything, here He was in our midst but how did He use His power? And we’re going to do that by unpacking exactly what it is that Jesus has to say about God’s blessings. Receive the FRESH devotional free daily. The meek are those who with all their heart want to see God’s will done and not theirs. Praising God will give you favor. Copyright © 2020 The Church of St. John the Divine, all rights reserved. The Devoted Became the Devotees Acts 2:42-27 February 3, 2002 Intro: A. If God’s blessing me then those are the things that I have but if one of those things isn’t quite right, if one of those expectations isn’t quite being met then obviously God isn’t blessing me. There he hired a bunch of guys to work in his vineyard for an agreed upon rate of pay. So we’re playing happily enough until he blows the whistle and makes a decision which falls against my team, can I tell you something? See faith is the assurance of things that we’re hoping for and the absolute strong conviction of the things we can’t see. ), and they carefully planted nine tomato plants in several of the raised boxes along with green beans, carrots, zucchini, black-eyed peas and serrano peppers; they gently packed the soil around each little plant and seed and then watered them in. The pandemic has changed all of our lives. Because if we have the wrong expectations of someone or something, then it’s pretty much certain that we’re going to be disappointed. You see those people who perhaps feel like others are always walking over the top of them, treating them like a door mat, they struggle with this too and if any of those describe you then of course you’re going to be struggling when Jesus said: And for the same reason that I struggled with it because, well that great character from the long running TV series MASH, Father Mulcahy, put it really nicely when he said, “The meek may inherit the earth but it’s the grumpy who get promoted.”. Thank you for giving as the Holy Spirit leads, to help share the Gospel of Christ with countless people, in over 160 countries around the world. That’s how our thinking often goes, maybe not quite as vocally as that, maybe we wouldn’t quite put it in those words but when we’re mourning and grieving and going through the pain of loss so often it’s made doubly worse, like a double whammy, because at the same time it feels like God’s forsaken us. In this world, expectations are incredibly important. God proprtioneth His blessings according to His own greatness. ... with abundance”. Jesus was powerful and meek, the lion and the lamb. Our God of abundant love and solutions will in the splendour of His Majesty couple with his sovereignty touch all areas of your life that has defiled solutions since January this year or years past. I didn’t think so and yet Jesus has the temerity to say: Now let’s unpick that just quickly so we understand the full force of what He’s saying. (short prayer) Now, you’ve been blessed to be a blessing. I threw a fit, man I let him have it. God's Place Of Blessing Preached 8/6/2008. There is a 57-58 year gap between the events in chapters 6 and 7. See my childhood tantrum on that soccer park is kind of a great little parable of our childish understanding of God’s idea of blessing. But isn’t it funny how that strong sense of right and wrong stays with us. That’s one way of saying it. I love that saying, I love the saying, “no mans a total loss, he can always be used as a bad example” because it so well fits with who I was and what I did. And where Jesus saw injustice, where He saw religious hypocrisy, where He saw oppression He was like a lion, He tore it apart and yet this same Jesus used his power not to create an organisation or to gain power in the political system, He used His power to die for you and me. How wonderful it is to stand and receive the multitude of blessings showed upon me from God today! Sometimes they wield great power, other times they sit silent and suffer loss and abuse. ... helping you be all that God made you to be, because He plans on shining His light into this world through you. Am I? Hmm? Memorise: Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. And often it is the struggles and trials, the aching disappointments and the unfulfilled longings that best enable us to do that. Every time I fall short of God’s glory, every time I let Him down, every time I sin in my life I’m so disappointed with myself. Meekness is not a quality that you hear many people talking about. It’s kind of bizarre to look back on because the pain and the mourning went on, as I said, for quite some time but in the middle of that was God, very real, very present, to comfort me through and I came out of that time a totally different person, far from perfect let me hasten to add, but totally different. Perhaps it was the “manure tea” (look it up on Google if you’re not familiar with this magic potion) we made as a natural fertilizer that exploded the numbers; but, maybe, just maybe, it was God at work combining his soil, his nutrients, his sun, his rainwater that made his plants so productive; we just supplied some helping hands along the way. The teacher’s name, I remember this, was Mr Moore. Luke 6:38. Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy. And yet, when it comes to injustice or evil or bad behaviour in us, well, then …. So … …. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here because that’s not what He was into, in fact the religious leaders of the day were into that sort of religion and Jesus tore into them for that, He tore shreds off them. e: in@christianityworks.com, p: +27 31 767 0825 The Voice of the LORD | God's Abundant Blessings! One time for some reason particularly sticks in my mind was when I was about ten years old. I know the right things to do but I just can’t seem to do them some days. Let’s take a look and find out. Because when we’re mourning a loss, when we’re grieving it’s at that time in our lives maybe more than any other time that we experience a sense of disappointment with God’s promises of blessing and that’s what we’re looking at this week and in fact over the next couple of weeks on the program, this reality that you and I so often equate God’s promise of blessing with the worlds notion of success. 3. Reach 250,000 people with a Gospel message, Reach 500,000 people with a Gospel message, Reach 1.3 million people with a Gospel message, Reach 2.5 million people with a Gospel message, Reach 5 million people with a Gospel message, Reach 7.5 million people with a Gospel message. As an aside, I have always marveled at God’s exact harmony of instilling into each planted seed the genetics to get a particular variety of vegetable or fruit each and every time – never faltering – so exactly how does a tomato seed know to become a tomato?! I just know that in and of myself I can’t make it right, I’d like to, I just can’t. There are people listening today whose marriages are falling apart, there are people listening today who are serving the Lord in some far flung dark hole of a place and nothing they seem to be doing just at the moment is having any impact. Well obviously it was Jesus, the Son of God. It means literally “to be happy”. To find out how we utilise & protect your data, check out our "Privacy Policy". We’re successful if life’s going really well and people can look at us and say, “Wow he’s successful!” “My goodness isn’t she successful!”. It was awful. I’m telling you this stuff because it sets the scene for the struggle I had coming to grips with this rather bizarre blessing that Jesus is talking about here. We had a soccer game one afternoon, it wasn’t a competition, just an afternoon at school, our teacher took us down to the local park, set up a few goal posts, split the class into two teams to give us a bit of exercise and a bit of fun and get out of the school room. And yet, Jesus said, “blessed are the meek”. My friend if you are mourning a loss right now please listen to the truth, you are blessed because Jesus means to comfort you, that’s the truth and He means to comfort you in a very real way. […] Facebook ← What a Difference 10 Years Makes […] Althea Granberry Thank you for your ministry! I guess the first thing in trying to come to an understanding in what Jesus was really saying here is that meek doesn’t equal weak. •• What is your expectationof Him in the area of divine healing? Because Almighty God does the blessing, we are blessed with all blessings. Featuring a sermon puts it on the front page of the site and is the most effective way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands including all mobile platforms + newsletter. The Bible repeatedly commands us to give thanks to God for His blessings. Blessing? I was so angry. He encouraged me, I discovered later that the word that Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit to His disciples when they were in fear for their lives literally means ‘encourager and comforter’. – Deuteronomy 28:3 Read: Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (KJV) 1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD… I don’t think that there’s a one of us who likes injustice, or evil, or bad behaviour in other people. Did you feel blessed? You know I remember it as though it was yesterday and still now as I talk about it I can feel that sense of anger and indignation rising up in me. A bit like someone accused of a crime. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble in heart and you’ll find rest for your souls because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What I love about Jesus is that He doesn’t pussy foot around; He doesn’t kind of shy away from telling us the truth about things in our lives that other people wouldn’t dare tell us. Jesus took His power and He chose to use His power not for Himself but for you and for me and He chose to use His power to lay down His life to die that horrible death and to be raised again. The people who truly recognise that they’ve fallen short of the glory of God and they are totally, completely and utterly helpless to do anything about it, to save themselves from the consequences and they know it and they’re prepared to admit it. Some would say I’m a bit of a tough old nutter, I’ve never really been afraid of a stoush. Friend if you’ve never taken the step of admitting the truth about yourself to yourself and to God today’s the day, the very day to do it and if you’re someone who’s admitted it and today again you find yourself falling short of God then today’s the day to go before God and admit again. It’s because deep down we expect God’s blessing to equal worldly success and when God doesn’t stump up with the success we’re expecting then it feels like everything we believe about God, everything we’ve struggled for in following Jesus is a lie. John Wesley put it this way, he said: Those who are unfeignedly penitent, they are truly convinced of their sin. So if God is a God that blesses us – and He is – what sort of a blessing does He have in mind? A. Who needs God? Hopefully I’ve grown up a bit since then … hopefully. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. Exodus 15:26[The Lord] said, ‘If you listen carefullyto the Lord your God and do what is rightin his eyes, if you pay attentionto his commands and keepall his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.’ 1. God wants us to experience life in abundance. Without God’s Word apart from knowing the truth we’re so completely, so utterly lost. Being able to call out, through the Holy Spirit, “Abba, Father!” Knowing that he hears us. Rejoice, be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophet’s who went before you. In other words those who are totally spiritually and morally bankrupt and who are prepared to admit it. Well religious is one thing I’m not. We want to imagine that success according to our definition is exactly the same thing as blessing according to God’s definition. His blessing is amazing because it’s for real. 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