Keys to Operating in the Blessing Part 1

We’ve been talking about what blessing is and how it operates.  Now we’re going to start talking about keys to experiencing and operating in the blessing of God that will help us run our race. 

The process of how blessing works is the following:  It goes from God to man, and the priest blesses the church.  We are also to bless other people, and through those things we bless God.  This is what we are talking about today.  How do we bless others?  The blessing is equipping to run their races.  That means when we bless others we find out what they are doing and help them run their race.  Sometimes it is physical help.  Sometimes it is earnestly praying for them.  Sometimes it is other things.

Genesis 12:1 and forward.  God not only blessed Abraham but also said he would be a blessing to others.  God says He will bless those who bless us…So we also should bless those who are blessed.  What does this mean?  Who does God say are blessed?  Matthew 5 in the beatitudes  shows who Jesus says is blessed in God’s eyes.  We are going to learn how to identify those who are blessed and learn how to bless them.  The blessed are not the chosen but those who God is equipping for something.

The first one is blessed are the poor in spirit.  The best meaning for this is those who are selfless.  How do we bless someone who is selfless?  By investing in whatever they are working to help with and equip them in what they are focused on.  The next one I want to focus on is blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Mourn in the Greek means those who cry out to God, those who are faced with a difficult circumstances and seek God’s aid in getting through it.  The comfort that comes is the Holy Spirit.  Note in John 14:26 says the Holy Spirit will remind us of what God said and what He has provided for us.  John 16:7 reiterates this.  The Spirit takes from what belongs to Jesus and gives to us to equip us.  How do we bless those in mourning?  Remind them of who God is, what He said, and what He has done. 

The last one is blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Meek means those who operate in humility.  The problem is that we think of humility as people who are always beating themselves up and being beaten up by others.  Humility is someone who is teachable and does not think they already know it.  Confidence is not pride.  Pride is when you think you know more than everyone else.  They feel that in every circumstance and from every person, even if we fail, we can learn.  How do we bless the meek?  We teach and equip them to learn and gain wisdom.  We don’t offer expecting them to listen to everything we say but just offering to help with wisdom from our experience.  If the word of God is on your tongue, you are a teacher.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

The Blessing Part 5

The blessing part 5

Today we’re talking about the way that we begin operating in the blessing.  We will be studying 2 Peter 1:3-4.  His divine power has given us everything we need.  We have to remember that by God’s grace we don’t have to earn God’s favor by doing or not doing certain things.  What has He given us these things for?  For life (John 10:10) and Godliness (this is righteousness).  Remember, we receive these through faith, because they are from God and not from us.  Both of these things are also a gift from God.  How did we get these?  Through our knowledge of God.  We were called by God because of His glory and goodness.  It’s not about us but about Him.  We can either “feel” blessed or we can know we’re blessed (which means it doesn’t matter whether we feel blessed or not). 

What is the reason we get the promises?  So we may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world.  What is corruption?  What if we “corrupted” apple pie by adding curry or chili powder?   We miss out on what God really wants for us by doing what “sounds” right instead of God’s best.  Corruption is subtly different from what God has for us.  There are four basic needs we have:  food, sleep, physical intimacy, and the presence of God.   All of these are good desires, but they can be corrupted.  The desire for food can be corrupted by becoming the center or by being a desire for the wrong kind of food.  We want to be as effective as we can be for Him.  God’s perfect plan is what we want to stay in.  His blessing gives us what we need to choose that over the way the world does it, which is corrupted.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

The Blessing part 4

 We have been talking about the purposes of the blessing.  One is fruitful multiplication.  Today we are talking about how the blessing is there to help us inherit the promises. Psalm 37:22 is referring to the Israelites and how they were blessed and empowered to inherit the land God has promised them.  When they left there were 3 million people.  The Bible says not ONE of them was sick, and that they left with the wealth of Egypt.  How does that work for us?  We’re not headed for a physical promised land.  In Luke 2, Jesus says the promises of God will change from physical to spiritual.  The promised land is our heart.  It is what produces all the good things in our hearts.  The promised land contained and produced everything the Israelites needed.  That is what Jesus does in our hearts now.

 Just like the promised land the Israelites went to, we find the promises of God are not easily obtained.  Sometimes God shows us the picture of the promise, but He doesn’t show us right away the things between here and the promise.  Don’t we appreciate things we had to fight to obtain more than those there without any struggle?  Why didn’t God tell the Israelites about the struggles they would have to go through to get the promised land?  Of course He knew about them, but they don’t matter because He has already won.  That is all that matters to Him.  Numbers 13 tells the account of the men sent to explore the land.  Note the parenthetical note about Joshua’s name change.  Note that Hoshea, his old name, meant salvation, Joshua meant “the Lord saves,” also the Hebrew root of Jesus.  Note Moses’ command to the Israelites. 

God told him to have people explore the land, but Moses says to determine what the people are like, whether the land is good or bad (is that really a question?), whether the land is fertile or poor (really?), whether there are trees...  This is a reminder to be careful and not live in a “wait and see attitude” about the promises.  Not only did he seemingly have doubts, but he potentially instilled these doubts into the community.  They brought back a single cluster of grapes that had to be carried by two men on a pole.  They mention fear of the people.  Caleb speaks up and says they can do it, but others spread a bad report about the land among the people.  Joshua and Caleb alone were allowed to enter because of their faith. 

Here are some key points about Joshua and Caleb (see why church series for more on this).  The tabernacle was the place where the holy of holies was.  The temple, which was a tent, was always set up east to west (entrance on the east and holy of holies in the west).  In Genesis, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil were on the west side and that the garden was sealed off on the east side.  When they travel into the promised land, they go from the east side of the Jordan to the west side.  The twelve tribes of Israel would camp around the tabernacle in a set pattern.  Joshua (same name as Jesus) was part of the tribe of Ephraim (which means fruitful).  They camped on the west end of the tabernacle.  Caleb was part of the tribe of Judah (Jesus is also a descendant of this tribe).  They camped on the east side of the tabernacle.  Caleb is the one who eventually leads them to defeat the giants in the land.  Caleb means to bark or shout like a dog, or attack.

We have giants, things in our heart, that we have to overcome in order to experience the blessing—anger, depression, wrong thoughts, misperceptions, lack of understanding of grace, etc.  Sometimes we make deals with our giants instead of letting God defeat them.  We have to remember we have already won.  Jesus already beat the giants for us.  If you’re having trouble defeating a giant, figure out the purpose on the other side of that and focus on that.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Easter 2012

We are talking about the end of the story today, being Easter.  We started with Ephesians 3 starting in verse 12.  God’s love for us is the key to this.  Ephesians 1:17 and on is our prayer for our church on a daily basis.  We can enter into the authority of Jesus and the power of Jesus through what Jesus has done.  Genesis 2:8 shows us the power Jesus restored.  Note that there is Eden and within it a garden.  The two trees were in the center, the tree of life (direct connection with God) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (knowledge as in knowing in the Biblical sense, an intimate knowledge of good and evil).

The problem here was faith.  They had direct and constant access to and communion with God.  The enemy was able to convince Adam and Eve that they should not believe what God said.  In Genesis 3, the enemy deceives Eve.  Eve mentions not touching the fruit, and the enemy sees that she does not understand what God says.  This is the opportunity he takes to deceive them.  Instead of running to God when they make the mistake, they run and hide.  This illustrates the lost of the power of grace.  The decision they made resulted in a curse because they essentially chose law over grace.  Adam had to be banished because in our sinful and fallen state, living forever would be punishment. 

This is why in the temple, the Holy of Holies, containing the ark of the covenant (representing the presence of God) was unable to be accessed by man directly.  In the tabernacle, only the high priest, after an extensive cleansing process, could enter God’s presence.  The veil that separated this area from the rest of the temple was 6 inches thick.  This veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died.    Jesus said “It is finished.”  Man can now live in grace again.  Romans 8:1 illustrates what has occurred with us because of Jesus. Note that some translations in Genesis use the word condemned to describe why Adam hid in the garden.  Remember that grace gives us forgiveness of sin and teaches us to say no to ungodliness.  We are now free to live in the Spirit and not be condemned.  Hebrews 4:14 sums up this change.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

The blessing part 3

We have talked previously about valuing the blessing and how to access it.  We are going to start talking about the tools and resources needed to utilize the blessing. The blessing of God is the empowerment to attract the resources needed to fulfill the race God has given you.  Genesis 12 contains God’s blessing of Abraham.  The blessing came first, before the covenant (Genesis 17:4 and forward).  Now we’ll look at the covenant piece of this.  God changes Abram’s name (Abram means father) to Abraham (this name means father of many nations).  Blessing always has a purpose.  The project is to be fruitful and multiply, and the blessing is the tools needed to complete the project.  This covenant is a blood covenant, a picture of marriage.  The covenant is not to be broken, and there is responsibility for both parties involved in the covenant.  The covenant is only broken when there is a breakdown in the trust in the relationship.  However, in a marriage, the blood comes from the bride, but in our covenant with God, the blood comes from the groom, Jesus.

People should know we are the bride of Christ by seeing the blessing in our lives.  Matthew 26:28 shows that Jesus’ death was to bring forgiveness of sins by sealing the covenant.  Isaiah 54:9 puts us into perspective of life on the other side of the cross, even before Jesus.  God promises He will not punish us or be angry with us for our sin.  That was all put on Christ.  God always gives the right tool for the need.  Where there is a need for fruitful multiplication, God prescribes blessing.  Jesus never blessed someone needing healing—that wasn’t the right tool.  Deuteronomy 28:4-10 defines the blessing and what it does.  God’s prescription for Abraham’s barren wife was blessing. Mark 6:30 and on shows the multiplication of the fish and loaves.  Jesus blessed what they had before the multiplication occurred (notice also that the disciples didn’t say they did not have enough money to buy the food but just asked if they should go buy it).  The result was that they all ate and were satisfied and had 12 baskets left over.  This did not just serve the disciples, but instead was more than enough for all the others.  The blessing is not for us but for others.  Let’s go back to Abraham.  It took 25 years from when he was blessed to seeing Isaac, the fruit of the blessing.  Just like him, the area of his life that was hardest to conquer was the one that was the key to his purpose.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

The Blessing Part 2

 We are continuing our study of the blessing.  Remember that our working definition for blessing is the ability to attract the resources needed to fulfill your purpose.  From the beginning, in the garden, God gave the blessing first, then the assignment, then the resources in order to complete it.

Today we are discussing how we access the blessing.  Deuteronomy 28 sets out the blessings afforded those who “fully obey the law” and curses for those who do not.  Notice the blessings will “accompany you” (always be with you), and that the curses will “come upon you and overtake you.”  With the law, if you broke one law you broke them all.  You had to FULLY obey and achieve righteousness in order to receive the blessing.  We as Christians have to wash everything in the Old Testament and see it through the cross.  Jesus changed the principles through which things on the earth operated (God did not change).  Galatians 3 addresses this challenge as Jewish Christians tried to reconcile this change in the early church.  God loves us unconditionally and has provided His grace and blessing not contingent on what we do or do not do.  Again, this is like grace in that it is based on our heart attitude.  If we are truly seeking God, then we can walk in confidence.  Verse 7 shows another way to achieve righteousness, by believing God.  This indicates, since Abraham was before the law, that grace and blessing existed before the law.  Our righteousness comes through Christ and believing in Him and the blessing coming through Him and not through us.

When we fail, sometimes we cease trusting in Christ’s righteousness and begin to believe in our own righteousness.  That is why we experience the consequences from the law.  Galatians 3:10 addresses this.  If we see obeying the law as our way to be delivered from the curse, we are still cursed.  Galatians 3:11 and on shows the new system by which we are to live.  Jesus became the curse for us.  Most of live in both realms.  We have areas in which we have fully submitted to God, but there are others where we believe that when we mess up, we believe that we lose the blessing and/or are subject to punishment.  The means to getting the blessing did not change, but the means to attaining righteousness changed.  Galatians 3:14 is key for this.  Colossians 1:12 says God has qualified us, not that we became qualified somehow.  We need to believe the blessing is ours, then utilize grace which gives us the power to change and overcome.  We must change our beliefs to change our actions. 1 Corinthians 10:16 (I prefer the King James, because the translation is more accurate) says “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ; the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ.”  (NIV changes blessing to thanksgiving, which is not an accurate translation).  The word for blessing here is  eulozia, which is the root of the word eulogy, which is about saying all the great things about someone.  It is the same word for blessing as in Galatians 3:14,  It is an  action word meaning blessing is continually rising up in you.  The blood is the access to the blessing.  We have to live in grace in order to access the blessing.  If I don’t get blood to a part of my body, it dies.  The blood cleans and cleanses our body, as well as bringing oxygen and life to it.  When we choose to live by the law, we are cut off from the blood (and the blessing) and then are subject to the curse.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

The Blessing part 1

This is the first of a subseries in the Good Life about the Blessing.  We just finished talking about grace and how to receive and live in it.

Remember that first we need to remember that God must always be the first priority in our lives for everything to be in order.  Family, children, work, ministry, and other things should come next.  What we value is important to evaluate.  We want to be careful not to value something more than it ought to be valued, or things will become out of order.  We should value our relationship with God first, then our marriage and children.  These should be higher than the value we put on our golf clubs.  We are teaching what the blessing is, how to enter into it, receive it, enjoy it, and keep it.  Genesis 1:28  says that the first thing God does after creating Adam and Eve is to bless them and then give them an assignment (be fruitful and multiply).  In anything we want to experience blessing, we should be producing fruit and multiplying in those areas.  After that, Adam and Eve are told all that belongs to them.  The blessing provides the resources to complete the assignment.  The blessing is not good stuff given to you just so you can sit and enjoy (although we are supposed to enjoy it), but its purpose is for us to use it to work.  The word for bless is barak (used 330 times in the Old Testament and 60 times in genesis, and the Greek equivalent logio or logia is used in the New Testament about 200 times—total of 510 times total….compared to the word love, which is used 505 times in the Bible). 

In Genesis 26, starting in verse 1, we hear about Isaac in the time of a severe famine.  In verse 12, we see that he planted crops in the middle of the famine and in the same year reaped a hundred fold.  Why did he reap this harvest?  Because he was a good farmer or great man of God?  No, it is because of God’s blessing in His life.  The blessing is not the stuff, but the means by which you get the stuff.  We are to seek the kingdom and the face of God, not the things He will give us.  The blessing was the way that God blessed the work of Isaac’s hands in order for him to get the hundred fold return.  First comes blessing, then action, then fruit.  Just like when we receive the Word, believe it, do what we believe, then reap based on what we did based on what we believe.  Then it goes on to say he was rich and continued to grow in riches until he was wealthy.  People envy him and even fill his wells with dirt.  Just because your blessed it does not mean you won’t have trouble.  They even ask him to leave.

Blessing is defined as the supernatural God-given ability to draw the resources to obey God, to accomplish your God-given race, and experience pleasure, enjoying all that God has given you.  1 Timothy 6:17 is a great example of this in scripture.  God gets pleasure out of seeing us enjoy the things He blesses us with, so that part is very important.  If we are doing it on our own or the world’s system, there will be trouble that comes along these things.  If we do it God’s way, we will be able to enjoy it and bring Him pleasure and glory by doing so.

In Genesis 25 we see how Esau did not value the blessing.  Jacob valued the blessing.  He did not obtain it the way he should have.  In Genesis 32 we see Jacob wrestling with God (only God has the authority to give blessing), and he finally understands that the blessing comes from God, not from man.  If we step outside of the blessing or try to accomplish His purpose by our own means, we run into trouble.  We have to seek after the blessing and hold fast in order to receive it.

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.