Deuteronomy 28:1-14, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obeyed the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country, blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herd and your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl, blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face and they shall come against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing for you in your storehouses and in all you set your hand to and he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God has given you".
"The Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself just as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. Then all people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord and they shall be afraid of you and the Lord will grant you plenty of goods in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock and in the produce of your ground in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you his good treasure, the heavens will give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations but you shall not borrow and the lord will make you the head and not the tail. You shall be above only and not be beneath if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left to go after other Gods and to serve them".
Father, we thank you for the promises of your word. Lord, we thank you for the blessings that you desire to pour into each of our lives. Holy Spirit, this morning we come to you and we ask that we would decrease and that you would increase. Father we ask again that just once more you would annoint me to speak your word and that you would give us ears to hear and we'll give you the glory for it, amen.
The Lord makes great promises to his people. Here we look at the promise that God gave to the nation of Israel and I believe that God gives those same promises because we are his people today. How many know the Word of God is for all of his people? How many of you are a child of God this morning and love what the Lord has for your life?
There's nothing like living in the blessing of God, nothing. When I gave my heart to Jesus and I began to grow in the Lord, I knew that there was much more to living than just being saved and set free from my sins. I knew that there was a fulness for every part of my life that God desired me to live in. How many of you are thankful that not only did God save you but also has a blessing for your life today? God's blessing, his provision is the promise for all believers.
There are a lot of sermons being preached and alot of things being taught about how to obtain favor from God. Today, America and Western culture expect everything to be handed right to them, they expect to just naturally be blessed because we really have been blessed to live in this nation. Those who know what it's like to walk in the blessing of God, those who know what it's like to have God's ear when they pray know that there is a price to be paid to walk in his blessing.
What I want to teach you this morning is how to live in the blessing of the Lord. Not just to be saved, not just to be set free from your sins, but to be able to expect in your life to have everything that this Bible says you can have. How many believe that we are called to be the head and not the tail?
How many believe that the enemies that would rise up against us are meant to go seven different ways when they come against us? But to have this comes with a cost to the life of a believer, things that we must do to have them. Many times we see those who walk in the power and blessing of God, those who pray and see God answer everything, we wonder what is the difference in their life? Why do they seem to have all those things happen? Why do they seem to be able to walk in that truth but not me? The difference is the cost that is paid.
Listen to me, God's love is unconditional but his salvation and his blessings come with condition. His love is unconditional, Jesus died for you and me when we were still in sin. It didn't matter, he just knew that he wanted to set us free. When we come to him we must confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus Christ is the Lord. We must ask him to forgive us of our sins and make that commitment to live for him. The blessings of God also come with conditions. As a matter of fact the Word of God is full of conditions. We quote this verse all the time and I believe this verse is really appropriate in this election year. How many of you are looking forward to seeing God do miracles in politics in America?
2nd Chronicles 7:14, we say it all the time, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land".
I believe this that the hope of our country does not depend on the democratic party or on the republican party. The hope of the American people does not even depend on who gets elected into office. The hope of the American people depends on the people of God doing what God calls them to do. If we want to see America become a Godly nation again, God isn't asking ungodly people to go to the voting booth and vote for a godly man or woman. What he says is , If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and will pray and will seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, if you will fulfill those 4 conditions then I will heal your land. If we want to see America healed then as believers all across the land, whether you are Assembly of God, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, it doesn't matter. If you are a Christian you will seek the face of God, you will pray, and you will turn from sin. How can God heal a wicked land if God's people are wicked themselves? So there are conditions throughout the Word of God. If Christians want to see America be blessed, we need to fulfill these conditions.
Here's what I want to say to Harvest Community Church, if you want to see America come back to Jesus, If you want to see a revival, if you want to see people get saved in the White House, if you wants to see people get saved in the courts and in the Senate and Congress, then lets fast and pray. Don't just go up and vote Republican or Democrat, it really doesn't matter. When you get to Heaven God doesn't care if you're blue, red or purple. It matters if you're His. If America will be blessed we must fill these conditions. If we want to live the blessings of the Christian life, filled with the Holy Ghost and Power, filled with receiving all that God has for us, I believe that Christians should walk in the blessing of the Lord. One of the things that I hate to see, that troubles me more than anything as a pastor, is to see Godly people not walking in the blessing of the Lord and be confused about why they're not receiving it. I believe that confusion can be ended in a heartbeat.
Listen, I walk in the blessing of the Lord. Those who have gotten close to me, those who know me, know that I do. I have diabetes but I'm the healed of the Lord. How many are thankful for that? I've watched the Lord take me through hardships financially and God has blessed my life and I'm going to tell you it's because I was willing to pay the price. It's not because I wear the title "Pastor", it's not because I'm something superhuman or something better than anybody else. If we believe the Word of God we can expect to have what the word says.
Listen, the Bible is full of formulas that give us the ability to receive his blessing. For instance, the Lord's prayer teaches us how we can pray and touch the face of God, to grow closer to Him and have that peace in our life. It is not a magic formula, it is not a lucky rabbit's foot that you grab hold of, it is God's word to help us know how to have communication with Him so that we are able to receive what His word says we can have. They're not get rich schemes, they're not written simply so that God can give us things that we don't need. It is written simply and concisely so that we can know what he expects so we can submit to his ways and receive the results of what his word says.
Listen, the cost of being blessed, if you want to live in the blessing of the Lord you must pay the price and the price is worth it. The reason why we see Christians not living in the blessing of God is because they haven't gotten into the Word and begin to apply the Word. The things that I'm going to share with you this morning, If you will begin to read, the first cost of being blessed is obedience to God's commands, absolute obedience to God's commands. When God begins to talk to his people in the Book of Deuteronomy and he talks to the nation of Israel, he says in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 28, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord, to observe carefully all of his commandments which I command you today that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth and all the blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obeyed the voice of the Lord your God".
There is no shortcut to be being blessed, obedience is required. The first cost of being blessed is obedience. How many of you have children? If your child obeys you, do you bless them? If they disobey you, do you bless them? Some of you do, those of you who bless your child when they disobey you, you're crazy. Listen, to me, If you tell your child, "if you will do this then I'll get you an ice cream cone" and they look at you and do the exact opposite and you buy them an ice cream cone anyway, you are a nut job because you are going to get just the opposite of what you are hoping for. I watch people in the stores and it just amazes me. How many know God is absolutely sane? He really is and obedience is required.
We must not expect to have the blessings of God's word unless we purpose to do his work and there are two parts to this. Number one is to diligently obey and this is not a half hearted obedience, it is the purposeful pursuing of obedience. When I tell my children to do a job I expect it to be done. When I tell them to weed around the house and I come out and there are still weeds they have not obeyed, they have not diligently sought to do the job. But I've watched when they've come out and looked at the ground and I can tell when they are making sure they're obeying dad. Even If I promise them nothing, the truth is if they respond that way then I want to bless them. Diligent obedience is not looking to the letter of the law to just do exactly what it says, it is the whole idea of wanting to obey God because he is faithful to me and I need to know what his word says because I want to do all of it.
Those who walk in the blessing of God consistently desire to obey what they hear God say to them. God says "Do it" and they do it.
David Cho who is retiring from Judeo Full Gospel Church in Saol, Korea, pastors the largest church in the world, 700 thousand people. It started out with one little old lady who all she had was little chopsticks and a bowl to her name. People ask him what is the secret to your success for reaching Saol, Korea for Jesus? He said, "I pray and I obey, that's it, God speaks and I do what he says, it's that simple". Wholeheartedly without question and enthusiastically, the 2nd part of obedience is to carefully observe all that he commands, not just some of the commands but to make sure that every part of what God said to do is observed. Listen, if you want to be blessed in your finances, observe what God's word says and your finances will be blessed. If you want your marriage to be blessed then observe God in the area of your marriage and what his word has to say about your relationship and God will bless you. If you want to see your children grow up to be whole in the Lord then you carefully observe what the word says and you do that and you help raise them that way then the Bible says when they are old they will not depart from it. How many know that if you do the word you will have what it says?
The truth is that we are to be careful with it, not careless. I have found that if there is a part of my life that is not being blessed, if there are other parts of my life that are doing well but there are certain segments of my life that I am not doing well in then I need to go back and find out what the Word has to say about it. If I will become obedient to it then I will begin to see that area of my life being blessed. It is that simple, people want to complicate it but the Bible says to obey his Word.
The one thing I've found with many Christians is "What if I obey and it doesn't happen?" Well, what was the option, to be disobedient to God? He's God in heaven for us. The truth is if you will obey his word you will never ever be disappointed because his word is always faithful. God doesn't lie, his word never fails, it always comes to pass. There came a point in my life where I finally had to get that through my brain and realize all I need to do is do what the word says. I'm done arguing with it, I'm done doubting it, I'm done wrestling with it, I am just going to obey. When I obey I begin to walk in the blessing. I don't have to worry about it, it may not happen in the time that I want it to happen in, it may not happen in the way that I thought it was going to happen but the truth is when I became obedient to his word I begin to see the blessings come out.
The second key to being blessed by God is to delight yourself in the Lord. Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart". When we begin to take interest in and absolutely embrace what God has for us, we will find ourself ready to receive our hearts desire.
When I first started in ministry, my first senior pastorate, God sent me to Haltsdale, PA. I grew up in the city, I like the Steelers, I like the smell of diesel, I like the busses as they drive down the street, I like that I can go to a mall very quickly. God sent me to Haltsdale, PA, north of Altoona, PA, to a place called Parsonville, named because the only person that lived there was the pastor. I wrestled with God when I showed up there. They called me to be their pastor, I showed up at the meeting, I went in and interviewed with them, I thought they were backwards people. I don't mind the smell of diesel but I hate the smell of burning coal and everyone in that place heated their home with coal. I showed up in the winter, the nice snow that you'd think would be beautiful on the side of the roads and on the trees was covered with coal dust and oil slicks.
I sat down with these people in a rundown church and just began to talk with them. As I left I thought there was no way I was going to accept this pastorate. I got the call from the board the next day, I saw the number on caller ID and I knew they wanted me to come. Needless to say I went through a few mental gymnastics and finally I accepted the call. But I want to tell you that the first year in that church I hated being in that town. I loved the people the best that I could but I hated being in central Pennsylvania. I would preach on Sunday morning and Sunday night, I would get through the week and by the time Friday would come I would run to Pittsburgh. I'd go see Mom and Dad and hang out in the city and get some culture back in my life. I hated living there, I can't even tell you how much I hated it. Finally the Lord says to me after being there about a year, "What's your problem?" He said, "I sent you here. These people love you, you love them, you just don't like where I've put you. You feel like all your dreams are falling apart and that I've forgotten about you but all I asked you to do is obey". He said, "Delight yourself in me".
So I began to delight myself. Pretty soon I started liking living in Haltsdale. I liked driving down the street and swerving from deer, it was kind of a neat game to play. "Lord, I'll make a deal with you, I'm going to serve you, I will love being here but let my car not be ruined by a deer". So we played "Swerve deer" and on slick icy roads it was fun but I never hit one. Pretty soon I began to enjoy it. Those people brought me chickens for their tithes. I thought that was goofy but those were the best tasting chickens I ever had, then they began to bring me eggs. As soon as I began to love what God was doing, that church began to grow. Pretty soon we were filling that building, people were getting saved, God was doing a good thing. Because I decided I was going to delight myself in the Lord, I even started liking the challenge of walking between the parsonage and the main street on a snowy day in dress shoes just to see if I could make it without falling on my face on the ice. We began to have fun and it began to be a good time. When it came time to leave, although I was still glad to be leaving Haltsdale, I was sure going to miss the people that I had made relationships with and they are some of the dearest friends I have today.
Delight yourself in the Lord. The word "Delight" means to sport yourself or adventure yourself in the Lord. It means to luxuriate in the Lord, to just bathe yourself in what God has. When I got to that place where I finally decided to delight myself then Haltsdale became an adventure. City boy was going to make it in the country. Then he sent me to a place with horses. I still don't understand that but that's alright. But the promise is "if you will delight yourself in the Lord then he will give you the desires of your heart". I obeyed the Lord in two churches in places that I didn't understand. I've always loved the beach, the Lord called me to Jupiter, he opened the door. He gave me the desires of my heart. That's why you have a pastor who really enjoys being where he is. Not only do I love the people because you are amazing but God has also put me in a place where I actually like to live. But I had to obey him and delight in Him where he had put me in the first place and then I received the desires of my heart.
You can choose to be miserable where you are or you can choose to delight yourself where you are. How many of you are tired of being miserable? You don't like your job? Delight yourself in God on the job, adventure yourself. If you've got a boss who is really hard to work for, take on the challenge, make it a sport everyday you go to work "I'm going to win him over to Jesus". Adventure yourself in God, you'll be amazed.
The third price of being blessed is to guard who influences your life. It might seem like a no brainer but the way it works is so subtle that many have walked in the blessing of God only to find themselves distracted by the world's ways. The world's ways don't happen all at once, they happen subtly, a little bit at a time and then all of a sudden it hits you like a ton of bricks. One day you were walking in the blessing of God and the next day God was far from you.
Psalms 1:1 says "Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly nor stands in the paths of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful".
I want you to notice the progression: walk, stand, sit. Blessed is the man who walks not, nor stands not, nor sits not in the council of the ungodly. First we begin to get attracted to the wicked things of the world. Christian, you are pure, you are living right, your friendships and relationships are godly, you are making sure that the things you watch are good, you are making sure the places that you went were right but all of a sudden you began to kind of walk by it and pretty soon you started to stand in it. You start to stand around a little bit with these people, they're not living for Jesus but you kind of like this sin just a little bit. Before you know it, the things that you despised, the things you hated and the things you swore you would never do, all of a sudden you find yourself sitting down in the midst of it and you became a part of it. You cannot live in the blessing of God If you will not pay the price of purity. The truth is that you will progress and pretty soon you find yourself in that place farther from God than you ever thought you would be. The price of purity is important. You realize that you must not only obey God but must also live right for God.
Proverbs 10:6 says, Blessings are on the head of the righteous but violence covers the mouth of the wicked". Nothing seems more violent to a believer than one day to be walking in the blessing of God and then all of a sudden be getting what the world has to offer. Listen, the world is a violent place. The Bible talks about Christians being able to live under the shelter of the Almighty. How many of you have ever found out when you come out of the shelter, the difference is like being in a solid brick building with windows that are shuttered up in the middle of a hurricane and then stepping outside of the building and hanging out in the hurricane itself. There's a big difference. I always look at those news guys on the anchor shows who drive through the hurricane and all of a sudden they're all worried about their friend who's being blown down the street, like what did you think was going to happen when you took the microphone out into the wind? They sit down in it. How many think Americans are kind of funny sometimes?
The cost of faithfulness will bring blessing. Faithfulness does not come naturally, it's a choice. We have people today on the news say "You know, most people stray in their marriage because it's just not natural to be with one person all your life". That's the way of the world. The truth is faithfulness may not be natural but if you will do it, you will be blessed.
Proverbs 28:20 says, "A faithful man will abound with blessings". All of us have heard the parable of the talents time and time again. If you will just take the little that God has given you and be faithful with it, God will bless you with more. People want God to give them millions of dollars but the truth is the world is littered with millionaires who went from having nothing to having millions and then 10 years later they had nothing left. Listen, if you can't be faithful with a thousand, how can you be faithful with a million? Church, if we can't be faithful with what God is giving us in here, how can God bless us and fill a 500 seat sanctuary? Why would he do that? But If we will be faithful we will be blessed.
Some of you want out of a marriage but let me ask you, are you being a blessing in your marriage, are you being faithful? The truth is if you got out of the one you're in and you went into another one, you'd just make a mess of the next one. Be faithful. God tests us with what we already have in order to develop our lives. Can we handle the pressure of the blessing? Because how many know that blessing comes with pressure? The more that you have the greater the responsibility. Some of you may be praying for 30 million dollars but you're having a hard time keeping up with your $80. Faithfulness is more about being a good steward of God's provision, it speaks of a steady, constant, steadfast lifestyle. Do you appreciate the one who gives the blessing more than the blessing itself? The truth is If you're having a hard time living for Jesus, If you're having a hard time worshipping for all that he's given you now, If God gave you everything that you ever wanted today you would immediately leave him because you would think that you had everything all together and you didn't need God. If we will humbly submit to the Lord we would be amazed at what God would do. It is when we are walking in the blessings of the Lord that we need to stay at the feet of Jesus.
This brings me to the next cost and that is the cost of humility. Someone once said, "It's hard to be humble when you're as good as I am". How many know they weren't really all that good? Psalms 22:4 says, "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life". Proverbs 18:12 says, "Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty and before honor is humility". I love the song that we sang today, "I'll bow face down as your glory shines around". I have found that sometimes I'll get so angry at God when things aren't going my way. When I was sitting there in Haltsdale and I was frustrated with everything else but God said, "If you will humble yourself before me I will bless you". I have found when I've needed things the most, when I've needed provision from God, the Bible says "With humility are riches, honor and life".
Have you ever found how the enemy gets in your mind when you need the blessing of God the most, that he wants you to turn on God? "God, If that's the way it is then I don't feel like praising you today, I don't feel like going to church because life just doesn't feel good today. I don't feel like blessing my kids, as a matter of fact I want to kick the dog and I don't even feel like putting water out for him". God says, "Listen, If you will humble yourself". There's a price to be paid, that means to recognize the state of our own heart and discipline our lives to stay at the feet of Jesus. Some people will discipline themselves to save money. Some people will discipline themselves so they can get in shape, they'll make sure they're up early to start running. One of the things some people won't do is discipline themselves to be humble and it's hard because you've got to combat the flesh. I have found that disciplining my flesh to be humble before God is harder than getting up when I was lifting weights and staying in shape because my flesh hates it. But I've found that If I want to blessed, "Jesus, I'm going to stay at your feet today because it's not about me, it's about you". Then I found as God began to bless my life that I had to stay that dependent on the Lord everyday. "Lord, thank you for blessing and I recognize where it comes from. Jesus, today I'm going to seek you".
We must stay that way before the Lord.
The last price of being blessed is the price of abiding in the Lord. How many of you want to be blessed in your life? Blessing isn't about the riches that you have, blessing is also about that sense of knowing inside of your spirit that you are right with God, that there is peace no matter what you are going through, knowing that he is the provider whether you have it or not, knowing that he is the way, the truth and the life but you've got to abide in that way, in that truth and in that life. Listen, you look at people who pray, how come God answers their prayers? Have you ever noticed that when some people pray God seems to answer them all the time? I began to find that God answers my prayers. Listen to me, when I pray I expect God to answer, not because I'm cocky or arrogant and not because I approach God like "I'm all that" because I'm not all that. John 15:7 says, "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you". People want to argue with that verse. "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you". Not ask first but abide first. If you will abide in the Lord and his words abide in you, you will pray and you will receive what you asked for in prayer. Now here's the truth, If you're abiding in the Lord you won't be asking for stupid things. I find that the more I walk with God the less dumb things I'm asking him for. But I also found that If I will abide with him I can almost write my ticket. Now that scares some people but either you believe what the Word of God says or you don't.
I look around this church and we committed as a church to pray during the summer. How many know most churches shrink in size during the summer? We grew during the summer but we prayed and asked God for that. We asked that storm to go south, we prayed on Friday night. Can I tell you my heart as your pastor, I would love to see this church filled each first Friday of the month. God is blessing this church but I want to encourage you to come be a part and seek the face of God, I want to challenge you to do it. "Pastor, I'm not a pray-er, it's just not my style". I don't understand that because the truth is if you were in an accident you'd become a pray-er, so don't tell me you don't pray. How many know this town is about to slam into a telephone pole called eternity and we should be praying for them. Friday night we gathered, 16 of us as we sought the face of God. Here's what I know, there were more people praying than those who were just here and the storm went. Listen, you must abide, if you will dwell in the secret place with the Lord and seek his face.
When I've needed financial help from God, when I've needed provision from the Lord, when I've abided in Him my prayers became less about panic and more a confident plea, "Lord, I thank you that you said you'd meet my needs. Father, I'm abiding in you, I'm seeking your face, I've been in the word, I'm not living in sin, I long to be in your presence and I thank you for your goodness in my life. Thank you that you open the door". That doesn't mean that my flesh doesn't rise up sometimes and have some difficulty, that's called being human. But God says to ask and you'll have it. Meet the conditions, ask what you want. If you abide in him, his life flows out of us.
Listen, the reason why so many prayers go unanswered is because the condition of abiding is not met. You say "I know God's word" but let me ask you, are you living it? Information is one thing but having information is like having a car full of gas and never turning it on and putting it into gear. When His word abides in us and we abide in Him, his blessings begin to flow. Those who are blessed many times realize that God had probably something better for them than anything they could ask for on their own. There were alot of things that I began to ask God for personally and God would say, "Are you sure that's what you want?" Then he would take me to that scripture, "Because eye has not seen nor has ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him". Sometimes when I've come to God in prayer the challenge has been this, "Are you sure that's what you want?"Then I began to pray this way, "Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done, Lord have your way".
When I began to realize that God had better things for me than I had for myself, my prayers began to change because I was abiding in Him, because I lived with Him and I recognized that he knew me. How many know that God knows you better than you know yourself? As a matter of fact I didn't want to go to Haltsdale, I prayed to God to take me out of there and you know what? It became one of the best things that ever happened in my life when I surrendered and said "God, have your way". God's plan is always better than our plan. His ways are better than ours, his thoughts are higher than ours and many times I don't even know what I want, so If I pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, God begins to do a work".
Listen, In this church we don't have too many plans and goals. Some pastors will set goals like "this year I want to reach this many people". How many know God can bless better than that? What about your life? "Lord, I'm just going to be faithful, I'm going to obey you, I'm going to trust you, I'm going to work for you, I'm going to do whatever it is you tell me to do, I'm going to do it with all my might and I'm going to delight myself in you". The truth is God will do exceedingly abundantly more than we expect or think. Let me ask you, are you meeting the conditions to being blessed? Because the price of the blessing is well worth it, you'll never be disappointed. You may look at other people and say "Well, it seems like they walk in that blessing but I never will". But if you will just do what His word says then you'll be one of those people and others will ask you, "What's your secret? And you'll say, Do this and you'll be blessed".
