Explores the nature of God's blessings, encouraging us to recognize, experience, and live in the richness of His unexpected and transformative love and goodness.
Good morning, everyone! It's a real joy to be with you all today. We're going to be chatting about something rather special today. It's something that we all crave, something we all want to experience more of in our lives. I'm talking about blessings. Yes, blessings from God.
Now, when we talk about blessings, we're not just talking about the good things that happen to us. We're talking about the deep, rich, life-changing experiences of God's goodness and love. We're talking about those moments when we feel God's presence so strongly, so powerfully, that we can't help but be changed by it.
Charles Colson once said, "All believers receive the power to become children of God, to be transformed and restored to our true nature, people created in the image of God." Isn't that just so true? We often limit our blessings because we limit our understanding of God. We put Him in a box, thinking of Him only in terms of what we can comprehend. But God's blessings are so much more than we can ever imagine!
When we think about blessings, our minds often go to the tangible. We think about the good things in our life - our family, our friends, our jobs, our homes. These are all blessings, of course, but they're not the only kind of blessings that God gives us. God's blessings are far more profound, far more life-changing, than just the good things in our life. They're about His presence, His love, His grace.
They're not always what we expect: In the scripture passage we read, Jesus talks about the blessed. He doesn't talk about the rich, the powerful, the successful. He talks about the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted. These are not the people we typically think of as blessed. But in God's kingdom, they are. They're blessed because they're close to God, because they're experiencing His love and His grace in a profound way.
They're not about our comfort: Instead, they’re about our transformation. God's blessings are not meant to make us comfortable. They're meant to change us, to make us more like Him. When we're the things listed in the passage - these are all opportunities for us to experience God's love and grace in a deep, transformative way.
They're not about our circumstance: They’re about our relationship with God. It's easy to think that if we're going through a hard time, if we're suffering, then we're not blessed. But that's not true. In fact, it's often in the hard times, in the suffering, that we experience God's blessings the most. Because it's in those times that we're drawn closer to Him, that we're forced to rely on Him, that we're able to experience His love and grace in a profound way.
They're not about us, but about God: It's easy to think of blessings as something we earn, something we deserve. But that's not true. Blessings are not about what we do, but about who God is. He is a good and loving God, and He wants to bless us. Not because we've earned it, but because He loves us.
As we continue, let's consider how we can experience God's blessings in our everyday lives ... View this full PRO sermon free with PRO
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