Sermon Central
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How To Receive Blessings
Contributed by Johnny Small on Jul 2, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: If you want to receive blessings from God, the Bible tells you how.
How to Receive Blessings
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
2 and he began to teach them, saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(NIV)
We must remember that Christ was addressing His Disciples. He was telling them who would most likely accept their message concerning the good news and what their rewards would be if they do accept. I have found these scriptures to be very true today also.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
If you have done much witnessing, you probably know what poor in spirit means. When I talk with people, I try to discern the person’s emotional state. If they are depress or they tend to be a little on the shy side or humble, they will listen to what I have to say about Christ. If the person is very outgoing, loud or boastful, then they will probably not want to hear me tell them about Christ. Those who are down or “poor in spirit” are looking for hope and will welcome the good news concerning Christ. You have heard the saying “you must hit rock bottom, before you can change your life”. This isn’t true. A person must hear the good news and accept Christ as their Savior and Lord to be able to truly change their lives. Their reward will be great. Their reward for accepting Christ will be to live for eternality in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Those people who think that they have every thing that they need now and are full of pride for their accomplishments will learn at the judgment, that they are poor because their rewards will be eternity in hell. Even if you own the whole world, without Christ you are poor.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
There are several reasons why people might mourn. Our first thoughts are mourning over the lost of loved ones or even mourning over complete strangers as is in the case of the soldiers that we have lost in this war. This shows a heart of love and compassion for others. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors and even our enemies. As Christians we should be mourning over the sins in our lives and the sins of our nation. All Christians should be in constant mourning of the 4000 unborn babies that are murdered everyday in this nation alone. We should be mourning over the lives and marriages that have been destroyed by the addiction of pornography. We should be mourning over the high divorce rate in this nation and in our churches. We should be mourning over the billions of people that have not accepted Christ as their Savior. We also should be mourning because we are not out reaching these people. This passage tells us if we do mourn over these things and work to overcome them, then we will be comforted. If we remove the sin in our lives and work to reach others for Christ, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will give us a peace inside that we have never known before. Without this peace of the Holy Spirit I wouldn’t want to live. With this peace I strive to reach others so that they too can have the comforter.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
The definition of the word meek is to be patient and gentle. This means that we should not repay violence with violence or anger with anger. When Jesus was being accused and beaten, He remained patient. I have seen so many Christians act differently outside the church than they act inside the church. There should be no difference. If we act in such a way in our homes or workplaces, but would never act that way in church, then we need to examine our walk with Christ. By being meek, we will inherit the earth as is shown in the following scripture.
