Standing in God’s Blessing Buffet Line
Text: Ephesians 1:3 (New Living Translation)
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.
Subject: Standing in God’s Blessing Buffet Line
In 1973, a fledgling Golden Corral Corporation took a confident first step into the restaurant business and opened its first restaurant in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They began a tradition of partnering great tasting food with friendly service for the best value. 33 years later, Golden Corral boasts that its family-style restaurants offer the biggest and best buffet and grill available anywhere. Their famous buffet contains an array of food choices including hot meat options, pasta, pizza, fresh vegetables, salad bar, and a selection of carved meats at dinner and on Sundays.
Golden Coral takes exceptional pride in their Great Steak Buffet which features "all-you-can-eat" sirloin steak that is cut fresh daily for better flavor and juiciness and are grilled to order. They also provide a variety of menu items that are cooked right in front of you at the grilling station. These items include grilled chicken, pork, salmon steaks, steak burgers, sausage, and more to provide a constant variety of delicious grilled products for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Furthermore, the Brass Bell Bakery and Dessert Café serve up fresh baked goods and tempting desserts each and every day. In fact, piping hot yeast rolls, delicious cookies and fudge brownies are baked fresh every fifteen minutes!
But on tonight, now that I’ve gotten your attention and caused the pangs of hunger to awaken your stomach, I want to talk about a different kind of buffet. For although Golden Coral can fill your body with food that enhances its performance, both Matthew and Luke recorded Jesus saying that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
So there is something else that God wants to give to us that will satisfy our appetites. There is something else that God wants to give to us that will quench our thirst. There is something beyond breakfast, lunch, and dinner that God is laying out in front of us and allowing us to take in as much as we possibly can.
You see my brothers and sisters; I am no stranger of Golden Coral and the pleasures that await me upon every visit. What I enjoy most is the fact that there is a variety of foods that awaits me every time I choose to go there to eat. I am not restricted like I am at KFC, McDonalds, or Burger King. If I get a value meal at one of these restaurants, then I am restricted to a burger and a burger only. Or I am restricted to a chicken sandwich and that’s it. KFC will give me a couple of pieces of chicken and some bread, and I do understand that preachers love chicken, but when I go to Golden Coral, I am blessed with many different choices that can meet whatever my taste buds tell me that I’m in the mood for.
If I want chicken I can have chicken. If I want chicken and fish, then I can have both at no extra charge. If I want spaghetti and a salad I can have that too and there’s no additional charge. A slice of pie is no extra charge! Some cake and ice cream are extra charge. I can eat whatever I want, as much as I want, and I’m not limited once I’ve paid the price to go in.
But what I’ve found out my brothers and sisters is that there are times, when Golden Coral is busy and I may have to wait in line for what I want. If I want a steak grilled the way I want it, I may have to wait for a few minutes. If I want some hot fried chicken wings and there are none left for the taking, I may have to wait a few minutes until some more chicken is fried. I may even have to wait around the buffet line for more of something that everyone else thought was as good as what I was expecting. But when I stand in line I find out that after the person in front of me receives what they’re in line for, I can move up a little bit closer, until I get myself in position to receive the foods that I desire.
It is with this same concept that GOD lays out in front of us a buffet line of blessings. He lays out an array of blessings to the point that we are blessed coming in and we are blessed going out. For just a few minutes I want to deal with some of the blessings of God.
Before we look at the blessings that God has laid out for us, we must understand fully the concept that God’s blessing buffet is all you can eat. Unlike Golden Coral and Ryan’s’, God’s blessings will never run out. That means my brothers and sisters it is unnecessary for you to drink hater aid with you see one of your brothers or sisters in Christ being blessed.
I get sick of hearing folk say that somebody doesn’t deserve something that God blessed them with. My Bible tells me that God’s blessings rain on the just as well as the unjust. It’s because the earth is that Lord’s and the fullness thereof, because everything was made and created by Him, because He owns everything, that He can do with His stuff what He pleases.
Most of you, truth be told, would have a conniption if somebody tried to tell you who you should or should not give some of your own stuff to. You’d tell them that you can do what you want with your stuff because it’s yours. And most of you would tell them where they can go and how they can get there.
Well why is it that we want to tell God who He can and cannot bless? Truth be told you don’t have a pot to relieve yourself in. Your house belongs to God. Your car belongs to God. Your husband and your wife belong to God. Your children belong to God. All of your money in God’s bank belongs to Him. So how are you going to tell a God that owns it all what He can or cannot do with what’s His. Tell your neighbor: You better wait your turn.
The first item laid out on the buffet is the Bread of Life. In John 6:35, Jesus tells the people that he is the bread of life and whoever turns to him will no longer hunger. It is not surprising to me that Jesus would be the first item on the buffet. It is only through Jesus that we are able to receive our other blessings. Jesus told Thomas, I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father, except through me. So what Jesus was saying is that if you want the Father to open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings, you must first to through me. If you want to have life and have it more abundantly you must first come to me. Tell your neighbor, you better go through Jesus.
The second item on our buffet tonight is the meat of the Word. You see my brothers and sisters, some of you have been sipping on milk too long. You’ve been eating soft and puréed foods and yet your mouths are full of teeth. The reason God has kept you on milk and soft foods is because you’ve been carnal minded. The Bible says I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? God can’t feed you meet until you get rid of envy and strife. God can’t put some meat in you until you stop acting like heathen act. When you walk in righteousness, God then feeds you with the Meat of the Word. Tell your neighbor, I’m ready for some meat.
Most of you are aware that when you go to most buffets, in addition to your plate, you can find saucers that are around the buffet that can be used for separating certain foods from others. On God’s buffet line there is also a saucer that is used to hold salvation. This saucer of salvation can be used to separate the sheep from the goats. For I can hear Jesus saying in Matthew 25 that “He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then he will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” Tell your neighbor, “I’m on the right side.”
The next item on God’s buffet of blessings is the fruit of forgiveness. Everybody needs a little bit of this item. How many of you know tonight that it’s a blessing for God to forgive us of our sins. It’s a blessing for God to wipe out all of the wrong that we’ve done. It’s a blessing for Him to say not only is He going to wipe our slates clean, but then He’s not even going to remember what we’ve done. But there is one stipulation. He tells us that we are to forgive others. Matthew 6:14 says "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
What you won’t find at God’s Buffet of Blessings in any alcoholic beverages. Instead of kegs of beer you’ll find kegs of kindness. Instead of jugs of juice, there are jugs of joy. Not only are kindness and joy a blessing to you, but they’re also a blessing to those who you come in contact with. When you spread kindness and joy, God’s opens up doors and avenues whereby other people will bless you. People will bless you and you won’t understand why you’re being blessed. But what goes around comes around. If you spread joy and kindness, then kindness and joy will come back to you.
As I get ready to leave you this evening, I’ve got to let you know about the last items that are on God’s blessing buffet menu. They are the desserts of blessings. You see, once you’ve had a good meal, it’s good to top it off with some good dessert. God has platters of peace and layers of love on His buffet line. Isaiah 26:3 says that God will keep us in perfect peace, if our minds are stayed on Him and because we trust Him. The peace that God is talking about is no ordinary peace. It’s not like the peace that your husband or wife may give you for just a few hours. It’s not like the peace that your children may or may not give you when the Auburn-Alabama football game is on. But the kind of peace that God gives, according to Philippians 4:7, is a peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a peace that will guard your heart and your mind through Jesus Christ.
And it’s really important that your heart be guarded, because the last dessert is layers of love. I know some of you may like layers of red velvet cake. Some of you may like layers of carrot or chocolate. But when you’ve got layers of love, you come to realize that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Our text tonight lets us know that it is because we belong to Christ, that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. It’s not by any works that we’ve done, but it’s all because Jesus loved us enough that He laid down His life as a ransom for many.
I don’t know about you tonight, but I’m glad that I’m in God’s buffet line of blessings. His blessings are so many that I just can’t tell it all.
When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that He’s done for me, I realize that I’m blessed going in and I’m blessed coming out. When I wake up in the morning, I’m blessed. When I’m working in the heat of the day, I’m still blessed. And when I’m lying down in the evening trying to catch some sleep, God knows that He blesses me still.
Whatever I need, all I’ve got to do is ask in the name of Jesus.
Whatever I want, the Bible says if I just delight my self in him, God will give me the desires of my heart.
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