"… Every Spiritual Blessing …”
4 January 2009
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Fortress Chapel
F.O.B. Sykes
Tall-afar, Iraq
BIG IDEA: All Spiritual Blessings (prayer, faith, love, hope, peace, patience, righteousness, deliverance, etc.) come to us from God through Christ.
REFERENCES: Second Sunday after Christmas Day; 2 Cor. 10:18, "For not he who promotes [commends] himself is approved, but whom the Lord promotes."Psalm 75:6 (KJV) For promotion [cometh] neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south; Psalm 75:5-6 (MSG) Don’t raise your fist against High God. Don’t raise your voice against Rock of Ages. He’s the One from east to west; from desert to mountains, he’s the One.
(Living by Faith) 2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV) as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal; (Living by Faith) 2 Corinthians 4:18 (GNB) For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever; (Friendship with God through Christ) 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (GNB) When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also; John 1:1-19 (ESV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made …; Ephesians 1:3 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places; Ephesians 1:3-14 (ESV); Psalm 147:12-20 (ESV); 2 Kings 6:15-17 (ESV) When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha; Jeremiah 31:7-14 (ESV); Jeremiah 1:5 (NASB) Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.";
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Ephesians 1:3-14 (ESV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Ephesians 1:3-14 (ESV)
III. READ THE TEXT: Ephesians 1:3 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the hearers to affirm to others that “ALL Spiritual Blessings” come to us from God through Christ.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “Every Spiritual Blessing”
VI. INTRODUCTION:
Good morning FOB Sykes, I am indeed honored to have this opportunity to introduce to some and present to others Chaplain (CPT) Mark Musser of 6/9 Calvary. He is the Battle space Owner’s Chaplain and will be serving as our FOB Chaplain. Chaplain Musser please stand. Let us give him and our 6/9 Calvary Family a hearty welcome to FOB Sykes and Fortress Chapel.
Chaplain Musser, we look forward to working alongside you in order to facilitate optimal ministry for FOB Sykes. I’m positive you will find a host of ministry helpers, here, that are willing and able to support you as they’ve supported me for the past 6 Weeks or more.
On a different note: Recently, during my sermon preparation, I came across a humorous Short Story dubbed, “How to Get to Heaven”.
____________________________
According to the story,
A man dies and meets our Savior at the Pearly Gates. Jesus says to the man, “Here’s how it works. You need to have one hundred points to get into heaven. You tell me about all the good things you’ve done. They are all worth a certain number of points. If your total is one hundred or more, you can come in.”
“Well says the man. “I was happily married to the same woman for 52 years. I never looked at another woman. I was attentive and loved her dearly.”
“That’s great,” says our Savior. “That’ll be two points.”
“Hmmm,” says the man. “This is going to be harder than I thought. Well, I attended church regularly, volunteered my time and tithed faithfully.”
“Wonderful,” says Jesus, “That’s worth another point.”
“One point!” says the man.” Okay, okay. I was involved with a prison ministry for twenty-five years. I went into the prison, at least monthly, and shared Jesus with them.”
“Wow!” says Jesus. “That’s another two points!”
“Only two points!” says the man. “At this rate, it’ll be by the grace of God that’ll I’ll ever get into this place.”
“Bingo!” says Jesus. That’s one hundred points! Come on in.”
--------------------------------------------
MOVE 1: Wow! What an awesome story of How to get to heaven … in order to enjoy the ultimate and definitive Spiritual Blessing.
a. For every Spiritual Blessing comes from God through Jesus Christ.
b. Who can ever forget Paul’s writing to the church at Corinth, in 2 Corinthians 4:18, where he
encourages the believers to “live by faith and not by sight”.
c. For don’t you remember, Paul said (GNB)… we fix our attention, not on things that are seen,
d. … but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what
cannot be seen lasts forever;
e. Likewise, my brothers and sisters, unlike “Physical Blessings” – that is to say, material
things ….
f. … which can be seen and touched which are available to both the just and the unjust alike.
g. For God makes His sun rise … on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just
and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45b).
h. In other words, God gives physical blessings like promotions (homes, BMW, jobs etc.) to both the Saved and UnSaved alike.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 2: But, Every Spiritual Blessings come from God through Christ.
a. Spiritual Blessings can’t always been seen by the naked eye – BUT THEY LAST FOREVER.
b. When God gives the spiritual blessing of PEACE – you have peace.
c. When God gives the Spiritual Blessing of FAITH – you have faith.
d. When God gives the Spiritual Blessing of Love – You’re able to love your enemies; and
pray for those who are persecuting you.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 3: When God gives Deliverance – You have deliverance.
a. The devil is a liar.
b. Trouble may have sent you “priority mail,” but God won’t let you RECEIVE IT.
c. Because you have been delivered.
d. You may be going through – but you have been delivered.
e. For when God gives deliverance – as long as you stay in His hands – you are delivered in
deed.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 4: Spiritual Blessings can’t be seen; but they’re present and accounted for.
a. For who can ever forget the story in 2 Kings, Chapter 6 - (The defeat of the Syrian Army).
b. For the Bible says, that … The King of Syria was at war with Israel.
c. He consulted his officers and chose a place to set up his camp.
d. But, Elisha sent word to the king of Israel, warning him not to go near that place, because the Syrians were waiting to AMBUSH the Israeli’ Army.
e. So the king of Israel warned his Soldiers who lived in that AREA, and they were on guard.
f. This happened several times.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 5: The Syrian king became greatly upset over these occurrences.
a. So, he called in his officers and asked them, “Which one of you is on the side of the king of Israel?
b. One of them answered, “No one is, Your Majesty.
c. The prophet Elisha … tells the king of Israel what you say even in the privacy of your own room.”
d. Then the king ordered: “Find out where Elisha is and I will capture him.
e. When he was told that Elisha was in DOT-HAN, he sent a large force there with horses and chariots.
f. They reached the town at night and surrounded it.
******* TAKE 5 BEAT *******
MOVE 6: Early … the next morning Elisha’s servant got up, went out of the house, and saw the Syrian troops with their horses and chariots surrounding the town.
a. He RAN back to Elisha and cried, “We are doomed, sir!
b. What shall we do?
c. Elisha answered, “Don’t be afraid.
d. We have more on our side than they have on theirs.
e. Then he prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!
f. The Lord answered his prayer, and Elisha’s servant looked up and saw the hillside covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:1-17).
g. The angels of God who encamps around those who fear the Lord can’t be seen; but they’re present.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 7: In our text today, we find ourselves eavesdropping on the Apostle Paul ONCE AGAIN.
a. This time, during his First imprisonment, Paul writes a no-nonsense letter (about 61 AD) from Prison in Rome to the Christians in Ephesus and the believers in Asia.
b. In fact, this entire Book of Ephesians can be summarized with our text THIS MORNING (Ephesians 1:3 ESV): ….
c. … Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places …
d. Then in the very next verse … (VERSE 4) - the Apostle Paul begins to list the spiritual blessings.
e. Now, my brothers and sisters, if you were to list your blessings in order of appreciation, what would you put at the TOP of Your List?
f. What would you consider to be the GREATEST blessing that God has GIVEN you?
g. It is interesting to note that Paul placed at the TOP of his list, His election by God, for the Scriptures SAYS in verse 4: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”
h. In other words, Paul is saying, before our mother conceived us … God knew us.
i. He knew our faults, and He knew our weaknesses; but He loved us so … that He still CHOSE – in the heavenly realm - to bless us with SALVATION.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 8: So that we would be holy and without fault before Him. Therefore, He has made us His sons and daughters.
b. For it is by Grace … through Faith … that we’re Saved.
c. Therefore, let us praise His glory!
d. For He’s worthy to be praised! We should praise Him for Peace in the midst of the STORM;
e. We should praise Him for Love … in the presence of our enemies;
f. We should praise Him … for Mercy … and deliverance. Praise the Lord!
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
CELEBRATION: (Psalm 150 ESV)
… Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
