Blessed or Busted series
What am I to “BE”
Deuteronomy 11:13-28
* (TEXT) Verse 28 are the words of God as dictated to Moses for the Children of Israel (Deuteronomy is indeed Moses’ last plea to a stubborn, stiff-necked, and hard-headed people to never again turn away from or doubt Jehovah God). In this verse we read that God sets up two things; a blessed and a curse – and then gives His people (the Children of Israel & US) the choice as to which one we want to receive.
* For most of us in this room this is a “no-brainer”, we don’t want the curse we want the ‘blessing.’
* Here is the huge secret of the day; “GOD WANTS TO BLESS YOU (us).” At least a half-dozen time the scripture records “He will bless” to promise us that His favor and His best will is always ‘for us.’ God is for us.
* However, it is crystal clear from His word that if we desire God’s blessing, we must place ourselves in the position to receive God’s blessing. Often times, when the wheels come off of our lives, we wonder why God hasn’t shown up and we find ourselves ‘busted’ because either we have not allow our lifestyle to be reformed by God’s Spirit or our lives have not been transformed by God’s power meaning we have never been saved. In other words, we have not followed His word & been obedient to Him.
* Beginning today, I hope you notice a difference in messages from this pulpit. For the past 5 years, you have followed & taken copious notes as I have diligently, prayerfully, and consistently offered to you, which I call, ‘academic outlines.’ Today, that outline would possibly be this; The Condition for Blessing (the ‘if’ which God gives), The Choice of Blessing (God gives us a blessing & a curse – both are available), and the Consequence from Blessing (whatever choice we make determines the outcome or consequence we receive).
* From those exegetical thoughts, let’s answer 3 broad questions with some very personal answers. The question for today is; “IF I am to be blessed and not busted (or cursed) by God, what am I to be?” I suggest 4 things;
1. Be Sure of My Salvation – Nothing paralyzes a person from speaking or ministering for the Lord than does this issue of uncertainty about their salvation. If you are not sure about your status with God you will rarely speak a word to someone about their relationship to God.
* How many times have I heard people respond, “Well, I certainly hope I’m going to heaven—but no one can know for sure.” (1 John 5:13)
* Some don’t ever want to recheck to be sure, yet 2 Cor. 13 tell us to do it.
* Think about these words from Hebrews 2:1-4 (READ) To read this scripture is to be sobered by what salvation means. Before you can be absolutely sure that you have salvation, you might need to know what salvation means, or better said, what it meant to those first century believers. For them, it was more than a simple prayer, it was more than attending a meeting, it was more than having a name on a role, and it was much more than wearing a cultural name. To those first century believers their salvation meant a total and complete transformation of their lives. To the disciples Jesus said things like “Come, follow me” so they left their net, left their families, and even left their livelihoods to follow HIM. In Acts, when people became believers they became a walking commercial for the Kingdom.
* Salvation is just as much about being restored to and walking with God as it is about going to heaven. It is about being a part of expanding the Kingdom as it is about eternal life. It is about being a Child of God, living like you’re a child of God, walking and talking like you belong to Him. Please listen, when Jesus comes into a life, it makes a difference in that life and to think anything else is salvation is to be self-deceived!
* The question is; how sure am I of my salvation? Do I walk with God? Does my life, attitude, words, and lifestyle demonstrate my salvation?
2. Be Passionate in my Worship – I said it last week and I will say it again today; the life of a believer is about activity not passivity, it’s about transformation not relaxation. Candidly, few things attract people to God like passionate worship. Not long ago in our Deacon’s meeting, one of our men talked about going to specific churches and sensing the presence of God when you walked into the room because of their passion for God. Passionate worship is a response to the command to “Love the Lord God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul.” How sad that many people who claim to love God have more passion for sports, shopping, and other things than they do their God. The result is that many corporate services resemble funeral services than celebration.
* One Sunday morning the pastor noticed little Alex standing in the foyer of the church staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names and small American flags. The six-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up and stood beside the boy. "Pastor, what is this," said Alex still focused on the plaque. The pastor replied, "Well son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service." Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the plaque. Finally, little Alex, barely audible and trembling with fear asked, "Which service, the 8:30 or the 10:45?" (We’ve all been there- GRIN)
* What is worship? According to the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, “Worship is first of all a verb, an action. It is motivated by a desire to honor another. The Bible includes a wide range of physical movement and expression in its images of worship, including bowing down, lifting hands, clapping hands, dancing, processions and singing.”
* Have you ever given an honest reading to worship in the Bible? In the Old Testament the sound was heard from (2 Chronicles 5)
* Ralph P. Martin say this; “In worship the church celebrates God's rule over all human life. "Worship is the dramatic celebration of God in his supreme worth in such a manner that his 'worthiness' becomes the norm and inspiration of human living."
* What does our participation and response to corporate worship say about our spiritual temperature? (Trip to Pass Road) This church had not forgotten what it is to celebrate before the Lord.
* What impressed me was that I saw literally no-one just enduring the service. While some were running the aisle, others were waving hands, and still others were very animated in their rejoicing; some sat quietly, praying, weeping, and talking with the Father.
* When we stand to corporately worship God, are you passionate about reaching His ears with the sound of your voice?
* If we want to be blessed of God, we must be passionate in our worship of Him. Why? Because He alone is worthy to be praised and worship. He is Jehovah Jireh (the Lord will provide), He is Jehovah-Rophe (the Lord will heal), He is Jehovah-Shalom (He is our Peace), but folks He is Jehovah-Shammah (He is THERE). God is all these things & more; what’s more, HE IS WORTHY of passionate, unabandoned, no reservation worship & praise.
3. Be Godly in my Priorities – This truth is as old as creation. In the Garden of Eden Adam & Eve were to keep Father God & His desires first in their lives. They didn’t do this and all of human history is written from their actions. When Moses received the 10 commandments, the first two dealt with placing ‘anything before God.’ In fact, a keen interpretation of those commandments would force modern man to see that anything which receives more attention than God in a life has now become a God for life.
* The question becomes for each of us; “What is it that has first place in our lives?” Better said, what is it that gets our attention before anything else?
* In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus includes an entire section which serves to help us in our priorities. (Matt 6:19-33) The summation of this verse is found in verse 33. If we seek Him first, then all else will fall into place. (Illust: work, family, hobby, church) Can you ‘order’ your priorities?
* Would your priorities be parallel to God’s priorities?
4. Be Spiritual in my Prayers – What I am suggesting is a re-invention of our prayer life. I suggest that much prayer today is more like talk to or at God rather than ‘with Him.’ Whether it is public or private, prayer is our communication with Jehovah-Shammah and this communication is a two-way conversation. Spiritual prayer is about listening as much as it is talking. Jesus gives us some instructions in Matt 6:5-8. (Read) What follows this instruction is an example of “how to pray,” Jesus gave the principle and then He showed us how to put it into practice. We will never impress God with our language in the prayer, our length of our prayer, or even the logic of our prayer; what will impress Him is the transparency of our hearts, our desire to know Him fully. We must talk with Him and not ‘to’ or ‘at’ Him and then remain to listen for Him. Personally, I am convinced that the reason we don’t hear Him is at least 2-fold; a) we have too many voices in our heads and we cannot hear Him over the sound of the world. (Explain how this plays out) or, b) we are in such a hurry to get ‘done’ with our prayer time and on with our lives that we are gone before He speaks. Almost 50 times in scripture we are told to ‘wait on the Lord.’ Lamentations 3:25-26 tells us how good it is to wait on the Lord. Perhaps this is the first thing He wants us to be – “Spiritual in our Prayer.” How often are we more concerned about ‘how’ we say something that ‘what’ we say?
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