Numbers 6:22-27 (MSG)
22 GOD spoke to Moses:
23 "Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the People of Israel. Say to them,
24 GOD bless you and keep you,
25 GOD smile on you and gift you,
26 GOD look you full in the face and make you prosper.
27 In so doing, they will place my name on the People of Israel— I will confirm it by blessing them."
( The danger of leaving before the benediction)
My brothers and sisters
The word benediction comes out of the Latin word and the prefix is beneath
And Bene means Well or good
Diction means speech or words.
All a benediction is a good word spoken over your life.
And we all need a benediction.
Because if you're a church boy like me who was raised and reared in the church
You know, you couldn't even leave church without a benediction being spoken over your life.
Now there are some benedictions in the Bible,
That need not to be confused with doxologies,
Because the root word for doxology, is doxa, meaning glory, and it means to give God glory.
You see
Now unto him who's able to keep you from falling. ----- That's a doxology.
Now unto him who's able to do exceedingly abundantly. Above all, you can ask or a think.
That's a doxology.
But a benediction is a good word, a well word spoken over your life.
In the text before
We have a benediction that God tells Moses to tell the priest to speak this over the people.
Literally, God says, this is what I want you to say over my people.
Imma bless them and Imma keep them,
And I'm gonna smile at them
and I'm gonna grace them
and I'm gonna keep looking them in the face
and I'ma give them peace.
I just gave you`ll a reason to shout, and some of you missed it because you ready to leave before the benediction
But is it alright if I break it down what God tell Moses to tell Aaron to speak over the people.
Imma bless you
and Imma keep you,
and I'ma smile at you
and I'm gonna keep putting grace and favor on you.
Imma keep my eyes on you,
and I'ma keep hooking you up with some shalom,------ some peace.
And you do know you can't shout over content without context.
Well, The context of the Book of Numbers is that the Israelites are in liminal space.
They're in and between season.
They are a long way from the captivity and bondage of Egypt,
But they have not yet made it to the savory successes of the promised land.
And the questions we all have to ask ourselves is
What do you do when you are no longer where you used to be,
But you’re not quite where you're going to be?
And how do you live in the in between?
How do you manage living in the almost you?
You've been praying,
you've been fasting
you've been giving,
you've been sowing.
But it doesn't seem like you've made it to the fullness of the promised Land,
But you're not yet stuck in the same chains and bondage of Egypt.
In other words
How do you live in the wilderness seasons?
And I don't care how dressed up you are this morning/evening,
Because the person beside you can have their hair done,
nails done,
everything did.
I said nails done, --hair done,---- everything did.
Their edges can be laid,
their eyebrows can be on fleek,
their lip gloss can be popping,
their hairline can be neat,
their shoes can be shining,
their clothes can be ironed.
But underneath that layer of facade, there are some people in this sanctuary who know what it feels like to wander in a wilderness
And in spite of the wilderness that we're living in, 2025
God says,
I'm still gonna bless you
and I'mma keep you
and I'm a smile at you
and I'm gonna give you grace
and I'm gonna keep looking at you
and I'mma give you peace.
You see
This book was not just named numbers because they're wandering in the wilderness.
But it`s name numbers because of a census being taken in chapter one,
And In chapter twenty six, they're still counting how many people are still in the land.
And some of you are just like Moses and the leaders
You’ve been trying to take a census on who's in your life that you can still count on.
Because unfortunately, ------ everybody you count, you can't count on.
And I know some of y`all in here trying to look bougie and saved This morning/evening.
But some of y'all are still feeling some kind of way
Because you were there for others
But you don`t feel like they have been there for you .
But remember God said,
I'm still gonna bless you
And I'm gonna keep you
And I'm gonna smile at you
And I'm gonna give you grace
And I'm gonna keep my eyes on you
And I'm gonna keep giving you peace.
Can we take a praise break and thank God for the fact he'll give you a good word in a bad season?
He'll hold you together with His word until your world comes back together?
He's a God that blesses and keeps,
A God that knows how to hook You up.
But Is It alright if we tiptoe through this text .
And talk about the danger of leaving before the benediction?
(Number one).
Here's what you need to know.
The Lord is the source of all our blessings.
It's so simple I'm almost embarrassed to tell you.
Verse twenty four. -The Lord bless you and keep you.
Verse twenty five.- The Lord make his face to shine upon you and grace you.
Verse twenty six. The Lord lift up the countenance, the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Notice—Notice -Notice
You can't even get to the blessings until you stumble over two key words that keep coming in successive succession.
The Lord,--- the Lord,---- the Lord.
That's why some of y'all have been prasing God the whole service.
Because you know where your help comes from.
You know where your source Is
Even though your resources may be shaky,
But your source is still the same.
In other words
You don't need music, a choir or a praise team to rejoice.
Because You know that if God had not kept you,
If God had not held you,
If God had not taken your name in rooms you've never walked in,
If God had not opened doors you've never knocked on,
If God had not shattered ceilings you never thought you would live above,
You would not be here today.
That’s why you ought to Thank God for being your source.
And you do know that
God is the source and the strength of our life.
Move all pain, misery and strife
. Promise to keep us, never to leave us.
Never ever come short of his word.
That`s why
We got to fast and pray.
Stay in the narrow way.
Keep my life clean every day.
Cause we want to go with him.
When he comes back.
We've come too far and we can't turn back.
God is my----- all and -----all
That why you ought to give your neighbor a high 5
And tell them---------- God is my source.
If I don’t wake up tomorrow,--------- He's still my source.
If a family members pass,------------ He's still my source.
If my mental health gets shaken,---- He's still my source.
Money looking funny -----He`s still my source
God is my refuge and my strength.
(I need y`all to help me preach this )
Turn to your neighbor and tell them
Stop trying to explain your favor and do what the text says three times. (repeat 3 times)
The Lord, the Lord, the Lord.
You we’re sick but now you`re well - The Lord, the Lord, the Lord.
You use to be on drugs but now you`re not -- The Lord, the Lord, the Lord.
You had a setback but God gave you a major comeback- The Lord, the Lord, the Lord.
And the reason you ought not leave before the benediction
Is sum up in 6 words
The Lord, the Lord, the Lord.
You see
This benediction can be divided into three parts all beginning with "The LORD."
Because if you Leave out God
We destroy the blessing which is what many people in our world are doing.
Notice -Notice -Notice
• The protection in the benediction.
"The LORD bless thee, and keep thee"
You see
The Hebrew word translated "keep" means to hedge about, guard, and protect.
And we need Divine protection at all times.
Well not only do we need Gods Divine Protection
But the text also reveals
• The prosperity in the benediction.
"The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee"
And When God's face shines upon you, it means favor.
And Hence the prosperity from the benediction is here and the fact the favor is of grace is emphasized in "gracious."
And If we want blessing, we should seek for God's grace.
Well not only does the text reveals the
• The protection in the benediction.
• The prosperity in the benediction.
But the text also reveals
• The peace in the benediction.
"The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace" .
And When God's countenance is lifted up upon you, you will indeed have peace.
In other words
. The Lord is the source of all our blessing.
And these blessing are not just arbitrary blessings,
Because the 1st blessing is God's conduct towards us.
And the Second blessings is the consequences of God's conduct.
In which starts a ripple effect
Because God's conduct is the Lord blesses you.
And the consequence of you being blessed is you're kept.
The Lord smiles at you. And because God smiles at you,
And , the consequence is you got grace.
The Lord is going to keep his eyes on you.
And the consequence of God keeping his eyes on us is we got peace.
And because God keeps looking. we got grace.
And because God keeps smiling. We`re kept because God keeps blessing.
And I don’t` know about you but I'm just glad I'm on the blessed list.
Because when you examine the word blessed,
Blessed in Hebrew is Barrack
And Barrack means to bow, means to get low. It means to honor, have reverence, bow.
In Psalms 34: 1 David said I will bless the Lord at all times – he was barracking God
But in the text before us God barracking us
And I know you want to know how does God barracks us ?
We discovered a few minutes ago that barracks means
To kneel and to bow
And you do know that God sits high.
In other words
The fact that God knows how to get to us.
The fact that God will literally kneel to you every time you cry,
Every time you're wounded. God kneels
And the reason why some of y'all aren't shouting is.
Because the twenty first century church has messed us up.
We think blessings are materialism.
So we shout about houses and cars and clothes and iPhones and ipods and fake nail- fake eye lashes and horse hair in our head.
But if I could get 2 and I will 3 who is not ashamed to testify.
That the real blessing is not in your stuff.
But the real blessing
It's in having a God that can.
Well not only is God
The source of our blessings.
And God has a sequence to the blessing.
But the text also reveals that
God stretches our blessings.
You see
There's another set of threes other than the Lord. The Lord, the Lord
But because we run through the text,
And did not tiptoe through the text.
We miss the mystery of the text.
The Lord bless you,------ keep you.
The Lord smile at you, give you grace.
The Lord facetime you on the regular, give you peace.
You know _______________
If I were to say but God in here and if Dade isn’t sleep on the key board and hit E flat
And open the floor up for oh but God testimonies
I truly believe everyone under the sound of my weak voice has a OH BUT GOD TESTIMONY
Some of yall know what I’m talking about
Should have lost my mind ---But God
Almost quit.--- But God
Almost walked away from the whole marriage.--- But God
I gotta go to my seat
But look at your neighbor 1 more time
And tell them
if you want to know if God is a healer look at me.
if you wanna know if God is a keeper look at me
if you wanna know if God is a bridge over troubled waters look at me
if you wanna know if God is a way maker look at me
if you wanna know if God is a lily in the valley
if you wanna know if God is Jehovah Jireh look at me
Because God got his name on me
