We Are Blessed

We’re Blessed

GNLCC 3/9/2003 Psalm 1:1-6 Ephesians 1:3-10

Special Thanks To John Stevenso For His Help In Preparing This Message Through His Sermon.

There was a family in which the mother and the father played favorites with their children. The children were twins, but the father liked the son born first the best, but the mother she really liked the younger son. Let’s call them Ahmad and Rashad. Ahmad the, oldest twin grew up with muscles, and a very hairy body. Ahmad loved to hunt, and work out in the fields.

You could tell when he walked into the room, because there was an odor that he always brought with him. Ahmad and his father loved each other tremendously. His father loved the meat that his son would bring back from the hunt.

The younger twin Rashad, was more into music, painting, and art. He never had the body of his twin brother. He grew very little hair on his arms and neck and his skin was very smooth. He enjoyed being around his mother, and they had a great relationship with each other. The years passed, and the two guys became adults.

Their father went blind, and wanted to do something special for his oldest son, Ahmad. He said, “ now Ahmad, you know I can’t see any longer, but I sure still enjoy eating. I want you to go out and hunt me some meat, come back and cook it for me, and when you get back I’m going to give you something.”Ahmad was thrilled and went out hunting.

Now the mother heard what her husband had told Ahmad, but she wanted Rahsad to get what the father was going to give Ahmad. So she told Ahmad, “look I’ve got a plan. I want you to go and pretend you are your brother. Your father is blind so we can pull this trick off. First of all wrap some goat skin with the hair on it on your arms, your hands, and your neck.

Get one of your brothers smelly shirts and jackets and put it on you. Then take this food that I’ve cooked just like your father likes it, and give it to him and say, you’re ready to receive what he promise.”

Rashad was scared to do it, because his voice was not like his brother’s, but he went ahead and tried it. His father didn’t trust his voice, so he told him to come closer. When he felt the goat skin hair, and smelled the shirt and the coat, he said, this must be Ahmad, and he mistakenly gave what he had to Rashad.

What was it that the father had to give Ahmad, that his wife and son conspired against him to trick him out of it. Was it power? Was it money?, Was it land? Was it the family’s Lexus? Now you may know this story in the bible as involving Isaac, Rebekkah, Esau and Jacob.

The thing they wanted to get out of this elderly blind man was “a blessing.” They wanted to hear the words, “May the Lord do such and such for you. May the Lord bless you.” Today we use the word bless or blessed so easily that we can forget the real meaning of it.

Today we sang Blessed Be The Lord God Almighty, Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty, Blessed Be The Rock Of My Salvation, and we will end with Count Your Many Blessings. But who are we talking to when we say “bless the Lord and what do we mean.”

What do we mean when we say to someone , “the Lord bless you”? Is it just a Christian way to goodbye "; are we using it as a sort of prayer that the Lord will do good things for the person? Have you thought about just what is it that you are expecting, or hoping that the Lord will do?

Or, when we "count our blessings," what are we counting? Is it our health, our money, our parents, our children, our church, our spouse, or our situation. If we lose some of these things, are we will still blessed?

But then what about the unpleasant things in our lives? Are they blessings? Do we think of trials and tribulations or testing as blessings? If the Lord allows the testing of our faith, is that a blessing? If the Lord allows a situation into our lives that is very painful, but uses it for His glory months or years later, is that a blessing? If God says no to our prayer request, “is that a blessing.”

The word "bless" in translated from the Greek term eulogetos. It is a compound word, made up from joining two words together.(1) Eu is the word "good." (2) Lego is the verb, "to speak."