"Every Spiritual Blessing"

"… 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”.

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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.”