God’s Promises for the Holiday Season:
You are blessed…
A couple of weeks ago, we began a small series on the Promises that God has given us, and we were doing this as a reminder in the face of what the Holiday Season has become. A time of year that was meant for joy and celebration has become a time of stress, sadness and depression.
Today we want to remember the Promise,
“You are Blessed.”
When you think of people who are blessed, what types of people do you think of? (Wealthy, Famous, Athletes, etc?) or is it different (Families, Friends, etc?)
blessing: (n) God’s favor and protection
Often times when Christmas rolls around we start to think of what we don’t have; what we wish we had; what we wish we could give or simply how we want more to add to what we already have.
1. How do we miss God’s Blessings?
Antithesis to blessing: “I have nothing, I need more, nothing good ever happens!”
A young man was learning to be a paratrooper. Before his first jump, he was given these four instructions:
1. Jump when you are told.
2. Count to ten and pull the ripcord.
3. If it does not work, pull the emergency ripcord.
4. When you land, a truck will take you back to the base.
The young soldier memorized these instructions and climbed aboard the plane. The plane climbed to ten thousand feet and the paratroopers began to jump.
When the young soldier was told to jump, he jumped. He then counted to ten and pulled the ripcord. Nothing happened! His chute didn’t open! So he pulled the emergency ripcord! It did not open either! In near panic, he thought to himself, “Oh great, the truck probably won’t be there either!”
Anybody ever felt like, “What else can go wrong? Nothing’s going right!”
Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
You might be sitting here right now saying, “That’s me! I do what God commands, follow Him fully, but I don’t feel like I’m prospering! Where is God’s blessings? The problem isn’t that God hasn’t blessed us…
A. We lose focus
We finished a series this fall on Facing Your Giants, and what was the first step in anything that we face? –Focus on God, not the Giant!
Piece of Paper Analogy and the X – If I have a piece of paper with just an “X” in the middle of it, can I see anything else on the piece of paper. It’s all we see, the X, and forget the boundless possibilities around it. Artwork? Writing?
When we get into the tunnel vision of focusing on the trappings of life (what we have, don’t have) we’re going to miss out on the everyday blessings, and were certainly going to take for granted the blessings we’ve already received.
What are God’s Blessings?
We could go on for days recounting the many blessings God brings, but today I want to highlight a few that are relevant to the “Anti-Christmas” Mindset.
2. Blessed with Grace
John 1:16-17 (NIV)
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Greek text says “Grace upon Grace” – Continual
This is one of the easier Blessings to forget, because over time we get caught up in what’s going on around us. Grace is God’s Greatest Miracle in our lives. There is nothing else that can erase all our sin, but Jesus’ Blood. And the funny thing is, we look at the obstacles we face and sometimes deem them impossible.
See what we’ve done there? God has already achieved the greatest miracle in our lives, and we’ve now taken it for granted. We’ve made that smaller than our finances, relationships, our jobs, our whatever!
Our perception of Blessing must start with God’s Grace. If we take that for granted, the largest blessing we’ve ever received, we will take everything else for granted. It must be at the core of how we view life, and we must never forget it.
3. Blessed with God’s Provision
A. God gives us what we NEED.
Psalm 1:3 (NIV)
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
We read Psalm 1, and in verse three it talks of prosperity. There are a lot of prosperity teachings out there that state that God wants us to be rich, “Just pay them $19.99 and you’ll find out how!”
However, this verse is not saying if we follow God that we will monetarily prosper. It’s saying that we will prosper spiritually.
Psalm 112:1, 6-7 (NIV)
Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands. 6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. 7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
We may occasionally lose focus, but when we are “rooted” in God’s Stream of Life, we are steadfast. We have what we need to endure life’s struggles. We have faith that God will provide for our every need. – Not want!
It’s interesting, because most times we don’t recognize our utter dependence on God until we hit tough seasons.
Windshield Wipers Story: I was driving home in what Southern Nevada considers a blizzard, and realized I had procrastinated in replacing my windshield wipers. I waited until I actually needed them before I did anything. We have a tendency to do the same. We wait to cry out to God when we’re in trouble! But if we are “rooted” in God’s Streams, we will be steadfast.
“You never know how much you need Jesus, until He’s all you have.”
-Max Lucado
Matthew 6:31-33 (NLT)
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
Highlight, “Everything you need.” It’s so true. There are countless testimonies of how God has provided everything needed to those who seek Him! Recognize this doesn’t say “Endless Wealth and Riches!”
And realize that this verse doesn’t just mean stuff. Sometimes we need more than material things: Encouragement, Support, Wisdom… folks, these are the “Spiritual Blessings” that God provides.
4. Blessed with Peace
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
What are these verses telling us? We have the blessing of being able to run to our Heavenly Father anytime we need it.
The Holidays are incredibly busy. They are just so jammed packed with events that rarely do we entertain the thought of peace until they are over!
Think of the most peaceful place in your mind.
God says, look to me and I can give you a peace even greater than that!
5. Blessed with Joy
Psalm 16:8-9 (NLT)
I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 9 No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in safety.
So where are we to find Joy? In God’s Love for you. And that’s where we can go off track in seeking Joy; when it become something motivated of the flesh.
There is a little word picture we can paint with the word JOY.
J-esus O-thers Y-ourself
When we decide to get our priorities right, we will start to experience joy, joy is not centered on ourselves, it is centered on serving Jesus and then serving others.
Lindsay’s Joy Ornament Story: We caught ourselves complaining one night about the busy holiday schedule on the way home from a Christmas function. We received an ornament that spelled the word “Joy”, and were commenting on it, when suddenly the “Y” broke off. We both realized that we were focusing too much on the “Y” in our lives, and now proudly display the “Jo” ornament on our Christmas Tree as a reminder.
6. Blessed with God’s Family
Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT)
4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
In our last teaching, we focused on the Promise “You are Loved”. And one of he ways God shows his love for us is by adopting us into his family.
I feel it’s important to highlight this blessing today, because many times the “Spiritual Blessings” we receive will come from being involved in the Family of Faith. The Encouragement, Support and Wisdom will come from the hearts of those who simply want to see God glorified in you.
The trouble is, sometimes we don’t necessarily view the church as a blessing. We’ve been burned, judged and hurt by God’s people. If that is you this morning, I want to apologize for that. God’s intention for the church was never to be those things.
In all families (even the ones that have it together) there are times of dysfunction. But when God is sought after first, not personal opinion, status or tradition, God uses His family for great blessing. It is why I stand before you today, God Church helped me along the way.
I want to close by reading Psalm 1:1-3 again:
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
I do this because I want to point out one key ingredient to being “Blessed by God”, and that is God must be Lord in my life. I must make his word my law for living, and I must meditate on it always.
If I do not do these simple acts, I will never truly receive or understand God’s Blessings. Sure I might get some cool things, or have the riches of the world, but I will ultimately be left empty and unfulfilled.
God’s Blessings satisfy and are sufficient.
Final Challenge: Write 3 things God has blessed you with, then thank him for it.
-Prayer
