INTRO.- ILL.- It is said that late in Sir Winston Churchill’s life he took a cruise on an Italian ship. A journalist from a Rome newspaper asked the former prime minister why he chose to travel on an Italian line when the stately Queen’s line under the British flag was available.
Churchill gave the question his consideration and then replied: "There are three things I like about Italian ships. First, their food is unsurpassed. Second, their service is quite superb." And then Sir Winston added, "And then there is none of this nonsense about women and children first."
Apparently, Winston Churchill was somewhat self-centered. And I think if we would be honest, most of us are not too much different.
ILL.- Les and Leslie just got home from shopping. Here is their conversation. Real people. Real story. See if you fit into this picture anywhere. "You’re going to vacuum before they get here, right?" Leslie asked in an anxious tone as they pulled their car into the garage. "I’ve got it under control," Les murmured.
They each grabbed an armful of groceries and hurried into the kitchen. "I’ll put away the groceries so you can get started on the vacuuming," Leslie said. The tension was rising because, in less than an hour, two couples would be at their doorstep expecting a dinner party.
"Don’t forget to light the candles and turn on the music before they get here," Leslie hollered from the kitchen. Les heard what she said but didn’t reply as he walked into his study to look through some "urgent" mail.
Only a couple of minutes had passed, it seemed, when Leslie walked into his study and in exasperation asked: "What are you doing?"
"Reading my mail," Les said, defensively. Leslie didn’t buy his act. "Don’t worry," Les said, "I’ll take care of the other stuff."
Leslie sighed and left the room. Five minutes later Les heard the sound of the vacuum in the living room. "I’m almost done here and then I’ll go in and help," Les said to himself. Ten minutes later the vacuum stopped. Les bolted from his chair and walked to the living room.
"I thought I was going to do this," Les said to Leslie. "So did I," she replied.
Brothers and sisters, this could be called subtle selfishness, but sometimes, it is not so subtle.
I Peter 3:8-9 "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."
God wants to bless his people. God is a giver. He wants to give to us good things in life, but there are times when He withholds His blessing because of our bad attitude. When we are selfish, self-centered, arrogant, thinking we are right all the time, proud, etc. God withholds His blessing from us. But when we are unselfish, people-centered, people-lovers, sympathetic, tenderhearted, compassionate, etc. that’s when He will pour His blessings on us!
BLESSED IS THE MAN. God wants to bless us! Believe it, because it’s true!
Psalm 128:1-2 "Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours."
Prov. 10:6 "Blessings crown the head of the righteous..."
Jerm. 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper (bless) you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Don’t these verses speak to your heart? God does want to bless us and in many ways. It may be financial, it may be health, it may be our families, it may be our work, but be assured, God wants to bless His people!
Besides treating people right, what else can we do to inherit God’s blessing?
PROP.- Psalm one tells us what we must do in order to be blessed by God.
1- We must be separated from the world
2- We must be saturated with the word
3- We must be situated by the waters
I. WE MUST BE SEPARATED FROM THE WORLD
Ps. 1:1 "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."
The world is not an especially nice place to live, but we have nowhere else to live. The problem is what we do in this world.
ILL.- Bud Robinson, a Holiness preacher, was taken by friends to New York and shown around the city. That night in his prayers he said, "Lord, I thank You for letting me see all the sights of New York. And I thank You most of all that I didn’t see a thing that I wanted!"
I DIDN’T SEE A THING I WANTED. I don’t think this would hold true for most of us. Generally, we see lots of things in this world that we would like to have and things we would like to do.
What’s your greatest worldly want? Don’t answer that question, except in your mind. A new home? A new this, a new that? A luxurious vacation around the world? A bit lottery win? Fame? Fortune? Fun? Generally, we can categorize our worldly wants in these areas.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with having things as long as things don’t have us.
ILL.- In 1968 I bought a 1968 Pontiac Firebird, blue in color, 4-speed, 400 CI engine, etc. It was my pride and joy. I washed it every day and waxed it once every week. Did I have it or did it have me?
Matt. 6:24 "No one can serve two masters...you cannot serve both God and Money." Or perhaps God and a Firebird.
Rom. 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."
We are to be transformists, not conformists. We should be "thermostats," not "thermometers."
I Cor. 15:33 "Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character." Some people will lift you up and others will pull you down.
ILL.- When I worked for Safeway in the 1960’s there was a fellow employee who wanted me to go play golf with him. I did and I haven’t been right ever since. Just kidding. I’ve never played golf since. He ruined me. I didn’t like it. But we all know there are some so-called friends who could truly ruin a person or get them into deep trouble.
ILL.- I know of two guys long ago who were friends. One talked the other one into having someone over 21 years of age buy them a 5th of Vodka. Those two guys drank that 5th in 30 minutes time and 30 minutes later they went wild and did some crazy things. People do influence us for good or evil. For the world or for Christ!
I John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
ILL.- Someone said, "The world’s smiles are more dangerous that its frowns." The world may appear friendly, but the world and its ways are in opposition to God.
ILL.- It was said that some years ago, musicians noted that the errand boys in a certain part of London all whistled out of tune as they went about their work. Someone suggested that it was because the bells of Westminster were slightly out of tune. The boys had unconsciously copied their pitch. And so we tend to copy the people with whom we associate; we borrow thoughts from the books we read and the programs to which we listen, and the TV programs we watch, almost without knowing it.
If we want God’s blessing there is a point where we must be separated from the world.
II. WE MUST BE SATURATED WITH THE WORD
Ps. 1:2 "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."
We need to delight in God’s Word and meditate on it as much as possible. God is pleased when we pay attention to Him and His Word. He blesses these kind of people.
ILL.- I visited with our Bob Chaney one day at his muffler shop down the street. He was in the process of putting a muffler on someone’s car. He was having a bit of trouble and I said, "Bob, I see your problem. Here’s how to do it..."
I have no more business telling Bob his business than a man in the moon, because I know little about it. Sometimes we think we know about a lot of stuff when it may be that we could stuff our knowledge in a very small lot. I know one area where we all are deficient.
ILL.- Some bright, college-bound students came up with these ideas about the Bible:
- Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers.
- The New Testament was written by Matthew, Mark, Luther and John.
- Eve was created from an apple.
- Jesus was baptized by Moses.
What about you? What crazy things do you believe about the Bible? Or what is it that you don’t know? Let me quiz you.
ILL.- Where are these found?
- The Great Commission? (or perhaps I should ask, what is the great commission?)
- The beginning of the church?
- The beatitudes?
- The crucifixion? (what books and where?)
- The conversion of the eunuch? (who in the world is the eunuch?)
- The love chapter of the Bible?
- Where is the life of Christ found in the Bible?
- What book has the most chapters?
- What is the wisdom book of the Bible?
- Can you quote: John 3:16, the great commission, the Lord’s Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, Acts 2:38, I Cor. 13:13, etc.?
Our Bible knowledge is embarrassingly limited. God doesn’t expect us to be scholars, but He does expect us to school ourselves with His Word. At least, enough to defend our faith or explain what we believe.
II Tim. 2:15 "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
We need to be workmen who know their tools and how to use them correctly. We need to know the Book and how to use it.
ILL.- Preacher Ed Bousman used to preach a sermon entitled, "How can I make my life count more effectively for Christ?" His points were: Familiarize. Memorize. Sermonize. Educationalize.
Ed said we needed to familiarize ourselves with God’s Word. He said there is no great secret in doing that. It just takes a lot of reading, over and over. Before going to Bible college he read the New Testament fifteen times.
His practice as a preacher is to read the New Testament 40 or more times a year. He said if he wasn’t so lazy he’d read the New Testament once every week or 52 times a year. Reading the Scripture over and over, will make you very familiar with it. Of course, the most important thing is not reading the Scripture but letting the Scripture read us.
ILL.- Preacher Henry Ward Beecher said that one of the great influences in his life was a black man named Charles Smith. He was a hired man on the farm that belonged to Beecher’s father. Beecher said, "Charles Smith did not try to influence me. He didn’t know he did it and I didn’t know it until some time later. He used to lie on his bed and read the New Testament, not knowing I was listening to him. He would talk about the Scripture out loud and chuckle over it as he read it. I had never heard anything like that before..."
Brothers and sisters, what that man did is what we need to do. He saturated his heart and mind with the Word of God. And that’s the way to be blessed by God.
III. WE MUST BE SITUATED BY THE WATERS
Ps. 1:3 "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."
Trees are important to this world and to man. Can you imagine what our world would be like without trees? Tree are valuable and important. They help to hold the soil together. They prevent erosion. They provide protection and food for many other plants and animals. The leaves absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Trees provide fruit and wood for building. And THEY NEED sunlight and water in order to survive and grow. Just as trees need water for life and growth, so do humans.
DID YOU KNOW?
1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak it is often mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.
4. One glass of water, shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a U-Washington study.
5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory.
8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily, decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.
Not only is water important for our survival but also the living water that comes from God’s Spirit. To bear spiritual fruit we must draw from the water of God’s Spirit.
Rom. 8:15 "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’"
The Holy Spirit relieves us of our fears and especially, our fear of God. When the Holy Spirit lives within we do not fear things or people, because God is our Father. We cry out "Father, Father..." And we know that He loves us more than anyone and will care for us.
Rom. 8:26 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."
Many times we are weak in life. We have things happen to us that drain the life right out of us: losing loved ones in death, difficulties at home, at work, etc. It is then the Holy Spirit comes to our aid. When we are so weak and worn out that we can’t even pray the Holy Spirit tells the Father how bad we feel. He is our interceding friend. A friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Eph. 3:16 "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being...."
Some things are hard to face in life, hard to cope with. During these hard times we can pray for God to strengthen us inwardly by the power of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is stronger than our strongest foes.
ILL.- The GNC store at the mall sells something we all need. They are called antioxidants: Vitamin C, E, beta carotene, and the mineral selenium. These antioxidants fight bugs that attack us and they build us up, build up our immune system.
Likewise, we all need a spiritual antioxidant who will fight the bugs that attack us and build us up spiritually. That spiritual antioxidant is the Holy Spirit. We need to be situated by the waters.... situated by the Holy Spirit, close to Him.
Eph. 3:20 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
God can do more in us. More than we will ever ask for. More than we can ever imagine. HOW? By the power of the Spirit at work within us. Let Him be. Let Him work. Let Him do His thing. Situated by the water.
CONCLUSION-------------------------------------
ILL.- Preacher Dwight L. Moody loved to study the Bible topically, and it occurred to him one day that he had never studied the subject of grace. Setting aside a day, Moody gave himself to the study of God’s grace. But one day was not enough. He studied for three days and was so filled with his subject that he had to go out on the street and talk to somebody about it. Stopping a complete stranger, Moody said, "My friend, do you know anything about grace?"
Surprised at the question, the man replied, "Grace who?" "Why," Moody responded, "the grace of God that brings salvation." (Titus 2:11)
Brothers and sisters, we should not be ignorant about the grace of God or any of the blessings of God. DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE BLESSED OF GOD? Do you know that He wants to bless you even more?
He can and will, if we will:
1- be separated from the world
2- be saturated with His word
3- be situated by the water of His Spirit
