Blessed To Bless
By Chap Bettis

This weekend marks the beginning of the summer in our part of the country. And the response of New England is to forget work and start partying. The summer three months are an entirely different season than the other nine. Growing up in Alabama, I had an uncle who lived in Michigan. He had an outdoor pool that he could only use three months out of the year. And we thought that was the funniest thing. But now I understand.

As God’s people, we desire to take advantage of this time when people are out talking with each other. And to do that we are introducing our second initiative of the year.

Our first initiative is a shepherding initiative to sit down with everyone of you to discuss your walk. But really that only involves the elders.

The second initiative involves the whole church. Before I tell you about it, I want to draw your attention to a Biblical theme that runs throughout the Scripture. That theme is blessing.

Brainstorm with me on how God has blessed us.

· Spiritual - He’s justified us, adopted us as his children, saved us from eternal punishment, united us in Christ, given us his word as a light, Holy Spirit age, time of incredible teaching, power to rise above sin,

· Physically – blessed us in a country with freedom, compared to the rest of world – wealthy, healthy,

· Illus - While on a short-term missions trip, Pastor Jack Hinton was leading worship at a leper colony on the island of Tobago. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around. "It was the most hideous face I had ever seen," Hinton said. "The woman's nose and ears were entirely gone. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, 'Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?' " Overcome with emotion, Hinton left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, "I guess you'll never be able to sing that song again." "Yes I will," he replied, "but I'll never sing it the same way." The Pastor's Update (5/96). Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.

Gen 12:1-3,

What is that Biblical principle? God blesses his people to be a blessing to others. Stated another way, you are blessed to be a blessing.

· Abraham Gen 12:2-3 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." NASU

· Isaac Gen 26:3-4 "Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; NASU

· Jacob Gen 28:14 "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

· God blessed a people to be a blessing to the other peoples of the earth.

Not just OT, NT as well.

· Matt 10:8 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. NASU

· Gal 6:10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

· There is a theme that runs throughout the Bibles – God blesses his people to be a blessing.

· President John Adams, before he joined his wife Abigail at their new official residence in Washington, D.C., sent her a prayer, which more than a hundred years later President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered inscribed over the fireplace in the State Dining Room: "I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." Peter Hay in All the Presidents' Ladies (Penguin Books). Christian Reader, Vol. 34.

Second theme, God blesses us to bless others to bring him glory. You are blessed to be a blessing to bring him glory.

Ps 67:1-2 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, 2 that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. NIV

· Ps 67:7 God will bless us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him. NASU

If we go back and reread some of our famous stories we find that the reason God blesses is so that the nations will be blessed by hearing what Israel’s God did.

· David 1 Sam 17:46 "This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

· Daniel and the Lions Den. Dan 6:25-27 Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language who were living in all the land: "May your peace abound! "I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel; For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, And His dominion will be forever. 27 "He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." NASU

What we see is this dynamic of God blessing his people, so that we will turn around and bless others so that the name of Jesus will be lifted up.

· Matt 5:43-45 "You have heard that it was said, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. When we love our enemies and bless those who persecute us, we are actually imitating God.

Third theme, You can clog the pipeline with selfishness.

It did with Israel.

· Israel had come to the point where instead of being a witness to the Gentiles, they would not enter their house. They were focused on the nature of God’s blessings to them rather than being a blessing to others.

· Similarly, we can clog that pipeline of blessing. We can become so focused on receiving blessing from God that we forget to pour that blessing out on others.

· The songs we sang this am were bless me songs: Light the Fire in my soul, Lead me to the Rock.

· But what is interesting about a pipe is that if you clog up the outflow eventually it will clog up in the inflow.

· In other words, as we turn to bless others we ourselves will receive more of God’s blessing.

· Jesus himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. As we bless others, we will be blessed.

· God doesn't bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a blessing. -- Warren Wiersbe at TEAM'S 101st annual Bible and missionary conference. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 25.

Application

The primary means of blessing all nations is through the person of Jesus Christ.

· The primary fulfillment of that prophesy was giving the world Jesus Christ.

· From him flows the spiritual blessings of salvation.

· From him flow other physical blessings that believers have given over the years.

· If you have not come to Christ, Scripture says you are outside those spiritual blessings. You are under his condemnation.

That brings us to our summer initiative. This morning we are going to bless you so that you to bless others. Perhaps you have thought that churches are only interested in money. Well I hope today will turn that on its head. Ushers hand out $20 per family.

· Jesus told several parables in which part of the owners money is given out while he is away. At the end of the time there is an accounting of that money. The stewards come and report how they made that money grow. Well we do not want you to make the money grow financially. Instead, we want you to use worldly wealth to make friends for yourself.

· Our church has allotted certain amount for outreach. We are about to spend that this AM. Each family unit will be receiving a 20 dollar bill to invest in reaching out this summer. (If you are a visitor today – you can take the money to invest or you can turn it down.) At the end of the summer we are going to ask how you spent that money.

How do we go about doing this?

First, we want you to pray for the direction of the Spirit.

· I will be speaking on prayer next week specifically for this topic.

· If you are in a family, have the whole family pray. Make this a family project.

· So that the money doesn’t get lost, maybe you should put it over the kitchen sink window, or in the middle of the table.

Second, understand how you can use this money to bless others in Jesus name.

· Bless with truth –or Bless with kindness

· Really we would like to see you do both. Kindness and truth mixed together.

Third, understand the range of idea,

· Perhaps you could order some books and give them to people at your workplace.

· Perhaps you could buy ice cream and invite neighbors over to discuss spiritual things. Or host a cookout for that reason.

· Perhaps you could host a focus group, where a number of unsaved friends get together to talk about spirituality and religion.

· Perhaps you could buy a Bible for someone.

· Perhaps you could rent a billboard or an ad in the paper.

· You can combine with other families or singles and do something together.

· You are not limited to 20 dollars. You can match the amount or kick in more.

· You want to ask: Where is there a spiritual need? Where can I give a gift in Jesus’ name?

There are gifts that are more on the end of kindness and there are gifts more on the end of truth. If it is a kindness

ift, make sure it is accompanied by a verbal witness. If it is a truth gift, make sure it meets the need.

The only thing we ask is that you do it in Jesus’ name. The Lord’s name. We believe you and the Holy Spirit have incredible creativity. God is more anxious to bestow his blessings on us than we are to receive them. -- Augustine. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 4

This summer we are asking you to bless others with the truth and kindness of Jesus Christ so that he might receive great honor and glory.

Next week we will talk about this more.

If you have any questions, comments or observations, please call Chapman Bettis at 401 727-2367 or John Riley at 401-453-5550 or email at johnr@cornerstoneri.com