Blessed to be a Blessing

[0:00] Matthew 5, verses 1-12 And seeing the multitude, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[0:34] Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

[0:51] Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

[1:07] Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely.

[1:24] For my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

[1:36] Amen. Please be seated. Blessed. Blessed. He says to you, you are blessed. You are blessed.

[1:47] You are blessed. If you are of this sort. You that are of another kingdom, he says to you, you are blessed. You that are poor in spirit, that mourn, that are meek.

[2:02] You are of another kingdom, he says, you are blessed. Yours is the kingdom of heaven, he says. You can find your fullness of life in me. You can find a haven in me.

[2:12] You can find your comfort in me. Blessed are you. You are of another king. You which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, you will be filled.

[2:25] You that are merciful. You that are pure in heart. You that are the peacemakers. You are of another king. You are blessed. Blessed. He has blessed you.

[2:35] He has blessed you. With food for your soul. You can find righteousness in me, he says to you. You can find mercy in me. You can find purity of heart in me.

[2:48] You can find peace for your soul in me. You are blessed. Brothers and sisters, we've heard of the blessing that he's purchased this morning.

[2:59] Of the abundance of his grace. Of the fathomless depth of his love. Of the infinite suffering on our part. You are blessed today.

[3:10] You are blessed. The blessing comes as we heed the call to personal holiness. The blessing comes even though it be that you are persecuted for his sake.

[3:22] For righteousness sake. I saw this photo of a chap in Africa. A preacher of the gospel. He wasn't dressed in Armani suits and had a Rolex watch on.

[3:34] He cut his fingers off his hands. And he still went with the gospel. Then they cut the feet off his legs.

[3:50] And he still went with the gospel. He's still going with the gospel. They've given him a donkey to ride on now. I've got a picture of him. I saw. Blessed.

[4:01] He's a blessed man. He's blessed. He's going to get a great whopping crown. Amen. He's going to be blessed even more. But not that he's working for such a reward. But you think of our brothers and sisters in other lands.

[4:13] In other nations. Blessed. Blessed. Blessed. You are persecuted for righteousness sake. You that might have a little bit of a. Someone dig you at work.

[4:24] If you utter a word of witness. You are blessed. You are blessed. No matter what he says. You are blessed. And the Lord has poured out his grace on us. Hasn't he?

[4:35] The grace of God. He's poured it out. Abundantly. Above. Measure. His grace poured out. You are blessed. And being blessed. It's all about being Christ-centered.

[4:46] You look at these characteristics here. In Matthew 5. It's all about being Christ-centered. Isn't it? It's Christ-person. It's Christ-nature. It's Christ-character. It's Christ-likeness.

[4:57] The beatitude. It's Christ. In you. The hope of glory. And sometimes life can bring across our path things that aren't so much of a blessing. It might be more a mixed blessing, mightn't it?

[5:10] At times in life, it's not always pleasant. It could be that God's trying to wake us up and teach us something. Sometimes as those mixed blessings comes our way.

[5:20] Sometimes as we get burdened down with life's woes and things that's not what we'd like them to be. As we're loaded down with such things. Even then, he's blessing you still.

[5:31] He's blessing you still. It could be that he's chastening you. It could be he's chastening. In Hebrews 12, 5, the Father speaks to the Son.

[5:43] The Father speaks to his children. He says, My Son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faith, when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

[6:00] It's when you're scourged. It's when you're rebuked. Maybe it's the Father's love still. Maybe it's the Father's grace still. Maybe it's the Father's blessing still. That you're his Son.

[6:11] That he's working in your heart. Are you being chastened of the Lord? It may not be such a bad thing. Because it's needful. Sometimes God's blessing can come in the form of a trial, of a test.

[6:25] God's blessing can come in the time of scourging. In the time of chastening. It goes on in Hebrews 12, verse 11. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.

[6:37] Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. It doesn't seem to be joyous right now. It seems to be grievous.

[6:49] But afterward, it's going to yield that beautiful fruit. That peaceable fruit of righteousness. The fruit will be a blessing. God's going to bring in a blessing through those hard times.

[7:01] God's going to bring a blessing through that chastening time. Through that rebuking time. Through that time that seems grievous to you. He's still blessing. He's still working. Somewhere in the shadows, you'll find Jesus.

[7:14] And you'll know him by the nail prints in his hand. He's still working behind the scenes. Out of sight. Perhaps at times, yet he's still blessing you. You are blessed.

[7:26] You are blessed. You know, that song goes from the moment I wake up till I lay my head to rest. I am blessed. I am blessed. You are blessed if you're a believer today.

[7:37] You are a believer. You are blessed. He tells you you're blessed. It says in Ephesians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us.

[7:48] Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Blessed be the God. Blessed be God.

[7:59] He's blessed you. He's blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. You are blessed. You are blessed. The word says you're blessed. So you are blessed. You are blessed.

[8:10] But God hasn't saved us and blessed us to leave it at that. To just leave it at that. Just for our own selfish benefit. You know, we could say, yes, I'm blessed.

[8:23] And do nothing more than that. Maybe we might thank Him on occasion. Maybe we might count our blessings and name them one by one. And see what great things our God hath done.

[8:37] But He says to you something more. Something more than just being blessed. You are blessed. And you are blessed to be a blessing. You are blessed to be a blessing.

[8:47] He told that to Abraham in Genesis 12.2. And I'm plucking these out of different places. And I could be accused of not being honoring the context.

[8:59] But I think nevertheless, Abraham's the father of faith. We've been hearing about him on our Wednesday nights. As Brother Chris is leading us around the Word of God. As we're studying Romans. And we've heard about Abraham.

[9:11] Abraham. The father of faith. The father of those that are of the faith in a sense, isn't it? We're children of Abraham, spiritually speaking.

[9:22] And we're blessed in him. And he says to Abraham, Genesis 12.2. And I will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee. And make thy name great.

[9:34] And thou shalt be a blessing. Abraham, not only was he blessed. But he was blessed to be a blessing. Amen? Aren't you?

[9:45] Do you think God's blessed you that you just sit and vegetate? Vegetate? Or blessed to be a blessing. Blessed to be a blessing. I think likewise, as children of Abraham.

[9:56] As men and women of faith who walk in Abraham's tread. That God has blessed you to be a blessing. I don't think that will be unscriptural to claim that today.

[10:06] That God has blessed us that we be a blessing to others. Be a blessing to the people in your circle of influence. Will you? Be a blessing. Will you? Will you?

[10:18] We're meant to be a little colony of heaven on earth. We're meant to be ambassadors. We're meant to be commandos behind the enemy lines. We're meant to be advancing the kingdom of God on earth.

[10:32] We're meant to be a blessing. We're called to be a people with a love for the Bible. A love for the Bible. That means we want to hear it preached. We want to learn it together.

[10:42] We want to study it. We can't get enough of it. If you were in communist China, you'd be there. You'd be there. You might try to hide. When you went to the meeting, you might try to take a circuitous route to the place where you got to meet.

[10:59] You might not put signs out on every street corner saying, come to church. But you'd want to be there. You'd want to be there. You'd want to be a blessing. You'd want to be a little colony of heaven on earth.

[11:11] You'd want to be that outpost. While we still can. While we still can. Let's meet together. A people who will love to receive the engrafted word with meekness.

[11:22] Receive it. Respond to it. To be a lover of the truth. A lover of the gospel. A lover of imparting it to others too. Not just keeping it to ourselves.

[11:33] A Bible loving people. A Bible loving people who will love strong Bible preaching. Who will say amen to it. Who will believe it. And live it. And adhere to it.

[11:44] And apply it. Who will want to be where the preacher can cry out. Cry aloud. Spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Show my people their transgression.

[11:56] And the house of Jacob their sins. You'll want to pray for your preacher. Pray for me. Paul says. That utterance may be given unto me. That I may open my mouth boldly.

[12:09] To make known the mystery of the gospel. You'll want to be a people of the word. You'll want to be a people of the book. You'll want to be a people filled up with the life of God.

[12:20] To be a blessing. To be a blessing. To be a blessing to those that you can reach for Christ. While you still can speak. You'll want to take the gospel.

[12:30] Like that faithful man. Even if you can't walk anymore. They've got to give you a donkey to ride on. You'll want to take the gospel. As much as you can to others.

[12:42] While you can still speak. To be a people filled up with the life of God. A people seeking the Lord. While he may be found. Pressing others to trust him.

[12:52] A fire in your heart. A love of the brethren. A love of the brethren. A love of fellowship. You'll want to heed the word.

[13:04] Where the psalmist cried out. Wilt thou not revive us again? That thy people may rejoice in thee. You'll want to sing out. You'll want to speak out. You'll want to give out.

[13:15] And keep on giving out. And pray through. That God will answer by fire. And be a blessing. People of God. God has called us to be a blessing.

[13:26] He's called us to be a blessing. Not just blessed us to sit. And do nothing. With our Christianity. But blessed us to be a people. Filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with life.

[13:38] Filled with the life of God. Alive. Burning with a passion. For Christ. For souls. For the gospel. With a love of prayer.

[13:49] With a love of the word. A blessing. Faithful to God. No matter what. Blessed. And blessing others. As the Lord leads you.

[14:01] Friends. Christianity. It's not a selfish thing. This is too good to keep to yourself. We've got a cupboard full. Of leaflets you can give out there. Please. Take them.

[14:12] We'd like to have the problem. Of running out of tracks. Amen. We'd like to have that problem. Of people who want to bless others. To be a channel of blessing. While you walk.

[14:23] While you can walk. You can leaflet drop. You know. A faithful brother. Alex. Some of us know. He was walking on his walker. He was walking. He was on his gopher. Giving out tracks.

[14:34] No excuse. Amen. No excuse for you. No excuse. Show my people their sins. God have mercy. God have mercy on us. God have mercy.

[14:46] While we can. Do something. Blessed to be a blessing. People of God. Blessed to be a blessing. He wants you to be a channel. A channel. A channel.

[14:58] My life. Has been so much richer today. Because of you. That are here today. You're a blessing to me. You're a blessing to me. Every one of you. Short and tall.

[15:09] And in between. Blessing. My life has been made so much richer. For knowing the people of God. You are a blessing to me. I thank God for you.

[15:22] The word says. The liberal soul should be made fat. And he that watereth. Shall be watered also himself. Proverbs 11.25. In other words. The one who blesses.

[15:32] Will be blessed. The one who blesses. Will be blessed. As you give. God will bless you. I'm not talking about. The prosperity gospel here. Today. That you're all going to get. Rolls Royces. I'm not even talking about.

[15:43] Material giving. I scarcely talk about. The subject. Because I think. It happens naturally. It happens naturally. When you're saved. You know. When you're saved. The preacher won't have to say.

[15:53] You've got to give. A certain percentage. You just can't give enough. The preacher won't have to condemn you. If you're not giving. Because. How can you just. You know.

[16:03] How can you just. Search in your purse. For the smallest thing. You can give. How can you expect. Anything. From God. If you're going to be. Stingy.

[16:14] With God. Be a blessing. You're blessed to bless. To be a blessing. The one who. Is liberal. Shall be made fair. Amen. That's good isn't it. The one who blesses.

[16:25] Will be blessed. And you are a blessed. People. Today. But there's even more blessing. By giving it. To others. By passing it on. As our Lord says. It's more blessed to give. Than to receive.

[16:36] So. You're blessed to bless. You're blessed to be a blessing. So. The question. Is. What's stopping you? What's stopping you?

[16:48] Being a blessing. What's blocking you? Being a blessing. You know. I kind of think of a. Of a sauce bottle. When you get it out of the fridge. You know. It's been there for a while. And you.

[16:59] It's just blocked. You've got to shake it. And shake it. And you know. Fair shake of the sauce bottle. You know. It's. It's blocked. Some Christians are blocked.

[17:10] It's a channel. Blocked. What's blocking you? What's hindering you? As Paul said. You're running so well. What did hinder you? That you should not. Obey the truth.

[17:22] What's stopping you. From being a blessing? The devil doesn't want you. To be a blessing. The devil doesn't want you. To obey the truth. The devil wants to. Stop you. And block you.

[17:32] And hinder you. And stop you. From being a blessing. He doesn't want you. To win the victory. He doesn't want you. To be a blessing. He wants to hinder you. You're a vowed enemy.

[17:43] The enemy of your soul. Public enemy number one. He wants to rob you. Serve your rewards. He wants to steal your crown. And he wants to block your path. Do you want to be a blessing?

[17:54] I pray. I'm sure every believer here. Deep down. You want to be a blessing. A blessing to your family. To your home. To your church. To your neighbourhood. Then ask yourself.

[18:05] This heart searching question today. What's stopping me? What's stopping me? What's blocking my blessing? Who is the true owner of my heart?

[18:16] When it boils down to it. That's the ultimate answer isn't it? Who is the true owner of your heart? What is in ownership of your heart? That's stopping you.

[18:28] That's stopping you. From fellowship. That's stopping you. From worship. That's stopping you. From study. That's stopping you. From growing as a Christian.

[18:39] That's stopping you. From letting the Holy Spirit have his way. What's blocking your Christian life? What moves you? Is it frivolities that move you?

[18:50] Or is it eternity that moves you? Eternity that moves you? You know, I've seen some folk, and I've been guilty of it too, in my worldly past, when I watched a worldly movie, and it moved me to tears.

[19:07] The heart, you know, the tear-jerking movies. Frivolities. Frivolities. Frivolities. Frivolities. Rather, be moved by eternity.

[19:20] Be moved by eternity. Be moved by this book. Be moved by faith. Be moved to action. Let eternity move you.

[19:31] Don't be stopped from being a blessing. God is not mocked. God is not mocked. What you sow, you're going to reap. Don't blame God for all your mess you're in.

[19:42] You've caused it. God is not mocked. We need a return to Bible truth. And what's stopping you from being a blessing? Is the question we all have to answer.

[19:53] We all have to ask ourselves. What's stopping you from being a blessing to the people in your life? They're the most important things of life, aren't they? The people that you know, that you rub shoulders with.

[20:05] The human souls that you're interacting with in your day-by-day life. Even down at the workplace. Even in your home place. Those human souls. Those precious eternal beings that will be in eternity forever with you or without you.

[20:23] A blessing to the people in your life. A blessing to the church God has planted you in. Be a blessing there. You can find lots to criticise about this man. You can find lots to criticise about this people.

[20:35] This church. But be a blessing. Rather be a blessing. Be a blessing to the lost world around you. Many Christians I've found have stopped short of being a blessing.

[20:48] They're selfish and stingy. They're carnal and conceited. They're self-motivated and unwilling to serve. There's opportunity to serve God.

[21:00] I don't want to stand in your way for you to serve God. Whoever you are here today. He's gifted every one of you.

[21:11] The folk have asked to sing. I was saying let's have a choir. Let's have a choir of people singing. Let's have some items of godly music. Let's have people standing up and doing something.

[21:23] Doing something. I'm glad when people want to do something. I don't want to stifle you. I don't want to block you. I don't want to block you being a blessing. You know there's time and place and reason and accountability and godly order and so on.

[21:38] But we don't want to block the blessing in your life. There's people with gifts and talents here today. Brother Phil was a blessing this morning. We want people to be released. To be a blessing.

[21:49] I don't want to hold you back. I want to set you loose. Unleash you for the kingdom of God. And there's more here today. You're not doing as much as you can do. Let's face it.

[21:59] Let's face it here today. There's some of you who can do much, much more. And this is not to condemn anyone. This is to say please. Please, don't block the blessing. Don't block the blessing.

[22:13] Some Christians are more bent on worldly pursuits than godly fellowship. There's something more important. It's like someone said, if it's important to you, you'll be there. It's true, isn't it?

[22:25] It's true. You know, if you were playing footy, you'd be at the training. Amen? You'd be there. You know, do you want to be on the team? Or what? Are you on the team?

[22:35] Hey, come on, people. Are you on the team this morning? Amen? Be at training. Don't miss training. You know, and this, again, I don't want to condemn anyone.

[22:48] There's people here who travel a long distance to be here. And we're glad that you fellowship here. It's a long journey for some of you. Some of you have got little ones. There's reasons why you can't always be here.

[22:59] At certain times, I know that. But don't look for an excuse to block your blessing. Don't look for an excuse. You know, we had little ones.

[23:10] We were still in church. You know, we can't. We can make lots of reasons why not. You know, it's dark at night. Well, 7 o'clock's not that late. You know, if it was something important, you'd be there.

[23:24] It was something important. So what's stopping you? Think of it today. You're building an altar. You're building an altar. In Judges 6, the Lord told Gideon, Throw down the altar of Baal and build an altar to the Lord thy God.

[23:43] Likewise in 1 Kings 18, Elijah was told to repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down. What's the altar in your life?

[23:54] Is it the altar of Baal? What could that be? The altar of Baal? We could think of lots of things. It could be it's anything that's in his way, isn't it?

[24:08] Anything that's in God's way. Or will you cast down the altar of Baal? Cast it down and rebuild the altar of the Lord that was broken down. You can be blessed. And even more important, you can be a blessing.

[24:21] You can be a blessing. God wants you to be a blessing. He wants you to be. God is faithful. And he wants to work in every heart. Is your heart seeking after him?

[24:38] Have you a heart that desires the things of God? That has a yearning for the sense of the holy, the sense of eternity, the sense of God.

[24:48] We've heard about the infinity of his suffering in that agony of Calvary. We've heard about what he has done for us. It's your delight to do his will.

[25:00] The psalmist cried in Psalm 40 verse 8, I delight to do thy will. Oh my God! Yea, thy law is within my heart. God has blessed you.

[25:11] Count your blessings. But don't stop there. Don't stop there. Don't stop at being blessed. Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Yes!

[25:21] But don't stop there. Be blessed to be a blessing. Be blessed to be a blessing. Find how you can bless the people who you rub shoulders with. There's people in your circle of influence that maybe only you can touch for Christ.

[25:36] Maybe only you can touch them. Maybe only you can bless them. Maybe you're the only Christian in contact with some people. You're blessed to be a blessing. God's placed you in their lives so that you can be a blessing to them.

[25:50] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for your many blessings. For the blessings of Calvary. The blessings of our salvation. The blessing of being filled with your Holy Spirit.

[26:03] The blessing of being called and gifted and given work to do. Lord, the blessing of souls about us that we can touch for you. Bless us, Lord, we pray.

[26:15] Keep us blessed. Bless us, Lord, that we might be a blessing. Make me a blessing, Lord. Make us a blessing, Lord, to those about us that we will see how we can be a blessing to those about us in our extended circle, to those in our family, in our fellowship.

[26:33] Help us, Lord, to be having eyes open and to see what we can be to be a blessing. In Jesus' name, Amen. CONGRATIST