Participants: C.A. Murray
Series Code: TWH
Program Code: TWH180414A
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00:32 Good morning and happy Sabbath.
00:39 Turn with me if you will 00:43 to the gospel as recorded by John. 00:48 And John is a rather long book. 00:51 It got right at 70 verses, and we cannot read them all. 00:57 So we will concentrate for our lesson study 01:00 on verses 60 through 66. 01:05 Although the message really does cover 01:11 the entire book 01:14 or rather the entire chapter of John 6. 01:20 So we're in John 6:60 01:25 reading through 66. 01:28 The title of the message 01:30 as you have seen in your bulletin, 01:31 "Fishes and Loaves" 01:34 and "The Anatomy of a Blessing". 01:40 Shall we pray? 01:42 Father God, 01:44 we commend ourselves to you just now. 01:47 And ask that You would be our teacher. 01:51 Make up for the deficiencies of the human instrument 01:54 with divine grace, 01:56 so that we may hear and know and do 02:00 and understand Your will for our lives. 02:05 And we thank You, dear Father in Jesus' name. 02:08 Amen. Amen. 02:10 John 6 beginning 02:13 at verse 60, the Bible says, 02:17 "Therefore many of His disciples, 02:19 when they heard this, said, 'This is a hard saying,'" 02:24 I'm reading from the New King James. 02:27 "Who can understand it?" 02:28 I think the King James says, who can hear it? 02:31 "When Jesus knew in Himself 02:33 that His disciples complained about this, 02:37 He said to them, 'Does this offend you? 02:42 What then if you should see 02:46 the Son of Man ascend 02:49 where He was before? 02:53 It is the Spirit who gives life, 02:56 the flesh profits nothing. 03:01 The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 03:05 But there are some of you who do not believe.' 03:10 For Jesus knew from the beginning 03:12 who they were who did not believe, 03:15 and who would betray Him.'" 03:18 He always knew. 03:21 "And He said, 'Therefore I have said to you 03:24 that no one can come to Me 03:26 unless it has been granted to him by My father.' 03:31 From that time 03:33 many of His disciples went back 03:36 and walked with Him no more.'" 03:43 So John 60 is the focus 03:46 of our discussion today. 03:51 It may well be one of the most 03:53 miracle pact chapters 03:58 in the entire Book of John 04:00 if not the entire New Testament. 04:04 And these singular expressions of the power and grace of God 04:09 are responded to in the worst way possible. 04:15 You see the worst thing you can do 04:17 when God blesses you or curses you 04:19 for that matter is walk away from Him. 04:24 The rich young ruler was blessed, he walked away. 04:28 Here is a fact, 04:32 even when God allows trouble and tragedy to enter your life, 04:37 it is not an attempt of God to turn you away. 04:42 It's to get your attention. 04:46 Amen. 04:48 It's to turn you to Him and all tragedy no matter 04:54 how seemingly bad it is, 04:57 is still in this time tinged 05:00 with a little mercy. 05:04 Which is why you may lose your car 05:08 and not lose your life. 05:12 Yeah. 05:13 Because all of the things that happen to us now 05:17 have a redemptive aspect to them 05:21 because God's trying to get your attention not hurt you. 05:26 So when God is tapping on your shoulder, 05:29 the worst thing you can do is turn away from Him. 05:32 Amen. Amen. 05:34 Yeah, if He's tapping on your shoulder, 05:35 He's trying to get your attention. 05:38 And if you are not listening, 05:40 He's going to tap a little harder. 05:45 So the worst thing 05:47 you can do is turn away. 05:52 Let's go back to John 6. 05:55 The chapter begins with the feeding of the 5000, 05:59 one of the most notable true miracles 06:01 in all the Word of God. 06:04 The Bible tells us in John 6 06:07 that the feeding of the 5000 06:09 was actually the feeding of 5000 men plus women 06:14 and children. 06:15 So you can conformably say 06:17 the 5000 was really 06:19 the feeding of the 15,000 or more. 06:24 So you've got 15,000 men, women and children. 06:29 And you've got a little boy's lunch 06:32 of five barley loaves and two fishes. 06:35 Now barley was not the most appetizing meal 06:40 in Mesopotamia, Egypt. 06:42 Barley was principally used to make beer. 06:46 So we've got a little boy, five barley loaves, 06:50 two fishes 06:53 and it is clear in verse 2 06:59 that one of the reasons 07:00 you had so many people following Jesus 07:02 is because He was healing diseased people. 07:08 He crosses the Sea of Galilee, 07:11 also named the sea of Tiberius 07:12 for the Roman Emperor, Tiberius. 07:15 And by the way all four gospels, 07:17 all four gospels record this miracle. 07:20 The feeding of the 5,000 was a monumental miracle 07:25 in the life of Christ and a great PR campaign. 07:29 That and the healing of Lazarus 07:32 really kind of put this new religion on the map. 07:35 And, of course, it put Jesus 07:37 in the assassination hit list of the Pharisees. 07:42 So you've got 15,000 people sitting down 07:44 with nothing to eat, 07:46 and you've got the disciples and additional people 07:50 who had attached themselves to Jesus 07:52 because of the miracles. 07:55 You know, it became obvious, if you walk with Jesus, 07:58 Jesus will get you stuff. 08:01 If you're sick and walk with Him, 08:02 you can get healed. 08:05 So a lot of people began to attach themselves 08:09 to this new Rabbi because of the miracles. 08:14 You know, if somebody does some good for you, 08:15 you want to kind of hang around them, 08:16 maybe you can get some more good stuff. 08:20 So the crowds are growing and people are coming 08:22 because of the miracles. 08:25 Now let me give you a little sidebar, 08:27 it's a little side thing here. 08:30 Jesus says to Philip, Jesus says to Philip, 08:34 "Where are we going to get food to feed all these people?" 08:39 Now this is the Son of God asking Philip. 08:43 And Philip's response is, "You kidding? 08:48 You're Jesus, I'm Philip." 08:53 He said, "We got a little boy here 08:54 with some food 08:56 but what is that among 15,000 plus people. 09:00 It's not even worth mentioning." 09:06 Let me ask you a question. 09:07 You think Jesus ever asked a question 09:09 that He did not already know the answer to, Rosemary. 09:14 Does Jesus ask questions for information? 09:19 Is the Son of God looking to you to get advice? 09:23 I think not. 09:27 So He asked Philip, 09:29 "Where are we going to get food to fill, 09:31 feed all of these people?" 09:34 There is no record anywhere in the New Testament of Christ 09:37 asking the question purely for information. 09:43 The Bible says in verse 6 if you're in John 6:6. 09:47 He said, "He said this to test Philip." 09:54 You know God does that in a church. 09:57 God does things to test you. Did you know that? 10:01 Yeah. 10:02 God will let little things come into your life 10:04 just to test you. 10:06 Now it's not that God doesn't know 10:09 how you're going to respond. 10:11 The truth is, you don't know... 10:16 How you respond until you're tested. 10:20 You ever come to church and everything is just for you, 10:24 Sabbath School lesson is perfect, sermon is perfect, 10:28 music is perfect. 10:29 And Ellen White says, 10:31 "You become part of what she calls the spiritual heat," 10:34 kind of starts in your ankles and works 10:35 its way all the way up 10:37 and you're just feeling good in the Lord. 10:38 You know, you're just, you're just into it. 10:42 And in the context of the spiritual heat, 10:44 you say to yourself or even out loud, 10:47 "Lord, I will never 10:49 ever sin again." 10:54 And when you say it, you mean it. 10:59 Yeah, you do. 11:01 And the Lord knows even as those words 11:04 are coming out of your mouth, you can't keep that. 11:10 That's why 1 John says, and if we sin we have a... 11:14 Because you're going to make a mistake 11:16 and God's got that taken care of. 11:18 But when you say it, you mean it. 11:21 And sometimes you don't get out of the door good. 11:27 And something happens. Amen. 11:32 Walked out the other day and I'm using a 3ABN van 11:37 because my car is in a shop 11:38 'cause it won't go any faster than 45 miles an hour 11:40 and nobody knows why. 11:43 Gordon, since you took me couple weeks ago, 11:45 it's still there. 11:50 You can't find out why. 11:52 Come out and somebody bumped a van. 12:01 Greg, it's not a big bump. 12:06 How do you see it? Got to look real close. 12:13 And I said I was never going to sin again. 12:24 Oh, you got a little bump on a van. 12:25 No. 12:31 So God allows us to be tested. 12:35 Sometimes you work next to people 12:39 who don't particularly love you. 12:45 Or you're doing a job 12:47 that you don't particularly like. 12:54 Or you're in a relationship that you got to work at. 13:00 And the Lord is testing you. 13:02 And you know what else He's doing? 13:03 He's working on your resume. Yeah. 13:07 Because sometime in the future all of that stuff 13:11 that's been percolating in your life, 13:13 you will be able to use for His glory. 13:17 I've heard people talk about it. 13:18 Why did I get that job? 13:20 Why do I have to work with that person? 13:21 Why do I have to go through that, 13:23 that particular instance in my life? 13:25 All that becomes part of your resume. 13:28 And then later on when somebody has the same set of problems 13:31 you have, you can say I know what that's like 13:35 'cause I've done that, I've been there. 13:37 And I know that God can keep you. 13:39 No experience in your life 13:42 when yielded to Christ is ever wasted. 13:45 All that stuff is part of the resume. 13:48 All that bad stuff you've gone through. 13:51 Hey, you're still standing, 13:55 still breathing, still walking, talking, thinking, 13:58 it's part of your resume 13:59 because somebody's going to need 14:01 to hear your resume, 14:02 your testimony to help them in their walk. 14:08 We're going to come back to that in just a little bit. 14:11 So God is going to test you. 14:12 And He's testing Philip, 14:15 "Where are we going to get food." 14:19 And we know it's a test 14:21 'cause in verse 6 the Bible says, 14:23 Christ already knew what He was going to do. 14:26 Amen. 14:28 Aren't you glad 14:29 that when you don't have a clue, 14:31 Christ is not clueless? 14:32 Amen. Amen. 14:34 He already knows what He's going to do, 14:36 Tracy, He knows, He knows what's He going to do. 14:40 You don't have a clue, doesn't mean He's clueless. 14:44 He knows it. That's your test, not His. 14:48 Amen. Amen. 14:49 That's your test. 14:50 He already knew what He is going to do. 14:52 He said, "Have the people sit down." 14:54 You see, as Danny likes to say, he read the back of the book. 14:59 But not only did Jesus read the back of the book, 15:01 He wrote the back of the book. 15:03 Amen. 15:04 In fact, He is the back of the book. 15:08 Amen. 15:09 Ellen White says every page is about Jesus. 15:12 So He read it, He wrote it, He is it. 15:15 He knew what He was going to do. 15:17 He knew how to solve this problem. 15:19 And He wanted the disciples 15:21 to learn to trust Him just a little bit more. 15:25 So along with the miracles, He's testing His own disciples. 15:29 Andrew said, "Here's a little boy, 15:31 he's got this little lunch, it's not worth mentioning. 15:34 His faith is fatiguing also. 15:36 The upshot is the miracle 15:39 began 5,000 men, plus women, 15:43 plus children are fed too full 15:45 what began as one basket fed 15,000 plus people 15:51 with 12 baskets left. 15:54 And I am saying, my God is able. 15:57 Amen. Now go to verse 14. 16:01 You're in John 6 and let's look at the response. 16:14 Now an evening, not 16, I want 14. 16:18 "Then those men, 16:19 when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, 16:23 said, 'This is truly the Prophet 16:26 who is come into the world.'" 16:31 Truly this is the Prophet who has come into the world. 16:36 Now that statement, ladies and gentlemen, 16:39 was made because their stomachs were full. 16:43 Amen. That's what that was all about. 16:48 He heals us, He feeds us, 16:50 He's got to be a prophet from God. 16:53 They had received a blessing from God, 16:56 and now they are willing and ready to praise Him. 17:01 Well, it's easy to praise somebody who's feeding you, 17:03 and blessing you, and healing you. 17:11 So here's my question. 17:13 I say this is a quiver of questions today. 17:18 Is serving the Lord because He blesses you, 17:21 is that true service? 17:25 Now think a second. 17:29 Is serving the Lord 17:31 because you're getting blessings from Him, 17:34 is that true service? 17:38 See, now you're scared. 17:41 You were right the first time. 17:43 It is not. It is not. 17:48 Remember, worship includes 17:52 who you worship, when you worship, 17:56 how you worship, why you worship. 17:59 Amen. Who you worship? 18:03 First Commandment and the Fourth Commandment. 18:07 When you worship? Fourth Commandment. 18:10 How you worship? 18:11 John 4:24, "Christ is seeking those to worship Him 18:15 in spirit." 18:16 And that's how you worship Him. 18:20 Why do you worship? 18:25 'Cause you're getting stuff. 18:33 We're told He loved, 18:34 we love him because He first loved us. 18:38 Colossians 1 tells us we love Him and worship Him 18:41 because He created everything and all things are His. 18:45 And that, ladies and gentlemen, 18:46 is the burden of the three angels' message. 18:48 That's why you love Him 18:49 because you're responding to His love. 18:56 So why do we serve Him? Why do we follow Him? 18:58 Peter said in Matthew 19:27, 19:03 I like this, Matthew 19:27, 19:06 "So we have left all and followed You, 19:10 therefore what shall we have?" 19:14 That's bottom line. 19:15 Lord, we've done everything for You, 19:17 what do we get out of this? 19:18 And the truth is every Christian 19:21 whether they audiblize it or not, 19:23 ask themselves that same question 19:25 somewhere in your walk with Jesus. 19:27 You do. Everybody. 19:30 Lord, what's in this for me? 19:34 And the reason I noticed 19:36 because it's asked and answered so many times in the Bible. 19:38 You may not put it that way, 19:40 but somewhere in your walk for the Lord 19:42 you've got to determine, is Jesus sufficient for you? 19:46 Amen. 19:48 You got to make that determination. 19:49 And the reason you have to do that because everybody in here 19:51 and everybody who's ever given 19:53 their heart to the Lord at one point 19:55 or another in their life determines 19:56 just how much of you, you're going to let Jesus have. 20:00 Amen. Amen. 20:02 Think about it. Yeah. 20:04 Some have said, I will do this for the Lord, 20:07 I ain't doing that. 20:09 So you draw this line in your life, 20:12 I'm going to give the Lord all, 20:14 or I'm going to give the Lord most, 20:16 or I'm going to give the Lord some, 20:17 or I'm going to live the Lord as much as is convenient for me 20:21 but everybody in the church 20:23 who has come to the Lord makes the determination 20:26 of how much you're going to give the Lord 20:29 and that determination determines 20:31 how successful you will be in the Lord. 20:34 How much the Lord can do for you, 20:36 and how much the Lord can do with you, 20:38 and how much the Lord can do through you is predicated 20:41 on how much you're going to give to the Lord. 20:44 If you give all, you get all. 20:50 So somewhere in your walk 20:52 you've already answered the question. 20:54 God knows it even if you don't. 20:57 Lord, I give everything to you. 21:00 Okay, Lord, I'm going to give you 75%, 21:04 75.5%, 80% on Sabbath. 21:09 I'd like to hold a couple percentage points for myself. 21:13 And all you're doing... 21:15 Can I use the word constipate? 21:20 You are constipating your own spiritual experience. 21:30 Yeah, the less you give, I'm sorry, the less you get. 21:35 Jim? 21:38 If you want to get all, you got to give all. 21:46 You kind of supposed to be raking it in 21:49 and not pushing it out. 21:53 So if you want to get all, you got to give all. 21:55 Christ deserves nothing less than your best. 21:59 Heaven gave you its best, 22:02 so you got to give your best in return. 22:09 What's in it for me? 22:11 Now actually that question is not motivated 22:13 by the Holy Spirit, 22:14 but God is God enough and loving enough 22:17 that He doesn't mind when you ask that question. 22:20 Amen. 22:22 That's the same spirit that move, 22:24 that move the mother of James and John to say, 22:26 "Hey, Lord, when you get to heaven, 22:28 put one of my sons on your left 22:29 and put the other one on the right." 22:31 And Christ said, 22:32 "Woman, you have no idea what you're asking." 22:36 Now if they can bear this cup 22:38 that I carry but that's not mine to give. 22:48 Serving the Lord to get stuff 22:50 is fishes and loaves religion. 22:54 Amen. 22:56 You're following Him to get fishes and loaves. 22:59 The truth is God was to be God 23:01 if He gave you absolutely positively nothing. 23:06 But since He's God, He doesn't function that way. 23:10 He just loves to give. 23:12 So if you come to Him, you will get 23:15 because that's the way God is, 23:16 it's not through any goodness of yours. 23:19 Amen. Amen. 23:21 He's going to give because God is a giver. 23:23 If He didn't withhold His son the Bible says, 23:26 why would He withhold anything else 23:28 from those who ask. 23:32 He proved His love by giving you Jesus. 23:35 So given you a house, 23:37 or a new car, or a good job, 23:41 or a nice wife, 23:45 or husband, or a girlfriend, 23:49 or internet buddy, that's light stuff. 23:54 He gave you Jesus. 23:58 Amen. 23:59 So when you say "Lord, I need a job." 24:01 You think that's hard for Him? 24:03 "Lord, I'd like to have a nice wife." 24:08 That's not hard for Him. 24:12 You know I need to say this 24:13 and I don't like to parade my wife 24:16 but first of all she's cute. 24:21 But, and we've been married, 24:23 we got married 24:25 in just about time I got here. 24:27 In the last two weeks 24:29 we kind of like fall in love 24:32 all over again. 24:36 Yeah, we got this thing now. It's pretty good. 24:41 Amen. Amen. 24:43 You know how we got it? Asked for it. 24:49 Yeah. 24:51 "Lord, we want a new thing." 24:54 Lord said, "Let Me look in my thing bag." 24:58 Brought out a new thing. 25:00 So now we have fun and at night 25:03 when she puts those ice cold feet on me, 25:05 I just praise the Lord. 25:13 Yeah. He gave you Jesus. 25:16 You think making your life pleasant 25:19 on this earth is hard work for the Lord. 25:24 He's proved His love when He gave you Christ. 25:27 So when you give all, you get all. 25:35 So the people are looking at Jesus 25:38 and they notice that a boat was missing. 25:42 And so the entourage got into boats 25:44 and frantically rode all the way over to Capernaum. 25:47 You see we're... 25:48 Most of Christ's work was done in Galilee. 25:50 You've got Bethsaida here, 25:51 you've got Capernaum here and a city of Chorazin there, 25:54 that's kind of triangle lying on its side, 25:56 all on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. 26:01 They roll over to Capernaum and when they got there. 26:05 Let's look at Christ's response to these disciples 26:10 who were really groupies. 26:14 John 6:26, I'm reading 26:16 from the New Living Translation. 26:22 "I tell you the truth," this is Jesus speaking. 26:25 "You want to be with Me 26:27 because I fed you, 26:31 not because you understood the miraculous signs." 26:37 Amen? 26:39 You want to be with Me because your stomachs are full, 26:45 not because you understand My mission. 26:53 I'll read it from the New King James. 26:55 "Jesus answered them and said, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, 27:01 you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, 27:04 but because you ate 27:08 of the loaves and were filled.'" 27:10 You're speaking from a full stomach, 27:12 not a full heart. 27:16 By it, by the way, 27:19 have you ever asked yourself what is a blessing? 27:25 Ever said, so what's a blessing? 27:27 Can you define a blessing? 27:32 We use that word so very much. 27:34 I was blessed. It's a blessing. 27:37 Every time I think of the word blessing, 27:38 I think of Jill. 27:40 Jill is the blessing Queen. 27:45 What is a blessing? 27:49 What constitutes a blessing? 27:54 Question number one, 27:55 should we follow God for blessings? 28:01 Should we follow God to give blessings? 28:05 Should we follow God because of blessings? 28:09 Slightly different. 28:13 Number three, 28:14 can you follow the Lord 28:16 and not have blessings? 28:21 No, yes. 28:24 Can you follow the Lord 28:26 and not be blessed? 28:31 No. 28:32 In other words if we follow the Lord, can we, 28:37 should we expect blessings 28:41 in the Christian life? 28:44 Think about that. 28:46 If you're following the Lord, can you expect is the word. 28:51 Valera, blessings. 28:58 Can I expect them? Jay, can I expect them? 29:04 Chris, can you expect them? 29:09 Roberdy, can you expect them? 29:13 So I shouldn't follow Him for them 29:16 but I can expect it. 29:21 And that makes sense to you. That adds up. 29:27 Karen? Mitchell? 29:41 Should blessings be a motivating factor, 29:44 blessings in my service for the Lord? 29:47 I am going somewhere with it. 29:51 All right. 29:54 Do blessings always 29:55 make us feel good? 30:00 What? 30:04 Do blessings always make us feel good? 30:09 Well, if it doesn't make you feel good, is it a blessing? 30:15 Can you actually have a blessing 30:18 that makes you feel bad? 30:22 Jim? 30:25 It's a blessing but I feel bad. 30:34 Your minds are turning. 30:41 Can a negative experience 30:45 be a blessing? 30:47 Yes. 30:49 How can you be so sure? 30:52 Negative experience is a blessing? 30:54 Yes. 31:01 So what determines then... 31:08 if a particular experience is a blessing or not? 31:13 'Cause you're telling me is not based on feelings 31:16 'cause sometimes blessings make you feel good. 31:19 Amen. 31:20 Sometimes blessings make you feel bad. 31:22 Amen. 31:25 And it's still a blessing. 31:31 It's a blessing, Marlene, only a blessing 31:34 if you think it's a blessing. 31:39 If you acknowledge it as such. 31:41 Suppose you get a blessing, but if you say, 31:45 that's not a blessing. 31:47 Is that still a blessing? 31:54 Can Jill come over and say, it's a blessing? 32:01 So then what constitutes a blessing? 32:06 Because these disciples were blessed, 32:09 they didn't know it, they didn't acknowledge it, 32:12 and they walked away from Jesus. 32:20 I asked some people in research for this sermon this week 32:23 and I should, probably I should asked some women 32:24 but I asked all guys. 32:26 And I remember two of the males, 32:29 in fact they're sitting here in front of me 32:30 so I'll turn away from them. 32:33 I asked them, 32:35 define a blessing for me. 32:39 And Mike, they said to me, 32:41 a blessing is like when you're blessed. 32:53 You do understand you cannot use 32:55 the word in the definition of a word. 32:58 So you cannot use the word blessed 33:01 trying to define blessing. 33:03 You know that. 33:06 But no one was able to give me 33:09 a concrete definition of what a blessing is. 33:14 It's this thing, 33:19 you kind of know it 33:21 when you see it, 33:24 but there ought to be a definition. 33:27 How can we be so nebulous 33:32 about a word we use so much? 33:36 What is a blessing? 33:41 And if you don't know what a blessing is, Tim Parton, 33:45 how do you know when you're blessed? 33:48 You may be blessed and not know it. 33:50 Or you may be blessed and think it's a curse. 33:53 Or you may be cursed and think it's a blessing. 34:03 There's a story about a lady 34:05 who begged the Lord to be wealthy. 34:10 And the Lord under took to give her 34:14 the desire of her heart. 34:17 She thought she was blessed, 34:19 but she was really cursed 34:22 because from the day she got that money 34:27 she never went to church again. 34:33 True story. It's in the testimonies. 34:36 Was that a blessing? 34:41 So one of the things we have to do 34:42 when we are trying to discuss what a blessing is, 34:44 we have to look at it from ultimate realities, 34:48 not temporary things. 34:52 Now you know the New Testament was written in Greek 34:55 but it was written in Koine Greek, K-O-I-N-E, 34:58 that's as closest we can come, which means street Greek, 35:02 it's common Greek. 35:04 Luke wrote in educated Greek 35:05 but the rest of the New Testament 35:07 is pretty much common Greek, street language. 35:09 And so when you, when you use street language 35:12 to try to describe something, it can become very colorful. 35:17 So there are a lot 35:19 of definitions for blessing 35:23 and having waded my way through most of that stuff. 35:28 I took the top two, 35:29 the ones that kind of excited me the most. 35:34 Blessing means to be happy but it means more than that. 35:39 And I'm about five, seven minutes from the end. 35:42 So I'll let you know the wheels are down, 35:44 we are circling. 35:48 But the word happy only scratches the surface. 35:51 We get happy from the beatitudes, 35:53 you know, Matthew 5, happier are you. 35:55 So blessing does mean happy, 35:56 but it means a little bit more than something. 36:00 Let me toss something else at you 36:01 I found in my research. 36:02 Found this about 2 o'clock the other morning, 36:04 really cool stuff. 36:05 If you take the beatitudes, the ten beatitudes, 36:08 the last beatitude is not a beatitude per se 36:12 but it is beatitude because it is. 36:15 You can divide them up just like you divide 36:16 the Ten Commandments. 36:18 The first four beatitudes are God beatitudes, 36:19 the second six are man beatitudes. 36:22 Just like the Ten Commandments. 36:23 Really kind of interesting study. 36:25 But they all can be used, 36:27 you can use the word happy in all of them 36:29 but happy is not sufficient. 36:33 Happy is not enough 36:35 because it's a little too subjective. 36:36 This is the way or let me say it this way, 36:40 is anybody here happy all the time? 36:44 Anybody? Nobody's happy all the time. 36:48 You can have joy all the time. Yes. 36:50 Amen. 36:51 You can have joy even when you're not happy, 36:53 you know that. 36:54 Yeah. Yeah. 36:55 Yeah, you can have joy when you're not happy. 36:57 When Brother Dickens hit that dear the other night. 37:00 Were you happy? I think not. 37:04 And then wrestling with the insurance company, 37:06 you sure ain't happy. 37:12 But you can always be blessed. 37:15 The objective state of blessedness, get this. 37:19 The objective state of blessedness 37:22 has nothing to do 37:25 with your outward circumstances. 37:28 You can be poor and be blessed. 37:33 So blessedness has nothing to do 37:35 with what's going on around you. 37:39 Psalms 128:1, 37:40 "Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord, 37:42 who walks in His ways." 37:44 Had nothing to do with your social standing. 37:47 Amen? Or your life. 37:50 As it is in this temporary world. 37:53 So if you think that being blessed 37:57 is because things are good, 38:00 that's fishes and loaves thinking. 38:05 I say again, your outside circumstances 38:07 can be an absolute train wreck but you can still be blessed. 38:14 When I have prostate cancer, my doctor said, 38:18 "Well, you are lucky guy." 38:21 I said, "No, I'm blessed." 38:25 He said, "It hadn't spread 38:28 and shouldn't be a big, big deal." 38:31 "Well, praise the Lord, I'm blessed." 38:34 When I had my sixth bypass surgery, 38:37 I'm very proud of that sixth bypass surgery 38:40 because most people only do four 38:42 or three or five, I did six. 38:46 My Jewish Hersh Maniar surgeon said, 38:52 "Man, you are blessed." 38:54 I said, "You got that right." 38:57 He said, "We don't get many sixes walking in here. 39:01 Usually they get carried in." 39:03 I walked in, I want to say I walked out 39:05 but I had to go out in a wheelchair. 39:08 But I could have walked out. 39:11 And even the doctor said, "Man, you are blessed." 39:17 Forgive me, one quick story. 39:19 I have, I had a member, Sister Carolyn Antonio. 39:22 Sister Carolyn Antonio, her brother was Walter Starks, 39:25 she's too driving for the General Conference 39:27 Seventh-day Adventist. 39:28 She had to have five bypasses, mere five. 39:31 And so she said, 39:33 "Pastor, I want your face to be the last thing 39:35 I see before I go under 39:37 and the first thing I see when I wake up." 39:41 You want to see this thing? 39:42 "Yes", she said. 39:44 She said, "I don't want to hear you praying." 39:47 So they prepped her at 4 o'clock in the morning. 39:49 I lived an hour and a half away from the hospital. 39:52 And then you get 39:54 into New York City, Mount Sinai, Yvonne 39:56 and you got to try to find a parking space. 39:58 So basically I went to sleep at 11, got up at 12:30, 1:00, 40:03 drudged into the city, made circles 40:05 trying to find somebody to park, ran in there. 40:08 And I said, "Hi Sister Antonio." 40:10 And she was already a little groggy. 40:12 And I said, "You ready for this?" 40:14 And she said, "Yes, I am." 40:15 So I said, "Let's pray together." 40:17 So as we're praying, she went to sleep. 40:19 She had her first, 40:20 they had not connected the drip line yet, 40:22 they just did the first one. 40:24 The doctor came, this is a true story. 40:26 The doctor came and he looked at her chart. 40:30 He said, "Man, this woman is lucky." 40:33 Do you know Sister Carolyn Antonio right there 40:35 in front of me, that doctor, 40:37 God and everybody opened her eyes and said," 40:39 No, I'm not lucky, I'm blessed." 40:43 Telling you the absolute truth. 40:48 I'm not lucky, I'm blessed and closed her eyes. 40:50 And the doctor got so upset, he called the anesthetist. 40:53 He said, "Get up here." 40:58 And about 10 minutes later the anesthesiologist came up. 41:02 He said, "What's the matter?" 41:03 He said, "That woman just talked to me." 41:06 And the anesthesiologist said, "Impossible." 41:09 He said, "She just spoke to me." 41:13 And the anesthesiologist said, "Well, what she said?" 41:17 And he said, "She said she was blessed." 41:19 And I was holding myself, 41:21 I was cracking up 'cause he was not laughing. 41:25 And the anesthesiologist said, "Well, I guess she is." 41:30 But they held up her procedure for 30 minutes to make sure 41:35 she was really under. 41:37 Do you think, now that's years ago, 41:38 that's in the late '80s. 41:40 You think that doctor ever forgot that experience? 41:42 That's locked in his brain. 41:46 I'm blessed. 41:58 So what does it mean to be blessed? 42:01 And I'm almost done. 42:03 What does it mean to be blessed? 42:05 You know, I have a... 42:07 Forgive me, I'm, this is not, this is not a yo-yo, 42:09 it's an object lesson. 42:13 And this is not easy, my wife will tell you, 42:15 we drove all over Southern Illinois 42:17 to get this cheap little yo-yo. 42:20 We went to Target, we went to Walmart, 42:25 we went to Toys "R" Us, 42:28 we went to General Dollar. 42:31 And I even had Daniel out on the way to St. Louis looking 42:34 for a yo-yo for me yesterday. 42:36 And I found this little cheap yo-yo at Target. 42:41 And it's such a inferior yo-yo, 42:45 I wanted to show you walk the dog and spank 42:47 the baby and cats in the cradle. 42:49 You know, rock the cradle kind of thing. 42:50 But this yo-yo is cheap, you can do anything with it. 42:53 So this is not a yo-yo, it's an object lesson. 42:55 Okay. 42:56 I'm going to do this one time and pray this little cheap, 42:58 inexpensive, nauseating little yo-yo. 43:01 And by the way and what makes it bad 43:03 is I had to buy five of them, I got five in that bag there. 43:05 So if anybody wants a cheap, nauseating little yo-yo, 43:07 you can have it 43:09 because I don't want this cheap yo-yo. 43:14 So let's see if it yo-yos. Okay, whoa, it did one time. 43:16 See if it does two. Now come on. Okay. 43:19 Now what did I do? 43:20 It went from up to down and back up. 43:22 This is the anatomy of a blessing. 43:26 Here's what a blessing is. 43:28 Well, I got to take... 43:30 Well, let me do it then I'll come back. 43:32 A blessing is favor 43:36 from God. 43:39 That work for anybody? 43:41 It's favor from God that starts with God, 43:44 comes down to you and goes right back to God. 43:48 Amen. 43:50 And if anywhere in that process it is cut off, 43:52 it is not a blessing. 43:54 A blessing has to start with God, 43:57 comes down to you and goes right back to God. 43:59 So that your blessings ought to give glory to God. 44:03 So if your blessing just comes and hangs there... 44:10 that's not a blessing. 44:12 Amen. 44:14 So if God gives you 44:18 a sum of money 44:21 and you don't return sum of that money to the Lord, 44:24 I maintain, you didn't get blessed. 44:28 Amen. Your riches perish with you. 44:31 Got to start with God, come to you, go back to God. 44:36 Amen. 44:38 That's the anatomy of a blessing. 44:41 And if it doesn't come from... 44:42 You see the devil 44:43 can kind of appear to bless you. 44:48 Look like it comes from God but it's not. 44:51 Anybody know what I'm talking about? 44:53 Yeah, double with counterfeit blessings, 44:54 that's why you got 44:56 to make sure it starts with God, 44:57 comes to you and goes right back to God. 45:00 And if it doesn't, it's not a blessing. 45:02 So what is a blessing? It is favor from God. 45:05 It is makarizo. 45:07 Now the second one, the second one 45:08 that I really like is called ephalomai. 45:14 Ephalomai. 45:16 Ephalomai, I think it's very cool 45:19 because ephalomai is the Spirit of God 45:25 that leaps upon you. 45:28 Don't you like that? 45:30 You come to church 45:32 and all of a sudden the Spirit of God 45:34 just kind of leaps on you. 45:37 You ever had that? 45:38 You know, you're reading the Bible, 45:40 and all of a sudden something just kind of leaps on you. 45:42 Anybody know what I'm talking about? 45:43 Yeah, it's ephalomai. 45:45 And what's interesting. 45:47 Do you remember the story about the seven sons of Sceva, 45:50 these vagabond Jews 45:52 who saw their disciples healing folk 45:54 and they said, "We want a little piece of that." 45:57 So they went and found this demon-possessed man 46:01 and they said, 46:02 "We adore you, come out of him 46:06 by the power of the God that Paul preaches." 46:11 Big mistake, big mistake. 46:14 You see, my God is not going to do you any goodwill. 46:20 Amen. Yeah. 46:21 Only God to do you good is your God. 46:24 Amen. 46:26 You can't live your life victorious on my God. 46:30 My God is big enough for me. 46:33 Your God, big enough for you. 46:35 What I'm saying is, 46:37 it's got to be a personal relationship. 46:38 If you're going to be victorious D, 46:40 it's got to be D's God getting D through. 46:44 Amen? Amen. 46:47 So they said, "Come out by Paul's God." 46:52 You know what happened? 46:53 The Bible says, "The men leaped on them, 46:57 beat them and left them bleeding and naked." 47:01 That's what happens when you try to mess 47:03 with the devil 47:04 and you don't have God on your side 47:05 'cause there's nothing about you 47:07 that scares the devil. 47:09 Mitchell, he's afraid of your boss. 47:14 Amen. Amen. 47:18 Now the word for the man leaping on them 47:22 is the same word for blessing. 47:25 Exact same word. 47:27 So sometimes in your life 47:29 the Holy Spirit leaps on you. 47:34 That's a blessing. That's a blessing. 47:38 Ephalomai or ephalomai. 47:42 And that's what happens. 47:45 So God is waiting to bless His people. 47:48 Now we've gone a long time. 47:50 So let me skip some of this stuff, 47:51 I want to just read this and then we'll move forward. 47:54 'Cause I have a watch on that my wife bought. 47:57 So I always wear it but it doesn't work. 48:02 This is an ode to love. 48:05 But it doesn't work 48:07 and it hasn't worked in a while. 48:08 And I can't read that thing on the wall 48:09 but I know I'm late. 48:11 So let me just read this and then we'll be done. 48:13 You have to forgive me, this was what, 48:14 I was going to preach this last week then I found out 48:16 by mistake that Johnny was preaching. 48:19 So I had a whole week to add stuff. 48:23 Should have let me preach it last week, 48:25 I'd have been shorter. 48:26 But I want to close with this because this is good stuff. 48:31 "By looking constantly to Jesus 48:34 with the eye of faith we shall be strengthened. 48:37 God will make the most precious revelations 48:40 of his hungering thirst. 48:41 Revelations 2 is hungering, thirsting people. 48:44 They will find that Christ is a personal Savior. 48:49 As they feed upon His word, 48:51 they find that it is spirit and life. 48:54 The word destroys the natural, 48:56 earthly nature and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. 49:01 The Holy Spirit comes to a soul, 49:04 to the soul as a comforter by transforming agency, 49:09 by the transforming agency of His grace. 49:12 The image of God is reproduced in the disciple, 49:16 He becomes a new creature, 49:18 love takes the place of hatred 49:20 and the heart receives the divine similitude. 49:24 This is what it means to live by every word 49:27 that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 49:30 Let me skip down to... 49:34 Ah, here we go... 49:41 "Christ had spoken a sacred word, 49:44 eternal truth regarding the relation between Himself 49:46 and His followers. 49:48 He knew the character of those who claim to be His disciples. 49:51 And His words tested their faith. 49:55 He declared that they were to believe 49:57 and act as He was teaching. 50:01 All who received Him would partake of His nature 50:04 and be comforted, conformed to His character. 50:08 This involved the relinquishment 50:11 of their cherished ambitions. 50:14 It required a complete surrender 50:16 of themselves to Jesus. 50:18 They were called to become self-sacrificing meek 50:22 and lowly in heart. 50:24 They must walk the narrow path traveled 50:27 by the man of Calvary. 50:29 If they would share in the gift of life 50:32 and the glory of heaven. 50:35 Now here's the sad part, the test was too great. 50:39 The enthusiasm of those 50:41 who had sought to take Him by force 50:42 and make Him King grew cold. 50:45 Their discourse in the synagogue," 50:49 this I'm sorry, "this discourse in the synagogue 50:52 they declared had opened their eyes. 50:54 Now they believed they had been deceived. 50:58 In their minds His words were a direct confession 51:01 that He was not the Messiah. 51:04 And that no earthly rewards were to be realized 51:07 in connection with Him. 51:09 They had welcomed His miracle-working power, 51:12 they were eager to be freed from the disease and suffering 51:16 but they would not come into sympathy 51:18 with His self-sacrificing life. 51:21 They didn't mind getting food, they didn't mind being fed, 51:25 they didn't mind being healed, 51:26 they didn't mind the idea 51:28 that they were going to be freed from the Romans 51:30 but this self-growth, 51:32 self-sacrificing stuff was a little more 51:35 than they wanted to deal with. 51:38 If He would not devote His power 51:41 and influence to obtaining their freedom 51:44 from the Romans, 51:46 they would have nothing to do with Him. 51:50 Jesus told them plainly, there are some of you 51:52 who do not believe, therefore I said to you, 51:55 no man can come to Me 51:56 unless it were given by the Father." 52:01 There's a lot more 52:03 but basically Christ was saying to them 52:06 and they were saying to Him. 52:08 You know, she says here in this in just a little bit, 52:10 she says, they turned their backs on Him. 52:13 This is John 6:66. 52:15 They thought that by turning their backs on Jesus publicly 52:19 that they were going to hurt Jesus. 52:23 Did you hear what I just said? 52:25 They thought their walking away 52:26 from Jesus was going to hurt Him. 52:31 And you know they were right. 52:33 Whenever you turned your back on the Lord, 52:36 it hurts Him 52:38 but it hurts you a lot more. 52:42 Yeah, the person who is going to ultimately be destroyed 52:45 is not Jesus, it's going to be you. 52:50 Amen. 52:51 So they thought by turning... 52:53 When you turn your back on the church 52:56 or on the Lord and say 52:58 "I'm not coming anymore." 52:59 When you decide to leave, you do hurt Christ 53:04 but you hurt yourself a lot more. 53:09 We are reading 53:10 in a Sabbath School lesson this week, Felix told Paul, 53:13 "You know, come back 53:15 when I have a little more convenient season." 53:17 Ellen White says that season never came. 53:19 He's a lost man 53:21 'cause his chance had passed him by. 53:24 God is giving us so many blessings. 53:28 And you may not have a million dollars in the bank, 53:32 doesn't matter. 53:33 You got Jesus. Amen. 53:36 You may not have perfect health. 53:39 There are a lot of people who I know are sitting here now 53:41 don't have perfect health but they got Jesus. 53:44 Amen. 53:46 You may not drive a brand new car 53:49 but you got Jesus. 53:51 You may not live in the finest house 53:55 but you got Jesus. 53:57 Regardless of what you have or don't have, 54:02 we all can have Jesus. 54:06 And you never know that Jesus is all you need 54:09 until Jesus is all you've got. 54:14 Amen? 54:15 Ladies and gentlemen, may I submit to you 54:17 in the worst of times you're blessed. 54:23 If you got Jesus, you're blessed. 54:26 Whether a peer soul or not, God says you're blessed. 54:32 Now what you've got to determine 54:34 is that from this day 54:35 forward come what may, I'm going to stay with Jesus. 54:40 That's the determination you got to make 54:41 because these disciples left. 54:43 And I know some people who should be here right now 54:45 who have left. 54:47 I say to you what Christ said to the 12 disciples 54:49 that that remained. 54:53 Are you too gonna leave? 54:56 You know what Peter said? Go where? 55:01 You have the words of eternal life. 55:04 You are the Savior, 55:05 we've got no place else to go. 55:10 And that's how I feel about the Lord. 55:13 I don't have no place else to go. 55:17 Just me and Irma. Me and Boo. 55:22 And we got Jesus. 55:25 It's all we need. 55:28 Now as this music is playing, 55:31 as I may not be preaching here that many more times, 55:35 I want you to pledge something with me. 55:38 If you pledged and if you can pledge 55:41 and if you will pledge to stay on Jesus' side 55:44 come what may, then come up and join me here. 55:51 See the person hadn't been born 55:53 that's going to run me out of the church. 55:55 Amen. Amen. 55:57 And I know Christ loves me. So I'm sticking with Him. 56:02 Amen? Amen. 56:06 Let's pray. 56:08 Father God, 56:11 we know the devil would like to take us out of Your hand. 56:16 But the truth is that nothing can take us out of Your hand 56:22 but our own obstinate will. 56:25 And, Lord, just now we surrender that will to You. 56:29 We ask in the name of Jesus that You would keep 56:32 that which we have committed to Your hand 56:35 until the day Jesus comes again. 56:38 Please dear Lord, 56:40 hold on to us and never let us go. 56:45 And never let us, 56:47 let go of You 56:51 until You walk us 56:54 into the city 56:57 and give us the key to our mansion. 57:02 Oh, please, dear Lord, please, 57:06 hold on to Your people 57:10 and keep them in this way. 57:14 And we thank You in Jesus' name. 57:17 Amen. |
Revised 2018-05-30