May the Lord Bless You – 1

                                                             May the Lord Bless You – 1

Subject – Experiencing the Blessings of God

By Rick Welborne

Numbers 6:22-27 (NLT2)
²²  Then the LORD said to Moses,
²³  “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:
²⁴  ‘May the LORD bless you and protect you.
²⁵  May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you.
²⁶  May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace.’
²⁷  Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my Name, I myself will bless them.” 

--Today we welcome Pastor Neftali, Shelia, and La Vida Church. How exciting to have a thriving Spanish ministry and a great pastor leading it. I truly love these guys.

--Because of time, let’s jump into the message. It appears the theme of the message and this service today is based on my title…May the Lord Bless You! How many of you want God’s blessings?

--If you do not want His blessings on you, your family, and your church, there is not much I can do or say to help you but if you want Jesus to smile on you…get ready…get ready! We just sang: The Blessing

The Lord bless you, and keep you. Make His face shine upon you. And be gracious to you

The Lord turn His Face toward you and give you peace

Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen

The Lord bless you, and keep you. Make His face shine upon you. And be gracious to you

The Lord turn His Face toward you and give you peace. As we receive, we agree, amen

May His favor be upon you and a thousand generations. Your family and your children

And their children, and their children

May His presence go before you and behind you, and beside you

All around you, and within you. He is with you, He is with you

In the morning, in the evening. In your coming, and your going. In your weeping, and rejoicing

He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you

Amen, amen, amen. Amen, amen, amen!

--I love songs that are biblical because it is powerful to speak and to sing the Word of God. May the Lord Bless You. God laid on my heart Abraham’s blessing over the children of Israel after he offered his son.

Genesis 22:15-18 (NKJV)
¹⁵  Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
¹⁶  and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son--
¹⁷  blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
¹⁸  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

1. The Lord said I will bless you.

--The Lord said to Abraham because you have been obedient and because you have been sacrificial by being willing to give your son…blessings I will bless you.

--I truly believe God is still looking for a remnant who is obedient and sacrificial. When He finds a person or a church like this, His blessings will begin to flow. Revival will come!

--Is there an example in the Bible that shows us what this obedience and sacrifice looks like? Absolutely! This verse is talking about the Macedonians and their willingness to give. 

2 Corinthians 8:5 (NLT) ⁵  They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do. 

--Please do not think God is going to simply bless you because you are cute, talented, or all that. He blesses those who are willing to totally give themselves to the Lord.

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)
¹  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
²  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

--Think about the context of Abraham receiving the blessings from God was because of his willingness to sacrifice his son. Not many of us would be willing to do that. Depends on what day it is.

--I have heard people say foolish things like, Abraham knew God would not require him to go through with killing his son but listen to the New Testament.

Hebrews 11:17-19 (NLT2)
¹⁷  It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,
¹⁸  even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”
¹⁹  Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

2. The Lord said I will multiply you.

--As we read through the Book of Acts we see the church birthed at Pentecost and God began to add to their numbers daily. The 120 became 3120, then 5000. How amazing!

--Something changed as Jesus was building His church. In Acts 6 what had been adding became multiplication. The apostles were accused of being the people who were turning the world upside down.

--When it comes to the church in the area of finances, many have been happy with living a life of addition when the blessing of Abraham tells us God wants us to multiply. 

2 Corinthians 9:10-12 (NKJV) ¹⁰  Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
¹¹  while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
¹²  For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,

--Life Church used to be a church of addition. We had enough to pay the bills, pay salaries, and support a handful of missionaries. Yippee. But we decided to become generous. He multiplied our seed.

--Fifteen missionaries became 215, 9 acres of land became 26 with 3 houses, 2 pastors became 7, an old building became a new debt free sanctuary. God multiplied our seed because we were generous. Result:

--For the administration of this service (your generous giving) not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God…joyful multiplication.

3. The Lord said your descendants (children) will storm the gates of their enemies.

Matthew 16:18 (KJV) ¹⁸  And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

--Yes, I want to do great things for God and yes I want to do my part to see the Kingdom of God grow…I want to help Jesus build His church. What I really want is my kids storming the gates of their enemies.

--I want to be Elijah but I want my kids to be Elisha with a double portion of the Spirit of God!

4. The Lord said in your seed nations will be blessed. 

--Come on La Vida Church, Life Church Villages, Life Church main campus, if you want to grow spiritually, numerically, and financially make missions a priority. 

--If we bless the nations by sending out more and more missionaries God will multiply us. We must be thinking about our seed (our kids) coming up after us. They must have this vision. 

Matthew 9:37-38 (NKJV)
³⁷  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
³⁸  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

Numbers 6:22-27 (NLT2)
²²  Then the LORD said to Moses,
²³  “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:
²⁴  ‘May the LORD bless you and protect you.
²⁵  May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you.
²⁶  May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace.’
²⁷  Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my Name, I myself will bless them.” 

--In My Name. Whose Name…The Name of Jesus Christ!