Sabbath 1/17/2015 Daytona Beach SDB Church Minister Terri sermon Being a Blessing
Isaiah 58:10
Being a blessing. The Webster dictionary says being a blessing means making somebody happy. Blessing is an action word and it means you have to do something. You can’t just sit there, you have to do something to make someone happy. I think about the blessings God had blessed me with and how I have seen God work in other people’s lives to bless them. I can’t hardly do the blessings like God does, I’m not there and that’s not my job. However, as a child of God, it is our job to help others. If you help others then that is your form of being a blessing.
A few years ago the singer Pattie Labelle wrote a book named Don’t Block the Blessing. It is a very good book that talks about being humble enough to allow someone to bless you. Because it is through them blessing you, that they become blessed. If you are at the point where your pride is so high that you can’t receive the blessing, then you are blocking their blessing too. Sometimes our pride, our independence puts us in that place where we can’t accept things from people. When I was homeless, I was homeless because my pride said I couldn’t accept help. I had plenty of people available to help me but I felt that I had put myself in that position and I had to get myself out. I couldn’t take help so I blocked the blessing.
For us to be a blessing, it sometimes means we have to go out of our comfort zone to help someone. A lady in church told me how she would go give out Bibles and money to the homeless. Her son would tell her “Mama, that’s a drug dealer” or “Mama that’s a police officer”. She was blessing people regardless of what that person would use it for. She was still blessing. What they use your blessing for is between them and God. If God puts it on your heart to bless that person, bless them regardless of their circumstances because they may really be in need of it.
Being a blessing takes an open heart. You have to have an open mind and be open to God’s leading. God will lead you and He will direct you to who to bless, who to go to, or who to talk to. He will lead you and you have to be open to that. A long, long time ago I went to another denomination church that was staunch. When I say staunch I mean you had to wear the right clothes and wear your hair a certain way. If you didn’t then you were not a blessing and you were not right. Thank God I found out the truth. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are in life. If you see someone that needs help, be a blessing to that person. God will bless you in return. God will bless you and He says it in his Word. God says if you empty out to the hungry, your light will shine like a new day. Don’t do like some do and bless others for getting the attention of someone else. The blessings that you give, when expecting nothing in return, are so…so important. When you bless someone with your next to last thing that you have, the angels in Heaven cry out. This is because you have done what God would have done.
God gave His best for us. We have no other choice but to give our best to others. It doesn’t matter whether they are a part of this congregation. It doesn’t matter even if they are part of a church. Perhaps by your blessing them, they will say “I want to go where she goes, I want to go to her church. Hmmmm….let me go see.” On Wednesdays, I listen to people that we serve here at our food pantry. They are thankful for being blessed. One person stopped Pastor in Walmart and thanked him so much that it almost brought Pastor to tears. It is amazing that even though this is a small community, you will be surprised at how far reaching this is. They know about us because of what we have done by blessing others. Yet we are the small church on that little street that nobody knows about. It is about blessing others in need thru our food pantry on Wednesday. We are a small church with a big heart and it helps me to know that God is looking at that. He is looking at what we do on Wednesday, but also at what each of us do individually. We are to be after the heart of God. I picture God smiling down on us saying everything is okay.
Being a blessing is more than a notion. It is our duty as children of God to bless others. God expects that of us. So when you see somebody and God lays it on your heart to bless that person, please do that. Your reward may not be seen down here but it definitely will be seen when you see God. When you come face to face with Him like we all have to do. God may say” I sent so-and-so to you and you didn’t bless them”. He may say” I sent you to so-and-so and you didn’t bless them”. I would rather that God says” Thank you for doing what I sent you do” then Him saying” you didn’t bless them”. So let us think about that.
God is an awesome God and his treasures are abundantly more than ours. But because we are a part of Him, they are ours. We can call on Him at any time to help someone even if it is just in prayer. Our being a blessing covers a whole lot of things and is not just giving something physical. It is not just me saying “here, here are two dollars, you need it?” It could be remembering that person in prayer. It could be calling that person and asking how they are doing. We should take these few things and work on them to help us be a blessing to others. When we do this, God will richly bless us.
AMEN
Isaiah 58:10
Being a blessing. The Webster dictionary says being a blessing means making somebody happy. Blessing is an action word and it means you have to do something. You can’t just sit there, you have to do something to make someone happy. I think about the blessings God had blessed me with and how I have seen God work in other people’s lives to bless them. I can’t hardly do the blessings like God does, I’m not there and that’s not my job. However, as a child of God, it is our job to help others. If you help others then that is your form of being a blessing.
A few years ago the singer Pattie Labelle wrote a book named Don’t Block the Blessing. It is a very good book that talks about being humble enough to allow someone to bless you. Because it is through them blessing you, that they become blessed. If you are at the point where your pride is so high that you can’t receive the blessing, then you are blocking their blessing too. Sometimes our pride, our independence puts us in that place where we can’t accept things from people. When I was homeless, I was homeless because my pride said I couldn’t accept help. I had plenty of people available to help me but I felt that I had put myself in that position and I had to get myself out. I couldn’t take help so I blocked the blessing.
For us to be a blessing, it sometimes means we have to go out of our comfort zone to help someone. A lady in church told me how she would go give out Bibles and money to the homeless. Her son would tell her “Mama, that’s a drug dealer” or “Mama that’s a police officer”. She was blessing people regardless of what that person would use it for. She was still blessing. What they use your blessing for is between them and God. If God puts it on your heart to bless that person, bless them regardless of their circumstances because they may really be in need of it.
Being a blessing takes an open heart. You have to have an open mind and be open to God’s leading. God will lead you and He will direct you to who to bless, who to go to, or who to talk to. He will lead you and you have to be open to that. A long, long time ago I went to another denomination church that was staunch. When I say staunch I mean you had to wear the right clothes and wear your hair a certain way. If you didn’t then you were not a blessing and you were not right. Thank God I found out the truth. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are in life. If you see someone that needs help, be a blessing to that person. God will bless you in return. God will bless you and He says it in his Word. God says if you empty out to the hungry, your light will shine like a new day. Don’t do like some do and bless others for getting the attention of someone else. The blessings that you give, when expecting nothing in return, are so…so important. When you bless someone with your next to last thing that you have, the angels in Heaven cry out. This is because you have done what God would have done.
God gave His best for us. We have no other choice but to give our best to others. It doesn’t matter whether they are a part of this congregation. It doesn’t matter even if they are part of a church. Perhaps by your blessing them, they will say “I want to go where she goes, I want to go to her church. Hmmmm….let me go see.” On Wednesdays, I listen to people that we serve here at our food pantry. They are thankful for being blessed. One person stopped Pastor in Walmart and thanked him so much that it almost brought Pastor to tears. It is amazing that even though this is a small community, you will be surprised at how far reaching this is. They know about us because of what we have done by blessing others. Yet we are the small church on that little street that nobody knows about. It is about blessing others in need thru our food pantry on Wednesday. We are a small church with a big heart and it helps me to know that God is looking at that. He is looking at what we do on Wednesday, but also at what each of us do individually. We are to be after the heart of God. I picture God smiling down on us saying everything is okay.
Being a blessing is more than a notion. It is our duty as children of God to bless others. God expects that of us. So when you see somebody and God lays it on your heart to bless that person, please do that. Your reward may not be seen down here but it definitely will be seen when you see God. When you come face to face with Him like we all have to do. God may say” I sent so-and-so to you and you didn’t bless them”. He may say” I sent you to so-and-so and you didn’t bless them”. I would rather that God says” Thank you for doing what I sent you do” then Him saying” you didn’t bless them”. So let us think about that.
God is an awesome God and his treasures are abundantly more than ours. But because we are a part of Him, they are ours. We can call on Him at any time to help someone even if it is just in prayer. Our being a blessing covers a whole lot of things and is not just giving something physical. It is not just me saying “here, here are two dollars, you need it?” It could be remembering that person in prayer. It could be calling that person and asking how they are doing. We should take these few things and work on them to help us be a blessing to others. When we do this, God will richly bless us.
AMEN