Living A Changed Life.

Subject:

Blessing: A Life with God

Blessing in the ancient world was the highest form of well-being possible for human beings. The Greeks referred to the blissful existence of the gods as “blessed.” For Israel, blessing included not just gifts from God but especially life with God. Blessing would include all areas of Abram’s life: his family, his finances, his work, and his heart. That meant he wasn’t just to receive a blessing; he was to be a blessing. In fact, it is impossible to be blessed in the highest sense apart from becoming a blessing.

Taken from John Ortberg, All the Places to Go . . . How Will You Know?: God Has Placed before You an Open Door.  What Will You Do?, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

We always look at what the Bible says and try to Sneeze America ways and the way people live into what the Bible is saying ( It never works out right)

1 Peter 3:8–13 KJV 1900

8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. 10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?

Pitiful: well compassioned, i.e. sympathetic:—pitiful, tender-hearted

Strong, J. (2009). In A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 1, p. 34). Logos Bible Software.

eschew:

to deviate, i.e. (absol.) to shun (lit. or fig.), or (rel.) to decline (from piety):—avoid, eschew, go out of the way.

absol. absolute, absolutely

ensue:

to pursue (lit. or fig.); by impl. to persecute:—ensue, follow (after), given to, (suffer) persecute (-ion), press forward.

railing:

slander or vituperation:—railing, reproach [-fully].

3060. λοίδορος lŏidŏrŏs, loy´-dor-os; from λοιδός lŏidŏs (mischief); abusive, i.e. a blackguard;—railer, reviler.

Ephesians 4:32–5:2 KJV 1900

32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. 1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

1 Peter 3:16–22 KJV 1900

16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

WEEPING FOR THE LOST

D.L. Moody told the story of his conversion this way: “When I was in Boston I used to attend a Sunday school class, and one day I recollect my teacher came around behind the counter of the shop I was at work in, and put his hand upon my shoulder, and talked to me about Christ and my soul. I had not felt that I had a soul till then. I said to myself, ‘This is a very strange thing. Here is a man who never saw me till lately, and he is weeping over my sins, and I never shed a tear about them.’ But I understand it now, and know what it is to have a passion for men’s souls and weep over their sins. I don’t remember what he said, but I can still feel the power of that man’s hand on my shoulder tonight.” The concern and tears of a godly teacher resulted in the conversion of a man who saw a million souls saved in his evangelistic campaigns.

Hell

Why is hell so awful? One, it was created for satan and his demons. Secondly, because people don’t realize that hell is the absence of God.

There’s no air in hell...because God is a breath of life.

There is no peace in hell...because God is the prince of peace. There is no comfort in hell...because God is the comforter.

There is no love in hell...because God is love.

Hell is darkness...because God is the light.

You don't have to go there!

But there is only one way to escape it, and that is through salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.