A Blessing God Wants a Blessing People

Reading of the Word

Genesis 12:2 NASB 2020

And I will make you into a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing;

Prayer of Illumination

As we gather before You, we recognize Your desire to bless us abundantly. We come seeking Your Word, asking for illumination and understanding.

Open our hearts and minds to receive Your truth today. May the words spoken be filled with Your wisdom and insight, revealing Your heart for us as blessings.

Help us to grasp the depth of Your love and the responsibility we have to bless others. Teach us to be channels of Your grace, mercy, and compassion in a world in need.

May Your Spirit guide us as we delve into Your Word, applying its timeless principles to our lives as blessing people.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Introduction

Isn’t it good to know that we worship a God who loves us, who desires to bless us, and make us a blessing to others!

One of his blessings is our mothers. Mother’s Day is a great time to pause and remember the ways God has worked this blessing in our lives. For so many of you, your mother was a tremendous blessing in your life and a channel of the blessings of God. Moms, thank you for all the ways you have shown Jesus to us and been conduits of God’s blessing into our lives!

God is a blessing God! He loves to bless his children and often does that through others. The word “bless” is used 330 times in the Bible, beginning in the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible.

As many of you know, the Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew word for “bless” is barak. It means “to invoke divine favor upon.” It is a type of prayer: “May God’s favor be upon you.” God put his favor upon creation, especially humans made in his image. This desire to place his blessing on humanity was repeated with Noah in Genesis 6, then poured out abundantly on Abram beginning in Genesis 12.

1. God’s choice to bless Abram was to inaugurate God’s rescue plan to form a chosen people who would proclaim his salvation to the world.

God was moving forward so that in the fullness of time, Jesus would come to earth and fulfill the law and usher upon us the age of grace.

That rescue mission began with one person responding to God’s call—Abram.

Genesis 12:1–4 NASB 2020

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you into a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

It was a great test. Could he leave all to obey God and show his love for him?

All Abram knew is that God called him to a new land. He obeyed, trusting in God’s promise to him.

The blessing was given in the form of a promise to Abram. Abram responded by believing the Lord and “went as the LORD told him.” God’s plan was to spread this message of blessing through the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (whose name was later changed by God to Israel). Israel’s twelve sons were to become the twelve tribes who eventually went to possess the land God had promised to Abraham. These children of Israel were to be the kingdom of priests and kings who were to spread the blessing of God to all nations.

What is a promise? God’s assurances. A wish, expression, or gift for the wellbeing of another. In cases of divine blessing it becomes an act in favor of the one being blessed. Manifestation of God’s grace.

What was the promise given?

I will make you into a great nation.

numerically

So many descendants that they would not be able to be counted.

As numerous as the stars and sand.

Influentially

The influence they had on the world is that they revealed the one, true, and living God who would change the world forever through Abram’s lineage when Christ became a part of it.

Spiritually

Abram’s promise led to the promise of Christ, who came to save and be a ransom for many.

I will Bless you.

God blesses Abram and his descendants mightily so that we today can be blessed through Christ. More on this in a moment.

I will make your name great.

The world knew who his descendants were and they were made great because of God.

The world knows who we are through who our God is.

You will be a blessing to others.

The theme of this whole Easter Season has been “Blessing Our Community.

Reflecting God through blessings is the greatest witness we can give.

His calling to a new land was critical for God’s plan to be fulfilled through him.

The Wesleyan Bible Commentary, Volume 1, Part 1: Genesis–Deuteronomy a. The First and Second Promises—Blessing and Land (12:1–9)

God’s call began with a command for a threefold separation from all Abram had known and loved: (1) out of thy country, (2) from thy kindred, (3) from thy father’s house. The old relationships and attachments were too strong, too sensibly real for Abram to retain them and at the same time develop the capacity to receive God’s message. It was only as God drew him apart for Himself, made him dependent upon Him alone for fellowship, guidance, comfort, and strength, that He would be able to make of him the man He needed.

God calls us to separation from the world. To see God in all his glory so that we can do the most for him, we have to get away from those things that dim our view.

Throughout the Old Testament, God called for the Israelites to separate themselves from those who did evil. He calls us to turn away from sin and to live for God.

2 Corinthians 6:17 NASB 2020

“Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “and do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.

Jesus encourages us to stick out in this world.

What does this mean? It means we stand firm in faith, live according to biblical principles, and boldly proclaiming Christ in word and deed.

Don't shine so others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him.

2. The blessing was partly enjoyed by the children of Abraham, but the ultimate fulfillment of the promise was through Jesus, who would bring the blessing of salvation that would be proclaimed through his church to all the families of the earth.

Paul preached this connection between Abraham and Jesus in his letter to the churches of Galatia:

Galatians 3:29 NASB 2020

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

That is where you and I come into this blessing because we belong to Christ when we receive him as our Savior. All believers in Jesus as their Savior become members of his church and, therefore, heirs of the promise given to Abraham.

We are members of the church of Jesus the Nazarene. He was called a Nazarene because he was from the town of Nazareth. This is where we took the name “Church of the Nazarene”—it is another way of calling ourselves the church of Jesus.

3. Since we belong to Jesus and are, therefore, heirs of the promise given to Abraham, we are blessed to be a blessing.

Jesus Christ is the great blessing of the world, the greatest that ever the world possessed. All the true blessedness the world is now, or ever shall be possessed of, is owing to Abram and his posterity. Through them we have a Bible, a Saviour, and a gospel. They are the stock on which the Christian church is grafted.

Think of that! Since we belong to Christ, we are Abraham’s descendants and thereby heirs to his promised blessing! So, when we read Genesis 12, we are reading about the blessing that would later become ours through Christ. Because of Jesus, may God’s favor be upon you!

What a privilege to receive! We get to enjoy the original blessing promised to Abraham. This is what we celebrate each week as we come together to worship our blessing God. We celebrate the blessing of knowing God and being saved from our sins and adopted into the family of God. This blessing God has blessed us! Hallelujah!

Let us never forget the blessings of God or take them for granted. We are blessed because we are heirs of a blessing God. Along with those blessings comes the responsibility to pass that blessing on. It’s wrong for us to keep the blessings of salvation to ourselves.

Application: How do we share the blessing?

Sharing is Caring

We are a source of blessing by doing.

James 1:25 NASB 2020

But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does.

Since you are to be a blesser, look for people to receive that blessing!

Ask God to help you seek who he wants you to bless. He will be faithful in doing this if we just ask.

Whatever you do for others you do for Jesus.

When we have a pure motive, we do things in His Name, for His glory, and in His service.

Blessings you give will be returned to you, many times in the most incredible and unexpected ways.

Hebrews 6:10 NASB 2020

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, by having served and by still serving the saints.

God will bless you many times through the person you are blessing. In other words, its a blessing in disguise.

I have had so many times in my life where I have been led to bless someone. When I was done, I remember telling them that they blessed me more than I was blessed in blessing others.

To Sum It Up: May God’s favor be upon you, and may you share it with others! Be a voice of hope, a heart of love, and a hand of kindness in a world that often needs it the most.

Conclusion

Remember that blessing means favor. You’ve heard the phrase, “Will you do a favor for me?”

A favor is a blessing that we do for others. You and I need to think of favors we can do for others. Favors we can do for our community so we can bless them! We are called to share blessings with our community. If blessing means favor, then we are to do favors for others as a blessing to them. You and I can do that every day as we confer favor on others and love our neighbors as ourselves.

We can be like the Good Samaritan who showed the love of Jesus through his words and deeds. We are not those who make excuses for avoiding needs. We are those who take action to meet needs as we find them as a way to participate in giving God’s blessing to others. We can do this as individuals, and we can also do it in an organized way as a church.

Being a blessing is the ongoing assignment of the church every day! Let us go forth from this place as a blessing people who are children of a blessing God. May God’s favor be upon you as you prepare to share it with our community! We are blessed to be a blessing!

I leave you with this Scripture. God blesses us to go forth and bless others:

You go before me and follow me. You place Your hand of blessing on my head. — Psalm 139:5 NLT

Prayer After Sermon

As we reflect on Your Word today, we are reminded of Your desire to bless us and make us blessings to others. We thank You for the abundant blessings You pour into our lives each day, seen and unseen.

Lord, we ask for Your continued favor and grace to be upon us. Open our hearts and minds to receive Your blessings in new and unexpected ways. Help us to recognize Your hand at work in our lives and to respond with gratitude and obedience.

Empower us, O God, to be blessings to those around us. May Your love flow through us to touch the lives of our families, friends, neighbors, and even strangers we encounter. Help us to be channels of Your peace, joy, and compassion in a world that often feels weary and broken.

Guide us in using the blessings You've given us—our talents, resources, and opportunities—for the good of others and for Your glory. Teach us to be generous and willing to share, knowing that as we give, we also receive abundantly from Your hand.

Fill us with Your Spirit, Lord, so that our words and actions reflect Your love and truth. May our lives be a living testimony to Your goodness and faithfulness, drawing others closer to You.

We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and the ultimate blessing to the world.

Amen.

Benediction

As we conclude this Seventh Sunday of Easter, May the unity of the Spirit bind us together in love; May the hope of Christ's return inspire us to faithful living, And may His peace reign in our hearts and in our world.

May the power of the Holy Spirit empower us to be bold witnesses of God's love and truth; May we reflect His light in every corner of our lives, bringing glory to His name and blessing to others.

As we anticipate the coming days, May God's grace sustain us, His wisdom guide us, And His presence be a constant source of strength.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.