The Authority to Bless
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 29 viewsNotes
Transcript
Text: John 21:1-14
Blessing = a special favor, mercy, or benefit, a favor or gift bestowed by god, thereby bringing happiness.
God wants to bless us. Do you belive that? God loves us and wants to bless us everyday. Blessing is to be part of our identity. Everything that comes from God is a blessing. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. So does God give us everything we want. No. He blesses us so that we can grow and become more like Jesus. He only wants the best for our lives. When you have an encounter with Jesus, you never leave empty handed, you should always leave blessed. When you leave today, you should feel blessed just from being in His presence. All thru Jesus's ministry, we see Him blessing people everywhere He went. Jesus is here today and He wants to bless us.
But sometimes, our idea of a blessing boxes God in. His idea of a blessing is so much more wonderful then what we usually think of. Our limited monds can only think of earthly things.. Gods blessings are heavenly blessings. We think of money and things.. He is so much greater then that. God's idea of blessings are the realm of salvation, eternal life, forgiveness, healings, miracles and the Holy Spirit.
Today, I want to look in John 21:1-14 and look at how we can be blessed by encountering Jesus. Lets get in the boat and go fishing..
Most fish stories are about the one that got away.. Not when you go fishing with Jesus. Lets read
John 21:1-14. I mean this thing is trying to tell me
He said Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
1.REACT - We need to say yes to God with an obedient and faithful heart.
How many of us here today want to say Yes to God. God I will do what you say. He doesn't want us struggling anymore. He wants us to have breakthroughs. Today. When Peter heard this man say, hey, throw your net over the right side, he did it. Peter said Yes. If he didn't throw his net over the right side, Peter would have missed out on a blessing for himself and for the disciple with him. Peter could have told the guy how he was fishing all night, or he could have told the guy he was crazy or to mind his own business since Peter was a professional fisherman. Have we ever told God no. I can't do that God, thats crazy. I can't do that God, I'm scared. I can't do that God, I know what I am doing, I got this, I know a better way. I can't do that God, fill in the blank. well, every time we say no to God, we miss out on a heavenly blessing for ourselves and probably for those associated with us. We need to remember that God is bigger than any situation. When God wants to bless us, we need to say yes. I say Yes, God bless us, God heal us, Yes, God deliver us from our addictions and sinful ways. How many want to say Yes God, bless us with your Holy Spirit, right now. He wants our obedience and He will bless it. As Christians, we need to live by obedience. we need to say YES to God today. Think of how awesome we ran our lives before we accepted Jesus. Yeah, we really know what we are doing.. Pastor Shannon, I am a master fisherman from the left side of the boat. Pastor Shannon by himself catching nothing.. Pastor Shannon with God.. blessings I can't even get them all in my boat, they are too numerous.
This leads us into our next point. We need to recognize the blessings we receive are from God.
We see in verse 7. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
2.RECOGNIZE We need to Recognize its God
We see that the disciples did not recognize Jesus at first. Sometimes it is hard to know its God who wanting to bless us. We are usually so busy doing it our way and failing and trying again, that we never even hear His voice. And when we do hear His voice to do something, we still ignore it so we can continue to do it our way. Well, from this wonderful story, we see that Peter's way of fishing got zero results. No fish.. None.. But then Jesus shows up. Tells them to do it His way. Hey, throw your net over the right side, there is a blessing waiting for you there. And not just a blessing for you guys, but for the whole community. We need to know God's voice. We need to be in prayer and seeking wisdom in his Word to see how in every situation, God wants to bless us. He does not want us to fail in our marriages, with our kids, with our jobs, in school. He wants us to be blessed. He gave us our spouse, our kids, our jobs, our schools, our friends as blessings to us. So we need to stop doing things our way and ask God how should we do it. Peter and the disciples wasted all night fishing and got nothing. They did what Jesus told them and the blessing came instantly.
3.RESPOND We need to Respond to God
How did Peter respond? As soon as Peter heard him say It is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him for he had taken it off and jumped in the water. So, He got dressed out of respect and reverance for the Lord and he jumped in the water to go be with his friend as fast as he could. He couldn't even wait for the boat to come in. Worship should be an immediate response to God's blessings in our life. Thank you Jesus!!! Thank you Lord.. Just want to run into his arms and thank Him. Just want to worship Him for how good he is to us. Just want to run and be in His presence as much as I can. Also, when we feel blessed, we let the blessing overflow and we bless others. The best way to respond to a blessing from Jesus is to bless others. We as the church are in the blessing business. And like we said before, do not equate a blessing with money. It can be a money blessing, but blessing someone can come in many forms, try calling somebody, tell somebody you want to pray for them, invite somebody over. If there is a need in this church, financial, spiritual, emotional, it is our job to help and be the blessing.
4. We have the Authorization and the Authority to Bless.
What did the apostle Paul say in Romans 12:14?
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
What did the apostle Peter write in 1 Peter 3:9?
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
Finally, what did Jesus teach? Luke 6:27-28
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
We have authorization and authority to bless everyone, even our enemies. Actually, we are instructed, expected by Jesus, to love our enemies! Love is a much stronger word than bless, but it means the same thing - favor another as God has favored you! That is what will set disciples of Christ apart from the world.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
Exercising my authority to bless and love another results in reward from God the Most High. Do I do so? And not just your spouse or children or your immediate and extended family. Someone you do not see eye to eye with. Someone who rubs your the wrong way. Someone you just do not have the time of day for. Anybody have those types of people in your life? We all do, and we may be that person to another. What does Jesus teach?
Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.
Do you want to be blessed? Do you want to be blessed by others? Then bless just as you would like to be blessed. It’s called loving as Jesus loves us. It’s called being merciful as Jesus is merciful to us. Another word for merciful is compassionate. Our identity in Christ is to be compassionate or merciful.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Did you know that the word ‘blessing’ or concept is used over 300 times in the Bible? What does that mean? It’s important in the economy of God! How many times do we use the word or employ the concept? the action? When is the last time I blessed someone with God’s peace, love, grace, and mercy? In every letter that the apostle Paul wrote he blessed the readers. Jesus’ favorite blessing of individuals was what? Peace (Peace be with you) meaning shalom meaning a general total well-being (Mt 28:9; Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19, 21, 26).
Jesus commanded the disciples to do so wherever they went and stayed in homes (Luke 10:3-12). The disciples were instructed to remove their blessing if they were not welcomed.
Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.
If the disciples were welcomed they were instructed to heal the sick (and relieve the afflicted). If they were not welcomed, they were to pronounce warning and judgment.
Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say,
‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
The authorization and authority to bless are not mere words, but the choice to invoke God’s spiritual power and favor upon another. You can invoke God’s favor for sleep, joy, healing, peace, and even the discernment to know the LORD God Himself and/or deeper!
We have spiritual authority not just to defend and go on the offensive against the forces of darkness. But the spiritual authority to bless others with the goodness of God. You and I can be, and hopefully are, agents of God’s goodness, agents of God’s favor and blessing.
When is the last time that you have choosen to bless another with the spiritual favor of God?
In our community, in our world, we should be looking at ways to bless others. We should not be here just to receive blessings but to give blessings. Jesus wants this bride to be a blessing to each other and to this world … “so that we might win some to Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
Conclusion
I think everyone here has an empty fishing net in some part of their life. We need Jesus today to fill that net with a blessing. We also need to be the blessing to others. We have been given the authorization and the authority to bless others with the favor of God. Will you be that agent of blessing for God, going forward, this day? Amen.
