BLOCKADES TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS

Psalm 26:2 KJV 1900

Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my reins and my heart.

ROAD BLOCKS TO YOUR SPIRITUAL BLESSSINGS

Introduction: A blockage in the cooper pipe to a toliet.

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I. SELFISHNESS IS A BLOCKADE TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

1. Selfish people think only of themselves; .

Luke 12:17–19 KJV 1900

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

LUKE

2. Selfish people show a lack of love; .

1 John 3:17 KJV 1900

But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

3. Selfish people reap what they sow; , , .

Acts 5:2 KJV 1900

And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

II. LAZINESS IS A BLOCKADE TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

1. Lazy people beg in the harvest; .

Proverbs 20:4 KJV 1900

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; Therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

2. Lazy people come to poverty; .

Proverbs 6:9–11 KJV 1900

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, And thy want as an armed man.

Prov. 6:

3. Lazy people will not work for Christ; .

Luke 19:20–24 KJV 1900

And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.

Luke 19:

III. COVETOUSNESS IS A BLOCKADE TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

1. Covetousness troubles one’s own house; .

2. Covetousness causes one to come to want; .

3. Covetousness brings God’s judgment; .

III. PRAYERLESSNESS IS A BLOCKADE TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

1. Prayerless people are troubled people; .

Daniel 9:13 KJV 1900

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

2. Prayerless people are disobedient people; ; .

Luke 18:1 KJV 1900

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

James 4:2 KJV 1900

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3. Prayerless people shall not prosper; .

Jeremiah 10:21 KJV 1900

For the pastors are become brutish, And have not sought the Lord: Therefore they shall not prosper, And all their flocks shall be scattered.

IV. WORLDLINESS IS A BLOCKADE TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

1. Worldliness reveals the inward life; .

1 John 2:15 KJV 1900

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

2. Worldliness does not please God; .

Romans

2. Worldliness separates from God; ; .

James 4:4 KJV 1900

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

1. Unfruitfulness comes from not abiding in Christ; .

John 15:5 KJV 1900

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

2. Unfruitfulness results in the loss of reward; , .

1 Corinthians 3:14–15 KJV 1900

If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

1 Corinthians 3:14 KJV 1900

If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

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1 Cor.

3. Unfruitfulness brings judgment; .

V. UNFAITHFULNESS IS A BLOCKADE TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

1. Unfaithfulness is sin; .

Romans 14:23 KJV 1900

And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

2. Unfaithfulness robs of the Crown of Life; .

2. Unfaithfulness cannot please God; .

Hebrews 11:6 KJV 1900

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Apostolon, B. (1966). Preach the Word (p. 25). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.