The Blessedness of Abraham - 5/13/26 - Meadows Baptist Church - Pastor Charlie Branch

Welcome to the podcast of Meadows

Baptist Church of Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. We're so glad you joined us

today. If you enjoy today's message, be

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with your friends. Now, let's join

Pastor Charlie Branch with a word from

God.

do appreciate your prayers for us in our

travels. Was able um this past week

there to be in that meeting there in

South Carolina. And uh somebody asked me

a while back about young preachers and

how many of them there are around and if

there are any of them left. And I was in

this meeting uh down there. I preached

with five other uh young preachers on

yesterday morning and uh preached 10

minutes a piece and uh and then after I

got done they asked all the young

preachers under the age of 25 to stand

up and I guess there was probably about

25 or 30 of us and uh uh somebody made

the statement I believe it was brother

Finny saying he said you know there's a

lot of days I wonder where God's getting

his preachers at where they're at and

the church is sitting empty without

pastors all across this land and he said

I come to this meeting he said I'm

reminded

God's not done with us yet. And I'm

thankful for that. And I enjoyed the

great privilege there being there with

those men in that meeting. I thank you

uh church for allowing us to go. It's a

blessing and I appreciate all that you

do for me and my family. The Lord has

been so good to us. Genesis 12. I want

to begin reading in verse number one.

And we're going to look not going to get

out of verse number two and three. I

know we kind of dealt with this on uh

last time just briefly, but there are

some things that I want to point out in

this text um if I could this evening and

give you a thought here uh out of this

text concerning the life of Abraham. And

we looked at him uh there on last week

concerning his beginning and tonight I

want to deal with the blessedness of

Abraham um if I could for just a little

while out of this text. And I notice in

verse number one, Genesis 12:1, the

Genesis 12:1

Bible says, "Now the Lord had said unto

Abram, get thee out of thy country, and

from thy kindred, and from thy father's

house unto a land that I will show thee,

and I will make of thee a great nation,

and I will bless thee, and make thy name

great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and

I will bless them that curse thee, and

curse him that cursseeth thee, and in

thee shall all families of the earth be

blessed." Father, I ask you once more

tonight that you would help us. God, I

realize, Father, that I cannot do this

myself and I have nothing to say.

Father, if you don't speak through me.

And so, God, I pray you would help me

this evening. God, I pray for these

precious people. I pray you'd bless them

tonight. And God, I pray you'd help us

to understand the blessing, Father, that

you spoke of in this text, Lord, when

you spoke to Abraham that day. And, God,

how we enjoy that same blessing. Lord, I

pray you would help us tonight. Get

glory to yourself because we ask it in

Jesus name. Amen. In this text tonight,

we did mention here uh on last time the

call of Abraham uh in this text how that

God had called him out of the Caldes and

he's called him again. Uh he's called

him the call never changed. Of course,

Abram uh when he left, his his father

Tara uh kept him in Haran. And when

Terara died, Abram left Haran. And the

Bible says in verse number one that the

Lord had said unto Abraham, "Get thee

out of thy country." Now Abram in his

partial obedience, he was faithful to

leave the country of his nativity, but

he did not leave his kindred. The Bible

says that God had told him to leave his

country and his kindred. And we find

that because he was only partially

obedient, he did not enjoy the blessing

from the Lord. And I want to say this

tonight to you. You understand partial

obedience is disobedience. And we need

to realize tonight that if we're going

to receive the blessing from God that

God has given to each of us, we're going

to have to completely obey his word. And

I know that may be redundant from what I

said last time, but it's nonetheless

true. And the Bible says in verse number

one, he said, "It gets you out from thy

country, from thy kindred, and from thy

father's house unto a land that I will

show thee." And then he deals with the

promises. And we talked about the

comparison uh between or the contrast

rather between what Babel was doing in

chapter 11 when they were making those

brick and mortar trying to build the

city and the tower and trying to build

their religion and build their residence

and to make themselves a name. And we

made the statement on last time that God

gave every Abraham everything without

his any of his own works that Babel and

all of that city Nimrod was trying to

work. so hard for. And I'm thankful

tonight that God can do in a moment more

than we can in a lifetime of our works.

Amen. And they spent and wasted many

days trying to gain something that

ultimately God was going to take away

from them. But God blessed Abraham in

this text and allowed him to have uh the

everything that they could not have

because of their rebellion. And I notice

in this text, the Bible says in verse

number two, "And I will make of thee a

great nation." And notice this statement

here. God says, "And I will bless thee."

And I will bless thee. Now, I want to

talk to you tonight about the

blessedness of Abraham. Now, there's

many things that come to my mind when I

think about blessing. When I think about

blessedness in the scripture as a

description, there's a few different

passages that come to my mind. And I'll

give you these tonight and then I'll

give you the message and we'll be done.

But I I think about the blessed man

tonight. The first passage that comes to

my mind is Psalm 1 and verse number one.

And many of you probably know it by

heart, but turn there with me. You just

keep your Bible handy tonight. And we're

going to be using them. Psalm one.

Listen to what the psalmist repeats here

in the text. I encourage you to memorize

this if you don't. It's good uh

strengthening verses when you're dealing

with temptation. Listen to what he says

here in Psalm 1 and verse number one.

What's that first word, church? Blessed.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in

the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth

in the way of sinners, nor siteth in the

seat of the scornful, but his delight is

in the law of the Lord. And in his law

does he meditate day and night. And when

I think about this verse, when I think

about this text, really describing the

whole chapter here in the text, I think

the blessed man tonight is blessed

number one because of his character. And

I'll say this, character and integrity,

we're lacking in this day more than

anything else. Men of character, women

of character, who when you were to look

at their life, you don't just look at

the outside, but if you could examine

their heart, their heart would say the

same thing that their life does. And

I'll tell you this, character is who you

are when nobody else is watching. You've

heard it said before. And if we were to

examine your life, if we were to examine

my life, I know we would all find holes

in every one of us. But we ought to

strive to be holy in the deepest part of

our character because really that's

where it counts. Amen. God does not look

on the outward appearance, but as Samuel

said, he lookth on the heart. He doesn't

view our stature. He doesn't view our

standing, but he views the submission of

our heart to his word. And with that,

second of all, I want to say this. The

blessed man not only has to do with

character, but it has to do with the

commandments. And I'm reminded of what

Moses said. Deuteronomy 28.

Listen to what Moses says. He's

reminding the children of Israel here in

the text concerning the law of God. Now,

listen to what he says in Deuteronomy

28:es 1 down through verse 6. He says,

"And it shall come to pass, if thou

shalt hearken diligently unto the voice

of the Lord thy God, to observe and to

do all his commandments, which I command

thee this day, that the Lord thy God

will set thee on high above all nations

of the earth. And all these blessings,

notice that, shall come on thee, and

overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken,

notice that again, unto the voice of the

Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in

the city. Blessed shalt thou be in the

field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy

body, and the fruit of thy ground, and

the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of

thy kind, and the flocks of thy sheep.

Blessed shall be thy basket and thy

store. Notice this in verse six. Blessed

shalt thou be when thou comest in, and

blessed shalt thou be when thou goest

out. Now, I know that's a positional

promise to the children of Israel, and

it's a prosperity promise to the

children of Israel, but the application

is nonetheless the same. When you are

faithful to obey the commandments of

God, God says there's a blessing that'll

follow that. Amen. And the reason why

people don't know blessings is they

don't they don't keep the commandments.

Amen. If we keep the commandments,

blessedness is promised to come our way.

And then I think about this and and

really this is where I tie it in to the

life of Abraham, but I think about this.

The blessed man doesn't only have to do

with his character and with following

the commandments of God, but it has to

do with his children. And listen to what

the Bible says in Psalm 127:5. And like

Psalms 127:5

I said, these are just a few

cherrypicked verses that I thought about

when I think about blessing. Psalm 127

and verse number five. Listen to what

the psalmist says here in the text.

Verse number or verse number three.

Notice this. Psalm 127 verse number

three. Lo children are inherited of the

Lord. And the fruit of the womb is his

reward. As arrows are in the hand of a

mighty man, so are children of the

youth. Verse five, happy. That word

happy literally translates to the word

blessed. Happy is the man that hath his

quiver full of them. They shall not be

ashamed, but they shall speak with the

enemies in the gate. Now you say,

preacher, what does that have to do with

Abraham? Well, the Bible says in verse

number two of Genesis chapter number 12,

he says, I will make of thee a great

nation. Now, he's not just talking about

a land. He's not talking about a

government, but he is talking about a

seed. He is talking about a son. He is

talking about a savior and that nation

that would be derived out of the loins

of Abraham that represents the blessed

man's children. And you think about the

song that we sing in in children's class

growing up. Father Abraham had many sons

and many sons had father Abraham. How

does it go? I'm one of them and so are

you. Amen. And that comes by not the the

lineage of his of his children in the

sense of Israel but in the sense of him

being the father of the faith. We are

his children. And so I notice in this

text the blessed man. We we pointed out

the character the commandments and his

children. Notice what the Bible says

about Abraham here in this text. You

find this word blessed here in this text

several times. I believe it's about six

times that it's mentioned in this text

in some form or fashion. Let's read it

again. Notice there in verse two, God

said, "And I will make of thee a great

nation, and I will bless thee, and make

thy name great, and thou shalt be a

blessing, and I will bless them that

bless thee, and curse him that cursseeth

thee, and in thee shall all families of

the earth be blessed." Now I want to

give you four things tonight describing

the blessedness of Abraham in this text

and really this is describing the

blessedness of each of us. If you know

the Lord tonight these are the blessings

that you know as his children. So I

would say first of all tonight what we

discover in this text is is there is a

rendered blessing. Notice what the Bible

says in verse two. And I will make of

thee a great nation. Notice the phrase,

"And I will bless thee." Now, who's

speaking in the text? Somebody tell me.

>> God speaking, right? And so, this

blessing rendered here in the text, it

is revealed that God himself by his own

will and in his own work is going to

bless Abraham. Notice that I will bless

thee. God has decided in his divine will

to bless Abram in this text. Now we know

uh later on his name would be changed to

describe his ownership to God. But I'll

say this, this rendered blessing tonight

is the same evidence that's in our life.

You understand salvation tonight when we

get saved, we come to the Lord and

repent and faith and we trust him as our

savior. But salvation is the gift of

God. Ain't that what the Bible says? And

it is that rendered blessing that each

of you and I possess. What did what did

Paul tell the church at Ephesus? He

said, "For by grace are you saved

through faith and that not of

yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of

works, lest any man should boast." And

so the blessedness that you and I have

tonight, or let me put it this way, the

first blessing that you will know as a

as a human being will be a rendered

blessing. It'll be a blessing that's

imparted unto you. It's a blessing

that's imputed unto you. And what is

that? That is the righteousness of

Christ that's imputed into who we are.

>> I'm reminded of what Paul said Romans

Romans 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. I encourage you to write this

in your margin. Paul was describing in

Romans 4, the faith of Abraham. And he

had this to say concerning what

blessedness really is. Listen to this in

Romans 4 and verse number six. The Bible

says, "Even as David also describeth the

blessedness of the man." Notice that.

Even as David also described the

blessedness, supreme happiness of the

man unto whom God imputth what?

Righteousness

without works. The blessedness of this

salvation that we are offered is that

forgiveness has been given on terms of

the blood. And because of that,

righteousness is imputed without works.

It was a rendered blessing. Verse seven,

saying, "Blessed are they whose

iniquities are forgiven and whose sins

are covered." Cited from Psalm 32, verse

number one and 2, verse 8, blessed is

the man to whom the Lord will not impute

sin. And so that is telling us that the

first blessing that we receive will be a

blessing that is given that is placed

upon our account. I'll say this tonight.

If you don't know that blessing, you

don't know any other blessing.

>> Right?

>> Amen. You say, "Preacher, well, I'm

alive, but you're not really living."

Amen. I like that old song Danny

Thunderberg sang with the cathedrals. He

said, "I just started living." Amen.

He'd been living long before he got

saved, but he said, "I just started

living. I got me a brand new life." You

know what that is? That's salvation.

>> That's a rendered blessing. Amen. I'm

saying God has been good. Boy, I tell

you what, that feels good, don't it?

Amen. God has given us a blessing that

we otherwise could never attain in and

of oursel. And so, his blessedness is

rendered in this text. Now, notice, not

only there is the rendering of

blessedness to Abraham, but there is a

righteous blessing that is mentioned in

the text. The Bible says in verse two,

God said, "I will make of thee a great

nation. I will bless thee and make thy

name great. And then notice this phrase,

and thou shalt be a blessing. What I'm

interested in in this text is God has

said from this point, he says, I will,

notice that, I will make of thee a great

nation. I will bless thee. I will make

thy name great. But then he gets to the

end of this text and says, after

everything that I do for you, Abraham,

Abram, this is what you're going to be.

Notice this. Thou shalt be a blessing.

Who we are tonight is directly in

correlation to what God has done for us.

You realize that we have nothing of

ourselves. And so when God says, "Thou

shalt be a blessing," what does that

mean? Well, it's talking about that word

blessing is a different word in the

Hebrew that's used from the word bless

and blessing that's used in the other

verses of this text. And it literally

means a benediction. It literally means

a pronounced blessing that Abraham

himself, Abram himself would be a

blessing to the world. You say, how is

that? Well, let's just let's just

examine this for a minute. Okay, Abram

is the father when we think of the

physical sense of what the nation of

Israel in Isaac shall thy seed be

called. And why did God call Abraham out

of the earth of Caldes? That little

phrase in verse number two hinges all

the doctrine that we believe about

missionary work in all of scripture.

When God said, "Thou shalt be a

blessing," he was referring to the fact

that God would introduce himself to the

rest of the world by Abraham.

God would give this man a blessing.

Notice it again. Notice it again in the

text. I will bless thee. And then what

does he say? and thou shalt be a

blessing. Abram is the channel through

which all of God's blessing would flow

through from this day forward all the

way through the rest of history. Do you

realize that in the church of God, what

we are doing here tonight, we are a part

of the channel that has flowed through

Abraham.

>> In Adam, there was failure. In Noah,

there was failure. But in Abram, you

know what happened out of his seed? He's

the father of what? The faith. And so

out of him he is the blessing of the

world. And what is that blessing? It is

that righteousness. Remember this. All

right. God said, "I will bless thee."

And we talked about what he said there

in Romans. How that the blessed man is

the man whose sins were forgiven, whose

iniquities are covered. And out of that,

you know what we do? We are the ones

that introduce that blessing to the

world. You know how the world gets the

gospel? It's preaching, isn't it?

>> Right? Abram is the one that God

entrusted. You see, here's the reason

why, and this is where we divide with

those that say salvation is only by

grace through faith. In the New

Testament church, salvation has never

been apart from grace and faith.

>> All the way to the very beginning, man

had to believe God and trust his word.

And it's by grace alone through faith

alone in the finished work of Christ.

You say, "Preacher, how is it that Abram

could believe? How is it that Abram

could believe that Jesus had to die for

his sin?" You remember what Jesus said?

Those those Pharisees came to him and

said, "You know, we have Abraham to our

father." And Jesus rebukes them. He

said, "If you were Abram's children, the

works of Abraham you would do." You

remember him saying that? You can look

in John's gospel chapter 8 and Jesus

said this about Abraham. He

said,"Abraham saw my day and was glad.

He rejoiced. What was that? God promised

him a seed. I'm getting ahead of myself

here, but God promised Abram a seed. And

when God promised Abraham a seed, you

know, he was looking at Isaac, but

farther than that, it was a lot farther

than just Isaac. It was a lot farther

than just Jacob. It was a lot farther

than just Judah and the rest of the line

through which Christ would come. He was

looking to the Messiah. And when God

promised Abram a seed, he wasn't just

looking at a seed. He wasn't just

looking at a son, but he saw the savior

and Abraham would be his father.

And out of him righteousness would

proceed from God into this world. And

the Bible says, "Thou shalt be a

blessing and the knowledge of God in the

world comes by Abraham."

You say, "How is that?" Well, you

understand that all the rest of the

world had turned on God.

What did we just talk about in chapter

11? All of those children, they had all

joined together. The Bible says in verse

one of chapter 11, "The whole earth was

of one language and of one speech." And

the Bible says, "And it came to pass as

they," the world is united together in

wickedness and out of an entire world

that's united in wickedness and sin. God

takes one man by the name of Abram and

calls him out of that wickedness. And

what does he do? He puts his name on

him. He puts his brand on him. What is

that? It's his righteousness. And

because Abraham, God blessed HIM, GOD

SAID,"ABRAM, YOU'RE GOING TO BE A

BLESSING." You know, the reason why

there's some people that profess to be

saved and they never accomplish anything

in the Christian life, the reason I

struggle with their salvation is because

they've never been a blessing.

>> If you have been blessed, you will be a

blessing.

>> Amen. If you have been given, Amen. If

you have received, you are to give. And

so this blessing, this righteousness

that's imputed, Abram would reveal. He

would be the father of the missionary

nation. Israel was supposed to bring the

gospel to the rest of the world. But

Israel failed. And so because of that,

they rejected the Messiah. And what did

Jesus do? He turned his ministry to the

Gentiles. And he would be a light not

only to light in Israel but the Gentiles

as well. And that's why Paul said in

Romans 1, he said, "I'm not ashamed of

the gospel of Christ, for it's the power

of God under salvation to everyone

>> that believeth, to the Jew first and

also to the Greek." And so it is this

blessing. It is a righteous blessing.

And you say, "Preacher, what does that

have to do with righteousness?" Well,

you understand the only way that Abram

could be a blessing is if he lived in

what God had endued him with. God had

blessed him with righteousness on his

account. God imputed righteousness to

him. Genesis 15:6. And Abraham believed

Genesis 15:6

God and it was counted unto him for

righteousness. But the only time people

saw that in his life was when he chose

to live it. And Abraham failed many

times. We know that. We know that

Ishmael was born out of a failure of

Abraham. But what I'm saying is out of

his seed would be the blessing and his

righteous life would manifest the

blessing of knowing God to the rest of

the world. Notice not only this moving

quickly tonight, we see this blessedness

is rendered. We see the blessedness of

his righteousness. How that he would

share that with the world from this

text. Notice thirdly, I see not only the

right, the rendered blessing and the

righteous blessing, but I see there's a

reciprocal blessing in the text. Notice

verse three. And I will bless them that

bless thee and curse him that curse

thee. You see, this is where God sets

Abram apart. God has drawn him out of

the Caldes. He's brought him away from

his family. And God says, "Look, I'm

going to bless you. You're going to be a

blessing." And he said, ' Because of

that blessing that's upon you, I'm going

to set a wall in between you and the

world.

You say, "How does that relate to us,

preacher?" Well, you remember what Jesus

prayed in the Gospel of John? He he was

praying there and the Bible says in that

great prayer he prayed unto the Lord. He

said, "Father, I don't want you to take

them out of the world." He said, "But

you just put them in the world and keep

the world out of them." In essence, is

what he said. You know what God was

saying to Abraham in this text? He's

saying, "Look, those that bless you and

follow what you give, I'll bless them."

He said, "But those that reject you," he

said, "I'll reject them." You remember

what Jesus said in the New Testament? He

said, "Those that receive me, they

receive my father. Those that reject me,

they reject my father." And so, the

truth is tonight, the same application

applies in this text. this reciprocated

blessing is that God would bless those

who would follow in obedience to Abraham

because he is the one that blessing was

placed upon. You know, I think about

this. You say, "Preacher, well, does

that follow in this day and time when

people reject us?" Well, you just

remember we got to remember who our king

is,

>> right?

>> Jesus is king. And what was he king of?

He was king of rejection, wasn't he?

Everybody rejected him. Everybody walked

away from him. And what did he do for

all of those people? He said, "Father,

forgive them." You know, I don't think

that that was just at the cross. I don't

think that was just looking into our

day. But I think Jesus when he was on

that cross, he looked back at everybody

who had done him wrong through his

entire life and said, "Father, forgive

them."

>> Amen.

>> Because he was dying for all their sins,

all the past sins, all the present sins,

and all the future sins.

>> And God said, "Forgive them."

>> Jesus said, "Forgive them." So what are

we to do? Jesus Peter said, "How often

am I to forgive my brother?" Seven

times. Jesus said to him, "Seven times."

70. And we know that's a number. But

what was Jesus expressing? He was

saying, "Forgive him as many times as it

takes."

>> And so the truth is in this text,

blessedness and cursedness in this text

is not ours to to determine. You say,

"How is that?" Well, you just remember

when death takes place and the Bible

says to be absent from the body is to be

present with the Lord for those who are

saved. And so that is blessedness. But

you understand those that die without

God, what do they do? They go to a place

of eternal what? Judgment.

And so it's not us up to us to determine

who's blessed and who's cursed.

What did what did God say? He said,

"I'll bless them."

You know, I think sometimes we get it

wrong and and we're kind of like this.

Well, God said we ought to bless them

that bless us. Curse them that curse us.

But that ain't what Jesus said in

Matthew 5, is it? He said, "I send you

love your enemies.

>> Do good to them that hate you and them

that persecute you." He said, he said,

"Blessed are ye when men shall revile

you and persecute you and say all manner

of of a against you because of my name."

He said, "Great is your reward in

heaven." And so this reciprocal blessing

comes down to one thing. It reveals to

us the sovereignty of God. That God is

in control. God would bless those who

blessed Abram. We see that through his

entire life. Those that were that

followed him, those that supported him

in his endeavor into the land of Canaan,

they were blessed by God. But you

remember, every time that Abram steps

out of the will of God and does

something that maybe he shouldn't have,

or those trying to do something against

Abram that they shouldn't have, you

realize God cursed them. Sodom and

Gomorrah was burned alive in spite of

the prayers of God, prayers of Abraham

for them. But you know who was saved out

of that thing? Lot was. So, you know

what? God responded by the blessing of

Abraham in his life. So much I could

say. I'm trying not to get ahead of

myself in this because I want to preach

through his life. But I want to give you

this and I'll be done tonight. We've

considered the rendered blessing, the

righteous blessing, this reciprocal

blessing. He would bless those that

bless him. And let me say this tonight.

I believe that still stands.

I'm not an anti-semit.

I don't believe that. And let me say

this to you. Anybody that would spread

that to you, they want you to go to

hell.

>> They want you to be destroyed. Because

here's the thing about it. God said his

promise would stand with Israel. That's

>> right.

>> Paul said it this way in Romans. He

said, "God's not cast away his people,

>> which he forneew."

>> And so that blessing still stands. I

believe that with all of my heart.

Notice this and I'll be done. We've

mentioned here the missionary state of

Abram here and it's pointed out again.

It's reiterated in verse three. He said,

"I'll bless thee, bless thee, curse him

that curse thee, and in thee shall all

families of the earth be blessed." Now,

you've heard me say this this three-fold

truth tonight that when God promised

Abraham a nation, he promised him a

seed, he promised him a son, he promised

a savior, and where you see that's in

those two little words in verse three.

Notice that. and in thee. You see, it

was in the loins of Abraham that God

would raise up salvation. Now, we know

that that you know, we when we think

about Christ, of course, he was not he

did not have an earthly father. We

realize that. But Mary, his mother, came

through this same earthly line. She

proceeded out of that same family. Not

got time to deal with all of that. But

the truth is in this text, what that

reveals is the realm of blessedness.

And you say, "What does that mean?"

Well, God says, "In thee," notice that,

"in thee shall all families of the earth

be blessed." And so, when I think about

that, you know what? That's total.

>> That that that has to do with every

race. That has to do with every place.

Has to do with every person, all

families. So, what was he saying? He he

couldn't have just been talking about

his own personal blessing that Abram

would reign over the world. He couldn't

have just been talking about Isaac, that

one son, because Ishmael was rejected by

God. He couldn't have just been talking

about Isaac. He could not have just been

talking about Jacob because these are

all singular children.

But what would be the one individual

that in history blessedness would

proceed from one moment in time

throughout all the past?

>> Jesus

>> to all the future. It has to refer to

Christ. And when he says in thee shall

all families of the earth be blessed, he

was revealing the fact that the realm of

blessing is to all the world. You say,

"Where does that come from me preacher?

I can't bless the whole world." But you

know what? By being saved, you know what

you are? You're a blessing to the whole

world. The salvation that's in you, you

understand? We may not affect the whole

world directly, but because of salvation

that's in our heart, we are represented.

Paul said it this way. He said, "We are

ambassadors for Christ.

Do we have the potential to reach the

whole world? I believe that. Amen. That

potential is there. But I understand the

great amount of mount, the great

mountain that would stand before us in

evangelism in order to do that. But see,

that's not the principle. It's what

lives inside of us that's the blessing.

>> And as long as there's a Christian on

this earth, you know what else is here?

There's somebody who's controlled by the

Holy Ghost of God. And out of that we

are a blessing to the whole society that

exists. He said Abraham he said in thee

shall all families of the earth be

blessed. It is the promise that God has

given unto him. The realm of blessing

extends to all families. You know I

think we we've missed in this day and

time and I I've been guilty of this. you

know, my dreams are too small when it

comes to reaching the world with the

gospel. Because the truth is

there's billions. We know there's

billions of souls on this earth. But I'm

I'm convinced I'm convinced of this fact

that if we will desire to be a blessing

to all, God will desire let us be a

blessing to more than we ever could have

if we will make our desire to be a

blessing to all. You know, I think, you

know, it goes back to this same

principle people talk about. Well,

preacher, I can't be perfect.

But you know what? Here's the difference

between those who are close to God and

those who are away from God. Those who

are away from God, they realize that

they can't be perfect. And because of

that, they quit. But those who are close

to God, you know what they do? They look

at the standard and say, "By the God's

grace, I want to get there." Paul said,

"I count not myself to apprehend." He

said, "But this one thing I do." He

said, 'I pressing toward the mark for

the prize of the high calling of God in

Christ Jesus.' What was that? That was

perfection. That was completeness.

At the end of his life, he was able to

say, "I've fought a good fight. I've

finished my course." And so, this

blessedness, this realm of blessedness,

we ought to desire to reach out more

than we think is possible. Because God

told Abram before he ever even made it

into Canaan's land, notice verse four.

So, Abram departed. before he ever made

it into Canaan land, God's already told

him, "Look, you're going you're going to

bless the whole earth."

You know what? We don't know what

tomorrow holds. We ought to say, "Lord,

I know what you've invested in me is

able. You understand the spirit of God

in you is the same spirit of God that

was in Billy Graham."

>> Right?

>> Amen. And I know he wasn't perfect, but

I'm talking about all these great men of

God of days gone by. Jay Harold Smith

and Harold Sitler and Bobby Robertson

and all those guys. The same spirit of

God that was in them is in you.

>> Right?

>> And we have the opportunity.

It's there to reach the whole world and

be a blessing to the entirety of this

world. But I'll say this. I want to

remind you that being saved and living

for God is the blessing that this world

needs. Because you know what's going to

happen when the church is removed? The

influence of the spirit of God inside of

human hearts will be removed. And so

because of that, there will only be an

exterior influence of the spirit of God.

And you know, I I struggle with this

sometimes. I'll say this and I'm done. I

I don't really know whether or not after

the rapture takes place that men and

women who get saved after the rapture, I

don't know that they will be indwelt by

the spirit of God. I'm not sure about

that. But I do know this. All those who

will be saved after the rapture will

first of all have never had an

opportunity to be saved before the

rapture. But after the rapture, they'll

be saved by grace through faith the same

way. But I don't know that they'll have

that inddwelling presence of God. And

here's the reason why I say that.

Because it's going to go back to the

days of the law. And in the days of the

law, you know what happened? The spirit

of God came on men. It came on men for a

time, but it didn't live in men. You

see, we have the unadulterated presence

of God in our life and we control how

much he affects us. It's not that we

need more of the Holy Ghost. It's that

he needs more of us. That's

>> right.

>> And so when I say to you the influence

when the rapture takes place, that

influence is going to be removed. It's

going to realize just how big the world

is going to realize just how big of a

blessing the church was to society when

we're taken out of here. Because you

going to understand all chaos is going

to be unleashed. And we are a blessing,

God. We're his seed. We're Abram's seed.

We're God's seed. We're his children.

And we're called to be a blessing. And

uh I hope I hope that's a help to you

tonight. Father, thank you for this

time, Lord. Help us to be a blessing,

Lord. You've blessed us so much. And

God, it's not things. It's not stuff,

Lord. And we've got so much stuff, Lord.

But I know that that's not that's not

what blessing is, God. You have given us

your spirit, Lord. the third person of

the trinity lives in our heart. And

Lord, there is no greater blessedness,

Lord, than knowing that we're saved,

forgiven of our sin. And Lord, you have

called us to inherit a blessing. But

Lord, you've called us to be a blessing

to this world. Lord, help us to be that

blessing that you've called us to be.

Lord, I love you. Thank you for loving

us. Lord, I pray watch over us as we go

home tonight. Pray for all the needs

that's been mentioned this evening.

Bless and help in every situation. We

thank you for what you've done, what

you're going to do. We ask it in Jesus

name. Amen. I appreciate

>> Thank you for joining our service today.

We'd love it if you join us in person

the next time you are able at Meadows

Baptist Church. Our physical address is

2988 Stewart Road in Walnut Cove, North

Carolina. Our service times are Sunday

school at 10:00 a.m., Sunday morning

worship at 11:00 a.m., Sunday evening

worship at 6:00 p.m., and Wednesday

evening Bible study at 700 p.m. For more

information, visit us at

meadowsbaptisturch.com.

Thanks again for tuning in.