5/13/26 Wednesday Evening Bible Study - Pastor Charlie Branch - Meadows Baptist Church

Heat. Heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Well, good evening everyone and welcome

to Meadows Baptist Church midweek

service.

We have our kids club and Bible study

tonight. If I could get some uh kids

come down to the uh pledging stations.

We'll get started with our service

tonight.

Glad to see each and everyone out

tonight worshiping the Lord together.

Amen.

Amen. Let's begin our service tonight by

standing and we'll sing blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name.

All praise to him who reigns above in

majesty supreme

who gave his son to die that he might be

redeemed.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

His name above all name shall sing.

Exalted more and more

like God the Father's own right hand

where angels host adore.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Redeemer, savior, friend of man was

ruined by the fall.

Thou has deied salvation's plan. for

thou has died for all.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

His name shall be the counselor.

The mighty prince of peace

above all kingdoms conquer

whose reign shall never cease.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name. Blessed be the

name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Amen. Amen. Now for our pledges for

tonight.

First, the American flag. Attention.

Salute. Pledge. I pledge allegiance to

the flag of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation under God, indivisible, with

liberty and justice for all.

The Christian flag.

I pledge allegiance to the Christian

flag and to the Savior for whose kingdom

it stands. One savior crucified, risen,

and coming again with life and liberty

to all who believe.

And now the Bible.

I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's

holy word. I will make it a lamp unto my

feet and a light unto my path. I will

hide its words in my heart that I might

not sin against God. Amen. You may be

seated.

Well, amen. Good evening, church. Good

to see you in the house of the Lord

tonight. Appreciate you being here and I

trust you've had a good week so far. But

thank you for coming out and being

faithful being in your place tonight.

And I appreciate the Lord allowing us to

be back again on this evening. And I

thank the Lord uh for your prayers.

Appreciate y'all praying for us

traveling mercies um this past few days

as we've been uh gone to a meeting.

Thank you for praying for us and I do

appreciate the Lord watching over us.

It's good to be back tonight. And I got

a couple of announcements here I want to

go over uh just quickly and then we'll

get right on with our prayer request

time this evening. Of course, do

remember uh this coming up Saturday,

we'll be having our uh visitation

program that'll be going on um at the

Mayfest there in town at Walnut Cove. So

that'll be from 10 to 2 on Saturday. And

what we want to do is summits already

volunteered um from 10 to 11 that day.

And so we don't have it ain't necessity

that we stay the whole time. Don't even

know that we'll have enough material uh

to stay the whole time. Um but if you

want to come that morning, uh come by

and help. There's no way.

>> Huh?

>> Yeah. Let us know if you're coming, but

if you want to come by and help, come

on. They won't There's no way that we'll

have too much help. And so, um just come

and be a part of that. Uh on Saturday,

we'll start there at 10 o'clock and uh

Lord willing, we'll have a snow cone

machine there and water bottles, things

of that nature and hand out.

>> That's for the Okay, for the teens to

get t-shirts for camp. So, all right,

remember that on Saturday and we'll

start at 10:00 and go till however long

that gets done. I think the day ends at

like 3:00 there from what I saw in town.

So, um, just remember that on Saturday.

And then Sunday, of course, we'll have

service on Sunday. Remember that. And

let me get my calendar pulled up right

here. And we'll look at the rest of

these dates. Um, do be praying. Uh, I

don't know if I mentioned this to you as

of yet. Um, but we will be having a

missionary with us um at the end of this

year. The reason why I make mention of

this now is because I want you to be

putting this in your calendar. Brother

Trey Dylan, he was here uh with us last

year in missions conference. He's one of

the new missionaries um with Prayer

Baptist Missions. Was able to talk to

him uh on yesterday and he's going to be

with us November the 29th of this year.

And I want you to be praying for them

specifically. Um he told me yesterday um

that he's got 322 church services to be

in this year. And uh so continue to pray

for them if you would please. And his

support, he's looking at getting all of

it raised um by next year and hopefully

by next spring going to be on the field

there in Portland. And so that's going

to be absolutely incredible um to see

God do that. And so if y'all would pray

for them and that's the reason why I

brought up he will be here with us uh in

November, but be praying uh for them uh

if you would please. All right. And so

let's remember that. And then um not

this coming Sunday, but the next Sunday

will be our friends and family day. Be

bathing that in prayer as well. I'm

praying that God will bless that day and

then be praying um for the preacher

that'll be here with us that evening,

the singers and all of that. Be inviting

folk to come to that. All right. Be

inviting people out uh to our service

that day. And that evening service, I'm

thinking, by the way, we've got that

scheduled um that even if other people

are not having church, um they can still

come on and be a part of that service

with us or if they are having church

that Sunday night, they can still come

and be a part of that. And uh so just

invite all that you can uh to come and

be with us on the 24th to friends and

family day. Uh so remember that. And

then youth Sunday on the 31st. Be

praying about that. And uh with that in

mind, the teenagers will be standing

here tonight. The young people will be.

So you're staying here with us tonight

uh this evening. Okay. Be praying about

uh camps coming up there in the month of

June. Um, I did finally get the dates um

for the camp there at Light on the

Mountain camp that I'll be helping with.

And that'll be going on the week after

Bible school. All right. June the 21st

or June the 22nd through June the 25th.

And so if you're interested in going to

that, you see me about that. That'll be

um June, that's for juniors and for

teens. And so if you want to go to that,

you just see me and we'll get you in on

that. I really did think that they had

told me it was in July, but it is in

June. And so that'll be the week after

Bible school. So, be praying about that.

Be praying about Bible school and

praying that God would bless that. Those

four days, we'll have meeting there. And

be praying that God will send us some

children uh to witness to during that

time and pray that God uh would bless

it. Amen. And so, remember all of these

dates coming up and uh do be praying.

I'll mention this too. You can put this

in your calendar if you want to. good

meeting uh to be a part of next week.

They're at Westside Baptist Church.

Brother Tony Feny and brother Barry

Rackley will be preaching there at

Westside on next week and that'll be

Monday night through Friday night. And

uh guarantee you that'll be great

preaching and so go be a part of that if

you can support the meeting there at

Westside. I know it'll be a blessing to

you. And there's all kinds of meetings

coming up here um in the 1 of June

there. Um and I'll say more about that

if you want to be a part of any of

these. And I'll say this as well. If

there's ever any a desire that you have

to go to a meeting and you just like for

somebody to go with you, uh you come and

see me and I I'll drop whatever I'm

doing, we'll go. Amen. And I tell you

what, I believe we ought to stay

together in these days and the

like-minded churches ought to fellowship

and enjoy that. And so if you ever have

that desire, you you don't feel don't be

afraid to come and talk to us and we get

enough people to go, we'll take a van

and go. Amen. And so remember that uh if

you would please. And I will say this,

you can put it on your calendar. We're

going to be having marriage conference

next year in February again. And so be

putting that on. It's not not got the

dates nailed down yet. Um but it is

going to be in the month of February.

And so be praying about that as well.

I'm going looking to get that done uh in

the next few weeks. Okay? Uh so remember

that if you would please. All right.

Prayer request this evening. Got several

I need to make mention of tonight. Um,

if you would please uh continue to pray

for the family of Miss Michelle Lester.

Um, be praying for Miss Anne and the

girls, all of those other sisters and

and brother there. Um, be praying for

them if you would please and her two

children. Pray that God would help them

uh during this time. There will be a

graveside service at Shining Light

Cemetery uh tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. And so

if you want to go by to that, that'll be

tomorrow there at Shining Light. But do

be praying for the family and remember

those of you I think that's y'all's food

team tomorrow at 5:00. So be praying

about that as well. Um let's continue.

>> Okay. If you brought if you brought food

for Brooke tonight, give it to who now?

>> Whitney if Okay. I don't see her here

yet. Bring it to Abby. Okay. Bring it to

Abby. All right. So um if you have food,

bring it to Abby. And for that tomorrow

evening. All right. Let's remember them

in prayer um this evening. Um let's

continue to pray for brother Eric,

sister Donna. Good to see y'all tonight.

Let's remember uh them and John. Pray

for them uh tonight. Um there's another

request of prayer here. Let me get this

pulled up. Let's remember um Brother

Charles Barum. He is at home uh now um

as what brother Donald told me there a

minute ago. But let's pray desperately

for them um during this time. Brother

Charles is in bad shape. All right. Bad

shape. He wouldn't want me to disclose

it. Alice is not doing well either and

so we need to pray for them. I believe

they both got appointments Friday. Ain't

that what you said? Both of them have

>> Okay. So, let's pray for them. Please

pray. Pray desperately for them uh

during this time. Um desperate needs

with our help. So, pray God uh would

help and touch them. All right. Um let's

remember Miss Janet, her procedures got

moved to this Tuesday is what you said.

So, let's remember that. What time do

you know what time it is?

Okay, let's pray about that and continue

to pray for her and pray the Lord to be

with her. And how's Todd doing?

>> That's good. All right. Praise the Lord.

And uh that just don't happen. I'm

already losing my hearing. They told me,

he said, "You going to have to quit

running bulldozers without ear

protection." But I told them I can't

hear it run if I have ear protection on.

So, and got to have something to

entertain you. But anyway, let's

remember brother Todd. Let's remember

Janet in prayer as well. And u I know

I'm forgetting something here, but I'll

get it pulled up in a minute. Does

anybody else got a prayer request

tonight before we pray?

>> Yes, ma'am.

>> All right, let's remember

Amen.

Let's remember that.

>> Yeah.

And she's down there with Sherry, ain't

she?

>> She lives down there where Sherry's at,

don't she?

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah. All right. Yeah. Let's remember

them. Yeah. Let's remember Miss Sherry

in prayer. Pray for them during this

time. Pray God be with them. Amen.

>> Go ahead, sister.

All right. All right. Let's continue to

pray for that request of prayer.

>> Someone else. Yes, ma'am.

>> Amen.

>> Did she Did Rhonda get any news last

week?

>> Okay.

on it own.

>> Hey man, let's continue to pray for

them.

I guess they still haven't done anything

with Miss Barbara's heart, have they?

>> Yes, she had a procedure.

>> Oh, she did?

>> Okay, good. All right, let's remember

that.

Someone else.

Yes, ma'am.

Bless her heart. Let's remember sister

prayer this evening.

Let's remember that tonight. Yes, ma'am.

Amen.

Amen. Let's do remember that tonight.

Someone else

Yeah.

>> Yeah. Let's remember that

someone else. Yes, ma'am.

>> Yes.

Let's remember Miss Jean's family in

prayer.

Someone else tonight.

Amen. Let's remember that.

>> Someone else is seeing.

Amen.

Someone else has seen.

>> Yes, sir.

>> Let's continue to pray for Miss Marylu

in prayer. Remember her. and uh

had a better week this week.

>> Seems like that's the story gets told

anymore, ain't it? Let's remember that.

Do pray about Miss Pray about Miss Mar

situation. Remember that this evening?

Is any other request of prayer tonight?

Do we will make mention of this tonight?

I got uh news uh one of our

organizations we support out of the

missions fund here uh at MED is the

Tabernacle Children's Home um down there

in Greenville this past week their their

children's home came by and sang and let

us know kind of what was going on there

in the meeting and uh they said that the

due to codes and those of you that are

in building you know how ridiculous that

is. um the code for their building has

come up and there they were going to

have to put in a sprinkler system for

their building. Well, if you know

anything about that, that is probably

about the most expensive thing that you

can possibly do to a building. Um they

quoted them $3 million to put a

sprinkler system into their building um

that they have existed and uh but what

they were able to do and this is the way

the Lord works. They did find find out

that they could build another building

um for $4 million. And so crazy, but but

they could build a bigger facility,

nicer facility, newer facility up to

code and uh everything be okay. And so

they they've prayed about it and they

are starting phase one of that project.

Um and they made mention there in the

medium they took up I think about $8,000

um for that. But we support them and be

praying. I really feel impressed the

Lord to send some money for that um to

help them. Um I know that's that's a lot

of money but um there were um I guess

what what were there probably 15 kids

there I guess when 16 kids and brother

Finny made this statement and I agree

with him 100%. um after they got up and

sang, did a beautiful job. Got up and

sang and some of them spoke and

testified in in about 400, missed about

400 people, I guess. And uh Brother

Finey got up after um they sat down. He

said this. He said, "One of you is worth

that $4 million and more."

And I believe that.

So, let's pray what what God would have

us to do. You help me pray about that.

God, I I know we're going to do

something. I don't know what, but let's

pray. um God will give us leadership and

wisdom uh to help them. Um first phase

of that I think they said they were

trying to raise about 600,000 I think is

what they're trying to raise. And I know

that sounds like a lot but green that

that organization is worldwide and uh if

churches if every church that was

related to it probably pitched in um

$10,000 it would probably go above. I

mean just just how many churches are

affected by um that ministry. And so

just let's just pray for them. Pray

specifically for that ministry, for that

need, and then help me pray about what

the Lord would have us to do um for them

as far as that goes. All right? So

remember that. And then in with that in

mind, remember our missionaries. Pray

for them uh that God would bless and

help uh in every situation that they're

in or places that they serve. And I pray

that God would continue to bless the

giving. Amen. Is there any other request

of prayer tonight?

All right. All right, let's remember the

service tonight and pray that God would

help us and bless the Bible study and

the teachers as they teach this evening.

Let's remember each other. Let's pray

for the lost tonight and particularly

burden for some and I'm burdened for all

of them. Amen. There's some on my heart

uh tonight I'm burdened for and let's

pray for them and I would love to see

them get saved. And I'm pray for those.

It's grown cold and indifferent on the

Lord. And I tell you what, it's easy to

do. It's a whole lot easier. You know,

it's a natural thing for fire to go out.

If you don't put more fuel to it, you

know what it's going to do? It's gonna

go out. And this is the fuel on the

fire. And we need it. We need it in

these days. And so, let's pray for each

other and pray that God uh wouldn't help

us in these days. All right, let's pray

and ask the Lord to help us. Anything

else tonight?

All right, let's come pray tonight and

ask the Lord to bless our meeting this

evening.

Father, thank you for this good day, for

your grace and your mercy, for allowing

us to be here tonight. God, I realize

we're undeserving, Father. Lord, are the

least of your mercies, but God, your

mercies are new every morning. And Lord,

in abundance, God, you said we're

sending abound. grace is much more

bound. And Lord, I'm thankful for that

fact today, God. We know, Lord, that you

have given all good things into our

hand. We bless your name for that. And

Lord, that every gift, every good gift,

and every perfect gift cometh from

above, Lord, from the Father of lights,

of whom is no variableness, neither

shadow of turning. And we praise you. We

exalt you tonight, Lord, for who you

are, for all that you've done, for all

that you're going to do. And we pray

your will would be done, God. your work,

Father, would be accomplished on this

earth just as it is in heaven, God, that

you would get glory and honor out of

everything that's said and done. God, I

pray tonight, Lord, as we come to you,

Father, and asking for your will to be

done. We know, Lord, that there are

souls who are lost. And God, I pray for

those maybe here tonight, Lord, maybe be

lost. God, I pray you deal their heart

and drawn to a place of conviction and

repentance. And God, they be saved. But

we pray for those maybe uh God, that

need a and stirring, Lord, need

encouragement, God, all of us do. And uh

Lord, I pray God they'd receive strength

and help from the word of God tonight. I

pray Lord for those God tonight that are

sick and afflicted. God, for those

health is not well, Lord, those that are

facing procedures, God, we pray that you

would touch their body, Lord. Many, God,

in our church are in pain, Father,

tonight. And Lord, yet they're still

here. And God, I pray you'd add a

special blessing to them tonight for

being here and being faithful, Lord. And

and God, I pray tonight, Father. Lord,

for the many other requests, God, you

know every need. God, we pray, Father,

for those that have lost loved ones,

God, that are not here tonight. Or we

pray for those, God, that have wavered

loved ones uh that are not here with us

tonight. We pray, God, that you would

wrap your loving arms around them. God,

remind them who they belong to. And

Lord, for those that are lost, God, I

pray uh Father God, that you would deal

with their heart, convict them of their

sin, draw them to a place of repentance.

God, may the word of God, Lord, come

clearly in their mind. God, they see you

for who you are and themselves for who

they are and be saved. God, I pray,

Lord, for the needs, God, that's been

mentioned tonight, Lord, for the

ministry needs. So, we pray for our

missionaries and the places that they

serve, God. Thankful, Lord, that you

allow us, Father, to support the mission

work, Father, and God, to finance the

faith, Lord, the producing uh Lord, the

propagating of the gospel uh throughout

this world. We thank you for that, I

pray you'd help us to give uh Lord, as

we've as we've never given before in

these days, Lord, because I know, God,

today we're nearer than we were

yesterday to your coming. And God, I

pray that you would give us wisdom and

obedience uh Lord to do what you've

called us to do in these days. God, I

ask you, Father, Lord, this evening,

God, that your will would be

accomplished once again. You'd get glory

and honor to yourself. And Lord, I pray

every heart would be touched by the word

of God tonight. Pray you'd speak to me

and speak through me and get all glory

to yourself and bless the teachers

tonight as they teach, God. And for

those that are not here this evening, we

pray you'd deal with them, Father. Lord,

whatever reason uh why God, we pray,

Lord, you bring them back, Father,

safely uh to the house of God again. And

Lord, I thank you, Father, once again

for this church, these precious people.

Lord, I love each one of them. And God,

I pray you'd add a blessing to them for

being faithful and being here in the

house of God tonight. And we love you.

Thank you for loving us. We ask you all

in Jesus name. Amen.

Appreciate that you man.

All right. Genesis chapter number 12.

Genesis chapter number 12 this evening.

Stand up.

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

Finey 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 uh 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

uh 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 Bible says, "Now the

Genesis 12:1

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 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 or 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 Tara 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 keep

your Bible handy tonight. And we're

going to be using them. Psalm 1. 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 want to 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 bless 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 chapter 4. I encourage you to

Romans 4 · chapter mention

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

describeth 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 7

saying, "Blessed are they whose

iniquities are forgiven and whose sins

are covered." Cited from Psalm 32 verse

number one and two 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. And I'll say this

tonight, if you don't know that

blessing, you don't know any other

blessing.

>> 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? The 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." 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, do 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

lighten 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

blessingness. 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

Genesis 15:6

15:6. And Abraham believed 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 cursseeth thee. You see, this is

where God sets Abram apart. God has draw

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 I

to forgive my brother?" "Seven times."

Jesus said to him, "Seven times." 70.

Now, 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 bless them, bless thee, curse him

that cursth thee, and in thee shall all

families of the earth be blessed.' Now,

you've heard me say this 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 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 these 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'm 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

and use 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

indwelling 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

don't 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 u

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. I want to 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'd 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.