TIME TO COUNT OUR BLESSINGS



BLESSINGS, STEP BY STEP
Text:


Psa 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.



Theme: The Rewards of an Upright Walk



Intro: This text is divided into three parts;
1. The Lord - (Jehovah - Eternal one) God (Elohim - omnipotent Trinity) is a Sun, (a brilliant light)
(Jas. 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.) and Shield (Protector)



II Sam 22:3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.



2. The Lord will give grace and glory
II Cor 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.



3. Withholds no good thing
Lu 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.



11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?



A. As we walk uprightly (righteously) - In these steps:
1) Salvation, eternal life
Jno 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand.



2) Baptism -a privilege of picturing Christ in His (and our)resurrection as well as our new beginning as a ‘new man’
(Colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:



Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.)



3) Church membership - members of His Body
I Cor 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.



4) Stewardship - advancement
I Pet 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.



5) Witnessing - soul-winning
Acts 13:31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.



II Tim 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.



Psa 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.





6) Study - food
I Pet 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:



II Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.



7) Death - Presence with the Lord forever
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?





II Cor 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.



8) Resurrection - Glory beyond compare - present suffering not to be compared
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.



9) Millennium - after all earthly blessings, He will reward us for “that which was our duty to do”
Lu 17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.



Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.



Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.



10) Heaven - Eternal Praise
I Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.



Rev 19:4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.