"Count Your Blessings" By Chris Ulrich September 21st,
2014
Please
be seated. I want to welcome you back, Parrish, I know that you out
here, but
let’s give the Lord a praise for Parrish the back amongst us. Parrish
is one of
our fellowship leaders for those of you who don't know. My name is
Chris
Ulrich, and I one of preaching team here, and thank God for that.
This
month has been the month of sanctification; we read that Scripture, but
I’m
going to read it again: Joshua 3:5
And
Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify
yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
I
know we’re getting close to the end of this month, the end of this
month of
sanctification, but I hope we’ve all gotten something out of it, I know
I have.
That basket back there, I know I need to put something in it [Editor’s
Note:
the basket he’s talking about is the basket when people were supposed
to leave
notes describing blessings they received during the time of
sanctification.]. I
know it’s not
something that we just come to God to make requests, it’s important
that we
thank God for what
he's done for us, the
blessings as he’s poured. I
know we’re
going to get into that a little bit later.
It’s a spiritual thing, it’s not like changing
seasons, I mean, sanctifying.
It’s something I looked up in the Concordance. I think most of us use
that term
here. It’s interesting because, in the Old Testament the term sanctify
has all
the same meanings. In other words, there’s a reference in the Hebrew,
and this
is not going to be too lengthy as far as a Bible study, but this was
actually a
little surprising ,
most terms say 'love'
or 'behold' or 'wonder.' If you look in the concordance, it will give
you
several different definitions, based on the context of that term.
It was
a little surprising to see that reference number 6942 was the exact
same
definition for every time sanctify it is used in the Old Testament.
It’s used
59 times in the Old Testament. I
thought, “That’s consistency.” It always means exactly one thing;
there’s no if’s,
and’s, or but’s, about it. It’s about: To pronounce clean, to dedicate,
to
hallow, or to purify; that would be the gist of the definition of
sanctify. Again,
it’s really been a
worthwhile endeavor for this month and something that we did last year,
and
something we will continue to do. I
So
the preaching this month has been from the book of Ephesians. Parrish, you creature from
chapter 1, but you
also gave us some of the history of Ephesus, and how it was a city
given over
to idolatry it was a good history lesson and I thought that the
reference you
used from Acts chapter 19, and you said that there was a spirit of
idolatry
upon that city. What’s relevant to what you brought into this day and
age was
that there are cities in the
I
know Jesse, last week you
shared about the
grace of God, and one question that you asked, in
Genesis, where it said
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord-that’s one of my favorite
verses, like
Noah, we have also found grace in the eyes of the Lord-but the question
you
asked was, would he have found grace if he refused to build the ark
that God
told him to build? The
answer is no, and
the same thing holds true today if we refuse to keep God’s commandments
, we're not going to find grace in God's eyes.
It’s the same thing.
I’m
going to ask if everybody could turn to Ephesians chapter 3; we’re
actually
going to go from back to the front on this one. This one verse, I just
want to
set a tone a little bit here. Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to
the power that worketh in us,
I
know this verse is at the end of the chapter but I want to lay a
foundation and
get people thinking about it, thinking about it personally about all
the ways
that God has done exceeding abundantly above all that you have asked or
thought. It’s going
to be one of my main topics so if
you want to jot this verse down as a point of emphasis.
For now though I’d like to bring your
attention to the first fifteen verses of Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3:1-15
For
this
cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard
of the dispensation of
the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
How that by revelation he made known unto
me the mystery; (as I
wrote afore in few words, Whereby,
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other
ages was not made known
unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and
prophets
by the Spirit; That
the Gentiles
should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his
promise in
Christ by the gospel: Whereof
I was
made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto
me by the
effectual working of his power.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ; And
to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath
been hid
in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the
eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
In whom we have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith
of him. Wherefore
I desire that ye
faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I
bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named,
We
know that the Bible talks about every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And I know that in this day and age,
I
suppose in any day and age with a past history where there’s been
opposition,
and there always has, there’s been persecution, there’s been naysayers,
there’s
been unbelievers,
there have been plenty
of people down through the ages that didn't agree with it, didn't
believe in
it, the market is much is possible, although the Bible does say that
God is not
mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
There’s a lot of
reading but it builds up and climaxes in verse 14 and 15, that whole
family of
God
is in the name of Jesus Christ.
My first point today is about the importance
of the name of Jesus, and knowing that it is the name of the Lord, it
is the
only name whereby we must be saved, and if trust in Him we’ll find
there is
wonder working power in that name (I know that’s a little bit older of
the
song-I’m not going to sing that).
There
was something you mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Parrish, from Exodus
20:7:
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain, for the Lord will
not hold
him guiltless that takes his name in vain.” You mentioned how much it
drives
you nuts (myself, too, and I believe every one of us that names the
name of
Jesus) to hear the name of the Lord taken in vain. I’m not going to say
that-when I wasn’t a Christian, I used the name of the Lord in vain,
and the
truth is, it just flowed out like water. I mean, it just came out, and
it was
like it was without shame. But, when you come to the knowledge of the
truth…
What was interesting was, myself and, I think it was Ed H., were
talking, either
this morning, or a couple of days ago,
but
we were talking about Ground Zero. What was interesting is that, a lot
of
times, we think about Ground Zero we think about Acts 4:1-12
And as
they spake unto the people, the
priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon
them, Being
grieved that they taught the
people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid
hands on them, and put
them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of
them which heard the
word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. And it came to
pass on the morrow, that
their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas,
and John, and Alexander,
and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered
together
at Jerusalem. And
when they had
set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have
ye done
this? Then
Peter, filled with the
Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of
Israel, If
we this day be examined of the good
deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto
you all, and to all
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom ye
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man
stand here
before you whole. This
is the
stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head
of the
corner. Neither
is there salvation
in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among
men,
whereby we must be saved.
Don’t
worry, that’s the last lengthy passage we’re going to be reading today. But we look at that power
that God gives us,
it changes people’s lives for the better.
It gives us the kind of power to drive off those
demons which come to us
in the middle of the night or the middle of the day, for that matter. It gives us power to pray;
it gives power to
share with people, it’s the name that we get baptized in. Proverbs 18:10 tells us
that the name of the
Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and are safe. I have to say that,
shortly after getting
baptized, I remember that there was that safety that I did feel, that I
knew
wasn’t there prior to being born again. I mean, it was tangible, but it
was
also intangible. When we think about how God is an invisible God, and
He
touches us in ways that are tangible, but He also touches us in ways
that are
intangible
. I'm talking
about in our soul, in our spirit, in our mind. Things that we can’t
physically
see, I mean, we can physically break open somebody’s skull and look at
the
anatomy of it,
but we're talking
about being able to search what's in each person's mind, what's in each
person's heart, only God can do that. God does know us
better than we
know ourselves. If you don’t believe that-and I have to say, I kind of
fought with
that for a while
-but then, in the New
Testament, it talks about that He knows the very number of hairs on our
head; I
don’t know how many hairs are on my head. I’m not going to try counting
them
either. For those of us that are bald… He knows other things about you
too.
It’s
true that this account from Acts 4 was written thousands of years ago
and I
suppose in some circles would make it easy to dismiss.
I think a lot of times people think, “always
outdated. It’s not relevant.” We can’t worry about all the naysayers,
the
unbelievers or the ungodly. And
this
isn’t about living off yesterdays or yesteryear’s blessings either, but
knowing
that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that
power is
going to reign continuously. It’s going to be something that’s forever.
It’s
never going to change. We’re not going to wake up tomorrow and, “Well,
it’s
changed.” Or next week, “Well, it’s changed.” And, Abby, like you
mentioned in
your prayer, there’s gross darkness, and morality seems to be in
decline. I’m
going to share something, and, this isn’t about bashing any one
particular
person, but, I thought about this, and I’m going to name the person,
and I’m
going to tell you what it was, because I thought, “I can’t believe
this.”
A lot of us know who Nikki Minoj is, and this
isn't about bad-mouthing her, because I've mentioned Miley Cyrus from
this
pulpit before. It’s not about we’re not praying that hopefully that
they’ll
change their lives, but, you know what? There’s a song that she came
out with
recently in a video called “Anaconda.” I thought, “Okay, I’m not going
to watch
the video.” But,
the other day, I
thought, "I'm going to look up the lyrics. I just want to see what the
lyrics say." I read through it, and, I’m appalled, but I’m not
appalled.
It was the kind of thing where it’s like, “Does this surprise me? No,
this
doesn’t surprise me.” It was the kind of thing where it’s like, if
ungodliness
is what people want, then ungodliness is what people are going to get.
Just
because there is that element in society that, like you said Abby, just
becomes
overwhelming, and inundating, it doesn’t mean it’s going to affect us.
I mean,
you think about-this is something that we talked about, when the
children of
Israel were in Egypt (I’m getting little bit away from my notes, but
I’m coming
back) and held that, when God word out the plagues that he did,
wouldn't you
think that at least some of the Israelites would have been affected by
the
frogs, and the lice, and the blood in the river, and all this other
stuff? How
did God create separation between the people at the plagues were poured
out
upon, and the Israelites? God
does things in mysterious ways, and I just look at it like, it's God. I
have no
explanation for it; the secret things belong to God. I
just look at it like, "Thank God we're on
the Lord's side!" I said before, it’s good to know His name. It is good to know His name; it’s Jesus,
it’s not Buddha, it’s not Hindu, it’s not Allah, on and on, go down the
list.
We don’t go out and try to start arguments with people, “What do you
believe?”
The
truth is, Christ said, "If
I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me."
So,
it's a matter of like-if people want to sit there-one thing
we’ve noticed, more and more, in this day and age, Is
that any time anything happens to anyone who
even claims Christianity, just lump them all together. This Christian
church
had this ungodly practice, or they did this, or this guy did that, and
he
claims to be a Christian… That’s not true. The thing is, we have to
look at it
like, to discern good from evil, we have to have that understanding,
and God
will give us that understanding.
Which
brings me to our next point, but this one is going to be a little
lengthier
because I’m going to ask for some participation in a few minutes. Ephesians 3:20-21
Now
unto
him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think,
according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ
Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. Amen.
When
we think about how God does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or
think, a lot of things can come to mind.
Our health, family, jobs, and our places of
residence are just of few of
the physical blessings. On
the spiritual
side we have the healing in our spirit, the confidence that
God gives us, the ability to forgive and be forgiven,
the vision to understand and discern good and evil.
But before I go any further I want to
highlight a point that might hold us back at times and I want you to
really
hear my heart on this. I
say “us”
because I know I’m in that boat, too, and don’t want it to sound as
though I’m
casting judgment or like it’s someone else’s problem.
. So, please hear this. Anyway, I know that
whenever we have something to be thankful for, we might subconsciously
think we
don’t want to thank God because someone might be left out. I think that’s a little
bit more when we’re
in a public arena,
say if we're in a
prayer meeting, or we're in a group of people. Not always,
but I’m going
to give some examples that I think will make sense but first I’m going
to ask
this question. How many of you have ever felt like you didn’t get
something
from God that someone else did and it just didn’t seem fair? Okay, that’s a true thing;
that’s a true
emotion that we’re going to have. I know I have and I know it wasn’t
pleasant,
but that I just had to deal with it-all, I know a few years ago you had
a hat
said, “Just deal with it.”-But, we’ve got to know that God is not
unrighteous
to forget our work and our labor of love, and what we’ve done, and it
might
seem like we’re getting the short end of the stick…
So
here are the examples that I wanted to share; If I say, I’m thankful I
have a
job and someone else is unemployed they might feel excluded. If I say, I’m thankful for
my eyesight and
someone is blind they might feel that they can’t partake in that
ability. We might
be in a prayer meeting and someone might
be thanking God for a healing touch they received, where someone else
is still
waiting; they might feel like they missed the boat, or got the short
end of the
stick, or however else you want to put it.
So I know the thought that crosses my mind at times
is, “I won’t say
anything,” if I know in the back of my mind that someone might feel be
lacking. Has anyone
else ever felt that too?
It’s
not like we’re thankful for those things out of spite, that’s the
argument to
that. It’s not necessarily like we’re standing in a room, and you know
somebody's blind, so you say, "Oh, I thank you, God, for my eyesight; I
just thank you." I mean, this is not about being mean-spirited, or
vicious,
or being spiteful; we
have to be inclusive. We
have to try to wrap
our arms around people, get behind them, be supportive.
The truth is
that we all will receive many different things from God but some will
be
unique. I’m going
to use a few examples: I
know, Abby, a few years ago, Abby’s a principal
in a school nearby, and I remember something you shared, a while back,
about praying
in the hallways, or praying over the classrooms… And I thought, “That’s
fantastic!” I mean, I’m not a teacher, or a principal of the school,
but I
thought, “That is a unique thing. That’s something that, God’s given
her that
blessing; God’s given her that.” It’s not about being envious, it’s
about being
appreciative and thankful for something that God’s blessed her life
with. Laygoze
– I’ve known Laygoze many years, and many of us here as well, and he’s
got the gift
of friendliness. I see Laygoze in places where people were maybe not
the nicest
to him, and he just goes right on-and I’m not talking about being a
doormat,
but I’m thinking, “I wouldn’t have that nice back.” I mean, it’s
something
that’s inspiring! I mean, honest to God, it's the kind of thing where
you see,
and it’s strengthening and encouraging.
Mike Alford -I know Mike and Linda aren't here, I
think-but, Mike’s got
a gift of encouragement. A lot of times, I’ll see him out there, and
it’s like,
“I just want to make it to Heaven!” I do, too. I’ll share one quick
thing :
This was a few weeks ago, we were going to have a fellowship walk, like
on a
Saturday morning—Mike is not a text-aholic, so, it’s not like I’m
getting text after
text after text after text-- I get this that. Now, it didn’t wake me
up, but I
did wake up a little bit later; 3:28 in the morning, or something like
that, “Who
is this from, what does this say?”
It
was from Mike, and he said, "If the
devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack." Kind of corny, but I’m
thinking, like, “wait a minute,” and that became the theme of the walk,
“We are
not ignorant of Satan’s devices.” Because were not
ignorant of Satan’s
devices. When we have a walk with God,
God
gives us that discernment to be able to understand what's good and
what's not…
So, we can’t ever stop thanking God for being good to us or giving us
things, because
not everybody else is going to get the same thing.
That’s not being selfish.
It’s being practical but it’s also being
spiritual and hopefully that makes sense.
Now
I know that I mentioned Ephesians 3:20 earlier and that’s going to be
one of
the main points. But
I’d like to ask for
some participation, now, to hear what God has done for you. It could be recent, it
could be something
last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago.
It
could be a celebration or an anniversary, or a healing touch that you
or a
loved one has received. Speaking
of
Mike, I appreciate what Linda Alford shared a couple of months ago
about
writing these things down. Writing down these blessings that happen,
that way,
if we look back on it a few years from now, five years from now, 10
years from
now, it’s like, “Yeah, I remember that, that thing that God did for me
that
specific night. Or, walking down the street, or…” If we remain faithful
we’ll
never go wrong . I mean, it’s like,
you
start to remember, but then you have it written down, so it brings
those things
back to remembrance. And by the way, that happens to be
the title of the
message today, “Count Your Blessings”.
I’m
going to get the ball rolling, first, just to give you an idea, that
things
that God has done above all that I could exceeding abundantly ask for
think. I’ve had the
same job for the last 16+
years. I know I’ve
shared with a few
people, even
getting in there…
I'm going to share it, because this is something that , I
know that it
had to have been God, because,
I remember
during the interview, that the guy asked, “How are you,
electrically?”
And I said, “I’m not very good.” So I heard him asking other questions,
and
when I got done , I got a second interview, and actually got the job.
But I
remember, about three months later, that manager,
and another guy that was from the same department, the manager
was talking to myself and the other guy, and he said, “Yeah, one of the
reasons
we hired Chris was because he is strong, electrically." But,
you know what? At that point, I had learned
the job, and I realized that, it is something you can
learn. It's not
like I was out there as an electrician, that's not what job required or
entailed, but, it was just to have a general understanding of
electricity. It
wasn't long after I started learning that field, that I believe God
blessed
it The exceeding
abundantly above all
that I could ask or think. I feel like I’ve got good health; I know
that could
change in a heartbeat. I
feel that God
gave me a spiritual healing from a demon that had plagued me 25 years
ago. I
know good and well it was the Lord.
And
you know what? I
said those things
because, I know people that are not working.
I know that there are people that aren’t in good
health. And I know
people that are still plagued by
demons. Not to be comparative, not to compare myself to them, but I
need to be
supportive of them, too, and know that God can change their life, too.
So, be creative, think outside the box, don't
be afraid sharing some of the things… I'm not looking for a lengthy
testimony,
but… Ken:
Yeah,
there’s two things I want to say. First one was, I was almost, for
eight years,
because I was doing drugs and alcohol. I got tired of it, and I asked
Jesus to
show me a way to get off of it, and He did. It was through a program at
the VA.
To this day, this coming October 27th, it will
be 27 years that I’ve
been off of alcohol. The second thing, after almost 50 years, I’ve been
off of
cigarettes for almost two years, now. That’s a blessing. Mark: We
recently had an admin meeting-I work at Baxter healthcare; I represent
the
Xerox photocopy services program,
and,
during the meeting, one of the people humbled me very much by saying,
to my
manager, “We want to thank you for giving us Mark Lanier.” That was
such a
blessing because it’s like, the Bible says to show all good fidelity
with your
masters, and that’s what I’m trying to do my job. During
the course of that, I've earned a lot of respect
with people , and that's what they thought of me. Ed
H: Last
month, we have
the church prayer meeting on Wednesday night, and we were mentioning
everybody’s name, and my sister was real, real ill .
She was having an operation that Friday, and
we prayed that day. I found out Friday that she did not have that
operation,
because she woke up Thursday feeling so good, she went to the doctor,
and the
doctor said, “You don’t need that operation.” I
was just praying for the surgery, but God answered more abundantly,
and completely healed her. Greg: About
14 years ago,
no, 18 years ago, because yesterday was my birthday-I got baptized
September 20th-but
the doctors told me shortly after that, that I needed a heart
transplant. I’m
just thankful right now; I’ve been on the same job for 16 years. Rebecca:
I’ve
been looking for work for almost 8 years .
I have not worked, and I was desperate to the point that I would
take any job. The job that I really wanted was With
Verizon, because I've worked there, and I know the kind of
work they do. I
went to the interview,
and I saw the schedule , and it's a retail schedule. It's a mess,
because I
would be able to come to church, or have any time on the weekend; I
would be
working almost every weekend. Then, another opportunity came along, but
my
heart was set on the first one because that's the one that I thought I
was
going to get hired. Then
God opened another
door, out of nowhere, that I wasn't even expecting. I've
been working for the past three weeks now;
I don't have to work any weekends, Monday through Friday, I can go home
and be
with my family.
I’d
like to thank you all for sharing. There’s a lot of good to be said for
how God
works in mysterious ways and blesses all of us.
There’s a verse in Luke 6 which talks about that God
is kind to the
unthankful and the evil and that hit me, because if God is kind to the
unthankful and the evil, and I’m not saying, and the Bible isn’t saying
that
they have a walk with God, it’s just saying that God is kind to them.
That, to
me, is just mind-boggling, but just think how great God is to us that
are
thankful, and that are kind, and that are living a sanctified life, a
life that
is pleasing before the Lord? Think about how God is towards us, and
there’s no
doubt about it, God does do exceedingly abundantly above all that we
ask or
think.
I
want to thank everybody for their time, and I want to thank you for
your
participation. I look forward to what God has for us for the rest of
this
month, for the rest of this year, and for the rest of this lifetime.
God bless
you.
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