A Blessing for You: What We Need the Most

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible.

Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog at blog.GregLaurie.com. So this blessing, it's independent of your circumstances. It's about who you know. Has anyone ever tried to help you who candidly wasn't much help at all? Maybe a child showed up to your plumbing emergency with a smile and your little Tykes plastic toy crescent wrench.

Well, it may have warmed your heart, but you were still ankle deep in water. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out God can bless us when we need Him most and with just what we need the most. It's as if He knew all along. Today we'll learn how to open ourselves to His blessings. I heard a story of a little girl that grabbed some crayons and a piece of paper and announced to her family, I'm going to draw a picture of God. Her mother said, honey, nobody knows what God looks like.

And she said, well, they will when I'm done. And we wonder sometimes, what is God like? Is God a happy God or is He a sad God? Is He a smiling God or is He a frowning God? And how does the Lord look at you and me? Does He look upon us with approval or disapproval? Well, that is answered right here in Numbers chapter 6. The answer to all those questions is found in this blessing that the Lord wanted the priest to pronounce upon the people. It's a familiar passage.

You've heard these words before, no doubt. But it really shows you who God is and how He feels towards you. And we learn six very important things about God.

So let's read it together, shall we? Numbers chapter 6 starting in verse 24. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. And so shall you put My name on the children of Israel and I will bless them. I love that.

Don't you? This was written to the children of Israel as they were making their way to the Promised Land. As you know, we're in a series right now that we're calling Water, Fire, Stone. And it's based on the life of Moses.

And chronologically we're in the wilderness. Moses has received the Ten Commandments from God and Mount Sinai. And they're slowly but surely making their way to that land of Canaan. The land flowing with milk and honey. So the Lord specifically says to Moses to tell the priest, you tell the priest to pronounce this blessing on the people.

Because I want them to remember it. So they were in a wilderness and guess what? We're in a wilderness too. Aren't we?

We're passing through to another place. We all face our trials and we all make our mistakes. And we all have danger around us. There are threats to us every day.

Of course the coronavirus. We're all wearing our face masks and we're social distancing and we're concerned about this. There are dangers. Then there are the normal concerns of our lives. Like our livelihood. Our employment. Our health. Our marriages. Our children. Our future. We are fallen people living in a fallen world in need of a little help.

Well let me restate that. We're in need of a lot of help. So God instructs the priest, the spiritual leaders of the people to pronounce this blessing. And in fact the Lord says I want you to pronounce it on the people over and over and over again. I want this thing ingrained in their brain. I want this etched on their hearts.

I want them to be able to recite it from memory. Again six truths about God that every believer needs to know. Number one. God loves to bless you. Isn't that a great thing to know? God loves to bless you. So the Lord is not stingy with his blessings.

Jesus said it is your father's good pleasure to give to you the kingdom. It's like when I'm with my grandkids. I love to do things for them. I love to take them out to ice cream. I love to buy them a little toy. I love to spend time with them and enjoy them. And tell them jokes and tell them a Bible story. The other day my granddaughter Allie said of my wife Kathy, her grandmother, she says, Nama, that's what she calls her. She says, Nama, she cooks and she cleans and gives us food that makes us happy. And then she says to me, but you Papa, you provide the entertainment. I like that.

And you know this is the thing. God loves to bless you and he wants to bless you. Look at verse 24.

The Lord bless you. And it's worth noting that Jesus both began and ended his ministry on earth blessing people. Remember he met two downhearted disciples walking on the Emmaus road after he had been crucified.

They did not know that he had risen yet. And we read that as he saw them on the road he blessed them. When little children came to him he took them into his arms and he blessed them.

After his resurrection he lifted his hands and saw his disciples and blessed them and he then ascended. Jesus loved to bless people. And who can forget those beautiful beatitudes that he gave on the Sermon on the Mount where he said, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed, blessed, blessed he says. And by the way another way to describe these statements of Jesus are the be happy attitudes. In other words if you live by these teachings of Christ you will be a happy person. And that's another way to translate the word blessed happy.

So happy are these people. It comes from a root word macarios. No not macarena. Remember that song?

Never liked that song by the way. No it's macarios. Macarias was the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Because of its geographical location, balmy climate, infertile soil, the Greeks effectively felt that if you lived on the island of Macarios you had it made in the shade. It was even called the happy island.

So the idea was if you live on Macarios you live in a self-contained happiness. Everything you need for life is right there on the island. You don't have to leave the island to get it. Now we have a church over in the island of Maui.

It's called Harvest Kumalani. And I personally think Maui is the best of all the Hawaiian islands. There is even a saying Maui no kauoi. Which means Maui is the best. And I think that's true. But we can't all live on Macarios.

We can't all live on the island of Maui. What does this mean to us? We learn two important truths from the very word. Number one, God wants you to be blessed and happy.

Because in the opening chapter of Genesis we read, God created man in his own image and the image of God he created them. And the next words are in Genesis 1.27 and God blessed them. So this blessing that God gives to you is something he wants you to experience. And secondly, it's independent of your circumstances.

Let me say that again. This blessing or this happiness that God wants you to experience is independent of your circumstances. So you might be having great things happen outwardly.

Or maybe you're going through a time of struggle. But you can still be happy. New stuff. A new car. A new house. New money.

It's all fine. But those aren't extra. A bonus. The biblical idea is if you're on the island and you're close to the Lord, you'll be happy. So it's not saying anything about where you are geographically. It's saying everything about where you are spiritually. It's not about what you have.

It's about who you know. The Bible says, Life, be without greed and be content with such things that you have. For he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Listen, if you have Christ in your heart, you can be a happy person right now. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We hear from so many people who find Christ through these studies in God's Word. Dear Pastor Greg, I wake up to your voice on the radio each day. I've been a Christian since September 12th, 1978 after hearing you speak in Riverside, California. While living in Temecula, my employers told me they were praying for me.

For many years, I did not believe. But after hearing your life story and all about Jesus, I began to believe and made a decision to follow Jesus. Thank you, Pastor Greg, for all that you've done and continue to do for all of us who need to hear the Word daily. We hope Pastor Greg's words from Scripture continue to touch lives. And if you have a comment or story to share, send it to Pastor Greg. His email address is gregatharvest.org. That's gregatharvest.org. Well, we're looking at number 624 today with Pastor Greg as he's presenting the six truths about God every believer needs to know.

Let's continue. The Lord bless you. Now, some people might think that the Bible ought to say, the Lord curse you. Now, it is a fact that certain people have brought, in effect, a curse upon their life. And I don't mean that in any mystical way. Sometimes people talk about a generational curse that's on a family and you have to break the curse through prayer.

I don't think the Bible teaches that at all. If any family had its share of problems, it would have been my family. And sometimes what you have is a cycle of sin that's passed on from generation to generation. For instance, if the parent is an alcoholic, chances are far higher that the child will also become an alcoholic. If the parents are divorced, the chances are far higher that the children, when they get older and get married, will also be divorced. Well, my mother was divorced seven times.

She was an alcoholic. And I started down the wrong road in the early years of my life. And I came to Christ at 17 and Jesus broke the cycle of sin in my life.

And I'm happy to report I've been married now for over 40 years. And the Lord has been good and faithful to me. And so my point is simply this. That if there is a curse on your life, it's because you've disobeyed God. We read that God cursed Cain because of his constant disobedience. It says in Deuteronomy 27, there's a curse on a person who worships a false god. The Bible also says in Deuteronomy 27, 20, there's a curse on a person who lives immorally. So I'm simply saying that if you're living a sinful life, you're going to experience the repercussions of that.

The curse, if you will. You choose if your life is going to be blessed or cursed. Deuteronomy 30, 19 to 20 says this. God speaking, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you. And I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life that you may live.

Both you and your descendants. And then it goes on to say that you may love the Lord your God, obey his voice, and that you may cling to him. For he is your life in the length of your days. Listen. You want to live a blessed and happy life? Then you need to love God, obey his voice, and cling to him.

Boom. Live it. Put it into practice. Watch what the Lord will do. The Lord bless you. Then it goes on to say the Lord keep you. Verse 24. The Lord bless you and keep you. God wants us to be constantly reassured that he will keep us.

It's interesting this word that is used here for keep means to watch, to guard, or to put a hedge around. Do you remember the story of the book of Job? One day the Lord was bragging on Job in heaven. And the angels were there and Satan was there as well. Don't forget Satan is a fallen angel. And the Lord was saying, have you considered my servant Job a perfect and upright man when the fears God and shuns evil? Satan says, let's paraphrase, give me a break.

Do you think he fears you for nothing? And then the Lord allowed a series of calamities to befall poor Job that were orchestrated by the devil. Because the devil correctly pointed out, have you not put a hedge of protection around Job and everything that he has.

You bless the work of his hands. And that's true. By the way, when I read what happened to Job after that I feel like saying to the Lord, Lord if you are even for a fleeting moment feeling a little proud of me please keep it to yourself. And don't say it in front of Satan.

I'm kidding really. But the point is that you two have a hedge of protection around you as a follower of Jesus Christ. Satan cannot penetrate that wall. And if he goes in the front door he has to face Jesus. Because Jesus says in John 10 7, I am the door. So the next time the devil comes knocking at your door you ought to just say, Lord would you mind getting that.

That's the way to deal with his attacks. But there are many passages in the Bible that remind us of the keeping and protective power of God. 2 Thessalonians 3 3 says, the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. Jude 1 24 says, not him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. And then we are reminded over in 1 Peter 1 5 that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Now by the way the original language uses a perfect tense. So the nearest equivalent would be you are continually kept. Not just that you are kept but you are continually kept.

The Lord is going to watch over you. Look you don't forget something that you care about. Let's say you have a beautiful pair of sunglasses and you treasure them.

For starters you paid quite a bit of money perhaps. And you don't want to lose them so you are always aware of where those sunglasses are. You don't lose them because you care about that which is valuable to you. Or if you go to Disneyland you don't lose your child. You don't go home and go, wait did I have a kid with me at Disneyland?

No. Because you love your child you are aware of where they are. In the same way God cares about you and he is continually keeping you. Hebrews 7 25 says, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he lives to intercede for us. I heard about an older gentleman that was known for his godly life.

And he was asked what he did when he was tempted. And the old guy said, well I just say to the Lord, Lord your property is in danger. You are God's property. You belong to the Lord. The Bible says you are not your own.

You have been bought with a price. So listen you are preserved. You are protected. And you are continually kept by the power of God. So you might say, well then I guess I could never fall away from my faith. No you could. You could fall away from your faith.

Any believer can. Because later on in Jude it says keep yourselves in the love of God. Though God's love is unsought, undeserved, and unconditional you can be out of harmony with God's love. What does it mean to keep yourself in the love of God? It means keep yourself in a place where God can bless you. And in the same way it implies keep yourself out of the place where you would not receive the blessing of God. Perhaps through your disobedience. Keep yourself close to the Lord.

Listen. You don't keep yourself saved but you do keep yourself safe. And there are things where we are all vulnerable and we know we can fall into sin.

Stay away from those places. And by the way this phrase that is used here the Lord keep you carries the idea of keeping you through something. Not necessarily from something but through something. In other words when you become a Christian you will still go through hardships. In fact there will be unique hardships and challenges you will face because you are a Christian. But God never promises to airlift you over all of your problems.

But what he does promise to do is be with you through all of your problems. As David said, So we have been looking at the Israelites. And you remember they were delivered from Egypt. And they made their way to the Red Sea. There was no way they could get across the Red Sea.

The trial wasn't bad enough. The Egyptian army was in hot pursuit. They got so upset they turned to Moses and said, So was it because there were no graves in Egypt you brought us here into the wilderness to die?

Well you know the rest of the story. The Lord caused the waters of the Red Sea to part and the Israelites crossed through on dry ground. And then those same waters closed on the pursuing Egyptian army. So God did not keep them from the trial but he kept them through the trial. The same was true of those three courageous teenagers Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember they were thrown into a fiery furnace because they would not worship a false god. God could have delivered them from the furnace altogether. But he allowed them to be thrown into the furnace. Remember the king looked and he said, Did not I throw three people into the fire?

Yet I see four and the fourth is like the son of God. Jesus was walking with his three friends through the fiery furnace. So again the Lord kept them through the trial. Not necessarily from it.

The list goes on. Daniel was not kept from the lion's den but he was kept through it. Noah was not kept from the flood but he was kept through it. You might ask, Well what about when an accident or a tragedy happens in the life of a child of God? Where is the keeping power of God then?

You know in asking a question like that we are assuming that somehow we have the inherent right to live long easy lives and die peacefully in our sleep one day. But the Bible says our times are in his hands. And that means that the Lord is going to walk with us through life no matter what you are facing and you will never be alone. The Lord bless you and the Lord continuously keep you. Great reassurance today.

Especially given all we've faced in 2020. Pastor Greg Laurie with his study today on a new beginning called A Blessing for You. And listen if you had any interruptions in the last half hour here's some good news. You can hear what you missed by going online to harvest.org. Or even ask for a CD to be sent right to your door by calling 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. People are talking about Pastor Greg's new movie, A Rush of Hope, a cinematic harvest crusade. I was really impressed with it. I've never seen anything like this before. It touched me just even watching it on the screen. It's a beautiful piece of cinematic art. It's amazing.

The way he explains it, it's so simple but yet it holds so much weight. A Rush of Hope available now on DVD from a new beginning. You can get it today. Pastor Greg, this is different than anything we've ever done before, isn't it?

That's right. You saw it online most likely. Now you can own your own beautiful DVD copy that you can show wherever you want, whenever you want, to whoever you want. And this special DVD that we're offering, A Rush of Hope, also has some special added features like a little booklet.

You can call it an evangelistic track with the title, Life's Most Important Questions that you could give to someone to read. There's also a little flyer in here telling you how to host a watch party and show A Rush of Hope in your front room, in your backyard, or wherever you want as an outreach to people that are in your family or in your neighborhood. And so we want to send this special copy of A Rush of Hope to you for your gift of any size to help us finish 2020 strong. And let me say in advance, thanks so much for believing in this ministry. Thanks for investing in this ministry. And my hope and prayer is that some of you might become partners with us for the next year because when you partner with us, it enables us to reach even more people.

Yeah, that's right. So when you connect with us, ask about becoming a Harvest Partner. And with your first gift as a Harvest Partner, we'd like to thank you with this new DVD of A Rush of Hope. Not only are we offering this on a DVD, but there's also a special digital download code we will provide for you. What that means is you'll have the DVD to show to whoever you want to show it to, but you can download it to your phone. You can download it to your tablet device or to your computer and then watch it or show it whenever you want. Carry it around with you even and you can have an evangelistic crusade in your pocket.

Yeah, there's really nothing else like it. And again, we'll send it to you to say thanks for your generous donation right now. So get in touch today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300 any time, 24 hours a day. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to Harvest.org. Next time, more insight based on this great blessing found in Numbers Chapter 6. More from Pastor Greg's series, Water, Fire, Stone, next time on A New Beginning.