Blessed to be Secure [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. There are thousands of fans there, and they just love the Faster Pastor Race.

And they can't wait for this sideshow to start. And I'm starting to realize it's because this is not a race, this is bumper buses out here. And I'm sitting there, they come and they strap me into all these things and all these roll bars, and I'm just, my first thought was, I'm just going to lag behind, let a Pentecostal win and go home. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, The Power to Bless, taken from Pastor Alan's book of the same title and as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. My dear friends, brothers and sisters, beloved in the Lord, are you ready for some good news? When you are in Christ, you belong to God. He came for you, He adopted you, and He's never going to let you go. And what this means is that every morsel of spiritual nourishment that you receive, every seed of faith that you sow, and every ounce of energy that you spend can be rooted in that one assurance that you have been adopted by God. It is the primary image of what it means to be a Christian in the Bible.

And to be adopted means you are secure and nothing can ever separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. We are doing about six weeks here in a series called The Power to Bless, which is the name of a new book that I've written that's just come out. And it's so fun to talk with my own family about a book that really is a life message and that we here for 25 plus years have been practicing. So I feel like it's our message, not just mine. I feel like I'm a spokesperson.

And so thank you for your partnership and faith for getting this message out. It was a real funny thing that some of you may remember in the fall. I went on for weeks about the saga of the groundhogs. I was having trouble capturing in my backyard.

Maybe you remember there were two of them. And then I hired a wildlife professional to help me. And we caught eventually one of them.

The other remained roaming free. And I put some some wire around the back porch where they've been digging. So at least he wouldn't be digging right under my house, but he hibernated somewhere. And this week, there he is again, grazing happily in the backyard, chubbier than ever. The groundhog.

And I have no idea how to catch him. My neighbor texts me, says, hey, I see two groundhogs are back out. I said, oh, man, I've only seen one.

You know, there must be a whole family again. So it's Groundhog Day all over again. Well, I was telling all these stories through the fall, you know, and and also we're talking about pray with us.

We have a book on blessing going to be released in February. And I hadn't even noticed it until Leah Wheeler texted me one day and she said, are you kidding me? I said, what? She said, your book's being released on Groundhog Day. And it was just so funny, like these groundhogs I can't get rid of.

And of course there's a famous Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day that's about every day keeps coming back over. And so I've been laughing about this, but you know, God does little things like that because he likes a good laugh and he's prophetic. But I never had seen anything prophetic, but this week I was just, I looked out there, I saw the groundhog and I was like Groundhog, you just keep coming back. And I really felt like, and I want somebody to agree with me in the spirit, power of blessing, you just keep coming back. The devil can try to put you down.

It might seem like it hibernates for a little while or a little season, but it just keeps coming back. And I think that this is something that God wants, not just through a book I had the privilege of writing, but just through the body of Christ to take something that is as old as time. The very first thing God did was to bless Adam and Eve and then release them into their fruitfulness and dominion in the earth. And what we've been exploring is an ancient blessing where Jacob does a strange thing when he blesses his grandsons, he crosses his arms and he puts the strong right hand onto the younger grandsons head, Ephraim. And we've already looked at this, it's sort of the pinnacle of all blessing, is to see that it really is about God in a sense crossing his arms in the heavenly and taking the right hand of blessing, the strong blessing that should have been reserved only for Jesus and extending it to the second born, which is us. And so we have received the blessing that should have been for the first born, for Jesus only. And I just have been thinking for many years about this blessing, Ephraim and Manasseh, because every Friday evening on Sabbath for 3,700 years, faithful Jewish dads have been blessing their kids saying, may God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh.

And nobody seems to know why. And that's the lens through which I've come to understand the essentials of all blessing, because if it's something that God mandated for fathers to speak to their sons, it must be really important. And we've looked at those crossed arms, and then we spent five weeks talking about really the name Manasseh, which means forgotten all my troubles. So part of it, if I say, may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh, the first part of that to really the deepest part is God's crossed his arms and shown you favor.

May you have the favor that you don't deserve. And grace be the whole power of your life. And Manasseh means forgotten all the troubles. So we spent five weeks talking about what would it be like to live as if you'd forgotten all your troubles?

What would it be like to live from now on? And today I want to talk about another dimension of what I think God had in mind when he said, may God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh to be the most important family blessing in Israel's history. And it is this unusual thing that Jacob does when he prepares to bless Ephraim and Manasseh. We read about it in Genesis chapter 48.

And we're going to read this account again. It starts at verse one. After this, Joseph was told, behold, your father is ill. So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And it was told to Jacob, your son Joseph has come to you. Then Israel, that's the new name for Jacob, summoned his strength and sat up in bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, God almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said to me, behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you.

And I will make you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. Just pause there and just realize this is what's happened to Jacob in his old age. Finally, he's understanding that he's been blessed. He didn't understand that for most of his life.

He always struggled for it. Verse five, and Jacob said, and now your two sons, speaking to Joseph, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon. Those are Jacob's sons.

Two of his sons are. And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers and their inheritance.

As for me, when I came to Padan, to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath and I buried there on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. And when Israel, Jacob, saw Joseph's sons, he said, who are these? And Joseph said to his father, these are my sons whom God has given me here. And he said, bring them to me, please, that I may bless them. I want to focus you in on this really breathtaking moment in this moving scene at verse five, when Jacob said, and now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are.

What Jacob did here is shocking. He legally adopted them. This is such the power of the effect of words of a patriarch. He said, they are now from now on as if my own sons. And as you probably know, it is the 12 sons of Jacob that become the 12 tribes of Israel. And it is ultimately amongst those tribes that the land of Canaan, the promised land is divided up into various inheritance.

So this means that Ephraim and Manasseh are now treated as equal heirs amongst the tribes of Israel. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastorallen.org. Embark on a journey of transformation with our free yourself, be yourself resource bundle. Imagine a shame-free life, no more self condemnation, no more inward angst, wondering if you measure up as you soak in the message of healing grace.

This empowering bundle includes Pastor Alan's landmark book, Free Yourself, Be Yourself, plus an accompanying resource guide and access to the exclusive companion video series. Act now, support Alan Wright Ministries with your donation and step into the abundant life God has awaiting you as we send you this limited time resource bundle as our thanks this month. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, pastorallen.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Some of you may remember, it's been, I can't believe it's this long ago because it feels fresh in my memory, 2012, I think it was that Daniel Brett, who is our radio announcer and for 14 years until just recently, he was the manager of the Joy FM network.

And he, I was sort of staff pastor to that, that radio station. And he said that they have a little thing they sponsor that he'd like for me to consider participating in. It is a little fun race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

I said, what? I've never even been to a NASCAR event. I wasn't even good at Hot Wheels.

What are you talking about? He said, don't worry about it. He said, you're, you're going to not be driving a car. You'd be driving a bus, a school bus. I said, his school bus. I said, I don't even, I don't, I don't know how to drive a school bus. He said, oh, it's just fun.

It's called the faster pastor race. I said, what? I don't know what over to me. I just said, okay.

Yeah. And I told my wife, I said, I'm going to race a school bus at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. And, and, and, and so we went down there on that night, it was drizzling rain. And, you know, I just went down there and we're just in some jeans, you know, went in and we pulled up and I said, I'm a pastor, I'm in the faster pastor race. I said, oh, you need to go around the back of the stadium. And they directed me in through the entrance that the race car drivers come in through. And we just drove right into the infield of this Epic race car stadium and went in, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.

And the, they, they give us a little orientation that was woefully inadequate. They gave us a hot dog and I was like, you know, are they going to give us some instructions? And all he said was, listen, if you want to take the bus out and just ride it around the infield a little bit to get a feeling for the air brakes, you know, you're welcome to do that a couple of minutes before the race, here's a helmet, here's an earpiece radio earpiece for your ear. And I'm looking around, you know, and I'm like, what is this?

Because several of the pastors have on full racing suits. I was like, what is this? I thought there was going to be a question and answer time in the orientation. And, and, and I had some questions like, why do we need an earpiece?

What are air brakes? How do you drive a school bus? And can I leave now?

But there was no real question and answer time. And we go out to get into the bus that they let everybody, you know, the each ministry paint, and you can't really see it as well in this photo. But if you look a little closer, there's stuff dangling off of it. The whole thing is dented in all the buses look like they've been crashed.

And I'm like, why are they so dented? And then when I got in and I saw all these roll bars over me, and a traditional race five point harness that was going to go around me. And I'm like, I honestly didn't even know what air brakes were. I'd never driven a school bus.

I had no idea. I did talk to a real race car driver who was going to be in the real race that night. We were just a sideshow.

And he gave me a couple of pointers. I'm like, yeah, right. It's wet out there. And I get into this thing. There are 1000s of fans there. And they just love the faster pastor race. And they can't wait for this sideshow to start. And I'm starting to realize it's because this is not a race.

This is bumper buses out here. And I'm sitting there, they come and they strapped me into all these things and all these roll bars. And I'm just I'm first thought was I'm just going to lag behind, let a Pentecostal win and go home. My wife said she was up in the stands and she was talking to people and they were saying, has your has your husband ever raced or anything? And she's like, no. And they started me in last place. You know, I was the last in line. It was I just it was.

And she was like, no, he hadn't. But he's got this competitive thing in him. So it's gonna be interested. And I was I was sitting there like, I just don't want to die tonight. And but I hate losing.

I hate losing. And so I was sitting there and and it was sort of gentlemen start your engines and where they and the radio was here and also started crackling. And I couldn't hear him anymore. And I'm so now I'm like, I'm out here. I'm out here with no I've got nobody in my ear.

I got nothing. I don't know what we're doing. And I just what am I gonna do about and all of a sudden this thought I felt this strap. I looked at all these roll bars and this thought hit me. Alan, you are probably not going to die tonight. I don't I don't think they bring the pastors down here to die on this racetrack. We're I'm in a bus.

I got roll bars. I gotta think when I realize I'm not going to die. I just said, you know what, that I'm going for it. It was so funny. It was actually one of the most thrilling things I ever did.

I mean, I was started in last place, but I worked my way up to fourth. And y'all the buses they were hitting each other. They spun out twice. They had to stop and come and tow a bus off of the track.

Some people were running over cones and dragging them around the whole time. I was glad just to make it make it out of there. But but as soon as you realize in life that you're strapped in and you're secure, that is when you can put the pedal to the metal. It's when you're insecure that you're going to just lag back. And I think that the power of blessing is in part this. It's like when we release the love and acceptance that is in Jesus Christ, it's like we're strapping people into God's love. And it's completely countercultural because in the world, blessing is withheld like a carrot that's dangled in front of us to try to get you to run faster.

If you'll win the race, then you'll be blessed. And it's not the way of God because what that produces in us is insecurity, fear. And insecurity is at the root of most of our problems.

When people are secure, everything is different. There is 1 John 4 18, no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment.

You didn't win the race. And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. The answer to insecurity and fear is perfect love. The more secure that someone is in the love of God, the less fear they will have.

And when we have security, that's when we can really live out the life that God's designed for us to live. Alan Wright, today's good news message blessed to be secure from the teaching the power to bless and pastor Alan is back with us in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastor alan.org. Embark on a journey of transformation with our free yourself be yourself resource bundle.

Imagine a shame free life. No more self condemnation. No more inward angst wondering if you measure up as you soak in the message of healing grace. This empowering bundle includes Pastor Alan's landmark book free yourself be yourself plus an accompanying resource guide and access to the exclusive companion video series. Act now support Alan Wright Ministries with your donation and step into the abundant life God has awaiting you as we send you this limited time resource bundle as our thanks this month. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org back now sitting with Pastor Alan in the studio with our parting good news thought for the day and yours truly I made the sermon and I'll give you a tip if you want to make your pastor sermon, I suppose put their life in jeopardy with the faster pastor race. That's one that we won't forget but there's a good message there about the security that once you got over the fear and you realize I'm probably not really going to die. There was and there's a newfound security.

Well you know it's like so many things Daniel where you do something in life that at first you go wait a minute I'm feeling terrified by this and completely inadequate and then later you look back and go well that was about one of the most fun things I've done when we left the Charlotte Motor Speedway after the faster pastor race that you so coolly and calmly led me into just the way you presented it was just so oh this could be what problem is there with this but I got so nervous about driving a school bus on the Charlotte Motor Speedway but when we were leaving I was talking to my family I said how was it I said that's one of the greatest things I ever did. So I think life's like that right so part of what we do when we bless people is we are we are actually empowering them to face some challenges that they wouldn't face otherwise. We're empowering people to feel secure enough to to to risk some things. No one dares greatly if they don't ultimately have a undergirding of security. No one takes steps towards a radical plan for their life that God may have called them to except they feel that they're safe in God's love. And so when we bless people we're helping to strap them into God's love just like that five-point harness surrounding me under all those roll bars in the school bus and the faster pastor race. Once you realize I'm strapped in well enough well just put the pedal to the metal and go. I think the order of the phrase blessed to be secure is very important because you wouldn't want to get the you wouldn't want to just wait for security in order to then say okay well now then you can be blessed.

Well just think about life itself how backwards we get this. We think let me go out here and make enough money then I'll be secure. Let me get enough friends and then I'll be secure. Let me get enough approval in the eyes of others and then I'll finally feel secure.

Let me make sure that I have all of my circumstances just fine obviously. See it's backwards and what God does is he wants us just to know regardless of what you see with your eyes around you that you're secure in his love. You can never ever be rejected by God and Jesus Christ. You belong to him and so he wants you to know you're secure because you're blessed and when we bless others when we co-labor with God collaborate with God to bless others that's a big part of what we're doing. We're saying it's like we're helping you understand that you're secure in the Lord and I just think the world does the opposite of that most of the time. World's always like dangling it in front of you like I don't want you to feel secure because if you're insecure and a little bit afraid then maybe you'll you'll run faster for me maybe you'll work harder for me and people will jump a little higher if you if you dangle acceptance in front of them but in the end it makes them insecure and when we're insecure we end up really shrinking back from life ultimately. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.