Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Deuteronomy 33, Moses gives the people his final words before his death. These departing words are full of blessings and encouragement for the people of Israel.
Though Moses would not lead them into the promised land, the great warrior, protector, and provider, Jehovah God, had been their leader all along. and he would go before them. In this message, titled, Who is Like You, a People Saved by the Lord? Pastor Rich breaks Moses' blessings on the people into five categories. This is part three of a message first preached on February 2nd, 2025.
To hear other messages in this series, you can visit our podcast at www.delightingrace.com. Yeah.
So there are five types of blessing. that Moses pronounced na on The people of Israel. with these two givens. And the first blessing, we just look at them in categories and look at some examples. The first blessing is the blessing of service.
The blessing of service. Rich, what are you talking about? Hear it again, the blessing of service. The Son of Man did not come to Be served. but to serve.
and to give his life a ransom for many. The blessing of service. And he says of Levi in verses 8 through 10: of Levi, he says, Bless his substance and accept the work of his hands. We must understand that worship is like a coin that has two sides. Number one is proscuneo, where we sense God, which is kind of what we're doing here this morning.
And we sense the very presence of God among us and in us and through us, and we're making much of Him. And we're hearing from him. That's proscuneo where Metaphorically and sometimes in reality we're on our face before him. But the other side to the coin is le true aux, which is service. That is often translated worship.
And that's what it's translated in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, because here's where we see the New Testament parallel: Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. And we know this, we know this well. By the mercies of God, present your body as what? a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice.
Holy acceptable unto God, which is your Reasonable service. Spiritual service of worship is the best translation of that one word: spiritual service of worship. That's a key element of worship. If we think worship is only what we do in this room on Sunday morning, our worship is severely lacking. We are a people who worship God.
God. with our lives. We are worshipers of God. And so that service is a blessing in and of itself. Here's the second one.
It is the blessing of support and strength. Look with me at verse 12. Benjamin, he said, the beloved of the Lord dwells in safety. The high God surrounds him all day long and dwells between his shoulders. Support.
And then strength. God surrounds him. That's a beautiful, beautiful picture there. And then the strength that comes, look at verse 22.
Okay. He speaks of Dan. Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Baishen. Yeah.
And that's all it says. But that's a symbol of strength. What is this strength?
Well, let's look at the New Testament picture. parallel here. What is the support that we have from God? Let's look at John chapter 16. And verse 7.
John 16:7. Let's get that up there.
Okay, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage. Jesus is talking to his disciples. It is to your advantage that I go away. He's foretelling his ascension back to the Father. Why is it to their advantage that he goes away?
Because to them, that was a terrifying thought in that moment. You're going to leave us? What is that all about? Makes me think of a song I heard. Jesus went away one day, left us all alone.
And that's all it says. until it says he's coming back. Listen to me folks. Listen to me. He did not leave us alone.
He said this. It's to your advantage that I go away. Why?
So that I can send you the helper. The very indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, who is also called the Spirit of Christ. We are indwelled with God. himself. And I know that's hard to wrap your brain around that.
But do you believe God in what he says? It's so important that you do.
So there is that support and that strength. Why do I call it strength? Because Jesus used a very powerful word, which means power. Dunamis, you shall receive Junimus. After the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
So we have that. Here's a third category of blessing, and that is the blessing of fruitfulness. With me at verse 17 of Joseph by the Lord Blessed by the Lord be his land with the choicest gifts. of heaven above and of the deep that crouches beneath the choicest fruits of the sun and the rich yield of the m of the months. with the finest produce of the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills.
The land of a promise of a fruitful land. It's called the land flowing with milk and honey. And of Naphtali, he says, full of the blessing of the Lord. And later on, of Asher, he talks about Asher being the most productive, the most favored of all the brothers in terms of. productivity, productiveness of the land.
What is the fruitfulness, the New Testament parallel for us? What fruit? Does the Lord Promise us. We said in John chapter 15. In verse 5.
Jesus said, I am the vine. You are the branches. Stop and think about that for a moment. That speaks of vital connection. The branches are vitally connected to the vine.
The branches draw life. From the vine. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that what? Bears much fruit. What's the key there?
abiding in him. He doesn't say, whoever tries his hardest bears the most fruit. That's not what he says, is it? Thank God it's not. Whoever abides in me Bears much fruit for apart me you apart from me you can do nothing So we are called to abide.
We are called to be fruit-bearing because he says, By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. Then there is a fourth Category of blessing, and that is the blessing of security. Look with me at verse 18. Of Zebulun, he said, Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your going out. and Issachar in your tents.
Two tribes there together, Zebulun and Issachar. right next to each other in the land. Rejoice. What is the security? The the rejoice in your going out and in your tents, he says.
What is that? That's another way of saying that you will sense joy and peace in going about your day to day. That's a sense of security. that you sense joy and peace in going about your day-to-day. What piece?
What security do we have? In Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 8. Verses 31 to 33. What then shall we say to these things?
Say it with me. If God is for us, who can be against us?
Now, that's a question that needs to be answered, isn't it? You need to ask that question every day. What are the things that threaten you? And then say, if God is for us, who can be against us? I need to remind myself of the blessings of God as one who is of the chosen of God, the people of God, that number one, I am the object of his loving concern, and number two, God will take me through hard things.
In his love, in his grace, in his providence, he will take me through. Not just into and leave me there, he will take me through hard things. Remember that. And then answer this question: if God is for us, who can be against us now? How do we know the answer to that question?
Next statement. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not? Also, with him, graciously give us all things. Your God lavishly loves you. It is the blessing of security.
Lastly, number five, the blessing of obedience. And for us as Americans, the word obedience just doesn't sound like a blessing, does it? Because we're used to having things our way. But obedience is a blessing. Verse 20.
He speaks, he sees, he executed gat, he executed judgment. Of the Lord and judgment for Israel, and Gad's territory was enlarged because of his obedience. And I spoke yesterday morning to the men's breakfast. Speaking of Paul, or Paul says 2 Corinthians 5. I make it my aim to be pleasing to him.
And that word aim is a fascinating word. It means I love the honor of pleasing him. How is obedience a blessing? Because I love the honor of pleasing him. I love the honor of pleasing him.
Jesus said. These very strong statements, and I love these. These are some of my favorite texts in the New Testament. John chapter 14. Look at the screen with me.
John chapter 14, verse 21. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them. He it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself too. Do you hear the promises of Jesus there? If we have the law of Christ, the words of Christ that He's brought to us, the gospel of Christ.
And we live the gospel as we follow Christ and we live the gospel. Listen to me. When you faithfully, lovingly, graciously live the gospel, Jesus wants to manifest himself to you. That's awesome to think about, isn't it? When you live the gospel, you will see Christ in ways that you never saw him before.
And then look what he says here. And if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out www.delightangrace.com. to discover how to live by grace.
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