Stop Chasing Blessings and Start Walking with God

0:00Welcome to followed by mercy with Austin Gardner. This is where we talk about God's grace and mercy that meets us and follows us even in our lowest moments and lifts us to hope again. No matter what's been broken, here's love still heals. So let's move from pain to praise together because surely goodness and mercy does follow me and pursue me all the days of my life. It's exciting to see how God is blessing His people. So since yesterday we went over numbers and we were over in an Old Testament passage. I thought today how taking us some New Testament passages so you know that the God of the Old Testament who desired that His blessings be on His people is still the God of the New Testament. I know it's foreign to us and our churches we don't do a whole lot of blessing people. It's not something that we regularly practice at least in the churches that I have pastored and been a part of in churches I grew up and I don't remember that very much except the one church as a kid.

1:04But God desires to bless his people we know God forgives and we realize that God actively desires good for us but we don't really look at it and think about God designed to bless his people with peace, grace, hope and spiritual life. But the New Testament the letters regularly in with blessings because blessing reflects what's on God's heart toward His people. So here's a verse, a key blessing verse. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. The Holy Spirit gives communion or fellowship. God's nature is to pour out blessing through relationships. I love that. He ends the book of second Corinthians with this blessing. Then in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 7 and the peace of God which passes all understanding.

2:10Shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. God is a blessing God and now he's blessing us with peace. He doesn't want to remove our problems necessarily but he guards our hearts with supernatural peace. The word is keep to guard like a soldier protecting a city. So God's peace protects your mind, protects your heart and it's beyond your understanding. It's not the absence of trouble. It's the presence of God in the middle of our trouble. We experience that with all that's going on and if you watch the series of Robert and Kelly you they've got God's peace and I have cancer and God gives peace because he's with us in the middle of our trouble. That's two verses. Come number three. The blessing is the Lord's presence in second. That's only in 316. He said now the Lord of peace himself. Give you the peace always by all means the Lord be with you all.

3:16Now the Lord of peace. I don't know if we think of him as the Lord of peace. Can we be honest? We got to think of him as a judge and referee and maybe not too pleased with us but he's the Lord of peace. He's asking him to give us peace. The Lord is God himself as the Lord of peace and he gives us peace always by all means. He doesn't ration peace. He actively provides it in every situation. The greatest blessing is not circumstances changing but knowing that the Lord is with us and the Lord is blessing us and the Lord being with us is a tremendous truth. You remember those old Testament promises we looked at yesterday just keep going through them in Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. He says now the Lord now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may have bound in hope to the power of the Holy Ghost.

4:18Pay attention to the flow. God feels you with joy and peace so you overflow with hope. That's not optimism. It's confidence that God is working even when we cannot see it and Paul says it happens through the power of the Holy Spirit. His blessing again blessing you get that blessings. First Peter one three another one blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again into a lovely hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ of the dead. He is blessed us with the new birth and living hope abundant mercy new life living hope. Jesus rose to dead and we don't serve a dead religion. There is a living hope. God's blessings aren't temporary. They're not emotional boosts their eternal realities grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

5:21Here comes another one revelation 22 21 see the whole Bible closes with blessings. I mean we start out with blessings and we go through blessings all through the Bible. In Revelation chapter 22 and verse 21 the Bible says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all amen the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all amen after prophecies and warnings and judgment and visions of eternity. The final word grace grace God giving us what we do not deserve God blessing us with Jesus Christ not because of our performance the final message of the Bible is not fear it is grace through Jesus Christ. So I just want you to get a hold of the fact that God wants to bless you. We've looked at God blessing us he gives us peace presents hope new life and grace we've looked at every every one of those verses today God is not reluctant to bless his people.

6:23I like to say God bless you I don't know that people understand what that means but God bless you you do because you're listening to me talk about it scripture repeatedly talks about our God is a God who feels gives keeps and pours out blessings. The Christian life's not about chasing blessings it's about walking with the God who blesses I just want you to know that as a pastor I want to be much more blessing of the people I think there's a lot of fussing but not a lot of blessing I think there's a lot of almost an angry God is betrayed in our pulpits and that's not who he is. That's not what he wants it's not how he acts I just want you to get a hold of the fact that God loves you today and I know you're going through trouble I know you're alone I know that your wife left your your husband left your your kids left you I know that you don't know where to turn you don't know what to do I know the life stinks.

7:23But if you get a hold of how much God loves you and he's blessing you and look for his peace in the middle of all the chaos and trust God to do a work he is doing a work in your life don't forget it keep looking to him thank you for listening God bless you and I will talk to you about his blessings tomorrow. Thanks for listening to followed by mercy with also garter if today's message spoke to your heart share it with someone who needs to know God hasn't given up on them remember your pain is at the end of your story in Jesus it can become praise thank you.