Our Lay Member to Annual Conference, Mr. Tim Lancaster, delivered the following message when the pastor attended a UMYF event with our Youth Groups in Greensboro:
Deuteronomy 7:9 (King James Version)
9Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Ruth 1:16 (King James Version)
16And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God
Matthew 1:5 (New King James Version)
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
Revelation 22:14 (King James Version)
14Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
“Thanks be unto God”
The Message:
Let’s ponder on some of the God fearing people of the Bible, and consider how their relationship with God blessed them and has blessed many generations. First let’s take a look at Abraham.
Genesis 22:17-18 (King James Version)
17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Then, let’s think of Isaac,
Genesis 25:21
Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
Then, let’s consider Jacob,
Genesis 28:1 (King James Version)
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
Genesis 31:3 (New International Version)
3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."
Now, let’s think of Joseph,
Genesis 39:2 (New International Version)
1. 2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
Let us Consider Moses,
Exodus 2:11 (King James Version)
11And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
Let’s move on to Joshua,
Deuteronomy 31:23 (New International Version)
23 The LORD gave this command to Joshua son of Nun: "Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you."
Let’s think of Rahab, even though she was a Gentile she protected the people of God, and later married a Man of God’s people.
James 2:25 (New International Version)
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
Let’s consider Ruth, a Moabite a non Jewish woman that worshiped other gods but chose Israel’s God, think about how God blessed Ruth and many generations after her choice to serve the Living God.
Ruth 2:2 (New International Version)
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor."
Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter
Let’s consider Boaz of Bethlehem, and how he saw within Ruth her love for her Mother-in-Law, and how she had forsaken her gods to serve Israel’s God.
Ruth 2:11 (New International Version)
1. 11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.
When we think of King David, the grandson of Ruth and Boaz, we begin to get the picture of how choices of choosing Israel’s God blesses many generations. David made his choice to serve the Living God of Israel, and our Jesus Christ is from the generations of David.
1 Samuel 17:26 (King James Version)
26And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
The Blessed Virgin Mary, again one of the generations of King David, made a choice to accept the Word of God, and conceived our precious Savior in her womb. “Many generation will called me blessed.”
Luke 1:38 (King James Version)
1. 38And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
The Son of God, the Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ the incarnation of God is our door to the Heavenly Father, the maker of Heaven and Earth. When God mingled Himself with flesh, He provided not only the Supreme Sacrifice for our Sins on Calvary, He also provided a way He could live within Man by the Holy Spirit. As we grow more in Him with our relationship, we will understand what St. Paul mentioned, “it’s no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me”. “I can do all things in Christ, who strengthens me” We’ll understand too,
Philippians 2:15 (King James Version)
15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Our relationship with God and putting Him first in our life, will bless others, let’s think about how we started our relationship with Christ. Someone had to tell us about Him, and obviously the person telling us had a relationship with Him. The light we saw in them attracted us to Him, we accepted Him as our Savior which qualified us to be an Ambassador of light to a dark world. How more could we love God than to be a light shining for Him in this dark world. Yes, there is a blessing in serving Him, and as we look back through the Scriptures we see many that put God first in their life were blessed during their journey in this life. We see too, that they still met challenges in this life, but they had a source of strength within them that sustained them. We understand more why Jesus said, “they are in this world but not of this world”.
John 16:33 (King James Version) `
33These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Let’s make the choice today as the people of God made in the Scriptures to choose Him to be their first love, and in that choice we will be blessed and so will the ones around us. The ultimate blessing is we bless the God of Heaven and Earth when we choose Him, and by doing that He will reward us for our choice, and also our choice will influence many generations after us. Let’s choose to be a “Blessing” to God, ourselves, and others!
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