Kids: prize, hidden, find; cost? Would have found w/o looking? ~θ’s gifts, wants us lk

Intro

If θ 4 us: but … still get beat up; certainly ^blessed

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8.31). How many people love that verse? How many like it, but sometimes look at their lives and wonder how true it is? If God is for us, who can be against us?” - and yet, I still sometimes get beat up by life or by others. Is God really for me? If so, then why did I get beat up by life again? Those who are against me seem to have the upper hand. I certainly don’t feel “blessed,” which is the series we’ve been studying for the last few weeks.

Series: blv, char, seek 4; psa + isa

In our first week of the series, we saw that blessed is the one who believes in him. Then, blessed is the one who has his character. Today, we will see that blessed is the one who seeks for God. And we’re going to walk through several verses from Psalms and one passage from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah to discover how this is true.

Pray

Help

(Looking to θ 4 help):

[Show Psa 146.5a; 2.12b; 34.8b; 84.5a] [How are people blessed in these vv?]

Help = Θ of Jacob (Psa 146.5a): help=θ, AOT v.3; nickname, chosen*2 RE helpr

Blessed is the one whose help is the God of Jacob. First, blessed is the one who is helped by God, who have God as their helper. If God is helping you, you are surely blessed! If you sneak back a couple of verses in Psa 146, verse 3 says, “Do not trust in princes or in human beings.” Don’t look to leaders, or anyone, to be your primary help, but only to God. Specifically, he refers to God as the God of Jacob. I’ve been wondering why he would say that, of all the ways that he could describe God. Perhaps because God chose Jacob over Esau to bless Jacob and help him carry out his plan for Israel, and Jacob eventually came around to choosing God has his helper. Plus, “Jacob” is sometimes a nickname for all of Israel, so perhaps the blessing is blessing those whose help is the God of Israel.

Refuge (Psa 2.12b; 34.8): safety, security, ^just trouble, from prosp/self

Blessed is the one who takes refuge in God, who seeks him for safety and security. This is more than just running to God when you’re in trouble, when you’re in a jam. This means that God is your shelter all the time, even when you’re not in trouble. When things are going pretty well in life, then we have a different kind of danger – the danger of prosperity, of becoming dependent on good circumstances, of thinking that we’re our own refuge. We need God as our shelter to protect us from ourselves when things go well as much as we need him as our shelter to protect us when we’re in trouble.

Strength (Psa 84.5a): where ur strength come from 4[]? Blessed / src=inf

Blessed is the one who finds his strength in God. Where does your strength come from? The strength to endure, to press on, to get up in the morning and go attack the world, to deal with sorrow and joy? Blessed is the one whose source of strength is infinite.

Using all help he gives (wisdom, BoX, own/repent, str, motiv, dlivr)

Blessed is the one who uses all the different ways God gives us help. He doesn’t just give us help when problems arise – he gives us help all the time. He gives us wisdom, so that we don’t get into problems in the first place, or so that we can get out of trouble. Wisdom is one way that God is our help. Another way God provides us help is through the Body of Christ – one another, given to one another by God to be his help. He gives us help in the way that he allows us to take ownership of our own sin and to repent of it – that’s a form of his help. He helps us by giving us strength, by giving us motivation to go after it again and again. And, yes, sometimes he gives us help by delivering us out of danger and out of some of the messes we create for ourselves.

Blessing:1who looks to θ for help; b/c if θ 4 us... (T/if, ^partly); RS

Blessed is the one who looks to God for help. Why is this person blessed? Because if God is for us, who can be against us? Now, we may sometimes doubt this promise, but it’s a true statement, no matter what. IF God is for us, then who can be against us. We don’t doubt the truth of the statement, but sometimes we doubt whether or not God is really for us. But if he is, then who can be against us? He is for us, no matter what we believe, but perhaps this will help: God cannot be just partly for us. If he’s for us at all, then he’s for us completely. And I know that most of us are pretty confident that God is at least partly for us. And if he’s partly for us, then he’s completely for us. And if he is for us, then who can be against us? Blessed is the one who looks to God for help!

CR: θ = my help: eg. It: place/docs/$; [anyone? BRU]

I remember a time early in our marriage when we didn’t have a place to stay, we didn’t have the right documentation to open a bank account, and we didn’t have any access to what money we did have. I tried all kinds of things to solve this problem myself, but I couldn’t overcome the system. But on three successive, sleepless nights, I turned to God for help because I was otherwise helpless. And on three successive days, he found us a place to stay, solved the documentation problem, and gave us better access to our money than we had hoped for.

Who else has experienced God as your helper? Does anyone want to (briefly!) tell us about it, to give God the credit? [] Blessed are you!

Xit: amid the trouble, hope

But what about during the trouble itself? What about that time before we find our help in God? What about hope in the middle of the trouble?

Hope (Psa 146.5b)

Looking to θ for hope

Not only looking to God for help, but looking to God for hope, too.

Wishful thinking v. gd rsn to expect gd outcome: only needed when sit ^~gd, still

Not this kind of hope is not wishful thinking or the Disney wishing upon a star for your dreams to come true, or “I hope I get a pony for Christmas.” Biblical hope is having a good reason to expect a good outcome. That’s real hope – having a good reason to expect a good outcome, which of course is only needed when the present situation is not as good as the outcome you hope for.

Reason to have hope? YHWH his Elohim (Lev); statement of real exper

What is the good reason for the person in Psa 146 to have hope, the good reason to expect a good outcome? [open] Because the Lord is his God, because YHWH is his Elohim. That very goal that God declares in Leviticus that we would be his people and he would be our God – blessed is the one for whom that is really true! Blessed is the one whose Elohim is none other than YHWH himself! That’s reason to have hope! And this statement that YHWH is his Elohim is a statement of real experience – not just a statement of what religion you claim. This describes someone who really does have YHWH has his Elohim.

Ultimate optimism: 0 that befalls me will end up in winner’s circle, []

And that gives us ultimate optimism, ultimate hope. We can expect the best of outcomes in the end, and perhaps, by God’s blessing, good outcomes along the way, too. There is nothing that befalls me that will end up in the winner’s circle. Economic setbacks will not end up in the winner’s circle. Health problems, attacks, mistakes, sin, not even Satan. I will end up in the winner’s circle because I’m in Christ, and he will have total victory. That’s hope! That’s a good reason to expect a good outcome.

Confidence that θ knows what he’s doing, in ctrl always

Hope is the confidence that God knows what he’s doing at all times, no matter what challenges the present circumstances may bring. Believing that God is in control, always, no matter what. That’s hope.

AOT hope in [], despair

Instead of hoping in financial security, hoping in good health, hoping in the US being a strong and prosperous nation forever. Instead of no hope at all, which is despair.

Blessing: 1who looks to θ as only src of hope; b/c only src/hope that can’t be shaken

Blessed is the one who looks to God as the only source of hope. Why? Because this is the only source of hope that cannot be shaken. Every other thing we turn to for hope can be shaken. This nation will not be prosperous and strong forever. Our health will not hold out endlessly. Money cannot rescue us. People can only do so much for us. Only God cannot be shaken, so blessed is he who hopes in him.

CR: θ = my hope: eg. Pre-Dub: plan (more?); [anyone? BRU]

Lynne and I faced another time in our lives where we couldn’t find work and our bank account was dwindling fast. But we still had hope, because we were finally beginning to learn that God had us on a plan – we just didn’t know what it was at the moment. We had hope (most of the time), even when the situation looked dire. I would love to have a far greater measure of that kind of hope all the time.

Who else has experienced God as your hope? Does anyone want to (briefly!) tell us about it, to give God the credit? [] Blessed are you!

God

Fear (Psa 112.1, 128.1)

Rev-awe/near: blessed =1who rev-awe

Blessed is the one who fears the Lord. As we’ve studied before, “fear” here does not mean that we are afraid of God and cower away from him, but that we fear him in reverence and awe and draw near to him. Blessed is the one who reveres God and is just blown out with awe of him.

Follow ways = part of fear

And notice how the psalmists in both psalms tie following God’s ways are part of fearing him. Following his ways is always a part of revering him. It’s quite impossible to revere him but refuse to walk in his ways – that’s not reverence at all, but just empty praise.

Treat θ ~ θ: ^trash/non-exist/uncle/equal; sov creator, fear/rev/awe/follow

What it boils down to is simply treating God as God. Not treating him as trash, not treating him as non-existent, not treating him as a kind, old uncle who you see every two months, not treating him as your equal, but treating God as God, as the sovereign creator of the universe. Fearing him, revering him, being in awe of him, following his ways.

Blessing: b/c rt pos RE awesome

Blessed is the one who treats God as God because he is the one who is assuming the right position before God. He is awesome, I am not.

Seek him (Psa 119.2)

> blv: yth blv?; anything safe?, BR1 who 0 safe

Blessed is the one who seeks him with all his heart. This is far more than just believing in God, believing he exists and can interject himself into the affairs of my life, but seeking after him. Youth, do you believe in the existence of mobile phones? Let me show you the difference between believing in something and seeking after it. But you should see them when they lose their mobile phone. Have you ever seen one of them when they can’t find their mobile phone? Nothing is safe until that phone is found. Couches will be tossed, floors will be crawled on (have you seen the carpet in there?), suspects will be interrogated. Is there anything in your life that’s safe until you find God’s presence? Is there anything in your life that simply will not get tossed in your pursuit of God, seeking him out? If so, if there’s anything in your life that is safe from you seeking out God, then that thing is an idol. Blessed is the one who has nothing safe in his life from his seeking out God.

Also incl follow ways: seek him = follow him; can’t find him if ^follow his trail

Notice again how the psalmist ties seeking God to following his ways. We cannot find God unless we follow his trail.

Treat θ ~ θ: need + wanna know what θ thinks

Again, it’s a matter of treating God as God. Someone seeks after God because he needs God, and he knows he needs God. Someone seeks after God because he wants to know what God thinks – about a particular situation, about life in general, about truth, and love.

Blessing: b/c best way to find him/pres

Blessed is the one who seeks after God, willing to toss everything in his life in that pursuit.

Wait for him (Isa 30.18-23)

[Reader]

“Wait”: [?] ^go ahead/around, ^make move w/o finding out what he thinks; serve

Blessed is the one who waits on the Lord. What does it mean to “wait on the Lord”? [open] To wait on the Lord means to not go ahead of God, ignoring what he has said or not bothering to prayerfully seek him out on a matter first. It means to not go around God, to take a path you know he doesn’t want you to in order to the reach a goal you know he wants you to have. To wait on the Lord means to not make a move without first finding out what he thinks. To wait on the Lord means to serve him, to direct the activities of your life to his service, not your own.

Treat θ ~ θ: only 1 who defines what my life should be like

In other words, to treat God as God. To choose a life where he is the only one who defines what your life should be like. He gives us plenty of general guidelines, and often times very specific guidelines for how to live our lives. To wait on him is to live your life seeking carry out his will in his way in his timing, to not make a move without knowing something about his will in the matter.

Blessing: OT: ^weep / answer cries / teach showing / abundance; NT: middle will

Blessed is the one who waits on the Lord. Verses 19-23 declare what those blessings would be for OT Israel: no more weeping, God answering their cries, God the teaching showing them how to walk and live, and even abundance. For us in the NT era, the blessings for those who wait for God are finding yourself smack dab in the middle of God’s will.

RV Blessing: 1who looks for θ to be θ: b/c only he will know θ ~ θ (he is regrdless)

Blessed are those who fear God, who seek God, and who wait for the Lord. Blessed is the one who looks for God to be God. Blessed is the one who is alertly looking for God to be God in his daily life, fearing him, seeking him out, and waiting for him. Blessed is this one because only he will really know God as God in his life. God is God regardless, no matter what. But the blessing his knowing God as God in your life.

CR: θ = my θ: salv; [anyone? BRU]

When I came to Christ 22 years ago, that was the overwhelming thought in my mind – God is God, and I want to know him as God in my daily life.

Who else has experienced the blessing of knowing God as God in your daily life, at least one day of your life? Blessed are you!

SCT

“Wait” (Isa 30.18 slide 1, Isa 30.18 slide 2; Isa 30.18 slide 3)

But there’s also something in this Isaiah passage that I want to draw your attention to. Let’s put verse 18 up on the screen. [read]. “Blessed are all those who wait on him.” [NASB: “long”] That’s what we just looked at. But someone else is doing some waiting in this verse. Who? The Lord! What’s he waiting for? “The Lord waits to be gracious to you”! We are waiting on him, but he is waiting to bless us!

Θ is waiting, too; Wants to show compassion

God is waiting, too! He wants to show compassion to us! He wants to bless us. He wants to be gracious to us. He’s waiting to bless us!

SCT: θ is waiting to bless who wait 4 Him; who treat θ ~ θ; who look 4; ^conv; ^hlth

God is waiting to bless those who wait for him. He’s waiting to bless those who treat him as God. He’s waiting to bless those who look for him. We don’t need to try to convince God to bless us, to cajole him into blessing us. He wants to; he’s waiting to. And the more we look for God to be God in our lives, the more we will see his blessings. This is not a “health and wealth gospel” message, where if we pursue God we’ll have no financial woes and never get sick. We will have what God considers to be blessings, not what some guys on TV with nice teeth and slick hair consider to be blessings.

Journey: lifetime of learning what it really means that θ = θ, changing to that reality

Your Christian life is a journey, a lifetime of learning what it really means that God is God. Your life is the process of changing to that reality that God really is God.

LS = looking to θ for

Help: forgiveness

Hope: eternal life

Θ: submit all to JC ~ θ, receive, fear, seek, wait

BRU: he’s waiting to bless those who seek for / look for Him

EV: if JC <> your help/hope/θ, this reps...

As we approach the Lord’s Supper, I want to continue these same themes. We practice the Lord’s Supper every two months at DBC, and it is a habit that the Lord himself gave to us to practice in order to keep always mindful of what the core of the Gospel is all about – his sacrifice for us on the the cross. And we see the same ideas in the Lord’s Supper as we’ve studied today: Looking to Jesus for our help, looking to Jesus for our hope, and looking for Jesus to be God in our lives.

The Lord’s Supper reminds us to look to Jesus for our help. It is only his death on the cross and his resurrection that provide for us the greatest help that we need: forgiveness of our sin. The Lord’s Supper reminds us to look to Jesus as our only hope. Our only avenue to eternal life with God is in Christ. The Lord’s Supper reminds us to look for Jesus to be God in our lives, our Lord – that we should submit everything in our life to Jesus as our God, to receive him as Lord of our lives, to fear him in awe and reverence, to seek his face in every aspect of our lives, to wait for him.

The Lord’s Supper says to us, “Blessed are you. Blessed are you in Christ.” Jesus is waiting to bless those who look for him.

If you are not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, if he is not yet your help, your help, your God, then the Lord’s Supper represents to you that he can be, based on his sacrifice on the Cross. It would not be appropriate to take the Lord’s Supper until he is in fact your Lord, but these elements represent what Jesus offers to be in your life if you would believe in him. If that expresses the desire of your heart, you and I should pray together right after the service.

[serve]

Concl

SRV: have a B day: by trusting him, taking on his char, treating him ~ θ

You’ve heard it in the store after you pay for your groceries - “Have a blessed day.” We can have a blessed day as we’ve been seeing so far in this series. Be blessed by trusting in him. Be blessed by taking on his character. Be blessed by treating him as God.

Insert

Prayer

Psalm 145:5a

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.

Psalm 2:12b

How blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8b

How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

Psalm 84:5a

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You.

Ps 146:5b

How blessed is he whose … hope is in the Lord his God.

Ps 112:1

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments.

Ps 128:1

How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways.

Ps 119:2

How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.

Order

1. Welcome/Announcements – Colby

2. Song – Holy is the Lord

3. Song – How Great is Our God

4. Children’s Time – Colby

5. Scripture Reading - Wendy

6. Sermon -  Colby

7. Song –Pour out Mercy