The God Who Blesses Us

The message I'm going to give, I want to share with you that I feel that is one of the most important messages that I've ever given to people. It's basic, it's powerful, I think it's needful in all of our lives. I've been in this way of life for over 60 years and yet we never stop growing, we never stop understanding, we never come to fully grasp the love of God. And that's what I'd like to share with you today and to understand that even more deeply and how we can understand that in a very fundamental way with a word that we hear all of the time, that we read all of the time in the scripture, but perhaps if not grasped as we go down the trail of life. At the recent Feast of Tabernacles, at the end of the eighth day, the eighth day which is a special feast to itself, we've gathered together as an assembly and then at the end a minister comes up and what is he going to do? He's going to ask a prayer and he's going to bless the congregation. We've been together, we've rubbed shoulders, we've rubbed hearts for a thousand years as it were in a day and we're about to go back out on the pilgrimage that God has set us forward on. And at that time that minister gets up and he gives a blessing on the congregation. So very important as we're listening to those words and as we're about again to go out. Blessings are something that follow us all the days of our life, whether spoken or in words, in asking God to bless us and then to understand and incorporate the blessings that God gives us even when sometimes we may not understand it that it is a blessing. Just last week as I mentioned that we had the the blessing of the children over in Las Vegas and that is so much fun with a small group like this.

And as a minister you go through so many different phases of life with people.

You're at the intersection as it were as life comes through. But one of the most enjoyable things is to at the end to pick up that baby and that little babies right there you take it from the mother, ladies, carefully because it's young and you hold the baby and you embrace the baby and then you lay your hands on the baby.

You do it the best that you can and you set forth and you commit that child to God for the remainder of the life. And there is a blessing that goes upon that child. Next week, next week, this coming week, we're gonna be having Thanksgiving. Another day even which in secular America more and more might I say even as there is a certain degree of religiosity yet remaining, we have a federal holiday a day called Thanksgiving in which normally we will gather as families. Susan and I are looking forward to doing that. Two out of three daughters will be with us.

The other is going to the other side which we always encourage. We can't be selfish and we will miss her but we're together with the rest of the clan and we sit around a table and we thank God for our blessings and understand that. So blessings are in a sense all over the place as we move through life. But here's a question I want to ask all of you. Have you ever been at a maybe just at a supermarket and you're talking to somebody and all of a sudden they'll say bless you and it's not that somebody is sneezing.

What does that tell you about that person? What does that tell you about their person or they say that I am blessed. What does that mean? What is that telling you as to the walk that person the way that person is walking through life and looking up and that there is a connection. Now that is versus the individual that says I'm lucky. How often have we run into people that you'll say well that was luck and or I'm lucky and I'm not here to condemn that person you know what I'm saying it's a common phrase the ology but my question is simply to you that only you can answer.

We can read the Bible about blessings we can note people that have been blessed but do you live a life that is based upon the blessings of God or are you living a life based on luck. What you say that emanates from your mouth and we've all been caught in this I'm not here to condemn you please understand you said oh I'm lucky because it's common Americana phrase but I've learned over the years to train my heart which then allows me to train my thoughts that allows me then to train my words that then allows me to train what I'm sharing with people more than I would normally say I am blessed and the question I have for you as you hear this message today simply this do you consider yourself blessed.

Right off the top I want to share with you what is our greatest blessing and allow me to share that with you our greatest blessing is that we worship a God that wholeheartedly wholeheartedly wants to bless you. Now I can sit down right over and out done but there's more to the story than that with that said how would you describe your God do you worship not just simply come before and sit here or sit in your car or sit in your chair at home or sit in your chair at the office or at school do do you feel blessed and there may not there may be a very good reason why you do not feel blessed right now and we're gonna be getting into that in this conversation but do you feel blessed people all people and we're all different people approach God in many ways and in many fashions and some get stuck with only just one one one pair of lenses let's kind of talk about that some worship a God of creation a first cause a God that kind of wound up the universe like a top and like that and let it go so they acknowledge that there is a first cause there is the unmovable mover that continues to be out there but not really involved and then there are people that worship a God and feel blessed by God because of certain truths that they might have come to their understanding so the question avenues are they worshiping truth or they worshiping God and there's a differentiation there again there are some people that focus on the finish line if I only can make it to the end and they live for that and then I understand that but again what about every day and every moment in between do do we feel blessed and to understand and what I really want to pin down in our hearts this afternoon is simply to ask you personally are you with me personally I know I'm talking to audience I know people are going to be listening to this and days and months and maybe years to come sometimes but there's something while all those are important and do not mistake me what I mentioned that litany that I've just shared with you the bottom line is there's still something missing that must be added do we do you do I worship that means worship is a word which comes out of Old English to give worth ship which basically means do we give weight do we worship means do we value a God that we know in our hearts of hearts desires to bless us in our heart of hearts that desires to bless us maybe not how we think we ought to be blessed but ultimately that will bring us towards him you know sometimes people will look at the scriptures and they'll go you know I really like that story about the the prodigal son oh that I had a dad like that prodigal son had and I've seen video clips of that story laid out and it is it is so heartwarming and and you wish that you had that dad at the same time then they say oh that's what in the New Testament I'd like to have that dad and then say oh but I would not want to have that that God of the Old Testament you know the God of lightning the God of thunder the God of shaken up things and sometimes just opening up holes on people I don't know if I can worship that God but the bottom line is that this is one one flowing story this between the covers is speaking of the same God and he interacts with people at different times for different purposes because it all comes out of the same book and it's the same God that has the same desire to bless his covenant people so today right now you and me together as pilgrims we're we're going to focus on and here's the title of the message the God who blesses us and we're going to focus on special blessings given from God and describe what he that really describe what he likes when we go through this series of verses this is God this is not somebody else telling you what God is like are you with me this is about God his own self-disclosure of his love affair with people of covenant and what he's about and what exactly what he is like and the reason why God preserved all these scriptures when it's all said and done done for 3500 years to to our day is for us to have a one-on-one and him coming directly to us to describe what he is like and there's a beautiful description over in the book of numbers would you join me please in number six because that's going to be kind of the mainstay of our text today there's a beautiful scripture there in number six which conjures up it is given let's think of the book of numbers let's think of the book of numbers at that time and the setting of when Deuteronomy 6 is given and to recognize that this is the time period of wandering between God liberating Israel from slavery in Egypt they're still in the wilderness they're about to cross as we say cross river and they're about to go into the promised land so they've had this wilderness experience for 40 years and here they are moving in between two worlds there have been trials they have been in the wilderness it hasn't been easy I know sometimes we can go boy if I've been back there I I would have been right there with Joshua and her and Caleb Moses and Aaron I don't know about those other people well you think about being stuck out in Anzabirago or out where Palm Springs is today without Palm Springs or the water fountains out and Anzabirago and you're out there for 40 years now you might want to have an attitude check yourself right and to recognize the struggle and the challenge and there is a wilderness at times there are periods of trials at time from when God calls us out of the Egypt of today towards that promised land and to recognize that and to recognize that sometimes the time in this is the most important part we must understand that ultimately God wants to bless us even in times of trial when you think of our our pilgrim forefathers and I know we come from different races different ethnic groups maybe you are not genetically linked to them understood because there were only eight families hello of pilgrims the rest were the the strangers but to recognize the trials that they went through that that first year that five out of the eight wives died over a score of children died they spent the early winter out in Massachusetts Bay colony while their their men were on shore building the Plymouth plantation and yet in that year of trial even a year of unsuccessful harvest at first they came together and they had what was commonly a festival harvest a festival harvest and to give God thanks and to welcome the stranger in as well who had been a part of God's plan to rescue those people the pilgrims who are trying to grow things on this continent like they grew things like in Europe and you know what it didn't work it was two different worlds old world new world and in the middle of trauma in the middle of what could be depression they through all of that considered themselves blessed we think of 150 years ago when our forefathers are we're fighting one another during the Civil War the war between the states the Civil War whatever you want to call it and their grandfathers and their great fan thought grandfathers had been in the same force against the British Empire their great granddaddy's and their grandfathers had fought together and now they were fighting against one another Gettysburg it just happened Gettysburg started on July 1st 2nd and 3rd and then it finished and it puts that all lead up to July 4th and yet it was in that autumn of that year that Abraham Lincoln made a proclamation made a proclamation to create what had been a New England holiday into a national festival and commemoration of Thanksgiving that out of trauma out of almost everything being lost that we might give Thanksgiving you think about that when a half a million men had basically died during that time and a little bit later up to 1865 but in the middle and was very interesting to understand the blessing and to give Thanksgiving I'll be sending out that proclamation this just off the top my mind right now the Thanksgiving towards blessings sometimes takes repentance because in that proclamation Lincoln asked Americans to face themselves as to why we got where we got the way we got there and that there would need to be a change beyond that notice in number six verse 22 and the Lord spoke to Moses he said speak to Aaron and his son saying this is the way you shall bless the children of Israel so God speaks to Moses and he tells Moses that you're going to speak to Aaron who's a spiritual leader temporal spiritual leader and he says this is how you are going to bless them Wow almost sounds like God is a micromanager here right and he gives a specific sin he says say to them the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you and the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and to give you peace verse 27 and so they shall they being the priesthood today being the ministers of God in that sense as the servants of God as the priest of old were they shall put my name on the children of Israel and I will bless them interesting so God said he didn't take anything for granted he put it right out there this is the God that I am I'm a God that loves which is outflowing and outgoing concern away from self I am the God that wants to bless those that want to be a part of this new creation that I am about that are about to be a new people on the other side of the river and he says and when you do this do it this is how you're gonna do it bottom line is you're going to keep on blessing them and when you bless them you tell them this now why would God do that because God who made humanity and had watched humanity for a couple thousand years already knew that people forget to remember and remember to forget conveniently and so what he's saying you tell Moses and those that serve him keep pounding away don't only put my name on them but what that name means what that name brings and so I want to explore that with you for the remainder of this message this is why long ago God told his priest and I do believe we as the ministry of today he wants he wants people to know how he really feels about them have you thought about that how does God really feel about you and me he wants them to know loud and clear and for us to understand that he wants this was a declaration and a blessing that would be again and again as often as needed until they got it till it's in their brains till it's sunk in their hearts so it's in the very fabric of them to recognize that the God of the universe has reached down and says I love you now with that love it's got to be a two-way street because God has expectations and we'll be getting to that now you're looking at number six not do to on me number six twenty two down four more verses let's understand something are you ready there are six great truths self-disclosures by God himself that are discovered in this overall blessing of what he is like but before we proceed with those six to seven truths there's one thing we need to understand this blessing as simple as it is four or five verses you might want to jot this down this blessing is divided into three sections are you with me stay with me in this three sections and each section has two parts don't get those numbers mixed up this blessing has three specific sections and each one of those sections has two three times two equals six and then on the seventh point it's an exclamation point God has created a sentence of blessing then pow boom he says I will do this so the first section God reminds us he alone is our provider the first point of the first section is God reminds us alone he is our provider and under that then we're going to deal with the tube to understanding number one the first truth regarding his provisions God wants to bless us that's it God wants to bless us because it says the Lord that's God bless you the divine fact is that he does want to bless us even more than we want to I want you to think about this for a moment God wants to bless us are you with me more than even we want to be blessed I want you to think about that for a moment you say what God wants to bless us more than even we want to be blood blessings are as old as the Bible when you think about it why because God is older than the Bible you know when you look at the Hebrew our Hebrew man down here when you look at the Hebrew and you look at the book of Genesis Genesis 1 1 it says in the beginning God but that's not how it reads in the Hebrew Bible because the Hebrew alphabet for God starts like it's like a sea I'm gonna go this way I mean you can still hear me so he says we see it in the I'm the PowerPoint in the beginning God but in the Hebrew it is God starts it because the noun comes first and the noun has an openness in other words this speaks to eternity coming into Genesis 1 1 the God that is eternal God in the beginning as we might say first things first of he who is and so blessings of our just think about it from he and from the very beginning he blessed Adam and Eve he said be fruitful and multiply he blessed the seventh-day creation and hallowed it put his presence into it we also recognize that he blessed the seventh day of creation which I just mentioned he blessed Noah after the flood that rainbow was a blessing to remind Noah and all humanity that God would never again smite the earth with the flood that he did with what we call the noation flood we know that he blessed Abram he said through you will come the blessings to all humanity Genesis 12 Christ blessed the little children he talked to the crowd that very famous message in Matthew 5 6 and 7 called the Sermon on the Mount blessed are blessed are blessed are full of blessings he even blessed in the sense the disciples as he was going up to in the ascension he gave them the blessing of a commission to go out to Jerusalem to Samaria and to the ends of the earth we recognize as well that he he he blessed Paul with a then saw with a vision and said you are going to be my servant and when you think about it stay with me a second when it comes to blessings revelation full of different sevens seven trumpets seven this here a little there a little seven seven there are seven Beatitudes blessed blessed even in the time of wilderness of a beast and a false prophet and the and the challenges that are in tribulation God says blessed are you if blessed are those who do this in other words the blessing extends from him but we also have a part in that so we take a look at this thus blessings are a constant rhythm of the Bible but let's go to basics what does the word blessing mean the what are we talking about blessing when you look at the Hebrew and the Greek and in the Old Testament you have the Hebrew and the word there is Barack and that means a blessing and or a declaration a declaration now in the New Testament which comes down to us today in the Greek language the word there is macarios but the K macarios and to speak of macarios is complete provision it is all in all that you have why would you want to go and seek something else and to bring it in in the world of antiquity the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean it was given the term of macarios big my man down here on the second row is nodding and he's a Bible scholar okay so anyway go so that macario because Cyprus had fertile fields it had it had harbors it had streams it had mountains everything there was a what might call a certain completeness to this aisle of Cyprus and it reminds us then of what does it say in the 23rd psalm the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want why would we when God has called us to be citizens of heaven above that's going to come down here below one day why if we have that why would it be looking to somehow be in another neighborhood than the one that God wants us to bless us with so we kind of understand this thus we begin to see the ramifications that the existence that God gives us has it all but some might ask by their words or actions but God just wants to curse me and perhaps we have all perchance don't have to raise your hands but perhaps the times we think we are under a living curse but perhaps we need to go back to basics 101 cause and effect now you can say oh Weber I know you're gonna go through cause and effect I've heard it this many you know there's something I want to add to that disobedience you should not should not expect a reward disobedience should not expect reward but now stay with me obedience does not always net its reward immediately obedience does not always net its reward immediately obedience may not always net its reward in this lifetime the Dutch have a proverb my ancestors that says this God may not pay weekly but he does in the end I want you to think about that as we proceed train me if you would for a moment in Luke 1232 Luke 12 gospel thereof Luke 1232 let's take a look at what it says Jesus speaking it's in red do not be afraid don't don't fear a little flock for it is your father's good pleasure good pleasure notice to give you the kingdom God simply wants to bless us the word pleasure there in the Greek means to think well of to think well of and to you might if you're daring enough with your Bible we've had this discussion before you don't have to but you might I think a key word there is you see God's pleasure to what give who make it personal write your name in the march into the left to give me to give you to give me sometimes we have to think of the whole world sometimes we have to think of the whole masses and sometimes God is just speaking to you as a child that needs to know that they have been blessed we are all the children of God we had that blessing last week you know what and to recognize no matter how old we are and I'm no longer 39 you already know that we are all children of the father and just when you think you're getting old remember the one that created us and that we worship he's called the ancient of the days ancient of days so even our dear friend over there that's not with us today April is a kid is a child is a daughter to the ancient of days and one that cares for us number two truth number two another truth regarding his provisions he wants to keep us he wants to keep us that's a very interesting phrase yes the the God's blessings are given to us to reassure us that he is watching over us physically and spiritually and that we are not alone sometimes we do forget alla amosus or a Gideon and or of all people Elijah that somehow we are off of God's radar have you ever felt like that and humanly we can because if we do this we want that right now one plus one equals two but we also also have to recognize that sometimes one plus one equals two in God's timing and not in our timing we are earthbound we are time-bound we're dealing with the eternal God and so we need to understand that you think of Elijah Elijah you know you know I'm off of God's radar and I've done everything had to deal with a happy and I had to deal with that woman that woman and what am I gonna do so you know he came he literally caved in didn't he not to them but he was going to take God off him off God's radar and he goes into a cave he decides rather than speaking to people and sharing the message of God he wants to talk to the bats and the mushrooms that are in the cave and he goes dark and then God has to rattle his cage literally with the wind with the earthquake with all of that and say you're really not alone we need to when we see that it says remind the people that this that God that wants to bless you and to keep you what God says he's going to ultimately do with us he's going to do he's on the job and he's awake you might want to jot down this word shanar s h a n a r little Hebrew and what does that mean in the original context that means that God is observing us to observe God takes heed he takes no dust nothing slips his his spiritual eye he knows what's going on down here you know we talk about being kept sometimes that can have connotations and years past i don't know if they still use that but you know what we are kept i say as robin weber as the disciple of Jesus Christ i know and know that i know that i am kept by God and being kept by God gives me a wonderful sense of well-being let's take a look at psalms 121 17 psalms 121 psalms 121 psalms 121 and picking up the thought if we could in verse one psalms 121 verse one here we go and notice this in psalms 121 starting in verse one i will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help that that's why this blessing was given to Aaron to be brought down to our day where my help comes from it comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth and he will not allow your foot to be moved he who keeps you will not slumber behold he who keeps Israel notice that he shall neither slumber nor sleep the Lord is your keeper the Lord is your shade at your right hand and the man shall not strike you by day their son shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night and the Lord shall preserve you from all evil and he shall preserve your soul David is where did David get this it comes off of numbers it comes off the blessing that he would hear again and again from the time that he was a youngster that the Lord shall keep you are very important he is watching over us and he loves us and satan also understands that God God is looking after us remember in job one where he goes uh you know your servant you know he's having this conversation oh your servant job you know he's your he's your you know he's spoiled you just take care of him so well just you just lower the fence for a while and let me let me work him over and then we'll see if he continues to praise you and God does allow that but he keeps Job he says you can do this and this and this to my servant but he is to remain alive now again with everything that he took in is incredible so God continued to make sure that Job was going to remain alive and he gave the conditions to satan very important to understand i do want to share a thought with you here for a moment and that is let's go to let's go to Jude 1 let's go to book of Jude Jude 1 right there before revelation that little book we're going to look at the very end of Jude where it says this let's pick up the thought in verse verse 24 Jude 1 now to him who is able notice this keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to keep us and it's shown right there it's interesting that Jude in a sense is strategically put before the book of revelation and we're going to be talking i'll be giving a message on the 144 000 later on in this series that we're having in prophecy and the whole great point of the 144 000 and there's many many wonderful points comes to the point that even when all everything is breaking loose and God is transitioning between the tribulation which is the time of satan's wrath and then the day of the lord which is the time of God's righteous judgment he looks down you see God not only looks down on sparrows and those when they light to the ground he knows where his people are at this moment in this transition of time between the tribulation which is a time of satan's wrath and the time of the day of the lord and the powerful point to me personally is rather than trying to always figure out who the 144 000 you ever talked had that conversation everybody's got an idea whatever has got an idea too but beyond that the cardinal point is simply this the God that says he knows the sparrow that falls from the tree knows exactly where his holy ones will be at that time and holds up everything holds up everything see we go from numbers six all the way over here and we see how that same God reveals himself there in revelation seven revelation 14 he knows not only where that grouping of saints is at that time that's the same God that knows that you're here today and knows what you're going through and desires to keep you moving by being kept towards eternity with him let's go to the next section real quickly we're going to speed it up here the next section is God reveals he is forever gracious God is forever gracious it says the third revealed truth is that God is smiling at us I know that's interesting the third revealed truth is that God is smiling at us it says in the passages number six the Lord makes his face to shine upon you a shining face is the mark of pleasure as it's turned and directed towards someone oh isn't it nice that we no longer have to wear those mask those masks that dehumanized people where we couldn't see the fullness of their face to where you couldn't see a smile is that you underneath there Henry you know we were God made us anatomically to understand what he's like and it says that God smiles at us his face shines upon us we often use that phrase the L.

G. shining like a smile and he loves it when we praise him and when we glorify him and when we come into his midst and we walk through the door of Jesus Christ and spend time with them we that are our adult parents know that there's nothing that brings us more joy and puts a smile not only in our face or heart is when we see our family together on Thanksgiving and we have a blessing because most of our kids live in a do all live in the south land and two of them will be there with their husbands and I think one of the greatest pleasures I have other than God himself and Jesus is being able to see our three daughters walk through the door together the ones that Susie and I had because of God's blessing and to see them and they're all in their 40s now they're no longer kids but to see all three of them walk together and to honor their mother and to be excited about seeing us it gives just such great warmth and puts just a great smile on my heart and that's how God feels when we come back to him and come through that door of Jesus Christ into the room of that heavenly tabernacle and say father and say father and thank you for your blessings the fourth revealed truth is God is gracious as it says and the God that is gracious to you gracious to us this is a God reality and gift we need to be constantly reminded of in an ungracious world that is tit for tat eye for eye and only as good as your last success it's like are we gracious because this world this air of Babylon wears on all of us and we can become more and more you know it's just amazing the attitudes that you see on social media or media alone or conversations that people have when I was growing up back in the 50s things that came out of my mouth if I said anything I got a soap fall I think we've run out of soap for these people that are around us they're nasty they're dirty they're defiling and that rubs into our culture and we need to be careful of that as Christians that as a father who blesses us is gracious we in turn also need to be gracious that is so important and he's gracious unto you and because the father has done it to us because we have that blessing therefore then we understand the importance of being gracious to others grace comes from a term in the Hebrew favor it means favor but for Noah who found grace who found favor the word in the Greek is the word in the Greek is carus which means gifted and or charmed and we are very familiar with that phrase grace is the gift of God it's a gift it's not something that we can earn of and by itself and we are so favored by him that he offers us unmerited pardon just an easy quick chain to remember about different terms is simply this God is a just God and he has righteous judgment justice is getting what we deserve you did this you get that cause and effect mercy is not getting what you deserve mercy is getting what you don't deserve but grace but grace is getting what you don't deserve don't deserve and I know that Sandy gave the message last week on this which I listened to thank you very much Sandy we we don't earn salvation we don't earn we are rewarded according to our works revelation makes that very clear in revelation 22 we are we we are but grace is like this we recognize that there is something between us and God that only God can allow us to enter and what God wants to see and a part of this is by understanding numbers six and understanding that we are enveloped in blessings and live that because we are blessed and we honor God we we do what he says in scripture and so there's nothing that we can do on this side of eternity to somehow break in God does want to see us leaning like this he wants to see us leaning against that door just like that I hope I don't go over if I do and it could be workman's comp I'm preaching to you right okay so that you recognize God wants to see us being like Jesus Christ he wants to see us keeping the Ten Commandments he wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves but let's understand something we can't open the door from our side to eternity that is on the other side and there's going to be a day because you understand God's blessings that God is going to do this watch this this is the power point I'm not like Scott I'm sorry I have to use props God's going to open the door from his side and you know what he's going to do then look he's going to go like this and Jesus Christ is going to be there he's going to be the maitre d of heaven to bring everybody to his father and he's going to say okay thou good and faithful servant come in that's a very simple explanation of grace and works how God works and how he wants us to work he does want us to lean against that door because that tells him that we love him and that's very important let's go to the final section the third section the third section reminds us of God's inexhaustible favor inexhaustible favor the fifth revealed truth is that God is forever attentive always looking after us it says lifting up his countenance upon you you know if you're you all men and women that you know maybe working or this or that and you're busily working or you're at your computer whatever and and all of a sudden you kind of see something and you lift your countenance you're focusing so it's like all of you are lifting up your countenance looking at me right now and none of you have fallen into nodding in agreement that means falling asleep that's good you're lifting up your countenance and just as you're looking up to me we recognize then that when we see what this says that God lifts up his countenance his eyes and not only his eyes but his heart are leaning in our direction and watching us have you ever been in a conversation with someone who really wanted to be somewhere else I was thinking of that sermon that we just had about have you ever been with somebody and you kind of really recognize that you've lost them and they're not really paying attention they're kind of beginning to squirm and you're you're pouring your heart out to them maybe you've poured too much heart out on them so they're ready to call time but you're seeing signals they're trying to send out signals without being rude but doesn't work that way they're kind of like the coach going time out and then you really get to the good stuff you know you're real okay this was just now you're really pouring it out and then the person gets a cell phone call and they oh I've got to take this and all of a sudden they take it up and hear your I'll be right over boom bye-bye that's not how God works that's how human beings work we don't always know how to handle stimulus and response God God is always there for us when it mentions lifting up countenance that means to focus by looking and noticing showing interest the the full attention of God wow watch out what you ask for just jot down Daniel 9 in action I'll give you a hint I'm going to send out all my notes to you tomorrow but anyway then Daniel 9 you know Daniel's praying up it's one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible Daniel 9 I love it because he's right there with his people that's where you have the great we phrases it's not the people of Babylon and not just Israel that needs God says we have all come short we have all sinned and he's one he's keep on praying and then you know Gabriel comes down at the end of Daniel 9 says by the way Daniel as soon as you started praying I was on my way God sent me got hurt that one chapter and those words by Gabriel tells you and me that God is attentive and to recognize that he is lifting up his countenance at all times to us a believer has an expectancy that God is partnering with him throughout the day just as that pericledos that coming alongside one who walks with us that God continues and is always with us point number six the sixth revealed truth is that God gives us peace because point number six at the very end of God's self-disclosure of what he is he's a God that gives us a gift and it's a gift of peace the tranquility of the heart spoken about here is not the absence of discord when a Jew through Hebrew says shalom remember this out of the 60s make peace not war that's for the older people the the peace that God gives is not the peace that we want all at once when the Jews says shalom just like Hawaiian say aloha it's a it's a greeting and a goodbye it's a nice one the Jews say shalom both in a greeting and a farewell and what they're saying is oh the mention is this it's not like oh life is not going to have any problems or any troubles the shalom that is mentioned is that we are not alone in our troubles that God will provide the way in Philippians 4 and verses 6 through 8 it speaks of the peace that surpasses all understanding all understanding better than the facts that are on the ground to put it in plain English the peace that surpasses all understanding and to recognize that in this life even as we surrender ourselves to God and we become that faithful disciple of Jesus Christ we also follow and recognizing that we will we will have things that come at us that we were not prepared for we will have tragedies that come into our life that are unbearable humanly speaking and it does not figure and for that moment we do not think it's fair and yet God through his servant Moses through Aaron tells us to recognize that he will give us peace that whatever happens tomorrow is not the end of the day and I know I speak to people here in this audience I speak to every audience that have had unbearable tragedies and I do not make light of them but I do know that God gives us a truth he gives us a peace the same peace that Jesus had when he was nailed to the cross and nonetheless was able to say into your hands the same hands that were his the I am that declared to Moses what to tell Aaron for Aaron to tell the people that was Jesus the pre-incarnate Jesus the I am the God that led Israel and he gave that numbers six and he lived it and we have to live that in the moments that come our way number seven at the end after the three segments and the six understandings of the God that blesses us God saves the best for last because when it's all said and done it's the beautifying element of this blessing and he says put my name on he does and it's not a signature it's not a John Hancock it's the full substance of what God brings to us a name a name that means something and that's so beautiful and he says and I will do it the same God that says in Isaiah 46 I am God and there is none other I declare the end from the beginning and at the end it's not like the politicians of today that give promises promises promises and nothing happens or half of it happens God is not a politician God is the king of the universe his son Jesus is the Lord of our lives and that God says I will do it and you can take that to the bank and you can take that to the grave but take it as you go out today in the moment because all we have are the moments I don't know about tomorrow but I know about today and I know about the moment right now that with all of my heart and all of my being I want to praise God and thank him for his blessings and to recognize that we worship a God not in fear but in faith the people down in Mexico before it was Mexico the Aztecs would at times sacrifice thousands and thousands and thousands of people that they conquered and tear out their heart on a temple in Tanachitlan and give it to a God out of fear most religions of antiquity were based upon fear not based upon love God today does not want thousands and he does would love to have thousands and thousands of hearts but you can't out give God God's not asking you today to give someone someone else's heart to God you alone are the heart that he loves and desires and wants to nurture and so as you go out of these walls today just remember that we worship a God in faith not in fear and one that has skin in the game literally and came to earth and died for a moment that you and I might live forever in a blessedness knowing as eternity amen