4th July 2021 - Sunday Church Service | God Wants to Bless Us and Make Us a Blessing - Zac Poonen
4th July 2021 - Sunday Church Service | God Wants to Bless Us and Make Us a Blessing - Zac Poonen
Summary
The speaker emphasizes that everything—thoughts, attitudes, and motives—is completely visible to God. He stresses that believers must live with the constant awareness that God is the *only* one with whom they truly have to do. This recognition is crucial because people often behave as if they need to manage the opinions of others, which hinders true freedom in Christ.
Outline
The message in plain words, in the order it unfolds. Select a time to jump the video to that moment.
There is no creature hidden from God's sightEverything about our lives, thoughts, attitudes, and hidden desires is completely laid bare before the eyes of God.Hebrews 4:13
He is the only one with whom we have to doWe must fight the battle to realize that ultimately only God's opinion matters, freeing us from the temptation of catering to the opinions of others.
The danger of hypocrisy and actingThe word hypocrite simply means an actor, and evangelical Christians pursuing holiness face a major danger of becoming actors when they are before others.
Rejecting old testament excuses under the new covenantBelievers must never excuse personal failures or sin by pointing to the moral lapses of Old Testament figures, because the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost to establish a higher New Covenant standard.
The principle of death preceding resurrectionJust as lazarus had to be fully dead in the tomb, true resurrection power can only operate in our lives when we come to an absolute zero point of self-reliance.
Abraham's waiting period and the danger of IshmaelAbraham tried to help God through his own cleverness by producing Ishmael, but God waited until Abraham's body was as good as dead before establishing His promise.
Jesus became a curse to bring us Abraham's blessingJesus became a curse on the cross so that the blessing of Abraham—receiving the Holy Spirit to empower us to be a blessing to every family—might come to us.Galatians 3:13–14
Turning from a curse into a blessingScripture promises that just as we once caused problems and acted as a nuisance, we can now cash in God's promises and become a blessing to others.Zechariah 8:13
Waiting until the wine runs dry at CanaAt the wedding in Cana, Jesus waited until every last drop of human wine was gone before performing His miracle of abundant new wine.
Dead to the world and its applauseTrue spiritual breakthrough requires becoming completely dead to the applause of the world, human opinions, and the desire to appear great in the eyes of anyone except the Savior.
The example of Jesus at the river JordanJesus received the Holy Spirit only after submitting to total baptismal immersion, which pictures complete death to self and personal ambitions.
God wants to use every believer mightilyRegardless of past failures or perceived weakness, God desires to bring every believer to a place of zero so that rivers of living water can flow out to bless others.
