Chapter 11, verse 25. One short little verse,
probably a short sermon, amen. Proverbs chapter
11, verse 25. If you've never read through the
Proverbs before, I would encourage you to do
so. There is some great wisdom in there, some
great instruction. If we would all live by the
Proverbs, we would all be a lot better off. So
I encourage you to read through those Proverbs
if you've never read them before. But this morning
we'll be in Proverbs chapter 11, verse 25. We'll
read the Scripture, then we will pray. will be
enriched and the one who waters will himself
be watered let's pray father god we come to you
today and i thank you for your good word and
god we thank you for the blessings that you give
to us and i pray god that we would not fail to
realize the blessings that we that we see daily
god some of them maybe are small and sometimes
go unnoticed, and maybe even sometimes, God,
there are big things that you bless us with.
But God, help us not to ever forget that you
are the one who blesses us and provides for us
and gives us mercy and takes care of us, dear
Lord. So I pray, God, that today that we would
all rejoice in your blessing, that we would continue
to experience your blessing in our daily life,
and God, that it would transform us. It would
transform our hearts. It would cause us to be
a people who would bless those that we encounter,
dear Lord, to share your love and to share your
grace and to share your mercy, dear Lord, to
maybe give people a little glimpse of hope in
this world that needs it. So I pray, God, that
in these few minutes that your Holy Spirit would
just speak to each one of us, take away any fear
or pride that's within me, dear Lord, today.
I pray that you would free us from the distractions
and the worries of the world. And in these few
minutes, your Holy Spirit would begin to do a
mighty work in our hearts. And I ask these things
in Jesus' name. Amen. It is a beautiful thing
in life when we realize that we are blessed by
God. Now maybe you all realize that today, or
maybe you don't. Maybe there are days that we
realize it more than others. Maybe you could
list a whole list of things this morning that
God has blessed you with. Maybe sometimes in
the hustle and bustle and the worries of life,
we overlook some of God's blessings. But it is
a great joy in our life when we realize that
there is a God who created us, who takes care
of us, who is with us. who leads us, who guides
us, and most importantly, who has sent his son,
Jesus Christ, to die on a cross that our sins
could be forgiven. That is the greatest blessing
we could ever receive, is that we would repent
of our sins and follow Jesus Christ. And when
we seek God, and when we realize who God is,
that God is the God of everything, and that there
is no good that comes... Apart from God, it is
a beautiful thing. It is a joy in our life when
we take a moment and we begin to pause and we
begin to see that we are blessed. Even from the
little things that we may take for granted. Our
air conditioning. What a blessing it is that
we can come here today. It's a few of you fanning.
I see that, but it could be a lot worse. The
little things like that that we just become so
accustomed to. We have vehicles to drive. Do
we all are going to eat food today? I hope we
are. I think we probably all are. If you're not,
let me know. We want to make sure you're going
to eat. But I expect we're all going to eat today.
Probably three meals and probably a snack in
between. I thought about that this morning. I
was in my office and I thought, here I got a
box of Cheez -Its and a Hershey bar. Here's some
people in the world that would kill for that.
And this is just my snack. This is just between
meals when I'm sitting there reading and I'm
thinking, I'm hungry, you know. It's the small
little things that sometimes we take for granted,
and we don't realize how blessed we are. We're
blessed that we have parents or grandparents.
We're blessed that we have spouses. We're blessed
that we have children. We're really blessed when
we have grandchildren. There are lots of blessings
that God brings in our life, and that brings
us a lot of joy. And if you haven't stopped to
count your blessings lately, then maybe this
afternoon you should. Because in the midst of
our world that comes with stress and pain and
heartache and depression and all that comes with
it, there is great joy when we pause for a moment
and realize that God has blessed us. I'll tell
you a great blessing that I'm thankful for is
this church. It is a blessing. to be part of
Enterprise Baptist Church. It is a blessing to
know you people. It is a blessing to serve alongside
you people. It is a blessing for us together
to serve the Lord. God has been good to us. And
God loves us, and that is evident in the hearts
of the people who are here. And there is great
joy that comes in the blessings of the Lord.
But what do we do with those blessings? Do we
bless those that we encounter? When we go out
into the world, if we are God's people and we've
experienced the joy of being blessed, then are
we blessing those that we encounter? We should
be. The scripture here says, whoever brings blessing
will be enriched. Perhaps on some level it's
speaking of material gain that God blesses us
with. And certainly sometimes he does. Certainly
God blesses us with material gain and sometimes
even great riches God blesses us with. And so
be it should that be God's will in our life.
But I think the real blessing that we receive
when we serve the Lord and we love others. The
real blessing that we receive is in the joy of
doing it. Jesus is quoted as saying in Acts chapter
20, verse 35, it is better to give than to receive.
Now, I suspect sometimes maybe our heart is not
right. And maybe we are tempted to think, well,
I want to give to somebody else because I want
God to give back to me tenfold. And our motivation
may be sometimes for our generosity. or our blessings
toward others is not from a right spot. But when
we do the Lord's will, and we do the Lord's work,
and we begin to bless others in our life, and
whatever means we may be able to, the real joy
comes from not what we get in return necessarily,
not in a materialistic way, but the real joy
comes from knowing that we have done the right
thing. And oftentimes the real joy comes from
seeing the person that you have helped. Now I'm
going to tell you guys, you know this, because
you all live in the world, you watch the news.
Our world is in a bad shape. Sometimes I really
begin to question humanity. I see people do some
things and I think, I don't have a lot of hope
for humanity. People do some stupid stuff. People
do some evil stuff. And sometimes I wonder, what
is the future going to hold for humanity? But
then I'm reminded of God. And God is good. And
God can change hearts. And God can change people.
And you know what? There may be more good people
in this world than you realize. God may be working
more than you realize. And our world can be so
overwhelming and depressing. But it's always
a beautiful thing when you see someone who is
a blessing to someone else or who is generous
to someone else. You know, sometimes I'll go
eat breakfast, and maybe you've had this experience
before. And I went just Saturday morning. I went
to eat breakfast Friday morning. And I was in
line, and there was a guy that went in before
me, and he was ordering, and he got through ordering,
and he said, and I want to pay for his too. I
didn't do nothing to deserve this guy to pay
for my breakfast. And little things like that
happen sometimes. People will do the littlest
things for you that are so insignificant. A $4
biscuit, not really too much. But when people
do those things in my life, and maybe in your
life too, it renews my hope for humanity. It
brings me a little joy. That someone was generous
enough and that cared enough to bless me. I'm
certainly not deserving of it. Sometimes I wonder
why God even blesses me so much. There are certainly
far more people in this world that are deserving
of blessings than myself. But yet God is so good
that he continues to bless us in spite of us.
And so I see the things that people do. Sometimes
they're the smallest things that you could ever
imagine. Sometimes it's when I go to the dollar
store and the lady behind the counter speaks
and smiles and says, how are you doing today?
Are you having a good day? I'm shocked. You know
why I'm shocked? Because most of them don't even
look up. They don't even pay you no attention.
You ask them a question, they just kind of grunt.
It's like you don't even know they're there,
you know? And sometimes I think, man, this world's
in a bad place. But then the smallest little
thing, just someone... speaking to you, it renews
my hope. And I think, man, I'm glad to see there's
somebody that cares about their job and that
cares about other people. And so maybe it's the
little things in our life that we can do to other
people. Maybe we can be a little bit of hope
to the people that we encounter. Maybe there
are ways that we can bless others today. Maybe
there are ways that we can help enrich the lives
of others today. If we've experienced the love
of God through Jesus Christ, if we've experienced
the hope through Jesus Christ, if we've experienced
blessing through Jesus Christ, then we need to
be those who are going into this world and who
are blessing others, not for some materialistic
gain that we can get in return, but because it's
the right thing to do. And you may discover in
your life, if you're not serving God and blessing
others, you may discover that you are missing
a lot of blessing in your life. Because there
is nothing greater than taking a little bit of
your time and a little bit of your money and
caring about someone just a little bit. There's
nothing better than doing that and seeing that
you bring a little bit of hope to somebody's
life. Now there are a lot of ways perhaps that
we could be generous. Maybe we could be generous
financially. Maybe God's blessed you and you're
doing good. Maybe you could afford to buy that
biscuit for that person behind you in line next
time you go through line. It might change their
day. You ever had something like that happen
to you before? You're just having the worst day
ever and somebody does the least little thing
and it instantly changes your attitude. Maybe
in the way that you interact with other people.
Maybe if the girl behind the counter at the dollar
store speaking to you makes your day better,
well, maybe if you spoke to her, it would make
her day better. Maybe nobody speaks to her and
ask her how her day is. Maybe you see the same
person every time you go to the grocery store.
Here's something cool. Maybe you could learn
their name. When you go in there, say, hey, Susie,
how you doing today? Those things make a difference.
It takes us very little effort to do those things,
but those things begin to make a difference in
people's lives. If you know somebody that's struggling,
wondering where their next meal will come from
or how they'll pay the light bill, you say, I
could pay a couple hundred bucks. I could help
them out. It might not even be that much to you,
but it may change their life. The little ways
in which we can be generous and we can bless
others may change their life. Because people
don't see that in the world today. You see the
evil. And there's plenty of good out there. I'm
not saying there's not. But that's what our world
needs to see is the love of Jesus Christ and
the generosity of Jesus Christ that comes in
us and overflows through us to those that we
encounter. We want our world to change. And maybe
God's going to send a great revival, and maybe
there's going to be some wonderful, magnificent
event that's going to just shake up everybody
at once. But then again, maybe God just wants
to use you to be generous to somebody else. Maybe
God wants to use you to just go love on somebody
else. We can be generous with our money, but
we can also be generous with our time. I say
this all the time, and I'll say it again, because
you need to do this, church, brother and sister
in Christ. There is no greater blessing to me.
You might not agree, but try it and let me know.
There is no greater blessing than when you go
see someone who is sick, who is bedridden, who
cannot leave their house, who has no company.
There is no greater blessing than to go and to
sit down, and to visit with someone. It ain't
about what you talk about. It's just about going
to see them. And you got people right now, you're
thinking about somebody's name, and you thought,
yeah, I need to go see that person. And you've
been thinking about that for five years. You
know, I should go see that person. Well, yeah,
you should. You should. You should go see them
this afternoon. You know what I hear when I go
visit a lot of people? A lot of them are older.
And I hear this all the time. They say, you know,
people used to go visit each other. They don't
anymore. I don't know why, but you should. But
you should go visit each other. And you can go
see the people you see all the time. You can
see the people you see here on Sunday. And that's
all well and good. But you need to go see the
people that everybody's forgotten about, that
have fallen through the cracks. And I've told
you guys this a lot, and I'm going to keep telling
you because this is a way in which we can minister
to these people and love on these people and
let them know that they're not forgotten. And
you know what that brings in their life? It brings
hope. That's what they need. That's what we need.
That's what our world needs. And I believe when
we bless others and people see our generosity,
we don't do it for us. We don't do it so we can
say I paid somebody's light bill or I went to
visit 17 people this week. We don't do it for
us. We do it because it's the love of God that's
in us. And that comes with great blessing to
the person that you minister to. And it might
even bring more blessing to you than it brings
to them. So perhaps in our world that is dark
and is dying, maybe one of the easiest ways that
we can begin to bring hope into our world today
is just by being kind to people, being generous
to people, being compassionate to people. Just
talking to somebody, just saying hey to somebody.
You know, you go up there and you're pumping
gas, you know, and you're looking straight ahead.
You're like, I'm going to watch this little screen
because there's this person here and I don't
want to look at them. I might accidentally make
eye contact and then they'll speak or I'll have
to speak. So I'm just going to look here, just
pretend like I'm busy. Well, maybe next time
you get gas, you just look over across the thing
and you say, hey man, how are you doing today?
That might blow somebody's mind. It's the little
things that I think renew hope for humanity.
Humanity's not that bad. I mean, sin is pretty
bad, and it's always been bad, but as long as
there are human beings, as long as God is at
work and he will continually be at work, there
is hope for us. And the Bible calls us to be
servants. It calls us to serve one another. And
here in this proverb, it talks about blessing.
It talks about generosity. Now, I would hope
that everybody in here has experienced the blessing
of God in some way, and I suspect you could all
give me at least one thing. But more importantly,
I hope that you've experienced the blessing of
forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. That's
what changes our heart. That's what changes our
attitude. That's what guides us and motivates
us to go and do the little things. So ask God
to show you those little things this week. Ways
in which you can be generous. And when God shows
you those ways, you go and you do it. You don't
make excuses. You can make excuses from now until
you die and miss the opportunities that God has
given you to be generous and to bless those around
you. So ask God to help you see, because sometimes
we don't see. Sometimes we're so selfish and
we're so focused on things in our own life. Sometimes
we just fail to miss the simple things. But never
take the little things for granted, because the
way you speak to someone, The meal you buy for
someone, the visit that you pay to someone, the
card that you mail to someone are things that,
quite frankly, will take very little effort on
your part, but they may change the life of somebody
you encounter. When people know that you love
them, it makes a difference. When people know
that you care about them, it makes a difference.
And when people know that you care about them
and you love them, they listen to what you have
to say. And when you show them the love of God,
when you show them the love of Jesus Christ,
you can share with them the love of Jesus Christ.
And they will listen. But they won't have to
listen to your words because they would have
already seen it in your actions. And that generosity
and that blessing that you bring to others that
you encounter, it may very well change the world.
Let's pray. God, we thank you for your good word.
We thank you for the many blessings you give
us. We thank you for Jesus Christ. We thank you
for loving us when we are unlovable. We thank
you for the joy that we receive through your
words. We thank you for the joy that we receive
through the blessings that we have through you,
the blessing of your presence, the blessing of
your love, the blessing of your grace, the blessing
of your forgiveness, dear Lord. And God, that
gives us who are in Christ hope. And so I pray,
dear Lord, in our hope and what we are blessed
with, God, that we would be faithful to bless
those we encounter. that you would help us, dear
Lord, to see areas in our life that we could
be generous in ways that we could be a blessing
to others, ways that we may not even realize,
dear Lord. We often don't even realize the impact
that the things that we do will have on people,
dear Lord. So I pray that you would help us to
see those opportunities in which you want us
to serve. I pray, God, that you would help us
to be a blessing. to help us to be generous to
those we encounter. God, maybe there is one today
that we need to go visit. Help us to go love
on them, dear Lord. Maybe there are some today
we can help financially. Maybe there's a little
act of kindness, dear Lord. Maybe it's speaking
a kind word, God. Whatever it may be, God, I
pray. that you would help us to see those opportunities
in which your generosity can overflow through
us and let that overflow this week. And I pray,
dear Lord, that through the actions we do, we
never do it for our glory, but only for your
glory, only for your kingdom. And I pray, dear
Lord, that the world will see the hope of Jesus
Christ through the love that overflows through
us. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.