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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for February 3, 2009
“How Can I Receive All the Blessings God Has For Me?”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
“Dear Doug, how can I receive all the blessings God has for me?”
Great question.
First of all, let me say that all blessings are from God, and if it’s not from God, it’s not a blessing.
James 1:17 indicates that every good and perfect gift comes down from our Heavenly Father.
Psalm 16:11 says that at His right hand are “pleasures forevermore.”
So with God are all the blessings, and apart from Him are no blessings.
In my Bible, Deuteronomy 28 starts with this word in the heading, “Blessings.” Then it goes on and lists all these wonderful blessings God offered the people of Israel. Blessed, blessed, blessed – but with one caveat. They had to “fully obey the Lord.”
It’s like a giant fire hose of blessings would rain down on them – as long as they obeyed. But as soon as they didn’t obey the hose would start to kink.
You see, sin is a barrier to God’s blessings. We will be blessed, unless sin comes between us and God.
And here’s how it played out. Their sin always came between them and God. And that meant their sin always came between them and God’s blessings. They just couldn’t “fully obey” Him. They didn’t “carefully follow all the words” of the law. They didn’t revere his glorious and awesome name. They weren’t able to carefully follow the terms of the covenant.
See, that’s what it was – a covenant between them and God. It was a great system, but it didn’t do them much good because the people couldn’t be good. It was their covenant with the Lord, but they couldn’t uphold their end of the covenant.
Skip ahead to Hebrews 8:6. Jesus came along as the mediator of a new covenant. It’s superior to the old covenant, and get this. “…It is founded on better promises.”
Wait a minute. Better promises than all those promises in the old covenant?
Yes. The new covenant is founded on better promises.
Well what are they?
Hebrews 8 goes on to talk about the new covenant. God says it won’t be like the old covenant. “They did not remain faithful to my covenant,” declares the Lord, “And I turned away from them.”
But now buckle up for the new covenant. Listen to these promises starting in Hebrews 8:10.
“I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people…they will all know me…for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Now remember how we started. With God are all the blessings, but sin separates us from those blessings.
Well this new covenant takes care of that sin. Jesus Christ paid the price of our sin. He purchased our forgiveness with His own blood.
This kicks off the new covenant. God forgives our wickedness and remembers our sins no more – when we turn to Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ we are cleaned and redeemed. That obliterates the wall of sin that separates us from God. It unkinks the fire hose of His blessings.
We literally become children of our Heavenly Father, the Most High God. Galatians 3:26 says we become children of God “through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Now those are two powerful blessings from the new covenant. First, God takes care of the sin that separates us from Him. Second, we become His children.
Then comes a super powerful aspect of this new covenant. Galatians 3:10 says that by faith we “receive the promise of the Spirit.”
This is the Holy Spirit of the Living God, coming to be with us, and to actually live inside us. He becomes our teacher and our comforter. He leads us and guides us and convicts us. Not only are we not separated from God, He has now taken up residence within us!
And remember, with God are all the blessings. So now the source of all blessing is not a million miles away in some spiritual outer space somewhere. He is right here!
So now what? Can we just put it on spiritual auto pilot and wait for the blessings to come flying in?
No. The next step is to start listening to the voice of God’s Spirit within us and walking in obedience. Romans 8:5 says we “live in accordance with the Spirit,” with our “minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
Now we can still choose to sin, but we are no longer bound to sin. We have the Spirit of God within us and as we listen to His voice we can stay clean before the Lord. If we do sin, He convicts us and we can quickly confess our sin and repent. This keeps us walking clean before God and prevents any kinks in that fire hose of blessings.
So yes, God is the source of all blessings, but sin comes between us and those blessings.
But thank God through Jesus Christ our sin is removed! Our sin is forgiven and we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. We are children of the Most High, and His Spirit lives inside of us. As we listen to His Spirit we live in such a way that there is no wall between us, no kink in the hose of His blessings.
And that’s how we receive all the blessings God has for us!
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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