Flip the Blessing – Virgil Grant

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Sing this out.

(WORSHIP)

We’re a growing church, but we’re never going to be a church that grows out of being personally connected. And so if you’re new text new to the number on the screen, we’re going to connect with you, learn about you, and also share all the different ways you can get plugged in here at East Side. This is going to be the last service in the sermon series, Double Blessing. So I’m really excited to hear what Virgil’s got for us this morning. The other thing is we’re going to be taking communion here on campus. And so, if you’re at home, take a moment to grab the things that you can use to symbolize communion for you. At the end of the service, exits are at the front of the building, which is going to be to the right and left here. And unless you have kids and kids, of course, then we will let you pick your kids up. All right. I’m going to pray. We’re going to get back to worshiping God. Thank you so much for this opportunity for us all to come together. People that are imperfect, people who may have had a good week or may have had a tough week, regardless of what’s going on outside of this, what’s going on in this room is our relationship with you. And so I pray that in this moment of worship, we can feel connected with you. We can let everything else go. We can hear and soak in the words that God put on Virgil’s heart to share with us. And we can come closer to you, closer to one another. I pray all of this in your holy name. Amen. About Nick Wallace. This morning. We know that God is here.

We know that his presence is here. I prayed this morning that we would receive what God has for us this morning. Amen. That we would know that we’ve been in the presence of God, that you would know that the Spirit of God has been in you. And you feel that this morning. And he makes us. And he creates us. And this. This next song talks about how he makes us brave and courageous. So sing this out with us.

(WORSHIP)

You can be seated. Well, good morning, everyone. It is so good to be with you. I want to welcome you to East Side, whether you’re here on campus or watching online. We are in the final week of the sermon series Double Blessing. And if you’ve not been around, give me 2 minutes to catch you up. In week one, we talked about this, our deal of original blessing. Before original sin, there was an original blessing. And we went back to Genesis chapter one. And there, we uncovered this concept of original blessing. It’s God’s most basic instinct is to bless you now. God bless sin or pride or any of that. You have to position yourself to receive the blessing, but God wants to bless you and me in ways that we cannot imagine or ask or even pray for. And He wants to bless us in categories that we cannot even fathom. Then last week, we talked about the attitude of gratitude. We talked about this attitude of gratitude challenge. And if you have not joined in on this at the end of the service, I’m going to give you the instructions, but I won’t encourage you to be a part of this challenge. And here’s what I said last week whatever we don’t turn into praise, it turns into pride. And then we talked about the Talmud.

Remember what the Talmud is. It’s the Jewish commentary on the Old Testament. And the Talmud says a man embezzles from God when he makes use of this world without uttering a blessing. I said that a couple of different ways. I said, is that it is grand larceny. If we do not give gratitude, anything less than gratitude is grand larceny, then anything less than gratitude is grand larceny. I said, if we don’t count the blessing, then we discount the blessing. And the gratitude journal is a good place for us to start. Well, this weekend, I will talk about how to flip the blessing. Now, for many of you, when I talk about flipping the blessing, you think of it as a catchphrase, but it’s more than a catchphrase. I want it to be a way of life for you. And I know if we’re going to make this a way of life, then we have to make some intentional decisions. We have to form some habits, and we have to establish the right mindset. Now, I want to go back to the beginning and help you to understand the concept of flip the Blessing and double Blessing and which is called the sermon title for today. And I want us to go back in our minds to after the Israelites have been in captivity for 400 years, they’ve come out of captivity. They have the exodus out of Egypt. And you remember that the Israelites encountered some pretty amazing divine moments or defining moments, remember? That’s right. There’s the Mount Sinai experience. There are the Ten Commandments. There’s where God makes us sidewalk all the way through the Red Sea. You’ll recall that God served the nation of Israel breakfast in bed every morning with this little what we for wait for that is called what manna? Correct.

But there are all kinds of defining moments. But maybe the defining moment in all of the history of Israel as they’re being led out of captivity and toward the promised land is this moment when the priests are instructed by God to pronounce a blessing. This blessing is very similar to the original blessing, and it’s found in Numbers chapter six, verses 24 through 26, and it says.

Numbers 6:24-26 (NLT) 

May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show yot his favor and give you his peace.”

Now, folks will have to be really, really careful. And we cannot look at this as abracadabra. We cannot look at this as a spell that we cast. We have to understand that this is an ancient blessing with ancient, biblical, godly authority. Now, let me just kind of connect the dots for you. So we go back to the blessing in Numbers chapter six. Now we’re fast forward to the first epistle of Peter. Now Peter is writing to the persecuted Christians in the ancient world. The persecution of the Christians has caused the Christians. To just spread out and to move because of the persecution now knows what he says. And Peter does something here that is very interesting. He says this and First Peter, chapter two, verse nine.

1 Peter 2:9a (NIV) 

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood a holy nation, God’s special possession

Now, in the Old Testament, the people did not approach God directly, right? Because in the Old Testament, there was a license between the people and God, and that lesson was whom? It was the priests. Remember, the people would bring their sacrifices to the priests. The priests would make the sacrifice on behalf of the people.

And then God would pronounce the blessing. The priest would take the blessing and give it to the people. Now, what Peter does, and first Peter, Chapter Two, verse nine. He turns the priesthood, the priesthood upside down on his side. We call it the priesthood of believers. And it’s important that we understand that. So here’s this priesthood of believers. Now, here’s what I don’t think that we understand. I don’t think that we understand the gravity of this concept of the priesthood of believers. I don’t think that we understand the implications or the ramifications of the priesthood of believers. No, the priesthood of believers means that you are now the priest, that you are the priest at this very moment. It that is your job Monday through Sunday to pronounce blessings wherever you go and upon whomever you meet; it’s important that you understand this. Now, some of you said, Well, I’m a teacher, I’m a lawyer, I’m an Uber driver, or whatever you may be. And can I just say something to you? That whatever your occupation is, whatever your title is, I would add a hyphen to your title. You are now a lawyer having a priest. Now your teacher having a priest. Now you’re over, happen priest. Is that your job Now that wherever you go and whomever you meet, you pronounce a blessing upon them? Because if you are part of Christ, you are part of the royal priesthood. Now, look at the second part of this verse.

1 Peter 2:9b(NIV)

That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Thus the attitude journal. And then, not only are we to declare God’s praises, we are to announce God’s blessings. Now, folks, we have talked about in the past about how that we are one church, and we’re planning on going to seven or eight campuses. But can I just say something to you? That we don’t, we’re not; we don’t have seven campuses. We have hundreds of campuses. Because whenever your home is, wherever your family lives, there is a campus that is a priest on behalf of God. And it’s your responsibility, your job, to declare the presence of God and to somehow or another help people to understand that you are to pronounce a blessing upon them. So we don’t have 12 staff members. We have thousands of staff members. And when you leave this place, it’s you don’t leave the presence of God here. You take the presence of God with you. And wherever you go, you pronounce the blessings of God on the people that you encounter. Now you can just say, we’ll pass through this Old Testament. Well, what about Jesus? And what about his life? Well, turn with me to Matthew chapter ten. And in Matthew, Chapter Ten, Jesus is commissioning his disciples on their inaugural mission trip. He’s getting ready to send them out, and he gives them some instructions. And the instructions are counterintuitive. Now, look with me in Matthew chapter ten, verses 12 and 13.

Matthew 10:12-13(NLT)

*When you enter the home, give it your blessing, Itit turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, Take back the blessing.”

That’s what we do to remind ourselves that we are in control. But notice what Jesus says to his disciples. He says to them, When you enter the home, the first thing that I want you to lead with is a blessing. Leave with a blessing. Bless the people who live in their homes when you enter it. Now notice what we’re thinking here. We’re thinking, Well, what if that family is not deserving? What if they blow it? What if they are bad people? What if they have bad character? You know what Jesus says? Jesus says you can always take the blessing back. But what we have to understand is that we have to leave with a blessing. Now, let me ask you a question. What does it mean to lead with the blessing? Well, I wrote down some things. It starts with you and I. Checking our egos at the door. It starts with you and me filling in the gaps with positive assumptions. It’s catching people doing the right thing. It’s talking well about somebody outside of their presence. It’s bragging about people behind their backs. It’s about adding value wherever you go. It’s about love to everyone. Always. Now, here’s the question that you’re thinking about. Does this operating style always work? Do we always leave with a blessing? And does it always work? Well, folks, this is not foolproof because it’s not foolproof. You know what I’m saying? There’s people out there that you will pronounce the blessing. You will flip the blessing, and they will flip you the bird. And you have to take the blessing back. Right? I mean, it’s just the way it works. But Jesus says to leave with the blessing. Notice what he says in verse 14.

Matthew 10:14(NLT)

“If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave.

Right. Listen to your or listen to your message. Shake its dust from your feet as you leave. But it shouldn’t change the fact that we’re to lead. Always with the blessing. OUTFRONT now; we will talk about it in a moment. How do we flip the blessing? But I want to go back even to the very beginning of this concept of a double blessing, a flip in the blessing. It starts with the minor prophet in the Old Testament called Zachariah. Zachariah is riding to the Jewish refugees who’s been in captivity in Babylon. Now notice verse nine with me of chapter nine. Now Zacharias is making a prophetic statement. Now the massive question is, Who is Zachariah referring to when he says, See, your king comes to you righteous and victorious. Lonely and riding on a donkey. Who’s Zacharias referencing to? That’s going to come 500 years later, and he shall come riding into Jerusalem on a coat on a donkey. And people are going to be waving palm branches. Who is he referencing there? Tell me. His name is Jesus. Right. And it was Palm Sunday. Now, notice a couple of verses later he makes this prophetic statement about Jesus. Look with me at verse number 12, and he says to the people, Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope. These are prisoners who are in captivity. They’re prisoners of war in Babylon. But he calls them prisoners of hope. And notice what he does, what he says. Even now, I will announce that I will restore twice as much to you. The message says that I would double your blessings. The new living translation says, for every hurt or every pain that you have. I will give you two blessings. Now, let me just stop here and say something.

You cannot turn biblical principles into predictable equations. See? In other words, because Jesus says that He will double your blessings, does it mean that when you have when been given something, it doesn’t mean the return is going to be 200%? Now, sometimes that’s the case, particularly if we look at the life of Joe Bratt. I mean, Joe is one of these individuals who has tremendous unimaginable pain and burden and loss and death. And folks, when we talk about the blessing without saying that the blessing does not mean that there’s pain and trials and tribulations and tears and all of that, all of that’s involved. But notice what happens in the life of, Joe. We’re going to go to the very last chapter of the Book of Joe. And look with me in chapter 42, verse ten. And notice what the Bible says. When Joe prayed for his friends. Now, folks, you remember the. Friends that Joep had remembered. They were trying to get him to admit his guilt, to admit that he had seen, to admit that he let God down. And those these 41 chapters of, most of them bantering back and forth. But notice what happens. Joe prayed for his friends is, and he prayed and received forgiveness. Folks. Can I say something to you? Forgiveness is one habit of highly blessed people. If you’re really blessed, you’re a forgiving person. Forgiveness can break the curse of four of bitterness. Forgiveness can flip the page on a new chapter of blessing. But notice was this When Joe prayed for his friends and gave forgiveness to the Lord, he restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before. He doubled the blessing. Now, it’s interesting to me.

This is twice as much as before. Now, most of us in Who’s Counting? Well, the truth of the matter is the Lord is counting because he has a bottle. And it’s his bottle that collects what? Our tears, folks, is that there’s none of my suffering or none of your suffering that ever goes unnoticed by God. God always notice the tears and the pain, and the suffering in their life. So look with me at verse 12 of chapter 42. Show The Lord Bless Jobe in the second half of his wrath, even more than in the beginning. Now. Q Would you say something? How many of you watched Kentucky’s basketball game last night? Kentucky won at halftime, right? But in the end, what happened? They lost. Well, can I just reverse that flip that some of you are losing right now, and you think it’s game over? Are you ready to throw in the towel? Can I just remind you that it’s only halftime, and there’s still the best yet to come. There’s a second half that’s ready to come, and the second half is going to be a season of blessing in your life. Amen. And so look at this. So he says, So the Lord bless you over the second half of his life, even more than in the beginning, for now. Now, notice that he takes inventory. He counts. What does he count? Because it’s in keeping with the biblical principles of the Old Testament. When somebody did something to you, the restitution was always what you pay them back, twice as much as what you have taken from them. So there’s this biblical mandate that we found there in order choices for now. He had 14,000 sheep, 6000 camels, 1000 teams of oxen, and 1000 female donkeys.

Now, folks, listen to me. If God would hold us accountable to that principle, to restitution of twice as much. Don’t you think that he should hold the devil? Who’s the thief? The lawyer who comes to kill and destroy to the exact same principle? Absolutely. I believe that. And I just want you to notice what happens with Joe. And here’s where we begin to flip the blessing. Is Joe, the very first thing that he did in flipping the blessing is that he started with taking an inventory. He started by taking an inventory. He counted the blessings. He saw that it was double the blessing. And my first full-time job in high school, I was a senior. I walked to this little convenience store. It was called Pickwick. That’s the name of a guy. I Made it up, made the signup, and I worked there full-time. And, you know, and we had gas pumps, and we had inventory. And about once a day during the summer because we sold so much gas that I would have to go out that long stick. Has anybody ever had to do that? Take the long stick, goes out open, open the lid up, and take the cap off, and you drop the stick in there, and you measure it. If it was at a certain level, you called the owner, and he would place an order, and then, you know, we’d take the inventory inside the store, and we had to count the cigarettes and how many Marlboro Lights we had. Was it a soft pack, hard pack, you know, a hard box or whatever, Twinkies, donuts, and all of that. And if we missed the inventory, it was usually no big deal because we would only have some upset customers.

But folks, for you and I, the beginning point is to take an inventory of the blessings that God has given us. And thus, this is the reason why. Last week I introduced to you the attitude of gratitude challenge. And this principle is so important because when we take an inventory, and we begin to look at flipping the blessing folks, the way you get it is by giving it. It’s that simple. I mean, folks, it is that you and I are blessed to be a blessing, and God raises our standard of income or living up now so that we can continue to raise your standard of living. He blesses us so that we cannot raise our standard of living, but we can raise our standard of giving. We’re to flip the blessing. And the very starting point is for you and me to take an hour to take an inventory, to write everything down, take really good notes, and then look at God’s blessings. Look at God’s beauty. Look at how God has poured out His power and blessings on us. And then would you take that and bless other people with it? And that is the reason why we did the attitude of gratitude challenge. And the moment I’m going to tell you all about that. The second thing that you have to do in flipping the blessing is to find your signature. Now, to find your signature. Now, let me tell you what I mean by that. I believe that God’s blessings are as unique as our fingerprints. I think that the way that God wants to bless you and so that you can bless others is as unique as you are and as unique as I am. I like what Oswal Chambers said.

He said, Let God be as original with others as He was with you. Is that good? I mean, we want to control people. We want to conform them to what we want them to be. We’ll just let God be original with them because God was original with us. And I think this is true in the area of generosity. There’s this corporate 500 trainer. Her name is Barbara Glantz, and she goes around the country doing pep talks and giving principles to companies. And all the companies she works with are Fortune 500 companies. And so she challenged this one grocery store chain to all their employees. Is that as you go about doing your work? I want you to add a person. No signature to your work. I want you to. To find a way to make your job, have your personal signature. So there’s a bagger at the grocery store. He’s a young man. He has Down syndrome. He got thinking about it and thinking, What should I do? And then he came up with this thought that he’s going to start putting a thought of the day in the grocery bags, you know, in the plastic bags. And so he went home, got on his computer. He printed off some thoughts. He cut them out. And then he started placing the thought of the day in the grocery bags. And then, about a month later, the store manager calls Barbara and says, Hey, Barbara, I want to give you an update on what’s going on. I walked into the store the other day, and Johnny’s Ron was back all the way down the aisle. I went ballistic. I started yelling, opening another cash register up, opening another line that we’re to get people out of here.

And everybody’s going, No, no, no. We’re going to stay here. And Johnny’s right because we’re coming for Johnny’s thought of the day. And one lady says, you know, what is that? I used to come here once a week. Now I come every day because I won’t. Johnny’s thought of the day. And here’s a picture of Barbara and Johnny that, was transformed this grocery store. The manager says to Barbara is Johnny has transformed a grocery store now in the flooring department. We tell you what happens. We have a broken flower. We have an unusual facade. You know what the floor department is doing now? They’re going out finding elderly people and elderly women giving in the flowers to young girls and giving them the corsage. And we’re having a beautiful and great time doing this. And see folks. This is what it means to find your signature. Find how you can bless other people. Again, I like what Oswald Chambers said. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God. But we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things. And see folks, we have to start with an inventory and find our signature. But number three, learn other people’s love language. Learn what makes them tick. You know, I don’t know about you, but I had the tendency to give people the gifts that I wanted to receive. I guess I’m probably the only one who’s guilty of that, right? But I mean, we have to think about what it is that other people actually need rather than what we need. You know, and again, we have to think in terms of time. Talents and treasures and plans. You know, for me, the hardest thing for me to do is to give up my time.

It’s easy for me to give up my treasures, easy for me to give up my talents. But it’s the time thing. There’s a constraint for me. And we have to figure out what is it that the people around us still are standing in need of? And folks, it’s important for us to understand that. And so, there are a couple of resources I would just mention to you real quick. The first one is the book by Gary Chapman, Five Love Languages. When this book first came out, Rosa, we’d been married for six or seven years, and we read this book, and it transformed our relationship. And I just encourage you, if you’ve never read this book, it is worth the $10 that you would spend to read the book is a classic and one that I wouldn’t recommend to those who haven’t read it yet. But it’s on my reading list. Is this book called I Like Giving? It talks about all the different ways that we can give. So. So we have to start out with an inventory. We have to find your signature way to find out what is the love language of other people. But number four, it may be the most personal thing for me, is little things are big things. Little things are big things. And we’re talking about flip-flipping the blessing or doubling the blessing. We’re talking about small things, friends. We’re talking about a smile. We’re talking about a handshake. We’re talking about a hug. We’re talking about the little things in life. And these little things of life are what actually impacts us. You know, a shared with you. And when you do not know that in the text messages and everything else that you know, me and my wife both tested positive for COVID and when we were in quarantine, there’s one guy from this church outside of my family, one guy who sent me a text message every single day.

And he said, Virgil, how are you doing today? How can I pray for you? I cannot do anything for you. Every single day. He didn’t miss a day. You know what that impact was on my life? Like, I don’t think you even imagine what that impact is. It was in my life, but he called me and texted me every single day. Then back in December, when my wife’s mother passed away. And we’re just getting ready to do our third funeral in five days. I was getting out of the shower. I know this image that you don’t want to see, but I was getting out of the shower, and the doorbell rang, and my wife wasn’t there. And it was my life group from Monday, not. Who came bringing us breakfast. They brought a big platter of chicken. Fried chicken minis in orange juice and coffee and other goodies. And then, after the holiday season was over, we got back together on Sunday night with her Sunday nightlife group, and they all gave us this bag of gift certificates and flowers and said, Hey, we’ve just been thinking about you want to love you and love on you and all of those gift cards we used up during our quarantine to help with the food. And see, folks, it’s the little things that make the big difference is, these acts of kindness that are small but have a huge impact. Now, this morning, I’m holding back the worship team to come back out, and they’re going to sing. The same song that we sang last week. Again, the blessing. And I don’t know about you, but when I sing this song. I sing it with full conviction. Now. As you’re coming back out and they’re getting situated. I just want to remind your volunteers that this is a holy moment.

We’re standing on a holy ground setting on holy ground. We’re in the presence of God. Don’t. No one is moving around. But I’m going to challenge you. During this song, do three things. The first one is if you haven’t taken the. The time this morning to write in your journal. Year three gratitude. Make sure that you do that. If you’re new and you haven’t. Gotten in on the attitude of gratitude challenge. There are instructions that have come up on the screen. Just go out and buy a journal. Write down three gratitude every day, and you cannot repeat any of the gratitude has to be different. This is us taking an inventory of the goodness of God. The second thing I want to challenge you to do as you’re doing that is this compassion project. Folks, I’m telling you, God’s moving in this compassion project. You see, folks, some of you, during this sermon series. Now you believe that God’s basic instinct is a blessing. You believed it with your head. But now you’ve got to move it to your heart. And the only way I know how to move it to your heart is for you. To reach into your pocketbook. And for some of you, you can make a one-time donation for some of you. Sign up for generosity, rock star. I mean, we have been able to bless people. We’ve helped a family in her church whose hours have been drastically cut because of COVID. We’ve actually helped them to find a temporary level here to save their house, to help them with their mortgage. We’re able to help people with medical bills. We’ve been able to help people in the community. And I share that not to embarrass anyone but just to let you know that we’re making a huge impact.

And for all of you, that’s already signed up, thank you. Because your generosity is someone else’s miracle. And the last thing I more encourage is for you to take communion. Now, folks, why have we done communion all three weeks? It’s really simple communion. Is the pilgrims back to the cross. See, folks? Is it the cross? With the blessing was the flip. Have you ever thought about this? But the Roman Cross was a. Symbol of shame and suffering. But Jesus took that cross that is full of shame and suffering. And he flipped the blessing. He reversed the curse. You know what he did? Now the promise is that of hope, love, and forgiveness, and communion reminds us of the fact that Jesus flipped the blessing. And so that’s the reason why we’re doing it. And before the worship team sings over us. I just want to pray for you this morning. So, Father, right now. Would you ask? That we would receive. Your disposition toward us of that one of being a blessing. You want to bless us in ways that we know nothing about in categories that we know nothing about. Thank you. That the cross flips the blessing for all of eternity. The father. We pray all these things and the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Shine upon us, Lord. You are waiting to shine on us so that you turn your face toward us. Oh, how can anybody? How can anything? How can anything in this world be against us when you are for us, and we just love you, and we praise you? We just lifted you this morning. We thank you this morning. And we receive this blessing this morning for who you are in Jesus’ name. Good morning, East Side. My name is Amanda Meeks, and I’m here this morning to talk to you a little bit about the next steps and my giving journey. Bear with me because I, before I got up here on my watch, just told me my heart rate was high. So my husband and I have been discussing over the last several weeks on increasing our giving. And when Pastor Virgil started talking about the Compassion Project, we realized that that was the perfect opportunity for us to do just that, for us to increase our giving. I picked up the phone, I texted Nicole, and let her know that we wanted to do that, and she did it for us. It was super easy, and it was super simple. Giving for us has not always been that simple. When Chris and I first started our giving journey, we were newly married. We did not have a lot of extra money, but we felt like God was asking us to step out on faith and to give. And so we timed our first check to East Side, and we weren’t really sure how that week was going to pan out for us, but we did it. We stepped out on faith, and we decided we were going to listen to God. And in that very same week, we were surprised to get a check in the mail and get a letter from our insurance company, State Farm, and they were reimbursing us for us overpaying on our insurance premium that week.

And I can remember us looking down at the check and looking at each other and looking at the check because that check was written out to us for the exact same amount down to the dollar that we had tithed our first time here at Eastside. And mind you, we have never received that from our insurance company before that or since then. And so we knew in that moment that God was going to take care of us, that no matter what, no matter the circumstances, that as long as we stepped out on faith and we trusted him, that we would always have enough. And no matter what life is thrown at us, the financial crisis that has come up as everybody has, God has always seen fit that we had enough. So I encourage you that if you’re here today and you feel like you need to give. If you feel a nudge, that nudge is the voice of God. It is the Holy Spirit telling you to give. Do not leave here today without doing that. It’s an easy way to give. You can go online at Eastside K. Why not church slash give and do that? Or you could even pick up the phone and call Nicole just like I did. And it’s super simple. But don’t leave here today without answering the call of God. Pray with me. Dear heavenly father, I just thank you for this day that you’ve given to us. Thank you for each and every soul, every person who’s here today in the sanctuary, and be with those who are joining us online. Bless us. Lord, help us to get past our fears and to trust you. And to trust. What you want us to do. Be with us as we leave here.

Keep us safe and keep us healthy. And in your name. Amen. You’re dismissed. That is.