Sermon 11 September 2016 By Bruce McCallum

2. ‘Blessing’ - Defined
BARUCH – to bless – “to kneel down
before someone” (Lit).
Spiritual connotation is “to empower to
prosper”

3. HEBRAIC TRANSLATION – Num. 6:22f
“YHVH will kneel before you presenting gifts
and He will guard you with a hedge of
protection. YHVH will illuminate the wholeness
of His Being towards you, bringing order, and
He will provide you with love, sustenance, and
friendship, YHVH will lift up the wholeness of
His Being and look upon you, and He will set in
place all you need to be whole and complete.”

4. Deuteronomy 30:1-30 (NIV)
19 This day I call heaven and earth as
witnesses against you that I have set before
you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your
children may live

5. 1. Blessings are still real today
‘… blessings and curses. Now choose life …’

6. Genesis 27:27 – 30 (NIV)
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the
smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
"Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give you of heaven's dew
and of earth's richness -
an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you
and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed."

7. This is what a spiritual blessing looks like:
• It’s spoken: words release blessing
• It’s deeply intimate: kiss, personal
recollections
• It always has a measure of prophecy in it
• It’s certain – Isaac could not revoke it
• It’s powerful - it shaped both Jacob’s &
Esau’s future

8. 2. If blessings are real today, so are
curses
‘… blessings and curses. Now choose life …’

9. Jude 1:6 (NIV)
And the angels who did not keep their
positions of authority but abandoned their
own home …

10. Judges 6:12-15 (NIV)
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he
said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." 13 "But sir,"
Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this
happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers
told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us
up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and
put us into the hand of Midian." 14 The LORD turned to
him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel
out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 15 "But
Lord, " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is
the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

11. 3. You CAN choose!
 Have you listened to yourself recently?

12. “Believing you are stupid will ultimately
cause you to act stupid which reinforces the
lie that you are stupid.”
As Forest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid
does”

13. 23 "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you
are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ….”
27 “In so doing, they will place my name on
the People of Israel— I will confirm it by
blessing them.
If you say it – God will do it!”

14. 3. You CAN choose!
Change your school, college, small group,
work place. Change our nation.

15. 3. You CAN choose!
Inspire someone’s life

16. 3. You CAN choose!
How do you say something tough to
someone without cursing them
Proverbs 27:6 (NIV)
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but
the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

17. 3. You CAN choose!
What happens when someone speaks a
curse over you – does it stick even though
you don’t want it.
Proverbs 26:2 (NIV)
"Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting
swallow an undeserved curse does not come
to rest"

18. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as
witnesses against you that I have set
before you life and death, blessings
and curses. Now choose life, so that
you and your children may live