Title: Let's live as people who bless.
Contents
Title: Let's live as people who bless. Text: Joshua 22:7-9
We need to know that living as a person who gives happiness rather than a person who is happy is a blessed life. Today's text is a scene where Joshua blesses the warriors of the Reuben tribe, the Gad tribe, and the half tribe of Manasseh and sends them to their inheritance and family. And Joshua gave them many spoils and sent them away. The most important thing in this scene is the part where it says 'bless them'. Joshua gave many material things, but he did not forget to bless with something more important than that. Joshua 22:8 The important thing is to receive the blessing prayer. Let us all bless and be blessed for one another. True blessing is to bless. One of the biggest things we have to do is to live with blessings. Cursed words are the words of Satan. Blessings are the words of the Holy Spirit. Psalm 109:17-18 If you love to curse, the curse will return to the curser. Conversely, the person who likes to bless will return the blessing to the person who blesses. So let's live as people who bless.
1. A true blessing is to be endowed with the power to benefit.
Joshua 22:7 In the Bible, the Hebrew word ‘wayebarakhem’ translated ‘to bless them’ is ‘barak’, which means ‘to kneel down’, ‘to bless’ or ‘to praise. Here, 'barak' means 'to give beneficial powers'. In the Old Testament, barak speaks of endowing powers for success, prosperity, production, longevity, etc. When Joshua sent the brothers to his home on the east side of the Jordan, he gave them wealth, many clothes, gold and silver. But more important than material things is blessing. Joshua blessed them with “power to benefit.” God did not give Joseph any material things. He has given him the power to benefit wherever he goes. So even when he was sold as a slave to Potiphar's house, the hardships in prison benefited Joseph. God is the One who gives us the power to help us through hardships and trials.
2. What is the secret to receiving power to benefit?
3. What will the blessed do?
Joshua 22:8 The most important thing for the blessed to do is to share their blessings. Why? Is Joshua telling us to distribute the spoils to our brothers who did not go to war in person? The total number of the three tribes on the east side of the Jordan was 110,000. Among them, 70,000 people participated in the war. There are 40,000 people left. Although they did not go to war, they remained in the land east of the Jordan to take care of the city and livestock. When they went to war, they gave them psychological stability by taking care of their homes and livestock so that the soldiers could fight hard. It was also because they cared for and protected their families from outside invaders. They also provided adequate supplies for the war. We need to know this. The more blessings are shared, the more abundant them. Blessings grow the more you spread them out. I am happy because I have neighbors.