Foolproof Humility [Part 2]

Allen Wright, pastor, Bible teacher and author of his latest book, the power to bless part of the fruitfulness that emerges in the life of a person's been blessed as it comes out of a commitment and a work ethic in their life that was born out of seeing themselves as a valuable human being who has something to contribute your Allen right to another message of new that will help you see your life will I am being excited for you to hear today's discussion from the studio in our special Friday blessing broadcast Pastor Alan reading from an excerpt his new book the power to bless Pastor Alan it's good to be with you again today and we can jump in at work and be looking a bit today in chapter 6 all right halfway through the book and that there is so much good stuff here. I can't wait to talk about some of the themes from this chapter before we jump into it all and remind our friends. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program you can get our special resource.

Right now, which actually is a bundle of the book, the power to bless along with the digital video series that will receive an a study guide and you can use this for home study group study and it can be yours for your donation this month to Allen right ministries so as you listen to today's discussion go deeper and we happy to send you today special offer with your donation of any amount to Allen right ministries contact us at pastoralan.org that's Pastor Alan.org or call 877-544-4860, and more on all of this later in the program right now as we get started I read the first line in chapter 6 Allen I coach Bennett's childhood soccer team for years because no one else would do it. My first question is, I feel like most of my friends in America did not grow up knowing inherently how to play soccer.

This is more of an acquired sporting that we learn as Americans, as opposed to maybe baseball or football or is just more like you're born into what was your story on this well to learn the finer points of it. Unfortunately, I actually played soccer and in high school and a good high school team and so actually knew something about soccer and for years Bennett was on a soccer team and I didn't let anybody know that I had played soccer before Gladys knew what would happen is you know something and so for years I have the fact in them and then we lost our coach and I just didn't have the heart to hide it from people anymore that I actually had some soccer experience and so I became the coach for a season.

Guess about three or four speakers are so coach and Dennis soccer team. It was fun with it is a fun game and I think fun is. The keywords were diving into this particular topic here in Canada sentiments from your wife in this whole is whole endeavor.

So if we jump into the book and the discussion in this particular section is blessed to be twice fruitful. So why the story and and what point are you well, it was his a funny it's a funny thing you know, when you begin thinking about fruitfulness and success which we want to talk about today. The fact the matter is that God does care about this. He wants us have fruitful lives and maybe is not exactly the way that we might envision it sometimes, but it first was Goshen arts are the soccer team are our guys, we were thankfully we were in in the less competitive league and in so you know I remember the guy was ahead. Aaliyah got all the coaches together for trainees and our member, little kids playing soccer so there's two things I want the number one they want to kick the ball and number two, they want you to snack a sense of the rules of the optimist soccer league are everybody gets to kick the ball and everybody just ate a snack and desired by got a player by get a snack. So it wasn't the real serious league, but we wear furs. Our team is what we just we just weren't very good try my best to coach him to get some better skills going in and is low but surely little bit of improvement but every week we would be walking out on a Saturday morning and my wife would say.

Now Bennett remember it's not is not whether you win or lose that matters.

It is all about having fine so you go out there and have fun and we go out and then we go to lose you know I don't, I connect with and we walking out on Saturday morning. She said remember Bennett saying I'm finally say I know mom is not whether you win or lose it as well. You have fun. I will try to have fun today and after after about lose about five games in a row.

I finally just came to, I told my happy noncompetitive wife. As I said sweetie.

I do appreciate your positive words. I really do and I and I know I can tend to be competitive, but Isaac could you please quit saying that I mean I it doesn't matter a least a little bit whether we win or lose… I do want to do some winning and I said furthermore I said II think that you know though males especially in our society tend to become over competitive and and people idolize success. I sent these boys are going to have to grow up and live in a world of some competition, and in one of these grows out to be a corporate salesman. His boss probably wouldn't send them out, saying, remember not, whether you make the sale or not is just about having fine here and if that salesman comes home dejected.

One day because he just lost his major count did not go pay the bills. It wouldn't help of his wife said well as long as you had fun today dear, you know that's not the way it's going to be and so and and heard me, she smiled. She understood that over the years, our team got better kicking the ball and and and I last season. Actually I think we went undefeated in and everybody realize the snacks always taste better when you win the soap to bring all that up to say Daniel, you know, it's a tricky thing to talk about success. Because in American culture we can make an idol out of success in whatever that means. But when Joseph had his second child in Egypt.

He named him Ephraim. It is in the Hebrew should be pronounced Friday and it means doubly fruitful or twice fruitful part of that was. This is a second check in boy but here's Joseph who was experienced so much hardship as we talked about named his first born Manasseh, which means forgot all my troubles, but the second born, he called Ephraim it means means I'm a twice is fruitful. I think partly it's really prophetic amazing twice as fruitful as I can ever imagine being so blessed by God and soap for 3800 years Jewish dad's been following the command of Scripture to bless their boy saying. May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh, and when you say that to someone they got make you like Ephraim.

It's a wonderful picture of what blessing does in general and that is its blessing people for the fruitfulness of their lives. And that's a big part of what blessing does it helps empower others to live fruitfully in other words, in the simplest terms, blessing helps fuel our success in the power to bless and by the way, we have talked about it a lot. Throughout this series on on how practical it is and by the time you make it even to the end of the book, you'll have even in the appendix. Even we call it worksheet style.

Fill in the blank to help you get started on crafting a blessing for someone and into bless the mentor fruitfulness. Really I mean I think that's kind of part of our our our goal here is to say you know what it sets a godly thing to want to be fruitful and to be successful in God and God certainly has that plan for your life so blessing someone to be fruitful is what we can learn from this application know God in the beginning he blessed Adam and Eve and then he said, be fruitful and multiply. So blessing is pictured is a mystical grace at work that's helping foster someone's fruitfulness and he said in Deuteronomy. He'll love you, bless you and multiply you will bless the fruit of your womb. The fruit of the ground when he said the people into the promised land he intended them to win every battle. Jesus wanted his disciples to be fruitful. He said in John 15 eight by this my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so when he tells one of his most important parables. It's about man that Leah wealthy man leaves his servant various amounts of treasure talents and he really liked comes back and commends the servants who invested their talents for fruitful return. So it's important that we accept the fact that this something beautiful and good about about bearing fruit and certainly that includes the fruit of the spirit, love and joy and peace in patience and kindness. And so what I think happens is that when we bless we are speaking a positive vision over someone's life affirming them, giving them a sense of deep acceptance that is in our own heart of love and in Christ and what happens is when people are blessed they began to to bless other people and and that's where real fruitfulness in oh begins to come from is that we feel so blessed ourselves, we can't help but be a blessing to someone else friend of mine says you know he's he's heard the quote that it doesn't matter what you believe is on her sincere about it. He says well if you're wrong, I guess you're sincerely wrong but I guess it maybe it does feel a little strange to think some of us in the Christian faith grew up thinking that that you shouldn't care too much about results of the just about your you. You're either your commitment to God. Your obedience to God or something along those lines, but in the book your you do talk about that even you fell into that right falling to believe the resultant matter so much in Ito River drizzle chart ultimate but it's important to God that we live fruitful lives were made for that. So please just talk about the fruit of kindness.

For example, the people that I love and note include my own children. Others I'd like for them to be more kind that's a fruit of the spirit itself is a wonderful thing. Well, how does that happen was inching. Researchers AM Ison and PF Levine conducted a famous study. Back in 1972 was all about observing the potential altruism of people who just stepped out of a phone booth. You don't remember that ancient clear box that device and therefore talking people. So what they did was they set it up such on on the sidewalk.

A seemingly random passerby