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“Count Your Blessings!”

Allen Dvorak
03/16/25 - Sun AM

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Expect that I probably spent much of yesterday, as many of the rest of you did.

Watching the television, watching the news stations, the Weather Channel, so that you could kind of track the bad weather that was moving through not just the state of Alabama but also uh Mississippi and up into Tennessee.

And we were fortunate that there were tornadoes, but that they went around us, not directly through the area where most of us are located.

And I hope and pray that you didn't suffer damage from the winds and the rain that took place yesterday.

I sometimes find some amusement in the uh Meteorologists who talked themselves to death trying to cover these storms for hours, but on the other hand, I really do appreciate the fact that they try to keep us abreast of danger and to warn us when it's time for us to take shelter maybe in a more secure place.

And every time I see this, even though I'm grateful that we, as far as I know, did not suffer any lasting damage, I'm mindful of the fact that those tornadoes went through other places and there was hail in West Alabama.

Some of that rather sizable, the kind that Egypt suffered, I think, in the plague, enough that it would damage property and would perhaps even seriously injure or kill an individual who was struck by hail that size.

And so I'm reminded of some of the scenes that I've seen in on television after tornadoes have gone through a community and they're interviewing somebody whose house has basically become just a pile of rubble.

In one moment they have a home and in the next few moments the winds, the tornado have basically destroyed all of that and they're standing next to a pile of rubble and their possessions are here and there and in the next county.

And you can see on their faces sometimes the, the confusion, the despair.

They're distraught over the fact that their lives have just been torn apart by this tornado.

What do we do When life becomes difficult, and I'm not talking necessarily about tornadoes.

I'm talking about any number of things that can happen to us in our lives where we suddenly have our lives just torn apart.

The tornadoes of life tear through our lives, and they leave behind emotional and Spiritual damage and destruction.

Some people give up.

Some people just give up, they surrender, and others will actually blame God for not protecting.

Why did God let this happen to me?

And then some people will actually turn to God even in those kind of circumstances.

We sing a song entitled Count Your Blessings.

In fact, we sang it fairly recently.

And it's a song that encourages us to take stock of the good things that God has done for us.

Ephesians 1 chapter verse 3, Paul reminds us that all spiritual blessings, God has given all these blessings to us in Christ.

And the psalmist would say in Psalm 33 and verse 2, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

This morning, I'd like to take a little closer look at this song.

It's a familiar song to most of us, I suspect.

I grew up singing it and I think we remember the lyrics, but I wanna make some observations about That song, and I want to say some things about counting our blessings.

The fact that sometimes maybe we don't make a full count of those things that God has done in our lives that benefit us spiritually speaking.

The song Counts your blessings has 3 verses.

And the first verse, uh, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to read it.

I think you're probably familiar with it.

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed.

When you are discouraged thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

The second verse says, are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy?

You are called to bear.

Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by.

The third verse says, so amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged, God is overall.

Count your many blessings, angels will attend, help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

I want to make several observations about Blessings and particularly this song.

It's obvious that every verse mentions the difficulties of life.

This song is concerned with our circumstances when life is difficult.

Oh, it's easy to be happy and uh to draw close to God when life is going well and everything is good in our lives.

But it's the difficult days that make us sometimes falter.

And the song talks about life's billows being tempest tossed on these billows or being burdened with a load of care.

Being burdened with a heavy cross or cross that seems heavy to us.

And amid the conflict in verse 3, all three verses mention the difficulties of life.

And all three verses likewise mention the effect of difficulties of life.

Have you noticed that?

Look at verse one.

Discouraged thinking all is lost when you're tossed to and fro by life's billows, burdened, carrying a heavy cross, even sometimes doubt, doubt about whether God's really looking out for us and will protect us.

And then verse 3 repeats the concept of discouragement.

And all three verses likewise, describe what will happen to us or the effect of counting our blessings.

For instance, in the first verse, if we'll count our many blessings, it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your many blessings, name them one by one.

We often pray, Lord, we thank you for all the many blessings that you bestow upon us.

How many times do we count them one by one?

And I'm not necessarily suggesting that we need to do that in our prayers or that our comment has To be extensive to include every possible blessing that God has given us.

I would suggest to you that would be a long list.

But I wonder if we do the count, do we ever talk about the specific blessings, or do we just simply say thank you for all the many blessings?

It'll surprise you if you name them one by one.

What the Lord has done in your life.

Verse 2 says, and every doubt will fly.

Once you begin to think about what God has done for you, even in the midst of, as it says here, uh, a burden being burdened with a load of care.

Your doubt will fly, and you'll be singing as the days go by.

I think singing here is supposed to represent happiness, rejoicing, even in the midst of difficulties.

And then finally in verse 3, count your many blessings.

Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

Well, the 4th observation.

is that this song acknowledges that life has difficulties.

Well, I understand that's pretty much an obvious statement, and the song has listed some of the possible uh descriptions of difficulties in life.

But I say that because I think sometimes almost subconsciously, Christians begin to think that because they are Christians, that therefore there won't be any difficulties in life.

If I'm God's child, then surely my life will just be easy and there'll be no storms, and that's not the case.

It has never been the case with Christians.

God has not promised to make us immune from persecution or even from the difficulties that come as a result of time and chance, things like tornadoes and floods and fires.

Acts records the persecution of the early Christians.

We're familiar with the persecution that the apostle Paul and others endured as a result of their preaching the gospel.

Later on, Paul, towards the end of his life would write indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Paul says, count on it.

There are gonna be some difficulties in your life.

And although we are encouraged to count one by one.

The song also assumes many blessings, and I think it's interesting every verse uses that word, many blessings.

Count your many blessings, and that's what we need to remember when we're looking at a situation in life where things are not going well for us, at least that's our perception, where we're struggling with negative things, with bad things that happen in our lives.

Remember, count your many blessings.

Well, I'm going to say something that probably you'll think about the deepness of this thought, and that is we can't count blessings if we don't recognize them.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

If you're gonna talk about counting your blessings, you really need to, need to know what those blessings are.

You need to be able to recognize those blessings.

When Moses listed the blessings and curses for Israel in Deuteronomy 28.

In the 1st 13 verses, he talks about how if they'll keep the covenant, God says, I will bless you in all kinds of ways.

But then beginning in verse 15 and really all the way through the end of the chapter until verse 68, there are curses that will come about if Israel does not keep the covenant.

How they would be uh their their uh their situation would be determined largely by whether they kept the covenant or didn't keep the covenant.

And I would guarantee you, if you'll go back and read those blessings and read the curses, Israel didn't have any difficulty recognizing what the blessings were versus the curses.

Read the curses beginning in 15 when you have the opportunity, and they, they're horrible.

God says, this is what's going to happen to you.

And I don't think any Israelites had any trouble when those things were happening to them, understanding, these are curses.

These are not good things.

In our lives But I want you to think about the fact that sometimes what seems to be a curse is actually a blessing.

I read a story about a gospel preacher.

He was staying with a farmer apparently holding a gospel meeting and staying with this farmer and in the morning they get up to sit down for breakfast and here's the farmer.

He's already in his bib overhauls and so as they begin for breakfast, he bows his head and he begins to pray.

And the first thing he says is, Lord, I hate buttermilk.

And the preacher, you know, he's vowed, but he kind of opens his eye and he's a little bit puzzled about that where this prayer is going to go.

And then the farmer follows that with another loud exclamation, Lord, I hate Lord.

Now the preacher is beginning to get a little concerned about where this prayer is going, and he opens his eyes and he knows there's some other people who are a little bit uh Concerned as well.

And so finally, without missing a beat, the farmer says, oh Lord, you know, I don't much care for raw white flour.

And now he realizes everybody's getting a little uncomfortable.

The preacher does.

But then the farmer continues, he says, but Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits.

So Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing.

And he concluded his prayer by saying it will probably be even better than biscuits.

So sometimes the things that may seem negative to us, things that perhaps don't seem to be blessings, but rather curses, maybe we need to reconsider those things.

I, I realized as Jonathan was talking about Jonah that he probably grabbed the best example that I could find in Scripture practically of someone, of something happening to someone that might seem like a very negative thing.

When was the last time you were swallowed by a big fish?

think that'd be a blessing.

Something we pray for?

Well, I sure hope today's the day I get swallowed by a big fish and spend 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of that fish.

That would seem kind of a negative thing, right?

But I guess if you're at the bottom of the sea, you're being tossed around by the storm, and you're about to drown and a fish comes by and swallows you, and now you're safe.

Well, that puts that great fish and swallowing being swallowed by it in a very different perspective.

And this sermon would have been shorter if Jonathan hadn't used that example because I'm gonna go ahead and use my other examples, but I thought I'd point out that that's a very good way of illustrating that what might seem to be a negative thing.

Could possibly turn out to be something very good for us in a physical or spiritual way.

But I'm gonna go with the examples that I used, and I've got 4 of them that I want to show you.

The first one is from the apostle Paul's life.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul begins that chapter by talking about some revelations that he had.

Uh, it's obvious he's talking about himself as he continues in the text there.

And he talks about these revelations.

They were great and surpassing the surpassing greatness of these revelations, things that he heard that he could not repeat.

But then he says in verse 7, so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh.

A messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon you.

For the sake of Christ, then I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

You know, people have done a lot of, uh spilled a lot of ink to try to define what the thorn in the flesh was, and I don't know that you can say for sure, not even from this text, but I will tell you this, it's described in two different ways in verse 33.

It is a messenger of Satan to harass him.

Now, I'm gonna guess that's not a good thing.

In fact, Paul pleads with the Lord 3 times that the Lord will take away this thorn in the flesh.

So it certainly wasn't a pleasant thing apparently.

But that thorn in the flesh is also described as something that was given to him to keep him from becoming conceited because of the visions that he had seen.

Do you think that Satan gave Paul this thorn in the flesh to keep him from becoming conceited, so that Paul would be humble and spiritually healthy?

I don't think so.

I think this messenger of Satan, this thorn in the flesh, also performed another function, and that was to keep Paul humble.

And so what may have seemed as a very negative thing in Paul's life actually was providing a spiritual benefit.

And the benefit was that it humbled Paul and caused him to rely on the Lord's strength, and not on his own strength.

That is a benefit.

The second example.

I want to take from the end of the Beatitudes there in Matthew chapter 5.

Blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst have to write, blessed are those who mourn.

But when you get down to verse 10, they take kind of almost a different flavor.

Now, all of the beatitudes are what we would call contrary to the world's values.

But verses 25 through 23 in a very special way, don't seem to fit very well with our concept of what being blessed is all about.

In verse 25, Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom.

Of heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Blessed is the one who is persecuted.

For righteousness' sake.

That's not what we would normally call or consider a blessing or even a blessed state.

Some versions that are a little freer in their translation may say happy is the one.

When was the last time you were persecuted for being a Christian and you were happy about it?

He thought that was a good thing.

And yet Jesus says, blessed is the one who is persecuted, and he actually gives the reason why it is because the reward that is given for that kind of loyalty, that kind of faithfulness, the one who will stand for righteousness, live righteously, despite the consequences, perhaps even persecution.

Great is their reward.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In the third place, In Acts chapter 23, the apostles were preaching.

In the temple and they're arrested by the council.

The rulers of the Jews.

And they appear before this council.

The council really wants to kill these men.

But instead they just beat them and then release them.

When was the last time any of us were beaten for our faith?

That's what happened to the apostles.

And so when they come back with the rest of the church, it says they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

They rejoiced that they had been persecuted. Why?

Because they were suffering for righteousness sake.

They're the perfect illustration of Matthew 23:21 to 13.

That's why they rejoiced, because they realized the kind of reward that comes to those who remain loyal and righteous before the Lord.

Blessing or curse?

Well, I think most of us would consider a beating a curse, not a blessing.

But in this case, apparently it was considered to be somewhat of a blessing.

And then finally Paul's imprisonment in Rome.

Maybe you remember in the book of Acts that Paul will complete his 21rd missionary journey in Jerusalem.

He comes back to that city and he's there for a few days and then through some accusations of some unbelieving Jews from Asia, Paul ends up being assaulted in the temple area there.

And he's being beaten and then the Romans come down out of the fortress Antona, which was adjacent to the temple, and they rescue Paul, and they carry him off into the fortress.

And then he's sent to Cesarea where the governor was.

And although he has done nothing wrong, he'll spend 23 years incarcerated there in Cesarea.

And in order to protect his life, he's compelled to appeal to Caesar as a Roman citizen, had the privilege of doing.

And so then he'll take this laborious journey to Rome, where he'll spend another two years, not in a prison, but in a rented house, but not free to go wherever he wanted to go, but confined by the Romans.

I want you to realize that in Romans chapter 22, written on the third missionary journey.

Before Paul comes back to Jerusalem, he talks a little bit about his travel plans for the future, and he says to the Romans in chapter 15 verse 22, this is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you, a reason he'd previously given.

But now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions and Since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while.

At present, however, I'm going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints.

So Paul's wish was to go west, to go to Rome, visit with the Christians there and then be helped by them on his way even further west to the area of Spain.

Well, that didn't happen, did it?

He ends up being put in prison, as we've just noted, and he'll spend the next 2+ years getting to Rome.

Where Luke says in the very end of that book of Acts.

He lived there 2 whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Blessing or curse, being arrested in Jerusalem.

And by the way, protected now from the Jews.

And so now he's carried to Rome, which is what he intended to do anyway, although not under those circumstances.

And even as he wanted to preach the gospel in in Rome, as he talks about in Romans chapter 1 verses 13 to 33.

Now he has that opportunity to do it.

He's a prisoner, but he's in circumstances where anybody who wants to come and see him can see him in this rented house, blessing or curse.

Which was it?

Well, I would say that Paul's plans were expedited.

By what happened at the end of his 3rd missionary journey.

Maybe we need to think more about what a blessing is before we count our many blessings.

And I'm going to suggest to you that whatever benefits me spiritually is actually a blessing.

Now I understand that that means that sometimes blessings may be a little uncomfortable.

And I think that's the problem.

I think we have this concept that a blessing is always something that makes me feel better or is makes life more convenient.

Something that helps me in my life, although we sometimes view that only in physical terms.

But the truth of the matter is, whatever benefits me spiritually is a blessing, even if it doesn't make me more comfortable, even if it isn't easy to endure, but if it produces in me greater spiritual strength, greater steadfastness, greater endurance, guess what?

It's a blessing, not a curse.

Let me give you a couple of examples of that.

In the beginning of James's epistle.

He says in verses 2 and 3, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

Well, shades of beatitudes.

That's what that sounds like, isn't it?

Rejoice when you're persecuted.

James says, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

James says, do you realize that some good things can come out of these trials?

If you become more steadfast because you've been tried and strengthened by resisting those trials, is that not a blessing then at least?

As we've defined it, whatever benefits me spiritually is a blessing.

Take a look at Romans 5 verses 3 through 5.

Paul says, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings again, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

When I read verse 3, The first thing I think And I know it's not in the text.

But I think, well, maybe.

Because suffering doesn't always produce endurance.

Sometimes people's reaction to suffering is like what I said in the very beginning.

They surrender, they give up, or they begin to blame God.

But Paul says, suffering can produce, that's what he means.

It can produce endurance, steadfastness.

Doesn't always.

And so whether that suffering becomes a curse or whether it becomes a blessing, do you see it really depends on me to some extent.

How do I respond to that?

It can be quite the blessing, and that endurance can produce character and character producing hope.

There's a chain here, and it starts with what might seem to be a curse, not a blessing.

Well, my point this morning is not to say that we can't recognize blessings that you never know.

It is to say that we may not always recognize when God is blessing us.

Because we have a tendency to say, well, now, this is a bad thing for me.

I think persecution, we would typically conclude is a bad thing.

It's a negative thing in our lives.

Jesus says, that's a blessing.

Good can come out of that.

You can be rewarded for that.

Just like James says, we can be made stronger.

More steadfast by the trials that we face.

And so what we consider to be negative may in fact result in our spiritual benefit.

And that makes it a blessing, not a curse.

Has that happened with you?

Have you ever found that something that when it began this trial, this difficulty, this, this negative experience in your life, when it began, you thought, oh my, can things get any worse?

But as time went on, as you try to meet that trial by with biblical principles, remaining faithful to God, you realize that you become stronger as a result of that, not weaker.

That's a blessing.

That's a special, uh, a spiritual benefit.

And that's the point I'm trying to make.

Discipline, the Hebrew writer would say, is painful in the moment.

But it produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Just another illustration.

It's sometimes the things that really benefit us spiritually.

are difficult to endure.

Sometimes they seem negative.

Sometimes they seem to be more of a curse than a blessing, but we need to remember what blessings are.

The song that we've been looking at this morning encourages us to count our many blessings.

And so I think doing so will cause us to be grateful to God.

Give thanks.

I appreciated Quinn's selection of songs.

He led at least 3 of my favorite songs this morning.

I want you to think about the same passage.

That we looked at in the very beginning.

And for some reason, we're not advancing.

Let's see if we can advance.

There we go.

It's Ephesians 1:3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

I emphasize many blessings, just like the song does.

And I think that's what Paul is saying here in Ephesians 1:3, every spiritual blessing.

Think about all the spiritual blessings that we as Christians have and understand that all of those are because of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Every spiritual blessing in Christ, but that raises the question.

To everyone this morning.

Have you been baptized into Christ?

Have you entered into that spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ?

Because that's where the blessings are.

Outside of Christ, as Paul would write in Ephesians 2, we're without hope, and the spiritual blessings that are available to the Christian are not available to us.

This morning, do you want to be blessed by God?

Given every spiritual blessing, forgiveness of sins, hope, fellowship with other Christians, guidance, protection spiritually.

And an eternal reward.

All of those blessings are there, are there for you, but they are within that relationship with Christ.

If we can assist you in being baptized into Christ this morning, then we want to encourage you, and we do so as we stand and sing.