Blessed to Be a Blessing: Your Family on Mission
Blessed to be a blessing sounds at once awesome… and a little daunting. Where do we start blessing people when there are SO MANY needs around us? That should make it easier, but honestly, it can kind of shut you down, not knowing WHO to bless or HOW.
This week on the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we talk about how to live fully enjoying the blessings in your life, but also how to live “blessed to be a blessing” to others as a family on mission.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- How many things you’ve truly been blessed with in this life.
- If you’re living as a Conduit or a Barrel.
- 3 powerful, yet simple ways to start blessing others–regularly.
- Ways to include your entire family in blessing as part of their discipleship.
From this episode:
“Imagine a family, or a group of families in a missional community all blessing people in their neighborhood regularly? We suggest 3 small blessings per week each. Do you think people would start to notice something is up with you people?! Would you be a ‘peculiar’ and attractive bunch?”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Join us on Facebook and take part in the discussion!
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of this page or right below.
Also, please subscribe and leave an honest review for The Everyday Disciple Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Free Download of the Big 3 For Episode #400
Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living.
Get Caesar’s latest book: Bigger Gospel for FREE… Click Here
Transcript
God is looking to pour his blessings into your life.
Caesar:He wants that for you and he desires that through you.
Caesar:Others would be blessed.
Caesar:So even though the culture proclaims, he, that dies with the most toys wins.
Caesar:The truth is a life lived seeking to bless others is the surest way to experience a never ending flow of God's richest blessings in your own life
Caesar:and you can test God in this practice of living a blessed to be a blessing lifestyle.
Caesar:He is faithful to keep his promises.
Caesar:I will bless those who bless you and he'll bless you as you bless people.
Heath:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life in other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Heath:This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Heath:And now here's your host Caesar.
Heath:Kalinowski
Caesar:Hey, Hey, good to be back with you.
Caesar:Hope you're doing well, Tina and I just wrapped a week of fun and connecting with family and friends and we.
Caesar:Seven people staying with us for a while, pretty full house.
Caesar:And a whole bunch of them were kids actually.
Caesar:But what a blast we had and we talked about everything under the sun, and of course we find ourselves in conversations and thinking about identity and the Gospel and parenting and all lot of cool stuff all while getting some clamming in.
Caesar:Playing with the kids, exploring the forest and some beaches.
Caesar:I even managed to get some work done and get set up for this podcast.
Caesar:Hooray.
Caesar:All in all an awesome week and a little taste of heaven.
Caesar:Hey, as we're getting started here, I want to invite you to join us on our Facebook group.
Caesar:If you're on Facebook, you're probably digging around, just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.
Caesar:If you've not joined us in the everyday Disciple Facebook group, would you please do that?
Caesar:You can do it real easily.
Caesar:Just search that up or go to everyday Disciple dot com slash Facebook.
Caesar:Always find out about the latest episodes, bonus episodes, any training we have drop some resources and different things in there.
Caesar:Would love to have you join us, please do that.
Caesar:Would love to meet you and get to talk about whatever you want to connected to discipleship or these episodes or whatever.
Caesar:And have you shared this podcast with someone recently or ever we really wanna get this type of information and encouragement out to as many people as possible, but we need your help to.
Caesar:You could share this with your spouse or your small group or Missional Community, maybe post a link to the podcast or a particular episode on your Facebook page or your church's Facebook page and website.
Caesar:There are so many free resources for folks and we're hoping you'll share the wealth a little.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:You can just send people over to every day.
Caesar:Disciple dot com slash listen.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Slash listen, there's a page there links to all the major platforms and ways you can listen to podcasts.
Caesar:We're on everything, but that'll give you an easy way to share the podcast.
Caesar:So now let's get heat on here with me and get into today's.
Heath:Well today, we're talking about blessed to be a blessing.
Heath:And it sounds awesome on one hand and maybe a little daunting on the other.
Heath:Yeah.
Heath:The question is like, how do we start blessing people when there are so many needs around us, it should make it easier.
Heath:But honestly, it kind of shuts me down it sometimes because I don't know who to bless or how to bless them.
Heath:Yeah.
Heath:And I saw a homeless man sign the other day.
Heath:That just was the saddest sign I've ever seen.
Heath:It said homeless and hungry and lonely.
Heath:Oh my God.
Heath:Wow.
Heath:That's a game changer because I'm sleeping on your couch right now.
Heath:I wish I, yeah, so I'm like, I want to, I wanna think about all the time and Kathleen and I are super blessed.
Heath:Right.
Heath:My family's really, really blessed and we've got privilege there at least compared to a lot of the world, but oh, what are your
Caesar:thoughts on this?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Well, I feel you, for sure.
Caesar:It can be daunting.
Caesar:I feel like I get numb sometimes.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:To like the need that's out there now.
Caesar:Like you said, we live very blessed.
Caesar:We do, you know, and my family I've never slept under a bridge or in a car.
Caesar:We we've not missed any meals, at least other than by choice.
Caesar:Fasting or something, but while there are zillion things that I might still want in my life.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Or maybe just a few thousand.
Caesar:My life is super filled with abundance of blessings and awesomeness.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And so around this time of year, like a lot of people do my wife T and I, we like to spend a little time discussing some of the things that we really, that we have.
Caesar:To truly be thankful for mm-hmm and the things on our thankfulness list.
Caesar:It may be similar to a lot of folks who are listening.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:You know, they're things like we're thankful for our relationship with God, with Jesus, like we get to live forever.
Caesar:We're forgiven all of that.
Caesar:We're thankful for how close we are with our.
Caesar:Grown kids and the grandkids and how much fun we're having these days with them.
Caesar:We're grateful for our home and our community and this neighborhood we get to live in and the friends we have here.
Caesar:And if I went for the long list, it would fill several pages.
Caesar:It really would.
Caesar:Sure.
Caesar:I, when I stop and think there's a lot of blessings going on and it would include many more large blessings like health and friendships and also smaller things.
Caesar:My iPad , you know?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And my Harley and so on, but there'd be a lot.
Caesar:And I can remember, um, few years back now, some close friends of ours who live in Tacoma and were part of Missional Community there.
Caesar:They once took this to the next level.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:So after a meal together, one evening, they attempted to make a list of everything that they collectively had been blessed with in their lives.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Like everything.
Caesar:So they, they got out, uh, and maybe we've talked about this on a show before.
Caesar:I don't know, but they got out these giant, you know, like two foot by three foot 3m sticky note pages that kinda, you can stick to the wall and the 10 or 12 of the folks there started writing down everything they had in life that they considered a blessing.
Caesar:But it's pretty much everything you didn't come into the world with, which is everything, right?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:So the exercise took like, I don't know, hour or two, and when they were finished, they had these white, giant sticky pages all over the walls, living room and dining room, down the hallway and up the stairs, a little and all that.
Caesar:And the blessings and resources listed were extensive and they included lots of things.
Caesar:Like not just stuff, but like skills and towns and their dishes and the bedding.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And having an extra room and lawnmower and tools to use and their education and some of the experiences that they'd had in life and on and on.
Caesar:And it was amazing.
Caesar:And they were pretty amazed as well.
Caesar:And, and now though, looking at all this, like a room full of blessings yeah.
Caesar:As a community, they were super challenged as well.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Like
Heath:it would be really easy to see that that would kind of evoke some heart change stuff.
Heath:No kidding.
Heath:I've heard you talk about this before.
Heath:Um, but it can seem hard at times to feel like your life is really filled with blessing because whether it be hardships or disappointments in life, those things tend to Rob us of that reality and it can be challenging to know how to live as a blessing to others.
Heath:So I'm curious, just thinking about the book of Luke and the story of Jesus challenging the rich young ruler.
Heath:Is that how we're supposed.
Heath:Kind of live giving everything to the poor like that.
Caesar:Well, maybe, you know, I actually have some friends that have done that.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:A couple times in their lives where they, they just to be free of entanglement in their hearts.
Caesar:They've given all their stuff away and just like they're sitting in their apartment, like on a beater couch that they couldn't give away cuz no one would have, it was so ratty, you know, but.
Caesar:Let me give, let me give you a metaphor.
Caesar:That's helped me understand this.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:And it kind of, it's a metaphor wrapped in a question.
Caesar:Are we living, are you living as a conduit or as a barrel?
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:So a conduit it's it's like a pipe, right?
Caesar:So I, when I think a conduit, I think of electrical conduit pipes, then wires run it, but it's a pipe really?
Caesar:It's something that water or electricity or any other supply is routed through from one place to another that's what a conduit is.
Caesar:A barrel is used for storing up resources for holding on to them for later use.
Caesar:So you could store up water or grain, right.
Caesar:Or, you know, whatever.
Caesar:And God is looking for conduits of his grace and generosity.
Caesar:He's not looking for barrels to store these things in cuz he's got an endless supply, so he doesn't need us to be a barrel.
Caesar:Sure.
Caesar:Hey store up my.
Caesar:So coveting our things and acting as if we're our own resource of income, supply money, time, et cetera, shows that our hearts are not at peace and ultimately trusting God for all these things.
Caesar:So we, we start to live like a barrel.
Caesar:We hang onto our stuff and we stash it and we stack it up because we believe it's in short supply.
Caesar:So the question that I wanna present is like, which do people listening here ourselves?
Caesar:What do you most often represent a conduit?
Caesar:or a barrel.
Caesar:Wow.
Heath:That's a really helpful analogy too, cuz it just.
Heath:You know, you think of the rain barrels, where you store your water and you hoard it.
Heath:And when you do that with your stuff over time, it becomes territorial.
Heath:Right.
Heath:And like, it's just not the way that Jesus has always called us to live.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:No, exactly.
Caesar:And it's, and it shows that we really, the thing behind the thing is we don't believe God's got more.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Or that it's his not ours, right?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Because everything we have in, life's been given to us both to enjoy.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:We get to, and though be a blessing to others.
Caesar:So like that, that list of pages on the walls, that's all the stuff that the community had been given.
Caesar:And they get to enjoy it, but they also get to look at it differently and go like what, instead of storing it up, like in a barrel, what if we were to share it like a conduit and be a blessing to others.
Caesar:So I wanna say, go ahead and tip over that barrel, right?
Caesar:you and your family and your community.
Caesar:You've been blessed to be a blessing and you can trust God in this.
Caesar:Like you can live the blessed to be a blessing lifestyle.
Caesar:And remember part of the original covenant that God made with Abraham and his offspring, which now includes us in Christ was that he would bless those who bless.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:And the reverse is true too, when we bless others.
Caesar:God blesses us.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:I mean, have you ever experienced that in your life before?
Caesar:Think about it.
Caesar:You went somewhere to be a blessing to others, but you ended up feeling like you were the ones who were
Heath:blessed.
Heath:Well, there's been times too, like even financially where we just feel really called to give to something and we're like, we don't know how this is gonna work out for our finances and it always, somehow we get unsuspected money.
Heath:You know, grandma
Caesar:sent us cuz God is looking for conduits of his.
Caesar:So tell people like you wanna see a lot of blessing and, and resources flow through your life.
Caesar:Live like a conduit yeah.
Caesar:Of his grace.
Caesar:Like I, you know, think about it.
Caesar:God.
Caesar:How does he, how does he meet needs financial, uh, material, emotional, relational needs.
Caesar:Well, largely he meets 'em through people.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:They're not just like, you know, honey, we really need a new car bang.
Caesar:There's just one on the driveway.
Caesar:Sure.
Caesar:I don't know.
Caesar:It's licensed from, you know, it's like who was the previous owner?
Caesar:God, but maybe I've had people give us a car.
Caesar:You ever had that
Heath:happen?
Heath:Not, not personally, but for friends.
Heath:Absolutely.
Heath:Yeah.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:I I've had people give us groceries.
Caesar:We've given like bags of groceries to friends and hooked them up.
Caesar:We've paid for vacations for people or medical bills.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:God blesses through us.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:Right.
Heath:So I'm, you know, I'm kind of curious as you're saying that, I'm sure there's people listening.
Heath:Kind of wondering how do we get started in this sort of lifestyle?
Heath:So I'm kind of curious what are some ways that would help us and anyone listening get started in this kind of blessed to be a blessing sort of lifestyle.
Caesar:Awesome.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And, and, and I, I don't assume that people aren't blessed in others, but I think that I'll just speak for myself.
Caesar:I tend to sort of accidentally or reactively bless people versus looking to proactively bless people.
Caesar:Like always being on the lookout.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:So first things though, I think I'd say is you might actually wanna try making that exhaustive list of everything God has given you individually and collectively as a family.
Caesar:Like really?
Caesar:Yeah, that's good.
Caesar:I mean, this makes for a great family dinner night exercise.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Like, you know, you're doing your family dinner nights.
Caesar:I know a lot of you have started doing that.
Caesar:We talk about it a lot.
Caesar:We coach people to please be doing that, have a special, at least one a week, but that makes a killer exercise and say, Hey kids, we wanna write down everything we have in our life.
Caesar:Like everything and remember list everything that comes to mind skills and talents and spiritual gifts and the kids' beds and your home and tools and their toys and education, and that vacation experience where we learned about, you know, monkeys or whatever.
Caesar:And don't forget your salvation to Christ and, and the now resident, holy spirit.
Caesar:Wow.
Caesar:Right?
Caesar:So this exercise will really surface just how much God loves you and is supplied for your needs.
Caesar:So I think that's a killer starting point, and I know a lot of people just go like, well, we're gonna go around the table and just go, what do you, what do you thankful for like, you know, like Thanksgiving, nothing wrong with that, but I'm just challenging you right now.
Caesar:Try this thing where you're gonna, we're gonna write down everything we have.
Caesar:That's a blessing from God.
Caesar:You know, it almost
Heath:feels like that.
Heath:Experi, we've done something similar and it's once you actually start spending time focusing.
Heath:On what you have and gratitude, focus.
Heath:It just multiplies.
Heath:Cause then you're like, oh, and this and this and this and this.
Heath:And it actually like reshapes your heart of it.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And like, not only do you grow in gratefulness, but you realize just how much God's given you, right?
Caesar:Yeah, absolutely.
Caesar:And so I think after you make a list like that, pray and thank God for all of it.
Caesar:Like really just be grateful.
Caesar:Thank him as a family, do that and then offer them back up to him.
Caesar:Expressing your desire to be a family or a couple, if you don't have kids that lives as a conduit of his grace and his blessings.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Start there, make the list, thank him for it and offer it all back to him.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And ask him to lead you.
Caesar:You guess what he's been, probably been waiting to.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:That is a really
Heath:helpful practical example.
Heath:Okay.
Heath:What
Caesar:would you say is next?
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:So there are three ways that we look at this and we Disciple other people to look at blessing others.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:And I want people to write these down.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Write these three things down.
Caesar:Word action.
Caesar:Gift, word, action gift.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:We can bless people through our words.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Like encouragement, affirmation, and, you know, including them in things, treating 'em like family and speaking that, that's how I see you speaking into their identity.
Caesar:You know, like you were telling me few weeks ago, we were out in the deck doing cigar theology with a bunch of guys.
Caesar:And you were saying how, when you took your kids into bed, Yeah.
Caesar:Every night I tell 'em you pronounce identity over 'em and bless 'em right?
Heath:Yeah.
Heath:Like I find an attribute, something they did and say like, you know what?
Heath:You just, this reminded me of this.
Heath:And I'm so grateful you offer this to our family.
Heath:So every night
Caesar:they're told they're part of our family, so we can offer word blessings to people.
Caesar:And not just accidentally, randomly, but intentionally.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Second one actions.
Caesar:We can bless people through action, gifts, gifts of service, where we do something for them.
Caesar:We serve 'em in some small way, and those generally are free as well.
Caesar:Just like word gifts are sure.
Caesar:And, and then we get to the gifts.
Caesar:So I said, word action or gift.
Caesar:Now this gets into some of our stuff.
Caesar:right.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:So we can give a person a gift.
Caesar:It could be small or large, but usually it's something small or something that we already have.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:Something that we know would bless them.
Caesar:Now you gotta be in relationship with people.
Caesar:You gotta get to know people's stories, but if you're doing community with people yeah.
Caesar:So they even think people within your own Missional Community, but then take the rings out a little wider and go, okay.
Caesar:People in our neighborhood that are maybe leaning into relationship and community.
Caesar:Sure.
Caesar:And then there's those people that are just acquaintances, but through getting to be better listeners and paying attention, I realized like that guy's lawnmower, he's always pulling on the cord and cursing his head off.
Caesar:So like we decided to go ahead and just like we have.
Caesar:Seven lawnmowers in our community.
Caesar:We're just gonna share the six other ones and give this guy, this poor guy, a lawnmower.
Caesar:So he doesn't have a heart attack, you know, or whatever.
Caesar:So word action or gift blessings to people, right?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:So you start thinking through those categories and you'll find there's a lot of ways that bless people.
Caesar:Yeah.
Heath:One of the, a simple thing too, though, is that we did recently to help bless our community.
Heath:Was we noticed at the local school, there was a bunch of basketball courts and the nets have been up.
Heath:250
Caesar:million years ripped on, jumped on, hung on.
Caesar:Yeah, you go to
Heath:Amazon, you get 'em for seven bucks and you just go out and Renet the, and now it's a place that's drawing the community together.
Heath:I mean,
Caesar:it's just little cause you noticed you paid attention.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:You just paid attention.
Caesar:I love it.
Caesar:So, so here's how this looks as a family, especially if you're looking to be more intentional with relationship building.
Caesar:Sure.
Caesar:And Missional presence in your neighborhood with, with both friends and your kids and your kids, friends and all that.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Like you have kids, right?
Caesar:So try this.
Caesar:And you'll see that this is something that can easily become a family rhythm that you do weekly or monthly as a family.
Caesar:If you got kids or just as a couple talk and pray about who God would have you bless.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:Like, just talk about it.
Caesar:Like what a cool conversation to have as a family.
Caesar:Like who could we bless through either words, action or gifts.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And just discuss it and your kids will have ideas.
Caesar:Trust me.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:And so will you.
Caesar:Ask your kids who they'd like to bless either themselves, like they wanna do the blessing or like, Hey, as a family, who could we bless?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Like say that gives them that, that, that allows you to do it together.
Caesar:And it expands their mind like, oh, I could take a cookie to my teacher.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Get no move beyond that.
Caesar:I mean, that's a good thing.
Caesar:Sweet.
Caesar:You know?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:But boom, boom.
Caesar:But, um, but like, think about like, Hey, as a family, who would you like to bless?
Caesar:Sure.
Caesar:And let their little brains start going on that then decide, and God will tell you if you ask him how you.
Caesar:Best bless that person.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Will you, will you write them a note of encouragement?
Caesar:Will you call them and check in on something going on in their life and pray with them?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Like those are word gifts.
Caesar:Will you do some small active service for this person or family?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:So you figure 'em out right?
Caesar:maybe it's offering somebody a ride somewhere or you offer to take the kids after school for a neighbor.
Caesar:Sure.
Caesar:Or do, Hey, we're gonna come over and do some yard work for you or a dump run.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:You know, like get rid of all your stuff.
Caesar:Like I see you got a bunch of stuff behind your garage, man.
Caesar:I, I had that all last year.
Caesar:Sorry about that.
Caesar:But I finally got it to the dump and I, my brother-in-law's got a pickup truck, so let's get this done, right?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Or maybe a gift.
Caesar:Would you give 'em a small gift and let them know that you care for them?
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:Or take 'em a meal or take them out for a.
Caesar:Or maybe give them something that has special meaning to you and your family.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And, you know, they would like it and value too.
Caesar:Maybe they've commented on it when they've been over your home.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:See, people are blown away by this stuff when it's intentional like that.
Caesar:Not like something comes up and you're like, oh, I guess I could help.
Caesar:But like the fact that you're thinking about them and you're intentionally blessing people.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Imagine a.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:Or a group of families in Missional Community in proximity to one another, all blessing people in their neighborhood in this way.
Caesar:It'd be amazing.
Caesar:It'd be crazy.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:And we always suggest three small be blessings per week each.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Like an Missional Community.
Caesar:Like, Hey, let's pray as families.
Caesar:What are three small things we could do to bless people each week and we're gonna discuss it and pray about it.
Caesar:And then we're gonna let each other know how it.
Caesar:I'm just saying, pick one, try it.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:But do you think if like you were doing that as a family, just as one family, but multiple families.
Caesar:Whoa.
Caesar:You're blessing three people a week in your neighborhood.
Caesar:Do you think people would start noticing?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:You know, what's funny is like, what's up with these people,
Heath:right?
Heath:Why are you so nice to me?
Heath:We did that recently with a couple, uh, two or three houses down.
Heath:We knew they had a hard week and we're like, you know, we don't know much about them, but we wanna develop relationship.
Heath:Yeah.
Heath:And so we just sent them an Uber eats credit and said, Hey, I know you had a hard week order in tonight.
Heath:Be.
Heath:Just small things like that.
Heath:Yeah.
Heath:Where you go.
Heath:Don't worry about cooking dinner.
Heath:Like just order from wherever you
Caesar:like.
Caesar:And I know some people are thinking like, is the goal just to be nice?
Caesar:Well, no, first off blessed to be a blessing.
Caesar:That's part of God's original covenant, right?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And taking, remember it's back to this idea of living as a conduit of his grace.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:That's a picture of what God's like.
Caesar:And, and like we said, how does he.
Caesar:Most often route blessings through humans.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:I mean, sometimes he blesses through his spirit or through the word, things like that internally, but, but most everything else comes through humans.
Caesar:Paul called it the mystery revealed.
Caesar:Whoa, God's gonna bless the world through us, through people.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Whoa, my goodness.
Caesar:But also remember we say that the kingdom of God expands at the speed of relationship.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:And the Gospel moves along the lines of trust.
Caesar:And so blessing people like this in rhythm, living as a family, that's blessed to be a blessing.
Caesar:You're gonna become that family in the neighborhood that people love and trust and want to have you at parties.
Caesar:And when you're starting to throw that weekly barbecue or an open table, they're like, heck yeah, we want to go to that.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:These people blessing everybody, you know, trust me.
Caesar:It's how it all fits together.
Caesar:People ask all the time like, oh, we're inviting people.
Caesar:No, one's coming over.
Caesar:Try starting blessing people like crazy before you invite.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:It's lots of stuff.
Heath:And I would say for those are just like, is it goal to be nice?
Heath:I think everyone in the world could agree that we could all use a little bit more
Caesar:niceness right now, right?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:There's certainly goals not to be not nice.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:yeah.
Caesar:Jesus sums up the law.
Caesar:He says in the prophets, like do unto others, like treat people the way you'd wanna be treated.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:How about that?
Caesar:Well, you know what?
Caesar:I would love, I would love it if people blessed me a lot more.
Caesar:Yeah, absolutely.
Caesar:Like, not that I have need, but like just the fact that someone's thinking about me and they're calling with a word gift, you know?
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Or an action gift, like, Hey, I saw you doing this.
Caesar:And so like, how about I help you knock that out?
Caesar:Like, that'd be great, you know?
Caesar:And people have sure people do.
Caesar:And I remember 'em and like, you know, and I remember that person, so favorably.
Caesar:Yeah, exactly.
Caesar:Thank you.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Hey, Heath, as always.
Caesar:I wanna leave everyone with the big three takeaways from what we've been talking about today.
Caesar:If nothing else, you don't wanna miss these, and you can always get a printable PDF of this week's big three it's free download.
Caesar:Just go over to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three.
Caesar:Caesar, what are the big three for this week?
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:If nothing else don't miss these first God is looking to pour his blessings into your life.
Caesar:Mm-hmm he, he wants that for you and he desires that through you.
Caesar:Others would be blessed.
Caesar:So even though the culture proclaims, like, you know, he, that dies with the most toys wins.
Caesar:The truth is.
Caesar:A life lived seeking to bless others is the surest way to experience a never ending flow of God's richest blessings in your own life.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And you can test God in this practice of living a blessed to be a blessing lifestyle.
Caesar:He is faithful to keep his promises.
Caesar:I will bless those who bless you.
Caesar:Right.
Caesar:Amen.
Caesar:And he'll bless you as you bless people.
Caesar:Yep.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:Number two.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:Choosing to live is a conduit of God's.
Caesar:And blessing is a beautiful picture of Jesus life and MI and ministry.
Caesar:Yeah, it really is.
Caesar:And, and while here think about it, Jesus enjoyed his father's favor and closeness, but we never saw him storing up treasures on earth.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:The richest blessing he gave to others was himself.
Caesar:So.
Caesar:Man, this is a big one, given the gift of your time and presence, as you seek to shoulder, the pain and needs of others is exactly what Jesus did with his life, death and his resurrection.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:It's the epitome of
Heath:being a follower of Jesus.
Heath:Yeah.
Heath:Yeah.
Heath:Right.
Heath:It's
Caesar:beautiful.
Caesar:All right.
Caesar:Number three, man.
Caesar:Third thing is, there's no such thing as small blessings, quote unquote, when they flow from God through us to others.
Caesar:Hmm.
Caesar:Okay.
Caesar:So I wanna challenge you again, make a list of all the things you have in life.
Caesar:Remembering.
Caesar:everything you have is a gift from God.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:It's not from your own effort.
Caesar:And then ask the holy spirit to show you how to live as a conduit instead of a barrel.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:And who can you bless in either words, actions, or gifts today, or this week or next week, ask God to show you who, how and when, and I promise you, he will show you.
Caesar:Yeah.
Caesar:Hey, if you're interested in learning our full framework for discipleship and living as a family on mission.
Caesar:And if you want to grow in your Gospel, fluency, how the Gospel speaks into everything and all of everyday life.
Caesar:I'd love to tell you more about the coaching that we offer.
Caesar:Let's set up a short zoom call or phone call, get to know each other a little better.
Caesar:I'll answer any questions you have, and I'll tell you about the coaching and hopefully get you started with Tina.
Caesar:And I soon you can find out more information and there's a little form to get ahold of me.
Caesar:Go over to everyday Disciple dot com slash coaching.
Caesar:It's pretty simple.
Caesar:And I'd love to be able to do this with you.
Caesar:Well, that's it for this episode.
Caesar:I sure hope you'll join me next week.
Caesar:We're gonna continue to help you confidently and skillfully lead others in a lifestyle of discipleship and mission.
Caesar:It's the only way to live and there's no going back.
Caesar:I'll talk to you soon.
Heath:Thanks for joining us today for more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday Disciple dot com.