Joel Kim

Why is there so much emphasis on where the blessings come from?

Perhaps it's because of our natural tendency to look for blessings in all the wrong places.

True blessing is not the things that you think you can tangibly grab.

But true blessing, according to Psalm 67, is a personal relationship with God and knowing and experiencing his presence and his favor in our lives.

This afternoon, I want to approach Matthew 28 through Psalm 67, so that all of us can recognize that the Great Commission is not a new command given to us, but an old one that displays the heartbeat of God in Christ Jesus from beginning of time, even to all of us who belong to Him in the present day.

So turn with me to Psalm 67.

a short one, and hear now the word of the Lord.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.

Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has yielded its increase.

God, our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us.

Let all the ends of the earth fear him.

One of the theological disputes we had in our family when I was a teenager was the importance of benediction in worship.

Benediction is that prayer at the end, the good word declared to the congregation by the pastor, usually with his hands up, declared for the church members to hear the blessings of God, oftentimes as a young man, simply a time that indicates to us when the worship had come to an end.

Here, his argument that is my father's was that benediction is an essential part of worship.