One Hit Wonder

We had a substitute in Sunday School yesterday and I thought, "ok, this will be a boring, overdone lesson that I've heard a thousand times before."  Boy was I wrong!  The LORD kicked me in the pants and gave me 'a fresh Word', as Beth Moore would say.  Michael taught on Luke 16:19-31, which is Jesus' parable about the Rich Man and the Beggar, Lazarus.  He began by saying that we all have our heroes that we look up to and want to be like and in the Christian world we may say that "he/she is a great man/woman of God" or "he/she is blessed of God".  In our culture today the "blessed of God" are those who are successful or prosperous in their career &/or financially or they seem to have the perfect life or family.  But, he said, sometimes the "blessed of God" don't look like it from the outside looking in - this is what this parable teaches.  The parable is about Lazarus, the beggar, who was laid at the Rich Man's door daily longing for scraps from his table.  He was diseased and covered with sores that the dogs licked.  They both died - the Rich Man went to the place of the dead and Lazarus was carried by the angels to be with Abraham.  The Rich Man, in torment, saw Lazarus with Abraham and asked Abraham to have pity and send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool his tongue because he was in anguish in the flames.  Abraham explained why this wasn't possible (verses 25-26) so the Rich Man asked him to send Lazarus to his warn his brothers so they wouldn't also end up in that place of torment.  Of course, that wasn't happening either (verses 27-31).  Michael said the main point of the parable is often missed - it is NOT to tell us what heaven and hell is like.  He pointed out that the Rich Man is never named and a person's name is very important, on the other hand, "Lazarus" means "God helps".  This parable has 3 principals: 1) Being rich and healthy does not mean you are in God's favor.  2) Being poor and sick does not mean you are NOT in God's favor.  3) God may or may not heal the righteous.  He said that Christians get sick and die, they have financial problems and other problems but they/we are still "Blessed of God"!!  Hallelujah!!!  God sees the whole picture that we are not able to see when we are in the middle of something, He is in control and He's knows best!!  How awesome to be reminded that even we are not feeling very blessed when we are going through difficult times, we are still the "Blessed of God".  THANK YOU JESUS!!!  OH HOW I LOVE YOU!!!