Answer the Bell: Bless by Moving, Favoring, Acting

Aug 09, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Proximity in the Ring-Bearer’s Invitation

Blessing begins with intentional movement toward others, like a proposal’s vulnerable kneel. God’s blessing in Numbers 6 mirrors a suitor’s posture—He closes the gap before speaking promises. The “Lord bless you and keep you” requires nearness, not distant goodwill. Just as a ring symbolizes committed presence, God’s blessing demands engagement with the grit and grace of others’ lives. His keeping power thrives in proximity, shielding what He cherishes. [40:10]

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your life needs you to “kneel down” physically or emotionally this week? How might closing the distance change how they receive God’s love through you?

Day 2: When Faces Shine Beyond the Shopping Cart

Favor isn’t quiet—it’s Zeppelin’s sprint toward a loved one, cheeks lifted with irrepressible joy. God’s face “shining” isn’t passive approval but active delight, like a grandmother’s beaming welcome. This radiance disarms shame, as seen when strangers interrupted frustration with grocery-line kindness. To bless like Jesus means letting joy eclipse judgment when engaging others. Grace shines brightest when we choose to see people as God does. [44:58]

Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
(Psalm 80:3,7,19, ESV)

Reflection: Whose face instinctively lights up when they see you? How does that mirror—or challenge—your awareness of God’s delight in you?

Day 3: Turning Cheeks and Checkout Lines

True blessing pivots toward pain like Jesus turning toward Golgotha. The checkout-line ladies didn’t just smile—they acted, redirecting chaos into community. “The Lord turn his face toward you” implies neck-straining focus, prioritizing connection over convenience. Peace comes when we face others’ messes head-on, as God did on the cross. Every intentional “turn” echoes Calvary’s costly love. [50:36]

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
(Luke 6:27-28, ESV)

Reflection: What relationship requires you to “turn your face” toward discomfort this week? What one action would mirror Jesus’ crossward posture?

Day 4: Boredom as the Birthplace of Blessing

God’s voice thrives in uncluttered spaces—the quiet between grocery beeps, the pause before reacting. Just as Elijah heard God not in wind or fire but silence, blessing flows when we create margins to listen. The checkout-line blessing began when someone stopped rushing. Peace comes not from multitasking but mono-tasking on divine nudges. [53:44]

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a gentle whisper.
(1 Kings 19:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you most need to embrace “holy boredom” this week? What distraction might God be asking you to silence to hear His whisper?

Day 5: Carrying the Family Name to Strangers

Blessing culminates in sharing God’s name like wedding vows—a public allegiance. The store strangers didn’t preach but enacted “followers of the Way” through practical grace. As the priests carried God’s blessing to Israel, we’re called to imprint His character on checkout lines and coffee shops. Every small act inks the divine signature on a waiting world. [55:24]

We love because he first loved us.
(1 John 4:19, ESV)

Reflection: What anonymous interaction this week could become your altar for bearing God’s name? How might chips-and-salsa moments reveal Christ’s heart to someone?

Sermon Summary

The bell calls for somebody to answer, not for somebody else to handle it. The BLESS series begins by asking what blessing really means, because a lot of people hear that word through the world’s lens. Blessing often gets tied to stuff, comfort, money, or just being nice so people will like a person. Numbers 6:22-27 slows that down and lets God define the word.

Numbers 6 says, “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” God gives that blessing to Moses, Moses gives it to Aaron and the priests, and the priests speak it over Israel. Blessing comes from God to his people for others. God’s blessing is not supposed to stop with the person who receives it.

God blesses by moving toward people. The word bless carries the idea of a gift, but not just any gift. It is the kind of gift that brings closeness, like a ring offered with presence, connection, and invitation. God is not far away, doing nothing. God sees, moves closer, and keeps his people near. His keeping means that he stands between his people and the threat, between his people and the enemy. The cross shows that movement most clearly.

God blesses by showing favor. His face shines, not with irritation or disappointment, but with delight. God sees broken people, and his face still lights up toward them. His grace brings kindness, patience, and forgiveness. Blessing others means more than smiling from a distance. It means seeing somebody in a way that makes that person blessed by one’s presence.

God blesses by turning his face toward people and acting. Turning toward someone means engagement, attention, eyes open, ears open, heart focused. Peace comes from God’s action, not from human effort to manufacture it. Quiet space, even boredom, may be where God’s still small voice is heard.

God puts his name on his people so they can carry his heart, his presence, and his way. First John says, “We love because he first loved us.” Jesus shows the shape of that blessing at the cross, looking at the very ones crucifying him and saying, “Father, forgive them.” The call is simple and hard: bless three people, one from church, one known outside the church, and one random person. Move toward them, find favor with them, and act on it.

Key Takeaways

1. Blessing begins with God’s movement God’s blessing is not first a mood, a slogan, or a better set of circumstances. Numbers 6 shows a God who comes close, gives his presence, and keeps his people near. The cross makes that movement impossible to miss, because God does not bless from a distance. [42:47]
2. Favor is more than being nice God’s face shining means delight, not bare tolerance. Human kindness becomes blessing when another person is truly seen, not managed, rushed past, or handled with religious politeness. Forgiveness belongs here too, because favor chooses not to let every wound become a wall. [48:31]
3. Peace comes through God’s attention God turns his face toward his people with intention, focus, and engagement. Peace is not something anxious hearts create by trying harder. Quiet spaces matter because the still small voice is easily missed when every empty moment gets filled. [54:08]
4. Loved people become blessing people First John gives the motive: love flows because God loved first. Blessing others is not a performance for gifted extroverts or a duty for especially spiritual people. The love of God becomes movement, favor, and action through ordinary believers in ordinary places. [56:02]
5. Small acts can carry holy weight A grocery line, chips and salsa, and a simple invitation to go ahead can become a real picture of blessing. Proximity turns a small courtesy into human engagement, conversation, and grace. The world often changes at the level of simple attention offered in Jesus’ name.

## [63:10]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[30:39] - Did You Hear the Bell?
[32:21] - What Does Blessed Mean?
[34:38] - Numbers 6 and God’s Blessing
[36:34] - God Moves Toward His People
[39:14] - Blessing Brings Proximity
[42:47] - The Cross Shows God Coming Near
[43:09] - God’s Face Shines with Favor
[49:13] - Blessing Moves Into Action
[52:33] - Listening for God’s Engagement
[54:29] - Carrying God’s Name and Way
[56:02] - Loved First, Called to Love
[59:04] - Bless Three People This Week
[60:37] - Chips, Salsa, and Simple Grace
[64:59] - Communion and the Table of Jesus

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Numbers 6:22-27
“The Lord said to Moses, 'Tell Aaron and his sons, "This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.’" So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.'” [34:53]

1 John 4:19
“We love because he first loved us.” [56:08]

Luke 23:34
“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”

Observation questions

In Numbers 6, what actions does the Lord take in this blessing, and what words describe those actions?
According to Numbers 6:22-27, how does the blessing move from God to Moses to Aaron and his sons to Israel? What does that show about how blessing is meant to travel? [36:22]
In the blessing from Numbers 6, what three results are named for God’s people: keeping, grace, and peace? How are those ideas described? [49:57]
What simple example shows how blessing can happen in an ordinary place like a checkout line, and what made that moment more than basic politeness? [01:03:10]

Interpretation questions

Numbers 6 says, “The Lord bless you and keep you.” If blessing begins with God moving toward people, how does that challenge the common idea that blessing mainly means comfort, money, or things going well? [36:51]
God’s face shining on someone points to delight and grace, not mere tolerance. What does that suggest about how God sees broken people, and how might that reshape the way believers see others? [45:04]
God turning his face toward his people and giving peace is active and intentional. Why might peace be connected to God’s attention and engagement rather than to human effort or control? [54:08]
Jesus says, “Father, forgive them,” while being crucified. How does that scene show both favor and action, and why is that such a strong picture of biblical blessing? [58:15]

Application questions

Many people naturally define blessing by stuff, ease, or being liked. Where is that way of thinking strongest in personal life right now, and what would it look like to let God redefine blessing there? [33:26]
Blessing begins with movement toward people. Who is one person that has been easy to avoid lately, and what might it look like to take one small step toward that person this week? [56:53]
God’s favor means seeing someone in a way that makes them blessed by one’s presence. Who in daily life needs more than a quick smile or polite greeting, and what would real attention look like with that person? [48:23]
Forgiveness is part of showing favor. Is there someone whose failure, annoyance, or hurt has quietly become a wall? What would it mean to begin overlooking, releasing, or addressing that with grace? [48:31]
Quiet spaces can make room to hear the still small voice of God. What tends to fill every empty moment right now, and what kind of quiet could be made this week to be more available to God’s peace? [53:41]
Loved people become blessing people. When it comes to loving others, does the heart more often run on guilt, pressure, fear, or gratitude for being loved first? What difference does that make in real relationships? [56:08]
One helpful pattern is to bless three people: one from church, one known outside the church, and one random person. Which of those three feels easiest, which feels hardest, and what is one specific act of blessing that could happen in each case? [59:04]

Sermon Clips

60s

#MoveToBless

“``Think about it for just a second. The motivation to love others is being loved by God, the creator of all things. And he says that we're supposed to carry his name and his way and his message. The blessing of god should motivate us to bless the world around us. So, what if we took on god's idea of blessing? Well, it would look like this. We would have to move towards people. We would have to show them favor, and we would have to act on the favor that we have for them.”

84s

#IntentionalBlessing

“When god blesses he moves towards us. When god blesses, he shows his favor. When god blesses, he is moved to action. is the hard one. This is really the hard one. I mean, you can you can see somebody and then you can smile at them. You might even like them. But what happens when you're moved to action? So God's face not only shines but he turns his face toward us and gives us peace. He turns his face towards us and gives us peace. Turning towards someone is about action. It's not just something that happens internally like like something that that Zeppelin sees in her face lights up. This is a purposeful, I've got to find Rita today. Turning towards someone is about action. It doesn't mean that they move their head to the left and the right. It it's an intentional heart action that means to go and engage someone.”

77s

#FollowersOfTheWay

“The bible calls his voice a still small voice. And if we're willing to engage him back, He says, this is where peace is found. God's peace comes when these things are at play. We're we're not the ones who bring it into being. God is the one that brings it into being. And so his blessing is ours to receive and to give. I love in this passage how it says he's going to give them his name. It it's not just a it's not just a last name like in a marriage. It's a it's a way of being the first believers of Jesus who who saw him rise from the dead and met him afterwards. They were called followers of the way. They took on his heart. They took on his presence. They walked and talked as if they were with him and he was with them.”

58s

#BlessAndPassItOn

“And in this passage, god shares his blessing with Moses who is then supposed to share it with the priests and then the priests are supposed to share it with the people and the people were called to be a blessing to the rest of the world. God's blessing is not supposed to stop with you and me. God's blessing is supposed to move in us and then through us. And I wonder what the motivation is especially for those of us who don't have a lot of practice in blessing others or sharing god's love with others or or telling people about Jesus. Why do we do it? Is it because we're good at it? Or is there something else?”

38s

#BlessingForOthers

“And this is important for us, for the blessing comes from God to us for others. And in this, if we're going to truly bless the world, there are three aspects that I think if we didn't understand this, it can change the way that we understand blessing and maybe allow us who have been blessed to fully bless others. The first thing is when god blesses, he moves toward us.”

51s

#RedefineBlessing

“some people, if you're from this world, blessed just means the opposite of cursed. For others, it means stuff. For others, it's about, you know, being nice. I'm just gonna bless others. I'm just gonna be nice. I just wanna just wanna really be nice. I don't want people to not like me. So I'm gonna bless others. But maybe if we let God define it for us, we can carry it a little bit more effectively, purposefully. Maybe we can carry this idea of blessing for those of us who have been blessed by the goodness of God. Maybe, just maybe, we can carry it into the world so that they might understand it more fully. I”

90s

#FindGodInSilence

“God's engagement of us, it has this intentionality behind it. Sometimes I wonder if he's trying to engage but we have him tuned Maybe sometimes he's trying to talk to you, he's engaging you, and you've just got other things going on. Did you know there's a bunch of research going on about boredom and how good it is for you? And the things that happen in your brain when you're bored, it almost sounds evil to say, doesn't it? I mean, we've got cell phones, we got TVs, we've got people we need to talk to, we got sports we need to play, we got books we need to read. We got we got work that needs to happen. I mean, can you imagine being bored? Can you imagine being bored and being okay with it? What if it's in that boredom, in those quiet spaces, in that time free of distraction where God meets with us?”

72s

#BlessThreeChallenge

“Here in a moment, we're gonna take communion together, I have a challenge for you this week. I want you to bless three people intentionally. Move toward them, find favor with them and act on it. Give them your presence, give them your favor and do something that lifts them up. And here's the three people that I want you to engage. Number one, one from church. begins here. You might even have a name popping into your mind. Man, I need to bless that person. I I need to do something for that person. I need to show them God's love. We've gotta get proximity. You've gotta move towards them. You've gotta find favor for them. And then you've gotta act on that. So one from church.”

68s

#BlessAcrossBoundaries

“And here's the three people that I want you to engage. Number one, one from church. begins here. You might even have a name popping into your mind. Man, I need to bless that person. I I need to do something for that person. I need to show them God's love. We've gotta get proximity. You've gotta move towards them. You've gotta find favor for them. And then you've gotta act on that. So one from church. One from outside the church that you know or somebody that you, are friends with, maybe somebody that you've run into. And then the third one is one random person. Oh, that's the hard one, isn't it? Move towards them, find favor with them, bless them by acting on it.”

33s

#LoveYourEnemies

“It's hard as a pastor. I have to tell you it's really difficult because I often hear people talking very poorly about other groups of people. And it's really hard to love someone when you speak poorly of them. And God says not only are we supposed to love ourselves and love one another and love God, but we're also supposed to even love our enemies.”

76s

#BlessYouAndKeepYou

“There's another proximal idea, and and I think it looks like this. I was watching a show last night about about kidnapping this girl. This little girl, gets kidnapped in a park, and I know it just it makes you shudder to even think about that. But in this, in this story, this mom is doing everything she can to get between the perpetrator and her and her son. She wants to stand between the threat and her son and so she moves into this position to make sure that this doesn't happen and and I think about this with god and I think about when he says, the lord bless you and keep you. The lord bless you. In other words, he offers this presence and then he keeps you close so that nothing can come between and him. He stands in the way of the enemy. He stands in the way of the threat. He he gets in the way of the things that that might cause us distress.”

46s

#ReclaimBlessing

“a little bit of a reminder. The idea of blessing depends on where you get it from. And most of us have kind of gotten our idea of blessing through the the world in which we live. It's it's the more you're blessed, the more stuff you have. The more you're blessed, the less goes wrong in your life. And as we think about this Bell series, it's an acronym by the way, we're starting with this word called BLESS and we're gonna rethink it not through the lens of twenty first century America, but through the lens of scripture, through the lens of God.”

77s

#EngagedPresence

“Imagine seeing someone you know across the room. In this scenario, you might just wave and smile. You've you've blessed them in some way, but god's face, his turning of his face means to engage Have you ever met someone when and you come to talk to them, and instead of just saying, yeah, okay, they sit with you. They just sit down with you and you have their attention. Their eyes meet your eyes, your eyes meet their eyes, and they are with you and you have been engaged in conversation. This is the act of changing one's focus and attention from other things. And you move intentionally to where your eyes are now on that person, your ears are open to them, and you're processing what they say.”

51s

#ForgiveToBless

“Or how about forgiveness? How about forgiveness? When you bless someone, when you show favor on them, it means that some of the things that take place in life need to be overlooked. They need to be forgiven. They need to be moved through. They need to be passed by. Not everything is like that. But when you favor someone, like God favors us, he forgives us”

83s

#BlessWithPresence

“And I wonder if you can do something simple this week, even for a stranger, not distant, not not something unknown, but something with proximity. You see what happened is when that lady said, come up here, I came up right beside her and she and I started engaging in a conversation. And then the lady that was struggling, the old new lady, she and I started having a conversation. And all of a sudden, there's smiles on everybody's faces. We're all like they knew they were gonna take forever so they just relaxed and they blessed me. if you were a blessing in the name of Jesus motivated by his love for you where you move towards somebody. You let your face shine upon them, and you extend grace. So I wondered if you'd stand with me.”

57s

#FoundByGrace

“when god blesses, he moves towards us and second, when god blesses, he shows his favor. Have you ever found favor with someone? Like, they just like you, maybe for no reason at all. They just, like, they just see you and there's, like, maybe you have somebody like that where there's, like, an instant connection. They dislike you. Or or maybe you spent time with someone over a long period of time and they've got your back. The second part of this idea is that god's face shines upon us and he is gracious to us. I told you just a minute ago when when Zeppelin kit was saw my mom, her face lit up.”

52s

#CalledToCarry

“Maybe it begins in the beginning. When we look at scripture, we see that god breathes the breath of life into man. And he is awakened. I think there's a lot of people that that go through life and and the breath of god might be in them physically but maybe it's not in them spiritually. Maybe they haven't awakened to the goodness of god quite yet and god used a point person and this priestly group to carry his blessing out into the world. He appoints Moses. He says, go tell the go tell Aaron and and the other people and then they're going to be the other priest then they're going to tell the Israelites.”

40s

#AnswerTheBell

“But there's a calling to the new series that we are coming into and that calling is a movement and I'm wondering who will answer the bell. Who's going to answer it? I I wonder if there are people in our in our church that are going to step up when it's time when the call comes, who's going to answer the bell? Is it going to be you? Is it going to be you? Are you guys going to do it? Are we going to wait for somebody else to do it?”

53s

#GraceForAll

“And the invitation to God's table is universal. It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter who you've been. It doesn't matter what kind of life you've lived. All that matters is in this moment that you're ready to accept the forgiveness that God has to offer for And if that's you, God has made the ultimate movement, sending his one and only son to live a perfect life, to die a sinner's death so that you might be forgiven, to resurrect from the dead so that you know there is nothing that can overcome his love.”

53s

#DelightInYou

“It wasn't just that she like moved towards my mom. I mean, I've I've experienced that before. Like, I'll give you an example. You know, sometimes a parent will say, hey, this is pastor Doug. Why don't you say hi? And the kid is like, mean, they have no like they're not trying to distance themselves but they're certainly not like this this favor. There there there's a little bit of a a separation, a distance. But when you have someone that has found your favor, not only do they move toward you, but they express delight in you. Their face lights up.”

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