Blessed To Bless

In this Sunday morning message from Genesis 13:1-18, Pastor Ortiz continues the series that began with Abram's call to begin by faith. The next stage is bless. Genesis 13 shows Abram returning from Egypt, going back to the place of the altar, and facing a conflict with Lot because both men had been greatly blessed. Their flocks, herds, tents, and substance had grown so much that the land could not bear them together.

The message is not a prosperity sermon. Pastor Ortiz makes that clear. Abram's wealth is not presented as a reason to chase comfort or to measure spirituality by possessions. The point is what Abram did with what God gave him. Blessing was not meant to settle, stay, and be consumed. Blessing was meant to move and flow. The moment believers treat God's blessing as something to protect instead of something to pass on, they misunderstand why God blessed them.

Recognize The Blessing You Already Have

You cannot bless others until you know you are already blessed. Pastor Ortiz presses the church to recognize that blessing is not only future, financial, or dramatic. Many believers wait for a better season before they will give, serve, or obey, but the message says that God has already placed blessings in their hands. Clothes, food, transportation, health, family, opportunities, talents, influence, and even the ability to gather with the church are blessings that should be recognized and used.

This point is tied to Abram going back to Bethel, the place of the altar. After stumbling in Egypt, Abram returned to the place where he had marked his beginning with God. That return matters because the blessing flows from the foundation. Pastor Ortiz says the altar comes first and people come second. A believer cannot pour out what he has not first received from God. An empty pot pours nothing.

The message uses Psalm 103 and James 1 to remind the church that God is the source of every good gift. The Hebrew idea of blessing was described as positioning oneself under something greater to receive. Believers do not bless others merely from their own strength. They go back to the Lord, remember His benefits, receive from Him, and then serve from the overflow.

Use What God Has Given You

The sermon also emphasizes that believers can mishandle blessing by waiting for a larger blessing before obeying with the present one. Pastor Ortiz warns that saying, "when I get more" can become an excuse for refusing to live by faith now. God may already be asking His people to steward the small thing in their hand, not because it is impressive, but because obedience with little prepares the heart to receive and release more.

Pastor Ortiz widens the application beyond money. Blessing includes time, resources, influence, relationships, platform, reputation, and gifts. Time may mean showing up for people and being present when it costs something. Resources may mean giving to the work of God instead of giving God the leftovers after every other desire has been satisfied. Influence may mean pointing people to God through relationships and reputation. Gifts may mean using abilities God has placed in the body so others are helped.

The challenge is direct: what are you doing with the blessing God has given you right now? The believer who says, "when I have more" or "when things get better" may already be refusing to live by faith in the present. The blessing God has already given is not too small to steward. It is the place where obedience begins.

Release What You Had A Right To Keep

Blessing others will cost you something you had a right to keep. Abram had seniority, the promise of God, and the cultural right to choose first. Yet when strife arose between his herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen, Abram offered Lot the first choice. He did not act from weakness or passivity. He acted in faith, trusting God enough to release what he had the right to claim.

Pastor Ortiz applies that to the modern Christian instinct to defend every right. A person may have the right to hold on to money, time, comfort, preference, or talent, but he must also live with what that choice produces. Blessing others is not giving away what costs nothing. Giving is not merely what a person does with excess. Giving is what he does with the thing that costs him something.

The message points to Jesus looking on the multitudes with compassion. He and His disciples had served all day and had a right to rest, but Jesus served anyway. Multitudes were fed, the disciples' faith was built, and generations have heard what God did through that sacrifice. The pattern is clear: blessing flows when God's people trust Him enough to release what they could have kept.

Trust God With What Comes After Release

God responds to blessing others with more than you release. After Lot separated from Abram, God told Abram to lift up his eyes and look northward, southward, eastward, and westward. The land Abram saw would be given to him and to his seed. God told him to arise and walk through the land, not because Abram needed to possess it by sight, but because he needed to recognize and thank God for what had been given.

Lot chose by sight. Abram lived by faith. Lot chose what looked good, but Abram trusted God's good. Pastor Ortiz warns that believers often mistake what feels good for the blessing of God. They look superficially and selfishly, while God calls them to see by faith. The man who gives liberally with one hand will find that God fills the other faster than he can empty it.

Hold Loosely To The Place God May Move You From

Abram built another altar after God showed him the land. That detail matters because blessing was not only about receiving land, but about worshiping the God who gave it. Gratitude keeps blessing from becoming selfish possession. It teaches the believer to walk through what God has given, recognize it, thank Him for it, and then hold it in a way that remains available for His purposes.

The message becomes personal as Pastor Ortiz applies Genesis 13 to Victory Baptist Church's building situation. He remembers past places the church had to leave and how painful those moves felt at the time. In each case, God had something better. The church cried over places that later proved to be limited, temporary, or unsuitable, but God used those departures to lead them forward.

The appeal is not only about a building. It is about faith. If believers hold tightly to the little they are sitting on, they may miss the blessing God intends next. Lot damaged his life because he held on to what he wanted instead of what God wanted for him. Abram released, trusted, built another altar, and moved forward. The call is to be blessed so that others can be blessed, to live by faith, and to trust God enough to let blessing flow.