Blessed to Be a Blessing: The Message You Were Meant to Carry
Pastor Keith Roberson’s father was born three months premature in 1950, in Sweetwater, Texas — a town four hours west of Dallas, quite literally in the middle of nowhere, best known for its world-famous Rattlesnake Roundup. In 1950, in a tiny community hospital in a town of roughly four thousand people, three months premature was for all intents and purposes a death sentence. The baby was seriously deprived of oxygen, but giving an infant too much oxygen could wipe out his brain or take his eyesight — so the doctors did a desperate dance back and forth. At one point they gave up. The family was told he was going to die, and the child was left alone in whatever version of an ICU that little hospital had — until a nurse heard him gasping for air and came back to nurse him along. Somehow, over the course of three months, he was brought to full health.
But the damage had already been done in another room. The baby’s father, so sure his son was going to die, had built a wall: that’s not my son — I don’t know who you’re talking about. The strain never healed. He stepped out on the family, was always on the road, and broke the entire family apart. Keith’s dad grew up incredibly broken, without much of a dad at all.
Then, as a teenager, a visiting pastor came through and preached a message he had never heard before: you could have a personal relationship with the God of the universe through His Son. And in an instant, a boy who had nothing and no one, distant from a father, had a heavenly Father who cared for him. He put a flag in the ground — what I experienced will not be the story for my family — and years later, he imparted that same truth to his son Keith. (Pastor Keith admitted from the stage how hard the story is to tell, even now.)
In a message from the REACH series called A Vision To Bless, Pastor Keith opened John 3 to ask the question that story raises for every believer: if someone carried this message to you — who might God be bringing into your world for you to reach and bless with it?
What this sermon is about
The thesis is generational. If you have been saved, set free, and transformed by the radical love of Jesus, you carry the most consequential message this world has ever known — and that message was never meant to stop with you. But here’s the relief built into the whole sermon: the aim is not to convert anybody, organize a crusade, or become a street preacher. The aim is to bless. To be present with the people in your little world and speak words of life over them, the way somebody once did for you.
If the word “evangelism” makes your stomach drop, this message was preached for you.
People you’ll never know touched your life
Before the text, Pastor Keith finished the genealogy of his own faith. Beyond his mom and dad, he named a handful of men who poured into him — and acknowledged the names mean absolutely nothing to anyone listening. They’re not famous. They haven’t written books (well, one has, and it’s actually really good). But Keith is standing in a pulpit because ordinary people were willing to take time out of their lives, believe they could carry this message, and give it away freely.
“My life has been so profoundly impacted by people you will never know. You’ll never meet them — but they’ve touched your life, because they touched mine.” — Pastor Keith Roberson
That’s how this message has always moved: hand to hand. We’re grateful for Sundays and stadiums and the Billy Grahams — but the truth is, you are here because twelve men had the guts to carry the same message and give it away. And there are people not yet in the family of God who will come into it because you carry this message and choose to give it away, just like that visiting pastor did for a broken teenager in Texas.
The most consequential message in the world
Then to the text — the verses Pastor Keith called the key to your life, my life, and the purpose for which we are here.
John 3:16-17 — “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
The whole world is perishing, he said. People may not know it, may not feel it, may not see it — because the way of the world tends to all go together with the way of the world. But God sent His Son into that chaos, not to condemn it (though He would be righteous to do so), but to save it. And whoever puts their hopes, their trust, their very lives on Him exchanges the perishing and the condemnation for life everlasting.
If you’ve received that, here is what’s now true of you. 2 Corinthians 2:15 says “we are the aroma of Christ” — and Keith made it personal: not “you” in general; you, and you, and you. Colossians 1:26-27 says you carry “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints… which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The world is begging to know that mystery, chasing a billion things to find a hope of glory — and you have the answer shut up in your bones.
“If you have been saved and set free and transformed from perishing by the radical love of Jesus, you carry the most consequential message this world has ever known. It is in your bones. It is written on your heart.” — Pastor Keith Roberson
And Christ in you isn’t a someday reality. He’s here and present now, walking with you each day, ready to bring life into you and through you.
Not conversion. Blessing.
Here’s where Pastor Keith deliberately took the pressure off — because churches have been bad about this, and he named it. This is not a message of shame to get you to evangelize more. Not a message of fear — reach or else. Not a saddle of guilt. Jesus never did that. Jesus invited: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Not “you better get out there.” Follow me, and I’ll make you what you need to be.
Every excuse we reach for — I’m not a good talker, I don’t have theological training, I’m not mature enough, I only just got saved — is the same set Moses, Gideon, David, and the disciples used. And God’s answer is: that’s the point. You don’t have to write a book (though if you do, Keith will read it). You don’t have to write a song (though if you do, the church will sing it). And most freeing of all:
“Our aim is not to convert people. You’re never being asked by Jesus to convert someone. We’re asked to make disciples and to invite people to follow Jesus.” — Pastor Keith Roberson
Jesus transforms lives — that’s His job. Ours is simpler: what if we just sought to bless those around us? Jesus’s own first recorded public message begins with the word blessed, and He says it nine times. The crowds had only ever heard “you better do the rules, and if you mess up, you’re in trouble.” They had never heard blessed — happy, alive, hopeful — when you open your heart to this kingdom. Jesus was redefining the word: it’s no longer “you’ve got to have stuff to be blessed.” When you get the Father, you are richly blessed. What was lost in the garden, you can have back. So we join Jesus by carrying blessing wherever we go — in the marketplace, in your office, in your home, over your children.
Be present, and speak words of life
How do we do it? Pastor Keith left the room with two things (with more practical particulars promised over the following weeks).
First, be present. It sounds funny, but in 2025, actually being where you are — not somewhere else, connected to a device — is hard, and it means everything. Start in your own home. Parents, put your phone away (“I’m preaching to myself here,” he admitted). It doesn’t mean you can never get on Instagram; it just means Instagram isn’t preeminent. Be present with your kids, your grandkids, somebody else’s kids. And if you’re thinking it’s too late, you’re too far down the road:
“It is never, ever, ever too late to begin to bless those around you. Never, ever, ever too late to just show up and be present and to listen.” — Pastor Keith Roberson
Presence is also why Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:14-16 are so staggering. Imagine the Son of God looking at broken you, messy you, imperfect you — and saying “You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” We don’t bring our perfection when we show up. We bring our authenticity. When people see broken you leaning into the Father, He gets glory.
Second, speak words of life. Everywhere you go — with your buddies at work, the folks in the book club, the fellow parents at what feels like the 9,000th soccer game on a Saturday during nap time (even when you want to strangle the ref). Ephesians 4:29: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Gracious words are like a honeycomb — sweetness to the soul and health to the body. And Colossians 4:6: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.” Keith dug into that one: salt is flavor, the thing that takes something drab and kicks it up. Be gracious, and let your words carry flavor and life — not because the words are our own, but because they’re the expression of the heart of the Father to the world.
The morning ended at the table. The church received the Lord’s Supper together — the full-hearted declaration that the broken body and shed blood of the Savior purchased healing, restoration, a new name, and a new covenant. And for anyone not yet a follower of Jesus, the invitation was wide open: you’ve tried careers, spouses, kids, vacations, and nothing fixes the hole. He’s offering you the exchange — all the ashes of your life for all of His glory living in you.
What this means for your week in Franklin
If you take this sermon seriously, four things change about this week.
- Thank God for your “unfamous” people. Somebody carried this message to you — a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, a friend, a total stranger at your lowest point. Name them in prayer this week, and let gratitude fuel what comes next.
- Drop the conversion pressure. You are not responsible to convert anyone — not your kids, not your coworker, not your skeptical friend. Trade the pressure for one question: how can I bless this person?
- Be present in one place you’ve been absent. Phone away at dinner. Eyes up with your kids. Showing up, in a distracted world, is itself a form of blessing — and it’s never too late to start.
- Season your speech. Pick one arena — the office, the group chat, the soccer sideline — and commit to only words that build up this week. Gracious, salted, alive. Watch what one unexpected word of life does to somebody’s day.
Watch the full message
The full sermon — “A Vision To Bless” from the REACH series — is in the video above. We post a new message every Sunday from New River Church in Franklin, TN. Browse our message library for more from the REACH series and other recent teaching.
Coming Sunday at New River Church in Franklin, TN
If this message resonated and you’d like to experience worship and community in person, we’d love to have you with us. New River Church meets Sundays at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM at 1153 Lewisburg Pike in Franklin, TN 37064 — just minutes from downtown Franklin and easy to reach from across Williamson County, Brentwood, and Spring Hill.
You don’t need to dress up. You don’t need a good voice. You don’t need to know much about church or the Bible to come. We’re a community of ordinary people walking through ordinary life, trying to do it together with Jesus at the center. Whether you’ve been a Christian for forty years or you’ve never set foot in a church, you are welcome here.
If you’re new to the area or new to faith, our First Time Guest page walks through everything you need to know before your first visit: parking, what to expect on Sunday morning, what your kids will experience in River Kids, and how to find us when you arrive.
If you’re looking for deeper community beyond Sunday morning, our Community Groups meet across Franklin and the surrounding area throughout the week. Groups are where Sunday morning faith becomes Tuesday afternoon real life.
Whatever you’re carrying right now, you don’t have to carry it alone. There’s a place for you at New River Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Come as you are.
Watch more sermons: newriverfranklin.com/messages Plan your visit: newriverfranklin.com/firsttimeguest Find a group: newriverfranklin.com/groups
📍 New River Church | 1153 Lewisburg Pike, Franklin, TN 37064 | Sundays 9:00 AM & 10:45 AM
