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“Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices…” 2 Chronicles 7:12
God hears your prayers because…
If…
God’s eyes will be open and ears attentive to His temple…because… We are God’s temple:
Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - 2 Chronicles 7:12-16 Monday - James 4:6-8 Tuesday - 1 Peter 5:5-6 Wednesday - Romans 12:1-2 Thursday - Proverbs 3:6 Friday - 1 Corinthians 10:13 Saturday - 1 John 3:6-7 Prayer: Thank you, Father, for giving me your name and calling me your child. Help me to live like Jesus, love like Jesus, and lead others to do the same. Amen
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The 24th Psalm is a praise song written by David when he went to the house of Obed-Edom to get the Ark of the Covenant. It was a celebration for all of Israel. David worshiped the Lord as an expression of joy before the very presence of God.
We come to church on Sunday mornings to worship God. We often refer to our services as worship services. To most people, worship and going to church are the same thing. Going to church is important. But worship is more than simply going to church. Just because we say we attend church doesn’t mean that we worship. Worship is the act of entering God’s presence for the sole purpose of exalting Him. Each time we worship, we enter into the presence of God Almighty; therefore, our worship services should be memorable experiences. When we enter into His presence to express our humility, our respect, our adoration, our gratitude, and our love for Him, we experience true worship. And how can we truly experience the presence of God in worship and not be excited…impacted…changed? Listen to the excitement in David’s words: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him. For He laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.” David was focused on God - and only God. He understood that everything - the earth, everything in it, everyone who lives in it - everything belongs to God. Is your love for God strong enough to focus only on Him as you worship? Set your heart to do more than simply attend church…worship the Lord your God. Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Psalm 24 Monday - Matthew 5:1-12 Tuesday - 1 Corinthians 6:19 Wednesday - Romans 12:1-2 Thursday - Psalm 15 Friday - Psalm 96 Saturday - Psalm 100 Prayer: I worship You, Almighty God. There is none like you. I worship You, O Prince of Peace. That is what I want to do. I give you praise…for you are my righteousness. I worship you Almighty God, there is none like you. There is none like you. There is none like you. Amen There are many questions in life that we must answer. The Word of God poses some of the most important questions we will ever respond to. In Matthew 16 Jesus is talking with His disciples, and he asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” He then asked Peter a question that He is asking you today, “But who do you say I am?”
In John 1:9 it says, “The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” In John 9:5 Jesus said, “But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”
The Scriptures say in Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”
These are all questions worth answering and truths worth pondering. Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Matthew 16:13-20 Monday - John 3:19-21 Tuesday - 1 John 1:5-7 Wednesday - Matthew 5:14-16 Thursday - Mark 10:17-22 Friday - Philippians 3:8 Saturday - 1 John 4:9-10, 19-21 Prayer: Lord, you are my light, my strength, my hope, my salvation. Father, I give you my heart, my life, my all. Jesus, you are my Savior, my Redeemer, my King. Thank for being the answer to everything in my life no matter what the question is that I might ask. Amen Reflections - August 26th - September 1st Happy Days - Finding Contentment Through God's Blessings8/26/2018 Philippians 4:10-13
”How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” 1 Timothy 6:6-8 “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.” The contentment Paul speaks of can be defined as an inner sense of rest or peace that comes from being right with God and knowing He is in control of all that happens to us. Have you learned to be contented? How about your family? Do you intentionally pursue contentment in your life and home? Paul says:
We need the strength of Christ in order to…
Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Philippians 4:10-13 Monday - 1 Timothy 6:6-8 Tuesday - Matthew 7:7-11 Wednesday - Matthew 6:33 Thursday - Philippians 1:12-14 Friday - Philippians 4:9 Saturday - Revelation 21:1-4 Prayer: Father, help me learn to be content and rest in the person and work of your son, Jesus. Help me maintain a rightly ordered life that pleases you. Thank you Lord for the peace that comes with contentment. Your word says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Help me keep my eyes focused on you and not myself. Amen Moses reminded the children of Israel of the ten commandments in Deuteronomy chapter 5. In Deuteronomy 6:5 he said, “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, he goes on to say “you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going bed and when you get up.”
Wholehearted commitment: a call to go all in, to be sold-out, fully connected and obedient to the Lord’s commandments. Wholehearted commitment also comes with a responsibility: We are to teach His commandments to our family. We are to be All In…The Family. Although all of God’s commandments are important, today we’re going to focus on the 5th commandment: “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12 What does it mean to honor someone? Author Gary Smalley says, “Honor is a decision we make to place high value, worth, and importance on another person by viewing him or her as a priceless gift and granting him or her a position in our lives worthy of great respect; and love involves putting that decision into action.” How about using the topic of honoring one another in a family discussion this week? Honor within the family is something worth talking about. Honoring our families. I’m going all in. How about you? Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Monday - Exodus 20:9 Tuesday - Proverbs 6:20-23 Wednesday - Ephesians 6:1-4 Thursday - 1 Peter 4:8 Friday - 1 Corinthians 13 Saturday - James 3:3-12 Prayer: Lord, I want to thank you for my family. You have blessed my life through my mom, dad and sister…my wife, children and grandchildren…my church family. They are truly a priceless gift to me. Through them I have been shown unconditional love and respect. I honor them today as blessings from you. Thank you Father. Amen What is the foundation upon which you are building your family? Many say, “Let’s get back to family values,” but where are we going to find those values? Whose values? What values are we going to accept?
In Exodus 20:3 God gives the first of ten commandments: “You must not have any other god but me.” Our God is a perfect Father who gave the original “foundation for family values.” God says in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…” What are these words that God is referring to? Notice two things: (1) “These words…shall be in your heart” How many of you could name all Ten Commandments from memory? If you don’t know them, it’s going to be hard to live by them. God basically says, "Remember these commands." (2) ”Teach them diligently to your children.” In other words, pass them on. Do your children know these 10 God-given values? God says, “My commandments are important, remember them…teach them diligently.” Our families desperately need some time-tested, Godly, family values. That’s why I want us to spend time this month talking about Biblical Family Values and how we can apply them in our own homes. I believe as we look at this today, you will agree with me that our Father Knows Best. Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Exodus 20 Monday - Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Tuesday - Proverbs 3:5-6 Wednesday - Matthew 6:33 Thursday - Proverbs 3:9 Friday - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 Saturday - 1 Corinthians 10:31 Prayer: Lord, I want you first in my life. I don’t want anything or anyone to take priority over you in any area of my life. I need your help. I often allow other things to distract my focus from you. Forgive me, Father…please guide my steps and guard my heart. Amen Do you remember a toy that came out in the 70s called Weebles? The slogan they used in advertising was: “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down”. They were little egg-shaped people that stayed standing no matter how much they got knocked around.
I wish that were true for believers, but the truth is we all fall down. Look at what God’s word has to say:
How do we keep from falling as well as help others not fall?
We need one another. Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Hebrews 10:22-25 Monday - 1 John 1:8-9 Tuesday - Colossians 3:13 Wednesday - Mark 11:25 Thursday - Psalm 37:23-24 Friday - Hebrews 12:10-13 Saturday - Psalm 40:1-2 Prayer: Lord, thank you for helping me to stand firm. Thank you for putting people in my life who have helped me up when I have fallen. Thank you for lifting me up and planting my feet on solid ground. Thank you for your forgiveness and love. Help me to see others around me who need my help. Let me see them through your eyes and your heart. Amen What have you done this week…this month…this year that could not have been done without the power of God working through you?
In chapter 3 of the book of Acts, Peter and John were about to enter the temple when they encountered a beggar who had been lame since birth. When he saw them, he was hoping to get some money, but he got so much more. Peter said he didn’t have any money to give him, but he would give him what he had. Then he said, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” Peter helped the man up and he was healed. Later, when standing before the council of all the rulers, elders and teachers of religious law, Peter and John were asked, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?” Peter said, “Let me clearly state to all you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene…” This raises the question for us: by what power, or in whose name, do we do what we do? As we live out our lives, do people see what those religious leaders saw: ordinary people doing extraordinary things that could not be done in our own power or strength? Let’s choose to live our lives according to the power and authority of the name that is above all names…Jesus Christ the Nazarene. In Jesus name…may it be so. Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Acts 3 Monday - Acts 4 Tuesday - Acts 1:8 Wednesday - Philippians 2:9-11 Thursday - Philippians 2:13 Friday - Colossians 1:15-20 Saturday - Philippians 4:13 Prayer: Jesus, I choose to live my life by the power and authority of your name. Not in my own strength, but yours. Not following my own will, but yours. Jesus, I can only do this through the power of the Holy Spirit within me. Help me to closely follow you in all I do. Amen Do you struggle with finding true contentment in life…contentment that lasts? Many people do because the world around us perpetuates feelings of discontentment.
The world perspective is constantly telling us to seek something better in life. We want a better job with better pay and a better boss. We want better relationships and a better marriage. We want a better car and a better house. Better isn’t bad, but it’s not the source of true contentment. Contentment is defined as being satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else. Paul, the apostle, wrote, “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.” Philippians 4:11. How could he make such a bold statement? Because he knew that true contentment was found not in what he had, but in whose he was. When I come into a relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ, I understand whose I am and what I have. A lack of contentment causes me to look horizontally - at what others have. When I do this, I am never satisfied. True contentment invites me to look vertically - at God. When I look in his direction, regardless of my possessions or lack of them, or my status or lack of one, I know that he is enough. Look to the one who truly satisfies…Jesus. Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Philippians 4:11 Monday - 1 Timothy 6:6-8 Tuesday - Philippians 4:12-13 Wednesday - Philippians 1:21 Thursday - Philippians 3:13 Friday - Philippians 4:19 Saturday - Philippians 4:13 Prayer: Lord, there are times I take my eyes off of you and find myself struggling with discontentment. Forgive me. Help me to keep my focus on you, Lord. I am learning to be content in you. Jesus, you are enough. You are all I need. Amen Throughout the years a variety of TV game shows have centered around the way people respond to questions. The answer given determines victory or defeat.
In reading the New Testament accounts of the life of Christ, we’re often drawn to encounters where people asked Jesus questions. In these cases, we’re usually interested in how He responds, but what about when He asks questions? Do we only read these questions in context with how they applied at the time Jesus asked them, or are we willing to read them as if Jesus is asking us the questions today? How will you respond to Jesus’ questions for you?
Do your answers reflect a response of victory or defeat? Walk in victory with Jesus. He’s got all the answers, but He also has some questions for you. Bro. Joe Suggested Readings: Sunday - Matthew 8:23-27 Monday - Matthew 20:29-33 Tuesday - John 5:1-13 Wednesday - Matthew 9:27-34 Thursday - Luke 6:46-49 Friday - Matthew 16:13-20 Saturday - John 21:15-19 Prayer: Jesus, I’m often fearful because I take my eyes off of you and focus on my circumstances. Help me to look to you. Lord, I need you in every area of my life. I believe that you are able to do all things. Jesus, you are my Lord…my redeemer…my savior. Thank you for loving me. I love you Lord. Amen |
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