June 30, 2024 "How to Pray" (Matthew 6:5-8)

 

Matt 6:5-8

 

The greatest privilege for Christians is prayer. This gift allows us to present our requests to God. In Jesus' times people had the same problems with prayer as we do these days.

 

Matthew 6:5 ESV

[5]  “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  

 

Some people saw prayer as a performance.  We sometimes have this problem when our representative prayers put more emphasis on eloquent words than the message to God. The person praying is showing off.

 

Matthew 6:7 ESV

[7]  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.  

  

Others may pray as if it were casting spells or the repetition will give the prayer more power. Christians will sometimes pray in tongues or pretend to. Our prayers sound not be for personal desire.

 

Jesus tells us that prayer is a sacred conversation between God and us.  

 

Matthew 6:6 ESV

[6] But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 

Whether we offering a meditative prayer,  a thanksgiving prayer, a repentance prayer or a heart felt prayer, we need to remember that we are praying to our father.

 

Matthew 6:8 ESV

[8] Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  

 

Jesus then teaches his disciples how to pray.

 

We start with a confession that God is our holy father. Our GOD the father knows what is best and will sometimes give us what we ask and other times deny us what we ask.

 

God is our prayer. Our conversation with God develops our relationship with God. It brings us to a point that we reflect on our situation and looks at what we desire and need. The prayer humbles us when we understand that God is in control and we are not. It puts us in a place that allows us to see who we are and who God is.

 

When children are adopted, the fathers do not force their adopted children to call them father. Over time, the fathers earn that title. The adopted children see them as their true fathers and will call them father.

 

God wants us to know that we are his children, and he is our father.

 

• The Heart Of Worship
• This I Believe (The Creed)
• Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me

June 23, 2024 "Genuine Offering" (2 Corinthians 9:1-8)

Genuine offering  

1 Corinthians :1-8

 

A very touchy subject is offering. We don't like to talk about money, and it is harder when the money is being offered.

 

We need to prepare our offering intentionally with an understanding that everything belongs to God. Much the same when we prepare to worship God our worship is much better. The more we prepare the better the service goes. Preparing our heart for offering or service will make a huge difference.

 

If we are prepared to make offering and our hearts are soft, then the offering will not be a burden.

 

If we believe that God is our priority, then giving an offering is a blessing. If we believe that God will provide whatever we need, then it will be able to give easily and cheerfully.

 

2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV

[6] The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  

 

It is not only money that we can give. We can give our time, our day, our service, our prayers, our lives. We need to prepare our hearts to accept God's word.

 

Is our spare time used for us or for God. Is our left-over time given to God after everything else has been done. Our meditation and Bible study should be our priority not an afterthought.

 

When we give our time ad offerings to God a genuine gratitude to God, we will be blessed

• Holy Is The Lord
• Nothing But The Blood (Plainfield)
• Resurrecting

June 16, 2024 "The Church" (Acts 13:1-3)

 

The Church

Acts 13:1-3

 

This passage describes the first overseas mission from the church in Antioch to the gentiles. This is a reflection of how the Holy Spirit works in us. There is an overflow of the Spirit to spread the gospel to others.

 

Sometimes people may ask why go overseas when there are so many people here who do not know the gospel. It is not wrong to go overseas as long as this is where God sends you. We need to be obedient to God and His spirit.

 

We can spread the Gospel to wherever God directs us. We need to spread the gospel by living our lives in a way that abides in Jesus and glorifies God.  

 

We as a church must engage in outreaches, but this does not mean that we must all become missionaries. There needs to be support from the church for outreaches. Outreaches need people to go and for people to stay.  

 

It was only Barnabas and Saul who went. The rest of the church stayed and prayed and fasted for them. In this way, everyone in the whole church was involved in the outreach.

 

Acts 13:3 ESV

[3] Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.  

• Holy Is The Lord

• How He Loves
• There Is None Like You

Jun 9, 2024 "Ancestors of Faith" (Hebrews 11:1-7)

 

Ancestors of Faith

Hebrews 11:1-7

 

Paul reminds us that without faith we cannot keep the law. The law is important and cannot be ignored; however, it is faith that we will be saved.

 

Hebrews 11:4 ESV

[4] By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.  

 

We read that there is a connection between faith and sacrifice. To understand this connection, we need to look at verse 3.

 

Hebrews 11:3 ESV

[3] By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

 

We understand that God has made everything and has given us everything. We might view God as a means to get what we want. This was not the case with Abel. Abel had faith in God and understood that God was deserving of sacrifice and so he was grateful when he sacrificed.

 

Hebrews 11:5 ESV

[5] By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

 

Enoch had so much faith that he went to heaven without experiencing death. Enoch was commended as one who pleased God.  

 

We will experience physical death but because of Jesus' sacrifice we will not experience a spiritual death. If we abide in Jesus, we will live a pleasing life to God. It will be obvious to God and to others. We will abide in Jesus and follow our calling.

 

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

[7] By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

 

Noah heard God's calling and followed God's instructions. He lived for God and did what we was told for 120 years.  

 

We have been called to be what we are doing. It was not the job that is important but how we did it. If we have genuine faith we will spread the gospel. Spreading the gospel is a natural response to God's grace.

 

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

[1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  

 

Faith is assurance of things hoped for and our confidence is the reality of our faith. Faith is seeing God's plan realized. A life of faith is living by responding to God's promises and knowing God will judge.

 

True faith shapes our actions. Our lives are testaments to others.

• King Of My Heart
• Good Grace
• What A Beautiful Name
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