This past weekend before Thanksgiving, our church had an outreach event. It was a great success! Several people dedicated their lives to the Lord. The teaching was solid. Atleast that's what I heard since I was with the youth and kids the whole time!
On Friday night (11/16/07) we spent a good deal of time in the gym. We finally had our first official game of Scatterball, a crazy game of dodgeball where you can add several twists to it. It's a lot of fun with a lot of people. We had about 10 youth and 10 younger kids there. We used 4 balls.
Afterwards, I sat them down for a short devotional. With Thanksgiving coming up, I focused on that. What are we thankful for? Hopefully our family and friends. Our home and the food we eat. Possessions. It's good to be thankful for these things and people. But as believers, we must switch our focus to who provides these things and people. We must always be thankful to God for our family, friends, and possessions at all times, and especially around Thanksgiving. In 2 Chronicles 31, it talks about how King Hezekiah took away all obstacles to worshipping God. They devoted themselves to the Law of the Lord (v 4) and provided many sacrifices to the Lord.
I encourage everyone around Thanksgiving to do the same and devote themselves to the Lord. Thank Him for the blessings in your life. Spend quality time with family and friends.
Showing posts with label 2 chronicles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2 chronicles. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
prayer
I know many, many studies can be devoted to prayer, but last Sunday (11/11/07) we took a glimpse at it. This was by no means a complete study on prayer, but we looked at the Lord's Prayer and a couple of other things about it.
We first started in 2 Chronicles 33. This chapter refers to King Manasseh, someone who completely ignored God at first and did many evil things. We're talking about making altars to other gods, sacrificing his sons, witchcraft, and more. Manasseh and his people ignored God. But sometimes the Lord gets our attention in dramatic ways. He did so with King Manasseh by having the Assyrians capture him and do some amount of torture to him. Manasseh called upon the Lord and truly repented. It says in verse 13 that the "Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea."
We looked at the four different areas of prayer as well (praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition) and compared that with the Lord's prayer. Often when we pray, we just ask for what we want, or when we are in serious need or trouble, confess our sins. It's a habit to build up each area of prayer and remember to do them. And this is just the time when we talk. It is also very important to listen to God. This takes time to build up as well, and is something I need to work on.
I also used a couple games with the junior high kids to illustrate a couple of other points. We played the game telephone. That's where you pass on a message down the line by whispering and see what you have by the time it reaches the last person. You can only whisper so the person next to you can hear, and you can only say it once. Often times, it produces hilarious results! The connection is this. No longer are priests or any in-between people needed to talk to God. In the Old Testament, the high priest was the only one allowed to enter in the presence of God in the tabernacle. And this was only once a year after long, elaborate cleansing rituals. But now, as it says in Hebrews, we have Jesus as the great high priest who allows us to talk directly with God.
Next we played pictionary. Where you have an object to draw, and your teammates try to guess what it is. This is a little bit of a looser connection, but prayer is one of the ways we can see what God is doing- in our own lives and the world. I'm a very interested in the big picture. Through prayer, reading God's Word, and fellowship with other believers we can grasp a better understanding of what God is doing.
God longs to hear our prayers. He tells us in Luke, that we do not have because we do not ask. And when we do ask, we must be patient for answers. God knows what is best for us and wants to bless us. But sometimes we cannot see the big picture as He can. God only answers in 3 ways- yes, no, not now. It's kind of like the person who prayed, "Lord give me patience and give it to me now!" Doesn't quite work that way. Waiting is where we build our character. Waiting is where God sees if we will be persistent with our prayers and depend on Him.
We first started in 2 Chronicles 33. This chapter refers to King Manasseh, someone who completely ignored God at first and did many evil things. We're talking about making altars to other gods, sacrificing his sons, witchcraft, and more. Manasseh and his people ignored God. But sometimes the Lord gets our attention in dramatic ways. He did so with King Manasseh by having the Assyrians capture him and do some amount of torture to him. Manasseh called upon the Lord and truly repented. It says in verse 13 that the "Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea."
We looked at the four different areas of prayer as well (praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition) and compared that with the Lord's prayer. Often when we pray, we just ask for what we want, or when we are in serious need or trouble, confess our sins. It's a habit to build up each area of prayer and remember to do them. And this is just the time when we talk. It is also very important to listen to God. This takes time to build up as well, and is something I need to work on.
I also used a couple games with the junior high kids to illustrate a couple of other points. We played the game telephone. That's where you pass on a message down the line by whispering and see what you have by the time it reaches the last person. You can only whisper so the person next to you can hear, and you can only say it once. Often times, it produces hilarious results! The connection is this. No longer are priests or any in-between people needed to talk to God. In the Old Testament, the high priest was the only one allowed to enter in the presence of God in the tabernacle. And this was only once a year after long, elaborate cleansing rituals. But now, as it says in Hebrews, we have Jesus as the great high priest who allows us to talk directly with God.
Next we played pictionary. Where you have an object to draw, and your teammates try to guess what it is. This is a little bit of a looser connection, but prayer is one of the ways we can see what God is doing- in our own lives and the world. I'm a very interested in the big picture. Through prayer, reading God's Word, and fellowship with other believers we can grasp a better understanding of what God is doing.
God longs to hear our prayers. He tells us in Luke, that we do not have because we do not ask. And when we do ask, we must be patient for answers. God knows what is best for us and wants to bless us. But sometimes we cannot see the big picture as He can. God only answers in 3 ways- yes, no, not now. It's kind of like the person who prayed, "Lord give me patience and give it to me now!" Doesn't quite work that way. Waiting is where we build our character. Waiting is where God sees if we will be persistent with our prayers and depend on Him.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Judging others
On Friday (6/15/07) we looked at a few related scriptures on judging others. As Christians, we are careful not to judge others, but I'm sure we all slip at times when we get annoyed or a situation doesn't go our way.
First, we looked at Psalm 79. At first, you may think wow. What does this scripture have to do with judging? It's about crying out to God when injustice happens and for God to pour His judgment on those that do not trust God. This theme is actually in a lot of the Psalms. But this Psalm actually references back to 2 Chronicles 36:14-20. Asaph, the writer of this Psalm, is asking judgment on other kingdoms, yet the people in Judah, where Asaph is from, were rejecting God at this time also. The 2nd Chronicles passage tells us that the Israelites "mocked God's messengers" and "scoffed at his prophets." And Asaph was calling for judgment on unbelieving nations?! According to the NIV Life Application study bible notes, "this made their [Israelites from Judah] judgment even worse."
There are a few New Testament passages that show this concept. We looked at the one in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, where Jesus forgives an adulterous woman. Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone. Of course, that left the woman unharmed. Jesus tells her, "Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." This last line is important because a person that does not repent and change is not growing their relationship to God. Passing a judgment onto others and also committing the sin themself is being a hypocrite.
Something to think about:
Do you catch yourself, individually or in a group, judging others? If so, pray for all those involved. Repentance is needed.
First, we looked at Psalm 79. At first, you may think wow. What does this scripture have to do with judging? It's about crying out to God when injustice happens and for God to pour His judgment on those that do not trust God. This theme is actually in a lot of the Psalms. But this Psalm actually references back to 2 Chronicles 36:14-20. Asaph, the writer of this Psalm, is asking judgment on other kingdoms, yet the people in Judah, where Asaph is from, were rejecting God at this time also. The 2nd Chronicles passage tells us that the Israelites "mocked God's messengers" and "scoffed at his prophets." And Asaph was calling for judgment on unbelieving nations?! According to the NIV Life Application study bible notes, "this made their [Israelites from Judah] judgment even worse."
There are a few New Testament passages that show this concept. We looked at the one in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, where Jesus forgives an adulterous woman. Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone. Of course, that left the woman unharmed. Jesus tells her, "Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." This last line is important because a person that does not repent and change is not growing their relationship to God. Passing a judgment onto others and also committing the sin themself is being a hypocrite.
Something to think about:
Do you catch yourself, individually or in a group, judging others? If so, pray for all those involved. Repentance is needed.
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