Value of a Sermon

We are very familiar with church sermons whenever we attend a certain christian service or gathering. Since the time we come to know about God and our saviour, a lot of things are being fed in our mind so that we may continuously grow mature in our spiritual walk with God.

The question is, do we really value every sermon? Or what happens is that we listen but always failed to apply. Unfortunately, most of us truly forget the sermon we hear every church service. Its a sad thing to know since we are ought to become more closer to God every time we hear His word.


What should we do?

I heard a fellow churchmate saying to me that we are truly blessed by receiving the free salvation from our savior Jesus Christ. He experienced all the suffering and trials just for the sake of saving us from our sins. Yes, ofcourse we all know the salvation teaching, but does our christianity stop there? No its NOT!

If walking with God is developed thru our constant communication and devotion with God everyday, the church sermons are reminders that our whole church should know. Maybe there will be times that you feel bored about certain teachings, but you know what, value every sermon because its not your pastor who is truly speaking, its God speaking thru him.

"It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". (Matthew 4:4)

Living our everyday lives is very difficult, there are a lot of trials to face but if we will have something to look back, like our church notes, notebooks which will strengthen us every time we feel weak.

Again, teach yourself to value every sermon your hear because God has a purpose why He allowed you to hear that Word from HIM. In fact, if you will not give attention to that, attending the church is nonsense because it does not impact your life.



By: Edwin Joseph

The Missionary’s Predestined Purpose

Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant . . . — Isaiah 49:5


The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances— we are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in
John 3:16 — "For God so loved the world. . . ."

We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God’s creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.

Beware lest you forget God’s purpose for your life



From: RBC - Utmost For His Highest

Your Life's Faithfulness

“. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” ~Joshua 24:15

Joshua understood well the personal choices involved in serving God faithfully to the end. He had seen much life and death come to his forefathers as a result of their ungodly choices. He reminded the leaders of Israel, with great assurance, to serve God with a clean heart. He knew that God desired to continue to bless Israel but that they would not be positioned to receive God’s blessings unless they surrendered their whole heart, even in the little things.

The bar is high for leaders. And Joshua warned them to not fall into the sins of their past. Oh how the enemy enjoys enticing and ensnaring us by using familiar behavior patterns and people from our past to bring destruction into our present and future, to prevent God’s promises, plans and purposes from coming to fruition.

Is there a god that you need to lay down? A god that will prevent you from living out your God-given potential and destiny? Are there any idols that lurk in your heart?

God will be faithful to us if we are faithful to Him and His ways. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Is God truly our first love? Are we willing to lay everything that is important and valuable to us down at the foot of the cross to serve Him?

If our answer is “yes,” then we exchange our ways for His, which are much higher and which include rewards far greater than we can earn on our own. The question then becomes, “Do we truly trust God to deliver?”

If the answer is again “yes,” then we will embark on an adventure of loving and serving Him on a whole new level that will result in fresh assignments, fresh revelation, fresh opportunities for trusting Him in new areas, fresh opportunities to overcome obstacles and greater measures of blessings to receive, pressed down, shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38). Is this not life worth living? This is indeed God’s finest for us, and it is anything but boring!

Faithfulness requires discipline in the journey, and it requires a cleansing of the heart at the outset. Anything less will harbor a contamination that will ultimately lead us to stumble and fall and possibly to not even finish the race God has set before us. At the very least, the journey will be rocky.

Faithfulness is obedience that builds trust in relationships. “Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped . . . and serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:14).



From: CrossWalk Devotionals - A Woman's Walk

Light the Way

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
-John 8:12 (NIV)

DURING our church services, the children gather for a lesson in front of the congregation. The woman who leads this lesson does an excellent job, allowing time for the children to question, to think, and to respond in their own words for all to hear. A recent discussion focused on the idea of light. At one point she asked them, "What happens if you don't have any light?"

"It gets dark," one responded. "You might get really cold," another offered. "You'd bump into a lot of things!" said a third.

Those last spontaneous words spoke to me like no others in the service. We all find ourselves in darkness at times, stumbling around and searching for light. Sometimes we bump into things that hurt us. During these times, we may feel as if we are lost. We may even think that God has abandoned us on our journey.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus calls himself the light, the one who shows us the way to God. Turning to God and asking for help through the shadows will help us find our way. Our good and gracious God is always there, illuminating our lives and igniting the spark in each of us.


Prayer
Loving God, shine your light into our lives so that we may carry that light into the world. Amen.



From: UpperRoom Devotionals - Nicole Teed

I like it Dark

John 3:20
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.


Fear of the Light

My junior high school was heated by a huge coal-burning furnace. Entrance to the furnace room was down a dark, narrow stairway under the stage in the auditorium. One day when I got to school, I noticed the principal and several teachers standing near the top of those stairs. All of us students realized something serious had happened. We stood around our lockers trying to figure out what was going on.

Soon after the bell rang for first period class, the principal called an assembly of the whole student body. He announced that the janitor had fortunately discovered a fire in a trashcan at the bottom of the stairs. After looking through the papers and other trash, the janitor had found the remains of a cigarette. Since neither the janitor, the principal nor any of the rest of the staff had been on the stairs that morning, he pointed out that a student must have thrown the cigarette away to keep from getting in trouble. Then, he warned everyone of the terrible danger we had all been exposed to and demanded that no one ever smoke in the building again.

This incident illustrates how evil hates the light. Whoever had been smoking on the stairs leading to the basement felt the need to hide. An adult would have simply gone outside to his car or walked around the block while smoking. Only a student would feel the need to hide in the darkness. He hid because he didn’t want his “evil deed” to be exposed.

Nothing has changed since the very first sin was committed thousands of years ago. As soon as Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they hid. Of course, we look at their action and think, “How stupid can you get? Surely they knew God would find them!” But, don’t we do the exact same thing? Instead of owning up to our sin and disobedience we try to hide it by making excuses or blaming others.

Of course, our attempts at hiding our sins are about as effective as Adam and Eve’s. God sees right through us. He calls us out into the open and insists that we expose ourselves to his holy light. Then, he does the very same thing he did for Adam and Eve. He forgives us and hides our sin. God hid Adam and Eve’s nakedness by killing some animals and clothing them in their skins. He hides our sin behind the blood of His Son Jesus who died so we could be forgiven.


Today’s Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for making me see how foolish it is to think I can hide my sins from you. More than that, thank you for loving me so much that you sent Jesus to die for me so you could cover my sins up and make me a person who loves the light. Amen.



From: New Wine Skin - Written by Martha E Menne

At Home with His Love

“Abide in My love.”
John 15:9 NASB

When you abide somewhere, you live there. You grow familiar with the surroundings. You don’t pull in the driveway and ask, “Where is the garage?” You don’t consult the blueprint to find the kitchen. To abide is to be at home.

To abide in Christ’s love is to make his love your home. Not a roadside park or hotel room you occasionally visit, but your preferred dwelling. You rest in him. Eat in him. When thunder clasps, you step beneath his roof. His walls secure you from the winds. His fireplace warms you from the winters of life. As John urged, “We take up permanent residence in the life of love” (I John 4:16 MSG).

You abandon the old house of false love and move into his home of real love.



From: Max Lucado