Thursday, December 21, 2017

Day of Praise

Fri, 12/22/17, "Day of Praise"

Jeremiah 11:18a - "The Lord made it known to me and I knew..."

Amos 8:1a - "This is what the Lord God showed me:..."

What would you like to know?

Don't let Friday get in the way. 

It's easy for us to get so wrapped up in the things that we enjoy and the things that we anticipate that we wind up missing out on the things that God wants to show us now. Usually it means that we're so wrapped up in the temporary that we wind up missing out on the eternal and everlasting. 

I remember a time when a friend was telling me that he had recently discovered the joy of inviting people both to Jesus and also to worship. Such joy is a joy, whether or not people accept your invitation, because, having made us in His image, God made us to love it when we invite others to Him. It's an additional immeasurable bonus when they accept.

Well, my friend said that he was with his usual group of almost twenty golfers, who get divided into foursomes by drawing names from a hat. These guys had met and divided into groups and played golf for years, so they knew each other quite well. My friend said that, as the first three names were drawn, he recognized that two of them were strong non-believers. And upon recognizing that the non-believers had been picked, my friend said that he just knew that, even though there were almost twenty names still in the hat, he himself was going to be picked next. 

And he was.

He knew he'd be picked, and he knew he then was picked because God had a divine appointment for him. He was supposed to start talking to the strong non-believers about Jesus and worship.

But the question is, "How did he know he was going to be picked out of a hat?" Was it coincidence? Well, friends, you can choose to believe whatever you want. Or you can believe what God says in His word as in today's Bible verses. God wants us to know things and show us things that have to do with everlasting things. And God wants us to just know these things and show us these everlasting things even when we're doing some earthly temporary thing we enjoy, like golf, or when we're eagerly anticipating some earthly temporary thing we're going to enjoy, like the weekend. 

So today's Friday. It's fine to enjoy it as Friday and to enjoy anticipating the weekend, especially with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day being a part of this weekend. But in the midst of your earthly enjoyment, remember why we're ultimately here: to know the Lord and to worship Him and to make Him known, inviting others both to Jesus and also to worship God too. And as you remember our ultimate purpose, God will show you things so that you'll know things that bring unmatched excitement to your day, an eternal blessing to those before you, and glory to God and his name. 

Jeremiah 11:18a - "The Lord made it known to me and I knew..."

Amos 8:1a - "This is what the Lord God showed me:..."

Praise God!


Pastor Chris 
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

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