ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS INFINITE – God is limitless. God is not limited by anything outside of His character. This applies to all of God’s attributes.
Jeremiah 31:3
I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness
Praise God because He is Infinite.
God’s love is endless. Have you ever driven through western KS on your way to Colorado? As you look west, the it seems like you can see forever. The horizon stretches on and on almost endlessly. God’s love and affection is endless. Keep driving west and you will eventually come to the Rocky mountains, but you will never come to the end of God’s love. His love is endless. Praise him for his endless love.
CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100
SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.
- Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
- Pray for Embrace. Ask God to use their ministry to rescue unborn children.
- Ask God for opportunities to have gospel conversations with your non-believing friends.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Galatians 1 New Living Translation
This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
2 All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.
3 May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. 5 All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
There Is Only One Good News
6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
Paul’s Message Comes from Christ
11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.
When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.
21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Paul was, at one time, a people pleaser. He was brilliant and passionate about this faith but by his own admission, he was also seeking to win the approval of others. This wasn’t true for him any longer. He admits that if he were still trying to please men, he would not be a servant of Christ. Not being a people pleaser doesn’t mean he didn’t care about people’s feelings or what they thought. That would make him an unkind person, a person “unlike” Christ. What it means is that what people thought of him did not determine how he lived his life, rather what Christ thought of him did. There are those who don’t care what others think of them because they don’t care about others. Paul cared deeply about others AND he lived his life according to how Christ wanted him to live. Contemplate this for a few minutes. Ask God to help you use this principle to evaluate your own life choices.