ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
God is IMMUTABLE
God does not change. All that God is, He has always been. All that He has been and is, He will ever be. He is ever perfect and unchanging.
Psalm 102:25-28
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”
Praise God because He is Immutable.
Think about the earth changing and seasons coming and going. God will never change. He will never cease to be. Praise Him because He endures and does not change.
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 your friends who do not know Jesus. Ask God to strengthen your friendships and give you opportunities for gospel conversations.
SCRIPTURE READING:
2 Thessalonians 1 New Living Translation
Greetings from Paul
1 This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Encouragement during Persecution
3 Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. 4 We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. 5 And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. 6 In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.
7 And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power. 10 When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.
11 So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. 12 Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
“He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.”
Punishment for those who do not obey the gospel is not random or arbitrary, it is cause and effect. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor they in effect declared war on the United States. When President Roosevelt gave his famous speech he did not say “I therefore declare war on Japan” he said that since they attacked us “A state of war has existed between us.” Hell, in the sense of “separation from God” is a state of being that exists to a degree in this life for the non-believer. This reality of separation becomes permanent at death. The opposite is true as well. It is at conversion, not at death, that eternal life begins for the believer. We do not experience the full fruits of eternal life in this life but we do experience the “first fruits.” If we understand that the greatest good both eternally and temporally (in time) is to know God and to be able to enter into his presence and experience the majesty of his power, how might this change how we view and live our lives now?