ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
SELF-SUFFICIENT – All things are God’s to give, and all that is given is given by Him. He can receive nothing that He has not already given us. He does not need creation.
Acts 17:24-25 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
Praise the Self-Sufficient God
Praise God that he needs no sleep. Praise God that He created from joy and delight and not from need. Praise the Self-Sufficient One who gives freely from His hand.
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 Onelink as they prepare to train students next week and send them overseas. Ask God to use their training and to prepare students to make the gospel known.
SCRIPTURE READING:
2 Timothy 2:14-26 – The Message
14-18 Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples, throwing believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the resurrection is over and done with.
19 Meanwhile, God’s firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:
god knows who belongs to him.
steer clear of evil, all you who name god as god.
20-21 In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.
22-26 Run away from childish indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Pastors are sometimes esteemed and sometimes despised. It depends on many different factors. Sometimes pastors work for the applause of people, sometimes they are unconcerned with people altogether. Pastors sometimes are seen (and view themselves) as CEOs, spiritual experts, celebrities, “more than mere humans”, etc. Paul gives Timothy some great perspective and life shaping advice… “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who correctly works with the truth.” First, Timothy is to work for the applause of God, not people. This will require that Timothy love people but not become a people pleaser. Second, Timothy is to see himself as a “worker in the truth.” He is to work hard at knowing truth, living truth, and speaking truth. Anything beautiful and of worth is going to require work. You are probably not a pastor, but you are at some level a worker in the truth. You are also not going to thrive if you live for the approval of people rather than the applause of God. Thrive…seek to bless not impress. Thrive…work hard at the truth.