ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS FAITHFUL
Out of His faithfulness God honors His covenants and fulfills His promises. Our hope for the future rests upon God’s faithfulness. Psalm 89:1-8
Psalm 89:1-4
I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.” You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’”
Praise God for His Faithfulness
Every promise God ever made, He has kept. It is no effort for Him to act faithfully and keep His word. He IS faithful. Praise God for faithfully keeping His covenant. Praise God for your future hope, because He is faithful to keep His promises.
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 Youth Horizons. Pray that God would use their mentoring and residential programs to help children and their families grow in health and to come to know Christ.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Hebrews 5 – English Standard Version
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
6 as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Warning Against Apostasy
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
This morning we are going to focus on Hebrews 5:8, which says, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, who had lived in perfect, righteous, eternal fellowship with the Father and the Spirit, unaffected by this realm of brokenness and decay, willingly took on human flesh and suffered. He willingly faced the trials and temptations of human life in a fallen world so that he might be able to empathize with us in our weakness (Hebrews 4:15) and so that he might be qualified to offer a perfect, unblemished, once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sin, thus achieving an eternal salvation (Hebrews 10:12, 5:9).
Take a couple of minutes to thank Jesus for His willingness to enter into our brokenness and experience trial and temptation for us.
Now, take a couple of minutes to consider that Jesus can truly empathize with your weaknesses, trials, and temptations. Imagine Jesus being aware of your situation in this moment. Imagine Him understanding the weight of the internal and external things you carry today. Imagine Him feeling the very things you feel. Invite Him into them with you.
Now, as you follow after Jesus, who learned obedience through what he suffered. Ask the Father to help you see what He’d like you to learn through your present trials and temptations. Trust that He has a good purpose for your trials and temptations, even when you can’t see it.