ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
SOLITARINESS OF GOD There was a time when creation, even heaven, didn’t exist, but God’s glory did because He is from everlasting. There was a time when neither angels, nor humans were praising Him and He was still altogether wonderful. He is self-contained, self-sufficient, and self-satisfied. He was under no compulsion to create out of necessity or deficiency. He created all things simply to display His glory. God could have chosen not to create and He still would be The Perfect One.
Psalm 50:2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appears in radiance.
Praise God for His Solitariness
Praise Him because He is perfect. If you could go back and visit the time before creation, God would still exist in all His goodness and glory. His perfection and wonder is complete even without all that He has made. Praise Him for what He has made and done even though He did not need to do any of it to prove His wonder and glory.
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 Christian Challenge as they meet tonight. Ask God to strengthen student’s faith as they gather and help them grow in community.
SCRIPTURE READING:
James 4:11-17 – The Message
11-12 Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?
Nothing but a Wisp of Fog
13-15 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”
16-17 As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-21
What did this man do wrong? Was it in his being rich? Was it in his business success? Was it in his desire to retire? Was it in his desire to enjoy life? None of this was wrong in itself. The problem was the man’s heart. In context two brothers were fighting over an inheritance and one wanted Jesus to intervene in the fight. Jesus would have no part in that, but he did issue a warning. “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Then he told the parable of the formerly rich, now deceased businessman. This character in the parable was not criticized for having “stuff”, no one ever is in Scripture. The parable was used as a warning to those whose hearts are wrapped around anything other than God. We must continually check our hearts because they are perpetually prone to wander.