1st Week January 2012 Adult Sunday School Lesson

2^nd Corinthians Chapter 10 verses 7 -18

We know that the world pleasures and reveres the outward appearance. If you look at any of the now thousands of sites that follow celebrities around and take their pictures, they praise the perfect outfit or the fit body and ridicule some unfortunate actress that might step out in front of a camera without make up. The outward man will fade away; it is the inward man that lives for eternity. The soul will live in eternity in Heaven or Hell, but in everlasting never the less.

Paul could boast many things with God given authority, he chose instead to lift up. He understood that his letters were bold to their repentance, but he was meek in person. That was by Paul’s intention.

Paul gives the warning that when we are to compare ourselves; we are to use God’s word and the Holy Spirit for the standard. To use our own standard to measure ourselves by would be pointless and hypocritical.

God gives us a job, and gives us a field of influence. To work a Christian life in that field of influence is not boasting but doing as God intended. See Matthew 25:15-28 about the talents and the servants.

Paul repeats something that he said in the other letter he wrote to the Corinthians in the first chapter. That if a person is to glory, let them glory in the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:23, 24

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

We can speak well of ourselves or even each other all day long, but it is God who has the final say and judgment. 

The Match: Revival thought for the first week of January 2012

A match is a small thing that barely warrants any notice. It isn’t bright, shiny, or flashy. It doesn’t come across as anything beautiful. When it is lit, it has light, but not much light. The match now though gives off just a little heat, enough to burn you. The match won’t stay lit for long, or at all in windy or rainy weather. The flame lasts just a minute at best.

Oh, but what a fire, what light it can bring if properly applied. The darker the moment, the better the light the match gives. Light a match in the day time and there is nothing to it much, but light a match in a pitch black room and you can see enough to find a light switch or a door for the way out. That is a lot of power for just a little bit of cardboard, phosphorus and gelatin.

Ever light a whole book of matches at one time? Ever use a whole book of matches to start a fire?

James 3:5

….Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Who is supposed to be the flame that others might see?

Isaiah 6:8

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

We are all called to be a light for Jesus Christ. If we all ‘catch fire’ together as was intended….

1 Corinthians 1:10

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Strive to be that little match, that hasn’t much glory, or nothing to boast of, but through the Holy Ghost has the power to start a great fire of revival for the Church.

When to seek God in prayer

Psalm 5:3
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

David says God will hear him in the morning.
 

Psalm 63:1
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

David says again that early will he seek God.

Daniel prayed 3 times a day (Daniel 6:10) and Paul prayed unceasingly (2 Timothy 1:3), but one thing is for sure, we are to seek God out in prayer first thing in the morning because we do not know what else the day is going to bring. The day might bring many opportunities to commune with him, and the day may bring one hectic emergency after another. If we sought out the Lord first, we have that communion with him to help us through the day.

Revival Topics in 2011 Part III

Following is from Robert Twigger's blog.

I have a good pal who runs a bookshop. He had one employee who is now an entrepreneur in her own right, but when she started working for him, aged 18, he left her in charge for a morning to see what she would do. When he came back she had found some paint, painted part of the wall that was peeling, bought some books from someone who came in trying to sell them, tidied up the counter, straightened out some pictures. She had worked. He told me every other person he has had working for him just sits there, waiting for a customer. Most, now, end up doing Facebook or solitaire on the computer while they wait. His star employee had the talent of creating work out of the vague forms workish stuff takes.

Luke 12:36-38

And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

The following came from Dr Wayne Dyer's blog.

One August when I visited a dingo farm in Brisbane, Australia, I was told that the wild dogs were shedding their coats for the upcoming Spring. Spring after August? I thought, before remembering that the seasons follow opposite patterns in the Southern Hemisphere. Wondering if this would be confusing to God, I asked the zoo curator what would happen if a dingo was shipped on an airplane to New York in August—would its coat go from thinning to thickening, since winter would now be following summer?     

“Happens all the time,” the curator said. “We fly them up there, and when they arrive, their coats start to thicken up.” Amazing, isn’t it? Now, if God remembers to adjust the coat on a dingo flying on a 747 from Australia to New York, surely He doesn’t forget us!

God knows exactly what we're going through and has been there himself.

Hebrews 4:15
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

and also Luke 12:6, 7
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

God knows and cares and will see us through. He had it planned out for you long ago. We just have to trust and obey.
 

Revival Topics in 2011 Part II

The following thought came from Dan Miller's blog

At least twelve hundred people have been seen jumping or have been found in the water since the bridge opened in 1937.....

..... “I went to this guy’s apartment afterward with the assistant medical examiner,” he says. “The guy was in his thirties, lived alone, pretty bare apartment. He’d written a note and left it on his bureau. It said, ‘I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump.’”Wow – what a simple gift.  How many people did he meet that day?  What if I had been one of them? 

Hebrews 13:2

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

We don't know who is watching. We don't know who is in need of a kind word or a smile. Someone might need a shoulder to cry on. Whatever the need, we need to be full time Christians because we never know when we might change a life for the cause of Christ.

The following are quotes by DL Moody that I found inspiring.

There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.

Obedience means marching right on whether we feel like it or not. Many times
we go against our feelings. Faith is one thing, feeling is another.

Small numbers make no difference to God. There is nothing small if God is in
it.

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And that which I can do, by the grace of God, I will do.

I have always treasured the last quote. Like the song is 'Little is much when go is in it', we can accomplish things through obedience to God that we otherwise wouldn't be able to do.

Revival Topics in 2011

One topic was the total population of the 'West Side' of town.

Cheviot                  8375
Addyston               938
Cleves                   3234
North Bend            857
Harrison City          9897
Colerain TWP        58499
Delhi   TWP           29510
Green TWP            58370
Harrison TWP        4037
Crosby TWP          2767
WhiteWater            5519
Miami                     10728
   
2000 Data    
East Price Hill         17,964
Lower Price Hill      1,309
Mt Airy                   9,710
Sayler Park             3,233
West Price Hill        17,115
Westwood              35,730

Indiana    
Dearborn                50047
Franklin                  23087
Ohio                       6128

Total                       357054

If we were to attract 1% of 1% of this number, our church could not hold them all.

John 4:35

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

Another topic was the simple Faith and go after it attitude of Maurice Wilson.

This was from Robert Twigger's blog.

In 1924 Maurice Wilson gave himself a mission: fly to Tibet, crash land on the upper slopes of Mount Everest and climb to the summit.His reason was to spread the good news about the power of prayer and fasting. One problem: he knew nothing about climbing or flying.

By 1933 he had learnt, kind of. He bought a second hand Gypsy Moth plane and after lots of setbacks managed to fly to India. In 1934 he headed off for Everest. He used equipment left behind by other expeditions to get himself up the mountain’s North East side-though he was so ignorant of climbing (his sole training had been to wander around some low British hills for a mere five weeks) he threw away

some crampons rather than use them as a climbing aid. Instead he laboriously cut steps and finally exhausted himself. After 18 days rest at a lower altitude he tried again- but died at 22,700 feet. An optimist to the end, his last diary entry was: “Off again, gorgeous day.”

If we sought out God with the tenacity of Maurice Wilson, I believe we would accomplish more for the Lord.

Joshua 1:7

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.