The Worship Sanctuary! :D

TOPIC: SEEKING GOD

TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 4:29-31, PSALM 63:1-8

INTRODUCTION:

Seeking is looking for or trying to find something or someone. In Christian seeking, we are looking for or trying to find God in prayers, fasting , supplications, studying, meditation and obedience to God’s word etc.

Through seeking, we know more about God, receive direction and more power in our Christian life and become heaven worthy.

Seeking always takes us into an alone-with-God experience because it is not something everyone enjoys but it is an experience we must be prepared to have, as it is very rewarding.

Brethren, let us therefore diligently seek God so that He will reward us bountifully in Jesus name.

QUESTIONS

1. How should we go about seeking God and under which circumstances? Deut.4 Vs 29-31, Daniel 9 Vs. 3-4, Joshua 1vs. 8, Psalm 63vs 1-8

2. Explain how Christian seeking differs from that of unbeliever. Joshua 1vs8, Matthew 6vs. 31-33

3. What are the rewards of seeking after God according to Deut 4Vs 31 and 1 chronicles 28vs 9?

4. What are you seeking in relation to God’s kingdom in your own life?

5. How often do you pray for these things? Do you practice or put them into action

MEMORY VERSE:- Hebrews 11vs 6 – But without faith, it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarded of then that diligently seek him.

ANNYEONGHASAEYO!

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Knothole Bible Study

There was a person who in his youth loved baseball but could not afford the price of a ticket. His solution was to walk along the wooden fence beside the baseball stadium and peer through the various knotholes.

From one he could see the pitcher's mound, from another he could see the batter's box and from another he could see second base. He was able to enjoy some of the excitement of the game but missed much of the action because of his restricted view. He often did not know who had won the game until he heard the news from one who had witnessed the entire game.

Unfortunately, many people have a distorted view of God and His love for us because of their fragmentary knowledge of the Bible. Some have formed opinions based upon a few verses they have heard quoted. Others read the Bible for themselves but restrict their reading to the Psalms or other favorite passages.

The next time someone begins laying on you his or her theories regarding spiritual matters, ask that person when was the most recent time he or she read the entire Bible through from end to end. Then you will have a good idea how qualified that person is to instruct you.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).

WORD FOR HOMECELL (2nd Jan, thursday)

Waiting on God: Patience

According to Webster, the definition of patience is:
1.) bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint
2.) steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity
3.) able or willing to bear
4.) Tolerance or endurance

Patience is
- Virtue (doing something right and avoiding something wrong)
- Quality/Characteristic
- takes time to develop
- Though not easy, it is definitely possible

God is patient – Nahum 1:3, Psa 145:8.

Examples in the bible of God’s patience in the bible:

1) Israelites
(a) Ex 32:1 >> they worshipped idols but after Moses pleaded with God (Ex 32:11), “So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.” (Ex 32:14)
(b) Num 14: 2-4 >> Israelites murmured against God. God was very patient with the Israelites and waited for them to repent :
(Num 14:11) “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?”
(Num 14:27) “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against Me”
(c) After Joshua died, the Israelites continued to sin (idolized, forsook God, never repented) against God – (Judges 2:12-23) the Israelites continually sinned against God and abused God’s patience. God punished them but took them out of the punishment repeatedly, but despite His mercy on them, they never repented.

2) the flood
(a) God waited for the people to repent because they had sinned (Gen 6:5) He did not destroy the earth immediately, He forewarned them and gave them time to repent but they did not – meanwhile, God saw that Noah was a righteous man and chose him to build the ark.

3) Cain
(a) Gen 4:8 – Cain killed his brother.
(b) Gen 4:9 – God asked him where his brother was, and gave Cain time to confess. Even though God gave him a punishment (Gen 4:15) God did not kill him immediately but gave him time to realize his mistake (Gen 4: 13, 14)

Men of patience:

1) Jacob
(a) endured harsh conditions without complaining. His patience required that he serve 14 years for his marriage to Rachel (Gen 29:20). He continued to serve Laban another 6 years to earn flocks for himself. During this time he endured fatiguing heat and painful cold. He suffered from lack of sleep. His wages were changed 10 times, and he had to tolerate loss from his own flocks to pay for stolen animals.
(b) Jacob was patient, he continued to trust God because God promised him

2) Job
(a) Job 2:7 > Sores and boils on Job’s skin
(b) Throughout his whole life, Job never once complained or murmured against God. Job was patient and entrusted his life into God’s hands – He knew that God was in control no matter what the situation - Job 2: 10.
(c) Job never stopped praising God.

3) Abraham
(a) Abraham was a man who had great promises from God, but he had to wait for them.
(b) He was promised a child, a descendant who would found a nation and bring blessing to the world, but Abraham would not see the child for many years. He was promised a homeland, but he himself spent much of his life wandering that land as a stranger. He was promised a blessing, but most of that blessing did not come to him in his lifetime.
(c) How did he respond? Abraham is a model of those who "through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:12).
(d) Abraham was a patient, longsuffering man. he may have felt impatient, restless, and eager to get on with it, but that did not change his fundamental attitude toward God and His promises.
(e) The fulfillment of God's promises was long in coming, but Abraham responded to the delay not with anger and mistrust but with faith and persevering patience.

Why be patient? :
(Psa 37:7-9) will inherit the earth/blessings ,
(Heb 6: 13-15) will obtain God’s promises,
(Psa 27:14) God will strengthen our hearts,
(Psa 40:1) God will hear our cries.

How to be patient:

1) See others through Jesus’ eyes: put yourself in their shoes and feel how they feel. Imagine if a stranger were to react the way you were going to react. Imagine what Jesus would do if He were you.

2) Birds of the same feather flock together: fellowship with people who are patient or are good examples of long sufferers – even if you are not like them, after a period of time, you will grow to be like them.

3) Remember God’s patience towards us: think – how many times have we failed or disappointed God? How many times have we come before God, confessing the same ugly sin, the same loveless behaviour and the same stupid mistakes? How many times have we disobeyed Him and forgotten about Him? Yet throughout these incidents, God never forsook us, never gave up on us and never ran out of patience.

4) Focus on being Christ-like: start by achieving the fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace. Then slowly, patience will develop because it is tied together.

Conclusion:
Paul prays that we might be "strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience" (Colossians 1:11)
Patience is a virtue that is tied to faith; with patience, faith will develop and blessings will flood.

<3 CA!

Exodus 3:1-10
(1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up."

4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
And Moses said, "Here I am."

5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.")

Exodus 4:1-3
1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"

2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied.

3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground."
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

Exodus 4:4

4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

Exodus 4:17

17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

P/S: Remember to read your Bible!