2nd Saturday launches Feb. 11 – snow or shine!

Jeremiah 29.7  ”And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

We believe at Kingsway Church that Jesus teaches every believer to live on mission daily.  What that means to us is, not only do we desire to live our personal lives close to Him daily, but also to share His love and hope with those around us.  Those around us include our families, our communities, and other communities around the world.

So what is 2nd Saturday?  2nd Saturday is our local community initiative in Cherry Hill and surrounding local communities.  The 2nd Saturday of every month from 8:00 AM til Noon we participate in local community service, free to the organization/persons served.

Why do we do this?  Simply to show people in our community in a practical way that Jesus loves them.

Please join us on February 11th as we kick off 2nd Saturday 2012.  Show up at the church at 8:00 AM ready to serve.  We will be back at the church by Noon.

Details for February 11th 2nd Saturday: 

8:00 AM-Noon

There will be two activities and we’ll divide into groups Saturday morning when you arrive.

1.  Combined Indoor/Outdoor service:

Age:  Adults

Tip: Wear clothes to clean/paint/scrub.

2.  Outdoor service:

Age: Adults, Teens, and Children (accompanied by parents)

Bundle up to do outdoor clean up.

We are so excited to have you join in to serve our community.  Come with your big smiles, ready to work hard.  Let’s share Jesus together through our generous service.

Isaiah 55.1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…”

In Ecclesiastes (ekklesiates “Teacher”), we read the words penned by Solomon, the third and final king to reign over a united Israel. He is now mature, full in years, looking back on his life contemplating his existence and its worth. He begins by emphatically stating “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless! (Ecc 1:2) From then on Solomon, in view of his past life experiences and accomplishments, wrestles over the futility and brevity of man’s life. To contextualize this statement, King Solomon is granted by God unparalleled wisdom and insight during his reign – evident in the thousands of proverbs and songs he composes – and a breadth of understanding of nature and the things therein. Many kings from different nations send emissaries bearing gifts of great worth, seeking an audience with King Solomon to listen to the wisdom God has placed in his heart. The splendor of Solomon’s kingdom is seen in the incredible wealth and provision he amasses, the great endeavors he accomplishes (including building the Temple and its furnishings, Palaces and their gardens, the protective city walls, store cities and fleets of trading ships) and the extent of his kingdom which has reached what was promised to Abraham. The grandeur and splendor of his kingdom soon turns into self indulgence and extreme excess – seen in the sheer opulence of his palace and his many wives/concubines. He has more than any man possessed of what this world considers of worth yet he is sorely unfulfilled. King Solomon continues remarking how throughout his life his devotion to knowledge and the exploration by wisdom of all things in this world and beyond amounts to an act of futility. He further addresses the aspect of what pleasure accomplishes – seen in his acquisitions of wealth, the building projects, and even intentionally engaging in revelry and foolish behavior – all the while guided by wisdom. This too, after surveying all that he has labored and toiled to achieve, does not bring him fulfillment. He reflects further by stating that the eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. All man’s efforts are for his mouth yet his appetite is never satisfied. How true that is of us even today. Why is that? Consider what Solomon writes: [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecc 3:11) What Solomon is conveying is that God’s creation and the things therein are indeed vast and beautiful, yet they will never fully satisfy. This is because we are creatively and intentionally made for eternity, and therefore things that are temporal, of this world, cannot fully and permanently satisfy. All of life is meaningless if is not rightly related to God, for without him nothing satisfies. Only when we acknowledge and revere God and His Word does life have meaning and bring true enjoyment.

This point is further expounded on in John 4 where Jesus journeys from Judea back to Galilee, through Samaria. There he encounters a Samaritan woman drawing water at the well of Jacob. Being tired, he asks for a drink of water. She is incredulous that this Jew would make such a request of her, for Jews and Samaritans never associate. But this is all ordained, for Jesus responds, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water”. Most certainly she would have recognized “living water” being a reference to the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, specifically the water drawing and pouring ceremony preformed by the priest. This feast commemorates, among many things, the precious water that miraculously issued forth from the rock, thus sustaining and satisfying the thirst of the Israelites during their stay in the wilderness. The Samaritan woman then asks this Jew where she could obtain this living water. Jesus replies, “Everyone who drinks this water [from the Well of Jacob] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst…” Jesus reveals to her that he knows that she has had five husbands and the man she is currently with is not her husband. What Jesus is trying to convey is not only her sin, but that her pursuit of fulfillment is futile. The temporal things of this world – power, social position, relationships, wealth, and acquisition – these are things we feast our eyes on and try to satisfy our insatiable appetites with. Though they may be enticing and enjoyable, it is only for a moment. We then engage ourselves of this endless cycle of moving from one thing to another, trying to find fulfillment but never reaching it. That is why many in this world are disillusioned and despondent with life itself. And Jesus tells us that he is the living water, that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Only through a continual relationship with him can we be fully satisfied.

Jesus lives out his advice to the Samaritan woman. He states that “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” What Jesus is conveying is that what sustains him is not the things of this world, but rather listening to the Father and being obedient to His will. The Samaritan woman took to heart the truth in Jesus’ words; King Solomon, though he understood that the things of this world do not (and never can) satisfy, never tells us whether he chose the wisdom of God or the things of this world. The more important question is this: What is your choice?

Prayer: Father in Heaven we settle our hearts before you. We know that we are to hang on to things of this world very loosely. However, during this fast, let us not focus on what we are abstaining from, but rather what are thirsting and hungering for. You Word states that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled. We come to the living waters, The Spirit looking for refreshing and we feast upon the bread of life to do your will. We believe this because your Word never returns void: What it endeavors to do, it accomplishes! Amen

We will be studying the book of Mark verse by verse for the better part of 5 months.

Join us for the 9 or 11am services.

Romans 8:5-6
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.
5 For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,
teaching me wisdom even there.

7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.

16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.

Hebrews 4:12 (New Living Translation) 12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

Hebrews 4:12 (New International Version) 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified Version) 12For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

“One of the reasons for fasting is to know what is in us…in fasting it will come out. You will see it. And you will have to deal with it quickly or smother it again.” -John Piper

Today is day 9 and you only have a couple days remaining! Now it is time to get up close and personal.
The fact is we ALL have our stuff! There is not one person reading this today who doesn’t have issues, insecurities, areas of pride, doubt, or shame that cause us to be divided from God’s perfect plan for our life. As John Piper makes very clear, fasting will reveal to us those things that need to be dealt with. It’s then our decision whether we allow God to lead us as we work through our issues or if we are going to push that issue down one more time. Today, you have a chance to allow God to search your heart. When he points out the things that are not pleasing to him and are a detriment to you, you then need to choose what you do. Allow God to help you begin to work through what’s keeping you from His best for your life and freedom will be the result!

Hopefully throughout these past five days, you have worked to spend some more time with God and in his word than you normally would. Let’s take a look at the work of God’s word as it deals with what is happening in our hearts. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that God’s word is alive and powerful. When we spend time earnestly seeking God through his word we cannot avoid beginning to see issues that we have in the motives and thoughts of our heart. Chances are, as you have spent more time in his word this week, you have already begun to sense God tugging on your heart in certain areas. Allow God’s word to do its work and take the steps to respond to what he shows you.

Prayer:
God thank you for the power of your word and the power of your Holy Spirit that empowers us to desire change. God, today I acknowledge just as David acknowledged in Psalm 51 that I am sinful, that I am in need of your incredible mercy! Would you pour of your forgiveness and grace on me today as I search to align my life with the commandments in your word.

• Matthew 16:18
• Proverbs 16:1,3,9
• Ephesians 2:11-18

Press in today. At the beginning of this fast, you were encouraged to set goals, to determine what you were hoping to see happen from this time with the Lord. Review those goals today. Take a few minutes to write down what you have learned, what you have struggled with and what you still hope to see accomplished! As we are about to read in Proverbs 16:3, we are encouraged to “commit our actions to the Lord.” The promise that follows this encouragement is that for those who commit their plans to him, “your plans will succeed.” That is your promise today! Take hold of it in every moment. The third day of a fast is never easy so if you are feeling weak, cling with everything you have to the hope that is found in the Word of God and to the reasons you have set out on this journey. Most importantly remember the words that came from Jesus in his time of fasting in Matthew 4:4, “Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” SEEK after God today, find truth in and savor the power of his word, and commit your plans (for this fast) to him and they will succeed!

Matthew 16:18- Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Proverbs 16:1,3,9 1 We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. 3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. 9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

Ephesians 2:11-18 11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

To be a church that presses hard after the Heart of God, we need to understand where we have come from, where we are and where we are going. In Matthew 16, we see what must have been quite an intense conversation between Jesus and Peter. Peter and the other disciples are being asked by the man that they hold in very high esteem who they believe he is. Jesus is setting up the scene to establish his church and to begin to set his promises in place over that very church. After Peter’s confession that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” in verse 16, Jesus blesses Peter and proclaims that his church will be built on that rock. The rock he refers to is the confession that Peter has just made-the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Loving God. The truth that Jesus IS the Christ, God’s Son must be the cornerstone of any church that desires to be church after God’s heart!

Take some time to read through the verses highlighted in Proverbs 16. Did you notice that each verse began with human action but ultimately ends with us turning those actions to the LORD for his answer, his prosperity, and his approval? In Matthew, we see that Peter had to make a statement of his faith before he could receive the fullness of what Jesus was preparing to speak to him. Again in Proverbs, we see that God calls us to make plans, to dream, to set out in action but more importantly he wants us to commit our plans to Him, to His will. When we flow in this way, we, as a church and as individuals, begin to experience the ability to move and flow and be in agreement and harmony with God’s will, purpose, and plans. Just as we talked about yesterday, we begin to walk in the fullness of what it means to reconciled to Him! As we pray through these verses today, let us SEEK God’s direction for Kingsway Church! We long to be a church after his heart, let today be a day of action- seeking him in prayer for where he is taking us.

It is vital that as a church, we don’t get so consumed with what is happening inside our walls that we forget to seek God for what he wants us to do within our community. How are we, followers of Christ, called to live among people who desperately need him? God speaks clearly in Ephesians 2 of the plans he had through the work of Christ on the Cross. Speaking specifically in this passage about Jews and Gentiles, we are reminded that God’s “purpose was to create in himself one people (or one new humanity)…” He longed to bring peace between two very divided groups. Later in the passage, we are reminded that the Jews and Gentiles, through the work on the Cross, are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone.” Can you see that God longed for his creation to be unified together bringing honor and glory to his name not separately but together with the truth of Jesus Christ as their linking point? As a church, we are seeking how God would have us function in our community and surrounding areas. Through these verses, it seems as though we have two commands from God. First, God calls us to be peacemakers just as he desired to create peace between the Jews and the Gentiles through sending his Son to die for us.  We are to share the love, peace, and hope that comes from God where ever we are. Second, we are to do this with one mission- to through the power of the Holy Spirit lead people into relationship with Jesus Christ. Therefore, striving to meet God’s longing that his creation would be unified bringing honor and glory to his name with belief in Jesus as the Christ as our cornerstone! We need to seek God’s direction for how he longs to see this take place through Kingsway Church. How do we make that representation corporately and how do we do it when we are interacting with people throughout our daily lives.

Prayer: Jesus, you have called your church to set the truth of what you have done for us as our cornerstone! I pray today that you would stir up in us a burning passion to lift you up in everything we do as a church corporately and as representatives of your church wherever we go individually.  We long to see people in our community be drawn in by your love. We long to stand in worship with those in our surrounding areas acknowledging YOU as our only way to gain access to the Father.

God as we seek you for specific direction for our church in the coming year, make true the promises set forth in Proverbs 16. As we put our hands to the plow, make plans, and dream big for this year, we commit those actions and plans to you believing that you will answer us, determine our steps and ensure our success in delivering the Salvation message of the cross. Set within our pastors and ministry leaders vision for our church, the ability to hear clearly your voice, and follow hard after what you have shown them.

Let us burn with the message of Christ. To those who come in our doors, those who we encounter through community outreaches like Trunk or Treat, and those we see throughout our daily lives, let us be carriers of the truth of the hope that exists only through relationship with Jesus! As a church we long to be used by you! Help us to lay down our agendas, our thoughts about who you are, and what you would have us do. Overtake our thinking and transforms our hearts and our minds to be vessels of your thoughts, your dreams, and your plans. We give every aspect of Kingsway Church in 2011 over to you! Do your work in us! In Jesus’ Name we pray! Amen!

James 5:16-18
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Luke 11:1-13
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”  2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:  “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.  4 Forgive us our sins,for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.  9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We must never forget that the highest kind of prayer is never the making of requests.  Prayer at its holiest moment is the entering into God, to a place of such blessed union as it makes miracles seem tame and remarkable answers to prayer appear something very far short of wonderful by comparison. -A.W. Tozer

Do you believe in prayer?
Believe instead in a God who hears and responds. James tells us the prayer of a righteous man IS powerful and effective. There is no question there! Why is prayer powerful and effective, because we are righteous on our own? Absolutely not! It’s all about dependence on and faith in God. In order for us to be made righteous, we have to believe that Jesus came, walked on the earth, died, and rose again for our forgiveness. To approach God in prayer, we have to believe that his ways are higher than our ways and that he has our ultimate good in his view. After praying, we have to believe that God is working on our behalf whether we hear him, feel him, and see him, or have no proof beside our faith that he listened to what’s going on in our world. So you see, prayer has nothing to with us or our words and everything to do with our belief that God IS hearing and working!

Jesus lovingly and clearly lays out for us how we should pray. In summarizing Luke 11, we see that Jesus commands three things of our prayer, frequency, fervency, and faith. What do these words mean in relation to our prayer life and how we access our Heavenly Father? Frequency speaks to persistence. The man who was in need of bread would not stop knocking on his friend’s door until he got what he wanted! He wasn’t even concerned that his neighbor would get annoyed, he knew what he needed and he was not stopping until he got it. Are you persistently seeking God for the things that you need in this moment? Fervency speaks to intensity. Paint a picture of this parable in your head. A man needs food, it’s midnight, he needs it enough to knock on someone else’s door. If he is that desperate, there is very little chance that his knocks were light and dainty; chances are he waspounding on the door. Jesus endorsed this kind of intensity in seeking what we need from God! Does the intensity of your prayer life reflect the desperation of your need?

Finally, Jesus, through all of Luke 11 commands us to have faith when we pray, faith that God can provide for us, faith that God can forgive us, faith that when we approach God he will provide an answer. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” God is asking us to believe for these things even when we have no earthly view of them when we pray. Are you seeking God persistently, intensely, and in faith for the things that you need?

Do you believe God hears you and will respond to your prayers?  Don’t answer that too quickly.  The way to know the answer is to identify how much time and energy you invest into praying.

Prayer: God, I want my prayer life to be effective and powerful! I long to seek for you just like the man in Luke 11 sought for the bread that he so desperately needed. Holy Spirit, empower me to believe for things I cannot see! God search my heart, show me whether I have believed in prayer or whether I believe in the power of a God who promises to respond when I pray. Help me to align the time and energy I invest in my prayer time with my belief that you hear me and will respond. Guide me as I journey to a place of richer, deeper prayer, communing with you. I believe that you have made me righteous and I also believe the promise in James that says that the prayer of a righteous person IS powerful and effective. Hold me up in the moments when it’s hard to believe you hear me and strengthen me to know you are right there working in every moment. I long to be close to you. In Jesus’ Name! Amen!

What things come to mind when you read that word? When you think of the word PROVIDE in relation to God, does your faith rise up or is there a sense of doubt that tries to creep in? Take time to read Genesis 1. Don’t rush through it, take your time. Pray that God would speak to you through these verses in a fresh way.  As we read through Genesis 1, many of us tend to view God solely as creator. What if we read these verses understanding God as our supreme provider? There was God, hovering over the darkness of the earth, preparing to create man in his image. He spoke and light existed, He spoke and land appeared perfectly as he had planned. Our heavenly father spoke and plants began to develop, He spoke and the sun and moon were placed precisely in perfect position for all systems of earth to produce life. The list continues. When we read these verses with the understanding of God as our provider, we see that He has been providing for us since before Adam was even formed. Don’t continue reading until you let that sink in, throughout every step of those first moments of creation, God was already our provider!
God promises to provide for us through revealing himself to us as Yahweh-Yireh, Jehovah-Jireh. This name means, the Lord will provide. Notice the words are not might provide, could provide, or will think about providing, his name means the Lord WILL provide. His provision may not always appear as we imagine it but he always promises to provide! For Abraham who walked three days with Isaac whom he loved deeply, God’s provision came through a ram caught in a thicket. Almighty God chose to provide for the Children of Israel through a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. For a small shepherd boy, David, God provided bravery, a stone, and complete victory over the giant.
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” We see all throughout the scripture that God HAS provided. If you stopped right now and listed all the things God is giving you at this very moment, the list would go on and on; breath, flowing blood, working limbs, salvation, forgiveness of sin, grace to give up the comforts of food and technology, clean water to drink. See we really could keep going. He IS providing. We must have faith that he WILL provide! “He is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If he was our provider even before creation, if he is our provider today, surely he will be our provider from this moment forward.
Take time today to seek God earnestly for the faith to believe in his provision. We need provision for our church as we continue forward with the Let’s Build Tomorrow project. We need his wisdom, strength, endurance, and a miraculous flow of financial provision. In your own life, there are surely things you need and even desire. Seek Him, seek God! Don’t seek his provision, seek the almighty provider and he promises to meet our every need. “But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

Prayer: God, our provider, I thank you for your promises. Jehovah Jireh, stir up in me the faith to believe fully in your ability to provide for me. God, I choose to seek hard after you knowing that when I seek you, you will provide for me. Jesus, I pray for your provision in our church this year. Give our leadership team wisdom at every step. Provide the pastoral staff and volunteers, strength and endurance to serve you and your people well.  Holy Spirit, pour out your financial provision as we expand our building. Help us to be good stewards of what you have given and will give us. God, you see the needs I have in my own life. Help me to see your provision each day this year.  Please teach me to trust you as my provider. Thank you for all you have given to Kingsway church and to me, the list is endless. Thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen

Scripture: John 17:20-23
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who ever will believe in me because of their testimony.  My prayer for all of them is that they will be one just as you and I are one, Father-that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.”

Psalm 133: 1-3; Ephesians 4:2,3; 1Corinthians 1:10

Jesus’ heart cry was unity for us, his great desire for us in his prayer is that we would be a powerful testimony of God’s love.  God describes unity among us as ‘good’ and ‘pleasant’ and ‘precious’! If you desire something, you will do everything you can to promote it, remove barriers to it, encourage it and protect it when it comes to you. That is why we need to understand the value of unity, it is ‘precious’.

Unified in Love:
John 13:35 – “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”

Unified in Giving:
Acts 2:42-47 “They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Acts 4:32-35  “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostle’s feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”

Unified in Serving:
1 Corinthians 3:7-9 “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation”

Unified in Growing:
1 Corinthians 12:24-27 “But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

Application:
We have begun the physical part of the renovations of the building project by cleaning up, sorting through and throwing out.  We will soon begin the next level where carpets are pulled out and torn up, beams and walls knocked down and other materials are discarded.  Our church as we see it will start looking differently and may even feel different; distraction and busyness will be present and walking around us.  God is so mercifully calling us to remain in union with each other especially now!  In the midst of all this may we the church, the body remain in tact, in union and even more closely knitted together.  That we would continue to grow closer to God, encouraging one another and protecting the unity of our church Unified in Love, that we would be patient with one another and that no matter where we would be holding a church service God’s spirit of unity would be hovering over us!  Unified in Giving, that we would have no problems in laying down the needs to be met!  Unified in Serving, with the joy of the Lord being dedicated to our assignments!  Unified in Growing closer to God, exercising the gifts we have been given and encouraging others to use theirs!

Prayer:
Lord may we bring you honor and glory, may you be pleased with us as we work hard to remain in union with you and your spirit, make all things right is us Lord, enable and empower us. Jesus, my heart cannot understand or even hold the thought of how much you love your people!  Jesus, you prayed for us, your heart cried for us, that we would be one with you and Father God! “Then said I, woe is me!”
Thank you Lord that your anointing of unity is over us. Lord as the physical work and changes approaches, let us also be builders, repairers and restorers of relationships, of protecting our unity, let us knock down and discard any walls and debris of division in your name Jesus!  Lord I pray that what stands out after this renovation is not how great the building looks, but How great you are, that you would be glorified Lord constantly through the process and you would be pleased with us oh God as we honor you in remaining in union with each other!  In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Matthew 14:22-31:
“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”  “Come,” he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.”

As we began our prayer meeting on Wednesday, January 11, the Lord gave me this scripture found in Matthew Chapter 14.  As we continued praying, I meditated on what happened in that passage and centered on the fact that as soon as Peter took his eyes off Jesus, as soon as he changed his focus, he became fearful and started to sink.  It reminds me of a camera technique you see on television when there are two characters in the scene, and the camera focuses first on one while the other person is blurry, then shifts the focus to the second person so their face is seen with clarity while the first person becomes fuzzy.  As Peter focused on Jesus, the trials and fears of this world were blurry and distant in the background so he was able to walk toward Jesus.  But as his “camera” shifted to the wind, etc., they became more real to him than Jesus and His strength, thereby losing his faith.

I was born blind in one eye, and the other eye is severely near-sighted, corrected only by glasses with a strong prescription.  I have experienced issues of blurriness my whole life with different medical events, including wearing a patch over my “good” eye so my bad eye would compensate and work harder to see better, and a detached retina about ten years ago, so this speaks to me in a very personal way.

The bottom line is: I want to focus on Jesus…not on distractions, worries, and other things that can cause me to “sink” throughout my daily walk. There is a wonderful hymn entitled, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Although we first need to turn our eyes upon Jesus, I would actually like to change the words to “Keep Your Eyes Upon Jesus” as a way to stay anchored, be lifted up by Him, and keep the faith no matter what.  As you continue through this next week of fasting, may your gaze never waver from His face, His strength, His assurances, and be able to embrace His abundant love as you spend precious time with Him.