Review

• What is faith?
• What does faith mean to you?
• Hebrews 11:1-3
• II Peter 1:5 – Give diligence! You must want to grow your faith.
• Faith builds trust, creates courage, dispels fear.
• Love for God and each other.
• John 14:15
• Obey God and seek things above.
• Put on the new man! “Be holy because I am holy.”
• Grow a one-on-one relationship with God through faith and prayer.
• The cycle: Our faith grows, we love more, we want to be more like God, we seek God, our faith grows. (Hebrews 11:2)

Introduction

• Proverbs 1:1-7

We listen to the wrong people.

• Proverbs 1:8-10
• People often do not listen to good advice.
• Proverbs 4:14-17
• Proverbs 2:16; 5:3; 7:13-21, 24 – Be careful of the words of an adulteress! Listen to God instead.
• Advertising: The Rule of 7
  • It takes about seven ad impressions before someone will take action.
• Psalms 1:1-2
• We must minimize the influences that pull us away from God.
• II Timothy 4:3

We lack spiritual common sense.

• I Peter 5:8
• Don’t go near things that are likely to lead to sin.
• Proverbs 5:8; 7:7-16
• Proverbs 14:15-16 – What is the wise thing to do?
• Proverbs 22:3

Instead of dying to sin, we try premeditated repentance.

• Proverbs 3:7-8
• I John 1:6-7
• Romans 6:1-4, 7, 13 – This is talking about dying to sin.
• Am I truly loving God if I’m making plans to sin every day?
• Proverbs 8>13
• I’m also affecting other people when I do this.
• Proverbs 6:27-29 – Sin hurts!
• We will never better ourselves by committing any type of sin.

What worship is

• In both spirit and truth (John 4:23)
  • Spirit – proper reverence and attitude
    • Focused
    • Offered to God
  • Truth – as God has established by His word
• Planned by intent (Genesis 22:5)
• Exclusive (Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 3:4)
• Lacking these, our worship falls short.

Elements of worship

• Singing – I Corinthians 14:15
• Prayer – I Corinthians 14:15
• Lord’s Supper – Acts 20:7 (first day of week)
• Contribution – I Corinthians 16:2 (first day of week)
• Sermon – Acts 20:7
• Sixth element – Romans 12:1

The sixth element

• Romans 12:1 – Sacrifice
• Hebrews 9:6, 1

Offering ourselves

• In both spirit and truth (John 4:23)
  • Spirit – proper reverence and attitude
    • Focused – Philippians 3:12-14
    • Offered to God – I Peter 2:5
  • Truth – as God has established by His word (John 17:17)
• Planned: by intent (II Thessalonians 3:7; Titus 2:11-12; Matthew 16:24)
• Exclusive
  • We exclude many things from our lives (I Corinthians 5:1; 6:9-10)
  • We give ourselves only to God.

Discussion

Things that aid us in offering ourselves

• Examples (II Timothy 3:10-11)
• Study (Acts 17:11)
• Encouragement; teaching from others (Titus 2)

Things to consider

• Time management (Ephesians 5:15-16)
• Money management (Ephesians 4:28)
• Preparation, planning, goal setting (Luke 14:28-30)
• Self-discipline (Titus 2:11-12)
• Relationships (I Corinthians 15:33)
• Peer pressure (Galatians 2:11-13)

Introduction

• II Corinthians 4:16-18
• II Corinthians 11:23-28 – This is the man who talked about momentary light afflictions!

Remember that Jesus Himself shared in human suffering.

• Philippians 2:5-11
• Jesus is not asking us to do something He hasn’t already done.
• Hebrews 2:14
• Hebrews 5:8
• John 11:33-36 – Jesus wept at Lazarus’ death.
• I Peter 2:21

Don’t take this as a sign that God was punishing people.

• Luke 13:1-5 – Tragedies are not necessarily punishment for sin.
• John 9:1-2
• Sometimes bad things just happen.

God does take away our suffering … just not necessarily in this lifetime.

• Hebrews 11:13-16
• I Peter 2:11
• This is a temporary stop on the way to eternity.
• Job 3:17
• Romans 8:17-25

This is an opportunity to help.

• Luke 10:25-37
• Ephesians 4:23-24, 28 – Now, I’m generous and look to help others.
• James 1:27

When a Christian is in need, the church can jump in.

• Acts 2:44-45
• Acts 4:32-35
• Acts 6:1-3
• Acts 11:27-30
• Romans 15:25-26
• I Corinthians 16:1-3
• II Corinthians 8:3-4, 14
• II Corinthians 9:1
• I Timothy 5:16, 5

Faith and prayer

Prayer is a calibration

• The model prayer – Luke 11:2-4; Matthew 6:8-13
  • This is not just empty phrases (Matthew 6:7-8).
  • He said in Matthew 6:9 to pray “in this manner.”
  • This prayer resets our hearts (priorities) according to God’s will (priorities).
  • Jesus starts by introducing God as our Faither in heaven to plant the idea that we are God’s children and God deserves our honor. We are subject to Him. Put aside our focus on ourselves and look at God and His priorities.
    • Matthew 6:9 – Honor God daily
    • Matthew 6:10 – Pray for God’s purposes to be accomplished. Remembers Matthew 26:39, 42.
    • Matthew 6:11 – Pray for our physical needs. See Matthew 6:33-34
    • Matthew 6:12 – Pray for forgiveness daily.
    • Matthew 6:13 – Pray for help with temptation.
    • These are the things that should be our priorities in prayer.

Prayer is a test.

• Jesus tells us repeatedly to “ask and receive.” Matthew 7:7; 18:19; 21:22; John 14:13-14; 15:7, 16. It is our opportunity to ask God for what we need.
• Solomon in I Kings 3:5-9.
  • Mark 6:22
• How is it a test? Look at the caution we are given in James 4:2-3. Is the desire of our heart to seek the will of God, or to seek our own passions? Matthew 6:5. What are our motives for praying?
• Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21.