Enjoying Time with God

Pray

Intro - Welcome

Review, I said last week was the last week of our why series and it is but this week my prayer is that this connects all the dots

Church - we weren’t designed to do things alone, we are to be joining and be active in the church

Read your Bible - we are to be reading out Bibles, because how else can we know what God is saying to us

Tithe - we are to be giving 10% across the board, not just our income

Pray - we are to be praying, staying in constant communication with God

And if you are like me you begin to make lists that have other lists and you begin to feel overwhelmed with everything the pastor says you are supposed to do, or what the Bible says you are supposed to do

I would venture to say that even some sermons make you feel like, especially the last few weeks

When you hear you need to be active in the church

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 NASB95

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

And you need to be reading your bibles

Psalm 119:10–12 NASB95

With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes.

And you need to be giving 10 percent to God

Nehemiah 10:35–37 NASB95

and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually, and bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns.

And finally we need to be praying

1 Kings 8:28–30 NASB95

“Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. “Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive.

When we hear those things maybe we become overwhelmed and we get to thinking that maybe this is not attainable and we start to buy into the lie Satan has for us

I feel like that at times, during our leadership meetings we have times like that, I bet everyone here has felt like that

But, but we must remember in all of this that our Christian walk with Christ, we are to just enjoy our time with God.

Matthew 11:28–30 NASB95

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

I would say that most us force our time with Christ, to check off the list or so the pastor has something new to peach on, but we do most of us probably just check off the list.

I was reminded that as believers in Christ we are to enjoy our time with Jesus

Matthew 14:23 NASB95

After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

Just as Jesus went off sometimes we need that sometimes we need to go off and just enjoy our time with Jesus

We need to enjoy our time with Jesus because he desires to spend time with you, he loves you and he likes you

John 3:16 NASB95

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Now we all understand there are deserts you go through, sometimes you are in a season where you don’t want to something,

I do believe sometimes we have to muddle through it and continue to stick it even though we are not seeing growth or fruit, sometimes it is difficult to read our Bibles, but we know that we must be reading our Bibles

so when satan does attack us it is the thing we run to for Truth!

Johnny hunt quote??

Doing things you don't like because you know you need to

will eventually lead to

you likeing to do what you know you need to be doing what you used to not like to do

and that will eventually lead you to desiring to do what you know you should be doing

In Closing

I understand it is easy to come to church and get a list to check off and we can fake it till we make it, we can do the Christian thing and look like when we check the list off, at some point through that list i would bet becomes overwhelming and tough to keep up with, not giving excuses remember sometimes we have to muddle through it but remember we are to enjoy our time with Jesus, just like we enjoy our time with family and friends.