Interactive Service

1. PRAYING WITH PAUL

Ephesians 1:15-23,

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. A.  pray the prayers of Paul, for you, for your church, for believers in Greece and believers in the nations. B.  Pray that the church would be filled with the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Christ. C.  Pray that the church have the eyes of the heart open to see the hope to which we have been called.

2. LECTIO DIVINA:

Colossians 1:27, To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

a. Read

b. Meditate

c. Pray

d. Contemplate

3. Message:  Motivations For What Goes On

Many times as we look at the world. We see a system of many ideas and reasons why and and for. But we are going to look at:

 John 3:19-20, 

19And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Sometimes we look at the world and we see what goes on, and we can say place the world, ourselves, and others in different categories of right, and wrong, good, bad, illegal, or lawful, but sometimes we see, answers to why and what goes on by a large principle that God refers to. Sometimes we see that Jesus does not answer, directly, and explain things that are circumstantial to the lives of people. 

Lord, why this?

Lord, how this?

But what we do see, is that the Bible and Jesus teaches us, things that incorporate everything into the picture without explaining everything all the time. Such answers would not require faith, and would not require us to surrender the control of our lives into his hands and to trust God and his truth.

So when we look at the world today, we see a superior fact, in how God relates to why things go on in the world as they do, and not specifically to circumstance. The people in the world, do what they do, because they love the darkness. And Jesus summed it up to this. Right, wrong, inclination, or lack of, interest, or lack of. All these things are motivated by something deeper. A lack of love for the light, and a love for the darkness. People prefer things to be dark. Label it as sinful. Yes, people do sinful things. Label it as unethical. Yes, people do unethical things. But Jesus does not try to explain that. He just says something that covers everything. He says, that these things in the world take place because people loved the darkness.

He also explains that therefore the only way to God, is to enter the light, he explains, that the reality is, is that for and when any person comes to God, and exits the darkness and enters the light, that such a thing can only be done by a work of God. 

Think about these things this week, and pray about them and meditate on them.

God bless