I still prefer attending service with him even though I am getting used to not having him around.
Anyway, service was at JW and it was awesome.
I was there at 945am, asked the usher for 2 seats and got seats 3rd row from the front; loved it! :D
1 Samuel 30:16-17, "16 And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled."
God empowers us to help ourselves.
"If we face debts, we must labour and work hard."-Charles Spurgeon
Go after your enemies with everything you've got!
1 Samuel 30:18-20, "18 So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. 19 And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.20 Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”
When we go in the name of God, God will do what He promised in Ephesians 3:20 (Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us)
1 Samuel 30:21-22, "21 Now David came to the two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near the people, he greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked and worthless men of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every man’s wife and children, that they may lead themaway and depart.”
People were self-centred.
1 Samuel 30:23-25, "23 But David said, “My brethren, you shall not do so with what the LORD has given us, who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us. 24 For who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.” 25 So it was, from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day."
David was loving people fervently, loving those in the house.
This means that IN-reach in just as important as OUT-reach!
1 Samuel 30:26, "26 Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD”
Elders despised David, but David became a better, holier man.
He reached 'in' to them.
1 Samuel 30:27-31, "27 to those who were in Bethel, those who were in Ramoth of the South, those who were in Jattir, 28 those who were in Aroer, those who were in Siphmoth, those who were in Eshtemoa, 29 those who were in Rachal, those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, those who were in the cities of the Kenites, 30 those who were in Hormah, those who were in Chorashan,[a]those who were in Athach, 31 those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to rove."
David blessed 13 other cities!
Hence, IN-reach + OUT-reach = Destiny!
Exodus 32:9-10, "9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”
Exodus 32:31-32, "31 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
Moses loved his people so much he was willing to let his name be removed from the Book of Life.
It's easier to deal with 'new' people because we expect less.
Matthew 12:25, "But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand."
Satan knows how to destroy a home by snuffing out the love within!
God is never early and never late, He is always right on time!
Jesus specifically reached out to Simon Peter, who denied Him three times; He did not want him to be crushed.
John 13:34-35, "34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus commanded us to love one another.
There 3 basic things about love:
1. Love is a choice.
Attraction and arousal is uncontrollable.
The more you choose to love, the more loving you'll become!
We choose to love!
2. Love is an action.
Love is a behaviour, not just a feeling.
1 John 3:18, "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."
Loving with actions when you don't feel like it is the highest form of love.
When we stop doing actions of love, we stop feeling love.
5 actions that produce love:
(1) Words of Affirmation
I must be tactful, not just truthful.
Tact and Tone go together.
Right + Rude = Wrong
Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one."
Salt brings healing.
(2) Quality Time
The best expression of love = time
Dr. Chuck Swindoll said, “Busyness destroys relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep relationships. Busyness feeds the ego, but starves those who love us. It fills the calendar, but it fractures the family. Most people go around with a loaded life aimed at nothing significant.”
(3) Gift giving
(4) Acts of Service
(5) Physical Touch
Sex is everything the unmarried think about but the last thing the couple thinks about.
The culture is changing the way we view how sex should be, it's time to put God into sex.
3. Love is a habit.
1 John 4:7, "Dear friends, let us practice loving each other..."
Romans 5:5, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
We should let Jesus Christ love through us!
Yes Dan, we chose to love each other and we'll express each other's love languages to keep each other's love tank full!
Not forgetting loving God wholeheartedly and loving people fervently too! xoxo
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