Hope@Home – June 5, 2020

Haley HankinsonUncategorized

DAILY DEVOTIONAL:

Thanks for joining us today everyone! We wanted to share this video again and encourage you to worship wherever you are today! 

UNITED PRAYER:

Today let's pray through some of the names of God. Let the truth of His nature wash over you as you meditate on Him. Let this move you to give Him praise.

God, You are El-Shaddai, the Lord God almighty. You are Yahweh, the self-existent One. You are Adonai, our Master and Lord. You are Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides. You are Jehovah-Rophe, the Lord who heals. You are Gaol, our Redeemer. You are Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord of our peace. You are El-Olam, the everlasting God. You are Yeshua, our Saviour and Messiah, Christ Jesus. We praise you for who you are.

Which of these names of God resonates most with you today?

FAMILY RESOURCES:

Heart Postures For Reading Your Bible (Part 2)

Before we ever spend time in the Word of God, there are certain heart postures we may have that determine our receptiveness to it. If your heart isn’t in the right place, you may not be able to receive all that you could from your time in the Bible. In continuation with last week’s look at heart postures (check out May 18th’s blog post if you missed it! There's some great content on approaching the Bible prayerfully, humbly, desperately, and studiously [link to the blog here]), we’ll take a further look into how to better prepare our hearts for the Holy Spirit to work within us. For a deeper study into this topic, we recommend reading “Before You Open Your Bible” by Matt Smethurst.

Let's approach our Bibles…
•Obediently- Obedience is not about keeping an arbitrary set of rules, it’s about living in accordance with our design and in harmony with our Maker. Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says “What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” We are called to keep His commandments in obedience, or as James 1:22 puts it "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” We are created for obedience to the Lord and so it is our duty and joy to obey and spend time in the Word.

•Joyfully- God is the essence of happiness. You were made to be joyful in a joy-bringing God. Holding to having discipline in the Word eventually translates into joy as your heart transforms more towards His desires. There is great joy in following Christ, that is in fact why the Gospel translates to “good news”. In the words of Jesus, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15:11

•Expectantly- The Word of God has the power to radically transform you. It has the power to overhaul your life and carry you through the ups and downs. No matter how much life has let you down, God never will. The Gospel is sovereign even in our weakness. Allow the words through the power of the Holy Spirit to move over you and see the ways in which it changes you. “Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth.” John 17:17

•Communally- Everyone is made different yet we are all made in the image of God. Each person brings different skills and abilities to the table which make up the diverse Body of Christ. Our own experiences will limit us, preferences govern us, and biases blind us. We need fellowship anchored in time in God’s Word and prayer. We are charged to hold each other accountable to hold firm solid doctrine, teaching, correcting, and encouragement. We find unity in reading together and growing together. 

•Christocentrically- The whole Bible centers around the redemptive story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through 66 genres, 40 authors, 1500+ years, 10 civilizations, 3 continents, 3 languages we find 1 unified story of redemption. The Old Testament was the anticipation, the Gospels were the manifestation, Acts is the proclamation, the Epistles are the explanation, and Revelation is the consummation. All of these contain a multitude of rich literature that all points to Jesus, the Lord above all. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27

FAST & PRAY FRIDAY:

Church family, we are continuing to fast & pray on Fridays, would you join us today? Let's meditate on this verse and ask God what it means for us as believers.

"I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose." 1 Corinthians 1:10 NLT