Keeping Rhythm With God

This was actually the Children's Sermon!
I thought it was really sweet!

Bro. Darryl really broke it down so the kids could understand it.
He had a jump rope & asked the kids if they could sing out loud & jump rope at the same time, while keeping in rhythm.
He jumped rope while he & the kids sang "Jesus Loves Me".

He closed it with this verse:
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear children, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

After that we listened to personal testimonies on how people had been touched by God over the previous week.

Lord Touch Me Again

Mark 8:22-26
The Healing of a Blind Man

This story amazes me!
The fact that Jesus touched this blind man's eyes & then the man's sight was restored!
Yes, it took two times for Jesus to touch his eyes, but I could touch someone a million times they would never be healed!

I learned some very valuable information from this sermon!
1) God deals with us individually
2) There are times we need a 2nd touch
3) Spiritual vision from the Lord helps to see clearly the work of God

To be touched by God it takes Absolute Surrender & Obedience!
Luke 9:23
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Come To The Lord With Authentic Worship

This sermon was very troublesome for me.
It was about Traditions!

The sermon came from Mark 7:1-8
Clean and Unclean
This is my paraphrase:
Jesus and some of his disciples were invited to eat with some Pharisees.
The Pharisees saw them eating with unwashed hands and it offended them.
The Pharisees only eat after ceremoniously washing their hands. They do this as a tradition to their elders. They asked Jesus why he & his disciples don't wash before eating?!? Jesus called them hypocrites! He told them that they had gone away from God's commands & held on to traditions of man.

I was thinking about all the traditions in our family, on both sides.
Do we have any traditions that make hypocrites out of us!?!

Bro. Darryl explained two kinds of Hypocrisy:
1) Right Words But Wrong Attitude
Looking okay on the outside but not okay on the inside.
2)They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.

We also looked at John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Worship
1) Must be Genuine
2) Must be Individual
3) Must be Realistic

And Matthew 22:37-39
37 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

I was anxious to see what the 1st sermon of the New Year would be!
When Bro. Darryl said open your Bible to Mark Ch. 6, a little bell rang in my head.
I have heard this story of the five loaves of bread & two fish, countless times.

I was genuinely surprised when this was the sermon.
The way that Bro. Darryl presented this story made me view it with a new light!

Mark 6:39-44
39 Then Jesus directed them to have all them people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up the twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of men who had eaten was five thousand.

We also looked at 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

and 2 Corinthians: 3,5 & 15
3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 5 And they did not do as we expected,but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. 15as it is written: " He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."

These are the three things I took away:
1) Bring It All To God & Hold Nothing Back
2) Give Thanks In All Circumstances
3) Break Us & Remake Us To Be Used For Gods Purpose

New Beginning

A few Sundays ago, I was sitting in church listening to Bro. Daryl talk about the New Year. The message of his sermon was that everyday is a new beginning. I thought that was so interesting & had never really thought about it before. He said, everyday that you wake up you have a choice as to how your day will begin.

I was jotting done the notes as he went along & suddenly I thought to myself that one of the ways I reflect on God is when I blog.
I wrote down a title: "Spiritual Stones" & then a description:
Lessons learned on my spiritual journey.
I also included Philippians 4:13

My other blog is about friends & family. I enjoy blogging!!
So I thought seeing that it is a New Year, I would start mine with a New Blog!

Yes, I know that January is almost over, but I needed a few weeks to pray about this. I feel like this will be a way to share my spiritual journey with others & I will be able to look back & see how I have grown & how God has worked in my life.

So here is to New Beginnings!!