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Apostle BMAN

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Seeking the Face of God and the Mind of Christ!

Church Bulletin Bloopers

1. The Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

2. Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

3. The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday morning.

4. Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

5. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.

That last one is a real hoot but I wonder what would cause people to be sick of that church? Maybe hypocrisy, week, judgmental, etc which is a sign that the church is not seeking the face of God or the mind of Christ.

That’s what we’re going to look at this evening a closer walking in our relationship with Christ Jesus. It is more than just coming to VBC once a week or occasional opening your Bible every so often. It’s seeking the Face of the Father by spending time with in daily prayer and seeking the Mind of Christ through reading and studying the Word.

So what I’m going to do is break these two things apart…

Seeking the Face of God: PRAYER

When Jesus was asked by His disciples to teach them how to pray… he didn’t give them a prayer to be receipted rote but an example of how to pray.

Jesus said in "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. '

Matthew Henry said in his Concise Commentary "Lord, teach us to pray," is an awesome prayer, and a very needed one, for Jesus Christ can only teach us, by his word and Spirit, how to pray. Lord, teach me what it is to pray; Lord, stir up and quicken me to the duty; Lord, direct me what to pray for; teach me what I should say. Christ taught them this prayer, much the same that he had given before in his sermon upon the mount. Let us in our requests, both for others and for ourselves, come to our heavenly Father, confiding in his power and goodness. “

So here’s a practical guide to Seeking God Face –

is our example…

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

1. Seek First the Kingdom of God - But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

a. What does it mean to seek first the Kingdom of God? It’s a heart thing – are you asking for things for selfish desires or for the needs of you and your family and others.

b. Are you praying for God’s Will to be done here on earth?

c. Are you sewing financial seed into God’s mission fields? I.e. ministries and churches like VBC.

2. We pray we must be FOCUSED on intimacy with the Father

a. Some practical actions

i. Go – Just DO IT!

ii. Close the door - But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you

iii. Pray – Prayer isn’t full of THEES and THOUS… but just talking to Him and LISTEN. He’ll talk back to you.

3. Have FAITH in the Father’s involvement in your pursuit of deeper prayer

a. Here’s what our Heavenly Father will do…

i. The Father Knows

ii. The Father Sees

iii. The Father will reward

4. FOLLOW the Pattern that Jesus gave us

a. Our Prayer – Worship – Petition - Worship

i. Worship Him – Praise His name

ii. Petition

1. Your Kingdom Come

2. Your Will be done

3. Our daily needs

4. Repentance and Forgiveness

5. Guidance and deliverance

iii. Worship Him some more

5. Jesus is calling us into a life of Prayer with…

o FOCUS on intimacy with the Father

o FAITH that He is personally involved in your pursuit of a deeper walk with Him

o A follow the Pattern that will keep you in step with God’s will and purposes.

Everyone should have a piece of paper with a prayer on it… This prayer was given to me by Pastor Ed of the DCOG. It is powerful and I regularly add this to my daily prayer and I’d like to go over it with you here this evening.

READ PRAYER

Seeking the Mind of Christ – Is the Word of God

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

Victory – Jesus is the Word and the Word is the Mind of Christ! So we must delight in the Word and meditate on it day and night as says. For it, the Word is a lamp to our feet and a headlight for the road ahead of us. .

Victory – to read, learn and remember the Word of God is to read, learn and remember the Mind of Christ.

Doing this will cleanse us, will cleanse our minds from the filth that we have acquired. It’s like parts washing station where we put our bike parts in to wash the grease, dirt and grime off with a strong solvent. The Word of God gets in our minds and hearts and starts to wash us from the inside out. You see the washing of the water of the word cleanses us and makes us Holy and Blameless! Let me read “26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

You see as we meditate on the Word, as we hide it in our hearts God is faithful to wash us, cleanse us and make us holy. We don’t have to change ourselves, we don’t have to take a shower to come to God, HE DOES IT! All we have to do is believe and receive!

Jesus said in “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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

So how are we going to know the Mind of Christ, How are we going to know what’s right and wrong unless we’re reading His Word?

This is what I do… I spend some time in prayer before I start my work day then I read and study the Bible using a program called Living Christian. This software helps me manage prayer needs, Read through the Bible, Journaling and Devotionals. There are many other books and methods as well like Our Daily Bread. If you’re interested in something like this please let me know and we’ll see what we need to do to get some.

As I wrap it up…

To roll this all up… Prayer (Seeking the Face of God) and the reading of the Word (The Mind of Christ) is the only way to grow in your personal relationship with the Father. Listening to Christian music is GREAT but without Prayer and Bible Study you won’t grow. Trust me! J

If you’re here this evening… you’re heard that God loves us… HE LOVES YOU and wants to know you. He’s made this easy… Pray, which is to just talk to Him, and to read His love letter to us, The Bible. If you’re here this evening and have not made asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior… won’t you do it tonight? What have you got to lose? You’re tried it your way until now… Let the Love of God into your heart and ask Jesus in.