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Sanctuary

Nov 19
Love0

Day 27

By SeedOffering

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22)

Paul teaches that we are free from sin because we are slaves to God. We are at once freed, healed, whole, and holy, and we are being healed, being made whole, and growing in holiness. We are belonging and becoming. As we present ourselves to God voluntarily, we can anticipate the beauty of progressive sanctification (holiness) and the fullness of eternal life. Scripture speaks of eternal life as both the immediate and the ultimate product of progressive sanctification.

This is the heartbeat of transformation: being conformed to the image and character of Jesus, living in the fullness of His love in the here and now with great expectation of participating in everlasting life.

Ask God how He desires for you to live freely as a bondservant of Christ. Trust Him for His Spirit to lead you and love you. Right here, Jesus. Right now, Jesus.

Prayer Focus: Bolivia

Let us know how can we be praying for you here!

Nov 18
Love1

Day 26

By SeedOffering

“My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.”12 Then these Levites set to work:
from the Kohathites,
Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah;
from the Merarites,
Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel;
from the Gershonites,
Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah.” (2 Chronicles 29:11–12)

Hezekiah becomes king of Judah, bringing restoration to the temple and hope to God’s people, who were formerly under the rule of King Ahaz. Hezekiah was a devout man of God. He was eager to empower God’s people to appropriate their talents and gifts to the service of His temple.

As God’s chosen people, we have the privilege to serve our God and to lead His people to greater understanding of who He is. Pray for a boldness to rise to the duty, the life, the call that God has placed on your life. Pray for a spirit of humility. Pray to live in the present, willingly receiving the duties to which God has called you in this season. Pray for a generous heart that seeks to recognize that your day is ordered—time is God’s, and resources are His gifts to you for Him. Praise Him for the outcome, unknown to you and entrusted to Him.

Prayer Focus: Prayer Team

Let us know how can we be praying for you here!

Nov 17
Love0

Week 4

By Generous Orthodoxy

1. Read Genesis 2.1-3. Why does God bless the 7th day? What does God cease from doing? What’s your immediate reaction to Sabbath?
2. How have you seen Sabbath been religiously abused? What kind of Sabbath is God inviting us into?
3. What is your primary motive when you invite people to follow Jesus? In what ways do you “teach them everything I have commanded”? Matthew 28.20.
4. When reading the 10 commandments how often do you bypass the command of honoring the Sabbath? Are certain commands more important to God, or less important? How important is the Sabbath to God? How important is it to you?
5. In what ways did God provide and protect the Israelites on the Sabbath? What can we learn from this example?
6. Read and reflect on the following statements regarding Sabbath. Which do you resonate with most? Why? John Ortberg, “For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.” The Life You’ve Always Wanted
Carl Jung said, “Hurry is not of the devil, hurry is the devil.”
Wayne Muller writes a lot about Sabbath.
He says, “We are blessed with inner rhythms that tell us where we are, and where we are going. No matter, then, our fifty and sixty-hour work weeks, the refusing to stop for lunch, the bypassing sleep and working deep into the darkness. If we stop, if we return to rest, our natural state reassess itself. Our natural wisdom and balance come to our aid, and we find our way to what is good, necessary and true.” Sabbath
7. What are some of the Biblical promises associated with honoring the Sabbath?
8. How did the Israelites put themselves in God’s Great Story? When you read Scripture how do you see your story in the context of His Story? Give a recent example.
9. What would it look like for you to practice Sabbath? What would it feel like or sound like or not sound like if you set one day aside a week to rest and remember?
10. How do you see Sabbath as a way of life vs. an Old Testament teaching?
11. How could you incorporate Thanksgiving with honoring the Sabbath?
12. Read Jesus’ invitation to come and rest in Matthew 11.28-30 (MSG). How can you move toward this rest and rhythm as livable reality?

Nov 17
Love1

Day 25

By SeedOffering

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6) 

Paul is addressing the church of Corinth regarding the posture in which they give. He speaks to the truths of giving back the resources that originate with God, reminding them to give not from guilt or pressure but from a response to the direction of God’s leading in their hearts.

Seek God for a heart willing to give. Ask Him to place His will as the desire of your heart. He already knows what your capacity is in giving; He’s calling you into a deeper heart surrender, a deeper trust in Him. The measure by which we sow is the measure by which we reap. Pray for a heart that’s free to sow abundantly for the outcome of His abundance.

Prayer Focus: Stephen Ministry

Let us know how can we be praying for you here!

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