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He Provides Our REAL Needs

  Acts 3:6-8 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. The beggar was asking for gold and silver, he was asking for things that he thought would satisfy him. But in reality it wasn’t what he really needed.  God knew that his real needs differed from what he was begging for.  In those times, if you were not capable of work, or able to walk, you were just cast away to the side. Daily he was put there by someone, to just beg all day long. He did this his whole life. This is how he was born, he was regulated to fend for himself by asking for money daily.  It made sense, money equaled ability to buy food and then you are able to eat. The beggar knew his place in society  because of

Want answers? Pray to God

Daniel 2:18-19 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven Daniel and the wise men were in trouble. They knew that Nebuchadnezzer wanted results. In fact he as about to kill them all because he wasn’t getting the results he wanted. Results is something the king wanted and for most bosses, as a work need to produce. But in this particular situation, no one was able to answer the kings request to have his dreams interpreted.  Now that’s not an easy task in itself, in fact somewhat impossible. So what did Daniel do? He did what everyone should do in time of trouble. Pray for help. And I am pretty sure that this wasn’t one of those, small prayers. I am sure it is one of those prayers there they were on their knees begging the Lord for revelation. They had to,

He is Always Around

Luke 24:32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” When you read this verse, you have to put it into context of what is going on here. From the perspective of the disciples here, all is lost. Jesus was just crucified, his core disciples had scattered, and the bulk of his followers have fallen away. With all that just happening, this story picks up. A few of his disciples are walking to Emmaus, a short seven mile walk (which takes about two hours depending how fast or slow you walk) from Jerusalem. On the way these disciples encountered who they thought was a stranger but it was really Jesus. For the remainder of the day these disciples had full conversations and discussions with Jesus about what just happened. But they did not realize that it was him the whole time. He taught them showed the what the deal was with the scriptures, they got all excited. Then it dawned, or it was revealed,

Call to God till you hear something....

Matthew 20:31-32 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. Sometimes it comes down to this. Calling upon God till you get an answer. Calling upon God till you hear something. Sounds desperate, but this is so necessary. It is necessary because sometimes we need to get to that point. On the surface it makes it as God that wants us to beg, but on in reality when we get to this point it changes the posture of our heart. You see, God wants us to give it all to Him. He wants us to depend on him completely. He wants us to fully be reliant upon Him and His word. Sometimes praying till we get an answer brings our heart to the point where we need to be. When we are at that point, God can be God. The amazing happens and He answers. So what does this mean for us? It means that we have to get our hearts to the point where God is God.

The Great Cost of Sin

1 Samuel 21:1-2 David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. David was on the run. He was on the run from Saul. It was official, he became public enemy number one in Saul's eyes. In light of that revelation he runs to a temple. Great run to God! But that is not what really happened. Instead, what he does is to lie to everyone there. He lies to cover his behind and get the resources he needs to survive. Sounds logical. I mean it's not like he took a whole lot. Except, later we learn that Saul kills everyone in that town. Many people paid for the lie that David did. He lied to others in order to survive. However, other people paid the price for his surviv

Slow Decline

1 Samuel 18:8-9 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom? ” And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. The last words to Saul from Samuel was that his reign over Israel was to end. Saul was very aware of this. So when his replacement comes into place and it is obvious that there is a replacement coming, he freaks out. He becomes jealous. He becomes a control freak and then he beings the end of his reign hunting David as a criminal of Israel. But all this could have been prevented back in the other chapters as he could have give his heart to God and followed Him, with all his heart. But Saul chose not to. Thus resulting in what we see here, the beginning of the end. But it's not sudden, no it isn't it is slow fade away. Like a horrible day that never ends, is the end of Saul's reign of Israel. There is so much to learn here

Partial is not complete

1 Samuel 15:22-23 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Saul in trouble. He really did not follow the Lord in this instance. Prior to these verses, he was instructed by Samuel to absolutely destroy the Amalekites. Destroy everything, leave nothing alive behind. Which in a way is a harsh command. God wanted them totally destroyed and that is what Saul did. Well, mostly did. He took a prisoner and he kept the good cattle and was going to use it as a "sacrifice" to the Lord. Though he may have had good intentions to do that, it was not the instructions. However he justified in his head that it was okay to bring back the cattle and bring back a prisoner.