3 Days to Mexico

It's getting closer and closer...

Today, I had to drag Lee out of bed. The medicine they gave him yesterday in the ER made him very tired.

Wednesday's are Lee's work days. The church he works at is an hour away from our home, so he spends most of his Wednesday's away from home.

When I'm out of school, I try to go with him. Today I was definitely coming with him because I had a hair appointment in the same town as our church and tonight is a special prayer service for our church's vacation bible school and the mission trip team.

Today, I would like to share with you the scripture that is going to be read tonight at the prayer service. Lee set the service up to include scripture reading and prayer by various members of the church from various age groups. 

I ask that as you read through my post and these scriptures, you would let them inspire your prayers for your own life as well as our mission trip.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." -Genesis 1:1

"Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  So God created mankind in his own image,  in the image of God he created them;  male and female he created them" -Genesis 1:26-27

"For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  

 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well." -Psalm 139:13-14

God created us and he created each and every one of us in His image. All human life is valuable. 

 

 As it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one" -Romans 3:10

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -Romans 3:23

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9

All of us sin. None of us are worthy. Nothing we do is good enough to God. However, he will forgive our sins if we confess them and seek his forgiveness.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" -John 3:16

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6

Remember how nothing we can do makes us worthy to God? Well, there's good news. God sent Jesus into the world to die in our place for our sins so that we can be right before God.

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.

  Praise him for his acts of power;
    praise him for his surpassing greatness.  

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,  

 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,  

 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150

This is probably the one thing we forget to do the most. We should be praising God for how wonderful he is and for all that he has done in our lives. 

 ^"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” -Matthew 28:19-20

"He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." -Mark 16-15-16

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” -Acts 1:8

Once we come to know God, that's not the end. Jesus commands us to go into all the world and make disciples. This means in our neighborhood, community, city, county, state, country, and the whole world. 

 "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." -James 2:14-17

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth" -1 John 3:16-18

It is so easy to say that you love someone. It is not easy to show that love with your actions. We have a responsibility as Christians to show God's love to the world. We are instructed to love as Christ loved. That kind of love is not self-serving. We should work to demonstrate God's love in our relationships with our spouses, our families, our friends, and anyone we come in contact with.

 

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

 Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 

 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.  

 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death —
        even death on a cross!

 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,  

 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  

 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:1-11

Here's our practical instructions of how to love as Christ loved. We are to be humble and look out for others above ourselves. We are to have the same attitude as Christ who was humble and obedient to God. This will help us to have unity with our fellow Christians.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.  Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Matthew 13:1-9

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” -Matthew 13:18-23

People are going to receive God's word in different ways. We are not responsible for how people receive it. We are only responsible for sowing the seeds.