A Continual Feast
A joyful heart brightens one's face, but a troubled heart breaks the spirit. An understanding heart seeks knowledge; but fools feed on folly. All the days of the needy are hard, but a happy heart has a continual feast. -Proverbs 15:13-15
Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
So what are we going to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He didn't spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. Won't he also freely give us all things with him? Who will bring a charge against God's elect people? It is God who acquits them. Who is going to convict them? It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised, and who also is at God's right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us. Who will separate us from Christ's love? Will we be separated by trouble, or distress, or harassment, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'We are being put to death all day long for your sake. We are treated like sheep for slaughter.' But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us. I'm convinced that nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created. -Romans 8:31-39
I wanna thank you for your faith and your faithfulness, your faith in Christ and your faithfulness is a congregation serving as a witness in this community for years and years, and especially on a day like today that... It makes you think about what effort am I making to living out my faith and my faithfulness? Join me for a moment of prayer, Lord, we come to you hungry, thirsty for grace for goodness, and I pray that the word you've given me inspired by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God would feed your people this day. Challenge, encourage them, bless them, so that their journey today and this week would be a journey of light and love, being salt in a world that needs healing and hope. Lord, may you be glorified. In your name, I pray. Amen.
I want you to use your imagination this morning. I have a little container here, and my imagination, I want you to use your imagination, I want you to put something in this little container, this bowl... What I want you to do is I want you to think of what's your favorite food, and if you have several of them, just pick one.
What's your favorite food? Are you kind of steak and potatoes or you... lasagna, pizza, or breakfast, or are you like me? I'm a sweet tooth. And so put something sweet in here, whatever it is, and I was thinking this morning, one of my favorites is blueberry cheesecake, so I'm gonna put in my imagination blueberry cheesecake, so you put something with your imagination in this little container... Right. Now, imagine that you can eat that favorite food of yours for breakfast, lunch and dinner, continually, and the best part, no calories get added on, it's a continual feast of your favorite food. Interesting. What would that be like? So I want you to think about that word, continual feast of something that's a favorite... As 2020 began, I usually around the first of the year, pick a different spiritual practice along with other things that I do. So in 2020, I chose to do the proverb reading. I don't know if you've ever heard of this, you pick one proverb and you read it every day, so depending on the day... So today is the 23rd, so I would have picked a 23rd proper. And you forget a day or whatever, you just pick the day... There are 31 Proverbs. Most months have 31 days. So I started January 2020 it, for the whole year, I was gonna read the Book of Proverbs.