Spiritual Warfare in 2024 What the World is Doing is not Working

 

Spiritual Warfare in 2024

What the World is Doing is not Working

Wake up world what you are doing is not working

Wake up people of God it is not a time to complain, but model what works

We need to keep our eyes on what Jesus is doing…

 

And let your light shine in a world of darkness.

 

Live godly lives and do good works.

 

Show the world…

 

 Love, righteousness, peace, joy, harmony.

 

Show the world marriages that thrive.

 

Families that prosper.

 

Show the world that the work you do…

 

 You do it as unto the Lord.

 

Show the world the Kingdom of God is working.

 

What the World is Doing is not Working

 

What the world is doing is not working.

 

It seems every day

 we have conversations where

we are talking about the problems of life.

 

Problems we know we cannot solve.

 

The problems of…

 

 Inflation, hatred and killing, human slavery, poverty,

business owners unable to find people to work

and when they do, the workers don’t work

or don’t show up to work.

 

Our youth have very different views of life

than their grandparents.

 

The values and morals are changing faster

than we can keep up on.

 

There are violent battles in our streets and world.

 

What we are doing is not working.

 

Many have given up.

 

At the end of many conversations

on the problems of the world…

 

 End with hopelessness.

 

So many Christians have given up

and are just waiting for Jesus to come back again.

 

Sadly, the problems are not overseas

or in another city, but…

 

 In our own homes and families.

 

What the world is doing is not working.

 

That should not be a surprise

to any follower of Jesus Christ.

 

Our focus can get lost

if we keep our eyes on the world.

 

I would not argue…

 

 That things are getting out of control

at higher speeds than ever.

 

But the troubles we face

have been faced before

by the People of Faith.

 

Hebrews 11 gives us many examples for those

who “By Faith” overcame evil.

 

Don’t forget the world came to a point

that only one family lived by faith…

 

Noah.

 

 Can you stand and build an ark of salvation

even if only your family would enter it?

 

Hebrews 11:32-40 tells us…

 

Those who lived by faith did not give up.

 

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

 

Let’s not get caught up in the short sidedness

of the world destroying its self.

 

Hebrews 12:1-3 tells us…

 

 To fix our eyes on Jesus.

 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

 

What the world is doing is not working.

  

But what Jesus does works.

 

We need to keep our eyes on what Jesus is doing…

 

And let your light shine in a world of darkness.

 

Live godly lives and do good works.

 

Show the world…

 

 Love, righteousness, peace, joy, harmony.

 

Show the world marriages that thrive.

 

Families that prosper.

 

Show the world that the work you do…

 

 You do it as unto the Lord.

 

Show the world the Kingdom of God is working.

 

 

 

Scripture Reading

 

Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV

 

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

 

 

 

Preparing for Thanksgiving Part 3 Sarah Hale

 

Preparing for Thanksgiving Part 3

 

Sarah Hale

 

 

 

 

This lady “Sarah Josepha Hale”

 

Spent 36 years preparing America

 

For a national holiday called Thanksgiving

 

What are you doing to insure your family

 

 Will give thanks on that day?

 

 

 

 

Sarah Hale

The first Thanksgiving was in November, 1621.

 

In 1817, New York became the first of several

states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving

holiday, the American South remained largely

unfamiliar with the tradition.

 

Sarah Josepha Hale born in 1788,

 became a school teacher in 1811.

 

This educated woman married, David Hale on

 October 23, 1813, and they had five children.

 

Sarah’s husband, David, a lawyer died

in 1822, and in perpetual mourning,

Sarah wore black for the rest of her life.

 

This young widow with five children published a

collection of poems the year after her husband died.

  

She continued to write,

 inspiring children, women and men.

 

She was a powerful influence in shaping America.

 

Her most famous poem is… “Mary had a Little Lamb”.

 

But her writing influenced American women’s

 fashion, domestic architecture and morals.

 

Sarah wrote a book, “Life North and South”, which

 opened up the minds that a slave was also our brother.

The premise of her book is just that…

 While slavery hurts and dehumanizes slaves absolutely, it also

dehumanizes the masters and retards the psychological,

moral and technological progress of their world.

 

Sarah was the advocate for a national holiday of Thanksgiving.

 

For 17 years, some say for 36 years, she

worked to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

 

She wrote letters to five presidents, until Abraham Lincoln finally heeded

her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation

entreating all Americans to ask God to, “commend to His tender care

all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers

 in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”

 

Thanks to Sarah Hale, the third Thursday in November,

 is the national holiday of Thanksgiving.

 

It is now up to you and I as to whether it will

 be a day of thanks in our families.

 

What preparations are you making to

ensure your family is giving thanks?

Scripture Reading

 

1 Timothy 2:1-7 NIV

 

1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers,

intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—

 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live

peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,

4 who wants all men to be saved and

 to come to a knowledge of the truth.

 5 For there is one God and one mediator

 between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men —

 the testimony given in its proper time.

7 And for this purpose I was appointed

 a herald and an apostle

 

 

 

 

 

1 Timothy 4:3-5 NIV

 

3 They forbid people to marry and order

them to abstain from certain foods, which

God created to be received with thanksgiving

by those who believe and who know the truth.

4 For everything God created is good,

and nothing is to be rejected if it

 is received with thanksgiving,  because it is

 consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

 

 

 

 

 

Preparing for Thanksgiving Part 2 Remembering

 

Preparing for Thanksgiving Part 2

 

Remembering

 

 

 

 

 

It is in the memory of suffering

 

We find reason to give thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remembering

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were merchants, of which many of

them traded with the Native Americans.

 

In 1614, a group of Native American boys

went to greet one of the merchant ships.

 

Instead of trading, the men of the ship under the

command of Thomas Hunt, captured these young boys.

 

One of the boy’s names was

Tisquantum, better known as Squanto.

 

He was taken ashore in Spain

 where he was sold as a slave.

 

Kind monks purchased Squanto and showed

 him kindness and taught him about God.

 

After 5 years, they sent him to London where

John Slany took him in and gave him work.

 

Five years later he made arrangements

 for him to sail back home.

At last, in 1619, Squanto returned home.

 

Squanto’s dream of being united with his family

 came to a dark end because when he got there,

he found they all had died of smallpox.

 

Squanto went into the woods alone with grief and

questions of why God had lead him on this journey.

 

1620 was a year of sadness for Squanto and it was also a hard year

 for the pilgrims who sailed to America for religious freedom.

 

In the spring, Squanto who lost all his relatives

 met the Pilgrims who lost 50 out of 100 of their

loved ones on the land Squanto’s family once lived.

 

Squanto spoke English and taught the pilgrims

 how to survive off the land and worked

with Governor William Bradford in the

relationships with the Native Americans.

 

Bradford saw Squanto as God’s Joseph to the pilgrims.

 

   Years of hardship for Squanto and the Pilgrims,

 caused them to realize what they had and they

gave a celebration of thanks, November 1621.

 

Jesus said when we sit at His table,

 to eat in remembrance of Him.

 

When you sit at the table of Thanksgiving,

eat in remembrance of the Native

Americans like Squanto and the Pilgrims.

 

The first Thanksgiving truly was a miracle.

 

 

Scripture Reading

 

1 Corinthians 10:15-17 NIV

 

 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving

for which we give thanks

a participation in the blood of Christ?

And is not the bread that we break

a participation in the body of Christ?

17 Because there is one loaf, we,

 who are many, are one body,

 for we all partake of the one loaf.

 

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV

 

23 For I received from the Lord

what I also passed on to you:

 The Lord Jesus, on the night

 he was betrayed, took bread,

24 and when he had given thanks,

 he broke it and said,

"This is my body, which is for you;

 do this in remembrance of me." 

25 In the same way, after supper

 he took the cup, saying,

"This cup is the new covenant in my blood;

do this, whenever you drink it,

 in remembrance of me." 

26 For whenever you eat this bread

 and drink this cup, you proclaim

the Lord's death until he comes.