TUESDAY- "Serving...The least of these"

Malachi 3:8-18 (NIV)
8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
13 "You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?'
14 "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "
16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
17 "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. [a] I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not".

Happy Tuesday! Today we are going to continue our look at our month's theme of "Serving-The Least of These". As we said yesterday, today we are going to dive right into the subject of service, serving God, and serving others. I want you to re-read the section of scripture in a different version:

MALACHI 3:6-17 (New Living Translation)
6 “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’
8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!
“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
13 “You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord.
“But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins? 15 From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’”
The Lord’s Promise of Mercy 16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.
17 “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. 18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

In this section of scripture, we get a stern warning from God. He warns us against "robbing" Him but what does that mean to you? Today, ask yourself these questions:
*Does what is said in verse 7-8 apply to you? Why or why not?
*Do you feel like you are currently serving God? If not, what can you doe to change?
*In verse 16-18, what promise is given to us? What does that mean to you?
*What do you need to change in your life to receive that promise?

MONDAY- "How's Your Serve"?

So how is your serve? Do you have a good one? Before your mind goes into sports mode, I'm not talking about your tennis serve, your volleyball serve, or even your ping pong serve. For the rest of this month, we are going to be looking at (and working on) another type of "serve". Basically, I'm asking how is your "serve" for God? When I ask you about serving, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For some, you might think of someone serving our country. Others may think of someone who serves you food at a restaurant. For some of you, you might even be thinking of being served as in "You just got served"! We, as human beings, tend to lean towards self service or expecting others to serve us. If nothing else this month, I hope that we can begin to see that we are called NOT to serve ourselves or to be served by other but that we are called to serve. This is probably not a part of your culture. As we Begin this week of daily devotions, I want you to think about that question: " How is your serve'? Last month, many of you agreed to serve others by participating in a 30 Hour Famine to raise money for 'The least of these", how is that going for you? Did you say you would participate just because everyone else was going to? Did you forget? Did you decide that other things are more important to you? Please think about it. Tomorrow, we are going to see what the Bible says about serving others and the pitfalls of serving ourselves. For the next five minutes, think about how you are currently serving others. After that, talk to God about it. Maybe you need to ask Him to forgive you for being self serving. Maybe you need to thank Him for all the opportunities that He gives you to serve. Take the time, talk to Him, thank Him for all the things that He has done (served) for you.

See you tomorrow,
Dan

THURSDAY- January 15th "The Least of These" Hunger and Thirst

A huge part of these two months of our theme "The Least of These" is our 30 Hour Famine. We have set a goal to raise $10,174.00 to help people around the world that are hungry, thirsty, and need of care. What would $10,174.00 do? It would basically give 30 children 12 months of water, food, and care. I want you all to know that this month is NOT just about raising money. It is not just about us going without food for 30 hours at the end of February. While those things will be really neat, our main purpose of this month is to "Put on" Jesus Christ. To love others like he loves us. To understand "spiritual hunger".
Jesus says in Matthew 5:5-7 (New International Version)
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Where do you fit in to that scripture? What promise does it carry for you? Today, I want you to think about that. I want you to think about if you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. What change in your life can you make to do so? What does our 30 hour famine mean to you? Is is just another event, or could it change your outlook? Talk to God right now about it.

Until Tomorrow,

Dan

WEDENSDAY-January 14th "The Least of These"

Wednesday is here. Today, I want us to spend some time in prayer. Now I know that you may not be into a "prayer life" right now but the Bible reminds us to pray for all things.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (New International Version) says:
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Right now, I want you to pray. Prayer is simply talking to God. Telling Him things. Asking Him things. It's just talking to Him. An important thing to remember before you begin is to give Him your full attention. Turn off your ipod. No TV. Maybe close you bedroom door. Get in a comfortable position. If you are not sure what to pray about, here are a few ideas.

Prayer thoughts for Wednesday:
*Thank God for everything that He provides for you
*Thank Him for your family. Mention each one by name and tell Him why you are thankful for them.
*Pray for our youth group at LCC. Pray for as many you know by name.
*Pray for our 30 Hour Famine. Ask God to bless our famine and to do a miracle. Ask him to motivate all of us to participate.
*Pray for our church. Pray for the ministers, elders, teachers, and attenders.
*Pray for your school. Ask God to bless your school, teachers, and students.
*Pray for anyone that you know who is sick.
*Pray for our country. Ask God to be with our leaders and our incoming President.

AMEN

TUESDAY-January 13th- The Least Of These "HUNGER"

Today we continue our months theme of "The Least of These" with a look at hunger. I hope that you all have had a chance to begin getting your sponsors for the 30 hour Famine and that you are really getting excited about what God is going to do through us. I am really expecting a miracle. One person in our youth group already has $210.00 in sponsorship. That is just about what it takes to feed one child for seven months! Seven months? I'm not sure you realize what that means. That's four thousand, seven hundred and four hours that a child somewhere in the world will not be worried about food. That's really cool but today I want to look at another aspect of hunger.

Hunger is not always about food.

That's right, hunger is not always about food. What else can you be hungry for?
Maybe it's money....or fame.....a cell phone.....friendship......or love?
I think that we all "hunger" for those things on occasion but there is something even deeper that we need to "hunger" for that we not always do. That is to "hunger" for Jesus. We were all created to "hunger" for a spiritual relationship with God. The problem is, at the times that we feel those "hunger pains", we try to satisfy it with something else. Al lot of times it's the things that I have listed above.

In John 6:32 Jesus Says:

32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

We need to realize that Jesus provides every thing we need to "feed" us. To fill that empty space inside of us with what really goes there.....Jesus.

Right now, pray to God that you will "hunger" for Him. Ask Him to help you "fill up" with His Word (The Bible). Ask Him to help you to realize that you can't fill it up with anything else but Him.
Amen.

Monday, January 12th 2009 -The Least Of These

Happy Monday,
Today we begin our look at "The Least Of These". This week we are going to go deeper to look at what our responsibility to "the least of these" really is. In order to do that, we need to understand who of the least of these are. The reference "the least of these" comes directly from Jesus.
In Matthew 25, Jesus says:
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' ".

Get the idea? Watch this:

FRIDAY DECEMBER 19th: THE GIFT

You made it to Friday!!! I hope that you have been thinking all this week about the Gift that God has given us in Jesus. So what now? I realize that for many of you, it's time to relax. School is out for the year and the next week or two will be filled with friends, family, food, fun, and probably a lot of sleep. My only challenge for you today is to keep in mind over the next few weeks that the gift of Jesus is not for you alone. No doubt that you will see many people over the coming days. My challenge to you is to......talk to one person about it. Tell them of how Jesus is a gift. Tell them about the hope that He gives. Tell them what that means to you. I'm only asking you to tell one person. Please take this seriously. Don't just walk up to you parents and say "Jesus us God's gift to us". Tell they why he came. Tell them what that means to you. Tell them what that means.....to them.

Right now, spend a few moments praying to God that He would lead you to the right person to talk to. Then....do it.

See you Sunday,
Dan