Beyond the Big Event

1 Kings 8:63
63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord. –NIV

Wow! It is hard for me to even imagine this scene in my mind. Over a two week period Solomon offered 144,000 sacrifices. Indulge me for a minute as I process this…that is 10,286 sacrifices every day, or 429 sacrifices every hour or 7 sacrifices every minute of every hour of every day for two whole weeks!

What an event. What a sight. What an incredible experience that must have been. A powerful moment and I am sure an incredibly emotional encounter. As humans we tend to migrate to the grandiose, to the spectacular to the big event. Yet, the event was just that – 2 weeks. What happened after the event?

Like many believers today, Solomon burst on the scene shining bright and full of passion. However, like a falling star that shines brightest in the sky for a moment before fading away, so Solomon’s faithfulness diminished after the Big Event. For Solomon it was his lack of consistency that became his downfall. Solomon neglected to put the everyday effort necessary to honor God. He ignored God’s Word, married foreign wives, allowed false worship to creep in and got distracted with worldly pursuits.

Big events, spiritual mountain tops, are great but it is the small decisions, the everyday stuff; the day in, day out consistency of honoring God that determines the legacy of our life. Reflecting back on his life it wasn’t the big events Solomon remembered but rather it was his lament that he wished he would have been consistent with his life…

Eccl 12:13-14
13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. – NIV

I encourage you, look beyond the big events of your Christian experience, the spiritual mountain tops, to the small things of your life. Develop consistency in honoring God and there lies the blessings of God!

Blessings,
Darren

Living FREE

Living FREE

James 3:1-2
2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. –NIV

This past Sunday I spoke on the subject of SHAME. How the devil loves to use shame to keep us from a loving God. Shame distorts our view of ourselves. Shame wrongly says that we ARE what we did. I haven’t made a mistake, I am a mistake. I haven’t done something wrong, I am wrong. I didn’t make a bad decision, I am bad. Shame tries to attach our identity to what has happened.

Shame goes beyond conviction and convinces us we do not deserve to be free. Shame leaves you feeling guilty, terrible, humiliated, embarrassed, unforgiveable, unwanted.

I have news for you today…YOU ARE NOT YOUR SIN! You are God’s Child and as such you are FORGIVABLE, CHANGEABLE, CAPABLE and MOLDABLE!

What is God’s solution to break shame off our life?

1 John 1:9-10
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – NIV

COME CLEAN –
Fess up. No denying, no hiding, no blaming others. Fess up…to yourself, to God and to others if necessary. Accept the past. What is done is done. You can not change the past, but God can change the future.

RECEIVE FORGIVENESS
Yes, God loves us that much…more than you love yourself! Here is something else…God knows you are not perfect!. We serve a God that forgives sin

Ps 103:12
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Christ came and died that we might be FORGIVEN. Now that is the Good News of the Gospel!

Blessings,
Darren

Small Details

15 Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer — Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. - Judges 3:15

I love the fact that I serve a big God. A God that holds the world in His hand. A God large enough to oversee all the works of mankind without the slightest limitation. A God that knows the beginning from the end. A God that always has a plan that He is working through mankind for His glory and His purpose.

This is what is happening here in our text. God hears the cries of his people as a nation and rises up a leader to deliver them. I love that.

But there is something else that I love about God. He is a God that cares about the small details. He knows us individually. He concerns Himself with even the smallest matters of our lives. Ehud wasn’t just a man, any man, generic in man or personality or individuality. He was a man that God knew personally and took note of. A left handed man.

Remember something today. Yes, God is big. Big enough to handle any and every situation that could ever arise. But God is also personal enough to care about the small details of your life. He knows you. Your heart, your feelings, your preferences, your circumstances, your name. Nothing is too big for Him but neither is anything to small.

Feeling insignificant? Unnoticed among the crowd? Unimportant in this big world?

Not to God. He notices it all and cares deeply about you…about me.

Matt 10:30-31
30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
NIV

Blessings,
Darren