DATE: SUNDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER 2017
THEME: DIVINE ORDER
Memorise:
Let all things be done decently and in order.
1 Corinthians 14:40
Read: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12
3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
3:7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
3:8 Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
3:9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
3:11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
3:12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
MESSAGE
Through the Lord's Prayer, we understand that everything that happens in Heaven is nothing short of God's will.
Matthew 6:10 says,
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."
This implies that Heaven is not a place where you go and sin, disobey or do anything that God does not approve of. Heaven is not for haters of God but for those who truly love Him. For this reason, anyone who cannot fit into God's will on earth would not be allowed to pass through the gates of Heaven (Revelation 22:15). To enter into God's place of abode, God expects you to start living the life of Heaven right here on earth. It is possible to achieve this when you give your life to Jesus Christ and allow Him to live His life through you (Galatians 2:20). Therefore, if there is one thing you must do in order to make it to Heaven, it is to fit into God's plan for your life and pursue nothing short of His will, just as Jesus Christ did (John 4:34). lf you cannot walk in His will throughout your lifetime on earth, there is no way for you to get into Heaven.
ln the same vein, it is very important to do things in order. God is a God of order. To do things in order means to follow the format, principles and protocols laid down by a higher authority. There is order and protocol in Heaven. To do well in your race to Heaven, you need to understand and follow this divine order and protocol (1 Chronicles 15:12-13). Although the Bible says there is only one God, it further reveals that this God is in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. In John 10:30, Jesus declared that He and His Father are one, and yet while referring to the persons of the Trinity, in Matthew 28:19, He followed a certain order; He said:
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:"
When we therefore baptize believers in Christ, it must be done following the order declared by the Lord Himself. We do not say because Jesus Christ has a Name that is above every other name, that the order should be changed to read: God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and God the Father. When you violate the law of order, you violate the will of God. Nothing is done just for fun in Heaven; everything there is done to reflect God's will, law or order. There is a divine arrangement in place in Heaven: God is on His throne, the four living beings come next, and then the 24 elders (Revelation 4:2-6). That is divine order. In serving God, you must do everything decently and in order. How compliant are you in this?
Prayer Point:
Father, grant me grace to live by Your principles in this world and to follow Your guidelines in all that I do.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
2 Chronicles 5-6
Ezekiel 34:25-35:15
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 14: TAKE MY LIFE
1. Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise.
2. Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
3. Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
4. Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
5. Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.
6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PASSAGES
2 Chronicles: 5. 1. Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God. 2. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3. Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month. 4. And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. 5. And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up. 6. Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 7. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims: 8. For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. 9. And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day. 10. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. 11. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: 12. Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) 13. It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; 14. So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
2 Chronicles: 6. 1. Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 2. But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever. 3. And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood. 4. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying, 5. Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel: 6. But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. 7. Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 8. But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart: 9. Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name. 10. The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 11. And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel. 12. And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands: 13. For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven, 14. And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts: 15. Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. 16. Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. 17. Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. 18. But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! 19. Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee: 20. That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. 21. Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive. 22. If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; 23. Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness. 24. And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house; 25. Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers. 26. When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them; 27. Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance. 28. If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be: 29. Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house: 30. Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:) 31. That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. 32. Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house; 33. Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. 34. If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name; 35. Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 36. If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near; 37. Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; 38. If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name: 39. Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee. 40. Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place. 41. Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. 42. O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.
Ezekiel: 34. 25. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. 28. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. 29. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. 30. Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. 31. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel: 35. 1. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3. And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. 4. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 5. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: 6. Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. 7. Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. 8. And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. 9. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 10. Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there: 11. Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee. 12. And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. 13. Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them. 14. Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. 15. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
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