Hungry for the Glory – Part 4
I believe we as believers must give more importance to the presence of God in our lives.
Glory – the manifestation of the presence of God
Review last weeks’ lesson
Hunger – a deep desire or craving
God doesn’t just want to manifest his glory in tangible ways, but he wants to manifest his glory in us. The glory is not limited to physical manifestations. But the Glory is a lifestyle!
We know this as the 10 commandments. Study shows that there are 613 commandments. They are listed throughout the rest of the law (Torah or Pentateuch) The first 5 books of the Bible. (Show graphic)
We are good with relating to God, but we are terrible with each other.
Matthew 22:36-40 (NLT) “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
The bulk of the commandments is how you treat others. If we aren’t showing love to each other, we are not displaying the Glory of God. With that being said God desires justice in how we treat and serve each other. He doesn’t want us to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. Justice – to make right!
Amos 5:21-24 (MSG) “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
Jesus was a revolutionary who came to shake up the world, so people could see and experience the glory of God through Him and not through the traditional religious community. Jesus didn’t fit in with the normal crowd. Jesus came to disrupt the normal so that His Kingdom could be established in the earth.
Matthew 10:34 (CEV) Don’t think that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace. (Trouble – Disturbance or Shaking Up)
(Graphic) John Lewis – “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
Jesus says I didn’t come to blend in, I came to take over. I came to shake some things up!
But today, we see a different interpretation of the Gospel. There is a great theological divide in the Christian community about how we think and operate as Christians…particularly black Christians.
And for some reason Christians of other cultures think we are not being Christian by stirring up the community and pointing out things that are unjust. I want to say that your interpretation of Christianity is why racism exists as we speak. Christianity was used as a back drop to enslave black people.
Faith For Today- Intro
Faith For Today - Outro