PRIORITY

Luke 14:26

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation but rather Prioritizing!

THE WORD (HATE)- means to (love less) not to despise!

The “Priority” of what’s important in your life matters…

Many are content with just having All Things God and Life on their list-

But God is Interested in How you Prioritize that List!

Even in the Old Testament Commandments God Prioritized the Ten…

The Greatest was “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart...” and then Jesus even enumerates in Importance by saying-

The (Second) is like unto it- “Love thy neighbor as thyself”

Don’t be smug with the fact that your list is complete!

The “Order” or “Prioritizing” placement may be messed up! Or (Out of Order).

God doesn’t care that you Love some things and or People-

But that He is at the top of the List!

Trumping (Everything Else) that is on that List…

What is (Second) in Importance should never come before number One…

A Person’s Priorities are clearly seen-

Not by what they say, but rather by what they do….

RDF

牧師 Pastor, R.D. Frazier

1 Peter 4:11

Seven Miles from Jerusalem…

Luke 24:13 (KJV)

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

A Road of despair…

-The journey of Hopelessness

-Where Clouds rule the day

Enough so that your perception is clouded from the shining sun just beyond the Dark Clouds…

*Hope Is At The End of The Road…

When No Matter What is Said-

it just doesn’t resonate!

The Road of Emmaus is through The Valley of The Shadow of Death…

(Where is Your Emmaus)?

Somewhere Between Jerusalem and Emmaus, Jesus shows up…

Somewhere between (where God kissed the earth)

And the place of soon revealing where the disciples were gathering,

there is utter darkness and despair-

*Jesus shows up to help you make it all the way there…

Seven miles from Jerusalem can be a long journey…

RDF

牧師 Pastor, R.D. Frazier

1 Peter 4:11

The Greatest Need- is a Heart change

Psalms 78:9 (KJV)

9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

A legend from India tells about a mouse who was terrified of cats until a magician agreed to transform him into a cat.

That resolved his fear … until he met a dog, so the magician changed him into a dog.

The mouse-turned-cat-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger—

so, once again, the magician changed him into what he feared.

But when the tiger came complaining that he had met a hunter, the magician refused to help.

“I will make you into a mouse again, for though you have the body of a tiger, you still have the heart of a mouse.”

God has never been impressed with the outside of a man or what he processed, but God is Interested in Hearts…

Just ask David-

⁃ It wasn’t his prowess

⁃ It wasn’t his sword

⁃ It wasn’t his crown

⁃ It wasn’t his throne

It Was Heart…

RDF

牧師 Pastor, R.D. Frazier

1 Peter 4:11

Hovering Doom

Proverbs 26:2

2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

Proverbs 26:2 AMP Version

2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,

an (undeserved)curse will not land on its intended victim.

Doom or Curses Sometimes (Hovering) Over our heads cause undue alarm and fear…

Like the bird that is flying by and overhead is just looking for a place to land…

You can’t prevent the birds from flying over but it is in your power that they find no place to land…

Evil always seems present but don’t give it a landing place!

RDF

牧師 Pastor, R.D. Frazier

1 Peter 4:11

[Little] but “Exceeding Wise”

Proverbs 30:24-28

24 There be four things which are (little) upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:

25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;

27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

Four Points of (Exceeding Wisdom)-

⁃ Preparation doesn’t need Strength-(Ants)

⁃ Rock Solid Housing by the Feeble-(Conies)

⁃ Unity without a King-(Locusts)

⁃ Presence is not Predjudice-(Spiders)

RDF

牧師 Pastor, R.D. Frazier

1 Peter 4:11

The Paradox of the Teacher

Psalms 143:10

10 Teach me to *do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; *lead me into the land of uprightness.

A Teacher Teaches-

He can only Teach if He has Students…

This validates his designation as a Teacher!

Herein lies the difficulty of the Paradox-

The *Attitude of the Student!

Does the Student want to be taught or is he or she there against their will?

The Paradox is that most often the Teacher isn’t really Teaching, because of the student’s attitude…

But What a Miracle Takes Place When the Student “Requests” for the Teacher to (Teach Me).

The Teacher Becomes Inspired and the Student begins a Journey of Transformation-

• Doing his Will

• Being Led to the Land of Uprightness

The Paradox of the Teacher…

Are You Being Taught?

May be Dependent on whether you have “Asked”

To Be Taught…

RDF

牧師 Pastor, R.D. Frazier

1 Peter 4:11

Sometimes

Psalms 119:176

176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep;

(seek thy servant); for I do not forget thy commandments.

• The shifting sands of life sometimes leave us on strange shores…

• The spinning around and around of Life sometimes leave us disorientated…

• The darkness and clouds of despair sometimes leave us groping…

• The tidal wave of demands sometimes leave us drowning, gasping for breath…

Sometimes-

There is No Way We Can Even Begin to Find Where the Lord Is-

And all that is left in a final desperate moment, is crying out- “Lord, Seek Thy Servant”

In Other Words-

Come Find Me Lord, Because I Can’t Find You!

Wherever you are and if it seems like you just can’t find God?

Just Cry Out in Prayer- Lord Please come and Find Me!

Because He Hears the Cry of His Sheep…

And Will Come Find You When You Can’t Find Him!

Because… “Sometimes”

RDF

牧師 Pastor, R.D. Frazier

1 Peter 4:11