How to Feel Good About Yourself

Matthew 20: 26-27
Whoever will be great among you, let him be your minister . And whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.

All of us like to feel important. It is important to feel important.  We need to feel like what we do matters. We need to feel like we are an important member of the team. Everyone gets at least some sense of self worth from knowing that he/she is making a difference.

Some people so feel the need to be noticed and appreciated that they become the "class clowns." There is always another joke to be told or prank to pull. As long as someone is laughing the clown will keep acting out. The reason is simple. He feels the need to be appreciated and important.

You can always tell when someone lacks a sense of importance or self worth. That is the person who is always belittling others. The person with little self worth will make others the brunt of his jokes. Many times this person does not even realize why he feels the need to pick on others. Still others find their sense of self -importance in how much money they make, how many degrees they can earn, and the list goes on.

Are you feeling useless and unimportant? Wishing you could be more involved in your church, community, etc? Feeling unappreciated at work? I challenge you to find someone and do something nice for them this week. Maybe a co-worker is going through a struggle. Perhaps a friend or family member needs a bit of encouragement. It could even be a random act of kindness to a stranger in the grocery store. (Often those random acts are not random at all, but God inspired.) Why not try today and see if you can make someone else feel special. You'll feel better for it, I promise.

Abundantly Blessed.

Rev. Sullivan Jones

A Servant in God's House

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Psalm 84:10

These words of the great King David have captured our imagination for centuries. It is not everyday that a king would admit to be willing to change places with a servant yet that is what David says in this verse. There have man many attempts to define what the psalmist meant by doorkeeper; let's suffice it to say that he meant servant.  Being a servant in the house of God might sound poetic in this line of scripture but in reality it was everything but picturesque. Servant's cooked meals and washed clothes for the priesthood. Servant's carried water and firewood; servant's emptied the remains of an animal after a sacrifice. You get the picture. In David's day worship to Jehovah required much more than it does today, at least in a physical sense. The position of servant was not the most prestigious in the temple.

Now to dwell in the tents of the wicked, that is another story. When I think of a tent, I think of camping but this is not what David meant. The Ark of the Lord in his time was housed in a tent. (Later Solomon built the temple after the layout of this tent.) The priest were allowed to go into the first section of the tent, called the Holy place. Beyond that, behind a heavy veil, was the Holy of Holies which contained the ark of the covenant. For all intents and purposes, this Holy of Holies was the only place where one could commune with God on a "face to face" basis and it was off limits to everyone but the High Priest of Israel. The high priest could only enter this Holy of Holies once a year.  Even David as King could not go into the Holy Place. The priesthood to Jehovah was limited to the tribe of Levi and the high priest had to be a direct descendant of Aaron, Moses' brother. This certainly excluded David since he was from the tribe of Judah.

Contrast this with being a pagan priest. Almost anyone could become a priest to a religion other than Jehovah. In fact, kings were often the high priest's to pagan religions. Many times pagan tribes worshipped not only the god their king represented but the king himself. No doubt David knew this. He could have become a king-priest to another other god and not have to depend on a priest. But he knew that it would profit nothing because the presence of Jehovah could be found in no other place than the tabernacle of the Lord. In light of this David's words take on much more significance. He was saying that he would rather worship on the outskirts of the temple dedicated to the one true God than to be in a place of honor to a false god.

There are those who love to ridicule Christian worship. It doesn't make sense to bow down to a God I can't see or sing praises to a God I can't physically touch. Many things about our worship style defy the logical mind. It would sometimes seem easier to seek another way to worship, one that leans more to gratification of fleshly desires. It would certainly be more popular,  for in our day fundamental Christianity is less popular everyday. Yet the presence of God is what draws me back to God's house to worship every time. We don't have to have the best choir; the pastor doesn't need to be the most educated or the finest orator. My fellow church members don't have to be the most prestigious in the community. As long as I can feel God's presence as I worship I will say like David, "I would rather be a servant in God's house than to be in a place of honor where His spirit isn't found." Wouldn't you?

In Christ's Service,

Rev. Sullivan Jones
 

Behold He Comes

Sometime after I dozed off to sleep I had a rather strange dream. In it I saw thousands of people lying  face-up as if they were asleep, superimposed over a globe. I began to see these people do the opposite of a shooting star. They would literally burst into a stream of light and stream up into the heavens. I knew that I was looking at the rapture. I knew these people were being caught up in the twinkling of an eye and I knew that they all had the Holy Ghost. I said Lord what about the people who have the Holy Ghost who have not been baptized in Jesus name. The next moment I saw another person "shoot off." Then I heard the Lord say, "there are so many people that are going to be baptized in my name before my coming. They are going to receive this revelation." When I awoke, the words, "behold he comes" were going through my head. 

I believe the coming of the Lord Jesus is so close upon us. There are so many who do not realize how close we are to the rapture of the church. God is about to take his church out of this world. The things that are about to come upon this world are frightening and yet so many are so oblivious. We who are a part of the the church of the living God are so prosperous compared to every generation before us. We live in nice houses and have good educations. Very few people look down us for speaking in tongues anymore. We are caught up with technology and Facebook. Our lives are filled with entertainment and gadgets. There is very little that we really need. If there are difficult times ahead of us I pray that we would be ready for them. The coming of the Lord is so soon. 

Behold He comes! 

Prayerfully, 

Sullivan Jones