Just a moment discussion
Sermon: https://rcoc.sermon.net/main/main/20384399
Any prayer requests?
Welcome.
Discovered there is about a 3-5 second delay which feels like an eternity when you are live! So I am going to ask a question, talk a while, and then read some the responses. That might help the flow a little better.
PRAY
Q: How easy/hard is it for you to see eternity vs your life span?
I find myself in a strange situation much of my life. I know, believe in, and look forward to eternity with God. HOWEVER, I get so fixated on the here and now.
I dwell on what is happing in this lifetime without always stepping back and thinking about the next lifetime.
I tend to focus on eternity as a future promise rather than seeing it as part of my present reality. So I worry about the life issues that are in front of me right now.
In my sermon, I talked about how a toddler has no real sense of time. “In a minute” for them is right now. “later” is a concept that they just can’t really wrap their minds around.
When it comes to eternity, we are that toddler.
READ SOME OF THE COMMENTS
Q: How does your understanding of eternity affect your here and now?
When you think about eternity and God, even his name is something that is hard for us to wrap our minds around.
Listen to Exodus 3:13–15 (ESV) — 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
I Am who I Am – what does that even mean?
Think about it. Throughout history God IS not God WAS. In the future, God IS not God WILL BE.
Time doesn’t pass for God. When he looks at our lifespan it’s “just a moment” for him.
Listen to James 4:14James 4:14 (NLT) — 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
Somehow, we need to change our perspective of time to God’s perspective. That is a tall order!
READ COMMENTS
Q: How can we see our lives in “God’s Time?”
That’s really the challenge for us as Christians. To learn to live our lives looking at a different time perspective than everyone around us.
Life for our nonChristian friends is about figuring out how to make this life the most pleasing possible, comfortable.
For them once your dead, your dead, so make the most of THIS life.
Think about how that changes things. If my life is rough, I do whatever I can to make me happy now.
A Christian looks at life being rough and realizes we can survive this because it will get better. This is just a moment in our eternal life.
Paul realized that in 2 Cor 4:16-18
2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (NCV) — 16 So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. 17 We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. 18 We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.
READ COMMENTS
Q: in my sermon I talked about the pan scale. (show picture). How does God’s glory and peace outweigh the troubles you are facing right now?
When I change me “time” perspective, burdens are hard, but not forever.
I can be sick for a moment
I can struggle for a moment
I can be lonely for a moment
The Covid 19 will only affect me for a moment.
READ COMMENTS
Thanks for tuning in again this week. Trying to figure a format out that helps us connect with each other, but not too cumbersome trying to read so many comments.
Don’t forget God’s promise in verse 18. 18 We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.
Going to pray for the communion in just a minute. Any last thoughts or prayer needs before we close?
PRAY FOR COMMUNION