Let’s face it, following is hard.
Each week with our kids we will have some time when we need to move from one area to another. It might be a water fountain break. It might be moving to a different area for a discovery activity. When we do, we’ll designate a line leader – an honorary position for one of the kids. We’ll position an adult leader toward the front of the line and another at the caboose side of the line, and… off we go.
But, it never fails. At least one child breaks ranks. They run ahead. They take a different path around a table. They lag behind still pulling together their materials. They get distracted or want to make a detour along the way, like waving to a friend or taking a bathroom break.
We’re the same way when it comes to following the Lamb. How often have you been guilty of praying for patience and expecting it to be answered immediately? Or asking for God’s timing, with the assumption that it must occur within, at a maximum, the next week? And when we face trials and tribulations they always last too long.
Part of the challenge is that when we turn things over to Jesus, we don’t fully turn them over to Him. Those things still fill the windshield of our life and it is hard for us to see around them.
But as followers of the Lamb we are called to turn our focus to Jesus and eternity instead. Paul said it this way in his second letter to the Church of Corinth: So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
If you are having trouble seeing past the challenges of life, a good place to start is either with your eyes closed in prayer or with them focused on the words of the bible.
My Answers:
3.
a.
Lamb standing on Mt Zion w/ 144K/ a sound from heaven like roar of rushing waters & like a loud peal of thunder, harps, singing
b.
Had Lamb’s name and Father’s name written on their foreheads, sang a new song before the throne and before the 4 living creatures and the elders. No one else could learn the song. 144K had been redeemed from the earth. They had not defiled themselves with women (remained virgins), They follow the Lamb wherever he goes, purchased from mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths. They are blameless
4.
They were men (not angels), marked with the seal of the H/S, purchased through the saving blood of Jesus
5.
a.
H/S in, bought, honor God with bods; walk in the way of love, avoid sex immor, not like idolaters; tender and compassionate w/ same mindset as Christ, not looking out for own interest – without grumbling; if confess sins forgiven – if deny sin, then lie and call Christ a liar as well.
b.
1. Body: to turn it over fully to His service not personal gratification 2. Time: not my own vs. the amount of wasted time 3. Thoughts: distracted even in deep prayer
The Notes are Good 