One Thing - What Are You Looking For?
John 1:29-39
Acts 1:8-11

What are you looking for?
~ A Highway Video ~

• Happiness
• To be content
• To stay healthy
• To make money
• Fulfillment in life
• That’s a loaded question
• Nothing!
• Enjoyment in life
• Peace of mind
• To have money
• To succeed
• To have peace
• To be enlightened
• Searching
• Family
• Self-help books
• Hard Work
• Good things
• Good people
• Be a good person
• Be content with yourself
• Be in love
• Be loved

There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.
- Blaise Pascal

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:4

• Leviticus 23:1-2;16-22
• Israel’s National Birthday
• The “in between” feast
  • between redemption & rapture
• The covenantal promise of Exodus 19:5-6 is rejected by the people

New Testament Pentecost - Acts 2:1-13

• Vs 1 – Pentecost fully come!
• Vs 2 – Holy Spirit’s symbolic presentation Noise – Wind – Fire
• Vs 3 – Fire distributed
  • Psalm 29:7
• Vs 4-11 – languages for the nations of the world.
• Vs 41 – 1st & 2nd Pentecost

One Thing
Psalm 27:4

• The Secret
• The Key to Life!

What are you looking for?
~ A Highway Video ~

• Happiness
• To be content
• To stay healthy
• To make money
• Fulfillment in life
• That’s a loaded question
• Nothing!
• Enjoyment in life
• Peace of mind
• To have money
• To succeed
• To have peace
• To be enlightened
• Searching
• Family
• Self-help books
• Hard Work
• Good things
• Good people
• Be a good person
• Be content with yourself
• Be in love
• Be loved

There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.
- Blaise Pascal

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:4

Hannah - A Praying Mother

Happy Mothers Day
To become a mother is not so difficult;
on the other hand, being a mother is very much so!

Barbara Collene -
Keeping the Joy of the Lord In Times of Trouble

Hannah A Praying Mother
I Samuel 2:1-2

• Hope of Messiah
• Mary's Inspiration

Themes In Samuel

• God overrules in human affairs, great and small, to accomplish His purpose.
• God always acts in the best interest of His people, whether He blesses, judges, or teaches.
• God always calls appropriate leaders for His work and uses them to move His plan along.
• God is present with His people and never abandons them.
• God is a righteous God and expects His children to reflect His character.
• God is at work in the most minute details of history working out His purpose for His children.

People of Faith

• Exhibit real Problems
• Express real Prayers
• Experience God’s Provision
• Excel at keeping their Promise
• Explode with Praise

Praying Parents

• I Samuel 1:28 – Hannah "Lent (dedicated) him to the Lord"
• Parents:
  • Pray for and value your child
  • Treat children as a gift from God (Psalm 127)
  • Dedicate your child to the Lord for life
  • Continue in your concern for the child even after departure. (Parenting always changes and never ends)
• Samuel’s character was formed by these actions and attitudes as he served as a prophet and judge.

Hannah’s Prayer - I Samuel 2:1-11

• Vss 1-2 - Celebrating God’s omnipotence (power) & holiness
• Vs 3 - God silences His critics
• Vss 4-8 - God reverses fortunes
• Vs 9 - God provides for His people
• Vs 10 - God ultimately deals with His adversaries and exults the king.

Aim To Please
II Corinthians 5:1-9
Confidence & Clarity

• Christianity is not a religion of sorrow.
  • “Christianity is NOT a stodgy plodding in the ruts of religion, it is a hopeful race toward God’s promises.” --- Eugene H. Peterson
• Jesus
  • “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross”
  • A world of pain, disappointment & hurt are surrounded by a universe of joy!
• World
  • “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we will die.”

Death Is Defeated!

• Revelation 6:2 “And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”
  • What has been conquered?
  • The power of sin, the strength of satan, the enmity with God, the power and fear of death.

Godly Ambition

• Hope Motivates Godly Ambition
• II Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” NASB
• <Gk> philotimeomai = to be fond of honor, that is, emulous (eager or earnest to do something.): labor, strive, study.
  • Emulous = Eager or ambitious to equal or surpass another; characterized or prompted by a spirit of rivalry.
• Ambition = An eager or strong desire to achieve something, the object or goal desired.
  • He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.  --- Chinese Proverb 

Two Tracks to Move On

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
Eugene H. Peterson

Passion for Life

Children, you must remember something. A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won't be hard in the end to lie down and rest.
-- Pearl Bailey 

You Are Blessed!

• Empowered to prosper!
• Anointed to win!
• Impossible to curse!