From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 6:11 AM

Subject: 1-22-24 THOUGHTS

1-22-24   THOUGHTS

We return to fundamentals and roots this morning.  We must do that.  The Jews set this before themselves each day as they recite it.  They call it the Shema, a Jewish prayer that is the centerpiece to morning and evening prayers.  1Pet 3:15  “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always [being] ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”   God first in all!  Setting God and Christ aside in our hearts is our foremost job!  If we lose it at this point, nothing else matters!  So we must daily consider the QUALITY OF OUR “ALL”!   Pray without ceasing.  

Deut 6:4-14    "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!  5  "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6  "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8  "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9  "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10  "Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build,  11  and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied,  12  then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13  "You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. 14  "You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,"   [1John 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.]

My Prayer:
O God, may we always give You first place in our hearts and lives.  May the joy of Your salvation be the song of our lips and our reason for living.  Remove distractions from our lives. Center our hearts of Jesus, O Lord.  Keep us powerfully focused in a terribly unfocused world.  May we drink from the water of life, and not from the wells of the world.  Help us to resist self and Satan.      

 In the name of Jesus,     Amen.