Speaker 1: Morning. By morning he awakens my ear as one being
Speaker 1: taught by his spirit. Shalloon, wonderful family, and welcome to
Speaker 1: today's morning glory devotion. This is the Brucemith from harvs.
Speaker 1: Shapel International Commercy, and it is a privilege to be
Speaker 1: facilitating today's devotion. Let us pray, Father, We thank you
Speaker 1: for your goodness and kindness towards us. We pray and
Speaker 1: commit our time and your word into your hands. Brood
Speaker 1: over ours, Lord, we fresh and empower us. Curse your
Speaker 1: light to shine through your word and transforms in Jesus
Speaker 1: Mighty name. Amen, that has kind of taken a confession
Speaker 1: from Joshua, chapter one, verse eight. Joshua, chapter one, verse eight.
Speaker 1: This book of the Law shall not depart out of
Speaker 1: my mouth, but I shall meditate in a day and
Speaker 1: night that I may observe to do according to all
Speaker 1: that is written in it. For then I will make
Speaker 1: my way prosperous, and then I will have good success
Speaker 1: a man. The theme for today's devotion is Convenient Service.
Speaker 1: Convenient Service written by Joshua Amevialo, and our scripture reading
Speaker 1: is from Acts chapter twenty four, verse twenty four through
Speaker 1: to twenty six, Acts chapter twenty four, verses twenty four
Speaker 1: to twenty six, let us hear the word of the Lord,
Speaker 1: reading from the WBB translation. After some days Felix came
Speaker 1: with Drusilla, his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent
Speaker 1: for Paul and hid him concerning the faith in Christ, Jesus.
Speaker 1: As he reasoned about righteousness, self control, and the judgment
Speaker 1: to come, Felix was terrified and answered, go your way
Speaker 1: for this time, and when it is convenient for me,
Speaker 1: I will summon you. Meanwhile, he also hoped that money
Speaker 1: would be given to him by Paul, that he might
Speaker 1: release him. Therefore, he also send for him more often
Speaker 1: and talked with him a man convenient service, convenient service beloved.
Speaker 1: In today's scripture reading, we see Felix, the Roman governor
Speaker 1: of the province of Judea at the time of Apostle
Speaker 1: pauses persecution at the hands of the Jews, giving audience
Speaker 1: to Apostle Paul some day after he had attained the
Speaker 1: Apostle's formal trial. What really stood out to me, especially
Speaker 1: with this translation of Scripture, was Felix's response when a
Speaker 1: postal Paul spoke to him about faith in Christ and
Speaker 1: reason with him about righteousness, self control, and the judgment
Speaker 1: to come. While Apostle Paul's presentation of the Gospel touched
Speaker 1: and terrified Felas, it is interesting to note that his
Speaker 1: response to Apostle Paul was go your way for this time,
Speaker 1: and when it is convenient for me, I will summon you.
Speaker 1: What is even more interesting to note is that we
Speaker 1: are told that after this he sent for Apostle Paul
Speaker 1: more often and spoke with him, not because he wanted
Speaker 1: to judge him on the merit of his case, but
Speaker 1: because he was hoping that Paul would offer him money
Speaker 1: for his life. Release beloved. It is sad to say
Speaker 1: that as strange and unwise as Felici's attitude was or
Speaker 1: may appear to us, his attitude mirrors the attitude of
Speaker 1: many professing believers to our responsibilities as children of God
Speaker 1: and our service to God. As governor, Felix had a moral, social,
Speaker 1: and political responsibility to represent fair judgment on issues brought
Speaker 1: before him for arbitration, but he regulated these responsibilities by
Speaker 1: personal convenience, and beyond that, he held of doing what
Speaker 1: he knew was the right thing to do because he
Speaker 1: wanted to obtain some personal gains. First, Similarly, many of
Speaker 1: us relegate our responsibilities as ambassadors of Christ and messengers
Speaker 1: of the Gospel to the dictis of our convenience, and
Speaker 1: some of us have held back from sharing the gospel
Speaker 1: or serving at the altars of God because we are
Speaker 1: waiting for God to do one thing or another for us. First.
Speaker 1: We show up at our convenience not to serve in sincerity,
Speaker 1: but to check the boxes and convince ourselves that we
Speaker 1: are doing what we can and can only do more
Speaker 1: if God first comes through for us regarding a certain
Speaker 1: request or desire. We may read our bibles and pray
Speaker 1: and go to church, but then hold off on forgiving
Speaker 1: those who offend us, and sharing the Gospel with orders,
Speaker 1: and demonstrating love and kindness toward us unless it is convenient.
Speaker 1: We make a show of heaven and maintaining a relationship
Speaker 1: with God with doubt, allowing the outflow of that relationship
Speaker 1: to be evident in our service or in our interaction
Speaker 1: with urthers. It's unfortunate that sometimes we confuse our sincere
Speaker 1: desire for the things that God can do for us
Speaker 1: for a sincere desire for God. And when this confusion persists,
Speaker 1: we tend to fix our gaze and expectations on receiving
Speaker 1: what we desire from God, rather than unpleasing Him by
Speaker 1: doing what He would want us to do. Beloved, we
Speaker 1: cannot continue to hold God's word hostage in the name
Speaker 1: of convenience. Too many of us are saftly and may
Speaker 1: be subconsciously treating our service to God the same way
Speaker 1: that Governor Fellus treated their apostle Paw in today's scripture reading.
Speaker 1: But this attitude has several merits. One way or another,
Speaker 1: God's work will get done. But if you and I
Speaker 1: delydally when we have the opportunity to serve, the window
Speaker 1: of opportunity to save will pass, and someone else will
Speaker 1: be given the privilege of offering their service and obtain
Speaker 1: their associated blessings and rewards. Beloved, as children of God
Speaker 1: and ambasadors of the same, we have a responsibility to love,
Speaker 1: to forgive, to be peacemakers, to be bearers of the
Speaker 1: good news of the Gospel, not at a convenience, but
Speaker 1: at every opportunity presented to us, Beloved, It is clearly
Speaker 1: illustrated for us in the life of our Lord Jesus
Speaker 1: and the work and ministry of the apostles that the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God thrives under sacrificial service of the children
Speaker 1: of God. So our service to God must be one
Speaker 1: of sacrifice, not of convenience. And God's expectation for us
Speaker 1: is for us to go out of our way to
Speaker 1: serve and please him. We must remember that it is
Speaker 1: our sacrificial service that bring joy to God, not a
Speaker 1: convenience service. A man, God, bless you. It's trying to
Speaker 1: take our memory verse, and our memory verse will be
Speaker 1: from Philippians Chapter two Versus seventeen and eighteen Philippians to
Speaker 1: seventeen and eighteen, reading from the BSB. But even if
Speaker 1: I am being poured out like a drink offering on
Speaker 1: the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad
Speaker 1: and rejoice with all of you, so you too should
Speaker 1: be glad and rejoice with me. A man, let us pray, Father,
Speaker 1: will thank you for your weather has come to us today.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the privilege of being your children and
Speaker 1: the privilege of seven at your oldest. Lord, Please forgive
Speaker 1: us for all the times we have held your work
Speaker 1: hostage in the name of convenience, and grant us degrees
Speaker 1: and passion to serve sacrificially make us a blessing through
Speaker 1: our service and cause us to experience your blessings. Also,
Speaker 1: you're joints of us in our service. In Jesus's name,
Speaker 1: will pray with thanksgiving. Amen. God richly bless you for
Speaker 1: being a part of today's devotion. Stay tuned for more
Speaker 1: spiritual content on Radio ACI today until we come your
Speaker 1: way once again tomorrow morning. At the same time, do
Speaker 1: stay blessed and have a fruitful day. A man