Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips, pastor
October 4, 2009 – World Communion Sunday
1 Chronicles 29:10-19
Heart
Emotion (“love”), but also will, motivation, devotion, desire, the most important thing
What’s in your heart?
What do you most desire?
What’s the most important thing to you?
What do you desire the most?
What do you love most? (love – not a feeling but a commitment)
David’s prayer
Background: temple, end of life
Content: confession of his people’s smallness, concern for the people and Solomon
Thanksgiving: even their ability to give is a gift
Intimacy: “I know, my God, that you search the heart; in the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things.”
Thanksgiving
David’s heart is grateful for what God has done
But God is still “out there,” somebody who has done something for you
Communion = “Eucharist”
Intimacy
David’s heart is not only full of thanks for God, but full of God
Intimacy
Someone to be “naked” with, honest with, who loves you exactly as you are.
Do you have someone to be intimate with?
Or are you “afraid of intimacy”?
Intimacy with people vs. intimacy with God
“As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God.” Psalm 42:1
Joy
David’s prayer is exuberant
So is the Communion Prayer (Great Thanksgiving)
Hearts are full of joy when they’re full of God
Not happy, happy, happy all the time, but filled with joy
Not that everything will go well for you all the time
Return to heart questions at the top
Communion: Can God fill your needs here? Will you meet God here?
How do you prepare your heart to be filled with God?
How would you prepare for a date? (mental, spiritual preparation)
What you get out of something depends on what expectations you bring to it.
What do you expect when you come to church, pray, or take communion?
Is your attitude (crossing arms), “OK, let’s see if anything happens today”?
Or: “I can’t wait to go to church to meet the living God in bread and cup!”
Revival – a matter of the heart.
Of all the things God wants from us, God wants our hearts first - to fill them with himself.
Spiritual Retreat
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