Intentional Encouragement

     I'm working on some thoughts for an upcoming message that will conclude a study in the life of David (King of Israel).  There is a lot to learn from his life, both good and bad (mostly good).  He was, by the description of God Himself, a "man after God's own heart."  I've entitled the series of messages on his life "In Sync with God."  We've been studying about what it's like to live the kind of life that would evoke that description by God.      As I draw the series to a conclusion, and focus my attention on 1 Chronicles 29, I'm reminded of something that was pointed out to me about 12 years ago by a counseling professor during grad school.  She pointed to Acts 13:36 as a verse by which she guided her life.  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with fathers and saw corruption..."      I suppose your reaction may be the ...

     I know; that's a pretty broad title and it could set up a whole series of posts.  It's not going to.  I simply wanted to remind you that, although life gets confusing at times and we have a lot of decisions to make when it comes to the various directions or activities that we will pursue, the basic purpose is still pretty simple.      The first in a series of messages I recently commenced at our church began with this challenge:  Why are YOU here?  What is your purpose for being on the planet?  It may surprise you to realize that it is really the same purpose for which Jesus came to earth.  He knew that purpose very early in life.  The second chapter of Luke records the occasion when his family had traveled to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover for Jesus' Bar Mitzvah (he was 12).  At the end of the feast, his parents returned with the caravan headed back toward Nazareth.  Once they realize...