Welcome to
GOD FIRST
CHRISTIAN CENTER

I've Come for the Word. Psalms 100 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Come before His presence with singing. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Psalms 150 tells us to Praise the Lord with instruments; trumpets, harps, flutes, cymbals, stringed instruments and even with the dance. B- (Ps 122) But after the singing, the praising, the dancing and after the music has stopped. What are our next expectations. We celebrated our Lord and our God, we’ve praise Him. He is the honoree of this gathering. Like any honoree, we expect Him to say something. We expect Him to speak. We want to hear a word from the honoree. When we come to the House of the Lord, we come and worship and praise Him, but most importantly, we should come for the Word.

I Want More Than to Just Be Entertained in Church We must be careful that we aren’t simply entertaining people. Too much drama, theatrical, poetic rhymes, um, har, hooping and can I get a witness, will often times leave people with a lot to feel good about, but nothing of substance that will empower them to change and walk this Christian walk. • You Ought to Want More Than To Just Be Entertained in Church The desire for entertainment is deeply rooted in human nature. Entertainment taps into the brain's reward system, giving us that dopamine (doe-pa-meen) hit that we desire to feel good. • Entertainment keeps us distracted from real life issues. Paul stated in this text that people will look for preachers that will scratch their ears. They have itching ears. When something itch, you just want to scratch. And once you get that thing scratched, man it is satisfying, feeling good now. Having "itching ears" is an expression that describes people who are eager to hear an entertaining message that align with their personal desires and preferences, rather than the challenging, empowering life changing truths of the word of God. They seek preachers who tell them what they want to hear.

Now Will Never Come Again. Now (this present moment) is the only time you have power and can act. You can do nothing in the past because it is gone. You can do nothing in the future because you’re not in the future, you’re living right now. Now is crucial for making decisions, now is crucial for enjoying life, now is crucial for influencing your future. Instead of dwelling on regrets of the past or daydreams of future happiness, focusing on Now. Decisions need to be made now. Now is the time for salvation, now is the time to route your future. • You only truly live, feel, and experience life in the present moment, as the past is memory and the future is imagination. • What you do (or don't do) right now directly sets the stage for your future, making every moment a cosmic moment in your life.. *Now is the time is a call to act today, not later. It warns that opportunities can pass us by.

The Truth Concerning God’s Presence We love talking about ushering in the presence of the Lord. ---But we say God is everywhere so why usher Him in we He should be here already if He’s truly everywhere. I believe He’s everywhere, but I also believe we need to seek His presence. Genesis 3:8 Adam and Eve after they sinned against God, hid themselves from God’s presence. David says that God is everywhere, but Adam and Eve hid from God’s presence, and Ge 4:16 says that Cain went out from the presence of God. And Jonah fled from the presence of God. The Presence of the Lord in our lives is one of the most important aspect of our Christian journey, yet few believers really know what the Presence of God really means.

John 17:14-19 We were taught in school about the 5 basic senses of mankind. The sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. When we talk about senses in the human body, we're referring to the ways our body gathers information and allows us to respond and function. Our senses are essential for our survival, interaction and well-being. But as we understand the importance of the 5 basic senses, I want to talk about man’s sense of self and God awareness. Sense of Self and Sense of an Awareness of God completes us in knowing who we are. Like the senses of your bodily organs, your sense of awareness of God and self as it relates to God is more important to life than your natural senses. Being aware of who you are and your relationship with God helps you to conduct yourself appropriately and help you to balance the realization that even though you are in the world you’re not of the world. Vs. 16 What does that mean: We are not of the world. Well, Christian live in the world but are not bound by the values of the world, we are not bound by the influence of the world, we are not bound by the lust of the world, and it goes on and on. We are in the world, but the world isn’t in us. • We must maintain our sense of awareness of who we are, and the fact that we are children of the Most-High God.

In our text we find the Prophet Amos speaking to the children of Israel what God had commanded Him to speak. I want it to be known that the Prophet Amos wasn’t born a Prophet, nor was he a descendant of a Prophet. He was simply a everyday Farmer, sheep-farmer to be exact, but God called him to the office of a Prophet because God knew what was in him…. In verse 3 Amos prophesy to the people and he says: “Can two walk together unless that agree. This does simply mean that they agree to walk together, but they must agree in their walk together—I know I lost some people right there. • If you’re really walking together with someone you ought to be in agreement with where you’re going, if you’re walking together with someone, y’all ought to be in agreement with every step you take, I’m taking my time, and you’re walking fast …….. In the world, have you ever had a friend to ask you, come walk with me? The concept of walking with someone implies that you’re with them, where they go—you go, what they’re about to do—you going to do, you’re walking with them, you’re together.

Don't lose out on accomplishing what you need to do each day. Win your day by being intentional and do what you need to do and plan to for that day. Don't allow procrastination to rob you of a successful day of fulfilling your task, goals, and things you need to do for that day.