Project Ezra This Week - 1 Samuel 2:1-10 and 1 Chronicles 16:8-36

Hello Project Ezra brothers and sisters. Thanks for being part of Project Ezra. This week’s reading is 1 Samuel 2:1-10 and 1 Chronicles 16:8-36. These two passages are probably best described as songs of praise to God, one from Hannah and one from King David. There are many individual ideas that could be used as bridges into the gospel, such as telling of his salvation, his judgments being in all the earth, or all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. But the common theme running through both prayer seems to be God’s superintendence and control over all that exists, and the appropriateness of praising him in response to that truth. Most people you will share the gospel with will likely believe that they are largely in control of their own destinies, but we know that’s not the case. The only reason this world keeps spinning is because God allows it to, and everything we have and do are dependant on him. So consider these ideas in your gospel presentation:

God is the true God, and is deserving of our praise for his creation. We should give him the glory due his name

God will be our judge or our redeemer, and holds our future in his hands.

God should be glorified both for his acts of love and his acts of judgment.

Our success and failure is not in our hands, but in God’s hands. He brings low and he exalts.

God’s steadfast love endures forever, and he is the God of our salvation.

We are just about two weeks away from our next major event, Sermon on the Mount Saturday. Last year this was the second major event, and was just before the group was formalized. For this event we will, as the name suggests, be reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 26-28). We always encourage you to invite fellow believers to join you, but the larger reading events are perfect for having others participate, since the longer reading make dividing the chapters up easier. So start thinking now about who you could invite to join you.

I also made some updates to our participation calendar. We have nearly 700 people in the Facebook group, but less that 100 who have posted their locations recently. If you are currently participating, or have recently, or are planning to in one of our upcoming readings, please let us know where you are. I will be adding you to our ongoing calendar this time rather than running a separate calendar for Sermon on the Mount Saturday so we can get a better idea of how spread out the group in general is. So, even if you can’t participate this week or for Sermon on the Mount Saturday, please do post your location information. The link to the map is here:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=113034126998299469848.00048324726b96ac4b342&t=h&z=2

We’re looking forward to more pictures, videos as testimonies too. They are a huge encouragement, so please take the time to share yours.

All for His glory!

Dan