{"id":28545,"date":"2023-10-19T12:43:49","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T19:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2023-weeping-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-10-19T12:54:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T19:54:17","slug":"2023-exist","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2023-exist\/","title":{"rendered":"We Exist for God"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">Max Lucado<\/p>\n<h4><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/maxlucado.com\/listen\/we-exist-for-god\/\">We Exist for God<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28546 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-1.jpg 250w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-1-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-1-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-1-180x180.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>God does not exist for us; we exist for God. God does not exist to make a big deal out of Max; Max exists to make a big deal out of God. So, can we appreciate the folly in thinking we have anything to offer God that he does not already have? Can we applaud the stunning, surprising patience of God? Jacob thought his allegiance was so valuable that God would meet his terms in order to receive it. Monstrous self-exaltation.<\/p>\n<p>Yet God always responds with grace. Psalm 103:13 says, \u201c<strong>As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him<\/strong>.\u201d God hears our prayers. You are obedient when you ask for help. But please be careful \u2013 prayer is not asking God to do what you want; it\u2019s trusting God to do what is best. God never gives up on you.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-28547 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-2.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-2-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><em><a href=\"https:\/\/maxlucado.com\/listen\/bounce-back\/\">Bounce Back<\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n<p>Jacob\u2019s rap sheet included words like\u00a0<em>cheater, deceiver, trickster, grifter<\/em>,\u00a0<em>liar<\/em>. He was a bit of a mess. Aren\u2019t we all?\u00a0Like him, our spiritual walk follows a crooked path. And we wonder, does God have a place for us? Well the answer through Jacob is \u201cyes.\u201d God uses flawed folks. He doesn\u2019t cast us out when we deserve it.<\/p>\n<p>He does, however, let us reap what we sow. Evil rebounds. So does good. Jesus summed up the bounce-back principle when he said, \u201cWith the measure you use, it will be measured to you\u201d (Matthew 7:2 NIV).\u00a0Do you want God to disperse mercy upon you with a bucket? Then use a bucket as you disperse mercy to others.\u00a0 Would you want him to use a teaspoon? Well, you get the point. God never gives up on you.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-28548 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-3.jpg 400w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/max-3-265x300.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":28548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-28545","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/28545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/28545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28549,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/28545\/revisions\/28549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28545"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=28545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}