Listening to the Word

Romans 1-4   “…He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were…Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” Romans 4:17, 20, 21 Faith is first expressed for our salvation as we believe God exists and has made atonement for our sins. Faith in God is the only way we receive the gift of God’s righteousness or right standing with him. This faith must grow and continue to be expressed in life as we walk with God as Abraham did. Our faith is in God and his promises to us. Abraham believed God’s promise to him that he would have a biological son even though ‘his body was as good as dead’ (Romans 4:19). What promises have we received which test and challenge our faith? In what ways are we tempted by unbelief to waver in o

  1 Timothy 4-5; 2 Thessalonians 1-3 “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 How do we put out the Spirit’s fire and why is it important we not do so? We grieve the Holy Spirit with ‘unwholesome talk’ (Ephesians 4:29), with bitterness, anger, and sexual sin. We resist the Holy Spirit by responding in fear to the Spirit’s work and gifts. When we judge and criticize the use of the gifts of the Spirit, we are throwing cold water on the Spirit’s fire. For example, rather than discerning prophetic words and asking the Lord for wisdom and application, we treat these prophetic words with contempt. The proper response is not in questioning acceptance of every prophetic word, dream, or scriptural application; rather, we are to test everything through prayer and community discernment. That which is tested and affirmed must be held onto and preserved. Evil of every kind is th

Matthew 28; 1 Thessalonians 1-3   “So, the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’” Matthew 28:8-10 Was it a coincidence that the first people to meet the resurrected Christ were women? These women were disciples of Jesus whose faithfulness and devotion were rewarded. Peter and John testified to an empty tomb, but they had not yet seen Jesus. It was the two Marys who brought the word from Jesus to the apostles that they were to travel back to Galilee where Jesus would meet with them. The first instructions from the resurrected Christ came through women. The great commission came to us because sisters in Christ were faithful in that first assignment. Are we now going to limit the participation of our sisters in living out this

  Psalms 125; Matthew 26-27   “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.” Psalm 125:1, 2 This Psalm of ascent would have been recited as the Israelites walked up to the highest point in the land on their annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the feasts. Mount Zion is surrounded by hills which provide natural defenses with steep approaches on three sides. The writer of Hebrews wrote that we ‘have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God…the church of the firstborn….’ (Hebrews 12:22, 23). Mount Zion is now the kingdom of God, which cannot be shaken. However, is this kingdom our home, or just a place we visit? The many attacks against Mount Zion tested her defenses, her resources, and the faith of her people. We, too, are faced with challenges every day regarding where we will put our confidence and our trust.   W

  Matthew 23-25   “Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved…The bridegroom was a long time in coming and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.” Matthew 24:12, 13; 25:5 Many of us in the church today are sleep-walking. We’re still stumbling into church a couple of times a month out of routine, but spiritually we are asleep. The wickedness and deadening effect of sin has numbed our senses, neutered our prayer life, and choked our witness. Our love for Jesus has grown cold, like a marriage where unfaithfulness has destroyed trust and communication. We still co-habit, but there is no intimacy, no first love. If this dangerous description fits our lives, the Spirit of God is now shouting, “Wake Up!’ The time is now. Repent for all known sin and write down all behavior that would be grieving the Holy Spirit. Once all sin has been confessed, burn the list, and for support and accountability, tell another brother

Matthew 20-22   “…’Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom…’You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:21, 25-28 The paradigm of servant-leadership didn’t make sense until Jesus, the Messiah, died willingly on a cross, in obedience to his Father’s salvation-plan. Servant-leadership is not just a good idea, in Christ’s kingdom it is the only way leadership is expressed . Many other ‘Christian’ kingdoms have been built, with other expressions of leadership, but Jesus said that by our fruit we are known.   Does the fruit of our leadership in the mission of God have the humility and perseverance as e

  Matthew 17-19   “…the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants…a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay…’Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, and canceled the debt and let him go.’” Matthew 18:23-27 Forgiveness and grace are at the heart of the Gospel. God, the King, took the initiative by sending his Son to settle our sin-account with him. Our debt of sin is greater than anyone of us can pay. There is no negotiation by us that will succeed, only God’s mercy and grace. Experiencing God’s unmerited favor in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins changes how we approach all other personal sin debts that others owe us. The servant’s unwillingness to forgive the much smaller debt of his fellow servant indicated that grace had not yet transformed the first servant’s heart. The Gospel must be experienced and then shared for it to be real in ou

Matthew 14-16 “Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.’ Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.’” Matthew 16:23-25 Like Peter, we, too, can confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, but still have in mind the ‘things of men’, becoming a tool of the enemy to distract or impede the mission of God. It’s not enough to pray a prayer confessing our sins and Jesus as our Savior. Many people will stand before God at the judgment day confessing, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name?’ and hear the Lord reply that he didn’t know them. Jesus knew Peter, and he knew that Peter had left his fishing business to follow him. He reminded Peter that the same death-to-self which started his journey with Jesus

  Matthew 11-13   “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:44-46 How do these two parables line up with our western version of the Gospel? A gospel of self-improvement with low cost and cheap grace is a different gospel to what Jesus was presenting. The kingdom of heaven Jesus described is the most amazing, valuable, and costly possession or reality we could ever hope to know. The value of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is both now and eternal. To know and to walk daily in two-way communication with the Creator of the universe is worth everything. The cost is everything we have, and are, and will be. Have we understood both the value and the cost of a relationship with God? Y

Matthew 8-10   “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness…As you go, preach this message: The kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts;…For the worker is worth his keep.” Matthew 10:1, 7, 9, 10 Disciple-making, in the way of Jesus, happens as we go, not as we stay. Our authority comes from Jesus and it speaks to all forms of bondages, addictions, afflictions, and sin-strongholds. The gospel of the kingdom must be experienced not just heard. There is freedom today from prescription drug addictions, pornography, sickness and disease. Jesus’ young disciples followed him for a short time, and then were sent out to put their limited knowledge into practice by preaching and praying for those looking for life. Why would we want to disciple peopl

  Matthew 5-7   “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God….You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:8, 27, 28 Are we attentive to the state of our heart? God values our heart, the inner sanctuary of our thoughts, our decisions, and our emotions. It is in this inner and private sanctuary where we meditate, plan, and retreat. Jesus calls us to purity in this inner sanctuary of our heart. If we open the door of our ‘eye gate’, our hearing, or our thoughts, the enemy of our heart wants to fill this space with lust, pride, fear, anger, and a host of other sinful trespasses. We have been given the responsibility to guard our hearts! Cleansing comes in the authority of Jesus Christ, his shed blood and powerful name. We are called to recognize defilement of our heart, repent (sometimes to one another), resist the sin out loud in Jesus’ name, an

Matthew 1-4   “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11 Jesus came with spiritual power to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.   Does this describe our reality, or are we more comfortable with John’s water baptism for repentance of sin? It is wonderful when both baptisms occur as a part of the same conversion process. However, many in the Church today are familiar with repentance, but not the Holy Spirit. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality. But it is more than that. The baptism of the Spirit is the difference between fearful disciples in Acts 1, and bold witness in Acts 2. The immersion into the life of the Spirit is evidenced by a Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered life. Living on mission with Jesus requires this kind of Spirit-empowered humility, faith, love, and hope. The fire of the Spirit’s baptism cleanses us

Psalms 124; 2 Corinthians 11-13   “Finally, brothers, good-bye. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.”   2 Corinthians 13:11 Joy, peace, and being of one mind are some of the evidences that the Church was experiencing healthy community. Paul challenged the Corinthian Church to strive for full restoration/perfection, possibly referring to the man who was sleeping with his father’s wife. Repentance for sin is to be accompanied by the restoration of relationships with both the community of faith and with the Lord. When we are fully restored we experience joy in relationships, encouragement, peace of mind, and unity. Are we contending for this depth of community, or are we settling for spectators attending a weekly worship event? We, too, are promised love and peace in our relationship with other followers of Jesus because the Lord is present in our lives, growing those qualities by his Spirit. The cost of ex

2 Corinthians 7-10   “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you…The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:1, 4, 5 Paul’s life was characterized by both great humility and boldness. When we possess one of these qualities without the other, we will not be as effective in our ministry to others. The weapons of the Spirit, including the Word of God, the name of Christ, the blood of Jesus, the word of testimony, and the surrender of our lives to God, all call us to both humility and boldness. Like Jesus, who is both the Lion and the Lamb, we, too, contend for the Gospel and spiritual freedom, both in our lives and in the lives of others, with boldness and humility. The greatest victory over sin and death occurred through

2 Corinthians 3-6   “So, from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” 2 Corinthians 5:16 Paul was a contemporary of Jesus Christ, and as a Pharisee, was trained in Jerusalem by Gamaliel. He would have watched Jesus preach and heal in the temple. Paul considered Jesus a threat to all he believed in prior to his conversion. Upon experiencing the power of the Gospel, the veil covering Paul’s mind was removed and he saw Jesus as the Christ. Paul saw people with eternal value, even to the degree that he was willing to die for them so they also could experience salvation in Christ. Paul saw himself differently. He saw and received God’s amazing love and was now compelled by that love to live and share the Gospel. Do we see Jesus, others, and ourselves the same way? Or are we still viewing life from a worldly point of view? Our media worldview and the biblical worldview are opposed to each other. Which worldview is

  Job 41-42; 2 Corinthians 1-2   “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life…But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:8, 9 When God allows hardships, suffering, and great pressure in the course of living on mission with him, we can either become discouraged and question God, or we can cry out to God in radical dependence and surrender. When this pressure seems far beyond our ability to endure, we must begin new patterns of prayer and radical dependence on God. God uses pressure to expand our capacity to live by faith and full dependence on him. The same power that raised Christ from the dead now indwells us through the Holy Spirit. Prayer connects us to God and to one another, and prayer is the way God invites us to respond to great pressure. Our new capacities in pra

Psalms 149; 1 Corinthians 15-16   “Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain…that Christ died for our sins…that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day…” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 At the heart of the Gospel is the bodily death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of prophetic Scriptures written hundreds of years prior. This Gospel of Christ’s death to pay the penalty for our sins must be responded to with personal faith for this Gospel to save us. We are then called to hold firmly to this Gospel and take our stand, like soldiers defending a strategic position. What spiritual warfare are we facing today against this Gospel? Are we clearly preaching and living the reality of this Gospel? Has this Gospel transformed our lives, or are we still hoping our good deeds

Job 39-40; 1 Corinthians 13-14   “…Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church…When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church…everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.” 1 Corinthians 14:12, 26, 3 When we understand we are part of a body, our expression of spiritual gifts must strengthen the body and not just ourselves. The individualism of western culture is a lens through which many of us read Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts. At the expense of body participation, we are more concerned with the misuse of tongues than we are of the speaking gifts.   If everyone has something to contribute when we come together in the body of Christ, why are paid staff the only ones we hear from? We need the participation of the whole body for the church to be strengthened for s

Job 37-38; 1 Corinthians 12   “Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’” Job 38:1-2 When God asks us questions, is it because he doesn’t know the answer? When God called out to Adam in the garden and asked, ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:9), was it because God didn’t know? When God asked Jeremiah, ‘What do you see?’ (Jeremiah 1:11), was it because God lacked vision? When Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne and heard him ask, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ (Isaiah 6:8), did God already know the answer to his question? Are there questions the Lord is asking us that we are avoiding or afraid to answer? Our confidence in Christ is that we can boldly approach the throne of grace. In our weakness, God’s strength is made perfect. We can fully trust God’s goodness toward us, even when we don’t have answers. “Lord God, thank you

Psalms 122; 1 Corinthians 9-11   “…Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?...For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick…” 1 Corinthians 11:22, 29, 30 What body are we to recognize when we remember the death and resurrection of Christ? We are to remember that we, the Church, are the body of Christ. We are to examine ourselves, not just for personal sin, but for corporate sin. When we treat those who are poor in the eyes of the world as less valued members or parts of the body of Christ, we bring God’s judgment on our lives. The love feasts that the early Church practiced were potlucks where the wealthy and the poor brought different food to the feasts and then excluded one another based on their wealth. It is this corporate sin of finding our identity and friends from our social-economic status rather than the body of Christ that Paul is exposi

  Job 35, 36; 1 Corinthians 7-8   “So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.” 1 Corinthians 8:11, 12 Paul’s Damascus Road conversion brought him face to face with the resurrected Lord Jesus, who said to Saul, “Why do you persecute me?” Saul’s persecution of Christians was also a persecution of Christ. Now Saul (Paul) applied that same principle to describe the impact of our insensitivity toward those Christ-followers who have a weak conscience. When our freedom regarding alcohol, the Sabbath, pork, or any other disputed issue causes others to stumble in their walk with Christ, we are wounding Christ. A mark of maturity in discipleship is the capacity to strengthen the weak, not further wound them. When we recognize the presence of Christ in our spouses, and other Christ-followers, we will honor them and lay our lives (and freedoms) down for them as C

  Job 34; 1 Corinthians 4-6   “But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit…Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:17, 19, 20 It is the indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus through his Holy Spirit in our lives that sanctifies us and sets us apart for holy service. Our spirit unites with the Lord’s Spirit and we become one with him. When we choose sexual sin over intimacy with the Lord through his Spirit, we are defiled and the temple must be cleansed for intimacy with the Lord to be restored. The Lord’s jealous love for our affection and devotion, once experienced, becomes a powerful deterrent to willful sin. How would we describe the state of the temple of our bodies? How would the Lord describe his temple? “Lord Jesus, your intimacy is better than any other. I offer you my body as your temp

Job 33; 1 Corinthians 1-3 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ…Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:11, 16 The Lord Jesus is the foundation of the Church, the temple in which God dwells by his Spirit. This temple cannot stand firm without the living presence of Jesus sustaining, supporting, and guiding all that we do. It is through our dependency on Jesus, expressed by being Gospel-centered and Spirit-led, that Jesus is building his Church. This singular focus of Christ’s mission to build his Church brings our lives and gifts together, like living stones, into a house God indwells by his Spirit. We are Gospel-centered, Spirit-led, and mission-focused because this is Christ’s purpose for us. Are we clear on whose we are and why we exist? “Lord Jesus, today, my full dependency is on your Spirit to keep me mission-focused and connected, for your glory.”

  Job 31-32; Galatians 5-6   “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery…You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:1, 13 The freedom we have received from Christ and through Christ, is not just our testimony, it is our call. We stand firm in freedom by resisting temptation and sin. In Christ, we have been delivered from the power of sin, so we no longer have to submit to its yoke and enslavement. However, we live free by not only remembering Christ’s saving Gospel, but by living in its reality every day. We live free by serving one another in love and not just serving ourselves. We live free by standing firm against sin by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. Are we living free? Are we standing firm in Christ? Are we living the gospel of freedom in Christ? “Lord Jesus, thank you for releasi

Job 30; Psalms 120; Galatians 3-4   “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’. So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” Galatians 4:6, 7 Knowing our identity - who we are and why we are here - is an essential element in maturity. When we attempt to define our spiritual identity through our community and history alone, we are missing the most essential component. God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. The Holy Spirit communicates within us and reminds us we belong to the Father. The Spirit of his Son reminds us of the Father’s love for us personally, and that our names are written in heaven. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit fills us with the attributes and qualities of our Father, and we are inwardly being discipled. We look like our Father because his Spirit is living through us. “Father God, you are my source of eternal identity, and you are