Listening to the Word

Psalms 121; Mark 9-10   “’We are going up to Jerusalem,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’…Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. They replied, ‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.’” Mark 10:33, 35-37 In the moment when Jesus clearly revealed his call to suffer and die, his closest disciples requested positional authority and honor in Christ’s kingdom. They believed the coming kingdom of God would be the restoration of Israel’s earthly kingdom (Acts 1:6). Jesus redirected his disciples to the path of suffering, servant-leadership, and the coming power of the Holy Spirit in order to be his witnesses. Are we still distracted by positional authority in Christ’s kingdom, or have we found our id...

Job 22; Mark 7-8   “…When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, ‘Do you see anything?’ He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home saying, ‘Don’t go into the village.’” Mark 8:23-26 Do we continue praying, even when the full result of our prayers is not immediately realized? Jesus asked the man to confirm whether he was healed or not. Why would we not do the same thing? Jesus prayed again for complete healing. Why would we not do the same thing? Many healings are progressive rather than immediate. We can rest in the knowledge that it is God alone who heals, and we are privileged to join him.   Are there healing prayers we have abandoned after not seeing immediate answers? Keep praying. Invite feedback from the person we are praying for. Jesus kept praying, and so can we....

  Job 2l; Mark 5-6   “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ So, the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” Mark 5:18-20 Our most powerful personal witness is the evidence of the transforming grace and mercy of God in our lives. The man Jesus set free from a legion of demons had a dramatic ‘before-and-after’ testimony. No one could argue with this living example of God’s saving power. However, everyone who has experienced the gospel and not just given mental assent to it, has a visible testimony of God’s love, mercy, peace, and power in their lives. Have we experienced the gospel, and are our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers able to see the change in our lives? Our first mission must be to our home...

Job 20; Mark 3-4   “’Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.’…’Consider carefully what you hear.’ he continued. ‘With the measure you use it will be measured to you – and even more.’” Mark 4:20, 24 Hearing God’s Word is not enough to bear good fruit and an abundance of fruit. We must hear, accept, and obey God’s Word. This requires faith that God’s Word is both truth, and worth the investment of our time and effort. In the oral culture of Christ’s day and the fourteen hundred years of church history afterward when virtually all Christ-followers could not read, listening to the written Word and the inner words of Christ were the only ways to receive it. Active listening includes repeating what we have heard and then acting on it. Are we “using” what we have heard, or are we just passive listeners? Jesus called us to multiply through a multitude of spiritual fruit. We multiply through hea...

  Job 19; Mark 1-2   “At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan…Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:12, 13, 35 In a communal culture Jesus knew the value of solitude. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to pray. Satan tried to interfere with the same intentional prayer time and place, and later, even using Christ’s disciples to disturb and distract him.   Have we discovered the renewing experience of solitude and time alone with our Father in Heaven? In our spacious homes, we can easily find a quiet corner, rather than leave a one-room home for the desert.   Are we intentional about finding solitude and listening to our Father? We, too, need to hear the Spirit affirm the Father’s love for us, and know we are his sons and daughters. “Father God, you are my life. I...

Job 18; Psalms 114; Acts 27-28   “For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 28:30, 31 Paul’s behavior didn’t resemble a person facing a trial with potentially life-threatening consequences. His confidence and boldness came from the Holy Spirit and the ongoing encouragement of the Lord. What shapes our behavior today? Are we inwardly directed or externally influenced? Paul boldly preached the kingdom of God in the capital of the most anti-Christian and all-powerful kingdom of his day. He preached about the Lord Jesus Christ in the face of an emperor-cult that demanded everyone confess Caesar alone as Lord. Only God gives this kind of boldness.   In our pluralistic and relativistic society, where religious freedoms still exist, how bold are we? Are we preaching the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, or are we o...

  Job 17; Acts 24-26   “’Then I asked, “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the Lord replied. “Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.”’” Acts 26:15, 16 Saul’s attacks against Christians were all felt by Jesus whose Body Saul was persecuting. In the face of this persecutor, Jesus revealed his mercy and grace. Rather than communicating to Saul who was lying on the ground in fear and abasement, Jesus commanded Saul to stand up. Rather than punishing Saul for his mistreatment of Christians, Jesus gave Saul a redemptive assignment in his kingdom-mission. Is that how we are experiencing the Lord Jesus? In our rebellion and sin are we still prostrate in shame, or have we, too, stood up? Having done all to stand, are we standing firm in our faith? Jesus commands us to our feet, to stand in his grace, mercy, forgiveness, and authority. He has ass...

  Job 16; Acts 21-23 “’Then the Lord said to me, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”’ The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, ‘Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!’” Acts 22:21, 22 For the thousands of Jews in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus (Acts 21:20), Paul’s testimony of being sent by Jesus to the Gentiles was more than they could bear. The Jews believed the Messiah was returning for them, not for the nations. They were unable to see the vast time period we now understand as the “Church age” that takes place between Christ’s first and second coming. These believing Jews were also threatened by a gospel that no longer required the law and the temple. Before casting judgment on these first century Jewish believers, we must consider our own ethnocentric church structures with temple-like rituals and practices resembling unwritten laws. Self-serving religion is what Jesus came to replace with his gospel of the kin...

Job 15; Acts 19-20 “’Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.’” Acts 20:28-31 Paul’s final words to the church elders he had mentored in Ephesus focused on the spiritual warfare and doctrinal challenges they would face. Are we still vigilant to the schemes of the enemy and focused on preparing leaders who know how to resist him? Paul’s love for Christ’s church moved him regularly to tears as he warned, instructed, and mentored the church. Do we see our calling as elders, pastors, and mission leaders with the same ‘all in’ commitment to the health and maturi...

  Job 13-14; Acts 17-18   “’Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure…Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.’” Job 14:1, 2, 5 Wisdom is found in knowing life’s limits and living in the light of eternity. God has determined the number of our days, and we belong to him. Like a flower, our days on earth are brief in the scope of eternity. Living for our own glory, which quickly fades, is the best our celebrity culture can hope for. Those who know the living God and live for his glory find a purpose in life that is eternal and a hope that endures. Are we sharing the reason for the hope that is within us? So many are crushed by the weight of their sin and the emptiness of living for themselves. The gospel points us in a better direction! “Lord Jesus, thank you for forgiveness, freedom, hope, and peace. You are my li...

Job 11-12; Acts 15-16   “Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabus…We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you…they were sent off by the brothers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them…After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Acts 15:22, 24, 34; 16:10 Throughout the mission-account of the early church, we see both the discernment of who to send, and the discernment of the call. Like two bookends, the discernment of both sending and call in the mission of God involves the church. Those being sent recognize and submit to the authority of the local church. Similarly, the discernment of God’s call to mission in a particular place was a “we” moment, even if only Paul saw the vision of the Macedonian man. Submitting to authori...

  Job 9-10; Acts 13-14   “After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’” Acts 13:22 God has many acquaintances, but not many friends. David was a man after God’s own heart. We trust our friends to know our heart and not betray us. David was a worshiper before he was a warrior and king. David knew the freedom and peace of God’s anointing and the favor God’s anointing brought with it. The words God spoke through David continue to encourage God’s people because they reveal God’s heart, as well as the hearts of those who seek God. Does God trust us as friends to whom he can give his kingdom assignments? Are we seeking God’s heart so that our hearts will be more like his own? “Lord Jesus, you were both the root and the offspring of David. You are my root. I pray your heart would be expressed in and through my life, for your glory.”

Job 6-8; Acts 12 “After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each…So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him…Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.” Acts 12:4, 5, 7 There is no bondage or prison the Lord cannot rescue us from! When we cry out to the Lord, we are appealing to the highest authority. Peter’s arrest moved the Jerusalem Church to earnest intercession, not to Herod, but to the Lord God Almighty. How are we responding to the spiritual bondage of friends, neighbors, and family members? What prisons of lust, fear, and addictions do our friends need freeing from? The light that flooded Peter’s cell was greater than the darkness of his circumstances. The most powerful military and political regime in the world at that time could not withsta...

  Job 5; Psalms 108; Acts 10-11 “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’…While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.” Acts 10:34, 35, 44 The Jewish understanding that they were God’s chosen people implied that other nationalities were not chosen. In each of our stories of God’s grace to our people, we, too, can become convinced that God has a unique love and plan for us. We, too, can be blinded by favoritism to God’s call on other denominations, movements, nations, peoples, and genders. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit releases God’s gifts and fruit into the lives of men and women of every tribe, tongue, and nation. We need the gifts of every denomination and gospel movement throughout the earth for the Church to grow and mature into the image of Christ. Whose “house,” whether denominational or cultural, is God ...

Job 3-4; Acts 8-9   “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus…Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord - Jesus, who appeared to you…has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 8:14-16; 9:17 It was the priority of Jesus and the leaders of the early Church for all Christ-followers to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon people with the prayer and laying on of hands by those already filled with the Holy Spirit. Simon the Sorcerer was so impacted by the dramatic difference the Holy Spirit made in the lives of the Samaritans, that he was willing to pay money to have the ability to pray with people in that way. Some people today still see the ...

Job 1-2; Acts 6-7 “’I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’. Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look…’I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’” Acts 7:32, 34 Stephen’s last sermon laid the foundation for God’s revelation of Jesus Christ as the deliverer of Israel. In quoting the Exodus account of Moses’ call, Stephen answered two essential questions that both Moses and Jesus answered: Who is God? And what does God do? God is willing to be identified with those who covenant with him and choose to walk with him. He is the God of relationship with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and countless others in history. God sees, he hears our cry, and he moves in history to deliver his people. Our salvation-story is valuable as part of God’s eternal story of salvation. Knowing who God is and what he does, helps us answer who we are in light of God’...

Malachi 3-4; Psalms 148; Acts 5   “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver…Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness…But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings...” Malachi 3:2, 3; 4:2 The sun of righteousness has risen, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the sacrifice of his body, once for all, for the sins of the world, those who believe are made righteous. We bring offerings in righteousness because we have received God’s gift of righteousness. We are also receiving the refiner’s fire and the launderer’s soap in the ongoing process of surrender, repentance, and forgiveness through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. God loves us too much to let us stumble in our sins. His invitation is to offer our bodies and lives to him as living sacrifices made ...

Nehemiah 13; Malachi 1, 2; Acts 4   “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.” Acts 4:31-33 Are we tired of playing church? Do we long for the reality of God’s presence, anointing, unity, and power? Prayer from a place of being broken, desperate and faith-filled was all that the early Church knew. They had no other place to go, but the presence of the Lord! When persecution and opposition confronted their witness, they went back to the presence of the Lord together. They sought God’s face for new empowerment, new prophetic insight, new love for one another, and new levels of faith for their provision and protection. Grace...

Nehemiah 11-12; Psalms 1; Acts 3 “…’Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’…He jumped to his feet and began to walk…’By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.’” Acts 3:6, 8, 16 We can only give to others what we already have.   What do we have to give to those around us who are in addictions, loneliness, sickness, trauma, and pain? Peter and John had the name of Jesus. We often give silver and gold, or our time and compassion. Peter and John gave the living presence of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is by faith in the name of Jesus that people are healed, restored, freed, and empowered today.   Do we know Jesus in all those ways so we, too, can share his name with others? Are we walking through our day with confidence in the name of Jesus for...

  Nehemiah 9-10; Acts 2   “…’Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38, 39 The gift of the Holy Spirit is for those who have repented of their sin and now consecrate their lives to God. The person of the Holy Spirit releases prophetic anointing in our lives which transforms everything we do. “…I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:18) When we are led by the Holy Spirit, witnessing bears fruit, preaching bears fruit, service bears fruit, and discipleship bears fruit that remains. The Lord is not limited by age or distance but is calling us from every generation and every people group around the world to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that is the key to multiplication. God’s first comm...

Nehemiah 7-8; Acts 1   “’But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’…They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty).” Acts 1:8, 14, 15 Peter had experienced the stirring up of his affections for Christ when Jesus asked three times if he loved him. Jesus instructed his disciples to wait for the gift of the Father before going out to witness to others what they had received from Christ. Peter led a ten-day prayer meeting in Jerusalem, waiting on the Father. It’s not easy to wait on the Lord before we go out to bear witness. But without the empowering of the Holy Spirit our witnessing will lack impact or lasting fruit. The passion Peter felt for Christ translated into prayer, then power and proclam...

  Nehemiah 5-6; Psalms 146; Luke 24 “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight…Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.” Luke 24:30, 31, 35 Jesus gave his disciples the symbols of his body and blood in the Passover meal. Then, days later he used the same symbols to reveal himself to two others of his disciples who were not present at that Passover meal. Why did Jesus choose to reveal his divinity to these disciples in the “breaking of bread”? John would later quote Jesus as saying, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). ” If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever…” (John 6:51). Jesus wanted these disciples, and us, to know that what we need to live comes from him. Today, what we need to live comes from Jesus. He is our life. Feeding on this living bread satis...

Nehemiah 3-4; Luke 23 “…’Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers,’…’The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!’” Nehemiah 4:14, 19, 20 It’s human nature to focus on the problems and opposition in both our lives and the mission-call of God. Nehemiah’s responsibility as a leader was to refocus the attention of God’s people on the Lord. “Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight…(Nehemiah 4:14).” Where is our focus today? What refocusing words is the Lord asking us to encourage others with today? Nehemiah used a trumpet call to gather the builders when they were attacked. Today, we use emails and conference calls to blow a trumpet and gather God’s people to pray and resist the enemy. Our faith-filled response combined with God’s intervention is still how the Lord works today. “Lord G...