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(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)

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Last week in a small group discussion on the book of Joshua, we spent some time asking this question, “Is God vindictive?”

The reason for the question is a common question that creates stumbling blocks for people as they read the Old Testament and see God approve of the complete slaughter of peoples’ living in Canaan as the people of Israel take claim on the land as God had promised to “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

To be sure the killing of men, women and children is hard to swallow – whether directed by evil men or by the Almighty God.

On the surface our mind concludes that killing is evil and if killing is done by evil individuals, God must also be evil if he authorizes or allows the killing to take place.

Perhaps too much for a morning devotion, but it is an important topic because it’s ramifications are far reaching.

God is just and God is holy.  

We live in an era that certainly people aren’t holy, but individuals claim the morality of justice for themselves.  If one THINKS it is just, then others must think that too.  We live in an era that degrades those that would uphold justice such as police, judges, etc.  We want the “book thrown” at those we oppose, but in no way would we agree that we deserve the book thrown at us.  If it’s our idea of justice, than those who violate that justice should be punished.  If one would challenge our standard of justice, we are dismissed at best, labeled haters at worst.

Unfortunately in our society justice is seen as subjective, situational, and able to change.  Culture dismisses objective truth because it challenges the source of that truth whether it is the Bible, the Constitution or the local laws.

All of this is perpetuated under the pseudo umbrella of “love.”  Love should have no boundaries.  So this is how it plays out in the spiritual dialogue:

If God is loving, he will support whatever I do.  For God to put down boundaries, let alone enforce those boundaries is not what loving people or gods do.

This is a key lie that Satan has made believable in many people’s minds.

So of course it doesn’t make sense and is repulsive to see in the Bible people’s wiped out by “God’s people.”

But we look a bit further to see the proper perspective and the heart of God.

First, God describes his character:

Exodus 20:5-6 I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Second God shows his heart to the wicked:

Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

When the people didn’t turn to the Lord, the Lord carried out justice:

Deuteronomy 9:4 After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

There is more to be said, but quickly back to Jonah.  God could have wiped out Nineveh because of their wickedness.  He had every right to.  However, he sent Jonah to preach to them and bring them to repentance so he might show his mercy instead of his justice.

This is true for you and me too.  God warns us of wickedness and calls us to repentance so that we might live forever and not die eternally.

 

Apply: Why is it hard to understand and allow God’s justice to sit in parallel with his love?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being perfectly just and perfectly loving.  I am confident you show both, always in a perfect way.  AMEN.

 

(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)

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“Hey, honey, can you go to the store and get…?”

“Girls, can you clean up your school stuff?”

“We have a new prospect, can you be prepared to share our company with them?”

When people make a request, it’s because there is something that is important that needs to be addressed.  To be honest in the moment that the request is given, I, as a recipient of that request, evaluate if I, too, see it as valuable and carry it out, or carry it out because I care about and respect the person that gives it and therefore carry out the request because it is important to them.

Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

The Lord came with a specific request to Jonah because something was important to him: the people of Nineveh.

The issue was the wickedness of the city and he wanted Jonah, a God-fearing believer and prophet, to go confront it and call them to repentance.

If I were Jonah, I would be evaluating this “call” on it’s merit.  Yes, it was from God, but it was to Nineveh of all places.  Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, an enemy of God’s people.  The wickedness was a result of ungodliness and violence that occurs when the fear of the Lord is no longer a guidance for people. 

But it wouldn’t matter what I thought.

The important component is that the Lord wanted these people to be confronted about their sin and hear about the grace of the Lord.

I am convinced, although not always good, that God puts us or directs us to where he wants us to be.  Sometimes we see that for a job, or our education, or the best of our family…but perhaps God is sending us there because there is someone or a group of people that he cares about and he wants us to confront, in a loving way, about their sin and make sure they hear about their Savior.

These opening words cause us to pause and ask, “Why has God placed me where I am today? Or why is God sending me to another place or another situation?

The answer very well may be this: There is someone there who matters to God and wants to connect with a God-fearing believer who can confront sin and share grace.

The Apostle Paul understood the heart of God.

1 Timothy 2:1-6 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
God wants all to spend eternity with him and enjoy the blessing of walking with him. And so he sends Jonah to Nineveh and he sends us to our community, our workplaces, our schools, our homes, our neighbors, our family.  Why?  Because there are people who need him, matter to him and whose grace is for them.

Apply: Consider…if the word of the Lord came to you this morning, where would God be sending you to be a light and witness for him.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for a heart that desires salvation for all and cares enough to send messengers of your grace to that person or group of people.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s Pentecost Message – Week 7 of Win the Day “Seed the Clouds!” (LISTEN HERE)

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Rain brings life.

Seeding the clouds is an interesting experiment in altering weather.  Debate certainly is real if the effort produces the intended effect or if mankind should be messing with the weather that God only can control (another debate for another setting).

The effectiveness of the silver-iodide or dry ice in a cloud is in question, but the power of the Gospel is not in question.  It produces effects in the hearts of people.  Living water brings life to the dry souls of men. 

Pentecost is a great example.

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “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. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

When the people in Jerusalem heard they were responsible for the crucifixion of the Messiah, they were “cut to the heart.”  Their soul was completely depleted of hope and joy.  They felt helpless and so asked, “What should we do?”

In comes Peter with the message of the Spirit.  He encourages them to turn from their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah…i.e. Repent.  Yet the Spirit and Peter realize that just repentance doesn’t fully water the dry soul.  The soul needs true hope based on objective truth and fact that is real no matter how one feels about it. 

This is the hope that Peter gives.  “Be baptized FOR the forgiveness of your sins.”  This promise was not only for them, but for their children as well…the children they cursed when they took responsibility for the blood of Jesus AND put it on their children as well.

The result?  The waters of baptism rained on the hearts of 3000 people.  The catalyst of the Gospel seed the cloud of the crowd at Jerusalem and the dry hearts were watered with the powerful life-giving Gospel.

And the rain of the Gospel has been falling ever since.

It’s the purpose of God’s church to continue to seed the clouds with the catalyst of the Gospel to bring the water of life to the parched souls of mankind.

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 

Apply: Pray for one person in your sphere of influence that God will use you to bring the water of life found in the Gospel to the parched soul.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the refreshing waters of the Gospel that bring grace, forgiveness and love to my heart and life.  Use me to bring this water of life to others!  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s Pentecost Message – Week 7 of Win the Day “Seed the Clouds!” (LISTEN HERE)

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Seed the clouds to bring rain to dry earth!

When Vincent Schaeffer began his experimentation with seeding the clouds he used dry ice.  In more recent years silver iodide is used at the catalyst.  Some are experimenting with radio frequencies.  The goal is to get the cloud to produce more moisture than it would have naturally to bring needed moisture to drought ridden areas of the country.

When the Spirit of God sends us into the clouds of chaos in our culture, we have to remember the goal and use the right catalyst.

The goal is to bring the water of the Gospel to parched souls of people.  At the heart of the Gospel is the message of good news about Jesus who lived, died and rose again for us.

This of course seems obvious, but permit a reflection or two to consider.

People realize their souls are parched, but don’t know what to water them with.  People look for peace in tumult and so look to escape mechanisms such as drugs, alcohol and pornography to seemingly give peace and escape from their problems.  The relief is temporary and leaves the heart even drier than before.  People look for support and encouragement and so seek approval on social media, or find friend groups that will accept them.  This perhaps works until the “likes” diminish and the friend group dissolves.  People look for spiritual answers and so wade into the confusion of religion only to come out with self-centered personal thoughts on spiritual things in essence making themselves their own god with their own set of beliefs.

Any counterfeit god a person attaches too will let them down at some point and leave the soul drier than it began.

The second reflection is this.  When we engage in conversations with these people we forget that the goal is to share the work and love of Christ.  It is easy to be diverted into arguing the biology of gender, the moment of life at conception, or the apologetic reasons for the integrity of the Bible.  However, even as sound, reasonable and logical arguments have their place, people need to hear about Jesus.

Peter at Pentecost stayed focused on the need.  He saw a crowd of people whose hearts were dry for the saving message of the Gospel.  He laid out clearly that Jesus was the Messiah.  He confronted directly that they were responsible for his death, but also spoke clearly that the refreshment they were looking for was found in the one they had put to death.  Forgiveness was theirs as they were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins.

Because Christ-crucified is the only catalyst that can water hearts with the saving reality of Jesus Christ.

When people come to believe in Jesus as their Savior, they have a peace that surpasses understanding and can be real in a time of great duress.  They have a hope that is beyond this life so that they can have perspective on all that life brings.  They have a relationship with Jesus who has promised never to forsake them.

All the things that dry men’s souls are watered by the love of Jesus Christ!

Acts 2:21      And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 

37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 

38 Peter replied, “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. 39 The promise is for 

you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 

 

Apply: What changes when the focus of a spiritual conversation turns to the goal of helping a person know and see Jesus for who he is and what he had done?

Prayer: Lord, I ask that today, you allow me to water a dry heart with the living water of your Gospel! AMEN.

 

This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s Pentecost Message – Week 7 of Win the Day “Seed the Clouds!” (LISTEN HERE)

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Peter stood up and addressed the crowd.

That’s all we need to know.

Because you remember what Peter did when the crowd around the campfire during Jesus’ trial questioned his location with Jesus that night.  His address to the crowd 50 days earlier was one of denial.

Perhaps there were some of the same people there.  We don’t hear anyone from the crowd at Pentecost yell, “You were there with Jesus in the garden!  Your accent gives you away!”  But that memory had to be fresh in Peter’s mind.

While he avoided the crowd gathered around the fire, he stood with courage and addressed the crowd gathered around the tongues of fire.

What changed?

Peter was running on Spirit courage, not personal preservation.  Peter knew that this was the Spirit’s work and he was there to speak clearly and boldly to the crowd.

Seeding the cloud takes courage.

It takes courage to fly into a storm cloud to spread the catalyst to bring rain.  In a similar way, flying into the cloud of culture surrounding us takes courage.

So we have to contemplate.  Will I cower or act with courage?  Better yet, will I rely on myself or on the Spirit?

So look at the headlines that describe the cloud of culture that is around you.  BudLight…Target…Los Angeles Dodgers…Ford…Michaels…and more.  Do I cower with disgust or ask the Spirit for courage to speak into these issues with truth and love?

When children are exposed to sexually explicit material in schools or confronted with friends with two moms or two dads…do I pray for courage or avoid the conversation?

When confronted with individuals who believe an unborn baby isn’t a person…do I pray for courage or cower?

When a religious discussion turns to “we all believe in the same God” or “Christianity is close minded” do I cower or fly in with Spirit-given courage?

It’s not easy to be sure, but Peter stood up and addressed the crowd.  He dismissed the drunk claim and then went on to explain what was happening.  Courage came from the Spirit, with conviction of the truth of Jesus, and the concern for the souls that were gathered. 

I benefited from this “narrative” of Peter’s actions.  Because it gives me a template to work with when engaging in tough conversations that occur in the “cloud” into which the Spirit is sending me.  

1. Pray for and expect courage from the Holy Spirit.
2. Be filled with the conviction that God’s Word is truth.
3. See that every soul matters and those you are with need Jesus.

And fly into the cloud.

The cloud could be a family member, a coworker, a classmate, or a neighbor.  The cloud may rise suddenly or unexpectedly.  But remember, to seed a cloud with the catalyst of the Gospel, the cloud has to form. Know that if the cloud forms, the Spirit is sending you to seed it with the Gospel!

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 

         17      “ ‘In the last days, God says, 

         I will pour out my Spirit on all people. 

         Your sons and daughters will prophesy, 

         your young men will see visions, 

         your old men will dream dreams. 

         18      Even on my servants, both men and women, 

         I will pour out my Spirit in those days, 

         and they will prophesy. 

         19      I will show wonders in the heaven above 

         and signs on the earth below, 

         blood and fire and billows of smoke. 

         20      The sun will be turned to darkness 

         and the moon to blood 

         before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 

         21      And everyone who calls 

         on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Apply:  Look at the people around you.  Where is the Spirit sending you to seed the cloud?

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I cower at the cloud to which you send me.  Give me courage from the Holy Spirit to fly in with courage and seed the cloud with the catalyst of your Gospel. AMEN.