obedience from the heart

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:17-18

Everyone is a slave to something. Everyone has a master. This is a slavery that rises up from our deepest desires. We want and so we serve until we are enslaved. And although such a truth is unpopular in our culture, the actual condition is, slavery is the natural born state of every person on the planet. In gospel terms, we are either the slave of sin by birth, bound to do wrong with sin mastering us, or we are slaves of righteousness with Jesus as our new Master. Everyone is a slave.

This truth is visible every day. In fact, even for those of us who by grace have believed the gospel, remnants of sin’s shackles still show us just how real sin’s slavery is. We see it all around us. This world is a miserable plantation under the ownership of a sinful system of ungodly taskmasters who gleefully dominate people under sin, controlled by Satan’s cruel hatred for all the good that God has done.

What do slaves do? Paul is very simple yet profound: slaves obey their masters. And we will either obey sin or obey righteousness. But from the heart, the slaves of righteousness have a new way to obey. We have the teaching of the gospel and the example/call of Jesus that is modeled for us to follow. We are committed to that standard. A slave can choose to obey by outward conformance only, but that is not how we are slaves to righteousness. We willingly obey from a transformed heart. We are set free from sin’s absolute control of our hearts, and now we are willing slaves to a good and loving Master… Jesus Christ the Righteous! Serving with obedience to the gospel from our hearts, we find joy in the tasks that Jesus gives us… His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It is a joy to be Christ’s slaves. It is what we were made for!

tear them down

Because they do not regard the works of the LORD

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

Psalm 28:5

There is an end coming for those who mock God, disregard the work of God, and refuse to bow to Him. And this psalm, in worship, acknowledges the power of God over wicked people who reject Him. God will tear them down and see that they are never built up again. It is a truth that keeps our perspective in proper place.

Why do we fret over evildoers? Why do we act as if there is never going to be justice? Why do Christians get so worked up over social issues, political actions, and place stock in flawed, sinful leaders? It’s one thing to have a desire to shine the light of God’s holiness and truth. It is quite another to focus solely on the prosperity of the wicked and pour our energies into using the world’s means for flawed “solutions” that ultimately fail. We need this high view of God’s justice and judgment illuminating our view of the world as we live in human created institutions. David reminds us in this psalm that there is no way that wickedness wins! God will tear them down. God will not let them rebuild. God is in control. Will we trust that He’s got it all under His plan and power?

I’m convinced Johnny Cash is a better theologian in this matter with these thoughts:

You can run on for a long time

run on for a long time

run on for a long time

sooner or later God’ll cut you down

sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Go tell that long tongue liar

God tell that midnight rider

tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

mustard seed kingdom

…yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Mark 4:32

One small seed planted in the garden

became a sprout, then a

seedling, then matured and grew.

Don’t underestimate what one small seed will do.

Mustard seeds surprise you!

One gospel conversation planted in a soul

may germinate in the heart, take

root, and then with faith will grow.

Don’t think the gospel is too slow.

It will spread wide before you know.

One new Christian placed in the position

where Jesus can shine bright

will be used in God’s situation.

Don’t think it a weird aberration

that one person could sway a nation.

A David or a Daniel or a Paul

can be planted by God’s hand

carefully watered, nurtured in God’s field.

Don’t give up on what God has healed…

A massive kingdom will be the yield!

the extent of His voice

The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;

the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

Psalm 29:8

Over half of this psalm is caught up in the power and majesty of the voice of the Lord as reflected by God’s power over the natural and the political world. It can be charted like this:

So looking at the poetry, what point is being made? It extols the powerful, impressive, and fearful voice of God and ends in worship. People cry out “Glory!” in God’s temple (which did not yet exist when David wrote this psalm). It is somewhat prophetic, perhaps a glimpse into eternity in God’s new temple. Every image is about three things: 1) The exclusivity of the voice of the Lord. When God speaks it is a unique experience attributed only to Him. 2) The power of the voice of the Lord. It is both destructive and, depending upon how the Hebrew reads in verse 9 (ie “deer gives birth”) creative in expression. 3) The rule of the voice of the Lord is global: It extends from Lebanon (north) to Kadesh (south) and embraces all people, coming from God enthroned as King over all forever (Psalm 29:10).

Lord,

You are in control. Your voice rules the world, still echoing across the universe You created as You thunder over wilderness, shake the forests and the cities, send the floods, and yet keep Your creation in Your care. May Your mighty power continue to be made known now in the voice of Your saving love AND Your impending justice is here now in the voice of Jesus for Your glory, O King!

Amen

father of faith

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:3

F aithful

A braham

I nitiated

T his

H ope.

A braham

S urrendered.

R everently

I nvesting in

G od’s

H eartfelt

T ouch,

E ventually

O wning

S pecial

N omadic

E xperiences,

S hunning

S hame.

H earkening to

E xplanations

B rushing

E very

L ie

I nto

E ventual

V alidation of

E ach

D ay,

G rabbing

O nto

D reams.

Leadership matters.

And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD.

Numbers 14:36-37

Leaders are important and God holds them responsible because leadership exerts influence upon the moral outcomes of many. And that influence can be used to lead people to honor God. It can also very clearly lead people to disobey God. Leaders are held accountable by God precisely for this reason. And leaders can influence people, can lead people, to sin. 

Ten of the twelve spies who were sent to bring back a report on Canaan were men with sinful influence. They were driven by selfishness, fear, power, and peer pressure to reject God’s will and to recommend that Israel do the same. Their report was a sinful rejection of God’s promise. They led Israel, by their recommendation, into a fearful, faithless frenzy of rejection of God’s will. In short: their leadership led the nation to sin against God. The text could be no more clear: they “made all the congregation grumble against” God. This is God’s verdict. The spies led others to sin against God.

The consequence for Israel was intense. The bad advice of the spies was magnified a million-fold by people who had never even seen the land. Israel had already struggled to trust God in the wilderness. The leadership of these ten led the nation to set their complaints in concrete. The bad counsel confirmed a consistent choice and tendency Israel already struggled with so that the nation rejected God. Their influence on Israel became a massive rebellion. Leaders can tip the scales toward awful sin and bring about God’s consequential judgment.

The consequences God brought upon those ten bad leaders were severe. Their judgment was swift. They all died of a divinely directed plague while Joshua and Caleb lived on. They were the first to die in the wilderness for their unbelief because of their bad influence. And as a faithless generation whom they made to sin fell dead one by one over forty years, the reverberating consequence of bad leadership that led others into sin stretched on for four entire decades. So does leadership matter? You bet it does!

Never think leaders and their influence are amoral. Leadership is vital! God judges those who lead precisely because leaders can influence people both for good and for evil.

Follow Me

And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Mark 2:14

A simple invitation

with profound implication

“Follow Me”, the Rabbi bade

and another disciple made

his way behind his teacher

listening, obeying the preacher

Leaving empty seat behind him

with many footsteps ahead of him

the disciple pays attention

to the Master’s new direction

Jesus leading the way

in another growing day

The journey began with two words

that set a new command now heard

and a new path to walk

with a new way to talk

forward facing future

friendship building nurture

The Friend of Sinners calls us

to earnestly follow Jesus

Will people still listen and obey?

Will disciples give up and take His Way?

His teaching we must ponder

in His footsteps we must wander

“Follow Me” is what I heard

when I surrendered to my Lord

new journey ever before me

His hand writing my new story

I rise up, with purpose and speed

my Master’s words are all I need

can’t expect “easy”

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

Psalm 90:15

There is no promise of continuous prosperity for God’s people. Those who teach this are false prophets. Even in songs of worship, God’s Word reminds us that days of affliction, even years of seeing bad experiences will often mark God’s people. We do not expect an easy life. We do not demand only positively and prosperity. It is the case that God loves us even in affliction and uses even the worst evils we may come to know in order to draw us closer to Him and in deeper life with one another.

So it isn’t about never having a negative episode. Instead, life is all about the way God helps us in our afflictions and through difficulty, even decreeing it for us as a means of grace or a method of correction. When Moses wrote these words in Psalm 90, Israel was condemned to see a generation of faithless rejectors drop dead in the desert sands of the wilderness because of their persistent unbelief. The “days” of their affliction number 40 years. Moses prayed that the nation might eventually find an equal time of gladness from God. He trusted that God would bring good to a new generation, even as a current generation died under judgment.

And so Christians should pray today with clarity about the wrongs we know. God clearly judges evil and sin. Often the most scathing judgment comes as He lets sin play out its natural course to final consequence. That can be see all over our current contentious society where there frankly are no longer good options culturally and politically. God brings the worst judgement when idolatry runs its course. So when I sadly see Christians worshiping culture, celebrities, power, or politics, I am not surprised to see the broader social structure continue to drift from God’s truth into chaos. A dry wilderness is what we live in now and could it be the last 40 years of Christians hungering for worldly power that has brought us here? In an age where people post their desires on their social media “walls” for the world to see, sometimes the idolatry is sickeningly obvious. It is as outrageous as Israel rejecting the promise of Canaan. I tend to think God is currently bringing affliction and using evil to get our attention focused on Him as we have often confused kingdoms.

Lord,

Restore Your people to worship only You. As cultural and political idolatry plague us and will multiply over the next two weeks, pull us to repentance instead, I pray.

Amen

the message of the King

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Mark 1:14-15

And with this first glimpse at the message of Jesus, Mark summarizes the preaching of our Lord. The content of verse 15 in particular is a four part sermon unique to Jesus.

1. The time is fulfilled. A new epoch of salvation history was inaugurated under Jesus’ preaching. Fulfillment had come on one long season of the world that had been awaiting a promised Savior and Messiah. Jesus’ time had come. With the arrival of His public ministry a chapter was closing. What prophets foretold was now here. What the Law and the Prophets pointed to in all the Old Testament, Jesus was making plain in God’s new plan. The Messiah that John the Baptist pointed to now began to change things… forever!

2. The kingdom of God is at hand. A new season of God’s rule over hearts and minds was being established with Jesus. He does not directly say it, but this part of the message implies that Jesus is the King of that new kingdom. Jesus preached it and Christinas believe it: Christ is King!

3. Repent. People will need to change under Christ’s new kingdom. We enter the rule of King Jesus via repentance. We must turn from sin. We must surrender hearts and lives to a new Savior for a new life, and to a new King for His new rule to begin to implement His changes in us and over us.

4. Believe in the gospel. Good news, under a good King, will rule the lives of a people who the King will make good. But those who want this rule MUST believe in the King’s good news. They cannot enforce their own wills. They must trust the good news that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. This King conquered death and sin in order to rule all who will believe! Repentance is what we leave behind, and faith is the port of entry for a magnificent new rule of Jesus in His kingdom.

The time is now here and for millennia the kingdom of God has come with King Jesus! He is still the King. No ruler of this earth changes that. No political crisis or election hubbub makes even a minor ripple of dissent to His rule! This truth compels me to repent, believe His good news, and submit to His rule! Forever reign, King Jesus! 

looking on Your goodness

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living!

Psalm 27:13

Alongside David of old, I too believe this same confident assertion. God is for me, who can be against me? I am called to confidence. I am summoned to a sure service. I am filled with faith in a good God Who does good things in good ways in the grace of the gospel as I follow Him. I believe in the goodness of the LORD.

I’ve seen death… a lot of it up close and personal. As a pastor, dealing with loss, remembering lives, memorializing moments in time with unique personalities is something I am regularly called to do. It is healthy to have regular reminders that there is a limit to mortality. How do I do this with feet firmly planted (at least for right now) in the land of the living? It is all because of Christ’s death and resurrection. I am certain that death is not the end for the believer. And as those I have loved much have crossed that threshold, I stand here in the land of the living, ready in God’s time to join them on an even brighter side to eternal life in Christ. It is a glorious prospect. Yet… I must still stand on this side, knowing the goodness of the LORD, grieving the temporary separation, and believing Jesus for that certain hope while staying on in the land of the living.

Every day I gaze upon the goodness of the LORD!

Your face shines, O God, in the light of Your Word as I read it. Your glory shines as I worship You both with Your gathered saints and in the quiet morning pre-dawn dark silence. Your goodness falls on me in the forgiveness of my sins, in the wisdom of Your Word as I follow Jesus, and in Your daily provision for me. I have a comfortable roof over my head, warm clothes, loving family, daily bread, service to perform for Your glory, and satisfying joys in simple gifts of Your overflowing grace… EVERY DAY! Yes Lord, I believe that I look upon Your goodness here in the land of the living. And when I leave this land, there is an even greater glory beyond what I can imagine filled with even greater goodness. Praise You, my LORD!

Amen

they will listen

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.

Acts 28:28

These are the last words recorded from Paul in the book of Acts. They form the conclusion to one last recorded conversation with Jewish leaders in Rome. Paul spent an entire day with them working through all of the Old Testament to show them the gospel of Jesus and the kingdom of God (Acts 28:23-24). In the end there was disagreement and unbelief (Acts 28:25). This led Paul to a final conclusion: the Gentiles will listen to the gospel and turn to Christ.

This is a fitting bookend to the Paul story arc of Acts. At Paul’s conversion Jesus revealed that His plan for him was to “carry my name to the Gentiles” and for him to “suffer for the sake of my name”. And now, in Rome, with Paul’s last Acts message he is doing both… committing to Gentile evangelism in the core of the Gentile world in Rome while also under arrest by Caesar. The story reaches the end that God intended. The gospel has spread just as Jesus had prophesied in the opening of the book of Acts: to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

Seeing Jesus so in control of the growth of His church, the spread of the gospel message, and the worldwide expansion of His kingdom is the main takeaway I have from this current reading of the book of Acts. And this same Jesus is head of His church right now. He is growing His Church, saving His people, and building His kingdom. And we are the people Jesus chooses to use. We need to proclaim the gospel and pray with confidence like Paul that “they will listen”.

praying for day

And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

Acts 27:29

Long night

storm-tossed

weary in the wind

drenched by the rain

sailors, soldiers, prisoners

dropped anchors

and prayed

Morning light

land sighted

breaking on a reef

tossed by the sea

sailors, soldiers, prisoners

jumped overboard

and swam

They prayed for the day

even though God said

they would all be saved

the storm still terrified

the waves still swept them

the night was still long

the threat was still real

And so in life

God does not calm

the waves or always

still the storm

Instead, he asks us

to believe His promise

ride out the storm

swim in the tossing surf

and trust Him to deliver

And He does.

God hears us pray for the day.

God leads us in the storm.

God crashes us into safety.

God saves us by our turmoil.

undeniable resurrection power

Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

Acts 26:8

And with that question Paul makes his defense before Herod Agrippa and Festus, the Judean governor appointed by Rome. His argument for the power of the resurrection is very compelling but not what we might expect. He doesn’t go on and on about the empty tomb. He doesn’t need to produce a shroud. He does not line up eyewitnesses like he does in 1 Corinthians 15. Rather, his preferred argument in his defense is the reality of the resurrection of Jesus and by implication conviction in a future resurrection for His saints that is centered on two-fold implications from Paul’s own personal testimony:

1.  A resurrected Jesus confronted Paul on the Damascus road, saved him, and commissioned him to preach the gospel.

2.  Paul’s own transformation experience from Jewish leader and hater of Jesus to apostle of Jesus and one hated by the Jews for preaching the gospel was a testament to life-giving power.

Paul’s transformed life was already something of an evidential exhibit to God’s resurrecting and transforming work. Paul’s complete turnaround from persecutor of Christianity to unashamed proponent and leader of the Christian movement was proof of this. God’s power was on display in the gospel message and the gospel messenger. The passion for the gospel was there because Paul encountered a real, live Jesus and then believed that His death and resurrection will also transform and resurrect all who believe in Him.

Paul turned the tables. The burden of proof for him was on those who needed to DISPROVE the resurrection. For Paul, this was impossible to do. God’s power was displayed in Christ’s resurrection,. That power is also displayed as the gospel brings new life every place it is preached. And this continues unabated even now. Every changed life is the evidence of the resurrection! How can we not believe when we have a resurrected Savior Who resurrects us to new life in Him and will resurrect us one day to eternal joy with Him?

prayer of the afflicted

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

Psalm 22:24

Oh Lord,

You are in control of everything that happens to me. You lead this life. You direct all circumstances. You lay the path before me and lead me as I walk in it.

And when the road is hard, I am well aware now that suffering is part of Your good design. My afflictions are never unknown or without good purpose. For countless generations You have led Your people through health and blessing, planting and harvest, hardship and hurt, and struggle and victory. You won’t stop now!

And not all afflictions are the same. Sometimes I suffer as a clear consequence of my own sin so that in Your mercy You might draw me to repentance. And other times because this world is so very broken by Adam’s Fall, there is suffering and difficulty… the thorns and thistles of my existence. Suffering is a part of every life… surviving is part of the task of living… and those perspectives are not fatalistic, but faithful for those who follow You, Lord.

For Christians, You may deem us worthy to carry on the afflictions of Christ. We may suffer for His sake, hated by the world, judged by those under Your judgment, and mocked by those who hate You.

I know this: You hear me in my afflictions. You respond with grace, healing, and mercies to all my sorrows. You never hide Your face from me. I believe this. I see it. I rejoice to be worthy to experience Your good hand in hard seasons.

I have one primary purpose in my life: to worship You, my God! I will sing Your praise and declare Your glory.

I have one primary mission in my life: to tell as many around me as I can about Your faithfulness and saving love. I will make my God and Savior known by Your sustaining love!

Amen

passionate for the gospel

Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

Acts 23:6

Paul was transformed by the gospel. And that was a problem for the Jews. He had been a fierce opponent of Christianity when he first heard about Jesus. He had been meticulously educated to defend the Jewish Law in the highest school of Judaism in his day (Acts 22:3). He was zealous to keep the Law and agreed to persecute Christians to wipe out what was seen as a heresy (Acts 22:4-5).Until Jesus Himself confronted him on the road to Damascus and in that encounter turned him from passionate resister to passionate proclaimer of the gospel (Acts 22:6-16).

Paul was then dedicated to proclaiming the gospel despite his notorious past of persecution. He became God’s chosen apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21).

And as the events played out in Jerusalem here in Acts 23, the Jews have had quite enough of his gospel-preaching commitment to bring Jesus’ Way to the Gentiles. Paul is still very passionate for the gospel. In fact, he shrewdly appeals to the gospel’s biggest offense to Judaism: The resurrection of Jesus from the dead as the hope of resurrection for all believers. And that appeal blasts his accusers into disarray so divisively that a Roman guard has to whisk Paul away from Jewish religious authority, putting his fate from that moment on in the hands of the very Gentiles Jesus had called him to reach. The gospel in that sense saved Paul again… quite literally.

Lord,

When I read of this kind of courage in Paul with the gospel I am humbled. I pray that a passion for the gospel would indeed rest in my soul. I pray I will live for its advance and rest in gospel hope.

Amen

Grace before my eyes

For your steadfast love is before my eyes,

and I walk in your faithfulness.

Psalm 26:3

Grace before my eyes

I see in the light

of Your salvation

gospel lens correcting me

steadfast love sustaining me

in Your grace I see

what You are making me

Faithfulness before my feet

I walk in the path

of Your salvation

Your Word leading the way

Your Spirit helping me stay

from Your path I will not stray

as You lead me every day

Jesus before my heart

transforming me in the power

of Your sanctification

holiness is what You’ve decreed

and through forgiveness met my need

from lies and wickedness now freed

I will follow where You lead

He does what we cannot.

For your name's sake, O LORD,

pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Psalm 25:11

God forgives because He is forgiving. God pardons guilt because He is God. He does it all for His name’s sake. God is good and that is why He forgives. He removes guilt. He takes care of sin because we cannot. As the prayer in this verse lets us know unequivocally: We bear great guilt for our sin. We need a great Savior!

Unless we think this is just a singular confession in this psalm, look at how David repeatedly deals with his need for pardon from a great God:

• His youthful sins need to be “remembered not” by a God Who will choose to remember steadfast love and goodness (Psalm 25:7).
• God instructs sinners (Psalm 25:8).
• God leads the humble in righteousness if they will come to Him confessionally (Psalm 25:8-9).

And then, after true confession and the assurance of forgiveness from a great God, David knows confidence in God.

• God instructs him (Psalm 25:12).
• God keeps him safe generationally (Psalm 25:18).
• God offers friendship (AMAZING!) (Psalm 25:14) as evidenced by His Word.
• God is gracious in affliction (Psalm 25:16-18).

So then confession of sin, although a regular need of ours to do, is a blessing. It leads to a knowledge of God, deepening trust in old, and a confidence in the God of our salvation. How much more in the completed work of Christ can we rejoice in a wise, loving, gracious, and forgiving God. And this God is our friend in Christ!

do, keep, and dwell

Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely.

Leviticus 25:18

Two active commitments are described in this verse for Israel to accomplish under the Law. There is a promise for them if these commitments are made and followed.

1. “Do my statutes.” The word “do” means “to bring to accomplishment.” It is a completion, not just a performance of a task. God expected Israel to commit to a complete obedience to His Law. The word “statutes” is specific to the Leviticus Law referenced in the context of this promise. These written ordinances were expected to be performed exactly as described in their entirety.

2. “Keep my rules.” The idea of “keeping” involves “guarding” or “treasuring” what God commands. It gets to motivation. God expects not mere rote performance, but respect, reverence, and personal investment in protecting the covenant commitments with and from His people. What they kept (the rules) were all the specifics… they could not just pick and choose. All of God’s Law needed to be precious as Israel performed what God asked.

There was a promise to this short restatement of the covenantal commitment. The promise was that Israel would “dwell securely”. This meant that they could live in peace. It meant that God would give them a true home in the Promised Land. When Israel first heard this promise, they were wandering in the Sinai desert under punishment for sin. But keeping covenant with God (something they always were expected to do and eventually failed at every attempt, by the way) would see a reward of stability and security.

How does this apply to Christians? We aren’t Israel. We aren’t stuck in a desert waiting for a better home. We find all of this covenant fulfilled in Jesus. He “did” what God demanded. He accomplished perfect obedience (Romans 5:19). Jesus fulfilled the Law completely (Romans 8:3-4) so that we might be seen as those who did what God demanded and who kept all of God’s rules. And in our Savior we now dwell securely as His Holy Spirit lives in us (Colossians 3:17-19). This culminates in ultimate security: God dwelling among us and with us (Revelation 21:3).

King of Glory

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The LORD, strong and mighty,

the LORD, mighty in battle!

Psalm 24:7-8

The world is Yours.

All who live on this ball

are ruled by the King of all

the One Who fills the rolling seas

directs the rivers where You will please

Holiness is Yours.

Who can climb Your holy hill?

Who can fully do Your will?

We need clean hands and a pure heart

to stand before a God from whom we are apart

Salvation is Yours.

We bless Your name

seeking to spread Your holy fame

blessings that we do not deserve

flow from Your gracious reserve

We are Yours.

We see Your face

know blessing by Your grace

a generation seeking only You

rewarded by faith in what You do

Glory is Yours.

Our worthy King!

Enter through gates as we sing

be lifted up, you ancient doors

as praises ring out from us even more

Strength is Yours.

Mighty and strong

You help us along

battles won, victory claimed

King of Glory is Your name!

alert admonishment

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Acts 20:31

There are two things Paul says to the Ephesians elders here in this verse that grab my heart right now. First is the call to “be alert”. This is a command to be vigilant. Church leaders must always be on the lookout for people and situations that may divide the flock of God. Paul warned the Ephesian elders that “fierce wolves” WILL (not might) come into the life of the church. Elders must guard against those who will divide. The attempt will always be made.

Secondly, the description of HOW Paul cautioned and warned the Ephesian church during his three year personal ministry among them is also very powerful. He admonished (warned, exhorted, cautioned, reproved gently) the church leaders continuously (night and day) and emotionally (with tears). It is deeply difficult and demanding to commit to care well for believers. It will always cost time, energy, and commitment. It will consume significant personal reserves. Paul’s example is meant to call the Ephesian elders to do ministry in the same way.

I’ve been in local church leadership for well over three and a half decades. I can’t even begin to count all the heavy conversations or long nights that have come with that experience. It is a regular occurrence. Such things are required. The call to vigilance and admonishment never wavers… nor will it until we are all safely in the presence of the Lord in His kingdom. The tears that stain pages of my Bible and flow out into my journal are part of the journey. There are late night conversations… there are moments I have to drop everything to show up in a crisis… I must bear burdens with my own heart broken… all of these experiences come with the exciting privilege to proclaim the gospel, make disciples, and see God transform lives. It is rewarding, but it is never easy. Ministry is the most serious business.

Church members should pray for their pastors, elders, and ministry staff daily. Elders should support one another as they alertly build up and protect families and individual believers. This call to alert admonishment is always needed.

effects

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Acts 19:20

Your Word, O Lord,

has two effects:

Your Word increases.

Your Word prevails.

How does Your Word increase?

It grows in my life.

It grows as the gospel goes forth.

It grows as Christians mature.

It grows as new believers receive You.

It grows as You are trusted.

It grows as Satan’s domain shrinks.

How does Your Word prevail?

It wins against the world.

It wins against sinful desires.

It wins against false worship.

It wins agains persecution.

It wins against argumentation.

It wins against death.

May these effects

live in me.

Increase Your Word’s impact in my

heart and through my life.

Bring Your power against sin, against shame,

against my challenges… and prevail!