disciple-making disciplemakers

 

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Acts 18:26

Priscilla and Aquila were disciples who were committed to making disciples. When they heard a great evangelist and preacher named Apollos, they were quick to use their gifts and knowledge to help develop him into an even more effective preacher of the gospel. Their desire was to make the ministry of Apollos even more effective so that under their discipleship the church would be strengthened and the gospel would go forward. God was glorified by their sincere use of gifts given to them to make disciple-making disciples.

Apollos would go on to have an effective ministry. Priscilla and Aquila would also continue their ministries. Disciples would be made and strengthened as the gospel moved forward in the early church. The pattern they set helped make the church that exists today. We can't have the Christian faith if it weren't for believers obeying Christ's command to be disciple-making disciplemakers.

Lord,

I am convinced you want me to follow You. And I cannot follow alone. I must be used by you to take people along with me to You. I must invest this life in other people, helping them to live as followers of You. But it is not complete unless I encourage disciples to be disciple-making disciples. And so bless all the meetings that I have with people, every week, in every day. Whether they are in one-to-one conversation or small groups, whether personal conversations or meetings filled with agendas, O Lord, may I be a disciple-making disciplemaker in those interactions!

Amen

Lord of Rainfall

 

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

the Lord, over many waters.

Psalm 29:3

My soul seems dry

cracked and parched am I

refreshing rain my cry

as I pray to God on high

Hear me when I call

Lord of rainfall

I need restoring rain

to free me from this pain

broken world where I am

needs the touch of Your hand

You can redeem it all

Lord of rainfall

I hear the thunder break

as in hand Your Word I take

down pours the early rain

to ease my soul's dusty pain

I'm rescued from this fall

Lord of rainfall

Many waters You will bring

and now my soul can sing

You heard my thirsty cry

my soul did not stay dry

You did refresh it all

Lord of rainfall

God does the work.

 

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Exodus 14:13-14

As Israel fled Egypt they had seen God already do the impossible. The miraculous plagues that Egypt endured and that Israel was spared displayed God's power and protection in supernatural ways. Moses led the people out of slavery and the Egyptians handed over their finest possessions to their former slaves. It had all been pretty amazing... that is until...

Pharaoh had one of his unpredictable changes of heart and gathered up his army. He pursued Israel with the intention of dragging them all back into slavery. Cornered at the Red Sea with God's pillar of fire blocking Pharaoh's marauders, Israel was afraid and complained to Moses. And the faith-filled answer of God's leader shows the courage Moses had to trust God in the next impossible circumstance.

Moses knew God would save His people. Moses knew Israel would never be enslaved in Egypt again. Deliverance would be worked. God would fight for His people and in faith Moses knew that just like the during the plagues, Israel would watch God work and they would just remain still. And his faith-filled answer back to a faithless nation would instruct Israel on the ways of God.

In that faith, Moses did what God said to do. He stretched his staff over the Red Sea and God parted the water and dried the sea bed. Israel walked across on dry land, and the pursuing Egyptians later drowned in the same sea. God would be glorified in the deliverance of His people once again. Faith kept silent and obeyed. God did all the work.

essential mercy and grace

  

"I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:6-8

Blind adherence to religious rules made the Pharisees miss the meaning of mercy and grace. It set them as enemies of Jesus. It ruined them for real worship because it is humbling to appeal to God's mercies to sinners rather than demanding acknowledgement for our efforts. And it is ironic that it took God in the flesh Who is perfect, sinless, and holy to truly demonstrate to the sanctimonious Pharisees what it takes to truly know and receive mercy. Yet as Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus did so.

There is bound up in the human heart an awful tendency to attempt to steal God's glory. We want to take credit for ourselves. We want our accomplishments to impress God. We are taken with our own achievements, ignoring all the bad with which we have infused even the best actions we've taken or thoughts we have had. But the truth is that we are born in sin and all our righteous acts are the filthiest of garbage to God.

I need mercy and grace to be given to me. Mercy is needed so that I do not get the consequences my sins deserve in judgment. Grace is needed so that my life might overflow with a goodness not my own. And in the truth of Jesus I find both for me. God is merciful to me a sinner, forgiving me through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. God is gracious to me, showering me with every blessing in Christ Jesus.

You shook the earth.

 

Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 16:30-31

God can turn a jail into a revival tent! That's exactly what happened in Philippi. Paul and Silas had been wrongly beaten and imprisoned by mob injustice. The persecution and violence was intense. Yet the two of them sang and prayed in worship as they were bleeding in their jail cell. And in that moment God sovereignly shook the city of Philippi. An earthquake rattled open the cell doors and the gospel was unleashed upon a fearful and repentant jailer.

There was no denying the power of God. The jailer saw it in singing prisoners who worshiped in their woundedness. He saw God's power in the earthquake that rendered his life's work meaningless in one bone rattling instant. He saw God's power as he fell before Paul and Silas wanting most the salvation that they sang about. And in their simple statement of the gospel was the source of all the power of God in their lives. It's a beautiful thing to see the radical transformation that the magnificent gospel of Jesus Christ will bring.

O Lord,

You'll shake the earth if that is what it takes to make Your Son known. As dramatic as the Philippian jailer' conversion is, there are also great salvations in Acts 16 as evidenced with Lydia and a delivered slave girl. Your power changed a city over many days when two men were determined to faithfully preach the gospel even if it meant physical torture and imprisonment. And the gospel broke all the barriers because You will not let Your Word return to You empty. The gospel will accomplish Your purposes. Truly it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. May I never be ashamed of it.

Amen

instructed sinner

 

Good and upright is the Lord;

therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

Psalm 25:8-9

God is good, holy, and perfect. Yet He loves to save the lowliest sinner who humbly repents. It is precisely because He is good and upright that He does so. It is the holy thing to extend love and assistance to needy sinners who repent. This psalm reminds us that God transforms repentant people in three ways.

First, the Lord instructs sinners. He warns us to repent and wants us to do so. He provides the means, methods, and mercies of our forgiveness. He instructs us on how and why we must seek His forgiving grace. He warns us of the consequences of refusing to turn from sin to a Savior. God instructs sinners in love.

Secondly, God leads the humble, penitent person in a new, right path of life. He provides the new direction. God will take the lead in helping us find a new life of holy living... a life pleasing to Him. He will gladly lead sinners who will admit their need to be led by Him. He does not leave us to just "figure it out". God provides clear paths to holiness.

Finally, God Himself will teach sinners. He will teach the repentant sinner His righteous ways. That's why we have such an amazing, full resource in God's Word. God will teach us clearly in His Word. He will use the teaching of scripture to show us His way so that we can live in it. If I want to know the best way to live my life, I need only read, obey, and follow the leading of the Bible, for God speaks in it. All of the book points to Jesus, Who shows me how to live life in its fullest, with the deepest purpose, and with the most meaning.

ridiculous sovereignty

 

And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

Exodus 3:9-10

God is sovereign and powerful. He works miraculously to reveal Himself to Moses. At a burning bush God assures Moses He has seen the suffering of Israel in Egypt and will bring the nation out. And then He announces that Moses will be sent to do the task. In one sense, you have to understand why Moses was wrestling with the ridiculous incongruity of God's plan. God speaks supernaturally from a burning bush, a place so holy that Moses is warned to take off his sandals. From that wild display of power God commands Moses to go lead Israel out of Egypt. But he is going to use Moses, a mere man, to convince Pharoah, the "god-king" of an empire, to do what God, whom Pharaoh has never known, wants. Why did God just not appear in flames to Pharaoh and get the job done so much more efficiently? God's sovereignty isn't as orderly as we'd like it to be from our limited perspective.

God had many purposes in play when delivering Israel from Egypt. He was training a leader, Moses, and building his faith and skill as a man of God. God was calling a nation back to Himself. God was humbling an empire and showing His might. But God's sovereign hand, though mighty and wise, was not efficient. He was however effective at everything.... and that required a much bigger story to unfold all of that truth.

And so it is even today. God still is sovereign in this "inefficient" way, weaving many threads into His redemptive tapestry. He doesn't "cut to the chase" in order to satisfy our spiritual ADD. He often uses just "mere people" who have an obedient vision of a holy God and pushes them to to obey His call and advance His purposes. And from our point of view, limited by time, finite intellects, and fallen wills, it can seem so slow and like so much ridiculous incongruity. It is not. We are mistaken. It will all, like the Exodus narrative, lead to a redemptive deliverance taking His people to the place of His choosing. And we shall see Jesus reign forever and ever. Just wait... and see.... and know it is true.