Author: Chris Johnson

Re:Verse reading–Acts 12:1-19 (day seven)

 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. Acts 12:5

…he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.  Acts 12:12

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. James 5:16

Prayer can indeed accomplish much.  The prayer of even one who is righteous or one who has the faith of a mustard seed can transform life, and when the church gathers together in unified prayer there is little that can stand in her way.  In our text this week the church is on her knees praying the night away, and God honors their faithfulness as I am certain God has honored the faithfulness of our praying church.  Your prayers have already made a lasting impact on my life.  All through this transition process I have felt your prayers encouraging me daily, and I know that God has already blessed our prayer together Friday night.  May God continue to bless you for being a praying church.

Re:Verse reading–John 3:1-21 (day seven)

Born
Flesh
Perish
Judged
Darkness
Evil deeds

Born again
Born of water
Born of spirit
Spirit
Eternal life
Saved
Light
Practices truth

Two paths have been clearly set forth in John 3.  One is wide, the other is narrow.  The first is about fulfilling the self, the second about obedience to your Creator. Paul has similar categories in Romans in which we either follow sin unto death or we are obedient unto righteousness. In the flesh we cannot please God (Rom 8:8), but God has adopted us into His family as heirs with Jesus Christ (Rom 8:15).  Through the crucifixion we are given the opportunity for new life, and the capability to be perfectly obedient before our Lord.  May we be a people who practice truth when everyone else is perfectly obedient to the imagination of their evil hearts.

But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. John 3:21

Re:Verse reading–Mark 9:14-29 (day seven)

most of them said, “He is dead!” But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. Mark 9:26b-27

You may look down for the count to everyone else in this world, but Jesus Christ has the authority to raise you up.  Most often our mistake is to take another hand or listen to other voices when the only hand that can help is that of Jesus Christ.  I’m reminded of Peter walking on the water.  Everything was perfect as long as Peter’s eyes were fixed on Jesus Christ, but as soon as his eyes diverted Peter sank until the hand of Christ reached down and saved him.

But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” Matthew 14:30-32

Re:Verse reading–Hosea 1, 3, 14 (day seven)

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” Hosea 3:1

Hosea 3:1 is as damning as verses come.  Both Gomer and Israel have left their first loves for an illusion of affection that fades faster than it came.  This text reminds me of another, Revelation 2:4.

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Revelation 2:4

Here in Revelation Jesus acknowledges seven churches, five of which he tells to prepare for the impending parousia by repenting (2:5, 2:16, 2:21, 3:3, 3:19).  It is no accident that in the first three chapters of Revelation Jesus calls the churches to repent 5 different times.  Sincere repentance is the only way to eternal salvation.

The first church Jesus speaks to is the church in Ephesus.  He charges them with losing their first love.  At one time they were near to God, learning and living His ancient ways, but recently they have faltered, chasing after the new and shiny. May we never falter chasing after the shiny new packaging of temptation remaining true to the ancient way of Jesus Christ.

Re:Verse reading–Daniel 6 (day seven)

Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.  Daniel 6:10-11

Daniel marked his life with unbending obedience to God praying three times a day.  His adversaries knew if there was anything they could count on they could count on Daniel to submit to his God like clockwork.

If someone had been following you this summer how many moments of unbending obedience to God did they note?  Showing love to a neighbor? Witnessing? Mornings on your knees in prayer?  You do not necessarily need to pray three times a day like Daniel, but you should have your regular appointments with God scheduled throughout your week.  The day, time, duration, etc. are between you and God, but anyone seeking God with all their heart is going to spend time with God no matter what else is going on around them.

Re:Verse passage – Jeremiah 29:1-14 (day seven)

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

The key phrase here is “all your heart”. Your search for God is not cursory, it must be an all-consuming search.  The difficulty comes when we have the best of intentions, but our heart is not in it.

What do we do when our head knows that we should desire God more than we do?

What do we do when we really do not want to worship with all our heart?

This morning you may not want God more than you want anything else.  You may want lunch more than worship, or you may want a raise more than you want a relationship with God.  If that is true of you this morning let me offer a couple suggestions that have helped me in tiresome days.  First, repent, confess to God that you know your heart is not in it. Fervently spill your heart out before God asking Him to intervene and redirect your heart. The other step is to act obediently.  Even when you don’t want to worship or seek God, suppress the flesh and look up toward our God.  Repentance followed by obedience will bring about great blessing in your life softening your heart making it moldable for our God.

Re:Verse reading—Psalm 27 (day seven)

     The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (v.1)

As impossible as it sounds, the answer is no one.  I shall fear no one except God above.

     Even though an army encamps against me, my heart shall not fear (v.3)

The most powerful thing this world has ever known is the creative voice of God.  Should anything come against God’s children, God only has to say, “peace, be still.”  Then it’s over, there’s not even a battle, but solely at God’s command adversaries fall. Yet, while God whispers to us, “fear not” our hearts race at each difficult day.

I’ve heard this N.T. Wright quote many times in recent days, “As surprising as it might be, the most frequent command in the Bible is not “Be good” or “Be moral” but “Fear not.”” Depending on how you parse the phrase, we are told to “fear not” anywhere from 125-366 times in Scripture.  Hundreds of times we are told to “fear not” as God’s constant Scriptural reminder that if God is for us no one shall prevail against us.

Re:Verse reading—Psalm 23 (day five)

Spoiler alert:  Psalm 23 tells us how it all ends.  Those obedient to God’s voice will dwell in the house of the LORD forever experiencing a bliss incomparable to anything we’ve known on this earth.  No death, no crying, no pain, no shame, it will be the perfect peaceful existence we long for.  Isaiah envisioned a calf, a lion, a bear, a cobra, and a baby playing together, while we bask in the warmth of the presence of God.  Better is one day in God’s courts than a thousand elsewhere.

This new heaven and the new earth are coming quickly, but until then we catch glimpses of the Kingdom of God on earth.  Pray with me this morning that our services today would resemble heaven generating the glory God deserves. May our time together be holy and transformative drawing us as close God as we can get.

Come ready to worship from the bottom of your heart.

Re:Verse reading–2 Kings 5 (day seven)

A miracle happens between verse 11 and verse 15, a miracle even greater than the physical healing of leprosy.  Early in chapter 5 Naaman is desperate, seeking healing anywhere he can find it. He will travel the world to seek out this prophet of Israel if there is any hope of healing.  When Naaman finds Elisha though, he has no faith, and we get this line in verse 11, “Behold I thought…”. Naaman is not ready to submit to this prophet of this God in Israel.

But in a few verses, we get verse 15, “Behold, now I know…”. Before, Naaman thought he knew the right answers, now he knows the LORD, the God of Israel.  This change of mind, from “I know” to “now I know the LORD” is dramatic, even more so than a healing miracle, because ultimately what we all need is a change of mind, not healing.  We must lose our own thoughts and wants, and get to know the LORD.

Re:Verse reading–Ruth 2:1-12, 17-23; 4:1-14 (day seven)

Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. Ruth 1:3-5

This story is stuck with the death of three men.  With no man left in the household ancient readers would have assumed this story does not end well for Naomi.  The most likely scenario is for Naomi and Ruth to become beggars, hoping for the aid of a distant relative.  Practically, Naomi’s story is drifting into hopelessness.

However, those that know the LORD are never hopeless.  While the world looking in assumed Naomi would become a drifter, the LORD knew she had her most meaningful days ahead of her.  Life was not over, by God’s grace it was just about to get good.  Naomi’s next faithful steps would set her up as royalty.  God provided and brought her a grandson, a grandson that would be the great grandfather of King David, who would be the line of our King of Kings Jesus Christ.  The world assumed Naomi would drift into meaninglessness, but God knew she was royalty all along.