Danny Panter

Moving Mountains

Re:Verse reading–Nehemiah 6:1-16 (day six)

Faith moves mountains, but most often it uses a shovel. There was nothing magical about Nehemiah’s faith in God’s promises to his people. He repented, prayed, strategized, stayed the course; he used a shovel to put his faith into action. For Nehemiah faith was not merely an intellectual exercise, but it was action, decisive steps to move forward the promises of God. But that is how faith works, it never stays in one place, it moves according to the rhythms of the promises of God.

Does your faith move? Does it carry a shovel?

Breathe

Re:Verse reading–2 Kings 4:8-37 (day six)

Much like the Good Samaritan Elisha turns aside from his journey to meet a desperate need. There was nothing convenient about it; the diversion took time, energy, and resources. Elisha didn’t do it because it was convenient or easy, but because it’s what prophets do; it’s what servant leaders do. Servant leaders go out of their way to breathe life into others. It’s there in those moments when the miraculous can happen, the dead come to life. It is also there that you discover it wasn’t a diversion, it was the intended destination after all.

So, don’t be so quick to NOT turn aside, take the diversion into someone’s need and breathe. God might just use you to bring them back to life.

Power

Re:Verse reading–2 Samuel 9 (day six)

Where did David find the power to be kind? Well, he was king, he had the ability, the resources, and the will to extend kindness to anyone he chose, even to an enemy. You are no king or queen, but do you have the power to be kind? Yes, you do. As David drew from his kingly position, so you too, Christian, draw from your royal position. We are adopted heirs to the Kingdom of God, sons and daughters of the King. We muster kindness not from broken cisterns, but from the infinitely deep wells of the kindness of God. Because of who we are we too have the ability, the resources, and the will to extend kindness, even to the least likely of people.

When you drink deeply of the kindness of God as a child of God, you can’t help but extend kindness to others.

Not Always What or Where, but Who

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day six)

Don’t we all wish God would just speak to us out loud! He is of course; He is always talking to us through His written Word. In fact as one writer wrote, “If you want to hear God’s voice, read the Bible out loud.” Often though we seek answers to questions that God isn’t answering directly, like, “Where should I go to college?” or “What job should I take?” or “Who should I marry?” These are all great questions of course and should be asked, but most of the time God is more interested in the kind of person you should be when you get to that college, or land that job, or get married to that person.

God is always talking to us if we are willing to listen, and His words are always intended to shape who we are wherever we find ourselves. So, instead of asking “where” or “what” questions start asking “who;” if we can hear God’s answer (in His Word), often enough the answers to the other questions will fall into place.

Ancestors

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:10-32 (day six)

Did you know that Shem is one of our spiritual forefathers? It’s true. The line of Shem runs straight to Jesus, and then extends to His church. This genealogy is a reminder that God is at work fulfilling what He has promised- the destruction of sin and death, and the restoration of humanity. We are the recipients of that fulfilled promise through Jesus, while God is also completing His Kingdom work through us . We are the light of the world, salt of the earth, image bearers of the glory of God displayed in us through the Gospel.

We share in a rich heritage of Kingdom fulfillment! Here is the exciting news, the church by the power of the Gospel will conclude what God started so long ago!

Own your spiritual heritage! Continue the Gospel work!

Glory

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:1-9 (day six)

Pastor Don has already written on the difference between the unity depicted in Genesis 11 and the kind prescribed for the church in John 17:21-23, but I can’t help but have a go too. It is clear that humanity’s aim in Genesis 11 is glory, not God’s but their own. They sought to make a name for themselves by building a tall tower that stretched to the heavens; ironically they fell short (don’t excuse the pun). God looked down upon their small tower and fractured their ill-aimed pursuit.

The truth is we are not designed to display our own glory, we are designed to receive a greater glory. Jesus prayed in John 17:22, “The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one.” Isn’t that remarkable? Humanity in Genesis 11 had it all wrong; they had no need to contrive a glory of their own, they only had to receive God’s glory by faith. Perhaps that is exactly what God intended when he made us in his image, and perhaps that is exactly what Jesus restores through the Gospel-God’s glory given to us!

Invitation into Bigness

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 10 (day six)

God is engaged in both the big and small of history. Genesis 10 is a keen reminder of that truth. He is always advancing the bigness of His Kingdom, while “walking” with the small, i.e. Enoch. But it is the bigness that God wants us to see here; that He is a God of nations not only the individual. This is an important reminder for us. In a culture that epitomizes the individual (even Church culture), God reminds us not to lose sight of what he is doing in the world by being enamored by the self. Even more he invites us, indeed commands us, out of our enamored-self into the bigness of his Kingdom work. It’s a blessing! It is there where we realize the Old Testament words that Jesus quoted, “Love your neighbor as your self.”

Objects of Mercy

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 9:1-17 (day six)

After wiping out all living things save those on the Ark, God demonstrates his mercy by promising never to destroy humanity and all living creatures with a flood again. Objects of wrath have become objects of mercy. Paul wrote in Romans 9:23, “…what if he [God] is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory…” Noah, nor his sons, nor any future generation have not changed the condition of humanity; they had not (nor us) become worthy of God’s mercy, or any less worthy of his wrath. That much becomes clear in the later half of Genesis 9! So what is the point? Glory! “To make known the wealth of his glory.” Make no mistake, God was glorified in his display of his wrath in the flood, but “the wealth of his glory” is made known in his mercy!

His patience, or mercy (the display of his glory) is a kindness that ought to lead us to repentance! (Romans 2:4)

But God Remembered

Genesis 7:1-4, 17-24; 8:1-5, 13-16, 20-22 (day six)

“But God remembered…” Genesis 8:1

It wasn’t as if God needed to jog His memory; that is not the right connotation. No, God doesn’t forget. This verse more accurately refers to God’s commitment to fulfill His covenant promise with Noah and His family. If one thing is certain, God makes good on His promises. That’s the essence of eternal security, God does not forget. We never have to wonder if God has forgotten us. He finishes what He starts; He completes His work, and that is good news for all who faithfully cling to His promises this side of eternity.

Brokenhearted

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 6 (day six)

“The Lord regretted that he had made humankind, and he was highly offended (or broken hearted.)” Genesis 6:6, NET

A sovereign God doesn’t regret in the same way we do (1 Samuel 15:28), as if he wished he had done something different in order to achieve a different outcome. God’s regret is an expression of his grief over the wickedness of man, not a stab at his sovereignty. That aside, consider His broken heart. What God now saw in humankind was no longer good, and the reality of humankind’s self-determination (and God’s judgement) was settling in; humankind was exponentially experiencing suffering and death. It was ugly; it was wicked, and God was brokenhearted. If you have children, you know the feeling.

God is not indifferent, and that is glorious! God is not indifferent to your sin either; he is brokenhearted, so much so He sent a cure for His broken heart (and yours), his very own Son.