Words for the Week of July 18

Monday

God never sends people out alone. He gave Aaron to Moses (Ex. 33:12). Jesus sent out the apostles in pairs (Mark 6:7). The Apostle Paul always had someone who had his back, whether it was Silas, Barnabas, or Timothy. Believers don’t go it alone. It’s in that Spirit that we come alongside each other and intercede for these people who are precious to God.

• For the HUTCHENS as they help Julian and Angelia move that God will provide them someone with a truck and help this young couple find stability. Also to keep Ralph safe as he travels to his new job and to continue upholding Rebecca's sister, Sandy.
• For the BARNETTS, for Julie as she continues her daily radiation treatments, and that Dave will hear from the doctors soon.
• For the CHARNOCKS, as they pack and prepare for their mission work in the farthest reaches of India,for their safety and the success of the Gospel among the people of Ladakh.
• For RAMEY, as she trusts God to lead her to a new job.
• For the WIELARDS: that Shawn will continue to overcome the challenges he faces.
• For the ROBINSONS, for the stressful relationship of their daughter-in-law with her mother.
• For the OSBORNES, that God will protect their daughter and granddaughter and that the courts will deliver justice.
• For NICOLE, as she ministers to the children who come to the Gathering with their parents.
• For JUDY, ADRIAN, TOBY AND GEORGE, that they will be ministered to by your Holy Spirit and that we will find a way to invite them to our Gathering.
• For RAIN -- that God will open the heavens and end this drought.

Hear these prayers for the sake of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)

God of creation:

Is this drought judgement or the backside of opportunity for some other river valley? Are we going without so that others may have? We know sacrifice is at the heart of your economy. Jesus cried from the cross, "I thirst," so that we might have the water of life. Yes, your judgments overflow with blessing. As this dry spell exposes the hidden dangers of submerged stumps in the lake, so may we be alert to the evil and temptations that lie just below the waterline of awareness to sink our souls. As our fragile, manicured lawns demand more and more of our resources while so-called weeds thrive, show us the futility of our human solutions. As we pray for rain for the land, water our souls with the life-giving freedom we have as your children. To the glory of Christ, we pray. Amen.

Wednesday

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:20-23)

Father God:

You created everything good: no death, no decay. But when Adam disobeyed, your Word reveals that you subjected the world to futility. We would not live forever under the dominion of sin's rebellion. In your mercy you uprooted the tree of life and took it to heaven where it now awaits the new heavens and the new earth.

We bring our prayer requests to you again today: for Julian and Angelia, for Sandy,for Julie,for Dave,for Shawn, for Jennifer and Faith, for Candace, for Ray.

We groan with these people as all creation groans under the weight of discouragement, disease, and decay. It's hard to see sometimes how you are bringing something good out of such pain and uncertainty. Restore our hope in your future, in your life-giving love, in your master-plan to redeem this world and even our own bodies in Jesus. By your Holy Spirit comfort us in the clear conviction that our groanings will be transformed into glory, for the sake of your dear Son. our Savior. Amen.

Thursday

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:20-23)

Father God:

You created everything good: no death, no decay. But when Adam disobeyed, your Word reveals that you subjected the world to futility. We would not live forever under the dominion of sin's rebellion. In your mercy you uprooted the tree of life and took it to heaven where it now awaits the new heavens and the new earth.

We bring our prayer requests to you again today: for Julian and Angelia, for Sandy,for Julie,for Dave,for Shawn, for Jennifer and Faith, for Candace, for Ray.

We groan with these people as all creation groans under the weight of discouragement, disease, and decay. It's hard to see sometimes how you are bringing something good out of such pain and uncertainty. Restore our hope in your future, in your life-giving love, in your master-plan to redeem this world and even our own bodies in Jesus. By your Holy Spirit comfort us in the clear conviction that our groanings will be transformed into glory, for the sake of your dear Son. our Savior. Amen.

Friday

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will ofGod.< (Romans 8:26-27)

Heavenly Father:

In the same way that hope helps us persevere, the gift of your Holy Spirit within us helps us pray as we should. We don't know the depths of your will; we don't know your detailed plans; we don't know why things occur or how you can possibly work out suffering and tragedy for good. In our flesh-driven selves we are tempted not to pray at all, to dumpster dive into determinism, believing our prayers can't/won't/don't matter. But we thank you for your Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are truly your children precisely because we are driven to intercession, to reach out to you in faith. Help us always make our supplications to you in Jesus' name: because we don't know what to pray, but we trust His Spirit poured out in our hearts to search our minds and to translate our imperfect intercessions into prayer that honors you and perfectly conforms to your loving will for us in Christ Jesus. Amen.

When God Says Wait

In Acts 1, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for God's promise of Holy Spirit baptism. These men were all Galileans. They wanted to go home to their work and to their families. But the risen Lord issues a clear command: "Wait."

Being a Christian is all about waiting. Justified by the death and resurrection of Jesus to escape the penalty of sin, we are now in the process of being freed from the power of sin. Sanctification is that day by day opening of ourselves to the Holy Spirit to become more and more conformed to the image of Christ. The Christian way is a transition from what we are to what we shall be. And that means waiting is big part of what God wants us to learn. It comes out as a pun in our language: we say that servants wait upon people. The servants of God must learn to wait upon the Lord.

The Scriptures confirm this in so many ways. Here are a few.

1. Psalm 27:14
   Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage;wait for the LORD!
   
   
2. Genesis 49:18
   I wait for your salvation, O LORD.
   
   
3. Psalm 38:15
   But for you, O LORD, do I wait;it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
   
   
4. Psalm 39:7
   "And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.
   
   
5. Psalm 130:5
   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,and in his word I hope;
   
   
6. Lamentations 3:26
   It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
   
   
7. Psalm 31:24
   Be strong, and let your heart take courage,all you who wait for the LORD!
   
   
8. 1 Corinthians 1:7
   so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
   
   
9. Numbers 9:8
   And Moses said to them, "Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you."
   
   
10. Proverbs 20:22
    Do not say, "I will repay evil"; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
    
    
11. Psalm 37:9
    For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
    
    
12. Psalm 37:34
    Wait for the LORD and keep his way,and he will exalt you to inherit theland;you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
    
    
13. Isaiah 26:8
    In the path of your judgments,O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
    
    
14. Isaiah 33:2
    O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning,our salvation in the time of trouble.
    
    
15. Isaiah 8:17
    I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
    
    
16. Exodus 24:12
    The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."
    
    
17. Lamentations 3:25
    The LORD is good to those who wait for him,to the soul who seeks him.
    
    
18. Psalm 37:7
    Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,over the man who carries out evil devices!
    
    
19. Isaiah 40:31
    but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;they shall mount up with wings like eagles;they shall run and not be weary;they shall walk and not faint.
    
    
20. Zephaniah 3:8
    "Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD,"for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.For my decision is to gather nations,to assemble kingdoms,to pour out upon them my indignation,all my burning anger;for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.
    
    
21. Micah 7:7
    But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation;my God will hear me.
    
    
22. Isaiah 49:23
    Kings shall be your foster fathers,and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,and lick the dust of your feet.Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame."
    
    
23. Psalm 40:1
    I waited patiently forthe LORD;he inclined to me and heard my cry.
    
    
24. Jude 1:21
    keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
    
    
25. Psalm 33:20
    Our soul waits for the LORD;he is our help and our shield.
    
    
26. James 5:7
    Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
    
    
27. Isaiah 25:9
    It will be said on that day,"Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."
    
    
28. Psalm 130:6
    my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning,more than watchmen forthe morning.
    
    

Waiting is the prelude to God's mighty acts. Before God acts, He bids his servants wait. So what Jesus tells the disciples in Acts 1:4 is part of that pattern. A great spiritual breakthrough is coming. But the prelude to power is waiting.

Waiting reveals and refines. Waiting reveals what we really trust. Waiting shows us what we think is really important. Waiting refines our motives and lets us see in what or who we are truly trusting.

In Acts 1 we are given insight into some of the flesh-driven alternatives to the spiritual discipline of waiting upon God.

Like Judas, we can betray the Lord and trust first and foremost in our own ability to make God's will happen. We can refuse to wait, take matters into our hands, and throw ourselves off the precipice of our own presumption that God helps those who help themselves. Or, like those disciples wondering about the timing of the restoration of Israel's kingdom (v.6), we can shift the focus of our attention away from what God has promised to our tribal traditions. We make of waiting the virtue of commemoration. Instead of rehearsing the promises of God, we invest our energy in protecting tradition. Or, like Peter, we misapply the means of grace, in this case the Scriptures, to justify taking action that seems religiously appropriate even though it stinks of disobedience. Or, like those who stand gazing into heaven, we confuse waiting and thumb twiddling.

Here are three important principles from Acts 1 about waiting on God:

1. We wait as a community, not as solitary individuals. Those first disciples were devoted to each other and to praying together. If God's purpose in waiting is to reveal what we truly trust in, then coming together as a community builds our trust in the Body of Christ to sustain and encourage us. There are resources of spiritual strength that we find only in communion with God's people.

2. God's timing is perfect. Peter rushed ahead to replace Judas with two men of the disciples' choosing. They weren't of God's choosing. Nothing is ever heard of again from Matthias. The 12th apostle Jesus would call would be a Pharisee named Saul, struck down on the road to Damascus. For the entirety of his ministry Saul, who becomes Paul, would struggle to convince believers of his true apostleship, received not from Peter, but from Christ himself. So it is when we rush to solutions. We may inadvertently create barriers to God's work. Whenever we make a prayer request, we put ourselves in God's queue. God promises to answer every prayer, but God is going to work for the good of everyone involved in that situation. We may see only one side of the spiritual battle, but God's answers are strategic and not merely tactical. God's answers see down the centuries and not just around the current corner.

3. We wait in order to truly see. Jesus said, "Wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to be my witnesses..." What is witnessing? It's telling the good news of what Jesus has done for us. But witnessing is also seeing. Those apostles would continue to see the ascended Jesus working in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Waiting is the prelude to witness. Waiting on Christ enables us to more clearly see where His Holy Spirit is moving and when He says Go, to follow Him there.

Background to Acts

The Bible book of Acts is volume 2 of Luke's Gospel. Some have called Acts "the Gospel of the Holy Spirit," since it focuses from beginning to end on the work of the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Helper Jesus promised.

Both Luke and Acts are addressed to someone named Theophilus. His identity is unknown. Some commentaries will say it's a generic identify for any believer (Theophilus means, "lover of God"). But I am convinced he was a real person of some learning and position. He is given the title "most excellent" in Luke 1:1, a title of respect usually for a government official. Luke explains that he is undertaking to write an orderly account collating evidence from both written and oral sources to add to the partial knowledge Theophihlus already has (see Luke 1:1-4). If we look at how the book of Acts ends, we see that Paul is under house arrest and awaiting trial in Rome. This means the book had to be written in the early 60's.

I contend with Daniel Wallace and others that Luke-Acts is a trial brief for Paul's defense. Theophilus is an official of the court representing Paul. His case can be discerned from a close study of Luke-Acts. Paul's defense is that Christianity is rooted in Judaism and, as such, deserves the same official recognition that the Romans gave the Jews. Jews were allowed to practice their religion in the Empire and Paul's legal case was that Christians should also be free of persecution. We can see this argument clearly in the deeply Jewish origins of Luke's Gospel as well as in the fact that Jesus is declared not guilty twice by Pilate and by the Roman centurion at the cross. In Acts 1, the ascension of Jesus is not portrayed as a King taking his throne (as in Mark), but as Jesus simply disappearing from view. The disciples ask Jesus if it's time for the kingdom to be restored (verse 6). Jesus says they are all mixed up and they should go back to the city and wait for the Holy Spirit. There's that odd insertion about the Mount of Olives being a Sabbath day's walk from Jerusalem (verse 12); but Luke wants to show the Christians are still obeying Jewish laws.

From history we know that Paul lost his trial and was executed in Rome probably in 67 AD and Peter shortly thereafter. Christianity was not given the protection of Rome, but God will let nothing stand in the way of the Gospel. That is the story of Acts and our own story as we learn what it means to be Christ's witnesses to the ends of the earth.

The Word for This Week

Sunday:

Therefore, there is no no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

Lord Jesus:

In the same way an airplane flies by the law of aerodynamics overcoming the law of gravity, may our spirits escape the condemnation of sin to sour in the freedom Jesus gives. Loose our life from the moorings of mundane mediocrity to be lifted into your presence, alive, really alive, liberated from any threat of failure or abandonment or reproach, for you hold us secure in your grace. Amen.

Monday:

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:5-6)

Lord Jesus:

I shall by necessity be living much of today in the flesh; driving safely, deciding what's for lunch, complaining about the heat, waiting for the doctor to call. But I pray you: in the death-driven drudgery of the daily grind, set my mind on Jesus. Keep my true focus on the life of the Spirit you have implanted by your grace. Let me know that you are my life and peace, the bedrock of my eternal identity. Sanctify me this day through the redeeming of the routine, by your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Tuesday:

That evening at sundown they brought to Jesus all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. (Mark 1:32-24)

Lord Jesus:

We crowd your door, peering in at sick and helpless folk who have ventured from the safety of the crowd to come to you one by one. What has drawn us to this spectacle? Curiosity, craven selfishness, a cynic's need to be healed of doubt. Something stirs deep within and pushes me to you, pulling me away from the door post to which I have clung for supposed safety. I want to protest and at the same time explain how I got this way, but it's all coming out like crazy talk until you reach out your hand and hush my storm-tossed soul saying, "Peace, be still." Thank you, Lord. Amen.

Wednesday:

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:7-11

Lord Jesus:

Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit that you sent to indwell us. By The Spirit's prodding and praising we know that we belong to you. Because we care about pleasing you, we have confidence that you are working your will to transform our behavior and motivations from flesh-power to spirit-power. Teach us the freedom we have in you to say no to our ever-demanding Self. Help us rise above the aches and pains of the body, the disappointments and desires of the hostile mind, to thrill to your Spirit's working of eternal life in us here and now. To the Father be all praise and glory; to Jesus be all thanks and devotion; and to the Holy Spirit be all our devotion and surrender. Amen.

Thursday:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" (Roman s 8:14-15)

Abba Father:

In your agony in Gethsemane, you prayed as we do now, invoking you as Dadda - Father: intimate and reverent, imminent and transcendent, familiar and fantastic. We only know you because you have claimed us as your own in Jesus. Through His grace alone you have redeemed us from slavery to sonship, and for such love we are left speechless before the majesty that is your Person. It is no wonder we turn to prayer-books to express ourselves in your ineffable presence. But teach us to draw closer to you in daily unceasing prayer, knowing that even the grandest of our words sound as baby-talk to you, while "the groanings of our spirit too deep for words" resonate through Heaven as perfect praise. Amen.

Friday:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:16-17)

Abba Father:

Thank you that we are not accidents of nature nor the products of protoplasmic evolution; that we are not dust in the wind nor nameless nomads of the human genome; that we are neither Jew or Gentile, black nor white, slave nor free, male nor female; but that we are Christ's, heirs with him to a resurrected body healed of suffering and ignorance. Thank you that you are making us children of God. Amen

The Covenant of Grace

This week we focused our study on the Special Revelation of God as expressed in three covenants from Scripture.

1) The Covenant of Redemption

Why is there Trinity? Because God covenanted within himself to restore the worship of heaven by creating and redeeming a new kind of creature, a human. After casting from Heaven Lucifer and a third of the angels who had engaged in the Rebellion, God's challenge was to make sure that rebellion would never enter His realm again. And so before time began, The Father elects a people in the Son as their mediator to be brought to saving faith by the Spirit. The plan of salvation was not in response to Adam's failure. The plan of salvation pre-dated Eden. Christ is spoken of as the Lamb Slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesiasn 1:4).

2) The Covenant of Obedience

Sometimes referred to as the Covenant of Works or the Law, God gave us humans a Covenant of Obedience, first with Adam and later with Israel. The Covenant of Obedience says keep the law and you live; rebel against the law and you die (Ezekiel 18:4). Both Adam and Israel fail. Romans 3:20 says, "By the works of the law, no human being will be justified (put right with God) So, why would God demand something no one can deliver? There are three purposes of the Covenant of Obedience.

1. To reveal the character of God (Deuteronomy 29:29)
2. To identify rebellion against God in us (Romans 7:7-12).
3. To define the ministry of the Son (John 6:38)

By being the only human who ever perfectly kept the Covenant of Obedience, Jesus earns life.

3) The Covenant of Grace

As established by the Covenant of Redemption, Jesus accepts our death penalty under the law and confers his righteousness to us by grace. Grace means "free gift." How we are made partners of this Covenant is outlined in the Ordo Salutis (order of salvation).

Please save this handout by right-clicking on the link and choosing Save As. Study this. Learn it. Understand the great grace in which we stand as the people God chose by his own free will before time to belong to Jesus and to be conformed to his will by the Holy Spirit.