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The ESSENCE of the New Testament (Pt 1 of 2) A few things as we begin this week…. 1) On Tuesday the 18th…Doors open at 5:30 / & the music & dessert & drinks start at 5:45 / and LIVE music kicks in at 6:05 2) Since we’re catering the desserts, we need an accurate count so ticket sales will end Friday the 14th @ midnight! 3) So looking forward to you being there for our GRATEFUL, HOPEFUL & PRAYERFUL Night with special guest, Neal Windham! 4) And please remember the families affected by the UPS plane tragedy this past Tuesday. Let’s keep the grieving families in our prayers. 5) Also, thank you to SCOTT HAM, who gives us a simple video reminder of the need and privilege of honoring our VETERANS this week! Thanks Scott! (see link) And now we continue our devotional progression which has attempted a “Bible @ a Glance” approach this year. It’s hard to believe that we have only a few short weeks left! This week we focus briefly on the ESSENCE of the New Testament, Pt 1 of 2. I remember my first year in college as my parents sent me off an hour & a half away to Lincoln, IL, and we packed all the things I’d need, most of which I never gave a second thought to. Things like towels, toiletries and one in particular, shampoo. I just used whatever shampoo we had at home. Actually, we only had a bath tub at home, no shower, so most of my showers were after ball practice at school, so it wasn’t a big deal to me. I think I took some “Head & Shoulders” with me for the first semester away from home. Now if you know much about that shampoo, most people say it had the sensitive nature of a bar of LAVA soap. Remember that one? Major exfoliation! Now the “cool kids” in the day had graduated from their parents “Head &* Shoulders” to a new one that had just come out called, “Herbal Essence”. And if you Google the ingredients, it’s the basics (oil, salt, & water) with cucumber, green tea, Vitamin E, grapefruit, and cocoa butter. Thus the name, I guess. Not sure those would “qualify” as a true ESSENCE of anything, but they marketed it well! Honestly, what’s the essence” of anything? And what is the “essence” of the gospel & other Biblical issues in Scripture? Here’s a daily focus to keep things brief… MONDAY….The Essence of PRAYER
(Matthew 6:9-13 / Philippians 4:4-8) If you take a moment to read these 2 passages, you’ve embraced Jesus’ words about prayer as well as the apostle Paul’s to the early Church. Later in Matthew, His disciples asked Him to TEACH them HOW to pray, but here, His teaching was simply a follow-up to His initial teaching about “letting your prayer be in private” & not done as a “showcase” of your spirituality. Jesus says, rather, here is how to approach your Father in Heaven…. 1) acknowledge His HOLINESS….. 2) articulate your desire for HIS KINGDOM to come to earth…. 3) ask for DAILY FOOD…. 4) ask for HIS FORGIVENESS…. 5) make sure YOU forgive those who’ve sinned against you…. 6) and ask God for PROTECTION from EVIL. And in the Philippians passage, Paul tells us… 1) to REJOICE 2) to model a “CONSIDERATE lifestyle” 3) to NOT WORRY about anything 4) but to PRAY about everything. 5) MENTION to Him what you perceive as your NEEDS and do it with a GRATEFUL heart. 6) And then he says to brace yourself for the PEACE of God, which will GUARD your heart & mind! Today as you begin, end, or interrupt your day with this devotional reading, take a moment and reflect on these passages. Let them direct your prayer time. 1) Hallow His name 2) Speak your desire & long for His Kingdom 3) List your daily needs 4) request HIS forgiveness 5) offer YOUR forgiveness to others 6) plead for His protection… 7) & as encouraged by Paul…..rejoice, be considerate, don’t be anxious, thankfully petition for your needs, & let God’s peace guard your heart! You know, sometimes I need a list of WHAT to pray for…..but other times I just need a list of HOW to pray! So may it be a great week for you! Go thou and PRAY likewise! Bless you, Finishing Well Friends! TUESDAY…..The Essence of the GOSPEL
(John 3:16 / 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 / Acts 17:22-31) I bet John 3:16 was the 1st Bible verse you learned. It is the most famous. God LOVED & GAVE. Whoever BELIEVES won’t DIE but receives ETERNAL life. But WHAT are we to believe about the Son of God? How much do we need to know? That’s where 1 Corinthians comes in. Paul says the basics about Jesus are… 1) that He DIED…. 2) He was BURIED….. 3) He was RAISED back to life on the 3rd day…. 4) and a lot of eyewitnesses SAW HIM. It all comes down to the question…do you BELIEVE Jesus LEFT heaven, LIVED a perfect life, LAID DOWN that perfect life, came BACK to life, and will RETURN one day for us who believe in Him? The “gospel” is His death on our behalf. We were “bought w/ the price of His precious blood”. And Paul clarifies things even further in Acts 17 for the people at Athens. Most were philosophers by “pseudo profession”. In those verses he articulates the gospel, he tells them he knows the (G)od that they know they missed. And then he articulates Him so well! Here’s what Paul said they needed to know about God at that point. 1) He made everything from nothing. 2) He doesn’t need physical lodging. 3) He gives us life & satisfies our every need. 4) He created us all from just one man & decided before creation, who would be in power and when,and has established their boundaries. 5) His purpose for all people has been for us to seek & find Him 6) And He’s made sure He’s not “out of reach”. Our whole LIFE exists in an interconnected way with Him. We are His OFFSPRING and He certainly is an ALIVE God, not a dead idol. Then Paul turns the corner and says God is “worn out & put out” with our rejection of Him & He is “calling this note due”! His preaching communicates that He is now commanding EVERY one EVERYwhere to repent! And judgment is coming, which will be done by the One appointed man who proved His worthiness by dying for us and being RAISED from the dead! What a great sermon! How so to the point! He “parted their hair” with the simple GOSPEL…..Jesus died in OUR place…for OUR sins. So today are you ready to “give an account of the hope that lies w/in you” as Peter says to? Who might God put ON your HEART or IN your PATH today thatthey might finally be ready to hear to gospel like never before! WEDNESDAY…..the Essence of SALVATION(Ephesians 2:8-10) What an incredible passage! I love it when God gives the PREPOSITIONS for good theology! And this is a classic passage of the “essence” of the basis, the means and the purpose of our salvation. Here are the phrases I appreciate so much that can easily be “extracted” from this 3 verse passage…. 1) We are saved “BY” grace 2) We are saved “THROUGH” faith 3) And we are saved “FOR” good works If we use the WRONG prepositions, it can mess up our thinking, incorrectly assuming we can EARN our way to heaven, or mistakenly believing we can “CHARM” God or impress Him w/ “periodic good behavior”. Before long, we’ve developed a sense of ENTITLEMENT. That’s when it gets dangerous! So as we commit the day to Him right now, let there be a sense of appreciation for the GRACE that came down from Heaven and was poured out on the cross to take our sins as far away from us as the East is from the West! You know that verse, I hope. God says that your past will never come back to “condemn” you. It might come back to “haunt you” if you let it linger and don’t forsake it. But in His eyes, He removes our sin “as far as the East is from the West”. That means it won’t “reclaim you”! If you started traveling South, you will eventually travel North. But if you “head East”, it NEVER becomes West! May we live in the amazing grace today of His “removing” our sin & shame as Paul told the Romans in 8:1, “There is now therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus!” May it be a grace-filled day for you my friends! THURSDAY
The Essence of MINISTRY (Colossians 1:28-29) I never really chose a life verse. Some folks have, but I found it too hard to pick one. But if I had to, after years of ministry, I think this one would be in the running. Paul says that this is a TOP PRIORITY for him! He is committed to telling, warning, & teaching others, with all the wisdom God gives! And his PRIORITY is their MATURITY. He wants them to grow and BECOME ALL God wants them to become! He wants them presented “COMPLETE” in Christ. In other words, he doesn’t want them just barely in the gates, he wants them BRINGING others & bearing fruit as Jesus indicated in John 15 was His desire. He is encouraging both “character fruit” and “people fruit”. So take a moment today and reflect on how are you engaging in the process of “presenting others complete”? Here are some practical questions for us….. 1) Are we “nurturing? 2) Are we spiritually “networking”? 3) Are we “nudging”? 4) Are they “budging”? 5) Are we “persisting”? 6) Are they “resisting”? (We could do this all day!) Jerome Olds had a Christian song back in the 80’s when I paid much better attention, called “Is It Right To Go To Heaven Without Takin’ a Friend?” I know. Pretty long title! But a pretty important question to ask. Now if you’re a Bruce Hornsby fan (keyboard/singer from the 80’s) you’ll notice the keys on this song have been “heavily influenced “by Hornsby. But perhaps the lyrics were “heavily influenced” by the Holy Spirit? (see link) So WHO did you think about when you listened to the song? May we move from thinking ABOUT them…to praying FOR them…and then talking TO them! FRIDAY…The ESSENCE of the LORD’S SUPPER(1 Corinthians 11:17-34) OK, I know that’s a long passage. But the Corinthians had BIG problems! And Paul had to address it plainly and passionately. What’s the ESSENCE of the Lord’s Supper? It reminds us of His willingness to give up His BODY (the bread) and shed His BLOOD (the juice) for our sake. Today is Friday. The crucifixion was on a Friday. They call it “Good Friday”. The early Church got together weekly & corporately to remember the “bad thing” that happened on that “Good Friday”. But the Corinthians got all that messed up. They were mostly Gentiles who had become Christians w/no Jewish context or mental framework to build upon. Sothey looked at things “practically” than spiritually. And the problem that arose was they were having “the Lord’s Supper”, which appeared to be a pot luck with a holy moment of remembering Jesus with the Bread & the Cup, but Jesus was not the CENTER of the fellowshipping & worshipping moment. He was an afterthought! What WAS at the forefront for some of them (which caused a lot of stress, strife & struggle) was getting the food and avoiding the poor people! So, their strategy was to tell the rich to come early, get drunk (at least some of them) & not worry if they ran out of food! Not a lot of “holy intent” there! So Paul lit them up in “chastisement” in chapter 11, correcting their hearts & motives, saying, “Alright! Listen up! Knock it off! Stop making this all about you….it’s to be all about HIM…so “this is how we do it, do it”! And then he gently reiterates to them how JESUS instituted the Last Supper. Now many of you might remember a good friend of ours who did an internship years ago, Titus Chapman. He’s a good friend I still stay in touch with. Coming from an African American church, he brought a great heart and joyful style of worship to us at Northside. After his internship, Titus went fulltime at a church that was hoping to also become more diverse in time. I remember he told me a story of one of his early attempts to “blend” the styles, even though that church was pretty steeped in old school hymns and choruses. Titus told me they had asked him to “mash” (partner) a song from his spiritual cultural background with the one they used at communion time, which just happened to be “Change My Heart O, God”. It’s a great chorus, actually from back in the 80’s, but in the day it was pretty prevalent being a short song with a good message. Titus told me he had a couple songs in mind but at the last minute, he changed his mind and went with one that kind of caught them off-guard since they weren’t that familiar. As Titus was telling me this account, play by play, I was on the edge of my seat while on the phone, waiting to hear what song he chose! So let me set it up by printing the lyrics to both songs for you he used at communion time…. Change my heart, Oh, God…Make it ever true….
Change my heart, Oh, God….May I be like you….
and then he went right in to…. I’m startin’ with the man in the mirror… I’m askin’ him to change his ways…. No message coulda been any clearer….if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the change! I asked Titus how it went and he said…..”Welllllll”…. They were kind but said they just weren’t that familiar with it yet….. I reassured my friend I thought it was GENIUS! I said, “Who else but you could weave a Michael Jackson song into communion time, Titus? Here’s why it’s genius in my book……. In 1 Corinthians 11:28, Paul says, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” Whoa! I think a very LITERAL translation or application of that text would arguably be “I’m startin’ with the man in the mirror”! You go, Titus! God bless you all. Praying for the week we’re in….not the last one that’s “in the books”…and not the one yet to come….but the one we’re in. Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow because it has enough worries all of its own! Love you guys. Thanks for hanging in w/me. Can’t wait til the 18th! May the Lord help EACH of us “finish well” & help one another do the same! (gr)
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