Answer & Rescue

July 19, 2013 — Leave a comment

This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor, I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will rescue you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!'” Isaiah 49:8-9a

You and I have the awesome privilege of living together in the time of God’s favor. How do I know? Because rescue has come through Jesus and we have received the Holy Spirit. We live in the midst of what countless generations yearned for!

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Catch.

July 17, 2013 — Leave a comment

image: ricky_artigas @flickr

image: ricky_artigas @flickr

In the last post, I shared how we so easily label individuals or groups as ‘them’–those for whom hope and renewal seem impossible…at least in our estimation. But “even to them, God has given…life.” As mentioned in that post there’s a catch, though, and here it is in a nutshell:

So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view…We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:16a, 20a)

Not only can God reach, but he desires to reach the ‘them;’ more than this, he has designed you and me as the simple vessels to take the majestic message of hope to them. Continue Reading…

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Even to…

July 15, 2013 — Leave a comment

image: fagerjord@Flickr

image: fagerjord @Flickr

There’s a fascinating interaction that happens in the middle of the book of Acts: the message of hope and life in Jesus is quickly (and, eventually, more readily) spreading outside the Jewish people. The Jewish believers didn’t know what to think–after all, it would seem, God had cursed the gentiles by making them, well, gentiles. Could a non-Jew even follow the Messiah?

In chapter 11 of Acts, Peter–the sort of ‘Senior Pastor’ in Jerusalem–is called to task for developing significant relationship with non-Jewish people (“you went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them,” emphasis mine) who God had supernaturally orchestrated conversation with and ended up entering into relationship with Jesus. The way all of it happened is astounding–you can read the story here–but what strikes me is the response of those who hear Peter’s side of things:

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Exchange

July 12, 2013 — Leave a comment

…many of us within the Church resemble more closely the unregenerate than those made new. A mark of the depth of our ungodliness is worshipping created things rather than the creator and the Scripture writer unpacks this as symptomatic of exchanging the Truth for a lie.

How often do we who follow Jesus fall into this old way of thinking? We take those things which were made by human hands, crafted by God-given but human creativity, designed for worship and make these tools for worship the things we allow to block our view of God… allowing them to become our objects of worship.

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Though __________, I will rejoice.*

July 10, 2013 — Leave a comment

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my savior.
~ Habakkuk 3:17-18

The expression of praise and trust we find at the end of Habakkuk is at once life-giving and convicting, especially when we consider the opening line of the book just a few chapters before — “How long, LORD, must I call for help but you do not listen? Or cry to you…but you do not save?” (Hab 1:2)

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