Tuesday April 22, 2014

Read Romans 1:1-2, Isaiah 52:13-53:1

Ever since Adam and Eve rejected God in Eden and were kicked out of that perfect paradise, God has been telling His people that Jesus would come to rescue them and make them right with God. In Genesis 3:15 we see the first foretelling of the coming of Jesus. Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Walk Moment

Someone at church says to you that God is calling him/her to leave this church to find another. How do you respond?

Every generation throughout the Old Testament had the gospel foretold to them. In Isaiah’s day they had the clearest presentation of the Gospel. The servant of the Lord would come and suffer on behalf of the people. He would be despised and rejected. He will take up the infirmities of the people, be stricken by God, smitten and afflicted. God would pierce and crush Him. God would lay on Him the iniquity of all the people. He would be oppressed and afflicted and would not open His mouth to complain of the unfair and cruel treatment. He would die as a criminal and be assigned a grave with the rich. Yet even so, God would raise this servant to life and He will see the light of life. If you can’t hear the truth of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection in these verses take time to read Matthew 26 to the end of the chapter or Mark 14 to 16 or Luke 22 to 24 or even John 13-21.

The reality is that God has never been into performance. Even in the Old Testament God saved the people first and then gave them the Law as a guide on how to live. Think about it. In Exodus 1-19 God saves the people and then in Exodus 20 through Leviticus He gives them the Law. He has never, and will never, save people because of their performance. Why is this so? It’s because people can never live up to God’s perfect standard! People will always need rescuing.

Our God is a God of grace. He loves to share His grace. He loves to lavish people with his love and mercy. He loves to freely bless people. But here’s the unexpected bit. God chooses to lavish people with mercy through you and I! God chooses to call people (remember yesterday’s readings) through the preaching and sharing of the Gospel. That means you and I have the immense privilege of being ambassadors for God. That means you and I can have a meaningful life of eternal consequence as we share our faith with everyone who will listen. Your family, your friends, your work or school mates, your neighbours and acquaintances can all be lavished with God’s love and forgiveness through YOU. How awesome.

Prayer

Use today’s readings to write down prayer points

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

• Ask the Lord to be opening doors for you to speak out the Gospel into others’ lives. Ask the Lord to grant you the courage to speak about Jesus when that door is opened. Pray this for everyone in your congregation.
• Ask your Lord to create a passionate zeal within your congregation to be sharing the Gospel. Pray that each person would be willing to share at every opportunity and more so, that they would be looking for opportunities to share.

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