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Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

Daniel 9:4-7: I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.”Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.

The letter “C” in ACTS stands for “confess” or “confession.” It makes sense to me that when I am in the presence of greatness, it comes naturally for me to being to express adoration or praise. The same is true with confession. When we are around someone that is better than us in some way, we begin to realize our inadequacies. If I’m playing basketball with Michael Jordan (or Kobe Bryant or my brother (just kidding!)), I will quickly realize that I am outmatched. I don’t have the skills. I think the same holds true with connecting with God. As we enter His presence, we adore. It’s natural. He’s awesome. He’s amazing. But at the same time, we become increasing aware of how not awesome we are. We realize that we are not what He is. He is holy, pure, just, righteous. We are not. And we have to confess. We need forgiveness. We need restoration. So as we approach God in prayer, begin with adoration. Follow with confession. Just be honest with God about your screw-ups, your failures. Just admit it. You don’t measure up. Confession is good for the soul.

Take some time today in prayer to adore, to worship. Follow that up with a time of confession. Be real with God. Confess. Ask His forgiveness.

Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

Daniel 9:4-7:
I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.

Good Morning. Over the next 4 days I am going to share with you the basics of the most valuable tool I have ever learned as a Christian. It is a pattern of prayer that was shown to me when I was in high school.

All of us have probably experienced at some point in our lives some frustration or embarrassment with prayer. My best friend (Pat) told me of the time when he was called on at church to say the blessing for the entire church prior to the churches fellowship meal. He was a new Christian and only 13 or 14 years old. He had no idea how to pray. He didn’t know what to do. So everyone bowed their heads and closed their eyes. Pat began by saying, “Dear God…” And then there was a really long pause. REALLY long pause. And then he said, “Thank you for the food…” And then there was another long pause. A really long pause. Some more pausing and dead air. And then he said, “Amen.” He was so embarrassed. He wanted to crawl into a corner and shrivel up and die. Fortunately, Pat has grown tremendously in his prayer life and now connects with God without fear or embarrassment. But sadly, there are Christians who live their entire lives who never learn to pray more than simply reciting prayers like the Lord’s Prayer. I don’t want that to happen to you. Learning to connect with God and maintaining that connection is what being a Christ-follower is all about. I hope the four-part prayer pattern we learn over the next 4 days will help you like it has me. It is based on the word, “ACTS.” Each letter stands for a different area to pray through.

“A” stands for adoration. The first thing we should do when we enter the presence of God is adore and worship Him. When you enter the presence of greatness, typically you will become in awe of that greatness. Let’s say Michael Jordan walks in my office right now. I will likely jump up, shake his hand, and begin to say how thrilled I am to meet him and what a big fan I am and how he is the best basketball player I’ve ever seen. That’s adoration. It’s worship. The same, and more so, should be true with us and God. When we enter His presence, our natural response is worship. You will want to reflect back to Him how great He is. You do this by things like, “Lord your great. Lord your awesome. You are so loving and forgiving.”

Will you say a prayer of adoration today? Will you take a few moments/minutes and bow your head and reflect back to God your adoration?

Tomorrow we will look at the “C” in ACTS.

Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3

As you know, we mailed a letter to just about everyone in the 27560 zip code this past week. Chances are, those folks will be receiving that letter today or tomorrow. We do mailers like this because we believe that there are people in Morrisville who have lost their connection with God or never felt like they ever had one in the first place. Many people are hurting in different ways and need the healing that only God can give. We pray that folks would read our letter and visit our church. Hopefully, at The Bridge they will find a place where they see lives changed by God. A place with imperfect people, but people who are striving to do their best to love God and love their neighbor as themselves. I’m confident that is what people will find when they visit The Bridge.

With that in mind, look again at the Bible verses above. It talks about being a letter. Yes, we mailed out 8,709 letters. But those letters are so insignificant compared to the letter of our lives. We are Christ letter. We are a letter, mailed from God, to the world. The letter is not sealed. It does not have to be opened. It is a letter on display for all to see. The letter is our life. People can see our lives and read about God’s love for them. They can see in us (hopefully) a life changed by God. A life less filled with judgment and filling up with love and grace and mercy. A life that shines and shouts, “LIFE.”

Remember today that you are Christ’s letter. Your life has been addressed by God to those that you will interact with today. They will read your life today, and see God’s message to them. Shine the light of God into someone’s life today.

Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. 2 Peter 1:12-15

Does anyone remember what the “Day 1” devotional was about? How about the first sermon I did this year on the “State of the Church?” It had to do with the vision of The Bridge? Well, since no one can seem to remember, let me do as St. Peter did above and remind you of a few things! It is so easy to forget, so easy to get sidetracked.

The vision of our church in a nutshell is to be “outwardly-focused”” such that we are always striving to reach outside of the church walls and connect with people who are apart from God and help them get reconnected with God. One scripture verse that we use along with our vision statement is Colossians 4:2-6. In it, we find 3 bits of wisdom in being outwardly-focused:

1) Talk to God about your community. In another word, pray. Pray for Morrisville, your neighborhood, your neighbor. Pray that their hearts would be open to responding to God’s call on their lives. God is knocking on the door of their hearts, pray that they would open them.

2)Don’t waste your opportunities. God gives us everyday as an opportunity to shine His light into people’s lives through our lives. We don’t live next door to people so we can ignore them! They are our neighbors! Be neighborly! Invite them over! Watch a ball game together. Babysit their kids. Take them some muffins. Help them with their car. Cut their grass. Serve them. Love them. Invite them into your life. And by all means possible, show them the difference that God makes in a life.

3)Talk to not-yet-Christ followers. Colossians 4 tells us to be “full of grace” and to have our conversations “seasoned with salt.” We can’t do this without engaging in conversation. This point goes hand-in-hand with the #2 above. Connect with people. Talk to them. Don’ ignore them. Build friendship. Open up your life. Don’t allow your social life to only be with family or friends from church. Build friendships at work, in the neighborhood, wherever. And as you converse with them, be salty. Taste good. That is the life of God pouring out of your life such that when we connect with people, they will want to know what makes our lives taste so good. And the saltiness is the life of God in us.

How is your outward focus going? Next Sunday, we will have newcomers at church. We want them to feel welcome. The only way we can do this is to be outwardly-focused. We come prepared for guests. We come prepared to meet the needs of others, not our own. Before next Sunday, pray for our community, look for opportunities to build relationships, converse and shine the light of God into the lives of those around you.

I’m in this trend of reading books that have something to do with the topic of heaven. Just got this book yesterday from a friend. It’s short, so I’m almost done with it. The book is a very curious imaginary dialogue between three prominent men who all died on the same day. Ultimately it is an apologetic (defense) for orthodox Christian faith. It’s a fascinating and somewhat difficult read. If you’re into debate, you’ll love this book.

Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14

There is another big, five dollar word in our Scripture verse today – the word “sanctified.” To be sanctified is to be made holy, or perfected. And what is cool about the verse above is that it says that He, meaning Jesus, has perfected those who are being sanctified (made holy, perfected). How can we be “perfect” and continue to be made perfect at the same time? It would seem that you would have to be one or another. But it is true! If you are a Christ-follower, you have been perfected and at the same time are being perfected? How is this? Pardon my theological hat, but there are two part to this “sanctification” thing. It’s called positional sanctification and progressive sanctification. Positionally, God views as being totally perfect because of what Jesus did for us. Through faith in Christ, we have been perfected – we no longer have the stain of sin on our life. Jesus has removed that through His death and resurrection and has given us His righteousness. But, if you’re a Christ-follower, you’ll easily note that the reality in your own life is that you are not living perfectly. That is where progressive sanctification comes in. God views you as perfect (in Christ), and then He sets on a journey of being made perfect. Our lives should be moving towards holiness – that we are beginning to live more perfect lives. We are in the process of being sanctified.

So, just as we are justified (see earlier devotion), we are also sanctified. God views us as perfect and holy. And even though we can’t live perfectly, we strive to live lives of obedience to God that reflects a progressive holiness. We may not be perfect, but we are striving to move in that direction!

Thank God today for your perfection, and respond to that gift by striving to live a life that pleases Him and brings Him joy.

Today I’d like to direct you to a devotional on another website. The website is by a young man named Kevin Bui. If I remember correctly, Kevin will turn 18 in March. He’s a senior in high school. He’s recently started his own webpage to share what God has put on his heart. As I usually am with Kevin, I was more than impressed! Thanks for the inspiration Kevin!

So, click on the link below, and then scroll down and read his thoughts entitled, “Us vs. Jesus???” You’ll also enjoy the music Kevin has on his page, so turn up the volume on your computer when you’re done with your devotional time!

Have a great day!

Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me…

http://www.freewebs.com/kbui/consciousness.htm

“There are those who believe that a new modernity demands new morality. What they fail to consider is the harsh reality that there is no such thing as a new morality. There is only one morality. All else is immorality. There is only true Christian ethics over against which stands the whole of paganism. If we are to fulfill our great destiny as a people, then we must return to the old morality, the sole morality.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

That having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:7

I’m rereading a book I’ve read many times. It is a great book on what it means to be a Christ-follower. It’s called “The Fight” by an author named John White. In the first few pages, he brings up the concept of “justification.” And if you’re anything like me, you’re thinking, “Wow. Big word.” But what a great word. Justification is the concept that when God looks at us, he can now view us as if we have never sinned and will never sin. He can do that because we are justified. We are justified because the righteousness, the perfection, of Jesus has been giving to us – if we have become Christ-followers. If we have put our faith in Jesus. I’m not perfect. I sin all the time. And I could worry about how God views me. But, because of His grace, and Jesus’ sacrificial death, I now have Christ living in me, and His righteousness. I don’t have to fear God’s judgment.
Back in Old Testament days, a priest would enter into the holiest section of the temple to present a sacrifice once a year, on the alter of the are of the covenant. The ark of the covenant contained, among other things, the 10 commandments. If God were to look down a the ark, he would see these 10 commandments, and would have to look in judgment at his people as commandment breakers. But when the priest came in, he poured the blood of the sacrifices animal over the alter. Then, when God saw the ark, he would see the blood covering the commandments. The penalty had been paid. There was no need for judgment.
As Christ-followers, God looks at us and sees the blood of His Son’s sacrifice covering us. We are justified. We no longer stand condemned. God views us as perfectly righteous. We are free form sin. Live in that freedom. Not to serve yourself, but to serve the Living God who justifies you by His Son.

Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Timothy 2:4

I’m going to be short and sweet today. Two things about the verse above jump out at me, and the two are connected. First, the idea of being “entangled” in the affairs of the world. And second, that our goal in life should be “that we may please him.” As Christ-followers, we are freed to live to an audience of one! We don’t have to live to please ourselves or anybody else. We live to please God. He has enlisted us. He has called us. He is our audience. As we engage in life, we can do so with an eye for HIS approval. The temptation will be for us to entangle ourselves in the affairs of this world – things that demand our attention and attempt to take us from our singular focus of pleasing God. We would do well to take a couple of minutes today for self-examination. Ask yourself, “Is there some ‘affairs of this world’ that are distracting me from pleasing God?” Are there some things that I need to take the time to untangle myself from in order that I might better focus my attention on pleasing God? These things that entangle us are not necessarily bad things. Sometimes they are bad or sinful. But a lot of times, they are simply good or neutral things that are the enemy of doing what is best – pleasing God.

Take a few minutes this morning to examine your life. If you come up with something that is entangling you, consider how you can correct that. and then, if you’re really bold, post a comment to this blog about what is entangling you so others can either pray for you or be encouraged to guard against being entangled by that as well.