We Wait, He Works

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4)

Only a few things have gripped me with greater joy than the truth that God loves to show his God-ness by working for me, and that his working for me is always before and under and in any working I do for him.

At first it may sound arrogant of us, and belittling to God, to say that he works for us. But that’s only because of the connotation that I am an employer and God needs a job. That’s not the connotation when the Bible talks about God’s working for us. That’s not at all in Isaiah’s mind when he says, God “works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

The proper connotation of saying God works for me is that I am bankrupt and need a bailout. I am weak and need someone strong. I am endangered and need a protector. I am foolish and need someone wise. I am lost and need a Rescuer.

God works for me means I can’t do the work. I am utterly in need of help.

And this glorifies God not me. The Giver gets the glory. The Powerful One gets the praise.

Listen to the way the Bible talks about God working for you, and be freed from the burden of bearing your own load. Let him do that work.

“No eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you. . . . Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:12, 15).

“To your old age . . . I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

“I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

“Whoever serves, [let him serve] by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11).

“Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work” (Philippians 2:12–13).

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

John Piper 

Awakening Part Two

for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."  - Ephesians 5:14

Lord, pour out Your Spirit on Your people!

Wake us from our sleep so that we may know You and Your will!

Barriers that prevent awakening

1. Shallow worship 

We were created to worship God.

Give your life to God.

Testify that God is indeed good.

Participate in worship.

God is searching for worshipers.

19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." - John 4:19-24

And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,  - Isaiah 29:13

Your heart must be in worship.

Don't go through the motions.

Dear God, we worship You with all we've got for as long as we've got ... not for what You do but simply for Who You are!

2. Weak prayers

We are not bold in our prayer.

He is an all powerful God who is able.

We need You every minute of every hour!

He restores all things!

17 And someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able."

19 And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." - Mark 9:17-19

25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."

26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead."

27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"

29 And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." - Mark 9:25-29

Prayer and fasting is our lifeline to God!

"The devil fears nothing from prayer-less work, study or religion. He mocks our religion, he mocks our toil but trembles when we pray."

Samuel Chadwick

Lord, bring revival!

Dear God, may we as Your people learn that we can pray big, bold, confident prayers.

We don't know Your will but You have said" we have not because we ask not".

3. Christ-less preaching

We must preach Jesus!

He alone is able!

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,

4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

11 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land- not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. 

12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.  - Amos 8:11-12

"America needs Godly men in the pulpit that will preach God's word. People don't need cute stories or 20 minute sermonette. The world has taken the gloves off. They're throwing knockout punches. It's time for God's preachers to stand and declare Thus Says The Lord God". 

Steve Gaines 

" We put men into pulpits because they have degrees. But you can have 32 of them and still be frozen".

Leonard Ravenhill

Incredibly gifted preachers have lost their passion for God!

They sprinkle a little Jesus.

Boldly preach the word of God.

Share the good news of Jesus Christ across the street and around the world.

Love people regardless of their level of education, color of skin or socio-economic status.

Dear God, we lift up one name and one name only, the high and holy name of Jesus. The name that is above every name!

No repentance!

Your sin is your downfall!

1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 

2 Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, "Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.  - Hosea 14:1-2

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.  - Hosea 14:9

"The chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without Hell". 

William Booth 

Founder, The Salvation Army

The late 1800's 

We must call people to repentance, that is our command.

We must love people, but the second part of that is to point out that you must repent.

There is accountability for staying in your sin!

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, - Acts 3:19-20

Dear God, we repent of our sin and plead for Your mercy!

Thank you Pastor Kevin!!

The Best Is Yet To Come

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. - Hebrews 11:16

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. - Hebrews 11:10

2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. - John 14:2-3

32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' - Matthew 25:32-36

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." - Revelation 21:2-5

The Happy God

Sound doctrine [is] in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed [that is, happy] God. (1 Timothy 1:10–11)

A great part of God’s glory is his happiness.

It was inconceivable to the apostle Paul that God could be denied infinite joy and still be all-glorious. To be infinitely glorious was to be infinitely happy. He used the phrase, “the glory of the happy God,” because it is a glorious thing for God to be as happy as he is — infinitely happy.

God’s glory consists much in the fact that he is happy beyond our wildest imagination.

This is the gospel: “the gospel of the glory of the happy God.” That’s a quote from the Bible! It is good news that God is gloriously happy.

No one would want to spend eternity with an unhappy God. If God is unhappy, then the goal of the gospel is not a happy goal, and that means it would be no gospel at all.

But, in fact, Jesus invites us to spend eternity with a happy God when he says, “Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23). Jesus lived and died that his joy — God’s joy — might be in us and our joy might be full (John 15:11; 17:13). Therefore, the gospel is “the gospel of the glory of the happy God.”

The happiness of God is first and foremost a happiness in his Son. Thus when we share in the happiness of God, we share in the very pleasure that the Father has in the Son.

This is why Jesus made the Father known to us. At the end of his great prayer in John 17, he said to his Father, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). He made God known so that God’s pleasure in his Son might be in us and become our pleasure in him.

John Piper 

Do you need a mind clean-up?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

I will meditate in Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways.

Psalm 119:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever heard of a one-track mind? The devil plants a thought in our minds, and over time it becomes a belief. Before we know it, he has captured a stronghold.

Psalm 119:9 says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.” That word “way” really means a rut—like a chariot wheel would carve a rut into a road. Thank God there is a way of deliverance.

The Bible, God’s Word, will cleanse you (see Ephesians 5:26).

His word:

1. Reveals your sin.

2. Convicts you of your sin.

3. Leads you to the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, who cleanses us from all sin.

4. Teaches you by faith to apply the cleansing of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said in John 15:3, "You are clean through the Word." The Bible speaks of the washing of water by the Word. And I want to tell you, the Word of God will bathe you and cleanse you.

ACTION POINT:

Picture the Lord Jesus walking through your mind, filling up a wheelbarrow full of filth, and carting it out. Hallelujah! God’s cleansing powers can sweep over your soul today. And fresh winds of the Holy Spirit can blow through the temple of your body and make you clean and pure.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Justice Will Be Done

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

All of you have been wronged at one time or another. Most of you, probably, have been wronged seriously by someone who has never apologized or done anything sufficient to make it right.

And one of the deep hindrances to your letting go of that hurt and bitterness is the conviction — the justified conviction — that justice should be done, that the moral fabric of the universe will unravel if people can just get away with horrible wrongs and deceive everyone.

That is one of the hindrances to forgiveness and letting grudges go. It’s not the only one. We have our own sin to deal with. But it is a real one.

We feel that just to let it go would be to admit that justice simply won’t be done. And we can’t do it.

So we hold on to anger, and play the events or the words over and over again with the feelings: It shouldn’t have happened; it shouldn’t have happened; it was wrong; it was wrong. How can he (or she) be so happy when I am so miserable? It is so wrong. It is so wrong! We can’t let it go. And our bitterness starts to poison everything.

This word in Romans 12:19 is given to us by God to lift that burden from us.

“Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.” What does this mean for you?

Laying down the burden of anger, laying down the practice of nursing your hurt with feelings of being wronged — laying that down — does not mean there was no great wrong against you. There was.

But it also does not mean there is no justice. It does not mean you will not be vindicated. It does not mean they just got away with it. No they didn’t.

It means, when you lay down the burden of vengeance, God will pick it up.

This is not a subtle way of getting revenge. This is a way of giving vengeance to the One to whom it belongs. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. You lay it down. I will pick it up. Justice will be done.

What a glorious relief. I do not have to carry this burden. It is like taking a deep breath, perhaps for the first time in decades, and feeling like now at last you may be free to love.

John Piper 

The world’s best teacher is ready to train you

BIBLE MEDITATION:

I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.

Psalm 138:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

There was a man who loved to study the Bible, and every time he came to something he didn’t understand, he asked his friend Charlie, “What does this verse mean?” One day while studying his Bible, the Holy Spirit said, “Why don’t you ask Me? I’m the one who taught Charlie.”

Now, I thank God for the Bible scholars who teach God’s Word, but the same God that teaches these men and women is the One who wants to teach you.

Pray and ask, "Teach me, O Lord, Your statutes. God, control my life. Lord, as I get my heart cleansed and committed, let my heart be controlled. Come with Your Holy Spirit, control my thoughts and guide me into Your truth."

ACTION POINT:

As you read the Bible today, I want you to ask God to help you answer these questions:

1. Is there a lesson to learn?

2. Is there a sin to avoid?

3. Is there a blessing to enjoy?

4. Is there a promise to claim?

5. Is there a new thought to carry with me?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers