PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 7:11–22 (NIV)
“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
“As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
CONSIDER THIS
Previously on Acts . . . one of the appointed caretakers of Jerusalem’s widows—Stephen—had extra curricular activities of performing miracles and preaching the gospel, which drew the ire of the religious authorities. With trumped up charges they brought Stephen before the Sanhedrin to stand trial. In response to the charges, rather than defending himself, Stephen made a counterintuitive move. He begins telling them their own story.
Sometimes in reading the Bible, we can search so hard for the deeper meanings of things that we miss the obvious insight sitting on the surface. We find ourselves in one of those moments today.
Remember who Stephen is speaking to? Yes, the Sanhedrin. Remember those guys? Yep, the smartest guys in the room. They know the story Stephen tells. They know it better than he does. They know it forward and backward, inside-out and upside down. So why is Stephen doing this; telling them what they already know?
Because this is what we do. We remind each other of who God is and who we are and what this is all about by regularly retelling each other our big story. In this age of infotainment where the next episode and the new season always win, we easily dismiss stories we’ve already heard as re-runs we don’t need to see again. That may be okay when it comes to (insert your favorite show here), but as it relates to the biblical story, we can not possibly tell it, hear it, sing it, preach it, eat it, drink it, enact it, and did I say tell it, enough.
Though we retell the story of God a thousand times (which would be a good start), it is never a rerun. The biblical story, told in the power of the Spirit, is always charged with supernatural substance. Stuff happens when we tell this story. Before we even begin to think about how we might tell this story in a situation like Stephen’s, let us ask ourselves these kinds of questions:
How can we tell this story around the table at home?
How can we tell this story to our children? our grandchildren?
How can our children tell this story to us?
How can we share this story with the people down the street at the assisted living facility?
How can we creatively tell this story in corporate worship?
How can we share this story with atheists?
How can we tell this story in our church staff meetings?
How can we rehearse this story in our small groups?
As my dear friend and biblical Jedi master, Sandra Richter (of Epic of Eden fame) regularly says to her students, “Tell the story and tell it well!”
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come Holy Spirit transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE QUESTION
How are you telling the story and the stories of God in your everyday life? If I asked you to tell me the big story in two minutes or less could you do it? Give it a shot.
THE HYMN
For today’s hymn we will call an audible. Stay tuned.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
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4 Responses
To tell God’s Good News accurately, we must know it. To tell it effectively, with faith’s supernatural substance, we must allow it to continually burn in our heart.
How can we tell Christ’s story with the Holy Spirit’s fire? Before I got out of bed this morning, this poem formed in my heart:
Heart Fire!
When Christians retire
God’s inner fire,
They get caught up
In self-focused desire.
To follow Jesus
Will always require
A heart ablaze
With God’s Holy fire.
(Revelation 2:4-5.)
Mankind sought has always control — freedom from daily dependence on God. From the first humans until today we have wanted to disobey God instead of fully trusting in and surrendering to His spiritual life. Because of this we have reduced God to an academic subject, devoid of the supernatural substance of faith, to be understood with human knowledge, but God longs to be the living heart-fire who burns within us.
To restore humans to intimacy with Him, God chose a man named Abraham to give birth to a nation that would bless the world. He revealed Himself to that nation through Spirit-led judges and prophets, but they mostly ignored His efforts to lead them to daily live His presence.
Finally, God sent the His Son Jesus — Immanuel — “God with us” — the Creator in human flesh. Jesus lived a life of total obedience and through the sacrifice of His life on a cruel cross paid the penalty for all human sin and restored access to the ancient Tree of Life to whosoever will “taste and see that God is good” and be led by Christ’s Spirit rather than by human desire. (Romans 8:14.) Jesus rose from the dead and abides with us today as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” — living and working in all who will daily following and obey Him.
The Grand Narrative: In the beginning God created all things, visible and invisible. He created mankind in the image of the Trinity, and placed them on earth to care for, and rule over it as His stewards. When tempted by the the personification of pure evil, Satan, they inadvertently joined The Rebellion. God righteously judged them for their sin, and removed them from the Tree of life which would have made it possible to remain in this fallen state forever. But before they were exiled, God promised them a future man child who would permanently reverse this situation. God’s plan was to call a man, Abram and promise that through his off-spring, all people will be blessed. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us the details of how this would be accomplished. The Messianic promises were fulfilled through the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, born to the Virgin Mary. Through Him all the Law and Prophets were fulfilled. He lived a sinless life, performed many signs and wonders, was rejected by His own people, was crucified, died, and was buried. Three days later, He was resurrected, after forty days He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Ten days later, the Holy Spirit of God was poured out on all who would receive Jesus in faith and are baptized into His body, the Church. The Holy Spirit empowers believers to live a holy life and do ministry to the Glory of God. Jesus will come again to judge living and the dead and renew all creation. His redeemed will spend eternity with Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
Beautifully said, Bob.
Blessings on you. As a retired pastor I have been growing closer to our Lord thru your ministry. However I have lost my hearing and depend on text. Finding out the hymns on “audible” leaves a big blank spot in my day. Any suggestions. I find myself singing “More About Jesus, Would I Know”
Thanks for helping to start my day. Cliff