“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.” - Acts 2:42-47 

We read this account of the early church and say to ourselves, “I wish we could find a group of believers who lived this way - a church that functioned this way.” It is a beautiful picture, and it still happens today when sold out Christ followers live in communion with God and with each other.

At the very center of this picture is prayer. These early disciples devoted themselves to prayer, they met with glad and sincere hearts for common meals and praised God. I am convinced that it was their desire to be in God’s presence through teaching, prayer and the breaking of bread that resulted in such unity and service. Prayer is time exposure to God. It takes us into His presence and produces in us a deeper and deeper desire to be like Him.

As a youngster living in Hong Kong, I would often go up to what we called the Peak on Hong Kong island. From there you could see a panoramic view of all of Hong Kong. This view was particularly amazing at night when the lights of the skyscrapers, cars and numerous boats, along with the ubiquitous neon signs, could all be seen. What I most loved was to take the peak tram to the top and take time exposures of the view, resulting in all the moving lights on the roads and harbor tracing their paths in brilliant living color. The longer the time exposure, the more amazing the sight.

This is a picture of prayer and why I call prayer “time exposure with God.” In prayer, we are in active fellowship with our Lord. The longer we linger there, the more we get to know Him, because this is a two way conversation. In talking to Him about needs or giving Him thanks, our hearts start to realign with His. Our needs and concerns are given to him and in our thanksgiving we realize how good He is to us. He strengthens us, encourages us, and even may drop answers or direction into our hearts as we spend time with Him.

Don’t just settle for perfunctory time with God, but linger a bit and allow Him to speak to your heart. I think of prayer as the bookends of my day. Starting my day with prayer sets my mind and heart in a place where I am ready to follow Him. Ending my day with prayer gives me a chance to thank Him for His faithfulness and ask for His presence, power, and help. Of course, during the day there can be many shorter prayers, but these bookends give our lives a rhythm of time exposure to our Savior. You cannot do this and remain the same.

Father, it is an amazing thing that You desire to fellowship with us. That You delight in our presence with You and that You would enter our lives in an active way as we pray. Give me the desire to spend more time with You both as an individual, with my family, and with my fellow pilgrims. As we do, would You help us recapture the passion and purpose of the early church. Amen.

I don’t meet many people who think they are very good at prayer. It may be that we have a faulty concept of what prayer looks like. We have this picture of men and women of God spending hours on their knees in prayer, and certainly there have been and are those who do so. The truth is that for most of us prayer is a conundrum. We don’t think we are good at it, our minds wander, and we pretty much feel like we are failures, at least when measured against some unknown measure of what prayer should be.

So let's try to simplify prayer. I love the Lord’s prayer because, in that prayer, Jesus teaches us that prayer can be simple. We are praying to the Lord who is in heaven and whose name is honored and holy. We pray that His will will be done through us today, just as His will is done in heaven. We ask that He would provide our daily needs and forgive our sin, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. We ask him to lead us in paths of righteousness and deliver us from the evil one. And we are reminded that His is the power and glory for ever and ever. There is nothing complex about the prayer itself but the themes have amazing reach. 

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law back in the day would construct elaborate prayers and make a show of their supposed piety. Jesus says, no! Simply talk to me about the important things. Keep it simple, keep it real and be reminded of what is important to me.

This last concept is important. We often come to God with all of our requests and He invites us to do that. But prayer is what I call time exposure to God. And as our hearts are open in His presence we start to understand His desire for our lives and, rather than our prayers changing His heart in some way, that time exposure changes our hearts and we come into greater alignment with Him. 

And remember that prayer is conversation with God. I am not personally good at long blocks of prayer by myself. What I am good at is talking to God throughout the day on all sorts of topics. And it often happens that He talks back. Why should I be surprised? We are in relationship with God and conversation is a two way street. As I talk to Him, he drops insights into my heart often about the very things I was praying about. Remember, prayer is time exposure to God and it ultimately brings our hearts into greater alignment with His heart. 

We are encouraged to talk to God on all occasions, about all issues, needs, and concerns. Try walking through your day simply conversing with Him. You will be changed and He will talk back. 

Father, I thank you that you're a personal God to whom I can bring any and all of my issues. Give me the gift of walking with you in a conscious way through my day both in conversation with you and listening to you. Amen.

We are all familiar with the word prayer but did you know that Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for you? We pray to God but God also prays for us. In Romans 8:34 we read this: “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Did you get that? The one who died for you and who was raised from the dead, who sits at the right hand of the father is right now also interceding for you. 

In Romans 8:26-27 we are told that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf as well. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”  In those times when we don’t even know how to pray in our confusion or pain, the Holy Spirit is there praying for us and interceding with the Father. 

We often see prayer as some sort of obligation on our part. It isn’t as we will see tomorrow. But think of the love and care of God to pray on our behalf, even when we don’t know how to pray. Even when we don’t ask Him to do so! The extent of His love for us is that he died for our sin, was raised from the dead, saves us, sanctifies us, justifies us, fills us with His Spirit, and then intercedes for us with the Father. You and I are constantly being lifted up to the Father because we are the family of God.

If you want to get a sense of what God prays for you, read the amazing High Priestly prayer in John 17. There He prays that we will be unified with Him and one another. He prays for our blessing. He prays for our protection from the evil one: “protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” He prays that we would be sanctified by the truth of His word. How amazing is it that even when we are lazy in approaching Him in prayer, He is praying for us. That is the extent of His love for you and I. 

As you walk through your day today, engage Him in prayer and thank Him often that He is interceding on your behalf with the Father. And know that in those situations where you don’t even know how to pray that the Spirit is praying for you because the Spirit knows our needs and shares them with the Father. It will be amazing to learn in eternity how God interceded for us in this life. Let that encourage you today.

Father, thank you for your intercession on my behalf. Your love and concern is beyond my comprehension. Thank you that you did not only save me but you walk with me through every circumstance in this life. Amen.

It has always made me wonder when I read a certain word in the New Testament. About God, I understand the meaning of the word. About you and me, especially me, I don’t. That word is “saint.” 

In Philippians 1:1, Paul opens his letter to the church at Philippi with the words, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi.” In his letter to the Colossians, he says, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.” In Ephesians 1:1, he writes, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.”

The very thought that I am a saint makes me feel uncomfortable because I know me. I know the broken, messed up version of myself, some of which others see and some that I alone see. In either case, I don’t deserve the title “saint,” but there it is in plain sight as Paul writes to the churches. He calls God’s people saints. 

The word “saint” is hagios in Greek and it means “different, otherness or holy.” It also means “set apart”. God is hagios, something we understand, but us? Here is the reason that Paul refers to us as saints. Listen to his words in 1 Corinthians 2. “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - their Lord and ours.”

There are two things that stand out here. First, when we come to salvation in Christ and make Him Lord of our lives, he sanctifies us. He cleanses us, wiping away our sins of the past and making us new creatures. And then, He calls us to be holy, to be set apart, to be like Him in our character and our life. So there is the reality of His divine work in our life and then there is the call, on the basis of that gift of cleansing and renewal, to become like Him.  Remember that hagios means otherness. We are different because of His work in our hearts and we, in turn, are called to live differently. In the words of Paul, we are “called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are not sinless but we are called to sin less. We are called to become more and more like the Lord Jesus who saved us. Through the help of the Holy Spirit this is possible because that Holy Spirit is God who dwells in us. Therefore Paul says in Ephesians 4:1, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Wow. He says later in Ephesians 5:1-2, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

In those words we see the key to living like a saint. It’s very simple. We imitate God. We live a life of love toward Him and others just as He did toward us. We bring our attitudes, words, thoughts, and actions into alignment with His. We are saints by definition. And we are called to live as saints by imitating him.

Father, thank you for the work you have done in my heart and life. You have made me a saint, one set apart for yourself. Today, help me to imitate you so that I also live like a saint. Amen.

The Christian life is one of growing to be more and more like Jesus. Listen to these words of Peter in 2 Peter 1:1-11.  “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

When Peter says,  “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness,” he is talking about the process of sanctification where we become more and more like Jesus. This process starts when we accept Christ as our savior, continues throughout our lives, and culminates when we see Him face to face at the resurrection of the dead. 

There are two keys to sanctification. The first is the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples that “when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” That Spirit lives within us and is, according to Paul, “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession - to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:14) 

The second key to our sanctification is our own effort to bring our lives into conformity with Him. As Paul says in Galatians 5:25-26, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Or in Philippians 3:16, "let us live up to what we have already attained.”

If we cannot look back on the past six months and see specific ways where we have grown in our faith and life in Christ, we are not paying attention to the issue of sanctification. While salvation is free and we cannot earn it, we are responsible to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to bring our lives into ever greater alignment with God. As we do that, we experience the abundant life that Jesus promises in John 10:10.

Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit who guides me into truth. Help me today to live by that truth and help me to become progressively more like you. Amen.

We are frail and sinful people, even after our salvation. We are saved by Christ and have all the good news of the Gospel but we still struggle with our lower, ungodly nature and will until we see Jesus face to face in eternity. So the question is, how does God see us once we have given our hearts to Christ and He has forgiven our sin?

This is where one of the big words of the Bible comes in. It is justification. To understand justification, let's look at three passages in Romans 8 where Paul speaks about justification.

In Romans 8:1-4 we read this: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Here is the first thing to know about Justification. Sinful as we are, there is no longer any condemnation from God for our sin because the Son of God paid for our sin in His death. We no longer live with any condemnation.

Then Romans 8:29-30. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

Here is the second thing to know about justification. Through Jesus you are justified. Here is an easy way to remember what that means. When God looks at you He sees you “Just as if you had never sinned.” He does not see the sinful you although we all continue to sin even as believers. He sees us clean and pure because Jesus paid for our sin: past, present and future. Jesus took it all and in the sight of God you are clean.

Finally, Romans 8:31-33.  “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.”

Third thing to know. Satan cannot bring any charge against you because in God’s sight you have been justified (just as if you had never sinned). You have been made clean by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Wow!

Father, I am amazed that you see me just as if I had never sinned. I rejoice and thank you today. Now, help me to live that way. Amen.

The gospel is directly connected to another big word in the Bible: Salvation. As Paul says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” It is the gospel, the good news of Jesus and His kingdom that brings salvation to those who believe and put their trust in Jesus.

But what is salvation? The Greek root word of salvation is sozo, which means to deliver from dire peril. It is a rescue from a dire circumstance. So let's ask ourselves three questions. What are we saved from, what are we saved to and who is responsible for our salvation? Understanding these three questions will help you appreciate the great gift of the gospel in your life. 

What are we saved from? Think of John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus came with the good news to save us from our lostness that results in eternal death and to give us eternal life. Salvation is a divine rescue from our lostness to a new life with Christ. The lostness entered the world in the fall. The price for our new life in Christ was the death of the Son of God to pay the price for our sin. 

If we are saved from eternal death, what are we saved to? Listen to what you are saved to - from Ephesians 1.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Did you get all that? Salvation is not merely a ticket to heaven. It is this full, amazing, life in Christ for now and for all eternity. 

Who gives this gift? It comes through Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the means of our salvation.

Father, I cannot even comprehend the gift of salvation. What you have saved me from and what you have saved me to. Help me live in thankfulness and in the destiny you have called me to. Amen.

We have seen that the gospel of God is good news that ushers us into His kingdom, brings forgiveness of sin, the presence of the Holy Spirit who is the downpayment on our salvation and through Him, the very presence of God in our everyday lives. In fact, it is the ultimate good news because there is no bad news contained in the gospel. This is why Paul can say in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

How often do you and I need the gospel? Certainly we need it when we come to Christ because it is the good news that brings us into a relationship with Him. But, and this is very important, we need the gospel every single day of our lives. We ought to preach the gospel to ourselves on a daily basis. There is no day that we are not deeply in need of God’s grace, forgiveness, help, power, and intervention. That every one of those gifts are wrapped up in the gospel of God. 

It is easy to become complacent about the gift we have in Jesus. It is easy to take it for granted. But, how can we take for granted the fact that we have been rescued from an eternity without God, brought into His amazing kingdom, had our sins forgiven forever, our shame removed and given a purpose that He created us for so that we can join Him in His work? If we can take all that for granted we don’t understand the amazing, incredible gift He has given us. 

Every day as I ask God to forgive my sins, I am accessing the gospel. Each time I ask for God’s help in a situation I am accessing the gospel. Each time that I see the fruit of the Spirit active in my life, I am accessing the gospel. The gospel of God is good news every day of our lives until we meet Him face to face where we will be complete.

I don’t know who said it but whoever wrote, “I must preach the gospel to myself every day,” was right. It is the good news contained in the gospel that gives every day meaning along with the healing and renovation of our brokenness. Never tire of the gospel in your life. Never take it for granted. On those days when you are sad and depressed, thank God for the gospel and all its gifts to you. Once we say yes to His good news, we live with that good news each and every day.

Father, I thank you for the gospel and for all the good news contained within it. Remind me every day of that amazing gift and on those days that are hard, remind me again,  that gospel is the greatest news we could ever experience every day. Amen.

We have been looking at the implications of the gospel for our lives and our world. As we have seen it encompasses all the blessings of God that come to us with salvation. We have also seen that it brings with it God’s Kingdom to earth. A heavenly kingdom with heavenly values and commitments. This is an important distinction about the gospel because many believers believe that the gospel is simply between God and myself. It is about being saved and going to heaven when I die. Beyond that, the gospel has no other requirements. That thinking is a sad parody, and a totally inadequate understanding of what the gospel is and the kingdom of God that we now inhabit.

Hear me. The gospel is designed to transform all corners of our lives and our world. It is designed to bring God’s perfect will to earth as it is found in heaven (the Lord’s prayer).

There is one aspect of the gospel and His kingdom that gets far too little attention. That is the issue of racial reconciliation. Through the gospel, God intends that the racial divides that our city and our world struggles with are destroyed and that divided people become one in Christ. 

In Revelation 7:9 we get a wonderful and amazing picture of heaven. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Here in this amazing picture, the Apostle John sees the nations and peoples and tribes and languages of this world praising God in one voice, as one undivided people in complete harmony with one another. 

My friends, that is what God does and wants to do through the Gospel. The gospel brings peace between us and God. But the gospel is also to bring peace between those of different races, social groups, white, black and brown into one family of God. The church in large part has yet to live out this call of the gospel.

Listen carefully to what Paul says about this in Ephesians 2:14-22.  For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,  by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The gospel brings peace between us and God. It also is to bring peace between different people groups like the Jews and Gentiles Paul is speaking to. He says, God has destroyed the wall of hostility between us and has formed a new humanity out of many bringing peace between them. This is the gospel mandate for racial reconciliation and understanding and to create here on earth what will be in heaven. This is not an option but a responsibility of every person who is part of the Kingdom of God. 

This is also why Forest City Church takes racial reconciliation so seriously. It is the mandate of God, contained in the gospel and central to the kingdom Jesus inaugurated. 

Father, in our divided world, would you help me to live out the prayer of Francis of Assisi today:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

 

O divine Master,

Throughout the gospels, Jesus continually proclaims that the Kingdom of God has come. Sometimes he calls it the Kingdom of heaven or the good news of the Kingdom. In Matthew 4:23, for instance we read that “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” 

Yesterday we said that the gospel literally means “good news.” When Jesus proclaims the “good news of the kingdom,” he is clearly saying that the gospel is about a kingdom. His kingdom which has come to earth through Him.

Since the fall of mankind in the garden, the earth had been under the sway of Satan and evil. Now, the God of the universe has appeared in the incarnation, the creator becoming a creature so that His creatures can know the creator and the evil one’s power destroyed through the creator's death and resurrection. This is the most amazing good news a fallen world could ever have. 

And with that good news comes a whole different kingdom. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. The gospel changes everything. Those who have accepted the gift of salvation, who have been changed through the gospel are no longer members of the kingdom of this world but are members of God’s kingdom living in this world. In God’s kingdom, all people matter, there is no racism or injustice. It is a kingdom that lives by the ethics and righteousness of God. 

This is why we are told to pray, in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God wants His kingdom to come to earth. To our places of business, our neighborhoods, our schools and wherever we work and have influence. And how does it come? It comes through those of us who are members of his kingdom because we have been changed by the good news of the gospel. 

Too many Christians today think that the gospel is about one thing only: Gaining salvation so they have a ticket to heaven. That is only one small part of the gospel. The gospel encompasses God’s kingdom. God did not save you simply to get you to heaven. He saved you so that you would join Him in his transformational work in this world to bring the good news and the hope, joy, righteousness, ethics, practices of His kingdom to the places we live and work and the relationships we have. The gospel changes our commitments, relationships and lifestyles and calls us to join God in bringing real transformation to individuals, institutions and communities in the name of Jesus. 

There is literally no part of our lives, our communities, our institutions, or our relationships that should not be touched and transformed by the gospel. As those changed by the gospel we are now citizens of heaven and live by the righteousness of God and His Kingdom. 

Father, as I walk through my day today, help me remember that I represent you and your kingdom. Use me to bring your kingdom to earth, to the places that I live and work and relate. Help me to be your subversive influence in a world that is driven by its own kingdom priorities rather than yours. May your kingdom come and your will be done through me on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.