The Fighting Stance of the Christian.
Sermon Sentence: The best way to get through tomorrow is to be reminded that you have everything you need today.
Memory Verse:
'And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. '
Galatians 6:9
Memory Verse:
'And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. '
Galatians 6:9
Day 1
Read Jeremiah 23:1-8
The goal over the next couple of weeks in our devotions, will be to look at the story of Jesus through prophecy and the gospels. Our Advent-style readings will be geared in a way that is focusing our minds on the birth of Jesus in this Christmas season. Some of these readings you may not fully get, because the total view of the historical context won’t be able to be brought into focus through these short devotions. Prophecy is not always easy to read and understand. Maybe that is your thought here. But take the time to consider being raised with these ideas ingrained in the way that you think. Jeremiah was a prophet that proclaimed the word of the Lord in not a good time. He takes on the reputation of being the Weeping Prophet because of the darkness in some of his writings. You don’t have to imagine a version of that too hard. You can relate to the constant letdown of leadership that is sold over and over again as the solution to the problem. You can relate to the feeling of being told that so many times, that you start to lose hope in it. Not just hope in that, but you start to lose hope in the very idea that there will be a good version of it all coming one day. We start to convince ourselves that life is just going to get worse and worse and end in darkness.
That was the very idea the prophecies were fighting against. No it won’t only ever get darker, there is a day coming, a light, a glimmer of hope is still on the horizon…or a better way of saying it all: there is a new day coming! Jeremiah, here tells of a Branch of David. Think about that. He is appealing to the glory days of when everyone thought it was great, the days of the great King David, and declaring that there is a “chip off of” that block on the way! A Righteous Branch that brings about good and justice and wisdom and all of the things that we long for. That was the Messiah they were waiting for!
Jesus has come and is the Messiah that these verses are talking about. How do these themes of “this is not the best it gets” ring true still today?
How do these ideas help you in what you are going through today?
How does this become part of your prayer?
The goal over the next couple of weeks in our devotions, will be to look at the story of Jesus through prophecy and the gospels. Our Advent-style readings will be geared in a way that is focusing our minds on the birth of Jesus in this Christmas season. Some of these readings you may not fully get, because the total view of the historical context won’t be able to be brought into focus through these short devotions. Prophecy is not always easy to read and understand. Maybe that is your thought here. But take the time to consider being raised with these ideas ingrained in the way that you think. Jeremiah was a prophet that proclaimed the word of the Lord in not a good time. He takes on the reputation of being the Weeping Prophet because of the darkness in some of his writings. You don’t have to imagine a version of that too hard. You can relate to the constant letdown of leadership that is sold over and over again as the solution to the problem. You can relate to the feeling of being told that so many times, that you start to lose hope in it. Not just hope in that, but you start to lose hope in the very idea that there will be a good version of it all coming one day. We start to convince ourselves that life is just going to get worse and worse and end in darkness.
That was the very idea the prophecies were fighting against. No it won’t only ever get darker, there is a day coming, a light, a glimmer of hope is still on the horizon…or a better way of saying it all: there is a new day coming! Jeremiah, here tells of a Branch of David. Think about that. He is appealing to the glory days of when everyone thought it was great, the days of the great King David, and declaring that there is a “chip off of” that block on the way! A Righteous Branch that brings about good and justice and wisdom and all of the things that we long for. That was the Messiah they were waiting for!
Jesus has come and is the Messiah that these verses are talking about. How do these themes of “this is not the best it gets” ring true still today?
How do these ideas help you in what you are going through today?
How does this become part of your prayer?
Day 2
Read Matthew 1:1-17
My brother called me the other day, concerned about an aunt that we grew up with that he had just spoken with. He told me he was concerned because in his conversation with her, she thought he was maybe losing her memory as she talked about a cousin of ours and thought he was this cousin. I was confused. I didn’t know who the cousin was or that I even had a cousin with that name. I asked him if he should also be concerned about me and my memory as well!
Many people have family trees that have been compiled from relatives on one of the many sites that offers that service. I have heard stories of people tracing lineage back to some very interesting discoveries. Rarely are the genealogies read in the Bible and considered riveting reads. But rather than read this for enjoyment sake, try thinking about the stories that you are reminded of.
How do these stories that you recognize point to Jesus as the coming Savior?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
My brother called me the other day, concerned about an aunt that we grew up with that he had just spoken with. He told me he was concerned because in his conversation with her, she thought he was maybe losing her memory as she talked about a cousin of ours and thought he was this cousin. I was confused. I didn’t know who the cousin was or that I even had a cousin with that name. I asked him if he should also be concerned about me and my memory as well!
Many people have family trees that have been compiled from relatives on one of the many sites that offers that service. I have heard stories of people tracing lineage back to some very interesting discoveries. Rarely are the genealogies read in the Bible and considered riveting reads. But rather than read this for enjoyment sake, try thinking about the stories that you are reminded of.
How do these stories that you recognize point to Jesus as the coming Savior?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13
When it comes to prophecy of Jesus, David is one of the key characters to get to understand. He was the greatest king that Israel had ever known and marked the memories of the glory days. David was a great king, but was also the story that was constantly used to mark the idea of the King of all Kings that was coming one day. Shortly after David, the kingdom was divided and it never was what it used to be as Israel didn’t get to experience the peace they longed for or the land that they were promised to have. But one day, there would be a new King, a better David, that would bring it all back to better than it was before. David was the unexpected one anointed to be the king in this passage, just as Jesus, born in Bethlehem in a manger, would be the unexpected King of Kings coming to save his people, not through war and conquest, like David, but rather through sacrifice and death on a cross.
What elements in this story are important for understanding the connection to the story of Jesus?
What do you think the point of the anointing was in this story and what did that look like?
When it comes to prophecy of Jesus, David is one of the key characters to get to understand. He was the greatest king that Israel had ever known and marked the memories of the glory days. David was a great king, but was also the story that was constantly used to mark the idea of the King of all Kings that was coming one day. Shortly after David, the kingdom was divided and it never was what it used to be as Israel didn’t get to experience the peace they longed for or the land that they were promised to have. But one day, there would be a new King, a better David, that would bring it all back to better than it was before. David was the unexpected one anointed to be the king in this passage, just as Jesus, born in Bethlehem in a manger, would be the unexpected King of Kings coming to save his people, not through war and conquest, like David, but rather through sacrifice and death on a cross.
What elements in this story are important for understanding the connection to the story of Jesus?
What do you think the point of the anointing was in this story and what did that look like?
Day 4
Read 2 Samuel 7:1-21
There are legal contracts and there are covenants, and they are not the same thing. A covenant is much deeper and much less legal, but is much more binding in its consideration of the two parties entering it. The easiest covenant we have to illustrate the point is that of marriage. For God, He used covenants to trace His story throughout history. Abraham had a covenant, Noah was given a covenant. And David is given one as well. That covenant is contained in what you just read and has Messianic flavors and views of the coming Jesus all throughout it. Constantly the story of Israel’s relationship with God will be told referencing this through history. This covenant is the promise that if David tries it all out God’s way, for the rest of his lineage’s history, God will weave his story into theirs with blessings. David wanted to build God a house, literally. But God countered David’s offer with the promise to make him a house instead. The house God was building would have much more impact and bearings than the physical house that David longed to build in that moment. The point is simple, God’s promise was so much greater than David could have imagined. It is why when the prophetNathan hears the plan David has, he responds with a green light to “Go and do…” (verse 3) but when God intervenes, Nathan then changes his instructions to “Sit and know…” (verse 21)
How was Jesus the fulfillment of what David is promised here?
What can you learn from the lesson of Nathan’s changed teaching from “Go and do…” to “Sit and know…”?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
There are legal contracts and there are covenants, and they are not the same thing. A covenant is much deeper and much less legal, but is much more binding in its consideration of the two parties entering it. The easiest covenant we have to illustrate the point is that of marriage. For God, He used covenants to trace His story throughout history. Abraham had a covenant, Noah was given a covenant. And David is given one as well. That covenant is contained in what you just read and has Messianic flavors and views of the coming Jesus all throughout it. Constantly the story of Israel’s relationship with God will be told referencing this through history. This covenant is the promise that if David tries it all out God’s way, for the rest of his lineage’s history, God will weave his story into theirs with blessings. David wanted to build God a house, literally. But God countered David’s offer with the promise to make him a house instead. The house God was building would have much more impact and bearings than the physical house that David longed to build in that moment. The point is simple, God’s promise was so much greater than David could have imagined. It is why when the prophetNathan hears the plan David has, he responds with a green light to “Go and do…” (verse 3) but when God intervenes, Nathan then changes his instructions to “Sit and know…” (verse 21)
How was Jesus the fulfillment of what David is promised here?
What can you learn from the lesson of Nathan’s changed teaching from “Go and do…” to “Sit and know…”?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Isaiah 2:1-5
In the Bible, mountains tell a story and have a significance. Jerusalem was on a mountain. The funny thing is, that it was not the largest mountain around. In fact, it wasn’t close. It is a lot like when we go to the mountains here. Sure, they are mountains, but Colorado has MOUNTAINS. The Garden of Eden is portrayed as a mountain. All mountains in the Bible are seen as the uninhabited places of awe and wonder, and therefore become associated with the gods and their dwelling place. That is why when you see things like the discussion of the mountain of God, that is what is being referenced and talked about. It is trying to get you to imagine the place of God, who’s mountain is the highest of all! The funny thing is that physically it wasn’t. But the language was for the purpose of you seeing that God was above all gods or anything that could build itself up on a mountain like place. New Jerusalem is portrayed in Revelation as a mountain as well. These are fun things to explore in the Bible and I know that we do not necessarily have the time to do that here in this devotion, but try to read these verses as if you were seeing mountains from the perspective of the early Jewish writers. God’s great throne-mountain is coming soon! That is the promise, the rise of the greatest mountain that you have ever heard of or thought about. On that mountain, there will be people and a place unlike anything else you could imagine. Mountains were secure for attack, but this mountain would be the most peaceful there was and the life of this mountain would be unlike anything ever experienced! The “word” of the Lord shall dwell there and be the difference. (Think about John 1…or read it)
What are some other images you are able to think about as you are reading this passage?
Ok…if you read John 1, how does this passage fit in with that?
How does this become your prayer today?
In the Bible, mountains tell a story and have a significance. Jerusalem was on a mountain. The funny thing is, that it was not the largest mountain around. In fact, it wasn’t close. It is a lot like when we go to the mountains here. Sure, they are mountains, but Colorado has MOUNTAINS. The Garden of Eden is portrayed as a mountain. All mountains in the Bible are seen as the uninhabited places of awe and wonder, and therefore become associated with the gods and their dwelling place. That is why when you see things like the discussion of the mountain of God, that is what is being referenced and talked about. It is trying to get you to imagine the place of God, who’s mountain is the highest of all! The funny thing is that physically it wasn’t. But the language was for the purpose of you seeing that God was above all gods or anything that could build itself up on a mountain like place. New Jerusalem is portrayed in Revelation as a mountain as well. These are fun things to explore in the Bible and I know that we do not necessarily have the time to do that here in this devotion, but try to read these verses as if you were seeing mountains from the perspective of the early Jewish writers. God’s great throne-mountain is coming soon! That is the promise, the rise of the greatest mountain that you have ever heard of or thought about. On that mountain, there will be people and a place unlike anything else you could imagine. Mountains were secure for attack, but this mountain would be the most peaceful there was and the life of this mountain would be unlike anything ever experienced! The “word” of the Lord shall dwell there and be the difference. (Think about John 1…or read it)
What are some other images you are able to think about as you are reading this passage?
Ok…if you read John 1, how does this passage fit in with that?
How does this become your prayer today?
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