Talk about a “New Year” – a new beginning, a fresh start…
Let’s get right to the point: “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, you can be forgiven and made right with God by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on your behalf by dying for your sins on the cross! That “good news!” … VERY good news!!!
That’s the message of Romans 3:21-26 in God’s word – the Bible. Read it for yourself… I did this morning.
Have you ever had a powerful, awe-inspiring, unforgettable experience with the Living God – a genuine, authentic “God-encounter”? Where and when did it happen? What was its impact on you? Did it happen in church or somewhere else? What were you doing at the time? What was your response?
Now I think everyone needs to have an experience like that! I’ve had a few… and they were life transforming!
Isaiah had one… He was in the temple (“church” if you please). But experiences like this are not limited to “church” – they can happen anywhere. Moses was in the “wilderness” when he experienced God’s presence in a “burning bush”. Paul, the great apostle, was on a horse on his way to Damascus to do something evil. John was all alone, exiled on a desolate island. God can show up ANYWHERE!! I encountered God powerfully as a farm boy in the middle of a plowed field one day (I’ll have to tell you that story someday J)
This morning during “coffee with the Lord” I read about Isaiah’s “God-encounter” in Isaiah 6…
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim… and they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:1-8)
The “where” and “when” of this account doesn’t really matter that much – however, “church” is a wonderful place to encounter God! The impact of Isaiah’s experience is significant… Whenever we truly have a God-encounter we become painfully aware of our inadequacy, our sinfulness, and the fact that without God’s mercy “we are ruined!” But as is often the case in a God-encounter, when we cry out to God for mercy and grace, He hears us and mercifully forgives and cleanses us. Furthermore, he often “sends” us.
My prayer? Oh Heavenly Father, give us more “God-encounters!”
Christians experience indignation and revulsion, and rightly so, at the evil they see expressed in the culture all around them. Evil and injustice seem rampant – society sometimes seems to be coming apart at the seams. The tragedy is some of the terrible injustice and wickedness we have seen in our world has been carried on by religious folk and professing Christians! This ought not to be! It breaks the heart of God and arouses His righteous wrath.
It’s interesting that Isaiah 5.8-23 – a passage that contains six prophetic woes – is a prophetic word spoken to people who claimed to be God’s people and prided themselves in their religious heritage! As I read it this morning during “coffee with the Lord” I felt a “beware” arise in my heart! History is filled with the sad record of self-righteous people who did not guard their hearts and live in practical obedience to God’s word, instead they slipped in to sin, were guilty of terrible oppression and practiced all kinds of wickedness… And yet, they claimed to be “Christians!” What a tragedy! This is not just an Old Testament problem!
Read the passage for yourself from a modern translation like the New Living Translation or The Message (Isaiah 5.8-23). Here’s summary of the sins that brought the “Woe to you…” from God!
Titus 2.1-10 speaks about “sound doctrine” and urges Christians to live the kind of life that “makes the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.” I want to live that way, don’t you?
Coffee With The Lord 