Sunday, March 28 – Day 40

Seeking His Peace Among All Peoples

Seek God…for Christ to visit our communities

                …with His presence and transforming power

Today is the last day, sort of, and since we only have one entry; it is a little lengthy but it is all good.

Part One of Three

Silence or Praise – the choice is ours – stones or living stones?

It’s a parade!  Jesus entered the city to large crowds of people!  Hosanna!  Palm branches on the ground in front of Him! (Thus the name.)  Shouts!  Jumping up and down, climbing trees – what a day!  The rulers spoke to Jesus – “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  His reply, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  The stones…

(We are reminded of John The Baptist confronting some Jewish leaders;  “and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ' We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.  From these stones…  Matthew 3:8-10)

On Good Friday the stones did cry out.  “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks (stones) were split.” Matthew 27:50-51 

Let us ponder one sentence in the children’s prayer for today, Day 40.  Lord “As interesting as it would be to watch the stones worship You – we’d like for the crowd of worshipping people to be so loud that they don’t need to cry out.”  A worshipping people or shall we say…living stones? Yes! living stones that have died to themselves (split open, yielded the throne of their life) and found their true calling as sons and daughters of God.

Part Two of Three

Will a Zeal and a Passion for HIS House consume us?

No paragraph, just the question and a scripture for us all to ponder. John 2:13-17

Part Three of Three

Seek God On Behalf Of The Coming Generation

On Day 39, I wrote about the elder Caleb taking the high country.  Today, we stand with the Joshua’s and those even younger!  An entire generation died in the wilderness because they believed a bad report from 10 of the 12 spies.  After 40 years in the wilderness, those that ‘crossed over’ into the Promised Land had been taught the ways of God by Moses, Caleb and Joshua.  They believed.  They obeyed.  The put their faith into action and took the land.

Oh God – may those of us who are “older” have a heart for and to teach the coming generation so that someday we will have mighty men and women to hand the baton to!  May the younger generation find a way to listen and learn from us so that they are equipped to do war!  May we serve in this hour and this day with passion and a “Zeal for Your House” that will consume us!  Amen.

Brother Charles

Serve The City

Friday, March 26 – Day 38

Seeking His Peace Among All Peoples
Seek God…to gather all peoples in worship

One day all believers in Christ will worship Jesus together. John described this glorious scene, “After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. They were shouting out in a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God, to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9–10 NET).

I was able to experience a glimpse of such worship when I was in India earlier this month. I was with fellow Christ-followers who literally had nothing. They were the poorest of the poor. They have nothing in this world but Jesus, and Jesus is enough! I experienced worship with such joy and happiness because of God’s love and grace.

I am so glad that we are beginning to experience such worship in our community. This is happening as Serve The City churches unite together to reach our community for Christ and proclaim the praise of the One who saved us. We are linking arms for the cause of Christ regardless of denominations, traditions or differing cultures.

May we continue to move out of our comfort zones and reach out to every person both locally and globally. May you and I pray for God to break down barriers in our hearts that keep us from unconditionally loving those who are “different” from us. Pray for unity among God’s people that is so obvious that people in our communities take notice. Pray for God to be glorified as we gather together to serve Christ by serving the city.

Bob Westfall
New Covenant Bible Church