VIDEO First Responses – Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

First Responses

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel 2:19

Sadly, “first responders” is a term we know all too well today. They are the trained technicians who are the first on the scene of a tragedy or disaster: police, medical personnel, fire fighters, wilderness and water rescuers, various military units, humanitarian teams, and others. What is the first response of the first responders? It is to save, to help, to give aid and comfort wherever needed.

Christians might be considered “first responders” in the world as well, offering whatever practical help we can to those in need. But what about our “first response”? Paul gives three good ones in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: rejoice, pray, give thanks. Specifically, how often do we couple prayer and thanksgiving together? When we pray, and God answers, what is our first response? In Scripture, it is often praise before anything else. When Daniel and his three friends prayed for God’s intervention in Babylon, the answer came and Daniel’s first response was to praise God (Daniel 2:17-23).

God is to be praised and thanked in all things, as Paul wrote—but especially when He answers our prayers.

When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I’m lost in wonder, love, and praise. Joseph Addison

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Bible Study: Daniel Chapter 2 Prophecy Explained: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream Part A

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Bible Study: Daniel Chapter 2 Prophecy Explained: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream Part B

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Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream and Interpretation from Daniel 2

Through a New Lens

God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.   Romans 1:20

 

“It must be amazing to look at a tree and see the individual leaves instead of just a blur of green!” my dad said. I couldn’t have said it better. I was eighteen at the time and not a fan of my new need to wear glasses, but they changed the way I saw everything, making the blurry beautiful!

When reading Scripture, I view certain books like I do when I look at trees without my glasses. There doesn’t seem to be much to see. But noticing details can reveal the beauty in what might seem to be a boring passage.

This happened to me when I was reading Exodus. God’s directions for building the tabernacle—His temporary dwelling place among the Israelites­—can seem like a blur of boring details. But I paused at the end of chapter 25 where God gave directions for the lampstand. It was to be hammered out “of pure gold,” including its base and shaft and its flowerlike cups, buds, and blossoms (v. 31). The cups were to be “shaped like almond flowers” (v. 34).

Almond trees are breathtaking. And God incorporated that same natural beauty into His tabernacle!

Paul wrote, “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature” are seen and understood in creation (Romans 1:20). To see God’s beauty, sometimes we have to look at creation, and what might seem like uninteresting passages in the Bible, through a new lens.

By Julie Schwab

Reflect & Pray

How can you look at Scripture in a new way to see God’s beauty in it? How has God’s beautiful creation drawn you closer to Him?

The Battle of Faith

2 Chronicles 20:1-18

Faith sometimes feels like a battle. One day we’re drawn in the direction of trusting God, but then suddenly we’re on the other side, doubting Him. The pendulum of our thinking and emotions can swing from confidence to uncertainty all too easily. But thankfully, God provides a key to stabilizing our faith.

Periods of doubt-inducing fear, anger, or stress are normal for human beings, but as Christians, we have the Spirit’s power to bring these natural feelings under subjection to the Lord. One of the best ways to begin this process is by recalling His nature and promises. When Satan feeds us reasons to doubt, God wants us to draw from our well of scriptural truth because focusing on the Father swings our pendulum to trust.

In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat learned of an incoming attack. Despite an initial reaction of fear, he demonstrated total confidence in God. Calling the people of Judah together, he offered an amazing God-centered prayer.

• He began by praising God as the all-powerful ruler of all the nations (2 Chronicles 20:6). 
• He recalled how the Lord had fought for Israel in the past (2 Chronicles 20:7-9). 
• Then based on God’s attributes and previous promises and provision, He requested divine protection in their current situation (2 Chronicles 20:10-12).

Jehoshaphat didn’t look at the approaching army but at His God. This is a wonderful pattern for us to follow whenever we feel our faith faltering. The more we contemplate the difficulties we’re facing, the bigger they will seem. But if we turn our attention to almighty God, He will be magnified and our faith will grow.

 

When God Doesn’t Appear to Hear

“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

People often complain that God doesn’t hear their prayers, especially when God does not respond in the way they would like. But He can hear, all right! “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear?” He even hears our thoughts. “Thou knowest . . . my thought afar off” (Psalm 94:9; 139:2).

It is not that God cannot hear, but it just may be that we have not met the conditions for answered prayer so that He will hear. Probably the most important of these conditions is obedience to His Word. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,” said Jesus, “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). But, “if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).

There are other conditions, of course. “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” (James 1:6). “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,” said Jesus (John 14:13). “If we ask any thing according to his will . . . we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

Even if we do meet all the conditions, however, He may not answer immediately or in the way we prefer, and He might even answer no. After all, He knows better than we just what is best for us, and He will see that “all things work together for good” for us if we truly “love God” (Romans 8:28).

But, first of all, we need to check our lives in relation to His Word. Then, “if our heart condemn us not . . . whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments” (1 John 3:21-22). HMM

Find Normal Christians

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

—1 Peter 1:8

Is the Lord Jesus Christ your most precious treasure in this world? If so, you can count yourself among normal Christians.

Is the moral beauty which is found only in Jesus Christ constantly drawing you to praise and worship? If so you are indeed among those whom God’s Word identifies as normal, believing, practicing Christians.

But I can almost anticipate an objection. If someone is that delighted and that occupied with the person of Jesus Christ, is he or she not an extremist rather than a normal Christian?

Have professing Christians really come to that time in their humanistic and secularistic leanings that they can sincerely deny that loving Jesus Christ with all their heart and soul and strength is normal Christianity? We must not be reading and studying the same Bible!

How can anyone profess to be a follower and a disciple of Jesus Christ and not be overwhelmed by His attributes? These divine attributes attest that He is indeed Lord of all, completely worthy of our worship and praise. WHT105-106

Lord, I pray that You would restore in Your Church a belief that those who love You with all their heart, soul and mind are normal, and worthy of imitation. May we be overwhelmed by Your attributes. Amen.

 

Let not your hearts faint, fear not

Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them.—Deuteronomy 22:3.

 

Son of the living God! Oh, call us

Once and again to follow Thee,

And give us strength, whate’er befall us,

Thy true disciples still to be.

 

And if our coward hearts deny Thee.

In most thought, or deed, or word,

Let not our hardness still defy Thee,

But with a look subdue us, Lord.

Henry A. Martin.

 

Half our difficulty in doing anything worthy of our high calling is the shrinking anticipation of its possible after-consequences. But if Peter had tarried, and cast up all that was to come, the poverty, and wandering, and solitude, and lonely old age, the outcast life, and chance of a fearful death, it may be he would have been neither an Apostle nor a Christian.

Henry Edward Manning.

 

Some men will follow Christ on certain conditions—if He will not lead them through rough roads—if He will not enjoin them any painful tasks—if the sun and wind do not annoy them if He will remit a part of His plan and order. But the true Christian, who has the spirit of Jesus, will say, as Ruth said to Naomi,” Whither thou goest I will go,” whatever difficulties and timers may be in the way.

Richard Cecil.

 

Need An Invitation to Pray?

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jer. 33:3

God encourages us to pray. They tell us that prayer is a pious exercise which has no influence except upon the mind engaged in it. We know better. Our experience gives the lie a thousand times over to this infidel assertion. Here Jehovah, the living God, distinctly promises to answer the prayer of His servant. Let us call upon Him again, and admit no doubt upon the question of His hearing us and answering us. He that made the ear, shall He not hear? He that gave parents a love to their children, will He not listen to the cries of His own sons and daughters?

God will answer His pleading people in their anguish. He has wonders in store for them. What they have never seen, heard of, or dreamed of, He will do for them. He will invent new blessings if needful. He will ransack sea and land to feed them: He will send every angel out of Heaven to succor them, if their distress requires it. He will astound us with His grace, and make us feel that it was never before done in this fashion. All He asks of us is that we will call upon Him. He cannot ask less of us. Let us cheerfully render Him our prayers at once.

 

VIDEO Just Rewards – I Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Gave the Growth

Just Rewards

Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 1 Corinthians 3:8

The techniques of some of history’s greatest teachers—like Solomon, Jesus, and Paul—are illustrated in Scripture. Specifically, we learn from their use of metaphors and illustrations to make their spiritual and practical points.

In the space of seventeen verses (1 Corinthians 3:1-17), Paul uses metaphors to promote unity in the Church and illustrate the basis for eternal rewards. He uses an agricultural metaphor (verses 6-8), and an architectural metaphor (verses 10-17) to talk about rewards. How we plant and how we build will be tested by God. How we have used what God has given will determine our rewards or the lack of them. So, what have we been given with which to serve Christ? Grace, love, spiritual gifts, the Holy Spirit, talents and abilities, time, tangible resources—everything we have is given to us to use faithfully for Christ and His Kingdom.

If the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10) took place today, how would your works fare in the fire of God’s presence? Purpose that today will be a day of faithfulness.

Today, let us rise and go to our work. Tomorrow, we shall rise and go to our reward.  Richard Fuller

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John Piper sermon: I Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Gave the Growth

Divine Diversions

They tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. Acts 16:7

It can be difficult when we’re told “no” or “not now,” especially when we sense God has opened a door for us to serve others. Early in my ministry, two opportunities came my way where I thought my gifts and skills matched the churches’ needs, but both doors eventually closed. After these two disappointments, another position came along, and I was selected. With that ministry call came thirteen years of life-touching pastoral labors.

Twice in Acts 16 Paul and company were redirected by God. First, they were “kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia” (v. 6). Then, “When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to” (v. 7). Unknown to them, God had other plans that would be right for His work and workers. His no to the previous plans put them in a position to listen to and be confidently led by Him (vv. 9–10).

Who among us hasn’t grieved what we initially thought to be a painful loss? We’ve felt wounded when we didn’t get a certain job, when a service opportunity didn’t materialize, when a relocation got derailed. Though such things can momentarily be weighty, time often reveals that such detours are actually divine diversions that God graciously uses to get us where He wants us, and we are grateful.

By Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

What loss have you grieved only to be grateful that what you desired you didn’t get? How did the situation serve to bolster your trust in the Lord?

Father, I praise You that in Your wisdom You know how to best arrange my life. Thank You for protecting me through Your detours.

The Foundation of Faith

1 Corinthians 3:9-20

At salvation, everything we’ve built our life upon comes crashing down and is removed like rubble from a vacant lot. Then a new foundation is laid in Christ, and we begin building upon it day by day with our deeds and motives. As with any building project, we have a choice about which materials to use. They may all look good on the surface, but the real test of their quality will be revealed when we stand before Christ to be “recompensed for [our] deeds in the body, according to what [we have] done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Therefore, we should carefully consider what we are using as building materials. The world offers us many philosophies from which to choose. We are told that we can mix a little worldly wisdom with a bit of Scripture and create a suitable Christian life. But Paul warns that if anyone thinks he is wise in this age, he is a fool. God will destroy everything we use that is derived from the world rather than from the truth of His Word.

Building a solid house of faith on the foundation of Christ is a lifelong process. Through prayer and meditation on Scripture, we learn to know and love our heavenly Father and understand what pleases Him. As He transforms our life through His Spirit, our actions and attitudes become increasingly obedient and godly.

With so much at stake, our goal should be to establish our life on the foundation of Christ, with righteous actions and attitudes empowered by the Holy Spirit. Such a faith house will stand firm in this life and be worthy of reward in the next.