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Day 2: In Your Midst

Luke 17:20-21 (NIV)
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

“Jesus begins his reply by noting that the kingdom does not come with signs to be observed. This remark is important, because Jesus is challenging the idea that the kingdom’s coming is marked with some cosmic display. The Pharisees’ expectations need changing…Jesus’ point is that the kingdom hope is present in his presence. All efforts to try to determine where it might be located are a waste of energy, given its proximity.” [Bock, Darrell L., Luke, NIVAC, 451]

Where do you have the question, “when is the kingdom of God going to come?” or “who can help me?”, “when will things get better?” Hear from Jesus that the kingdom of God, the Helper we need is already here in our midst, accessible to us already in Jesus.

Prayer: Father, may my expectations and ideas about your kingdom be shaped by your word, that it is not far off, but very close, within my reach. So as I reach out my hand to you, Jesus, fill me with your presence, hope and help. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s rejoice as we sing “I Will See The Lord (Land of the Living)” by People & Song (click here).

-KW

 

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Day 1: Already Not Yet

Matthew 4:17 (NIV)
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV)
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

“[The gospel] is the story of God’s kingdom being launched on earth as in heaven, generating a new state of affairs in which the power of evil has been decisively defeated, the new creation has been decisively launched, and Jesus’s followers have been commissioned and equipped to put that victory and that inaugurated new world into practice.” [N.T. Wright, Surprised By Hope, 204]

God’s kingdom has already come into this world in Jesus Christ, but it is not yet full, and so we pray as Jesus taught us, “may your kingdom come soon!”

Spend time to declare what is ‘already’ and ask for what is ‘not yet’. What of God’s kingdom reality do you need more today – love, joy, peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, power, healing, wisdom…may his kingdom come!

Prayer: Our Father, thank you that your kingdom has come near, it is the true reality I walk in today. And yet there are places where I need to experience more of your kingdom, and so I ask, may your kingdom come soon, on earth as in heaven! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship as we sing “Heaven Invade” by Kari Jobe (click here).

-KW

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Day Five: The Good News

Luke 4:18-19 (NIV)
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

“Jesus himself was the most free person who has ever walked the earth, and his freedom led him to crucifixion. That is because, once more, freedom grows out of love. If you want to know what freedom really means, think of the time you’ve been loved. Of the time when the Son of God loved you and gave himself for you. Of the time when God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” (N.T. Wright, Broken Signposts, p. 132)

“People without Christ are enslaved to sin, subjugated by the powers of death, going through life blind and ignorant to God’s lifegiving ways…they need to hear God’s story of salvation, how he sets us free, how he brings us into true freedom—all the way from slavery, through the wilderness, mountain passageways, through the miracle of the Red Sea, ultimately, Jesus on the cross and his resurrection, God closing back the waters on our past.” [P. Jason Park]

Let’s spend a moment praying for those God brings to your heart.

Prayer:  Father, use me to proclaim the good news of your salvation so that _______ may also find freedom in you! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “No Longer Slaves” by Bethel (click here).

-DP

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Day Four: Freedom From God

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NIV)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

“A common notion of freedom is having no restraints…Freedom from God is about doing what we want and at the same time what we want is also in the best interest of others. Perhaps a way to explain the idea of freedom of the law (similar to an old Alpha video with kids playing soccer but everyone with their own rules—it was chaotic and not fun): You enjoy the game when you can play freely, within the rules, without even having to deliberately articulate each and every ruling, it’s a part of how you think, approach the game, etc. Rules of the game resemble God’s law, or Rule of life, God’s way for living life, a way that’s good for everyone.” [P. Jason Park]

Let’s commit to scheduled time of learning God’s Word and his ways. Contemplate who God is and seek His presence.

Prayer:  Help us to behold you as we worship you and seek you in your Word. Transform us today to be more and more like you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “No Longer I” by Matt Redman (click here)

-DP

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Day Three: Love, And Do What You Will

John 8:34-36 (NIV)
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

“We all know that this ‘doing whatever I want’ kind of freedom can have unintended negative consequences. When we take something good, use it improperly, and it spirals out of control to become a bad thing…that’s like the Biblical definition of sin…But imagine a freedom, where I get to do whatever I truly want… and everything I desire is not only good for me, but it’s good and beneficial for everyone around me. That’s the freedom Jesus is giving us. Augustine said, ‘Love, and do what you will.’ When we truly love God, whatever we do will be loving, good and beneficial not only for ourselves, but for those around us. ‘Love, and do what you will’ because everything God’s love does is good and beneficial for everyone.” [P. Jason Park]

Freedom is not about rights, but it’s about love. We have been set free to obey God and serve others in selfless love. There is no greater freedom than to be who God has called us to be.

Prayer:  Father, help me to freely love, freely give, freely lay my life down to serve others. Fill me with your Spirit once again. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “Holding Nothing Back” by Jesus Culture (click here)

-DP

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Day Two: It Is For Freedom

Galatians 5:1 (NIV)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

“The implications of this Christian freedom as Paul develops it are vast and far-reaching, but essentially he sees freedom as a reality effected in and through the Christ-event, which has broken the power of sin and neutralized the individual hostility against God; which at the same time has covered the guilt and stain of sin and erased the past; which has crushed all enslavement to self, to religious convention, to the present powers of evil, and to cosmic forces; and which has triumphed over every force that dominates humankind, including human mortality itself.” (Scot McKnight, Galatians: The NIV Application Commentary Book 9, pp. 340-341)

We can’t appreciate the freedom in Christ until we humbly recognize what we have been freed from. Christ has purchased our freedom and liberated us from sin, fear, the power of death, from everything that hinders our freedom of living a life of loving God. Let’s take a moment to thank God for all that he has done for us and once again today, let’s preach the gospel to ourselves to remember who we are in Christ.

Prayer:  Father, thank you for setting us free. We are no longer slaves to sin. Thank you that we do not need to return to our old way of life. We praise you for your salvation! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “Living Hope” by Phil Wickham (click here)

-DP

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Day One: Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is

Let’s read aloud together the following passages and prayer:

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NIV)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

John 8:34-36 (NIV)
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Luke 4:18-19 (NIV)
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Prayer: Father, pour out your Spirit upon us. Bring us to freedom in you! Help us to live in your freedom like never before. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is” by Hillsong (click here)

-DP

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Day Five – “I chose you”

John 15:16-17 NIV
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

John 14:12-13 NIV
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

We did not choose Jesus, he chose us to bear fruit. “Fruit of abiding in Jesus includes prayer that is answered by the Father because of obedient remaining… Love and prayer cultivate a life of being on the move in Missio Dei.” (Pastor Nate)

In 14:12-13, Jesus promises that those who remain in him by believing in him will do even “greater things.” These greater things are of greater scope, in that Jesus desires to replicate his supernatural fruit in the lives of his disciples. Just as his obedience, his love, and his joy are replicated in and through our lives, so his greater works and overcoming prayer will be done through us.

Prayer: Lord, we are humbled that you have chosen us and sent us out in your name. Today, bear the fruit of your work in our lives as we abide in you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Let’s worship to the song, “More to Come” by Passion Music (click here).

– LB

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Day Four – Sanctifying

John 15:12-15 NIV
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

“Jesus sanctifies our relationships with one another within the ‘centripetal’ remaining community. He sets these ‘one another’ relationships apart as special, part of our abiding in Jesus. This is uniquely Christian, uniquely replicating Jesus’ friendship with us, to one another through the command to love.” [Pastor Nate’s message]

The centripetal force, like the picture above, is the love of Jesus pulling us in. Because Jesus loved us first, we can love those he has placed in our campus ministries, missional groups and churches. Our communities are to be places of worship and where others can come and experience God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit, we want to do the things you do. Teach us how to love how you have loved us, so that many would come to know you Jesus. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Let’s worship to “Hosanna” by Hillsong (click here).

– LB

 

 

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Day Three – Go Replicate!

Let’s read aloud together the following scripture, confession and prayer:

John 15:7-8 NIV
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Confession – Manila Manifesto – 5. God the Evangelist
The Scriptures declare that God himself is the chief evangelist. For the Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth, love, holiness, and power, and evangelism is impossible without him. It is he who anoints the messenger, confirms the Word, prepares the hearer, convicts the sinful, enlightens the blind, gives life to the dead, enables us to repent and believe, unites us to the body of Christ, assures us that we are God’s children, leads us into Christlike character and service, and sends us out in our turn to be Christ’s witnesses. In all this the Holy Spirit’s main preoccupation is to glorify Jesus Christ by showing him to us and forming him in us.

Let’s pray for our gatherings this week, as we proclaim Jesus’ victory over sin and death. As we abide in Jesus, may we do the work of Jesus on our campuses and in our cities.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, salvation belongs to you. In faith we believe that you can do all things for your glory. Empower us with your Spirit as we bring the good news to our friends, neighbors, and families. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Let’s Worship to “We Need a Miracle” by Charity Gayle (click here).

– LB

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