NOTICE GOD IN THE ORDINARY

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:13


Esther is the only book in the sixty-six books of the Bible where God’s name is not mentioned – not even once. We might be tempted to think He’s not involved in her story because we can’t see His name. Not so! Just check out these amazing God sightings – evidences and signs of His presence!

Fact: King Xerxes’ search for a queen was done in every province of his realm. The girls needed to be beautiful, young virgins.

God sighting: Esther, the girl God chose to use to save His people, lived in King Xerxes’ kingdom, and was a beautiful young virgin (Esther 2:7).

Fact: Mordecai was Esther’s older cousin who became her foster father after her parents died. Mordecai was also a Jew. Because he was a Jew and refused to bow before Haman, the king’s highest ranking noble, Haman built a gallows, 75-feet high, and made a plan to hang Mordecai.

God sighting: On the night that Haman was building the gallows, God kept the king awake – he couldn’t sleep! Wide-awake, the king ordered the record of his reign be read to him. He discovered that Mordecai saved his life when someone was trying to assassinate him. The king wanted to recognize Mordecai for his help, and whom did he ask to help? The man who wanted to hang him – Haman himself (Esther 6:10-11)!

Fact: Haman plotted to kill all the Jews and received the unsuspecting king’s approval to do it.

God sighting: Esther was queen and no one suspected she was a Jew. God placed her in a unique position to go into the king’s presence and beg for mercy for his people (Esther 4:14).

Fact: Evil Haman is second in charge in the kingdom, and fully expected that everything be done according to his plan.

God sighting: God used Haman’s evil wife Zeresh to speak truth to Haman about Who is really in charge and directing all the plans (Esther 6:13).

Fact: God sightings are not unique to Esther’s story. The same is true for you and me! If we want to find God in our story we must look for Him with all our heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

God sighting: Your turn. Where do you see Him in your story today? Feed the fire by being on watch for God in all places, at all times by noticing Him in the ordinary.

PASSION Step: The book of Ruth is packed with God-sightings, too. Read it this week (and Esther, too!) and count how many you can find!

How often do we need to see God’s face, hear His voice, feel His touch, know His power? The answer to all these questions is the same: Every day!

John Blanchard

OPEN UP AND TALK ABOUT GOD

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:19-20


One of my favorite Christmas carols to hear and watch children sing is Go Tell It On the Mountain. Children sing with passion and are free of inhibitions. They proclaim Jesus’ birth without fear of how people will respond, without wondering if they’ll be rejected or scoffed at, and without questioning whether they’ll be able to answer theological questions about His virgin birth or prophecy fulfilled. They simply open up and sing!

When Jesus rose from the dead Mary Magdalene and the other women became the first heralds of the good news. When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene . . . She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it (Mark 16:9-11).

When Jesus told them, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (Matthew 28:10), the women obeyed. They went and opened up and talked about God. Some who heard doubted them (Matthew 28:17). Some who heard refused to believe (Mark 16:11). Their negative responses didn’t hinder the women from sharing the good news and planting seeds. They understood that God is the One who makes those seeds grow (1 Corinthians 3:6). The results are in His hands.

How often do you open up and talk about God to people who need to hear about Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection? Are you proclaiming it from the mountaintops with child-like passion? Are you obediently going and telling? Or are you tongue-tied, fearful, or silent?

In Greg Laurie’s book, Making God Known – How to Bring Others to Faith, he writes, “According to one poll, nine out of ten American adults cannot accurately define the meaning of the Great Commission. Seven in ten adults have no clue what ‘John 3:16’ means. But the most alarming statistic of all is that 95 percent of Christians have never led another person to Christ.”

We must quit overcomplicating things! We are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), empowered to be His disciple-makers (Matthew 28:19), and chosen to be His royal priesthood that we may declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). You are needed to go and tell! The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few (Luke 10:2).

PASSION Step: Feed the fire: open up and talk about God to someone who doesn’t know Jesus.

"The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. God will hold us responsible at the Judgment Seat of Christ for how well we fulfilled our responsibilities and took advantage of our opportunities."

Billy Graham

Grace and peace,

Lenae

INTERACT WITH GOD’S PEOPLE

Dear Sisters,

Happy June! What special summer plans do you have in place? Bar-B-Que’s, camping, trips, and picnics? Summer schedules tend to be more relaxed. It’s a good and needed season to the rhythm of life. But to feed the fire, we must not relax and retreat to the point of missing opportunities to interact with God’s people at worship. Keep on meeting together, dear sisters! As we enjoy the sun, may we not miss the Son!


Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25


Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). That was certainly my experience around the kitchen table with Jo and Maria on Tuesday night. It was the first time I met Maria. She’s a beautiful Hispanic sister in Jesus whose love for God glows and gushes from her tiny frame. Her single-minded life purpose and focus is to share God’s love with people.

In our two hours together the only thing that interrupted our discussion and the prayers that Maria seamlessly and spontaneously wove into our conversation was her ringing cell phone. How rude, right? Someone needs to take Cell Phone Etiquette 101. Not Maria.

Hurting women were calling Maria because they needed prayer. Maria was a safe place, an ambassador of love that provided something these women hadn’t experienced in the church. Her tears flowed for the women; my heart broke that the church had failed to be the Church.

God has given His people a number of one-another commands. When we gather at church, GEMS, and around kitchen tables with brothers and sisters in Christ, are we “one-anothering” each other? Check the ones that are true for you:

_____You live in harmony with one another. You are not proud, but are willing to associate with people of low position (Romans 12:16).



_____You love one another. Not just the gals you drink coffee with, but you have a huge debt of love for the people in your congregation who are doing everything wrong (Romans 13:8).



_____You offer hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9). You provide practical and genuine care even when it’s not convenient or easy.



_____You speak to one another (not just about the weather or your kids), but with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, you make music in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).



_____You encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Not just at Bible Study or GEMS, but every time you connect with God’s people you encourage them to press on and strain toward the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).


PASSION Step: Look up all the one another commands in Scripture. Feed the fire by obeying them in every relationship.

The church is not something additional or optional. It is at the very heart of God’s purposes. Jesus came to create a people who would model what it means to live under His rule.

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis



Grace and peace,
Lenae