Waiting on the Lord, witnessing for Him and winning others for Him
‘The
Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may
know how to sustain with a word him that is weary. He wakens me morning
by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught’ (Isaiah
50:4).
We are to listen to God. We are to speak for God.
We cannot speak for God unless we are listening to Him. Before we can speak for God, we must speak to Him.
We must pray, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening’ (1 Samuel 3:9-10). Listening to God comes before speaking for God.
First, we wait on the Lord – ‘I waited patiently for the Lord’.
Then, we witness for the Lord – ‘He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God’.
Waiting on the Lord and witnessing for Him, we will win others for Him – ‘Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord’ (Psalm 40:1-3).
Waiting on the Lord – let us look to Christ, crucified and risen for us.
‘Into Thy hand, I commit my spirit’ (Psalm 31:5).
These words were spoken by Christ when, in death, He gave Himself for our sins (Luke 23:46).
For Christ, there was suffering – ‘I am the scorn of all my adversaries’ (31:11).
His
suffering was followed by rejoicing, the joy of the resurrection – ‘I
will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and
knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy
but have set my feet in a spacious place’ (Psalm 31:7-8).
God
answered the prayer of His Son – He brought Him into the ‘spacious
place’ of the resurrection, the ‘spacious place’ which is, for us,
‘eternal salvation’ (Hebrews 5:7-9). We look to the crucified Christ and
we say, ‘Praise be to the Lord, for He showed His wonderful love to me’
(Psalm 31:21). In the risen Christ, we are ‘strong and our hearts take
courage’ (Psalm 31:24).
In our witness for the Lord, may our whole life declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Do
you feel like you can`t go on? Do you feel like giving up? Here`s God`s
Word of encouragement for you: ‘He who began a good work in you will
bring it to completion at the Day of Jesus Christ’ (Philippians 1:6).
God
finishes what He starts – ‘He didn’t bring us this far to leave us. He
didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn’t build His home in us
to move away. He didn’t lift us up to let us down’.
In all the changes of life, we must remember this: God is faithful.
His love is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable.
We don`t keep going because we are strong. We are ‘kept by the power of God’(1 Peter 1:5).
In ‘humility’, let us live ‘to the glory and praise of God’ (Philippians 2:3; 1:11). ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’(2:11) – He will give you the strength to keep going when you feel like giving up.
Jesus asks, Do you love Me? Let us say Yes – and go out to win others for Him.
Peter and Judas Iscariot had something in common. They both failed their Lord (Matthew 26:14-16, 34).
Things turned out very differently for them (Matthew 27:3-5; Acts 2:38-42).
When we fail the Lord , we find ourselves at a cross-roads. We can turn to Him. We can turn away from Him.
In
view of His great love for us – His ‘blood’ has been ‘poured out for
the forgiveness of sins’ (Matthew 26:28) – how can we turn our backs on
Him? How can you and I say ‘No’ to such love?
There is no reason why we should say ‘No’ to Him – yet we do!
Do we doubt that He is there for us? Do we wonder if He really loves us?
What about you? Do you think that He cannot or will not forgive your sins?
He can and He will. That’s why He died – ‘for the forgiveness of sins’ (Matthew 26:28).
Jesus’ suffering is increasing.
What
pain His disciples caused Him. Three times, He ‘found them sleeping’
(Matthew 26:40-45), ‘My betrayer is at hand’ (Matthew 26:46), ‘all the
disciples forsook Him and fled’ (Matthew 26:56)!
Was
this the end of the road for His disciples? No! With one exception –
Judas Iscariot, whom Jesus still called ‘friend’ (Matthew 26:50), the
others became men of prayer (Acts 1:13-14). They stood with Peter as he
preached the Gospel, as he led many sinners to the Saviour (Acts 2:14,
37-38).
Jesus loved His disciples. He died for them. Then – after Jesus was ‘glorified’- the Spirit was ‘given’to them (John 7:39).
The
fleeing disciples became men ‘on fire’ (Acts 2:3). No more ‘fleeing’.
Now it was ‘flowing’- ‘rivers of living water’(John 7:38). ‘Blaze,
Spirit blaze. Set our hearts on fire. Flow, river, flow. Flood the
nations with grace and mercy’(Mission Praise, 445).
‘Peter followed Him at a distance’ (Matthew 26:58). He didn’t want to get too close!
Keeping your distance from Jesus leads to trouble!
Trouble was not the end of Peter’s story.
Three times Peter denied the Lord (Matthew 26:69-75).
Three times Jesus asked him, ‘Do you love Me?’, three times Peter answered Jesus, ‘I love You’ (John 21:15-17) – for each denial, an opportunity to re-affirm his love for Jesus.
Three thousand souls won for Christ (Acts 2:41) – for each denial, one ‘thousand souls’brought to Christ.
The
contrast between the ‘Peter’ of the Gospels and the ‘Peter’ of Acts is
striking. When Jesus first met Peter, He said, ‘You are Simon… You shall
be called Peter’ (John 1:42).
‘Peter’
means ‘rock’. Peter’s confession of faith – ‘You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God’ (Matthew 16:16) – is the Rock on which our faith
is built.
With Peter, let us confess Christ.
Jesus went to the Cross for us. Refusing to protest His own innocence, He took our guilt upon Himself.
Observing this, ‘the governor wondered greatly’ (Matthew 27:14).
We
also should wonder greatly at this – Christ took our place, receiving
the punishment that should have been ours. Barabbas was released, Christ
was crucified (Matthew 27:26).
This is the great exchange – the sinless Saviour takes the place of the guilty sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21).
As
well as its divine aspect – ‘God so loved…’ (John 3:16) – the Cross has
a human dimension – the people, Jews and Gentiles (the whole sinful
world), sent Jesus to the Cross.
For Jews and Gentiles (‘the whole world’), Christ has provided salvation (Romans 1:16; 1 John 2:2).
In
the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Christ, we are invited
to ask ourselves, ‘What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’
(Matthew 27:22).
The ‘King of the Jews’ wore ‘a crown of thorns’ (Matthew 27:29).
In the Cross, we see the King.
The way of crucifixion – this is the way of the Kingdom.
The prayer, ‘Thy Kingdom come’ (Matthew 6:10), could only be answered by way of the Cross.
From
the Cross, we hear the call for decision. It is the call of love. The
love of Christ calls for our answer: ‘What shall I do with Jesus who is
called Christ?’ (Matthew 27:22).
Here,
we see different responses to Christ – derision, mocking, reviling
(Matthew 27:39-44); misunderstanding (Matthew 27:47-49); believing
worship (Matthew 27:54).
How
are we brought out of unbelief and into faith, out of derision and into
rejoicing? By the mighty working of God in our hearts, we are brought
out of darkness and into light (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Salvation comes from above, from God – ‘The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom’ (Matthew 27:51).
‘Mary the mother of James and Joseph’ was also the mother of Jesus (Matthew 27:56; 13:55).
She
began by receiving Jesus, not only as her son but also as her Saviour
(Luke 1:38). She was still following Jesus – ‘kept by the power of
God’(1 Peter 1:5). None of us – not even the mother of Jesus – can walk
with the Lord without His grace keeping us in the way of faith.
The unbelieving world still denies Christ – ‘that imposter’ (Matthew 27:63) – and His resurrection – ‘fraud’ (Matthew 27:64).
As believers, we must maintain our testimony: ‘He has risen from the dead’ (Matthew 27:64).
The
unbelievers expected a ‘fraud’. They did not expect a resurrection! For
them, a resurrection was out of the question. God had a surprise in
store for them!
Unbelief says, ‘Resurrection? – Impossible!’. Faith says, ‘it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him’ (Acts 2:24).
He has risen (Matthew 28:6) – Hallelujah!
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