SeedOffering

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…that he lavished on us… Because of his great love for us, God…is rich in mercy. (Ephesians 1:7–8; 2:4–5)

Redemption means “release from slavery.” Redemption involves buying back and setting free by paying a ransom price. Jesus Christ has redeemed us from sin, setting us free from slavery to that sin.

Notice the wording Paul uses to describe and declare redemption: ”lavish,” “great,” “rich.” We don’t merely have enough to satisfy our penalty. We have “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Our position has dramatically and drastically changed from slavery to freedom. Jesus has come to bring abundant and everlasting life.

Reflect and respond in prayer to the words of John Stott: “I wonder if anything is more urgent today, for the honor of Christ and for the spread of the gospel, than that the church should be, and should be seen to be, what by God’s purpose and Christ’s achievement it already is—a single new humanity, a model of human community, a family of reconciled brothers and sisters who love their Father and who love each other, the evident dwelling place of God by his Spirit. Only then will the world believe in Christ as Peacemaker. Only then will God receive the glory due to his name.”

Prayer Focus: Dominican Republic

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But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. (Deuteronomy 8:18)

Moses reminds the Israelites to have a realistic awareness of their dependence on God for all of their needs. There is a subtle temptation to build our own kingdoms and temples. Our culture is full of self-serving opportunities. God’s Word reminds us to “be fruitful and multiply” for His Name’s sake. It’s the Spirit of God who animates and motivates us to fulfill His purpose in our everyday, ordinary lives.

The text says, “Remember the Lord your God.” A. J. Heschel writes, “‘To remember’ means literally to re-member the body, to bring the separated parts of the community of truth back together, to reunite the whole. The opposite of re-member is not forget, but dis-member.”

How might you re-member today?

Prayer Focus: Elder Team

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For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
    and praise spring up before all nations. (Isaiah 61:11)

In this passage, Isaiah foretells deliverance from captivity. He delivers the message of hope. It is promised that the destruction once caused by man would be restored. Righteousness and salvation is the eternal business in God’s kingdom.

This passage is not expressing a day of glory that bursts forth with joy and triumph for a day or a week, then too quickly comes to an end. This righteousness that clothes His bride is eternal salvation and righteousness that spreads throughout generations and distant nations. Isaiah expresses the hope of the bride. Despite her actions and idols, God is her rescuer, her hope. This is divine grace. How are you living in the rhythms of His grace?

Praise God today! Speak adoration to Him for rescuing you; praise Him for the hope in which you live. Ask God to give you the ability to receive today, to rest in His unending grace. Ask God to love extravagantly today, and to do it through you.

“Heaven will be full of the songs of worshipers who had once been broken people in a broken world, picked up and used for God’s glory.” —Louie Giglio

Prayer Focus: Life Group Sowers

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I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. (Philemon 1:6)

From prison, Paul prays for and writes to Philemon. The purpose of his prayers and his letter are layered, with reconciliation being primary. Here, Paul is praying for both a deepened personal understanding of life in Christ for Philemon and the effect his deepened understanding will have communally.

Our life in Christ is a life designed to be lived in community. In one of the best books on community, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses. I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me. His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner.”

Jesus says that the world will know of His love by the way we love each other. Pray for those who have wronged you. Pray for those who have inflicted wounds. Pray for those who have betrayed you. In praying, like Philemon, may our understanding be deepened “of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.”

Prayer Focus: Because of Kennedy

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