Dear church,
“Please open your Bibles to Luke…” The more time I spend in this Gospel, the more I continue to be excited about the possibilities of moving straight through it and all God will reveal to us as we do. Last Sunday, He gave us a tremendous start. As we dove into Luke’s Gospel and kicked-off Three50, God moved in powerful ways. By His grace, many people, including an incredible number new to our church, heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed, we sang together for His glory, and many of us engaged in worthwhile dialogue as we discussed questions and answered them according to the truth of the Bible following our worship service. As a side note here, I believe this can be said of both our Question & Answer time, which was very well attended, and those who are part of Pathways courses. I love that we are a church that takes the Scriptures seriously, with many opportunities on Sunday mornings and throughout the week to meaningfully interact with truth.
I have a question for you. How do you respond when God speaks to you? If you are a follower of Jesus, in other words, a true Christian, God speaks to you. That is a fact. It is not only for the “super-spiritual” (there is no such thing) or the highly charismatic. He speaks to every Christian. It may be natural or supernatural. It may be quiet and calm or violent and ferocious. But, if the Holy Spirit indwells you, the God of the universe speaks, personally, to you.
Please don’t take that to sound strange and mystical. Most of God’s communication with us, today, comes through His Word, given in the Bible. So, as you read it, memorize it, meditate on it, seek its’ counsel, and find hope and healing in it, God is speaking to you. That is the first, and primary way we hear from God, but I also believe God speaks to you through the living, active Holy Spirit as well. This may happen as you pray for wisdom and feel a sense of direction. It may be that God gives you peace in a difficult time. For me, there have also been times where it may not have been audible or visual, but I was sure God was speaking to me. The question then becomes: how will you respond?
In Luke 1:5-38, God, through the angel Gabriel, comes to two people, Zechariah, an old man, and Mary, a young woman, and says some, seemingly, irrational things. Zechariah, an old man with a barren wife, is going to be a father and Mary, a virginal girl, is going to be a mother. Irrational and, apart from His sovereignty, absurd. So, how will they respond? One responds well and the other does not. What will God do?
What happens when God speaks? How do the righteous respond? We’ll talk about it as we continue in Luke on Sunday morning. I’m excited to see you there!
For the sake of His name,
Pastor Adam