Through the Bible - Ezekiel 25-26, James 5
Good morning,
After doing yesterday's devotional the thought of "standing in the gap" stayed on my mind.
I remember going on vacation with our family to Colorado and seeing the Royal Gorge. I wonder what the Indians or first settlers thought when the first saw it. The temptation would be to stand there and gape at the chasm, wondering how you would cross it, how would it be possible to bridge that gap on our own?
If you are seeking after God, the same thought the same problem exists, only the gap there is wider than the Grand Canyon. But as with the Royal Gorge, thankfully there is a bridge and it is the cross of Christ. Today, to cross the Royal Gorge you can lead someone to the bridge that has been built. To cross the divide to reach God, you can lead them to the cross, lead them to Christ.
For today's verse we'll go to James chapter 5
James 5:19 - My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.
THE MESSAGE
If someone has wandered away from the faith or has approached the gap, the gorge and turned away because they felt that they couldn't cross it alone, will you just stand as a "gaper" and watch? What does it take to turn the person back? It takes another "P", adding another "P" as in the power of the cross you can become a "gapper", one who stands in the gap as we considered yesterday, to point others to the cross, the bridge
If someone has wandered away from the faith or has approached the gap, the gorge and turned away because they felt that they couldn't cross it alone, will you just stand as a "gaper" and watch? What does it take to turn the person back? It takes another "P", adding another "P" as in the power of the cross you can become a "gapper", one who stands in the gap as we considered yesterday, to point others to the cross, the bridge
across the great divide. Here are a few lines from the song "The Great Divide" by Point of Grace.
Silence
Trying to fathom the distance
Looking out 'cross the canyon carved
By my hands
God is gracious
Sin would still separate us
Were it not for the bridge His grace
Has made us
His love will carry me
(Chorus)
There's a bridge to cross the great divide
A way was made to reach the other side
The mercy of the Father, cost His son
His life
His love is deep, His love is wide
There's a cross to bridge the great divide
Trying to fathom the distance
Looking out 'cross the canyon carved
By my hands
God is gracious
Sin would still separate us
Were it not for the bridge His grace
Has made us
His love will carry me
(Chorus)
There's a bridge to cross the great divide
A way was made to reach the other side
The mercy of the Father, cost His son
His life
His love is deep, His love is wide
There's a cross to bridge the great divide
May we be gapper's instead of "gaper's".
In Christ,
Mike
James 5:13 - 1 Peter 1:1
Prayer to Be Reckoned With
Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven — healed inside and out.
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't — not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.
My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.
THE MESSAGE
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