Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”
Our Bible verse for today: “Isn’t the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6-7 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “God wants obedience not religious ritual and good intentions.”
Repeatedly in Scripture God makes it clear that He is unimpressed with mindless religious rituals and that our good intentions are meaningless if they’re not followed up with action. He wants our faith to make a real difference in the real world and in the lives of real people.
The Israelites were great at religious ritual. They knew the rules, they had the policies and procedures of Temple worship down pat, and they could recite scripture frontwards and backwards. Any yet, God was unimpressed. More than that, He rebuked them. The practice of their faith had become little more than a religious game that they had become good at, but it made little practical difference in their own lives or in the lives of others whom they came in contact with.
As the people of God we are to be a constant source of help and blessing in our communities. We are to be a force for good, change agents who make a positive difference in the name of Jesus Christ. As individuals and as a body of believers the church must be intentionally on-mission with Jesus outside the walls of our buildings.
In Isaiah 58:8 God goes on to tell us what will happen when we do actually go out to bless people: “Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.”
Yes, the Lord’s glory will shine through us and He will use our obedience to bless others. But also, He will use our obedience to bless us. Remember the fresh encounter we’ve been learning about all month? Obedience in action is often the catalyst for a fresh encounter with God. Here’s the rest of that passage from Isaiah:
58:9-10: “At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer, when you cry out, He will say ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.”
And in 58:11: “The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry.”
Did you catch that? Put feet to your faith, live it out in a practical way in the real world, being a blessing to real people in need, and spiritually you will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry.”
There’s the fresh encounter. It comes through faith in action. Go wants obedience, not religious rituals and good intentions.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 