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Five Minute Devotional — 03/15/2011

  • By John Batts
  • 16 Mar, 2011
It’s hard to go a day without hearing about the terrible tragedy that continues to unfold in Japan. After being hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake…and an over 20-foot tsunami…and scores of aftershocks, many of which have been over 6.0 … Continue reading →
It’s hard to go a day without hearing about the terrible tragedy that continues to unfold in Japan.
After being hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake…and an over 20-foot tsunami…and scores of aftershocks, many of which have been over 6.0 magnitude…and now a near-certain partial nuclear meltdown… and with the loss of life extending to the thousands…the country with the world’s third-largest economy is reeling.  Many people have been without food, water, electricity for days – in near-freezing temperatures.  Hospitals are jammed.  Emergency shelters are filled to over-capacity.  Many people who have survived have lost everything, escaping with only the clothes on their backs.  Loved ones are missing and rescue operations are hampered.
It’s a bleak situation in Japan – a country that has spent untold amounts of money and time in preparation and readiness for just such a catastrophe. 
The events that are occurring serve as a stark reminder that sometimes things happen in our lives that overwhelm us, no matter how “prepared” we attempt to be or may think we are.
What do we do when facing a future that looks bleak and dark, with no apparent end in sight?
When I have endured those seasons in my life, there have been many times when God has brought me to the book of Lamentations.
In Lamentations, God’s people are mostly doing what would be implied by the name of the book – they’re lamenting.  At that time in their history, they had sinned against God grievously, and God had allowed Jerusalem to be invaded and torn apart.  God’s people felt alone, crushed, broken, and full of despair.  Consider verses like these –
            Lamentations 1:2
           “She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks…” (ESV)
           …and Lamentations 1:11
           “All her people groan as they search for bread…” (ESV)
           …and Lamentations 2:11
           “My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns;
            my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction
            of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies
            faint in the streets of the city.” (ESV)
These verses give us a glimpse into the emotional state of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the times of desperation that they were enduring.  No matter why it was happening, the end result was that God’s people were hurting – physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually.
Yet, right in the middle of their lamenting comes an incredibly powerful passage:
            Lamentations 3:21-25“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
           The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come
           to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
           ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’
           The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.’”
           (ESV)
Right in the midst of one of the most difficult times of their lives – right when things seemed at their worst – God’s people found HOPE.  They found hope in God’s steadfast love…in His mercy…in His faithfulness…in His goodness…in His promises.  God’s people were able to look beyond their circumstances and see that their true source of hope and strength didn’t come from what was happening in their lives at the time.  Rather, their hope and strength came from God and Him alone.
As Christians, we have access to this same hope:
            Romans 5:1-5“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have
           peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through him we have also
           obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice
           in hope of the glory of God.  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings,
           knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces 
           character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to
           shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the
           Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (ESV)
Our hope doesn’t come from our personal resolve.  It doesn’t come from anything that we can accomplish.  It doesn’t come from how “ready” we are for the next disaster that may come upon us.  Rather, our hope comes because of what JESUS did.  It’s through Jesus we have peace with God…it’s through Jesus we have received God’s grace…it’s through Jesus that we can have confident hope in our relationship with God.
When we cling to what Jesus did, we are able to supernaturally endure the suffering we go through.  As we do, God supernaturally molds our character, producing within us a supernatural hope…a hope that is sustained by God’s Holy Spirit living within us.
With all that the residents of Japan are facing, it will be easy for them to lose hope and fall into despair.  Many are already at that point.  In times like this, it is crucial that we as Christians – as well as all of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world – rise up to share with the Japanese that there is a source of hope that goes beyond their circumstances…something they can personally experience when they trust in Jesus Christ by faith.
Have a blessed, “hope-filled” day…
–Pastor John
By John Batts 29 May, 2018
Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV) -- "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Following Jesus' ascension, the disciples did just as Jesus had commanded them -- they remained together in Jerusalem and waited on the giving of the Holy Spirit before they continued with what is known as the Great Commission. (Jesus said, as recorded in Acts 1:8 -- "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." NKJV) As we read in Acts 2:1-4 (shown above), the Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost, empowering the disciples to speak in other languages, resulting in the message of the Gospel being shared simultaneously with thousands of people!

But why did this happen on the Day of Pentecost? Certainly, there were a lot of people in Jerusalem -- this was a celebration day that would be accompanied by a lot of activity. So, from a strategic sense, there was good reason for this to happen on this day. However, could there be more? I think so...in fact, from my initial study of Scripture, it appears to be linked to the Old Testament in a way that completely glorifies God!

First, it's important to understand the significance of the Day of Pentecost. The word "Pentecost" refers to "fifty days". In the Old Testament, the Day of Pentecost is directly linked to the Jewish festival "Shavuot", in the Bible known as the Festival (or Feast) of Weeks. It is a celebration that commemorates when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai -- an event that occurred fifty days after the Passover, when the Jewish people were freed from bondage and enslavement to the Egyptians. (From Wikipedia -- "On Passover, the Jewish people were freed from their enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.")

Interestingly, the Festival of Weeks is also referred to in Scripture as Day of First Fruits, a celebration of the harvest that God gave His people, and is linked to the Feast of Harvest (see Exodus 23:16 ) as well. God's people would celebrate how God had taken care of them and would offer back to God the first-fruits of their harvest as a way of honoring God.

Here's where it gets so incredible -- look at the similarities and the significance of the two events, from the Old Testament and the New Testament:

1) In the Old Testament, the Passover celebrated when the Jews were freed from enslavement and Pentecost celebrated when they became a nation committed to God. In the New Testament, the crucifixion of Christ during Passover week is something we look back to as a time when humanity was provided freedom from being enslaved to sin...and at Pentecost, through the giving of the Holy Spirit, it's a celebration of entering a new relationship with God.

2) In the Old Testament, as you read the accounts, you find that -- when God gave the law (the Torah) to Moses on Mount Sinai, He wrote the 10 Commandments Himself on the tablets of stone. (see Deuteronomy 9:10 ) God Himself carved the 10 Commandments into the stone to signify the covenant relationship He had with His people. In the New Testament, the image of the Holy Spirit being given to the disciples mimics the finger of God -- in this case, it was as tongues of fire, signifying the beginning of a new covenant relationship God was initiating with all of humanity, to all those who would trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. In both cases, God "sealed the deal" symbolically through a direct intervention.

3) Of course, with Pentecost being directly tied to the Feast of Harvest, there is a direct correlation to the harvest the disciples experienced following the giving of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:41 tells us the following: "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them." (NKJV) And, just as the Jewish people would make a sacrifice of first-fruits on this day, we see the early church members also making a sacrifice of their own -- Acts 2:44-45 says, "Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need."

These are just some parallels that I felt God impressing upon my heart as I was preparing for a Bible study in 2009. While not meant to be exhaustive in any way, for me it just serves as a reminder of how intentional God is about everything He does... He is truly amazing!
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Here in our area of the Pacific Northwest, it’s pretty unusual to see the sunshine without it being obscured by a layer of clouds – at least at this time of year. So when the sun does peek out from … Continue reading →
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By John Batts 03 Mar, 2011
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