NOVEMBER 16 – SIGNS: INVITE NOT FORCE

 For this reason (because Jesus has given us the work of bringing others to Him), we are His representatives. It’s like God Himself is inviting people through us as His way to communicate with them. So, we invite you, even beg earnestly and humbly that you, on Christ’s behalf. Please, please choose God. Let Him transform you! (2 Corinthians 5:20)

                  Do you ever rush about, trying to do the things that will accomplish God’s work of saving people? Do you think and plan and try to figure out what is the best way to reach them in a way they will respond? If so, where is your attention? Is it on your creativity and wits, or do you look for the things other people are doing? Or, are you paying attention to God, looking for Him to give you the plan, and waiting for Him to show you the person you are to invite?

                  Listen to Paul as he explains to the people at Corinth. He says it so well. “God is inviting people through us.” This much is clear, God is choosing the time, place, person, and the means of contact and invitation. It is as if Paul is saying, “all we have to do is deliver the invitation to you.” He does this as well as he can, with passion and love, but he does only what God leads him to do. He knows anything else would be to try and force God’s hand.

                  Trust that God loves you enough to include you. Believe that he will give you meaningful work. Wait expectantly for Jesus to show you whom to invite

NOVEMBER 15–SIGNS:UNDERSTAND NOT QUOTE

 “This is my promise to my people after those days” (when Jesus conquers sin by His atoning sacrifice allowing God’s people to relate to Him as He has always intended) says the Lord and Master God, “I am going to place within them – at their core and etched into their minds – My truth and what I want from them.” (Hebrews 10:16)

                  There is another choice to be made if you will be this sign for your people. Will you learn about God, memorize and quote His words and decide which of His written laws you will follow? Or, will you pay attention to Him, listen to the Holy Spirit as you read His word and live in His world, and seek to recognize Him and His works in the people around you?

                  The writer of Hebrews is quoting Jeremiah here, as he argues that a person can never know so much about God and what God wants, that He can determine what is important each moment. Without the Holy Spirit, active in your life, it is impossible to behave in a way that will please the Lord. Instead, Jeremiah argues that Jesus has created a new way (vv. 20-25) that requires only that you be attentive to the Lord in community with your people, so that you may encourage and help each other. God now takes the responsibility for your prosperity if you will lead your people to Him.

                   Point your people not to what you tell them about what God says, but to the Lord, God Himself.

NOVEMBER 14 – SIGNS: LIFE NOT DEATH

 All the world is witness today. I’m giving you a choice – right out in the open – life or death; prosperity or ruin. Choose life – live – love your Lord, God and do what He says. Hang on to Him because He is your very life! (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

                   Do you concentrate on the after-life or the now life? Do you dwell on controlling the impulses to sin and doing the things that the someone else says that you’re supposed to do, or do you focus on Jesus and what He is doing right now? Is what He wants you to do most important to you? There is great value in Scripture, a church family is helpful, even critical to provide accountability and encouragement. You should oppose sin and your flesh, and the life to come will be ecstasy. All of this is true. But, God’s call is to relationship – and life in Him – today!!!

                   Moses is calling on his people to pursue prosperity rather than destruction and death (Deuteronomy 30:15). He poses a clear choice. He argues very forcefully. The way you and your people will find prosperity is the same way. Prosperity – from the time of creation up through today – is found in “loving the Lord your God, walking in obedience to Him, and keeping His commands to you.”

                   See life – live God’s prosperity by answering Him always, “yes, Lord.” Just, “yes!” Choose life!

NOVEMBER 13–SIGNS: TALKWITH, NOT TALK AT

 Even while I travel through the most difficult times of life I can’t be afraid, because you are right here next to me. Your power and provision allow me to relax. (Psalm 23:4)

                  Is it your way to tell your people what they must do, and how they must do it? Could they ever come to see you as someone who talks “at” them rather than with them? Everyone, whatever their circumstances or status, wants to be listened to; moreover, they want to be heard. From your position of relative strength or wisdom or resources, will you walk with them even when it means you must walk through their difficulty without solving or their problems or fixing them? Are you willing to let it cost you to be used as God’s sign for another?

                  King David had some very dark, difficult times. He trusted God to calm his fears and go with him through all those challenges. If you are to be God’s sign to your people, it is unlikely that He will change His nature to accommodate your desire to stay in your position of comfort and safety. And, by the way, your people do not want you to tell them what they should do from that lofty position. If you are going to talk with them, you must go to them – where they are.

                   It’s clear that God calls you to go down with your people to the valleys where their hardships beset them. There, in that valley, He will show you how to lead them to the safety of His love.

NOVEMBER 12 – SIGNS REQUIRE A RESPONSE

 But Mary; she added sign to sign. She brought it all together in her heart. It began forming at her core. The shepherds went home, and as they went they were praising God for everything He had done. God had not let them down. (Luke 2:19-20)

                  The shepherds saw the light. They returned to their place; changed. And, Mary – she had received many signs. The angel spoke to her. Surely Joseph told her of the sign given to him. She visited with her aunt. Now the stunned shepherds were sent by thousands of angels, affirming all the other signs. All these people were changed by the one thing – the baby that would be the way for a clueless world to find meaning and be restored to right relationship with God.

                   What about you? Do you ever take time to think about what God has done in your life? Have you ever taken the time to add up all the signs He has given you? That is what you must do if you will let Jesus become your life. If you settle that He is the answer for your life, and you focus on what He has said and done, and what He continues to say and do in your life today, you can be used to move your people toward Him too.

                   Today is the best day to determine that you will settle the issue in your heart. Add up the signs and act on God’s call to you.

NOVEMBER 11 – GOD’S SIGNS TRANSFORM

 After living through this amazing experience, they began to tell others about God’s great message concerning the child. Each person who heard was astonished. They all wondered about what all this meant to them. (Luke 2: 17-18)

                  God’s work is to communicate through signs and to provide for His people. Paul says you are what God makes; His work (Ephesians 2:10). So then, you are a sign, and a provision for God’s people. As you are affected, it is to affect others. As the anointed one, Jesus was created and gave His life for you. As God makes you with His transforming power, you – being transformed – will become an agent of His transforming work. As He has given you signs and experiences leading to that change, you will be made to be a sign for others. Your life will communicate God’s truth to your people.

                  Scripture tells that the shepherds went away from Bethlehem changed; prepared to work with, and to be the work of, God. And you see that, as a result, other people were changed too. They were astonished. They wondered. They understood this was not just a fabulous story told by deranged shepherds. Armed with God’s truth, their passionate communication led to transformation.

                   That is God’s plan for you as well. Your action, upon God’s call to you, prepares you to be a part of His work in others through your continued obedience to Him. You are His sign. You are His mission.

NOVEMBER 10 – SIGNS CAN BREED FEAR TOO

 So, right away they went to Bethlehem, and they discovered Mary and Joseph. There was the baby, lying in the manger just as God promised. (Luke 2:16)

                   In the relationship you have with the Lord, God, where He communicates His sign to you while anticipating you will accept His invitation to work together, you have two choices. Each time, you will have opportunity to answer, “yes!” joining with Him, and doing exactly what He is calling on you to do. Otherwise, you will create an alternative response that you will argue is, “enough.” No matter how risky and dangerous the way forward appears to be, when you consider God’s way, the alternative is much more perilous. God does not negotiate. He is God. The choice is His way, with His provision, or else you are choosing to go your way – alone. He will let you fail.

                   Right away, the shepherds went to Bethlehem. They found Jesus! They could have hidden under the rocks, hoping the sky full of angels would not return. If they worried about how risky it would be to leave the sheep, and how dangerous it is to travel at night, and had they not gone, they would have missed out on what God was doing.

                   Don’t let fear keep you from experiencing everything that God has prepared for you. Choose to do what He asks – right away!