June 20

1 Kings 22:1-53, Acts 13:16-41, Psalm 138:1-8, Proverbs 17:17-18



Pray: Just go along with the others. That’s what Micaiah, the Lord’s prophet was told to do. He responds, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say.” Do you have competing voices and agendas in your life? It happens like this: don’t honor her, she doesn’t honor you; don’t tell them all that’s wrong with the car you’re trading in; everybody does this, so it’s okay, etc. Then, there’s what the Lord says to us. Ask the Lord to help you listen to His voice and not others’ voices. Ask the Lord to help you speak His words and not your words.

Read: I’ve met Christians who only read the New Testament. They have lots of “reasons” (I would call them excuses, and poor ones at that) for their selective reading. To be fair, one can be a Christian and not read the Old Testament, but much like the children’s area at a water park, there may be a pool, but it’s certainly not very deep. In Acts 13, Paul stands and speaks to the crowd. He begins not with Jesus, but Egypt. In a very concise way, Paul starts with the slavery of God’s people and then ends by saying, “We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in Him is made right in God’s sight – something the law of Moses could never do.” In order for people to fully understand the significance of Jesus, Paul felt they needed to hear the history of God’s redemptive work. Perhaps Paul was onto something.

Edify: Would you rather listen to 400 liars or 1 truth-teller? That’s where King Ahab found himself in 1 Kings 22. All 400 of the prophets were telling him to go to war. Then, there’s another person. Ahab says, “There is one more man who could consult the Lord for us, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but trouble for me!” One man attempted to speak truth to Ahab, but Ahab wouldn’t listen. He listened instead, to the 400 liars. It cost him his life. Truth may be difficult to hear sometimes, but isn’t it always better than lies?

Practice: The average car payment in America is $503/month. The average credit card debt is $16,061. We make poor (pun intended!) financial decisions. Most people have messed something up in their finances at some point. There shouldn’t be shame in one bad decision. I cosigned a loan for someone once. Our Proverbs reading says, “It’s poor judgment to guarantee another person’s debt...” Ouch! I wish I had read that prior. It was a terrible idea. Bad financial decisions bleed over into every area of life. You may feel absolutely stuck, financially. Take note of the other Proverbs reading: “...a brother is born to help in time of need.” Christ Church has trained financial coaches who can help you. We have classes that can teach you. We have people who care about you. Do you need to be bold enough to ask for help? Don’t stay in your bad decision.