Jesus: The Only Hope Amidst Chaos and Injustice

Devotional

Day 1: Innocent blood cries out; God hears and responds.

From the beginning, God showed that He hears the cry of innocent blood and confronts the human heart that would shrug off responsibility with, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In a culture that often flips good and evil, you are called to guard your heart from cynicism and vengeance, and instead become a keeper—one who intercedes, protects, and refuses to dehumanize. Ask the Spirit to sensitize your conscience, to expose any envy, rage, or apathy, and to lead you into concrete acts of peacemaking. The only true remedy for human evil is Jesus; therefore let your words, prayers, and actions align with His mercy, not with the outrage of the age. [09:32]

Genesis 4:9-10 (ESV)
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.

Reflection: Who is one person in your orbit whose pain or injustice you’ve ignored? Reach out today—call, text, or help tangibly—and pray by name for God’s mercy over them.

Day 2: Jesus' blood speaks mercy; God shakes the shakable.

Jesus’ sprinkled blood “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel”—not vengeance but mercy—and His voice still shakes both seen and unseen realms so that what cannot be shaken will remain. Let Him shake loose your ego, your cherished opinions, and any identity rooted in politics, performance, or pride. Receive the unshakable kingdom with gratitude, and offer God acceptable worship marked by reverence and awe. As you listen to the One who is speaking from heaven, align your responses with the cross: vengeance was quenched there; mercy is the word now. [32:59]

Hebrews 12:24-29 (ESV)
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”
27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Reflection: What belief, habit, or identity you cling to do you sense God shaking right now? Name it, invite Jesus to speak a better word over it, and choose one concrete step to release it this week.

Day 3: True witness forgives enemies even in martyrdom.

Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing, and then cried, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” This is the fruit of real transformation: when pressed, love intercedes; when wronged, mercy prays. The Spirit empowers you to answer hostility with heaven’s language and to entrust your spirit—and your reputation—to Jesus. In a world of clenched fists and loud voices, your quiet, forgiving prayer may become the seed of someone else’s conversion. Let your final word in every conflict be intercession. [20:18]

Acts 7:54-60 (ESV)
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Reflection: Who has mocked, opposed, or hurt you recently? Pray “Father, forgive them” using their name, and within 24 hours send a brief message or small kindness asking God to bless them.

Day 4: Persecutors can become apostles by mercy's light.

On the Damascus road, the risen Jesus confronted Saul with blinding mercy: “Why are you persecuting me?... rise and enter the city.” The same Jesus still meets the hardest hearts, including ours, and redirects lives with sovereign love. Don’t underestimate whom God can save or how He can send; pray for the “biggest, meanest, nastiest” to become bold voices for the kingdom—and let the Spirit stop your own resistance to His goading. When mercy’s light breaks in, enemies can become family and zeal can be repurposed for the gospel. [42:56]

Acts 9:3-6 (ESV)
3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.
4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Reflection: Write down one public figure and one personal adversary far from God; set a daily reminder and pray for their salvation and transformation for the next 30 days, starting now.

Day 5: Run with endurance, fixing your eyes on Jesus.

Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, you are called to lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance by fixing your eyes on Jesus—the One who endured the cross for the joy of having you. He chose you at your darkest, not because you were good, but because His love is. Let that joy fuel your patience, your perseverance, and your daily choices. As you keep your gaze on Christ, the race is not about striving harder but about trusting deeper and moving lighter. [29:33]

Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Reflection: List two “weights” (not necessarily sins) slowing you down; which one will you lay aside this week, and what Christ-centered practice will you replace it with starting tomorrow morning?

Sermon Summary

This week I sensed a spiritual shift I couldn’t ignore. I’m flat-out tired of politics hijacking the church—on both sides. Evil is real and it wears many faces, but only Jesus is the remedy. Not law-keeping. Not rallies. Not moral resolve. Jesus—the One who fulfilled the law and is even now our Sabbath and righteousness—remains the only hope in a world that calls evil good and good evil.

We walked through the story of Cain and Abel. Abel’s innocent blood cried out from the ground for justice. That is a real spiritual principle: innocent blood speaks. But Hebrews tells us Jesus’ blood speaks “better things than that of Abel.” Abel’s blood cried for vengeance; Jesus’ blood cries for mercy. That changes the way we respond to violence and hatred in our world. When a believer is martyred, when injustice erupts, our flesh wants payback, but the blood of Jesus pulls us into intercession: “Father, have mercy.”

Stephen shows us the shape of that mercy. As stones rained down, he saw Jesus stand, and he prayed, “Lord, don’t hold this against them.” That’s not weakness; that’s the fruit of a life filled with the Spirit. And somewhere under that pile of coats stood Saul—consenting, hard, certain. Yet that prayer became a seed, and on the Damascus Road it sprouted. God loves to turn persecutors into apostles.

Hebrews also tells us that God shakes everything shakable so that what can’t be shaken remains. That shaking doesn’t end quickly; it’s God’s mercy prying our fingers off pride, ego, inherited traditions, and cultural idols—so we can run with patience, eyes fixed on Jesus. Parents and grandparents, anchor your homes in the Word, not the mood of the moment.

So we prayed. We took the Table and remembered the Innocent One whose blood still speaks. We asked God to comfort those who mourn and to save those who celebrate violence. We asked Him to raise up thousands of “Sauls”—the loudest God-haters—into bold voices for Christ. If His blood cries mercy, then let our voices agree with His.

Key Takeaways

1. Only Jesus is the remedy for the evil that saturates our age. Law-keeping, political wins, or moral strivings can’t heal the human heart; Christ fulfills the law on our behalf and gives us His life. When I can’t wrap my mind around it, my heart can still receive it. Surrender beats strategizing every time. [04:51]
2. Innocent blood speaks in the unseen realm, but the blood of Jesus speaks better things than Abel’s. Abel’s blood cried for vengeance; Jesus’ blood cries for mercy, even toward enemies. When I feel the urge to retaliate, I must relocate my soul under the sound of His blood. Intercession is how the cross rewires justice in us. [32:59]
3. Stephen models Spirit-shaped courage: he sees Jesus standing and chooses forgiveness while dying. The mark of a true disciple isn’t escape to heaven but transformation on earth—fruit that looks like Christ amid hostility. Forgiveness in the face of violence isn’t passivity; it is prophetic power. Mercy is our most subversive witness. [20:18]
4. God’s shaking is mercy, stripping away what cannot last so that what cannot be shaken remains. He often starts with the thing I least want to surrender—my ego, my cherished assumptions, my pet idols. The Word outlasts galaxies; anchoring my life in it frees my children from cultural drift. Patience isn’t slow motion; it’s Spirit-powered endurance. [34:36]
5. God loves to transform persecutors into apostles; Stephen’s prayer helped crack Saul’s heart. In our day, we must pray the cross over the loudest antagonists—media figures, ideologues, and cultural icons. Ask God to raise up modern “Sauls” into fearless witnesses. If the Lamb’s blood cries mercy, our prayers should sound the same. [48:09]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[03:11] - Only Remedy: Jesus, Not Politics
[06:16] - The Blood That Cries Out
[07:10] - Cain and Abel Revisited
[13:59] - The Mark of Cain as Mercy
[16:26] - Stephen’s Bold Witness
[19:27] - Jesus Stands; Stephen Forgives
[25:48] - Surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses
[28:18] - Run with Patience; Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
[31:14] - What Cannot Be Shaken Will Remain
[32:59] - Blood of Jesus Speaks Better Things
[40:49] - Saul on the Road to Damascus
[48:09] - Praying for Modern “Sauls”
[54:21] - Communion: Remembering the Innocent Blood
[60:41] - Closing Prayer: Mercy Over Vengeance

Sermon Clips

call me weird call me crazy but I'll take the principles over the word of God over any human opinion any day of the week it's the only thing that's ever held for me anyway the innocent blood spilled is going to cry out to the Lord now the blood that was spilled this past week of course I believe cries out to the Lord certainly like I mentioned earlier the blood that may be being spilled today I'm talking about the blood of the martyrs the ones that are being murdered in our nation in our world that's bad enough that's horrible that's evil and there's nothing good about it but the blood of the martyrs that will cry out from being martyred today yesterday probably tomorrow it's going to always cry out [00:11:32] (64 seconds) #PrinciplesOverPopularOpinion

Therefore, it's up to me to go, Lord, it's been my experience and he starts trying to shake something loose from me. I'm going, wait, no, no, no, no, not that. Have you noticed that the things you want him to shake and take most of that time? No, he comes right straight from the thing you don't want to let go of, have you noticed?Oh, Lord, I just think, and I believe, and the Lord's going, yeah, you've been wrong before. [00:35:19] (24 seconds) #GodShakesWhatYouCantLetGo

But I always felt like, you know, Grandma always said, well, I was reading and I thought,I want to give you some good advice. Man, in your life, if it doesn't line up with the word of God, please disregard it. Please allow the Lord.Or to remove it. Especially if you're a parent. [00:35:44] (21 seconds) #DiscardWhatDoesntAlignWithGod

Doesn't sound like good news, but the good news is you can cut it off right now, moms and dads.You can cut it off right now, grandpa, grandma.You can get on your face before God. And the only thing that holds you back is your ego.The only thing that holds you back is your pride.And there's no place for pride in the kingdom. I don't like that anymore than you do. Because I've noticed something about me. I'm the most prideful man in the room, most likely.I'm the most egotistical one of the bunch. And she's glad I'm talking about me and not you.And when he begins to shake that, the hardest thing to do for us is to ever admit, man, I was wrong about that. [00:36:39] (45 seconds) #LayPrideBeforeGod

I've also found out about humans, too, that a human is only going to do what a human wants to do. No matter what's right or what's wrong.No matter what argument it is. No matter what the word says. No matter what the word doesn't say. A human is only going to do what that human wants to do. And the only way to change what that human wants to do is instill and install the Holy Spirit of God. Dare I say the very presence and life of Jesus in them. When Jesus is in you, then guess what? If he's really in you, he's not most people, but if he's really in you, your wantings are going to change. Your desires are going to begin to transform. [00:37:30] (43 seconds) #HolySpiritTransformsDesire

Had Stephen not paid that ultimate penalty, would Paul have become Paul? I don't know. I'm of the persuasion that God's going to do what he wants to do one way or another. But it just so happened, in my not so humble opinion, that that's what he used.And through that and after that, the Lord raised up the most significant voice to this day of Christianity.Raised up the man who, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, would write two -thirds of what we call the New Testament.Would be the one to refute on the law keeper.He would wind up being the man of God that would refute all the ones that were trying to say, well, you Christians got to keep the Jewish law, too. [00:44:52] (54 seconds) #GodUsesSacrificeForPurpose

Understand, on this side of the cross, and on this side of the resurrection, martyred blood must cry out for mercy. If it's in alignment with the blood of Jesus, and if it's martyred blood, it is in alignment with the blood of Jesus, absolutely. And that martyred blood still cries out for mercy, in agreement with the blood of Jesus. [00:47:32] (29 seconds) #MartyredBloodCriesForMercy

Ask a question about this sermon

Chatbot

What does Abel's blood cry out for?

What is the only remedy for humanity?

What transformation begins when Christ dwells in you?