The Joy of God's Presence - Advent 2024

This week we want to share with you a devotion entitled “Joy to the World: A Reflection on Advent” This devotion was written by Jonathan Powers. Dr. Powers is Assistant Professor of Worship Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. We hope you will find these words to be helpful and encouraging as you read.

One of the most popular and well-beloved hymns of the Christmas season is Isaac Watts’ “Joy to the World.” Not only is it common in the weeks surrounding Christmas to hear the song played on the radio and sung in the church, but the words “Joy to the World” are also frequently found imprinted on Christmas cards, displayed on banners, and woven in Christmas sweaters. Undeniably, it is difficult to find better words that sum up the jubilant celebration of Christ’s incarnation than “Joy to the world!” Yet, as wonderful and fitting as the words are, the song was not originally written as an observance on Christmas.

The hymn, “Joy to the World” first appeared in 1719 in a hymnbook of psalms for congregational singing published by Isaac Watts entitled The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament and Applied to the Christian State and Worship. Much of the congregational singing during Watts’ time was limited exclusively to metrical paraphrases of the Psalms. This practice was established by John Calvin, who, during the Reformation, translated the Psalms into the common language of the people to foster congregational singing. Watts was not satisfied with the practice of psalm-singing, however, and felt a lack of joy and emotion among congregants as they sang. His father therefore offered him a challenge – write a different hymnody for the church. Taking up the challenge, Watts began a lifelong practice of composing lyrics that wed personal and emotional subjectivity with theological and doctrinal objectivity. 

Isaac Watts’ inspiration for “Joy to the World” came via a Christological meditation on Psalm 98. Verse 4 of the psalm especially grabbed his attention: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.” As Watts thought about how the verse could be understood through the person and work of Jesus Christ, he believed the psalm was to be rightfully interpreted through the lens of Christ’s second coming rather than his first. Particularly, Watts believed verses 8 and 9 frame the psalm in a future-orientation rather than a past event: “Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.”

Take a moment and read through the lyrics of the hymn (which are provided below). Note that the opening line is not, “Joy to the world! The Lord has come,” as if Watts was talking about a past act, but rather “Joy to the world! The Lord iscome.” Also note that none of the typical Christmas imagery is present. There is no explicit focus on Christ’s incarnation or birth. Rather, the lyrics speak more about Christ’s rule and reign. Not that the reign of Christ is an unfitting topic for the Christmas season – see Charles Wesley’s “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” for example – but it is also a very fitting topic for another season in the church calendar, the season of Advent, a time of anticipating Christ’s final rule and victory.

Advent is a season focused on preparing for the coming of Emmanuel. It is both a beginning and an end to the Church’s pilgrimage through the life of Christ – a time to recall the world’s expectation and longing for the first coming of Jesus Christ into our humanity and a time to anticipate his second coming in final victory.

Take a moment and read through the lyrics again. Think about them in light of Christ’s second coming. When interpreted primarily through the final chapters of Revelation instead of the first chapters of the Gospel of Luke, the lyrics take on a different dynamic meaning for the church today. The words bring hope in the midst of darkness, trial, and tribulation. They anticipate the joy that Christ’s reign will bring. They proclaim the cosmic doxology that will occur when heaven comes to earth. They remind us that sin will be eradicated and truth and grace shall rule.

May these words find their way into our eyes, ears, mouths, and minds this Advent and Christmas season. And may we all be filled with joy as we look forward with hope, as did God’s people long ago, to the coming of Emmanuel.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.

Proclamation of Peace - Advent 2024

This devotion was written by Andy Stoddard and is entitled, “Can We Really Have Peace?” Andy Stoddard is a contributing author at Seedbed.com. We hope you will find these words to be helpful and encouraging as you read.

I’ve been thinking a lot about peace recently.  We are in the midst of Advent, a season of hope, peace, love, and joy.  It’s in this season when we proclaim the words of Isaiah 9:6-7:

For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

The Prince of Peace is born!  That’s what we say.  That’s what we believe.

That’s what we believe: as Christians, as the church, that’s what we believe. And in the world that we live in, that makes us look different.  Off.  Odd.

And you know what?  Good.  We are supposed to.  We aren’t supposed to be like the world.  We aren’t supposed to be like the culture.

We are supposed to be different.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:10 – we are fools for Christ.  We are supposed to look differently, believe differently, act differently.  We are called to have a different hope, joy, love, and peace.

As I regularly say, if you tell folks you are Christian and they say, “really?”  that’s not a good sign.  We have to look and to be different from the world.

I’m not saying that there aren’t things to be afraid of.  I’m not saying that there aren’t things that can take our peace, take our joy, take our hope, take our love.

Of course there are!  There are big, scary, worrisome things.  But please hear me.

God is bigger.

God is stronger.

God is more mighty.

He is bigger than your fears.

And as Christians, believing that is who we are.

And the world needs us to believe it and know it.

Your peace will not come from an absence of conflict or absence of things that are you are afraid of.

Your peace will come from the trust and assurance of this truth: no matter what you face, no matter what you are afraid of – God is bigger. And God is good.

Jesus Christ is the prince of peace.

Yesterday.

Today.

Forever.

He is our peace.

Will you trust him today?

Hope as an Anchor - Advent 2024

This week’s devotional was written by Sarah Wanck and is entitled, A Hopeful Invitation. Sarah Wanck is a contributing author at seedbed.com. We hope you will be encouraged.

CONSIDER THIS

The beginning of Advent doesn’t begin in the story of shepherds and angels or even in John’s joyful introduction of a coming Messiah. Advent begins long before, when the darkness was all-consuming, and all hope seemed lost. Advent begins in the dark. Much like light broke forth over the pitch black of an unformed creation, Advent begins in the helplessness and hopelessness of the night. Today’s passage is no different. An important part of our reflection, our preparation for the coming Christ, is remembering the despair of the people of God and how God’s promise entered in there too. 

The book of Isaiah is a narrative of the events regarding the people of God during a painful time of destruction and division and Isaiah’s prophecy in it. Just before this passage, Isaiah spoke of sin, conviction, and the death that comes in separation from God. But the previous chapter ends with a glimpse of a coming hope for a people lost in hopelessness. 

Before we talk about today’s beautiful words, we have to acknowledge what was happening for those who first heard them. The people of God, long ago, had been chosen, set apart, favored, and protected. Even though they struggled with seasons of great disobedience and rebellion, God would reach in with his promise of redemption and care, repeatedly renewing his promise to make this nation as numerous as the stars in the night sky. But the people of God, in this season of Isaiah’s prophecy, had been divided, destroyed, and oppressed. They were as far from the fulfillment of God’s promise to be a great nation as they could ever be. They had been conquered by another people, their territory divided, and their holy city destroyed.

While they are actively living in the darkness of deep despair, Isaiah commands these words. “Arise, shine, for your light has come.” Arise. Get up. The glory of the Lord rises on you. The power of that contrast has a hard time sinking in for me. In the division. In the despair. When we are convinced everything’s gone, is that when we’re supposed to rise up? And, with a clarity we only have in hindsight, even as Isaiah declared this prophecy, there was more darkness ahead when their holy temple would be laid bare by a conquering nation. The place where they worshiped, the very place of God’s presence with them, would soon be gone. 

How in the world can you rise up when so much has fallen flat?

In the darkness of their despair, Isaiah shares a prophecy of encouragement, that God has not forgotten them, that the world’s redemption was still coming, and to not lose hope for the coming of their Messiah and King. 

But when you’re in the darkness, it’s hard to believe. 

Some of you know our story; many others do not. Part of the redemption of our pain is sharing it, so others can find God in their darkness too. Late in December 2020, actually the day the Bethlehem star appeared in the sky, Gabe and I learned we were, quite literally, miraculously pregnant. Many years before, we had given up hope for biological children, and the Lord healed our hearts through the incredible gift of adoption. But just to show off, the Lord gave us the gift of pregnancy and a sweet baby girl. We shared the story of her miracle with anyone who would hear, so God would be glorified in her gift. Then, just weeks before we expected her arrival, she was gone. Without notice or cause, our little miracle slipped through our grasp. And we fell into a pit of incredible despair. 

If you’ve been in a place of deep darkness and incredible despair, you know that somehow the emotions of despair, fury, and heartbreak swirl around in the numbness and confusion that strips you of all capacity. And sometimes, many times, all you can do is allow yourself to be swept up in the grief and the darkness of night. 

Just three months after that incredible heartbreak, Gabe and I returned to our spiritual home at the New Room Conference. We needed to be there. We needed our spiritual family and to worship the Lord in spite of our pain. One particular night of the conference, the speaker invited us to a time of ministry and prayer to find our way forward in surrender if we needed to “rise up” out of the graves of our despair. 

I couldn’t move forward fast enough and laid myself upward across the steps of the altar and stage. I laid there peacefully, honestly, and in the fullness of grief; I invited God to raise me up, lift me out of this darkness, and restore my broken heart to fullness of life. And as I lay there, he eventually, and so very gently, said to my soul, “not yet.”

The tension of Advent is the pull between the darkness and the light. We live in the pain of actively unfolding darkness, even while the promise of Christ’s breaking into the darkness is already accomplished. The people of God were living in the pain of destruction and oppression, but Isaiah was calling them to take heart in a brightness that would still come, but they couldn’t yet see. He was asking them to believe that the dawn was breaking before it actually did. In fact, it would be seven hundred years before Christ’s light would dawn on earth. Isaiah was encouraging them with hope, the promise that God had not forgotten them, that he would prevail, and one day, in Christ’s time, they would truly “rise up.” 

Until then, until that day, the rising of their dawn would not be in the physical arrival of the Messiah or the restoration of their nation; the rising would simply be in them as they allowed the hope of God’s faithfulness to break forth in the dark places of their spirit and bring new life. Though in the darkness of our pain, my “rising” wouldn’t come for a while. When the Lord said, “not yet,” the yet was evidence that one day I would. 

This Advent, Christ breaking in through you, maybe the hopeful encouragement that one day, your rising will come, and one day, his return will come too. 

THE PRAYER

Father God, we give you thanks for your faithfulness through the ages. We stand in awe of your vision that can see from the beginning to the end, the promise of resurrection, redemption, and arrival. And we join you in the believing command that your presence with us can raise our spirits, repair our broken hearts, and give us hope to cling to. When we’re not ready to rise just yet, help us to feel your patient presence, waiting with us in our pain, but pointing forward for a day of renewal still to come. And as we walk through our grief, may we, like the words of Isaiah, allow your glory to shine all over us. In Jesus’s name, amen.

The Way of Jesus - The Practice of Witness

This week’s devotional was written by J.D Walt and is entitled, The Difference Between Witnessing And Being A Witness. J.D Walk is the Executive Director and contributing author at seedbed.com. We hope you will be encouraged.

MARK 1:43-45

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

CONSIDER THIS

22. When a person experiences the work of the Holy Spirit, as this leper did, they will tell others about it. It’s that simple. No one has to tell them to spread the news. I am convinced human beings were created to spread good news.

It’s interesting how hard churches work to motivate people to “witness” to other people about their faith. They want us to tell others about Jesus, to lead others to Christ and so on. Don’t get me wrong. Those are great things, but we go about it in the wrong way. At the end of the day, all this activity adds up to is marketing.

You can’t talk people into being a witness. Really you can’t even teach or train them to be a witness. A witness actually has to witness something happening in order to be a witness. A witness is a witness by virtue of something they have experienced. Sure, we can get people to do marketing for Jesus, but that’s a far cry from actually being a witness to his work through the person and power of the Holy Spirit.

Not even Jesus could stop this leper from spreading the news about what happened. Our best “marketing” efforts can fill the seats of our sanctuaries, but getting people to talk freely and spread the news about Jesus—that only happens when the Holy Spirit does the work of Jesus within them.

23. Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. . . .” I think he had in mind something of the scene in today’s text—the unstoppable sharing of the good news of the God who turns everything around. We live in a day when the gospel has been reduced to information about God that we should feel compelled to share with other people, and we call that evangelism. Real evangelism looks like witnesses telling stories in such a way that the people who hear them flock to the countryside in search of Jesus. Jesus can’t even get past crowd control to get into the building. Because of the witness to the Holy Spirit’s work in and through him, he can’t even get into the towns. People hate marketing for Jesus. They hunger for witnesses who will tell stories of what the Holy Spirit is doing through the people of God in the name of Jesus.

What if this actually happens better and more often on the outskirts of town, in the lonely places, than in our Sunday morning worship services? Just asking.

THE PRAYER

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. I want to witness your working in a fresh way in my life and in the lives of others. And I want to share the story of it with others. Even more, I want them to witness your life in me. Melt me. Mold me. Fill me. Use me. For the glory of your name, Jesus. Amen.

The Way of Jesus: The Practice of Community

 
 

Every so often, we will have a guest speaker at CrossView Church. We are so grateful for the gifted women and men who serve the Lord through teaching the word. This week we hear from Pastor Scott Rossiter. As one of CrossView’s online pastors, Pastor Scott hosts our online services and leads our online prayer group. To join our Thursday evening online prayer group, click here. To share a prayer request, click here.

Usually, when we have a guest speaker, we will not have a weekly devotional. We encourage you to watch the message again at some point throughout the week.

Blessings on you and your week.

Pastor Kyle

The Way of Jesus - The Practice of Service

This week’s devotional is entitled Understanding Service and was written by Richard Foster. Foster is a pastor, the founder of Renovaré, and the author of numerous books, including the spiritual formation classic Celebration of Discipline. We hope you are encouraged this week.

Service as a Christian spiritual discipline is difficult to capture in words. We learn about service best by watching it in action over an extended period of time. 

When we see someone intently listening to another human being, we are witnessing service in action. When we see a person holding the sorrows of another in tender, loving care, we are witnessing service in action. When we see someone actively guarding the reputation of others, we are witnessing service in action. When we see simple, everyday acts of kindness, we are witnessing service in action. It is in these actions and many more like them that we begin to get a picture of service. 

These tiny corners of life are the genuinely significant realities in the kingdom of God. There is no flash, no glitz, no titanic anything. Today’s celebrity culture, captive to its pretentious egoism, simply finds such realities hard to grasp. 

The towel and the basin are the icons of service. I am, of course, referring to the well-known story in John 13 where Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. In doing this he redefined for them — and for us — the meaning of greatness. After Jesus’s startling act, he says, ​“Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord— and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:12 – 15). 

Now, the specific act of washing feet has genuine punch because it was simply a continuation of the whole of Jesus’s life. From the hidden years in Nazareth to the self-sacrificing love of Calvary, all that Jesus was and did was a seamless robe of service. Do you remember that it was said of Messiah that he would not ​“break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick” (Matthew 12:20)? Jesus, you see, would never crush the needy; he would never snuff out the smallest hope. This is service in action. 

Of all the spiritual disciplines, service is the most conducive to the growth of the grace of humility within us. This is good news indeed, for we all know that humility is not one of those things that comes to us by trying to get humility. No, we must come at this most prized virtue through the indirect route of routine acts of service. 

William Law, in his classic work A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, urges us to make every day a day of humility. And how are we to do this? Law counsels, ​“Condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow creatures, cover their frailties, love their excellencies, encourage their virtues, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassionate their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants, and condescend to do the lowest offices to the lowest of mankind.”[1] You see, it is through simple, daily acts of service that the grace of humility will slip in on us unawares. The risen Christ beckons us to the ministry of service. Such a ministry, flowing out of the inner recesses of the heart, is life and joy and peace. 

Foster, Nathan. The Making of an Ordinary Saint: My Journey from Frustration to Joy with the Spiritual Disciplines. Baker Publishing Group.

For each chapter in Nathan’s book, Richard Foster writes an introductory essay — like this one from the chapter on Service.

[1] William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

The Way of Jesus: The Practice of Scripture

 
 

Every so often, we will have a guest speaker at CrossView Church. We are so grateful for the gifted women and men who serve the Lord through teaching the word. This week we hear from Pastor Nikki Rossiter. As one of CrossView’s online pastors, Pastor Nikki hosts our online services and leads our online prayer group. To join our Thursday evening online prayer group, click here. To share a prayer request, click here.

Usually, when we have a guest speaker, we will not have a weekly devotional. We encourage you to watch the message again at some point throughout the week.

Blessings on you and your week.

Pastor Kyle

The Way of Jesus - The Practice of Generosity

This week’s devotional was written by Dr. Gary Hoag and is entitled, Seven Lessons Learned From The Generosity Of Jesus. Dr. Hoag is a contributing author at seedbed.com. We hope you will be encouraged.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34

Big Idea: Jesus fulfills the Old Testament law and invites followers to take hold of life in His abundant economy by exhibiting loving generosity to God, neighbor, and the poor.

Good news! Jesus fulfilled the entire law for us and gave us a new commandment: love! How does that relate to our handling of finances? Jesus modeled the way for us and gave us instructions that make no sense according to the economy of this world. That’s because He wants us to grasp life in God’s economy.

So how are we to handle God’s resources? Everything changes under grace. Life is rooted in abundance rather than scarcity. God, not money, solves all our problems. The video for this lesson summarizes seven Gospel themes on money. Those who grasp life in Jesus receive the greatest gift of all—the Holy Spirit—who produces the fruit of generosity in faithful stewards.

1. The Gift of Life in the Kingdom

Jesus is the generous giver of abundant life and the riches of the kingdom for all who seek Him first. This is good news for all, especially the poor (see Matthew 6:25–34; Luke 4:18–21; John 10:10).

2. The Invitation to Depend on God’s Provision

Jesus instructs followers not to store up treasures on earth but to store them up in heaven. To live this way requires followers to depend on God for daily bread and everything else (see Matthew 6:9–13, 19–24).

3. The Instructions for Disciples Under Grace

Jesus never instructs disciples to tithe. He only mentions the tithe when cursing religious leaders for taking pride in tithing while failing to show justice, mercy, and faith. Conversely, He says to give to God what is God’s (which is everything) so the only giving He celebrates is sacrificial giving motivated by love for God and care for our neighbor and the poor (see Matthew 23:23; Mark 12:13–17, 41–44).

I do not believe one can settle on how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. (C. S. Lewis)

4. The Report of the first Christ Followers

Materialism, greed, and covetousness hinder people from bearing fruit. The life Jesus offers is one hundred times better than the false security that money can buy. No wonder His followers give freely to underwrite fruitful mission (see Mark 4:1–20; 10:13–31; Luke 8:1–3).

5. The Paradox of Generosity

The teachings of Jesus are paradoxical: in letting go, we receive, and in grasping, we lose. Jesus says that faithful stewards put God’s resources to work and are rich toward God, rather than holding them in fear as slaves to mammon (see Matthew 25:14–30; Luke 12:13–21; 16:1–13).

Our hearts have room for only one all-embracing devotion, and we can only cleave to one Lord. Every competitor to that devotion must be hated. As Jesus says, there is no alternative—either we love God or we hate him. We are confronted by an “either-or”; either we love God, or we love earthly goods. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

6. The Assessment Paradigm of Jesus

Jesus instructs disciples to handle money differently from the world and to care for those that society deems not worthy of care. In so doing, disciples live out the gospel, show their true faith, and gain heavenly reward (see Matthew 25:31–46; Luke 12:32–34).

7. The Promise of the Holy Spirit

Jesus promised His disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit—the greatest treasure. This gift is for all who believe (see John 14:15–17).

The Way of Jesus - The Practice of Fasting

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled, On Feasting, Fasting, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. J.D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope you will be encouraged.

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

2 PETER 1:3–4 

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

CONSIDER THIS

Let’s remember yet again our working definition of prayer and fasting:

Prayer and fasting is the lifelong process of becoming a peculiar kind of person (i.e., a righteous person) who learns to exercise a particular kind of power (i.e., the supernatural love of God) for the good of the world and the glory of God. 

I like how Peter describes such a life as “participating in the divine nature.” The English Standard Version of the Bible translates it as being “partakers of the divine nature.” The Greek term behind the translation is koinonos. You may recognize the connection to koinonia. It means fellowship. It is a word the New Testament uses to describe the presence and effect of the Holy Spirit in a human community. Fasting is one of the primary means of living and moving and having our being in this fellowship. Remember again Jesus’s word about how his way of fasting differed from the Pharisees and the disciples of John. 

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” (Luke 5:34–35)

Fasting is about feasting on friendship with Jesus through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and all this leads to as his agent in the world. Remember again Jesus’s word about his food.

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” . . . 

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. (John 4:32, 34)

A few years back I found myself at Jacob’s Well with Jesus and his disciples. Upon hearing these words again I said to him, “Jesus, I don’t know about this food either. I want to know about this food.” I want to go to the place where my food is to do the will of God. I want to come to this place of appetite displacement; where my experience of doing the will of God displaces my hunger for food. I want to learn to do the will of God in the way of God such that it actually nourishes my physical body. 

Sure, I enjoy food, but I don’t revolve my life around food like I did before. I used to think fasting was about changing my relationship with food. I am learning that fasting—in what I believe is the way of Jesus and the friends of the bridegroom—is about changing my relationship with hunger. I am finding hunger is changing my relationship with God. Fasting in this way means carrying hunger in love for Jesus and those he loves. It means befriending hunger. I have primarily understood hunger as a problem to be solved; as a craving to be satiated. I am coming to understand hunger as the gifted path to the deeper presence of Jesus; as the activation of the new wineskin, the awakening of the temple of the human body, the primary sanctuary of the Holy Spirit—the new wine of the kingdom.

Here’s what else I’m learning. Our human bodies were not made to be sated with food. They were meant to be sustained by food. Because of my anemic practice of fasting, I had a wrong understanding of feasting. Feasting is a biblical dimension of Sabbath keeping. It is one day a week in which we can live to eat. Fasting is the way of life for the other six days when we eat to live. Because my prior practice of fasting was underdeveloped, my practice of feasting was an expression of overindulgence. An almost constant focus during the six days was what or where am I going to eat next. Any notion of a feast became about eating more than usual. 

The human body and particularly what the Bible calls our “inmost being” is a finely tuned instrument designed to commune with and carry the very presence of God, to bear witness to the holy love of God which becomes manifest through demonstrations of his power in the manifold expressions of his inbreaking kingdom. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. This prayer, when uttered in the context of a fasted lifestyle, ever increasingly opens the way to the supernatural life of a human being who is fully participating in the divine nature.

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, teach us to pray and fast and so fellowship with you as participants and partakers of your very nature—which is righteousness itself. To that end, . . . 

I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness. 
I receive your love and release my selfishness. 

Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.

The Way of Jesus - The Practice of Solitude

This week’s devotional is entitled Open Spaces for Solitude and was written by Margaret Campbell. Campbell serves on the Ministry Team and Board at Renovaré. We hope you are encouraged this week.

Throughout the life of the church the great leaders in the faith have commended silence and solitude as necessary for making progress in the spiritual life.

During the Renovaré regional conferences Richard Foster taught,

Prayer is the most central of the disciplines of engagement, the via positiva. Solitude is the most central of the disciplines of abstinence. The reason is simple: Solitude makes the spiritual life possible because in it we are freed from the bondage to people and our inner compulsions, and we are freed to love God and know compassion for others.

The 15th century priest Thomas à Kempis encouraged this spiritual practice in The Imitation of Christ:

In quiet and silence the faithful soul makes progress, the hidden meanings of the Scriptures become clear, and the eyes weep with devotion every night. Even as one learns to grow still, one draws closer to the Creator and farther from the hurly-burly of the World.

And Henri Nouwen wrote,

Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. Solitude begins with a time and place for God, and for him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that he is actively present in our lives — healing, teaching, and guiding — we need to set aside a time and space to give him our undivided attention.

From each of these teachers, I hear words of invitation. Freed to love God and know compassion for others… one draws closer to the Creator… He is actively present… give Him our undivided attention. Truly these are words of invitation and comfort. Still there are barriers that prevent many of us from accepting the invitation to simply do what the Psalmist invites us to do: Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10).

Barriers to Engaging in Solitude

One barrier is an incomplete understanding of the discipline. Dallas Willard writes that solitude is ​“the creation of an open, empty space in our lives by purposefully abstaining from the interaction with other human beings, so that, freed from competing loyalties, we can be found by God.”

We can begin by creating an open, empty space on our calendar.

I found one of these wide open spaces by accident. I was traveling through the college town where my son lived. He asked if I would join him for breakfast before his first class on the day of my departure. Yes, of course. It was easy to delay my drive for an hour to spend time with my son. He called just as I arrived at the pancake house. He overslept so he asked if I would delay my drive by another few hours so we could have breakfast after his class. Yes, of course.

A small park was nearby so I went to wait and found a beautiful rose garden. The roses were in bloom and fresh with the morning dew. I saw a little sienna brown chipmunk darting from bush to bush. Chipmunks are shy little animals so every time I would catch a glimpse of the creature it would run away and hide. Finally, I sat down on a bench. A few minutes later I heard God say to me, ​“If you want to see the chipmunk you need to be very still and quiet and wait.” I sat very still and quiet. The chipmunk came out of hiding and sat on the path right in front of me. He just sat there.

God was teaching me. I understood that he wanted me to learn to be still and wait and watch for Him. The words of that old hymn came to mind: And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own; and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.

A second barrier is the distraction around us and the many competing thoughts that run through our minds like a swarm of bees. Like any spiritual discipline we learn by practicing. We begin by finding a quiet place that is as free from distractions as it can be. We notice how we respond. It may be that learning a short breath prayer will help us return to a loving attentiveness toward God. My prayer is simply, Father. In time you will find one that is right for you. I encourage you to experiment. Sustained practice will help us understand what Teresa of Ávila means when she wrote, ​“Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon Him in yourself.”

In his article, Richard Foster addresses the third barrier to practicing solitude: fear. The fear of becoming unimportant, unneeded, insignificant, useless. He teaches us how to overcome the fear and why we should set it aside. We learn to release our little ​“to do list” of good things that need attention. We learn to be still and seek God with our whole heart. We find little silences and solitudes all through an ordinary day.

It is in this way that, in the words of St. Paul,

We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand — out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory. —Romans 5:1 MSG

Let’s throw open our doors to God through giving him our undivided attention. Let’s delay for an hour or two something that seems urgent so that we can learn to be present to God — fully present. Perhaps you can select two or three of the suggested venues for silence and solitude and just give it a try.

Wide Open Spaces was originally published in Perspective, April 1997.

The Way of Jesus - The Practice of Sabbath

This week’s devotional was written by Dr. Timothy Tennent and is entitled The Fourth Commandment: Remember The Sabbath And Keep It Holy. Dr. Tennet is a contributing author to Seedbed.com and most recently served as the President of Asbury Theological Seminary. We hope you are encouraged this week.

The Sabbath Day does not begin with the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:7), but is interwoven into the very fabric of creation itself. At the very dawn of creation, God established the Sabbath. In fact, it is the creation account in Genesis that defines our week—six days of creation, and the seventh the Sabbath day. The seven-day week does not come from the natural order (as do the month and the year), but emerges out of the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2.

The Bible teaches that God is the author of all creation. We are not given exact details on the process or timing, but we know that God is the author of all creation, and that the creation account is organized around a seven-day week. In the first six days God created the entire world, and on the seventh day God rested.

The word for “rest” used in Genesis 2:2 is where we get our word sabbath. It means “to cease,” or “to rest.” The use of the word “rest” could not possibly mean that God was exhausted after creating the world. It is impossible for God to be tired or to need rest. The whole of creation emerges through His creative, spoken word and does not tax the infinite energy or resources of the Divine Majesty! Rather, the word is used to indicate that God “ceased” from His labors that He might dwell on and enjoy a creation of His own making that He has called “very good” (Gen. 1:31).

Unlike the other six days of creation, which all came to an end, the seventh day was not meant to end. All of creation was meant to live in the ongoing “Sabbath” of God. It was the entrance of sin into the world, through the disobedience of Adam, that brought the Sabbath to an end. The Sabbath was not so much a day as a condition—a time to cease and to celebrate God’s rule. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s rule and reign, they broke the Sabbath because they shattered the ongoing celebration of God’s rule, which was meant to be the undergirding foundation of the productivity that came forth from the Garden of Eden.

With this background in mind, we are better able to look at the fourth commandment. I have already pointed out that the Ten Commandments are found in two places in the Old Testament. There are only minor variations in the two versions, but one of the differences relating to the fourth commandment is worth noting. The actual wording of the fourth commandment is identical in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, but the reason given for the commandment is different. In Exodus 20 the Sabbath is rooted back into the creation account and, therefore, is meant as God’s gift to the whole human race, both believers and unbelievers. It is part of God’s design that all people have a healthy rhythm of work and rest in life. In contrast, Deuteronomy 5 roots the Sabbath legislation into a specific response to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery. This reflection will focus on what the Sabbath specifically means for us as Christians, though an equal treatment could be given for Sabbath as a general gift to all people everywhere.

There are three important points about the Sabbath that are significant for Christians to hear from this text. First, the Sabbath is not just about our not doing something. It is not simply about inactivity. That is the problem Jesus encountered with the Pharisees in the New Testament who had made the Sabbath into a legalism of “not doing.” Instead, the fourth commandment calls us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Moses was not establishing something new, but rather calling us to remember what once was. It is a weekly reminder that the world today is not as it should be, that we have all been broken by the Fall. We long for the day when God’s Sabbath reign will be reestablished in the New Creation at the end of time (Rev. 21–22). We honor the Sabbath and keep it holy by remembering what the world was like before we shattered it through sin. We cease from our labors so that we can remember why we work the other six days and recognize that the most important things that happen in our lives are the things that happen through God’s work.

Second, the Sabbath is our weekly opportunity to break our trust in work. Jesus had conflict with the Pharisees because they had turned their inactivity on the Sabbath into another form of “work” so that they could establish their own self-righteousness. Jesus makes it clear that the Sabbath is not an obligation that we grudgingly undertake to make God happy. The Sabbath rest is God’s gift to us. This is why Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). We’ve turned the Sabbath into a law of inactivity. It is vital that we cease from our labors every week, but that ceasing in and of itself is not what constitutes Sabbath. Rather, it is a day to quit trusting in our works and allow God to work.

The reason we cease from our labors one day of the week is because we need to take time to remember. It is a weekly reminder of our dependence on God. For most of us, our work gives us three things: our self-worth, our sustenance, and our sense of independence. The Sabbath reminds us that our self-worth comes first and foremost from God, that He is our Provider and Sustainer, and that we are totally dependent upon Him. Breaking our weekly trust in work actually enables us to work better and more effectively the other six days because it is now kept in the proper perspective.

Third, the Sabbath is a celebration of the resurrection and the future reestablishment of the Sabbath. In the Old Testament, the fourth commandment looked backwards at the original creation and how God ceased His work on the seventh day. In the New Testament, the Christians wisely shifted the focus from the seventh day to the first day of the week, which was the day of the resurrection of Christ. By doing this, they were looking forward to Christ’s second coming and the New Creation, when the Sabbath reign of God will be reestablished.

We no longer look back and remember what should have been; instead, we look forward and eagerly await the new heavens and the new earth. In Christ, we see the in-breaking of these future realities and a foretaste of the health and wholeness and full reign of the kingdom that is to come. Dedicating a day once per week for worship, rest, reflection, and renewal is but a tiny foretaste of the final Sabbath rest that will be reinstituted once Christ has returned and sin has been banished. All of life will be “Sabbath,” not a ceasing from work, but work without drudgery, and in the complete absence of sin, in the fullness of God’s fruitful design.

The Way of Jesus - The Practice of Prayer

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled Learn the Prayer - It’s Better Than Yours. J.D. Walt is the executive director of Seedbed.com. We hope you are encouraged this week.

Today’s text brings us to the famed “Lord’s Prayer.” Let’s work to “Listen to Him” as he teaches us to pray.

I used to think the measure of a prayer was the sincerity of the one praying.  While sincerity is surely a good thing, I now think the measure of a prayer is its substance. This prayer Jesus teaches us is so stocked and layered with substance I am convinced we will never exhaust it all.

I want to share some brand new insights that are coming to me as I try to listen and learn from Jesus in this prayer.

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,

1. Prayer begins with knowing what to call God. There are so many names by which God is called in Scripture. He is Yahweh, Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai, and on we could go. My late grandmother-in-law once gave me a book entitled, “The 365 Wonderful Names of our Wonderful Lord.” The interesting thing we learn from Jesus is how Jesus doesn’t call God by name but according to their relationship:  Father. He invites us into his extraordinary relationship with his Father which graces us to say, “Our Father.” In life, we call just about everyone by their name, except when it comes to our parents. As my children are growing up, life is constantly changing. Our relationship seems to change by the day as they mature. What most pleases me is what hasn’t changed. They still call me “Da-Da.” That’s not a name. It’s a term of profound endearment. Jesus actually used the term Abba, an exquisitely intimate and endearing term. 

2. So he teaches us to address God in terms of our relation to him and not by a name, and then, interestingly enough, he says this: “Hallowed be your name.” We are about to find out just who our Father happens to be. The God we are privileged to call Father, actually has the most holy name ever uttered. In fact, (If I am remembering right) the people of Israel, so lived in awe of the name of God they would not speak it except by the high priest once a year on the day of atonement. By teaching us to hallow the name of God, Jesus reminds us that though we call God by this intimate term of relationship, we must remember that our Father is the King of the Universe, the Creator of all that is, and the Righteous Judge, who lives in Heaven. This God, who is our intimate Father, happens to be the high and exalted Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.

3. Watch what happens now. What I have always understood to be a series of essential petitions, I am now beginning to see as so much more. Rather than series of “asks” this prayer is a full court celebration of our entire relationship with God. Because God is our Father, everything else that God is, becomes a gift to us.

When we say “Thy Kingdom Come,” we are declaring our Father as the King of the Universe.

When we say “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are declaring our Father as Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider.

When we say, “Forgive us our sins or trespasses,” we are declaring our Father as merciful Judge and a gracious healer. 

When we say, “Lead us not into temptation,” we are declaring our Father as Mighty Deliverer and Protector. 

I am beginning to understand the Lord’s Prayer not so much as a collection of petitions but as a profoundly powerful declaration of faith.

And it all comes together in the word, “Father.” In fact, when we speak this term to God in prayer, we are saying all of this and more. Not only does Jesus teach us to call God, “Father,” he shows us exactly what a true and loving Father looks like. For the many whose fathers served as a source of brokenness, Jesus reveals a Father who will heal with blessedness. Jesus brings all the attributes, character, roles and names of God under the covering of a perfect Father.

Rather than a rote recitation, the Lord’s Prayer is a revelatory declaration. If I will really “Listen to Him,” this is how I will now pray. I will rely more on the substance of Jesus teaching and training than on my best efforts at sincerity. In fact, I think this is the substance that creates true sincerity.

Closing Thought: Jesus is teaching us to pray with Divine Substance. When we put substance ahead of sincerity our faith will begin to form our feelings. When we put sincerity ahead of substance, we will depend on our feelings to form our faith.

The Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a son/daughter.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a saint.

The Question

Where are you in your relationship with God as Father? Is it real or religious-ish? What would help you grow here?

The Way of Jesus - Abide In Me

This week’s devotional was written by Dan Wilt and is entitled, Abiding In The Vine. Dan Wilt is a contributing author to Seedbed.com. We hope you are encouraged this week.

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

John 15:4–5, 9

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’” . . . 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

CONSIDER THIS

Every morning my wife, without fail, finds her way into our family room. As I hear the door quietly shut behind her, I know what she is about to do. She is about to sit at the feet of the Lord of Union and Love, Jesus, just as Mary did (Luke 10:39). My wife goes into that place of meeting for one reason—to strengthen her abiding in Jesus as the day begins.

As we sit at the feet of Jesus in the Gospel of John, we can see that Jesus is a master teacher. He rarely draws on metaphors that have only one meaning, or only make sense in his time and place. He is often drawing on imagery that would have been penetrating to his audience, faithful Jews, who knew their Old Testament inside and out.

The image of the vine and the branches is one of those images. In Psalm 80:7–11, the people of Israel are described as a vine, planted by God. In Isaiah 5:1–7, Israel is described as a vine that has produced grapes unfit for eating. In Jewish thought, Israel is thought to be the vine, and the vineyard, of God. 

Then, the Lord of Union and Love comes on the scene. 

“I am the vine,” Jesus says. His disciples pause. He is saying that he is the true Israel. He will carry God’s desires to fulfillment through loving obedience where Israel had failed. He is simultaneously saying something very personal to his followers—that if his disciples abide in him, live in him, stay in him, and remain connected to him as their source of life, they will bear good, sweet, and lasting fruit.

Then Jesus goes on in verse 9 to add, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” 

In union with Jesus, dwelling in the vine of his person and presence, we experience the fullness of love. Making our home in Christ, and having Christ make his home in us, is both life-giving and love-renewing. Jesus is communicating to his followers the importance of staying connected to him, like a branch living in symbiotic harmony with the vine from which it springs. 

There are a few insights here for us. A branch is of the same plant as the vine. They are one. A branch is connected to, and is an expression of, the vine. The vine and branch participate in a shared life. A branch is fully integrated into the vine as its source of life, renewal, and replenishment. A branch of a grapevine bears fruit that is of the same ilk as the vine. They share the same DNA. The vine and the branch are intimately and purposefully joined.

And if a branch, heaven forbid (and I mean that), ever decides it can live apart from its vine—we know how that story ends. A branch disconnected from a source of life withers, becomes brittle, and eventually dies.

In John 15:4–5, the word translated “remain” or “abide”—meno—is a word that also means “stay.” 

Jesus is saying, “Stay in me. We are connected; you are not designed to live apart from my presence and love.” We as human beings can resist all we want; health waits on the other side of staying, remaining, and abiding in the source of Jesus. And when times get hard, and we want to look to other sources for love, for affirmation, for encouragement, for salvation—Jesus says, “Stay.”

My wife is moved to pray each morning because she must. She knows the challenges that may come that day. She is praying to abide; she is abiding so she can remain present to the love of Jesus. “Prayer, or as Jesus called it, ‘abiding,’ can no longer mean speaking words to a deity somewhere out there. It must mean walking and talking with the God who is both transcendently present ‘at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,’ and imminently by our side, closer than our breath. Indeed, this is pure mystery and yet it is the ultimate and immediate reality.”1

Staying in Christ, not moving from him, is a state of the heart renewed by consistent prayer, by worship, and by lingering in God’s Word and God’s presence. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love,” means that we have the privilege of participating—fully—in the shared life between the Father and the Son, by the Holy Spirit.

Stay in Jesus. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love” goes the old hymn. Stay in union with him—do whatever it takes. Your source will never fail you.

THE PRAYER 

Lord Jesus, I am in you and you are in me. There is no other source for me that matches my need; if I am a branch of the vine, then I choose to remain in you, daily, to draw my strength from you as my source. I choose to stay where I will thrive most in love—in intimate relationship with you. In Christ Jesus, I pray, amen.

THE QUESTIONS

How are you doing at staying, remaining, in Jesus as your source of life and growth? What could you do to stay in him as the pressures of life seek to separate you?

The Way of Jesus - Come Follow Me

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled, Apprentices of Jesus. J.D. Walt is the Executive Director of Seedbed.com. We hope you are encouraged this week.

CONSIDER THIS

The year was 1488, and a man named Domenico Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter in Italy. A young, thirteen-year-old boy became his apprentice, a boy who learned the art of fresco painting as part of his studies. Ghirlandaio had trained many apprentices, and all learned in a similar way—by watching and listening closely to him, paying attention to his direction and guidance, copying masterpieces to learn colors and strokes, and learning the ways of the trade. 

Through focused observation and disciplined practice, they eventually learned their trade. Domenico’s young thirteen-year-old apprentice, Michelangelo, certainly learned his trade well. He went on to paint the great frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. Then, with his further studies in the arts, he completed the dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral, carved his famous Pietà and David statues from marble, and gave his elder, the great Leonardo da Vinci, a run for his money.

It all began with a good apprenticeship.

Jesus did what he saw the Father doing, and in so doing embodied the love the Creator has for humankind. Growing in union with Jesus, we are apprenticed to his way, and the ways of the Father. 

As Christians, we believe that Jesus took apprenticeship one giant step further than any master before or since. Jesus taught us his ways as our true Master, modeling them and inviting us, through practice, to learn how to love people in his name. Then, and here is the amazing part, he also made his home in us—leading our apprenticeship by his Spirit within! Now that’s how to learn a master’s ways.

In my ministry training in the Vineyard stream of churches, we were taught to ask one question with great frequency: “What is the Father doing?” Asking that question still remains part of my regular practice when I am asked to pray for someone or bring a word of encouragement.

Asking this question is intended to help us discern God’s direction, to hear God’s voice, about how the Father might be wanting to love that person in that particular moment. I know dozens of stories of moments when friends naturally wanted to pray one way for a person, but after asking the question, went another direction with their prayers. God did something powerful as a result, and they learned and grew from the experience. With practice, we can become better and better at discerning what the Father is doing. 

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” Jesus said in John 14:9b. We learn the Father’s ways by watching Jesus, and listening to his voice. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). 

Being in union with Jesus as he lives within us and speaks by the Holy Spirit, we can learn to hear God’s voice through constant practice and obedience.

Apprentices of Jesus learn from him by focused observation and disciplined practice. We learn by becoming attentive to his teaching in the Gospels and through the Scriptures, watching and learning from others who are practicing his way as well.

Doing what we see and sense the Father doing, we become like Jesus. Discipleship is a lifelong process of entering into an apprenticeship with Jesus until we become adept at doing what he does—thinking like he thinks, feeling like he feels, and acting like he acts. His presence within us makes this possible.

Today, you are invited to become an apprentice of Jesus. 

THE PRAYER 

Lord Jesus, I am in you and you are in me. I want to be your apprentice, guided and instructed by your Spirit within me. Teach me to ask what you are doing in every situation, and guide me as I grow in hearing and responding to your voice. In Christ Jesus, I pray, amen.

Guest Preacher - Thom & Sherry Cahill

 
 

Every so often, we will have a guest speaker at CrossView Church. We are so grateful for the gifted women and men that serve the Lord through teaching the word. This week we hear from Thom & Sherry Cahill. The Cahill’s serve with Free Methodist World Missions in Asia. Thom and Sherry Cahill work in spiritual formation and leadership development in Asia. They help recruit teachers, coordinate Gethsemane Leadership Training modules, work with the Leadership Lift video training, and mentor/coach leaders. Additionally, the Cahills edit video scripts and videos for the Asia Team and teach in their areas of giftedness. Thom and Sherry have three adult children and two grandchildren who live in the U.S. You can learn more about Thom & Sherry at the FMWM Asia webpage.

Usually, when we have a guest speaker, we will not have a weekly devotion. We encourage you to watch the message again at some point throughout the week.

Blessings on you and your week.

Pastor Kyle

Summer Psalms: Book Five, Psalm 143

This week’s devotional was written by Dr. Timothy Tennent. Dr. Tennent is the outgoing President of Asbury Theological Seminary and is a contributing author to Seedbed.com. This devotion is entitled The Gospel In Seed Form: Psalm 143. We hope you are encouraged this week.

1 Lord, hear my prayer,
    listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
    come to my relief.
2 Do not bring your servant into judgment,
    for no one living is righteous before you.
3 The enemy pursues me,
    he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness
    like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me;
    my heart within me is dismayed.
5 I remember the days of long ago;
    I meditate on all your works
    and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you;
    I thirst for you like a parched land.

7 Answer me quickly, Lord;
    my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
    or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
    for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
    for to you I entrust my life.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, Lord,
    for I hide myself in you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
    lead me on level ground.

11 For your name’s sake, Lord, preserve my life;
    in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;
    destroy all my foes,
    for I am your servant.

 

CONSIDER THIS

Psalm 143 is the seventh and final penitential psalm in the psalter. It is a striking testimony to one of the key themes in the New Testament; namely, the nature of righteousness in the life of the believer.  The psalm begins with David as a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy: “O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy…” (vs. 1). This theme is why it is one of the penitential psalms.

What is striking is the very mature understanding of the nature of righteousness. The opening invocation of verse one goes on to say….“in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.” David then makes a bold assertion that later becomes a hallmark of New Testament theology: “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you (vs. 2). The psalm ends on the same note: “For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble” (vs.11).

The psalm makes it clear that we are incapable of saving ourselves and we cannot perform enough righteous deeds to be declared righteous before God. Only God is righteous. This psalm is preparing God’s people for what will later be spelled out very explicitly in Paul’s letter to the Romans. In that letter Paul establishes, as this psalm does, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Rom. 3:10), a quote from Psalm 14, but the language is almost identical to Psalm 143:2. Paul then makes the same point that David makes: “But now a righteousness from God apart from Law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (Rom. 3:21).

Paul then makes the connection which the psalmist could only foreshadow, namely, that righteousness must be received as a gift, and is available through faith in the merits and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23, 24). It is also applied and worked into our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit to which this psalm testifies: “May your good Spirit lead me…” (vs. 10). This is just one of several examples where the psalms attest to the work of the Spirit (See, 51:11; 104:30; 106:33; and 139:7).  A survey of these verses reveals a remarkably early theology of the Holy Spirit. These texts already testify that the Holy Spirit is the source of our life, communicates the presence of God to us, anoints and empowers us, counsels us, and makes us holy!

Psalm 143 is just one tiny example of why it is said that the entire New Testament is found in seed form in the Old Testament, and the entire Old Testament finds it full flowering in the New Testament. As you grow in your understanding of Scripture, you will find an ever increasing appreciation for the continuity across the entire Bible. It is true that the Bible contains sixty-six books written by forty different authors over several thousand years.  Behind this diversity, we must capture the grand unity of the Bible, and the single thread of redemption which runs through the whole. As Christians, we should always see ourselves as a part of this grand, redemptive story that stretches across time, around the globe, and even spans heaven and earth! What a wonderful thing to be a part of this great story!

Summer Psalms: Book Four, Psalm 103

This week’s devotional was written by Brian D. Russell and can be found in his Daily-Weekly book on the Psalms entitled, The Psalms - Part III. Brian Russell is a contributing author to Seedbed.com. We hope you are encouraged this week.

Understanding the Word. Psalm 103 reflects deeply on God’s character. The psalmist praises the Lord because he is a God of steadfast love (hesed) and mercy/compassion. He celebrates the Lord’s willingness to heal and forgive. This willingness finds its roots in the wideness and depth of God’s love. Israel’s story is one of grace and mercy despite their failings. This is our story too. Given the richness of this psalm, we will spend two days on it.

Psalm 103 opens with the psalmist calling on himself (“my soul”) to offer praise for the lavish benefits found in the Lord (vv. 1–5). The Hebrew word translated as “soul” (nephesh) here refers to the totality of our being. The psalmist desires to offer his whole self (emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually) in witness to God’s greatness. To bless the Lord’s “holy name” is to recognize the implications of God’s otherness from creation. We will return to this theme tomorrow in our discussion of verses 15–22). Verse 2 warns against forgetting the benefits of God. When we suffer and struggle, it is sometimes easier to focus on our problems rather than to remember the abundance of resources in the Lord.

Verses 3–5 list a series of affirmations about the Lord’s actions on behalf of his people. The Lord forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, and satisfies. These are profound and personal actions. Verse 3 gives no qualification or limits to God’s capacity to forgive and heal as indicated by the use of “all.” This personal witness is the story of God’s people whom he has sustained and loved despite the national trials of the loss of kingship and exile (Psalm 89). In fact, the Lord is capable of turning threats and chaos into restoration because of his “steadfast love and mercy” (v. 4). With the Lord, God’s people will not merely survive, but live to thrive (v. 5).

Verses 6–14 describe the character of the Lord’s love and mercy. Verse 6 declares God’s works of vindication/righteousness and justice for “all who are oppressed.” The biblical story announces a different kind of God who does not privilege the powerful and well connected. Instead the Lord is for all— especially those who suffer at the hands of others. This is the narrative of the history of God’s people as seen in the exodus from Egypt. Verses 7–10 call to mind how God revealed himself to the Israelites at Sinai after they had built a golden calf (Exodus 32–34). Verses 8–10 allude to Exodus 34:6–7 where God shares the full meaning of his name with Moses. The Lord declared his eternal love and mercy over against the finiteness of his judgment. This was good news to God’s people who had sinned greatly. It remains good news for us.

Verses 11–14 are worth memorizing. They remind God’s people of what it really means that God is love. His loving mercy, compassion, and grace are without limit. This is the gospel. It is not an excuse for our sins, but it tells us that there is a way back.

Summer Psalms: Book Four, Psalm 99

This week’s devotional was written by Dr. Timothy Tennent. Dr. Tennent is the outgoing President of Asbury Theological Seminary and is a contributing author to Seedbed.com. This devotion is entitled God’s Greater Tabernacle. We hope you are encouraged this week.

PSALM 99 (NIV)

1 The Lord reigns,
    let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
    let the earth shake.
2 Great is the Lord in Zion;
    he is exalted over all the nations.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name—
    he is holy.

4 The King is mighty, he loves justice—
    you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done
    what is just and right.
5 Exalt the Lord our God
    and worship at his footstool;
    he is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
    Samuel was among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord
    and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
    they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

8 Lord our God,
    you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,
    though you punished their misdeeds.
9 Exalt the Lord our God
    and worship at his holy mountain,
    for the Lord our God is holy.

CONSIDER THIS

In this psalm, the psalmist recalls the great figures of Israel’s past. He enshrines in song how Moses, Aaron, and Samuel had faithfully served the Lord (v. 6). They had faithfully called upon the Lord in the earthly tabernacle, which was the place God had ordained for humanity to meet with him. The psalmist also recalls the glory of Mount Sinai when God spoke to his people and gave the law, including the Ten Commandments. And then three times, the phrase “[God] he is holy” appears, almost as an encompassing refrain throughout the psalm (vv. 3, 5, 9). Echoing the great threefold “holy, holy, holy” of Isaiah 6:3 and anticipating the same declaration of the four living creatures in Revelation 4:8, the psalmist reminds us that the holiness of the tabernacle and the mountain were both derived from the presence of God the Lord—who alone is holy.

As Christians, we know that in Jesus Christ a greater tabernacle has come into our midst! It is through Jesus Christ that we have now been brought near to God; not by an earthly tabernacle made by hands, but by the eternal Christ who is the one true Mediator between God and man. When the psalmist calls us to “exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain” (Ps. 99:9) we recall that we “have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm . . . But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem . . . to the church of the firstborn . . . to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant” (Heb. 12:18, 22–24). This is the great transaction that the incarnation accomplishes on our behalf. Mercy and redemption are not found at a place, whether a holy mountain or an earthly temple, but in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Guest Preacher - Pastor David Hicks: Living Well in a Dsus World - Psalm 77

 
 

Every so often, we will have a guest speaker at CrossView Church. We are so grateful for the gifted women and men that serve the Lord through teaching the word. This week we hear from Pastor David Hicks. Pastor David is a retired Free Methodist Pastor and Leader. He served as Lead Pastor at CrossView Church in the early 2000s. We hope you are encouraged by this week’s message.

Usually, when we have a guest speaker, we will not have a weekly devotion. We encourage you to watch the message again at some point throughout the week.

Blessings on you and your week.

Pastor Kyle

Guest Preacher - Rev. Dr. Kevin Austin: Psalm 74

 
 

Every so often, we will have a guest speaker at CrossView Church. We are so grateful for the gifted women and men that serve the Lord through teaching the word. This week we hear from Rev. Dr. Kevin Austin. Kevin is the founder and director of the Set Free Movement. The Set Free Movement works to mobilize faith communities, financial partners, and all segments of society towards ending human trafficking and creating new futures through community-based action. You can find out more information about The Set Free Movement by clicking here. We hope you are encouraged by this week’s message.

Usually, when we have a guest speaker, we will not have a weekly devotion. We encourage you to watch the message again at some point throughout the week.

Blessings on you and your week.

Pastor Kyle

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