Hebrews: Finding Rest Today

This week’s devotional was written by Dr. Christopher A. Hall and is entitled, Redrawing the Image. Dr. Hall is a pastor, author, professor, and past president of Renovaré. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

Last week I mentioned that the expression ​“image of God” is a phrase that is given maddeningly little formal definition in Scripture. This is correct — except that when we examine the New Testament testimony, the Christological and incarnational focus of the ​“image of God” is striking. Let’s take a closer look.

Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians about ​“the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4), and he tells the Colossians that it is Christ who ​“is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15). Christ, the image of God, is the Word made flesh (John 1:14), ​“the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18), the eternal Son who has created all things (Col. 1:16). The Letter to the Hebrews states that the Son ​“is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb. 1:3).

So, though the New Testament does not define what ​“image of God” means, when this phrase is used we are directed to Jesus Christ. To look closely at Jesus is to see at last what a real human being looks like.

This untarnished image of God, who represents God so perfectly that whoever has seen him ​“has seen the Father” (John 14:9), has come into the world to redeem us. And how has this redemption been accomplished?…[C]onsider how Athanasius explains Christ’s redeeming work:

“You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel becomes obliterated through external stains. The artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the panel has to come and sit for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material. Even so was it with the All-holy Son of God. He, the image of the Father, came and dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind made after Himself.”

Athanasius’s metaphor is beautiful. If the seriousness of sin forbids a solution that is merely external and therefore superficial, here is a powerful account of the eternal Word taking on human nature precisely in order to make it new from the inside out. Other ancient Christian writers formulate this idea pithily in in terms of the famous principle, ​“Whatever is not assumed is not healed” — in other words, our diseased human nature is ​“healed” only when every aspect of it is taken on (“assumed”) by God the Son and is thereby united with the intensely personal Trinity. Then, when our lifeless nature is connected to the Source of infinite life, it is regenerated, raised, re-created, renewed, restored. It becomes again what it was meant to be, a genuine, authentic image of the living God, ready once again to know God himself.

Whatever was broken in the created image of God has now been restored by the incarnation of the eternal image of God. Human nature is remade, as God the Son united it to himself in order to make it new from the inside out (2 Cor. 5:17); our ignorance is overcome, as he lives a perfect life in order to show us what real humanity is (Heb. 4:15); our guilt is atoned for, as he dies a sinner’s death in order to cancel forever the charge that is against us (Col. 2:13 – 14); our corruption is healed, as he rises to life again in order to inaugurate a new humanity with a new nature for a new age, that all who are in Christ may walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). As if all this achievement of Christ were not enough, God the Spirit also is given, to inscribe the law on believers’ hearts (Heb. 10:15 – 16), to work inside us to draw us into the newness, the fullness, that is ours in Christ (John 16:13 – 15). Salvation is nothing less than full entrance into the life of Jesus by the Spirit.

Hebrews: A Shining Reflection

This week’s devotional was written by Ken Schenck and is entitled, Jesus Christ Is God’s Definitive Word. Ken Schenck is a New Testament scholar and a contributing writer to seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. (Hebrews 1:1–2 NRSV)

Key Observation: From the very moment God started to create to the moment that Christ will bring his eternal kingdom, Jesus is God’s last Word for the universe.

Understanding the Word

The book of Hebrews is in many ways one of the most puzzling books in the New Testament. We do not know who wrote it, and we are unsure of the church to which it was written. Experts on the book disagree on when it was written and whether its recipients were primarily Jewish or non-Jewish. Many think that its first twelve chapters were meant to be read as a sermon to a congregation the author hoped to visit in the near future.

The first chapter begins majestically, with an almost hymn-like contrast of Christ with the angels. Next to God himself, surely angels are the most exalted of God’s creations. Yet next to Christ, they are nothing. They are only servants in the kingdom of the universe. To show the glory of the age that Christ is inaugurating, Hebrews 1 shows us how much more glorious Jesus is than the angels, the stewards of the age that is now passing away.

The first two verses of Hebrews present a contrast. In the past, God spoke to his people in many different ways. He spoke to his people through human prophets in Israel. He spoke to them through angels. He led them through the wilderness with a pillar of fire and a wandering cloud.In days recent to the author, God had inaugurated a new Word: Jesus. He is not just one of many but the one Word. This final Word was the Son of God, the King to restore the rule of God on earth as it is in heaven. For centuries Israel had been without a king. They had hoped for God to give them full control of their land back.

In Jesus, they received a King greater than they could have possibly imagined. They received a people that was much bigger than those who had Jewish blood. They became part of a kingdom that was not only bigger than the land of Israel, not only bigger than the Roman Empire, but a kingdom that consisted of the whole universe, of all things both seen and unseen. The previous ways that God had spoken were “many and various.” Now God had spoken a singular, final Word in Jesus.

Jesus the Son spans the whole of history. On the one hand, he is the “heir of all things.” Everything that exists in the creation will be his when the kingdom fully comes. God has bequeathed it to him as his Son. In 1 Corinthians 15:26–27, we learn that God has destined everything in this world to be put under Christ’s feet, including death. So when Hebrews says that Jesus is the heir of everything, it truly means that Christ will rule over everything that God has made.

Then we learn that Jesus was actually at the beginning of the creation as well. This Son who is heir of everything was also the One through whom God created the worlds. Christians have long taken this statement to mean that Jesus must have existed before he came to earth as Christ. In fact, we believe that Jesus is God. In some mysterious way, even though there is only one God, God exists as three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 1:2 tells us that Christ was the agent of creation. Some Jewish writings from the time of the New Testament speak of God creating the world by means of his wisdom. An Old Testament example of this way of thinking is Proverbs 8:22–31, where God’s wisdom is pictured at his side helping him create the world.

Might the author of Hebrews have been hinting to this congregation that Jesus was God’s wisdom for the world, the One who gives meaning to everything? Jesus is the Word God spoke to heal the world.So begins this majestic sermon. Jesus is at the beginning and end of history. Jesus is God’s last Word for the universe. We know that we are about to hear God’s answer to all the world’s questions and problems. We are about to know the secret to the universe from the beginning to the end of time. That answer and that secret is Jesus Christ.

Questions for Reflection

1.Have you ever pondered the awesomeness of Christ? How great is this One who spans time from eternity past to eternity future! Are you living with an awe proper to his greatness?

2. How different would your community of faith look if Jesus were truly King? What is God calling you to do to make any needed changes?

3. Since Jesus is, in fact, God’s wisdom for the universe, should we not share that wisdom with as many people as we can? Are you excited to let God’s wisdom speak to everyone and every part of your own life?

Easter Sunday 2024: Our Future Hope Is Now A Present Reality

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled, Why The Resurrection Must Mean More. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

JOHN 20:1-7 (NIV)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.

CONSIDER THIS

We miss the shocking surprise of the resurrection of Jesus because our hindsight will not allow us to linger in the stunning sting of his death. I mean, just when you thought things could not get any worse, they get worse.

We don’t commonly make this connection, but Easter actually began with more bad news. Mary Magdalene left her home in the darkness of Sunday morning to meet the dawn of a new day of grief. She found the tomb, but Jesus’ body was gone.

Where did we get the idea that Mary was going to the first Easter sunrise service? It never dawned on her (or anyone else) that Jesus was alive. Clearly someone had stolen his body. The ultimate insult now followed the ultimate injury.

For us, the resurrection of Jesus is like being in on the surprise of our surprise birthday party. It’s hard to be surprised when you know it is going to happen. There’s just no way to un-know it.

On the other hand, we have all lived through or are living in situations that keep getting worse. I’m trying to ask a question here I can hardly even understand. What if the resurrection of Jesus actually creates the possibility for an alternate reality just on the other side of any hopeless situation? We think we are on the way to the grief of a grave, but what if we are seeing the situation all wrong? What if the resurrection of Jesus doesn’t just defeat death; what if it reverses it? In other words, where sin and death once ruled, love and life would now reign. It would mean no situation or scenario would be too difficult for God—that nothing would be impossible.

The gospel must mean more than the indefinite extension of one’s life beyond one’s physical death. After all, death is more than the event at the end of your life. Death is the pervasive force of darkness that, as the poet says, sticks to everything.

In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the power of the gospel has unleashed the reality of eternity from the future, restoring it to the present into the lives of all who will not just believe and walk over the line but who will live over the line—who won’t just be born again but who will grow up into this new life. This is the life Jesus came to reveal and now lives to release into all creation.

THE PRAYER

Abba Father, we thank you for your Son, Jesus, who has defeated death, not just the finality of the event of death but the very principality of death. Enlarge our understanding of his resurrection that we might not just hope for it but live into it. Come, Holy Spirit, and awaken us anew. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

THE QUESTIONS

1. How does the advantage of historical hindsight prove a disadvantage for us when approaching the tomb of Jesus?

2. What do you think? Is the gospel more than the indefinite extension of life beyond the grave? If so, what?

3. What does it mean that death, beyond just the event of death, is defeated? In your own life?

Palm Sunday 2024: A Triumph of Love

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled, Holy Misnomer, Batman. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ZECHARIAH 9:9

(No hymn tune for this scripture.)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! 
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! 
Behold, your king is coming to you; 
He is just and endowed with salvation, 
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (NASB)

CONSIDER THIS

Before we get too much further into Passion Week, I want to revisit what I consider to be a major misnomer we often find in our Bibles. Misnomer—it comes from a French word that means “to wrongly name.” Remember back a few days ago with me to Palm Sunday, and the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem “humble, and mounted on a donkey,” as the prophecy read.

Anyone remember the two words that appear in most of our (English) Bibles as the heading over this passage of Scripture? (See Matthew 21:1–17; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:28–40; John 12:12–19.) Here is the misnomer: “Triumphal Entry.”

These subheads, mind you, are not the Word of God. They are, rather, the work of translators. Likely, the translators were themselves playing with the irony. I will leave that to those smarter than I. Suffice it to say, though, this word triumphal is precisely the wrong word. Yes, it’s the word we want and like, but it’s wrong. Why not the “Humble Entry” or at least the “Prophetic Entry”?

Entries matter a lot. Just in case we entered this week with any notion of triumphal, as in “We Will Rock You” in our spirits, there’s still time to run back outside the gates and come in again. Crawl this time.

Passion Week is not our annual opportunity to put yet another exclamation point on our theological dogmas and doctrinal foundations. Passion Week is the annual invitation to become disoriented by the holy love of God, shaken to the core of our comfortable being, and dispossessed of our sentimental illusions about grace.

For all practical purposes, the best two-word caption I can think of for all that is about to unfold? “Hell Week.” The only one making a triumphal entry into Jerusalem was Satan himself. This is the week that the very gates of hell were opened, unleashing all hell on the Son of God. Remember that time in the desert when we were told that after unsuccessfully unseating Jesus with his tawdry temptations, “he left him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13)?

This is that time.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the cross?
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross?
O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross?

The Book of Acts: The End Is A New Beginning

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled, On Ending A Story That Never Ends. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 28:29-31 (NIV)

For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!

CONSIDER THIS

And just like that, the book ends.

My favorite thing about the Acts of the Apostles is the way it ends without ending. There’s no closing summary or conclusion; no credit reel, no salutations or prayer requests. It’s like Luke couldn’t land the plane so he just jumped off.

At the same time it’s probably the most fitting ending in the history of endings, because it’s a story that never ends. I mean, how do you end a story that never ends? You don’t end it. You join it.

Think about it. Every story will one day come to an end but one. The story of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the story of salvation, the story of the Church, God’s own people, never ends.

This is what makes the gospel the gospel. By the sheer mercy of God we get to join the story that never ends. This is why, like Paul, we proclaim the Kingdom of God and teach about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only way into the never ending story, for Jew and Gentile alike.

The point of ending this way is to get us to turn the page and live the one life we have been given into the next chapter. This is our chance. Let us not waste our lives on any other story.

THE PRAYER

COME HOLY SPIRIT!

THE QUESTION

How is your Acts 29 story coming along?

The Book of Acts: Is Your God Too Small? - Special Guest Pastor David Hicks

 
 

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 by teaching the word. This week, we hear from Pastor David Hicks. Pastor David recently retired from Pastoral ministry in the Free Methodist churches in the Pacific Northwest after 42 years. Pastor David has served in many capacities over his 42 years in ministry. He’s served as an Associate Pastor, Lead Pastor, Director of Pastoral Care and Spiritual Formation for the Pacific Northwest Conference, hospital chaplain, Interim Pastor, and the list goes on. Pastor David served as the Lead Pastor at CrossView Church from 2004-2008. We are honored to have him with us this morning.

When we have a guest speaker at CrossView, we will not have a weekly devotion. We encourage you to watch the message again sometime throughout the week.

Blessings on you and your week.

Pastor Kyle

The Book of Acts: The Power of God

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled, The Difference Between The Prosperity Gospel And The Gospel Of Prosperity J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 19:17-20 (NIV)

When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

CONSIDER THIS

Previously on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone . . . the seven sons of Sceva received a royal butt kicking when they tried invoking the name of Jesus as though it were some kind of spell.

The word of this “power encounter” got around quickly and scared the baJesus out of the Jews and Greeks in Ephesus. Note these Jews and Greeks were “believers” in Jesus. So why would they be afraid? Because they, too, were guilty of dabbling in these practices.

So what would the modern day equivalent look like? It would be easy to compare what they were doing to the Zodiac or reading books about your horoscope. I don’t think so. Here’s my take: I think these followers of Jesus were creating some first century version (maybe a distant cousin) of what we today might call the Word of Faith movement or the Prosperity Gospel.

If they operated within another religion entirely it might not be such a big deal. The trouble is they were using the name of Jesus in a way foreign to the person of Jesus. In my judgment, this is what prosperity theology does. Prosperity theology is a Christian religious doctrine that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one’s material wealth.

Bottom line: misusing the name of Jesus. Wasn’t there a major commandment about that?

The name of Jesus is powerful but it is not magic. The name of Jesus inspires awe and humble submission. After all, before it’s all said and done, every knee will bow to the name of Jesus.

That’s what happened that day in Ephesus. The Holy Spirit convicted them of “using” the name of Jesus for their own gain and brought them to a place of bowing to the name of Jesus. It led to a demonstrative repentance of burning entire libraries of books dedicated to these false religious practices.

Books that purport to be “Christian” but really aren’t pose far more danger than books about other religions or sorcery or anything else. In other words, it’s not Christianity’s competitors we need to be worried about but its counterfeits.

Beware of “using” the name of Jesus and those who make a living of it. It’s a thriving business with a flourishing economy, and it’s close enough to the real thing to be quite deceptive. (Did you pick up on how much money those books were worth in today’s text? 50,000 drachmas. That’s a days wages times 50,000 days or 137 years.)

To be sure, Jesus loves prosperity, but prosperity on his terms and in the way of his kingdom.

THE PRAYER

COME HOLY SPIRIT!

The Book of Acts: God Want To Be Known

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 17:11-15 (in context)

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

CONSIDER THIS

He was greatly distressed.

Did you get that in today’s text?

It’s what I appreciate about Paul’s approach in Athens. Despite being “greatly distressed” he did not resort to outrage. The gospel permits “great distress,” but it can rarely tolerate outrage, no matter how warranted. Anger will just not get it done.

Today’s world looks a lot more like Athens (with all its idols) than Jerusalem. We have two choices. Unleash our outrage over the loss of Jerusalem or embrace the challenges and possibilities of Athens.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

Lament offers a healthy outlet for our outrage: the presence of God. Remember the time Jesus said, “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” I think this is in part what he was talking about.

We have a lot to be “greatly distressed” about, but great distress will never get it done. Only the creative, Holy Spirit empowered love of Jesus can.

To lament the loss of “Jerusalem” enables us to get on with the business of winning “Athens.”

THE PRAYER

COME HOLY SPIRIT!

The Book of Acts: Building Something New

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled The Word of the Day and of Eternity. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ROMANS 5:7–8 (NIV)

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

CONSIDER THIS

We have heard a lot of big words in Romans so far. Today, we introduce a new word. So far in Romans, we have discussed the weighty concepts of sin and righteousness and faith and justification and mercy and peace and hope and circumcision and the heart and justice and judgment and law and atonement and repentance, and all of this is the stuff of the gospel. There is another word that brings all of these words together into the deep coherence of the gospel. That word, of course, is grace. But that is not the new word. 

As I look over the list of terms it occurs to me they are all somewhat abstract concepts. They all mean something and yet their meanings all together point beyond themselves. In other words, they are describing something larger. Even this word bringing coherence to them all—grace—points beyond itself. They are all nice words, even powerful words, with strong meanings and yet they remain abstractions; until we read this:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Amazing grace can only come from one place: amazing love. 

As our fight song has it, “He left his Father’s throne above, so free so infinite his grace, emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race.”

The word is love. Though we have hardly seen it to date, we will begin to see it everywhere in Romans. 

Paul refers to the gospel as the “power of God” precisely because the gospel is the love of God. It is why I maintain that rather than the conventional nomenclature of “the gospel of Jesus Christ,” it should read, “The gospel is Jesus Christ.”

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Love is the question and the answer. It is the rule and the reason. The love of God in Jesus Christ is not only the grace that saves us but it is the very life of God in us that makes us agents of salvation for others. The apostle John will later capture the logic of love in these words:

“This is how we know what love is—Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16).  

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Grace is an idea. Love can only be a person. Indeed, grace is the big idea of God, but love is his nature and his name. 

Yes, “Amazing love how can it be, that thou my God wouldst die for me.” 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

THE PRAYER

Our Father in heaven, thank you for sending your Son to this earth to die for us; even for me. I understand this to the point where I can accept it in my understanding and yet I hardly grasp it. I want to break free into a new level—not of grasping for you but of being grasped by you. Something tells me this will come down to my own willingness to receive and be loved. Something in me doesn’t want it to be about love, but about power or justice or sovereignty or something that feels more weighty to me. Forgive me for this. I think it begins by being honest; so that is my honesty today. I believe my knowledge about you keeps me at a safe distance. I am ready to trade this in for the real knowing and being known by you. I am ready to personally receive the demonstration of love who is Jesus. Praying in his name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

Do you want it to be about something other than love? Why? Does love feel soft and flimsy to you or has it come into the category of the eternal weight of glory; of ultimate durability and final substance? 

The Book of Acts: The Importance of Prayer

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled The Comprehensive and Confounding Mystery of Prayer and Fatih. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 12:16–19A (NIV)

But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.

In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him,

CONSIDER THIS

Today we continue our foray into the comprehensive yet confounding mysteries of prayer and intercession.

James dies by Herod’s sword. Peter is delivered by the saints’ prayers. Something tells me no matter how many times they celebrate Peter’s deliverance, they will have a very hard time getting over James’s death. 

Three things we want to avoid when our prayers aren’t answered according to our expectations:

  1. We don’t blame God.

  2. We don’t blame the effectiveness of our prayers.

  3. We don’t blame the efficacy of the faith of those for whom we are praying.

So what do we do? We blame the battlefield. We blame the fog of war. We blame the chaotic, broken, fallen order of the corrupted creation. And we keep praying, pressing on with an ever-clarified understanding of our challenging reality on this side of the new creation. Here’s the bottom line for those who persist in prayer:

  1. We will win many battles.

  2. We will lose some very difficult battles and suffer devastating losses.

  3. We will most often be left to wonder why some of our prayers are answered according to our expectations and others are not. 

I find it interesting how our apostolic storyteller, Dr. Luke, tells two Jesus stories in his Gospel account no other Gospel author includes. These two stories are respectively known as, “The Friend at Midnight,” and “The Widow and the Unjust Judge.” Both are stories of the need to persevere in prayer. 

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. (Luke 11:5–8)

My take: A lot of times when you are praying into a desperate situation it is going to feel like no one is home and no one cares. That is not true. Your feelings will deceive you. Your faith must lead you. Desperation keeps asking. Determination keeps seeking. Dogged audacity keeps knocking. God has created a realm for divine-human collaboration. It is called, “Prayer and Faith.” On the one hand, prayer is so simple a child can grasp it. On the other hand, prayer is so complex and sophisticated a seasoned saint can’t fully comprehend it. Maybe this is why it takes two hands and why we often fold our two hands together when we pray. 

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” (Luke 18:1–5)

My take: Jesus draws stark contrast here as though to say, “God is nothing like that judge and you are nothing like that widow. God is the judge all right, but he’s your good Father. You are not a helpless widow but an empowered beloved son or daughter with full standing and profound authority. Still, in difficult seasons it will feel like God doesn’t care and you have no power. Don’t trust that feeling. Lean into faith. Wake up. Rise up. Kneel down. Never give up. Never give in. Never give way.”  

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  (Luke 18:6–8)

Did you catch the three-word call to action in these last verses? 

 . . . day and night 

It’s one of the lesser-emphasized things I love about this story. All of it happened in the middle of the night. Peter was awakened from a deep sleep by the angel. But guess who wasn’t sleeping? The church. “Many people,” the Scripture tells us, had gathered at the home of Mary (mother of John) to set up shop as a house of prayer for Peter. As they incessantly knocked on the doors of Heaven the doors of the prison sprung open, and deep in the darkness of the midnight hour, guess who showed up knocking on their door? 

But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. 

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 QUESTION

How do these two Jesus stories from Dr. Luke—the friend at midnight and the widow and the unjust judge—encourage your heart, strengthen your mind, and embolden your faith when it comes to prayer, the battlefield, and the comprehensive, confounding mystery of it all? Journal that out today. 

Guest Speaker - Alan & Ammabellee Bacus

 
 

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 by teaching the word. This week, we hear from Rev. Alan & Ammabellee Bacus. Alan and Ammabellee Bacus are FMWM Asia’s first international missionaries and share the vision to “Influence a Million in Asia for Christ.” They envision mobilizing Free Methodist churches by intentionally planting community churches through campus ministry and forming disciple-making communities in Gateway cities in Asia.

Alan is the former Bishop of FMC Philippines, and Ammabellee is served as the Missions Director in the Philippines. You can find out more about them on their Free Methodist World Missions Page.

When we have a guest speaker, we will not have a weekly devotion. We encourage you to watch the message again sometime throughout the week.

Blessings on you and your week.

Pastor Kyle

The Book of Acts: The Gospel to the Romans?

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled The Sunning Power of Simple Obedience. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 10:24–38 (NIV)

The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

CONSIDER THIS

This is a scene of extraordinary significance. The future of the Christian faith is being worked out before our eyes under the roof of a man named Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and commander of the Italian regiment. Cornelius had no idea of the magnitude of what was unfolding. He was practicing simple obedience. He was not a theologian, a preacher, or otherwise employed by the religious establishment. He had a day job. He was a military man, a soldier, a man of faith to be sure, but he fit the category of almost every other person who ever lived: a layperson. No, he wasn’t “just a layperson,” as laypeople are so often guilty of sheepishly labeling themselves. He was a bona fide layperson who took his faith seriously. He was a man of prayer and a generous giver. He didn’t command the respect of others. From all we can tell he earned it. This scene at his house unveils the deeper character of this character. It is a picture of the stunning power of simple obedience; of readiness, openness, and willingness in the presence of God. 

Cornelius was ready. Having no real idea of what this whole thing was even about—Cornelius deployed three of his employees for three days. 

Cornelius was open. Having no real idea of what this whole thing was even about— Cornelius marshaled his significant standing and influence, gathered a large crowd of his family and friends, and incited their faith to anticipate what God might be up to. 

Cornelius was willing. Having no real idea of what this whole thing was even about—Cornelius, by his simple obedience, set the stage for the simple obedience of everyone else gathered. Don’t you love how his willingness opened the door for Peter to bear witness to a room of strangers who had no idea who he was? 

“Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Do you know who Cornelius reminds me of? 

He reminds me of you. 

Our churches are filled with people who mistakenly thought they were on a cruise. We are aboard a vessel somewhere between a battleship and an ark. There are many, many oars. You are one of the faithful who have found an oar. Far from a rider on this ship, you are a rower. You are ready. You are open. You are willing. And did you catch the serendipity of the first letters of those three words?

Ready. Open. Willing. 

R.O.W. 

You are a rower in the tradition of Cornelius. You are a work in progress, a developing portrait of the stunning power of simple obedience. May your tribe increase. Great awakening rides on the rails of souls like you. 

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. 

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 QUESTION

Ready? Open? Willing? How are you growing in these ways before our Lord? What do you admire about Cornelius? Who does he remind you of in your history? In your present life?

The Book of Acts: A Change of Tune

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled The Power of the Transformed Life. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 9:26–31 (NIV)

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

CONSIDER THIS

We have witnessed dynamic and dramatic things as this massive Holy Spirit story continues to unfold. Jesus physically lifts off of the earth, defying gravity, and ascends into Heaven. The Holy Spirit comes like a roaring wind and tongues of fire and men who don’t speak foreign languages all of a sudden not only speak foreign languages but declare the gospel of Jesus in said languages. A man paralyzed from birth begins walking and jumping and praising God. People suffering from all kinds of sickness are healed. People oppressed by all sorts of evil and impure spirits are delivered. Last week we witnessed the stunning conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch, not to mention the thousands and thousands of men, women, and children who have professed faith in Jesus, been baptized, and joined the church. Signs, wonders, and miracles abound as the presence of God fills the people of God with the power of God (which is the love of God), for the sake of the world, and all for the glory of God. 

All of this is extraordinary and truly incredible, but this week, we are witnessing what is perhaps the most profound and convincing proof of them all—the power of a transformed life. This story of the apostle Paul is next level. Here was a man who was so convinced in his established faith in God and so convicted by his convictions he committed himself to destroy anything that came against it—especially the church. The disciples in Damascus were terrified of him. They didn’t believe the story, and with good reason, because it was unbelievable. I love this bit of the inside story:

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 

As an aside, don’t underestimate the significance of Barnabas giving his thumbs up on Paul. Also, don’t underestimate the significance of your own endorsement of a perhaps unlikely witness of Jesus. It matters a lot. 

So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 

This is unprecedented. Saul, who weeks ago was holding the coats of the men stoning Stephen for his faith in Jesus; who days ago was breathing murderous threats and dragging men and women from their homes to punish them for their faith in Jesus; is now in the Holy City, Jerusalem, and he is “speaking boldly in the name of Jesus.”

Take this in. Behold what Jesus is doing here. This is the stunning power of a transformed life. Signs, wonders, and miracles are important. They play a key part in the story. They become important moments with ongoing significance. A transformed life is like a sign and wonder that keeps on going. A transformed life is like a miracle turned into a movement. It keeps on going, picking up steam, overcoming obstacles, enduring suffering, doing impossible things, winning unwinnable battles, and all while demonstrating unfathomable love. 

It’s why your life and your transformation matter so much. Never underestimate the significance of the transformation afoot in your own life. It just might matter the most. 

It’s why this prayer of transformation matters so much. 

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. 

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 QUESTION

Tell me the story of your transformation. Here are some journal prompts for you today: How has Jesus transformed my life in the past? How is Jesus transforming my life right now in this season of my discipleship? How might he transform my life in the future? Who and how did I used to be? Who and how am I now? Who and how am I becoming? 

The Book of Acts: Faith Over Fear

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled Two Favorite Words of Jesus. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 9:10–19 (NIV)

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

CONSIDER THIS

Have you come to realize Jesus has people everywhere, and he is guiding and orchestrating them all into a plot line of unimaginable proportions? So yesterday Jesus intervenes in the life of his most hostile opponent and gives him marching orders. Today, he speaks into the life of one of his ready disciples, Ananias, with a Holy Spirit assignment. Ananias resists. The Holy Spirit persists. Jesus prevails. The plan moves forward. This is how God accomplishes his will—through people. 

God is not a puppeteer but he is an amazing stage director. Puppets have no will of their own. Their movements are never left to chance. Actors, on the other hand, must learn a script. They must be trained in the art form. They can take cues or reject them. An actor can heed the director’s command or do something completely different. The best actors become so immersed in the script and trained in the mind of the director they can improvise in the moment to effect an outcome never seen before but only imagined in the heart of the director.

Some think of the sovereignty of God as though God were a divine puppeteer. There is no effect God does not cause; no outcome he did not predestine. People, like puppets, have no free will. Some of the smartest theologians in the room believe this. I do not claim to be among them in intelligence or in belief. I think of the sovereignty of God as though God were a divine stage director. There are infinite effects from manifold causes; thousands of possible outcomes not predetermined neither unforeseen. He has complete control over every aspect of the production, but he chooses to work with actors who have a mind and will of their own. He expects the cast to know the script(ure) by heart and to intuit his mind from hours and hours of practice through the gift of the Spirit. God’s chief desire is willful obedience inspired by holy love yet his will cannot be thwarted even by total insurrection and the most heinous rebellion.

The amazing thing about God as sovereign stage director is he is directing billions of different stages all at once as though they were in one great theater. No matter what forgotten lines or errant improvisations or outright deviations from the script, one thing is for certain—the outcome:

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev. 11:15)

I think my favorite part of today’s storied text is how Ananias responded to the Lord’s prompting. Two words:

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

Practice speaking those words: Yes, Lord. 

They hold the key to humble trust. They carry the essence of preemptive obedience. They are the calling card of the ready disciple. 

Yes, Lord. The answer is always and ever, “Yes, Lord.” 

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. 

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. 

I receive your readiness and release my resistance. 

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 QUESTION

Have you awakened to the fact that you are a Holy Spirit actor on this massive stage of the kingdom of God breaking into world history? How might you become a better-trained actor? Are you understanding the critical significance of attentiveness and obedience? 

The Book of Acts: When You See Jesus

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled The Power of a Transformed Life. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

ACTS 9:26–31 (NIV)

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

CONSIDER THIS

We have witnessed dynamic and dramatic things as this massive Holy Spirit story continues to unfold. Jesus physically lifts off of the earth, defying gravity, and ascends into Heaven. The Holy Spirit comes like a roaring wind and tongues of fire and men who don’t speak foreign languages all of a sudden not only speak foreign languages but declare the gospel of Jesus in said languages. A man paralyzed from birth begins walking and jumping and praising God. People suffering from all kinds of sickness are healed. People oppressed by all sorts of evil and impure spirits are delivered. Last week we witnessed the stunning conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch, not to mention the thousands and thousands of men, women, and children who have professed faith in Jesus, been baptized, and joined the church. Signs, wonders, and miracles abound as the presence of God fills the people of God with the power of God (which is the love of God), for the sake of the world, and all for the glory of God. 

All of this is extraordinary and truly incredible, but this week, we are witnessing what is perhaps the most profound and convincing proof of them all—the power of a transformed life. This story of the apostle Paul is next level. Here was a man who was so convinced in his established faith in God and so convicted by his convictions he committed himself to destroy anything that came against it—especially the church. The disciples in Damascus were terrified of him. They didn’t believe the story, and with good reason, because it was unbelievable. I love this bit of the inside story:

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 

As an aside, don’t underestimate the significance of Barnabas giving his thumbs up on Paul. Also, don’t underestimate the significance of your own endorsement of a perhaps unlikely witness of Jesus. It matters a lot. 

So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 

This is unprecedented. Saul, who weeks ago was holding the coats of the men stoning Stephen for his faith in Jesus; who days ago was breathing murderous threats and dragging men and women from their homes to punish them for their faith in Jesus; is now in the Holy City, Jerusalem, and he is “speaking boldly in the name of Jesus.”

Take this in. Behold what Jesus is doing here. This is the stunning power of a transformed life. Signs, wonders, and miracles are important. They play a key part in the story. They become important moments with ongoing significance. A transformed life is like a sign and wonder that keeps on going. A transformed life is like a miracle turned into a movement. It keeps on going, picking up steam, overcoming obstacles, enduring suffering, doing impossible things, winning unwinnable battles, and all while demonstrating unfathomable love. 

It’s why your life and your transformation matter so much. Never underestimate the significance of the transformation afoot in your own life. It just might matter the most. 

It’s why this prayer of transformation matters so much. 

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. 

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 QUESTION

Tell me the story of your transformation. Here are some journal prompts for you today: How has Jesus transformed my life in the past? How is Jesus transforming my life right now in this season of my discipleship? How might he transform my life in the future? Who and how did I used to be? Who and how am I now? Who and how am I becoming?  

Christmas 2023

This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled Getting Into The Christmas Spirit. J. D Walt is the Executive Director of seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

LUKE 1:39-45 (NIV)

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For [behold!] as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” 

CONSIDER THIS

The closer we get to Christmas, the more prose must give way to poems. It’s why singing figures so prominently at this time of year. Think about it. When in life are more people singing more of the very same songs more of the time than ever in the entire year? Christian or not, just about everybody loves Christmas music. Why? It’s because like no other time, the music of Christmas unites us. During Advent, the season preceding Christmas, we all listen to the very same songs—every single year, without fail—together. In fact, radio stations start playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving, and for some of them, it’s all they play around the clock. Shopping malls are like a symphony from the common songs in the concourses to the cacophony of medleys coming from the individual stores. From “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and “Away in a Manger” to “White Christmas,” there really is no sacred/secular divide at Christmas. No matter how commercialized and materialistic the season becomes, Christmas still belongs to Jesus. 

Everyone loves to get into the Christmas spirit. And what exactly is “the Christmas spirit”? Can we be honest? The Christmas spirit is the Holy Spirit. From the day of Pentecost forward, the Holy Spirit courses across the face of the earth, moving with the awakening energy of heaven on earth, ever ready to invade and embrace anyone and everyone with the miracle of Jesus Messiah. In this one-of-its-kind season, the Spirit’s prevenient, preparatory work is remarkably present and public. At Christmas, the whole world is showing up at our party, singing our songs, and more open-hearted to the possibilities of God breaking in on their brokenness than in the rest of the calendar year combined. For Christians, the Christmas spirit must increasingly mean being filled with the Holy Spirit in ways making us radically hospitable, boldly open, extraordinarily generous, and deeply attuned to the ways Jesus wants to work within, among, and through us. No matter how crazy the holiday party gets, Jesus owns Christmas. In fact, Jesus is Christmas. 

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

Look what happened in this story. Mary shows up carrying Jesus in her womb. The child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy at the awareness of the prenatal presence of Jesus, and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit! This is a profound awakening story. 

What if it could be like that for us? We, like pregnant Mary, carry Jesus. (Really, it’s more like Jesus carries us.) As we move about in the open and joyful air of the holiday season, instead of lamenting that Christmas is everywhere and Jesus is nowhere, what if we focused on the fact that we carry Jesus? And what if we carried the faith—that as we carry Jesus—something deep in others leaps for joy at the awareness of his presence? The Holy Spirit stands present and ever ready to kindle awareness of and attunement to Jesus in every person on earth. What if the Spirit is waiting on us to show up with Jesus—to our party—even at someone else’s house? How’s that for getting into the Christmas spirit?

THE PRAYER

Our Father in heaven, nearer than my breath, thank you for these days of Advent and this new year in Christ. Lord Jesus, Christmas belongs to you and yet you want it to belong to the whole world. Make me a true bearer of your presence, the real Christmas spirit, as I move about these festive days. Come, Holy Spirit, and attune me to the longings unaware that the people all around me are carrying within them. Be so alive in me that others leap for joy at your presence within me. In the name of Jesus Messiah—the one who came, is here, and is coming again—for his glory and our good, amen. 

THE QUESTIONS

Are you ready to take Jesus with you into the Christmas celebration? How can it be different this time around? How will you be different? How will Jesus be different in and through you?

Advent 2023: Christmas Eve

This week’s devotional was written by Matthew Sigler and is entitled A Hymn For Christmas Eve. Matthew Sigler is a contributing author for Seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

After “Silent Night” has been sung and the last of the candles have been extinguished, after hugs have been exchanged with friends and the parking lot has emptied, after my son has finally settled down and drifted off to sleep on Christmas Eve, I listen to one more nativity song—and I put it on repeat: “Glory be to God on High.”

What’s interesting about this eight-year long tradition is that it has nothing to do with nostalgia—I only discovered this hymn about a decade ago. What captivates me about this hymn is that it gets closest to conveying the mystery of the Incarnation than most Christmas carols I know. Don’t get me wrong, I have a soft spot for “Silent Night.” If I’m honest though, I value it more for the sentimental memories that are conjured up when I sing it. Yet in the lyrics of Wesley’s little known hymn I am consistently awestruck by a God who “made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.” Hear Wesley’s words:

Stand amazed, ye heavens, at this
See the Lord of earth and skies
Humbled to the dust He is,
And in a manger lies!

This move by the triune God is rich in confounding paradox—a God who created the vast universe out of nothing humbles Himself in redeeming love as a helpless baby:

Emptied of his majesty,
Of his dazzling glories shorn,
Being’s source begins to be
And God himself is born!

It’s so easy to let the incredible story of redemption grow numb in our minds and hearts – for it to be eclipsed by trite sentimentality. Wesley, however, calls us to be captured by the mystery of a God who emptied Himself of everything but love.

What’s our response in light of this incarnate love? To offer our very lives back to the one who is utterly empathetic with our human nature:

We, sons and daughters of men rejoice,
The Prince of peace proclaim,
With heaven’s host lift up our voice,
And shout Immanuel’s name:
Knees and hearts to Him we bow,
Of our flesh and of our bone,
Jesus is our brother now,
And God is all our own!

So perhaps tonight you’ll find a new carol to add to your Christmas repertoire. It will be on repeat in the Sigler household.

* “Glory Be to God on High” (Charles Wesley, arrangement, Reva Williams, ©2007)

Glory be to God on high,
And peace on earth descend:
God comes down, He bows the sky,
And shows himself our friend!
God, the invisible, appears,
God, the blest, the great I AM,
Sojourns in this vale of tears,
And Jesus is his name.

Him, the angels all adored,
Their Maker and their King;
Tidings of their humbled Lord,
They now to mortals bring;
Emptied of his majesty,
Of his dazzling glories shorn,
Being’s source begins to be,
And God himself is born!

See the eternal son of God
A mortal son of man,
Dwelling in an earthly form,
Whom heaven cannot contain!
Stand amazed, ye heavens, at this!…
See the Lord of earth and skies!
Humbled to the dust He is,
And in a manger lies!

We, sons and daughters of men rejoice,
The Prince of peace proclaim,
With heaven’s host lift up our voice,
And shout Immanuel’s name:
Knees and hearts to Him we bow,
Of our flesh and of our bone,
Jesus is our brother now,
And God is all our own!

Advent 2023: A Song of Joy

This week’s devotional was written by Johnathan Powers and is entitled Joy To The World: A Reflection On Advent. Johnathan Powers is a contributing author at Seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

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 is come.” 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.

Advent 2023: A Peace-Filled Reversal

This week’s devotional was written by Ben Snyder and is entitled Finding Peace In A Jam-Packed Season. Ben Snyder is a member of Soul Care Collective’s Steering Committee. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

Every Christmas season, I end up shaking my head at crazy headlines of people who hurt or sometimes kill one another over the latest toy for their child, the best electronic sales, or even over a parking spot. The Christmas sale season even touches Thanksgiving with everyone’s anticipation for Black Friday. How are we supposed to experience peace during this season when our culture efficiently trains us to rush frantically to be the first in line? After all, when the stock runs out, we’ll lose out on a great deal. The world reinforces the idea that blessings are limited and you must seize the day.

In the midst of this chaos, Jesus offers another way. From at least the 6th century until today, the worldwide Church has celebrated Advent, which is from a Latin term, Adventus, that means “coming,” referring, of course, to Jesus’ incarnation. This is intentionally a period of anticipation as we wait for the birth of the Savior. Only, we too have children who want the latest toy, and we too have burning desires like a new 55” 4k TV. We are waiting, but what for? We are in anticipation, but it’s somehow different. We are faithful participants in the liturgy of popular culture. Are we not a people with conflicted desire?

A few years ago, I had the privilege to travel to Israel and visit Bethlehem, even the very location where tradition locates the birth of the Messiah. Each year, over three million people travel to the Holy Land to visit sites like this and to have a sacred moment. The shock that I experienced, however, was not the awe of being in the very village where Jesus was born, but the hustle and bustle around me! This was not a place of peace, but place of turmoil and scraping to be first! Let me explain…

The absence of peace is evident just in arriving at Bethlehem because it is part of the Palestinian West Bank area. Disturbing graffiti is scrawled over both sides of the wall vividly depicting the hate deep in many hearts on both sides of the issue. At the Church of the Nativity, which is built over the traditional site of Jesus’ birth, we had to wait in a long line for over an hour just to get to the sacred spot. Westerners, accustomed to single file, orderly lines are forced into a dilemma… either loose one’s “rightful” place in line, or adopt the shoulder-jutting and jostling advance of the masses who are desperate to be first.

How did the spirit of the crazy Christmas shopping headlines find its way to the birthplace of the Prince of Peace? Is nowhere sacred or safe? More importantly, how did we let ourselves get drawn into this posture of self-advancement? Most of us in line would claim to be followers of the one who freely gave it all!

That’s when I realized that the Prince of Peace was not born into a world of peace. Why else would he be coming? In fact, his coming was the catalyst for the slaughter of all the children of Bethlehem and the surrounding region 2 years old and under (Matt 2:16)! Herod wanted no competitors!

Even the geography proclaims this spirit of self-advancement! Just three miles southeast of and visible from Bethlehem is a human-made mini-mountain rising up nearly 2,500 feet called the Herodium. Herod built this place in commemoration of his victory over one of his enemies in 40 BC to serve multiple functions: a summer getaway, a monument to his power, a fortress, and ultimately his tomb (Josephus, Antiquities 14.13.9 §§359-460).

In the shadow of this great and powerful king, another king of another kingdom was born. But Jesus was far away from home. The nativity scene we all create in our minds each year is the product of an ideal, peaceful image that we long for, but one that did not reflect the reality of the actual incarnation.

Yes, Jesus was and is the Prince of Peace! But, he came to a world of torn and warring hearts. Jesus came to offer us peace in the midst of our conflicted world. My experience in Bethlehem helped me realize that peace is not simply a place we go to or an aura we create, it is an inner disposition that exists in the midst of whatever chaos is surrounding us. This kind of peace, however, cannot be self-generated; it is something that grows inside us through patient waiting and walking with the Lord.

Jesus eventually grew into a man and walked in our midst. John’s gospel says that he “took up residence among us” (John 1:14 NET). He lived in a land ruled by foreign powers, as one of the  people harassed and oppressed. His ministry was characterized by crowds of people who wanted something from him, by community and religious leaders trying to destroy his character, and by disciples who got caught up in the posture of self-advancement promulgated by the culture around them.

The world counsels us to take what is ours and seize our blessings. The peace the world offers is one that requires violence and war. Jesus offers us another way, a peace that exists in the midst of chaos and striving, but one that frees us from these postures.

May these words by Leigh Nash from her song “Eternal Gifts” lead you to desire the Prince of Peace this Christmas.

Santa knows what I want for Christmas
but Jesus knows what I need
it can’t be purchased wrapped up and placed
under an ephod tree
I need patience, kindness – virtues like these
to bend on my knee at the manger

Santa may bring these that last for a year
but eternal gifts come from the Savior
some days come where I’m playing selfish
I can’t think of no one but me
then I think of all that I’m blessed with
and that’s always best to give than to receive

I need faithfulness, love, generosity
to open my home to a stranger
Santa may bring things that last for a year
but eternal gifts come from the Savior

I need patience, kindness, generosity
to bend on my knee at the manger
Santa may bring things that last for a year
but eternal gifts come from the Savior

Santa knows what I want for Christmas
but Jesus knows what I need

Advent 2023: Waiting & Hoping

This week’s devotional was written by Matt Leroy and is entitled, Let There Be Light. Matt Leroy is a Pastor and contributing author at Seedbed.com. We hope this devotion encourages you this week.

Let There Be Light

GENESIS 1:1–5 | In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Consider This

Creation began in the dark.
But piercing the black void of nothingness, God’s voice rings out,

Let there be light
Let there be day and night
Let there be earth and sky
Land and sea
Mountain and valley
And river and forest
Let there be life to fill it all
And then, the crown of creation,
Let there be humanity
Let them be in our image
Let them be the glory of God walking the earth Let us be at one, in harmony, together.
And we answer,
Let there be pride
Let there be betrayal and rebellion
Let there be separation
Let there be sin and death and fall.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. That’s a pretty depressing way to start the Christmas season. But, in truth, it’s the only way to start. This is how Advent orients us into the larger story. Refusing to let us run ahead, charging us to pause long enough to remember. We must begin by remembering our sin, our need for rescue, our desperate longing for a Savior.

Pastor and writer Fleming Rutledge reminds us, “Advent begins in the dark.”

At the outset of this season of light we sink down into the darkness of exile, sense the looming shadow of death, long for the light like Israel of old. Like captives waiting for deliverance. Like runaways and rebels hoping for a return.

Wait and hope are the twin anthems of Advent. It’s interesting that in both Hebrew and Latin, the root word for “wait” can also be translated as “hope.” A reminder that we do not despair as we wait in the darkness. But we light a lone candle, the first flame of hope, pushing back the shadow one spark at a time.

Advent begins in the dark. But around the edges of the deep horizon, we see a faded gray creeping in. We hear a forgotten, yet familiar voice.

The people living in darkness Have seen a great light.
Let there be light
Again.

The Prayer

Light of the world, make me a new creation in you.

The Questions

  • What has darkness looked like for you?

  • How did the light break through?

    AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND MADE HIS DWELLING AMONG US.