Holy Week Devotional | Saturday
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Easter Saturday, usually called Holy Saturday, can seem to be a non-day. The church is still in silence, the tabernacle is empty. Yet this is a day of the most radiant expectation.
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Holy Week Devotional | Wednesday
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Although the Gospels do not mention this day, we’re going to consider Jesus washing his disciples' feet in John 13:1-17.
Jesus has gathered with his closest friends. The food is all set. Conversations are being had and Jesus knows the time has come time to depart out of this world to the Father (John 13:1). But even in this moment, his thoughts are of his friends.
Holy Week Devotional Introduction
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Watch the video above for an in-depth explanation of Holy Week and why we observe it so closely as a church. Each day we will be providing you with a devotional that we encourage you to take time to read and pray through in preparation for our Easter celebration.
Read MoreApostles' Creed
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A creed is simply a summary statement of Christian faith and belief. It is believed the original intent for these creeds was to present a short summary of Christian doctrine that a follower of Jesus would affirm at baptism. They later became tools for instruction of new converts, for guarding against heresy, and for use in corporate worship. The Apostles’ Creed is one of the three most famous creeds established in the first five centuries of church history...The Apostles’ Creed pulls our faith from the margins of our lives right into our hearts. As we reflect on it, our faith grows, our minds are renewed, and our hearts are warmed to the God of this creed....
Read MoreSouls that Rest in the Love of God
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Many of us are weary in our communion with God because we’ve passed over this essential foundation to our communion. Our faith is on a 24/7 mission to find rest for our souls, and many of us are restless because we struggle to simply see him as loving. Again, Owen rightly notes, “every discovery of God without this will but make the soul fly from him.” Why? Why will every other discovery of God result in us flying from him if we don’t see and receive his love for us? Because if his sovereignty and authority were at work against us and not for us through his love, we would all fly and hide from him. We would buckle under the weight of living to gain his approval versus living life as approved sons and daughters...
Read MoreTheology of Interruption
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Interruption is God’s invitation. God is inviting us to see him all around us, in the lives of others, in our conversations, in our serving those in need. Interruption is not simply a matter of our hearts developing patience, it’s about experiencing life! It is one of God’s ways of waking us up to what’s around us to see there’s perhaps more to be done than our task for the day, as important as it may be. Interruption is God’s enhancement of our art and his tender way of encouraging his creatures to be a part of the kingdom come...
Read MorePreaching Jesus with Our Songs
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Music is an ongoing exercise that, at its best, creates channels for the gospel to illuminate our lives in light of who God is. God gave Moses a song in Deuteronomy 31 so that when the children of Israel went through various trials and troubles, the song would confront them as a testimony to whom their God was. This is true of all great music; it speaks with clarity of the God of beauty behind the music...
Read MoreWorship Is an Act of Reversal
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Augustine defined sin as disordered love. Sin has everything to do with love. God created us to worship him as an end in himself, and he designed us to love people and this planet in a way that would magnify his goodness and greatness. Such a disposition would create the deepest happiness in our souls. But sin entered our hearts, and those loves became reversed. We now love the world and ourselves as an end, and we view God as a means to that end...
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