Category Archives: Hope

“Adorned With Christ in All of Life: Families” — a Refresh & Restore Bible Study

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
—
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.[1]

Colossians 3:17, 20-21

"Kept Through the Trial: Jesus's Letter to the Church at Philadelphia" (The KING is Coming) – Refresh & Restore | A JustKeithHarris.com Podcast

📖 Revelation 3:7–13We’re back!After a few months off, The King is Coming returns in 2026 with one of the most encouraging letters in Revelation — Jesus’s message to the faithful church in Philadelphia. In a world filled with opposition and weakness, Jesus opens a door no one can shut.In this episode, Keith Harris and Jamie Harrison explore:✔️ Jesus’s identity as the Holy One, the True One — God Himself✔️ What the “key of David” means and how Jesus alone opens and shuts✔️ The debated phrase “I will keep you from the hour of trial” — and how to read it biblically✔️ Why “little power” doesn’t disqualify faithfulness✔️ How being kept through the trial glorifies Christ’s strength in us✔️ What it means to be a pillar in God’s presence foreverThis church had no rebuke — only encouragement. And Jesus’s call still stands today: “Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” (Revelation 3:11, ESV)🔗 Missed earlier episodes in the series? You can click here to catch up and listen from the beginning.✍️ If you’d like to see a written version of this podcast, complete with footnotes and cross-references, you can find it here.
  1. "Kept Through the Trial: Jesus's Letter to the Church at Philadelphia" (The KING is Coming)
  2. Christ Has Come: The Promised King & His Gift of Love" (Advent 2025)
  3. Christ Has Come: The Promised King & His Gift of Peace (Advent 2025)

Greetings Sojourners!

I have enjoyed hearing from many of you regarding how our last Bible study was helpful. When Jesus saves us by making us alive in Him (Ephesians 2:4-5), it really does impact our real, everyday lives (Ephesians 2:10), but it is helpful for us to realize that we are not the only ones struggling in our walk with Christ and trying to make it work. When Paul wrote to the Colossians (and us) that “whatever [we] do, in word or deed” – “everything” – is to be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”, he really meant everything, working from inside our homes and families outside to our vocations. Today, we are going to let God meddle in our homes once more.

Before we dive into today’s text, we need to be reminded that children are a blessing. This is not to say that we do not know this, but raising children is hard. From the terrible twos to the terrible teens, there are times when we forget the blessing children are and get caught up in the rigors of child rearing. This reminder also extends beyond parents. It does not matter if you are a grandparent, aunt or uncle, or someone God has put in a position to get to have a Christlike impact on a child; children are a blessing from the Lord – the Bible tells us so:

  • Genesis 33:5 (when Jacob returns and encounters his brother Esau for the first time after plundering his birthright) – And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
  • Deuteronomy 7:13a – [The Lord] will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of the ground….
  • Psalm 127:3-5 – Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
  • Psalm 128:3-4 – Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.
  • Proverbs 17:6 – Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.
  • Matthew 18:1-5 – At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
         “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the sea.

Gracious gifts from God, blessings, arrows, olive shoots, crowns, and examples are how the Bible describes children so that we are reminded when sin sets in, so that we remember God’s design and not be left up to our own.

Now, just as Paul did not speak only to the parents in the Colossian church but also to the children, so we, despite the fact that I have fewer readers who are children, will not be silent in reminding the blessing of godly parents to children. They need to know that the parents holding them accountable and trying to help them grow up are a blessing, too:

  • Exodus 20:12 – “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
  • Deuteronomy 5:16 – “’Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
  • Proverbs 1:8-9 – Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.
  • Proverbs 6:20-22 – My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.

Honor, graceful garlands, pendants, leaders, guardians, and companions are how the Bible describes godly parents and their instruction so that we are reminded when our own sin sets in and parental discipline becomes necessary that God’s design to grow us up in Him is better than getting our own way.

We have our work cut out for us today, Sojourners, and Lord willing, He will meddle in our families for His glory and our good by the power of His Spirit as we study His Word today. Let’s dive in and see what the Lord has for us and for our families today.

Children, Obey Your Parents in Everything,
For This Pleases the Lord (v. 20)

This may come as a shock to you, but Paul is giving this command because children, who were believers or being raised in a way that pointed them to Christ, were being disobedient to their parents. I know that is shocking. It must have been widespread (like it is today), too, because Paul even listed “disobedient to…parents” as a sign of godlessness and difficulty in the last days in 2 Timothy 3:2. If you catch a bit of sarcasm here, it is because disobedient children – even those who have been saved – is not a shocking but normal, or at least worldly. That’s what kids, even the best ones, do. And, furthermore, no one had to teach them how to disobey because sinfulness is part of human nature after the Fall (Romans 5:12). Sin being part of our nature, though, does not excuse it. If we are saved – specifically here, if our children are saved or we are pointing them to Jesus as Savior, disobedience is not excused.

What This Does NOT Mean

Paul here (and in Ephesians 6:1) gives the command for children to “obey” their parents. The word translated “obey” here seems simply enough – for one to do what they are told, but the full understanding is, of course to listen and follow instructions but expands to include yielding “to a superior command or force (without necessarily being willing)”.[2] Like in the biblical design for marriage, there is supposed to be submission to the authority God has in place, in this case parents having authority over their children. But there are limits to that authority.

Just as we did in the last Bible study, we need to clarify here that the limit is within the boundaries of whether the commands of the parents conflict with the command of the Lord. The authority and command of God the Father trumps earthly fathers. So, if a parent (hopefully in rare occasions) gives instruction that contradicts the Bible, the child is to, respectfully, obey the Father “in a spirit of love, not of defiance, since the law of Christ is the law of love”.[3] Being a child of God is to influence being a child of one’s parent, meaning when our earthly parents go astray in their instruction and point us in a way other than toward Christ the conduct and example of the child can help the parent see the error in their ways and be granted repentance (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

What Does It Mean, Then?

To help us understand, we are going to look to the broader context in Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, as we did in the last Bible study on marriage. Ephesians 6:1-3 says:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

The additional content given to the church at Ephesus was not new content but much older, from the Ten Commandments. This fifth commandment is instructional and instrumental as it is the first commandment dealing with earthly or the “horizontal” relationships.[4] Paul instructs them, also, that this commandment was the first “with a promise” – that “it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land”. Under OT Law, there were instances of disobedience like hitting or cursing a parent that could warrant a death penalty (Exodus 21:15, 17), so living long in the land meant coloring inside the lines of acceptable behavior. For things to “go well” meant to make sure that one’s behavior in the familial context was acting within the rules laid out. Thankfully, under the grace we see in Christ Jesus, He paid the death penalty for us and offers us mercy (Colossians 2:14-15, Titus 3:4-5). But what does that look like?

First, as with all sin, Jesus paying the price for our sin, redeeming us, by no means gives us license to continue in sin (Romans 6:1-4). That’s how sin works in children, though; where there once was a tough punishment (OT Law), leniency can sometimes give way to license. The old saying, give an inch and they will take a mile, comes to mind. This ain’t that. This is God giving guidance for children to receive the discipleship that belongs in the biblical parent-child relationship. Part of parents fulfilling the Great Commission in their homes and teaching all that Jesus has commanded (Matthew 28:20) is the child receiving the information, yielding to parental authority (without necessarily being willing), and following in the prescribed way.

This obedience is right and pleases the Lord. It is also very difficult because they are children. I remember working on something with my father in his shop with Xander there “helping” us. Xander was around four years old, so there was a certain amount of correction involved. After one particularly frustrating exchange, Daddy (well, clearly Poppy in this instance) was frustrated, too. I remember being surprised that he wasn’t necessarily on my side or at least more in solidarity, but what he said stuck with me: “I am fifty[whatever] years old, and I don’t like being corrected any more now than I did when I was his age.” Xander did not like the instruction because he did not understand that there were things there that could hurt him. Poppy understood my instruction as well as Xander’s frustration. We have a good example here because clearly Poppy takes instruction from his Father better at fifty-something or now sixty-something than he did then despite any dislike or frustration. Why? Children grow up. And, as we will see in the next section, growing up in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) bears fruit when children are grown.

Fathers, Do Not Provoke Your Children,
Lest They Become Discouraged (v. 21)

Continuing as we have, and considering the volume of what can and needs to be said here, let’s go on and look to Ephesians 6:4 to help us:

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

That last phrase concerning bringing “them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (or “nurture and admonition” in some translations) gets to the heart of the command.

What This Does NOT Mean

While this command is straightforward, it will do us good here as we have wives, husbands, and children, to discuss what the command for fathers (and mothers) not to “provoke” their children to anger does not mean. Plain and simple, this does not mean children should not be disciplined. The Bible is clear that part of good, and especially godly parenting, means giving appropriate instruction (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Proverbs 1:8-9, 6:20-23; 22:6) and discipline (Proverbs 13:24, 19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14, 29:15; Hebrews 12:11). It should also go without saying that the prescribed biblical discipline is not condoning abuse. For example, one can look at passages like Exodus 21:20-21 that teach it to be unlawful for one to beat a slave or servant as guidance for what is also unacceptable for parents. Disciplining is one thing, but cruelty is another. God disciplines His children (Proverbs 3:11-12, Hebrews 12:5-13) but clearly treats His children better than the best earthly fathers (Luke 11:11-13).

What Does it Mean to Parent in a Way That Brings Children Up in the Discipline and Instruction of the Lord While Not Provoking to Anger and Causing Discouragement?

As I said above, the goal of Paul’s instruction to the Colossians, Ephesians, and us today is that children be brought up in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). The key to seeing this is in the words translated “provoke”.

English is less precise sometimes than the original languages, so taking a brief look can give us correct context. The word translated “provoke” in Colossians 3:21 can have more than one meaning. Like many words we use today, the context tells us whether it is meant positively or negatively. The positive meaning of that word would be “to incite or stimulate to action” as used in 2 Corinthians 9:2 to describe their zeal being stirred up, but the negative meaning “to excite, anger, provoke, irritate”.[5] Taken with the word translated as “provoke” in Ephesians 6:4 (“implying movement toward a certain point” like “anger” or “resentment”[6]) gives us the full picture: the goal of biblical parenting is raising them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord rather than raising them to resent their parents and the Lord. The Amplified Bible rightly sees such provoking as breaking their spirits, leaving them feeling inferior and frustrated. The words translated “provoke” give us two pictures of parenting, one godly and the other worldly – one righteous and the other sinful. One points children to Christ as Savior and is built out of saved parents’ own relationship with Christ. The other seeks to beat down the child’s resolve and determination to get desired behaviors and is built out of fear and control. One provokes and encourages children turning to Christ and having hope in Him, but the other beats children down, breaking theirs spirits and leaving them hopeless. How can we make sure we are in one and not the other?

Parenting is hard. What is not hard is making children angry when they are corrected. This is seen from when babies are first able to communicate. A simple “no” can bring tears and tantrums (Proverbs 22:15). Does this mean that children can never be made angry? Of course, not. Just as we get angry when corrected, so do our children. We want to commit sin (Romans 7:15-20). If trespasses are when we deviate from God’s path (Isaiah 53:6) and sin is missing the bullseye of His righteous standard (Romans 3:23), too often our sin is purposefully veering off course or shooting our shot at what we want rather than where He has us aimed (James 1:14-15). It is no different with our children. Paul is clarifying that our intent is not to provoke or incite them to anger but to stir them up to “love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24) just as we are with our faith family because we are “bound together ‘in the Lord’ as well as by ties of natural kinship”.[7]

Wrapping Up

So, what does that look like? Here’s a simple list for a difficult task. This list is not exhaustive and, as there are many books written on the subject, this next brief section will not suffice to elaborate on all aspects but to help you see what God has for us and to help us course-correct if change is needed. I will include a footnote here[8] to point you to some good resources if you would like to look further, but this list will point you to Christ and have His Spirit help you on your journey:

  1. Teach your children the gospel. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Moses lays out some principals to Israelite parents in the wilderness before they pass over the Jordan into the promised land. It is known as the shema, meaning “hear” or “listen” for the purpose of doing and carrying out. So, listen up, Sojourners, and see what the Lord would have us hear and do. First, Moses told them to love God above all else and with all they had: heart, soul, and strength. Second, he tells them that the words he was commanding they should be constantly on their hearts. Finally, he told them that the words should also be on their lips and taught “diligently to [their] children” in all of life, while they were sitting at home and walking and lying down and getting up – that they should be at the forefront of their thoughts as clearly as signs on their hands or written on their doorposts. For Israel, this was to tell their children and children’s children what God had done for them in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt and sustaining them throughout the wilderness despite their sinfulness. You see, the home is where God designed this to be best taught. For us today, it is teaching our children that God put on flesh and dwelt among us to save us from our sin by dying on the cross in our place, raising on the third day, and telling us that all who confess Him as Lord and believe in Him shall be saved. Moses told Israel that this should be done as often as children ask or are able to talk about it (Deuteronomy 6:20). Godly parenting means making sure this comes up and comes up often – talking on it when you sit at home or ride in the car or play catch or ____.
  2. Teach your children how God designed life to work best. I find it easier to talk to my kids about behavior than I do the gospel, which is sad. This part is acknowledging and encouraging you that teaching your kids how to behave is in the job description (Proverbs 22:6). And as we saw in the previous point, home is where God designed for this aspect of discipleship to be taught. Children need to be taught right and wrong because our sin nature pulls us toward wrong like magnetic north to a compass needle (Romans 7:18-19). Your children will need specific guidance that only you can give (Proverbs 1:8-9). You are not alone in this, however; God has given grandparents, aunts, uncles, pastors, church family, and that village that folks are always saying it takes to raise a child (Titus 2:1-4). Just make sure that the Bible sets the course here and not just in the gospel (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The world is vying for a place in your children’s minds and lives, make sure the village or church family you are planted in has the Bible in the place of authority and not as a coaster for worldly living and teaching (Colossians 2:8).
  3. Discipline your children as our Father does us. Hebrews 12:6 (quoting Proverbs 3:12) is the key here as “the Lord disciplines the one he loves”. Love is the key to godly discipline. This is the dividing line between the provoking to anger and the discouragement that can be produced in Colossians 3:21. The difference between disciplining out of love is keeping what the child needs and what God has called you to as a parent at the forefront, rather than letting onlookers and expectations set the pace. Children need to be corrected. Wrong behavior can have all manner of consequences, and the consequences of sin are often much more far-reaching and dangerous than we understand, much less children. But unloving discipline has more in common with abuse than with discipleship. People often quote Proverbs 22:6 as part of this: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it”. This is true and good to know, but part of that means that discipline keeps them in the right lane, in the Way – there are a lot of detours and off-ramps before “when he is old” arrives.
  4. Show your children grace and mercy as your Father has for you. I said it above, but it bears saying again: children are going to mess up. Sometimes it will be small. Others it will be big. Teaching school has taught me a lot about this. I have learned not to say that my children will never ____. That often precedes them nevering like they have never nevered before! No, my children are capable of whatever sin they desire, just as I am capable of whatever sin I desire. There are consequences to my sin (Galatians 6:7), and I am responsible for doling out and enforcing consequences for my children (Proverbs 19:18). Despite the consequences of my sin, however, I have received a lot of grace and mercy from my Father (Ephesians 2:4-5). He does not lessen the punishment, but He also does not lessen His love for me. There is nothing I can do that can separate me from His love (Romans 8:38-39). Children need to know that. I have never been more ashamed than in times when I have confessed sin to my children so that they can learn from my mistakes rather than trying to make the mistakes on their own, but the beauty of the gospel is that I also teach them the good news of a great and powerful Savior who loves me despite my sin and gives me strength so that I am no longer a slave to sin (Romans 6:6). There are times to levy heavy discipline. There are times to withhold (mercy) and give grace instead (James 2:13). This is not religion but relationship – and based off the relationship we have with our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).
  5. Make disciples. The goal of parenting is not to get them in the best colleges or set them up in trades or careers that can help them be set up better financially than you were or your parents before you. The goal is not to get them grown and out of the house. No, the goal is to see them in Christ (3 John 4). This is not a class, nor is it religion. It is a relationship (John 15:4-5).

That list is a good start, but we need to note a very important distinction here: you cannot and do not save your child. You point them to Christ (John 14:6). You teach them His gospel (Mark 16:15). You teach them His ways (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). You instruct them in how He designed life to work best and discipline them when they stray (Proverbs 16:25). But saving them is God’s job (John 6:44). Don’t fret though. He’s good at it! He delights in saving people (1 Timothy 2:3-4)! Having said that, though, this is not something than can be faked. If you are not walking with Christ, your kids already know that. At the same time, kiddos reading this need to know that even if you can fool your parents, the truth will become clear. There is simply no substitute for God saving us because, unless He saves us, we are still dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-2), and there’s really no way to fake being alive. It’s the genuine article or a corpse.

So, if you find yourself reading this, Sojourner, whether you are a child or a parent, know that there is opportunity for salvation. The same God who gives these directives and instruction on how being a child or parent works best desires to bring people into His family. Those who confess Him as Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead, He saves by grace through faith. He adopts them into His family and loves them as His own because they are His own. If this is you, I would love to talk with you and pray with you.

If you are reading this and are saved, I would love to talk with you and pray with you, too. Parenting is not easy, but God is good, and His grace and strength is enough.

May He grant us the grace and strength to walk with Him in our families – to have our homes adorned with Christ. Hallelujah, and amen!

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 3:17, 20-21.

[2] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).

[3] F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984), 165.

[4] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 149.

[5] Zodhiates.

[6] Zodhiates.

[7] Bruce, 165.

[8] Here are some books that have been helpful to me as a parent: Shepherding a Child’s Heart (Tedd Tripp, Shepherd Press); Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk With God (Voddie Baucham, Crossway); and Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family (Paul David Tripp, Crossway). These are not parenting books per se, but 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) About Christianity (Rebecca McLaughlin, Crossway) was very helpful in talking with my oldest about sin and the world as she approached her teens and Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Dane Ortlund, Crossway) can be helpful if you need to see how Jesus treats His followers who turn to Him as an example for to point your family to the Savior.

Songs for Sunday, June 16, 2024 @ Christ Community Church

Sunday’s coming, and I’m excited!

I have found myself thinking a lot about marriage over the past few weeks: the last Refresh & Restore Bible study was on Colossians 3:18-19 and what it is like for a marriage to be adorned in Christ, and Candice and I will celebrate 18 years of marriage next week.

All of this thinking about marriage has had me thinking a lot about the gospel. Paul, in Ephesians 5:32, says that marriage (which He refers to here as a “mystery” or symbol) “refers to Christ and the church”. Marriage, the love of a husband for His wife/a wife to her husband, is meant to be a picture of the gospel.

Why?

Well, the gospel is a picture of love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The gospel is a picture of the King of kings leaving His throne, coming to earth in pursuit of His bride — to redeem her from her sin and death, bringing her home with Him.

This can be seen in the Bible through the marriage of a prophet named Hosea and his wife, Gomer. Now, the gospel gives us imagery for the Love Story of all love stories, but it is not necessarily nice and neat nor is it always fitting for the Hallmark channel. There’s death and blood and gore and sacrifice. There’s sadness and heartbreak. There’s…well, let’s look at Hosea and Gomer’s love story, or at least the PG-est version I can give you.

God told Hosea that his marriage would be a picture of the way that Israel had committed adultery against Him. So, Hosea was told to go and take a wife like Israel — a wife who would no doubt forsake Hosea and commit adultery against Him like Israel had forsaken the Lord (Hosea 1:2). And that’s exactly what Hosea did, and that’s the beginning of his story with Gomer (Hosea 1:3). They had a rough go at it, but God had a plan in the midst of what looks like a terrible calling.

Hosea and Gomer had a baby. God told him to name the child Jezreel so that when people heard the name of the child Hosea could tell them that the Lord was going to punish Israel for the bloodshed by the hands of Jehu (2 Kings 10:11 will give you the context). Imagine someone coming up to you and asking the name of your child. What would normally be a happy or at least a generically positive conversation would be: meet my son Jezreel; we named him that because God is angry over our nation’s sin and is about to lay down judgment for it.

Hosea and Gomer had two more children, although the language in Hosea 1:6 and 1:8 differ from the birth announcement of Jezreel (Hosea 1:3), meaning that Gomer was doing exactly what was prophesied of her — she had conceived their other two children outside of their marriage. These two kiddos had interesting names, too, as well as messages for Israel (Hosea 1:6-9). The first was a daughter named Lo-ruhama (No Mercy). The second was a son named Lo-ammi (Not My People). When people learned those names, they were to be told that, because Israel had forsaken the Lord — in the same manner in which Gomer had forsaken Hosea — that they were no longer to receive God’s mercy, no longer to be called God’s people, and that God would no longer be their God.

This is a truly terrifying message.

Mercy is God withholding the punishment deserved in favor of grace. Now, it was time for judgment. At face value, it appears that hope was lost for Israel because they had forsaken their hope — their Husband (Hosea 2:16) — all because their own desires were greater than their love for Him. This coincided with the fact that Gomer had left Hosea and had been sold into another man’s harem (Hosea 3:1-2). Hosea and Gomer’s marriage was to be a picture of God’s relationship with Israel, so if things are taken on the face of the terrible news, Hosea should just unmercifully cast Gomer aside and gave her a good riddance and so on. That’s what we would do today. Moses even allowed for such an instance (Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Matthew 19:7-9).

But GOD….

Look at the language of Hosea 2:14-15:

14“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15And there I will give her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

God would pursue His people and woo (“allure”, “speak tenderly”) them back to Him. There would be times of trouble (“wilderness”) and it would take time, but His people would repent and turn back to Him. He would no longer call them Lo-ruhama (No Mercy) or Lo-ammi (Not My People) because He would once again show them mercy and gather them to Himself as His people.

What about Hosea? God told him to go and get his wife, even though she was “loved by another man” (Hosea 3:1). Hosea went to that man and BOUGHT (literally, redeemed) his wife for “fifteen shekels of silver” and some barley (Hosea 3:2). In the same way, God has sought us out in the midst of our unfaithfulness to Him (James 4:4) and “demonstrates His love in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Hosea paid a little money and grain, but Jesus paid for His Bride “not with perishable things such as silver or gold”, but with His “precious blood”, “like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). He loves us despite our sin and death and offers us love and life in Him alone. Knowing full well the depth of our sin, Jesus came to earth and, again, BOUGHT (literally, redeemed) us from slavery to sin and makes us His own forevermore.

What a love!

What a Love Story! And it is not over yet.

Revelation 21 gives us a window into heaven when Jesus’s Bride, the Church, will finally come home to Him. Look at the language here and how it fits with Hosea’s story. From the throne of God we hear these words:

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes….” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Oh, what a day that will be when we stand before our King and with nail-scarred hand He reaches up to wipe away the last tear His bride will ever cry. The pinnacle of His mercy will be reached when His Bride comes home and dwells with Him in His house forever!

Now, I know that this is pretty heavy for a “Songs for Sunday”, but oh, how beautiful it is! It would be so easy to look at this and say, woe is Hosea, but we have all been Gomer. Yet the King of kings left His throne, “took on flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus, “emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men”, was “found in human form”, and “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).

And that is what we are singing about this Sunday.

We are singing and praising God because He has made us clean before Him by His precious blood. He paid our sin debt and offers His righteousness in exchange. And just like one of the songs says, “I’m undone at the mercy of Jesus! I’m undone by the goodness of the Lord!”

It doesn’t matter whether you deem yourself far off from God or close to Him, it is good for us to get to gather and make much of Him — to sing His praises and know that He is in the business of saving and His love casts out all fear and can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is good for us to get to gather and point each other to Him. It is all we have to offer at Christ Community because for many of us, we remember what it is like to be loved like Gomer.

What about you?

If you are in or around Grenada, MS this Sunday, we would love to invite you to gather with us. It’s Father’s Day — bring dad, too.

Here are our Scriptures & songs:

4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

  • Song | Washed Clean —
    Scripture Inspiration: 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 1:17-18, Matthew 11:28-30, Romans 8:2, John 8:34-36, Psalm 51:2, Psalm 51:7, Jeremiah 33:8, 1 John 1:9, Titus 3:4-5, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 3:34, Ephesians 2:1-2, Acts 26:18-19

3He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

  • Song | Man of Sorrows —
    Scripture Inspiration: cf. Isaiah 53 and John 1:11, 29; also Galatians 3:13, 21; 1 Peter 2:24; Mark 14:16-62; Matthew 26:39-44, 26:67-68, 27:26-30; John 3:16; Romans 5:6-10; Psalm 145:3; Revelation 4:11; Philippians 2:5-8; Matthew 20:28; Titus 2:13-14; Colossians 2:13-15; Romans 6:23; John 8:36; John 20:1-7; Matthew 28:1-20; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
  • Song | Jesus Paid It All (O Praise the One) —
    Scripture Inspiration: Matthew 11:28-30, John 19:30, Colossians 2:13-14, 2 Corinthians 4:15, Hebrews 12:28-29, Isaiah 1:18, Jeremiah 13:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ezekiel 11:19, Revelation 4:10-11, Romans 6:4, Revelation 5:9-10

8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

  • Song | I Got Saved —
    Scripture Inspiration: Psalm 46:1-4, Zechariah 13:1, Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Psalm 36:9, Isaiah 1:18, Isaiah 61:10, Matthew 26:28, Ephesians 2:4-5, 1 John 1:5-10, Psalm 103:12, Psalm 51:9, Psalm 32:5, Psalm 107:10-16, Nahum 1:13, Isaiah 6:5, James 2:13, Zechariah 7:9, Hebrews 9:5, 1 Peter 2:10, Psalm 25:7, Psalm 31:19, Psalm 85:4, Acts 3:21, Galatians 2:16-17, Romans 5:8-9, 1 Peter 2:1-3, Hebrews 6:5, Colossians 2:13-15, Psalm 25:11, Numbers 4:19, Romans 8:28-30, Philippians 3:20-21, Colossians 3:10-13
  • Invitation | What He’s Done —
    Scripture Inspiration: Matthew 7:33, Mark 15:22, Luke 23:33, John 19:7, Matthew 26:26, Colossians 1:19-20, 1 Peter 1:19, John 8:36, Isaiah 53, Psalm 147:3, John 3:16, John 15:13, Romans 8:5-8, 1 John 1:9-2:2, Acts 4:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, Hebrews 2:14, Philippians 2:5-11, 1 Corinthians 15:50-57, Revelation 4:1-11, 1 John 5:4, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 5:12, Philippians 4:8
  • Offertory | Good, Good Father —
    Scripture Inspiration: John 5:25, Revelation 3:20, Matthew 25:23, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 119:68, Nahum 1:7, Psalm 68:5, Psalm 36:5-7, John 3:16, John 15:13, Romans 5:6-8, Ephesians 2:4-5, Colossians 2:6-8, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 139:4, Matthew 5:48, Romans 11:33, Ephesians 3:8, 1 John 4:7-11

Songs for Sunday, June 9, 2024 @ Christ Community Church

Sunday is coming!

I can remember times in my life when what I thought and felt about Sundays varied. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share a bit of my testimony.

As a kid, I can remember being excited about church coming up and a lazy afternoon afterward. I loved Sunday School where we would get equal amounts of Bible story time and puzzles, coloring, crafts, or playdough. The singing was a big hit for me — go figure. I remember getting excited when the preacher got excited. I remember the excitement of being home in the afternoon with no work to do or chores to accomplish — just time together playing or relaxing, just togetherness. And once I got saved, all of that just multiplied more and more because I had a gratitude and awe to Jesus that wasn’t there before.

As a teenager and young adult things shifted a bit as I started to serve and lead more, especially after being called into ministry. There were times when the joy I felt conflicted with my work ethic and desire to accomplish something or check off boxes. Sunday hit different with a job description, and when ministry became my bread-winning vocation, it shifted to something sad. In my foolishness and latent adolescent zealousness, my weeks culminated in Sundays meaning all of the work Monday-Saturday produced the worship gathering on Sunday morning and night. I found myself mired in a spiral of fearful work rather than worship in the fear of God. I feared committees and potential of lost pay rather and lost the joy of gathering with my faith family I had when I was a kid.

Then…I quit.

I found myself burned out and empty. I had long since put my hope in my work ethic and abilities and lost sight of what I was doing — WHO I was serving. Thankfully, I had a teaching license and our house had not sold when we had moved away, so I tucked tail, moved back home, and tried to start anew.

That first Sunday back was one of the most terrifying and convicting of my life. I had never been a visitor to a church other than coming in view of a call or visiting preacher. Now, I found myself in a new church where nearly everyone there knew I had been a pastor and had questions as to why I was coming to sit a pew and fade into the background. Through the whispers and the questions, I wanted to sink through the floor and disappear. I had hoped that some of the feelings from my childhood would return — that being able to be more of a part of the congregation would awaken something in me, but that is not how things work. The idolatry of work over worship took years to accomplish and would not be undone by an awkward day in a pew.

Eventually, something happened in me. The desire for God that I felt in the beginning began to return. I can’t tell you how many mornings I spent in the Word (at least a year and a half) hoping for some spark or feeling to return. I can’t tell you the number of prayers prayed where I found myself hoping He would listen to a shameful quitter, or worse one who had made a vocation of serving Him all about what I could do or accomplish. Just like it was in my marriage, laziness in a relationship would not be undone by a few sincere acts or gestures. BUT GOD.

In the seeking and searching, He was there. He had never moved. It was me who had moved. I think David described it better than I can in Psalm 40:1-3:

1I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. 2He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

I was mired down in the swamp of my sinful idolatry and foolishness and could not get out under my own strength. My legs had pumped and climbed and were spent in exhaustion. The solidity of the shore was too far away, BUT GOD reached out, plucked me from the clay, and moved me all the way to the solid foundation of the ROCK, Jesus. Just like one would a toddler who had fallen, He held me and made sure I had my feet under me and on Him. The voice I could barely lift to Him in prayer began to croak out a new song, voice crackling out of unuse but the melody, the “song of praise”, began in my heart and eventually made it out of my lips.

Sunday regained its significance. It is the day we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection. He died for our sins, yes, but more than that, He rose! He is in the business of making dead things live. He is in the business of protecting His children, His sheep, from danger, even if that danger is their own stupidity and wandering. Those He has made alive will never die.

I look forward to Sunday because when “I waited patiently for the LORD”, He answered me and “heard my cry”.

I look forward to Sunday because when I was through with His work, He was not through with me.

I look forward to Sunday because it is not about my feelings but about His faithfulness (even though God has given me more joy now than in worshiping Him and serving Him than ever before).

I look forward to Sunday not because of vocation or religious devotion. I look forward to Sunday because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross and the magnificent truth that He walked out of the grave I deserve.

What about you?

Is Sunday a religious experience for you? Does it tick some kind of box on your righteous-living or to-do list? Has it been a while since you have gathered? Are you afraid that He knows your heart and might somehow abandon you?

HE hasn’t moved.

This Sunday at Christ Community, we will point you to the One who hears your cry and can pluck you out of whatever is miring you — whether it be the grave or the swampy ground of your sin. The songs will point to the finished work of Jesus on the cross and the vacancy in His borrowed tomb all the way to when His people will dwell with Him in heaven. The preaching will point you to Jesus by His Spirit and through His Word.

Maybe today is a good day to quit the exhausting clamber out of of the mire and reach your hands out to the One who has already reached out for you.

Peter, one whose testimony includes betraying and abandoning Jesus, said it well: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). His mighty hand is reached out to you. Grab hold of Him because He cares for you.

Sunday is coming.

I look forward to gathering with my brothers and sisters — all of which have a testimony of hopelessness and helplessness BUT GOD.

Won’t you join us?

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

22“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

11Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

Songs for Sunday, June 2, 2024 @ Christ Community Church

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I am excited to gather with my faith family in worship of our resurrected King, Jesus Christ!

The last few weeks — the whole month of May, really — have been sort of a whirlwind for me. This is not to say they have been bad, just to say that it has been a lot, one thing right after another or multiple things all at once. One passage has come up time and again throughout the business: Ephesians 4:17-24, especially verse 20.

Here’s what that passage says:

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Like I said, verse 20 — “But that is not the way you learned Christ!” — has been on my mind; really, it has been convicting me. Years ago, that would be my go-to verse to lob at others whose holy living needed a good kick in the rear, but the more I seek to know Christ and to put Him on (Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:12-14), the more I find myself giving the kick to my own rear. This has increased more as I have been studying and writing the last few sections of the Refresh & Restore Bible study on Colossians. I cannot write about what God wants for His people to do or to live like without realizing first that it is what He has called me to do and live like.

There is a quote from the MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Colossians that has stuck with me: “It is difficult to see how Christianity can have any positive affect on society if it cannot transform its own homes.” Essentially, if we profess that our dead hearts have been made alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5, Colossians 2:13-14), then our lives are to be being transformed by Christ, too. If not, that is “not the way [we] learned Christ…assuming [we] have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:20-21).

My hope for Christ Community Church tomorrow and for all time is set fully in Jesus — in His transforming and saving work and ability. I pray that the preached Word will penetrate hearts and illuminate truth by the power of His Holy Spirit. We don’t have programs or gifting that can convince people to no longer live in futility and ignorance and sin or to move them any closer to God than they are (Ephesians 4:17-18). No, only Jesus can do that. Jesus can take those who are walking in the “futility of their minds” (Ephesians 4:17) and renew the “spirit of their minds” (Ephesians 4:23). Jesus can put away our “old self” and give us a “new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22, 24). And it is Jesus we will point people to tomorrow.

We will sing to and about Jesus.

The subject of our preaching will be Jesus as revealed in His Word.

The substance of our hope is this Jesus whom His Spirit will testify in our hearts.

So, tomorrow, you are invited to hear about Jesus, to be taught in Him, “as the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21). We have no other move, no other hope. There is nothing that can compare or substitute.

Won’t you join us?

Here are our Scriptures & songs:

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.

4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

20Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. 21For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy Name. 22Let Your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in You.

***NOTE: We are revising the lyrics of this song to better reflect the love of God — that which we read about all through Scripture, that which was “made manifest” as we read in the verses above. Many might be familiar with the Greek word agape that describes the unique love of God; the Hebrew word for that type of never-ending, never-failing, never-stopping, never-giving-up love is chesed. It is often translated “steadfast love” in the Old Testament. This is a word God uses to describe Him and His love over 500 times!

This is an opportunity for the theology of what we sing to more specifically reflect the Scriptures, and therefore more accurately reflect the love of God as He shares it with us in His Word. The word “reckless” in the original lyrics was meant to show that God lavishly pours out His love for us. He does! He has poured out His love on us and made it manifest through the gift of Jesus Christ for our sins. Let’s praise God for and sing about His steadfast love!

WALK — Friday, May 24, 2024

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 
“Awake, O sleeper, 
and arise from the dead, 
and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5:3-14

Today’s passage is heavy, and it builds on the idea of our walk with Jesus being a part of our real, everyday lives. It also makes it a bit tougher because we see that He made us to stand out rather than blend in.

When I was a kid, we were poor, and the marker of a school kid living below the poverty line was their shoes. Walmart shoes came in two colors: brown hiking shoes or brilliant white tennis shoes. I ended up with the latter. Those brilliant white shoes gleamed and stood out to all who were waiting to make fun of the poor kid and show off their new Nikes or whatever. It was like my shoes were glowing and putting a spotlight on me. 

You may not want to be in the light, but if you are saved, you are called to walk as a child of light – to visibly be a part of the “fruit of light”, “all that is good and right and true” (Ephesians 5:8-9). The world is dark. All the things that are cool or popular or, in the present day, considered to be normal in the eyes of the world are dark. But we are not to be a part of such. Just as Paul told the Ephesian church, the works of darkness are still “unfruitful” today. You see, dead plants do not bear fruit. If we have been made alive in Christ, He bears fruit in our lives. And that fruit makes us stand out.

Another analogy in today’s passage is the issue of inheritance. You can probably gather with the shoe story that an inheritance is not looming in my future. Those who walk in darkness and are still walking in the death due to their trespasses and sins will have “no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5). No, those who walk in darkness have no lot in the light. Darkness cannot exist in the light, and Jesus is the Light (John 8:12) and “in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This is just the way things are. If one flips on a lightswitch, darkness has no choice but to leave. A single flame from a small match is enough to beat back the darkness around it. 

If you are saved, you are called to walk in the light – to live a life that is “pleasing to the Lord” not the world (Ephesians 5:10). You will not be perfect, but you will not participate in the darkness. You will stand out. When God saves you, He lights you up! So, this light that you have been shining this week on mission is not something that is easily put out. I urge you to live your life in such a way – let the light of Christ shine in you in such a way – that when people want to know what’s wrong with you, the only answer is Jesus!

Application: 

  • Think about the story of the brilliant white shoes and the call to walk as children of light in Ephesians 5:8-9. Why do you think you (or we) are so afraid to stand out for Jesus?
  • Consider the challenge of living a life pleasing to the Lord rather than conforming to the world (Ephesians 5:10). How does this reflect the transformative work of Jesus in our lives, and how does it impact the way we live our lives?

WALK — Wednesday, May 22, 2024

     17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 

Ephesians 4:17-24

Today is our “fun” day, but hopefully, meditating on this passage can lead to some good gospel conversations along the way. Note that meditating here is not the criss-cross-applesauce-hummmmm sort of meditation you see on TV. It is a Bible term that means to think on or occupy one’s attention with something. This passage is good for us to occupy our attention with and think about.

Ephesians 4:17-24 builds on our first passage, Ephesians 2:1-10. We know what it means to be made alive in Christ after being dead in our trespasses and sins, but it is important that we know what it means to live the life that Jesus gave us.

First, it means that we are different than the world – not just outside differences that can be seen or sometimes faked, really different from the inside out. We do not get to do whatever we want to do in ignorance anymore. We are no longer alienated (or separated from God) like we were before and given up practicing whatever kind of sin we enjoy and get away with it willy-nilly. If that is our life, we are dead. Paul makes it clear: “that is not the way you learned Christ! – assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:20-21).

That leads us to the second part. We must take off the old, dead self and put on “the new self” that Jesus is making us into being (Ephesians 4:24). We are not strong enough to just stop sinning and be like Jesus. We are strong enough to sin – enough to earn us death. Only Jesus is strong enough to give us strength for the “good works” He has prepared for us (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Ephesians 2:10). When He makes us alive in Him, the old, dead life does not satisfy. Little by little, as the “spirit of [our] minds” get “renewed” (Ephesians 4:23), we become more like Jesus. More and more the “once walked” (Ephesians 2:2, 4:17) becomes less still struggling. 

How does this happen? Jesus works through His Word and His Spirit, like He is doing right now during this quiet time. That’s good news!

Application:

  • Meditate on what it means to be different from the world as in Ephesians 4:17-24. How does being made alive in Christ produce a change in us that goes beyond what can be seen to change us from the inside out?
  • Think about the illustration Paul gives about taking off the old self and putting on the new (see also Colossians 3:5-17). What does this mean, and how do we do it?
  • Reflect on the significance of having our mind renewed by the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? How does our mind being renewed contribute to our being transformed to be more like Jesus?

WALK — Tuesday, May 21, 2024

     1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3

Summer youth trips are always exhausting. You drive hours and hours away from home. Sleep less than you know you should after staying up late laughing, talking, and playing. You get tired and, let’s face it, a little bit grumpy. If we are not careful, we can let our grumpiness or our hangry-ness to affect things or those qualities in others to affect us. There’s a lesson in that.

We looked yesterday at the difference between death and life, namely walking in our sin and whatever our heart devises and walking according to what Jesus has for us. This part of Ephesians builds on that. Today, we see Paul – who is in prison because he participated in the “good works” God had “prepared beforehand” for him to do (Ephesians 2:10) – urge the folks in the church at Ephesus to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [they had] been called” (Ephesians 4:1). We are going to look briefly at what that means and what that means for us.

To walk “worthy” of one’s calling in Christ is a simple idea. If one has been saved, Jesus has made them alive, like when Jesus stood at His friend Lazarus’s tomb and called him out of death by his name (John 11:43-44). We looked yesterday at how part of His saving us is Him having a plan for our lives and having work for us to do. The idea of walking – or living a life – worthy of that calling is for our walk to be impacted by what He has done for us. This does not mean perfection; it means pursuit. If a husband is living a life worthy of his wife or vice versa, it means that the relationship impacts the way that life is lived. For us, that means that Jesus saving us – making us alive and putting His Spirit within us – impacts the way we choose to live our life. This is something we must do actively, not something that just happens to us.

Application:

Paul is specific in what he urges the Ephesians to do, and that goes for us, too. To walk in a manner worthy of our calling – worthy of reflecting our relationship with Him, he gave us some qualities. Let us consider how we can live out these qualities today:

  • “humility” – Having a correct view of ourselves by putting others first (Philippians 2:3-4).
  • “gentleness” – Having self-control and kindness in how you treat others (Galatians 5:22-23).
  • “patience” – Having a long-fuse, meaning that you are not quick to anger (James 1:19-20).
  • “bearing with one another in love” – The love you have for a person means you treat them with love despite wrongs done to you (Colossians 3:13).
  • “eager to maintain unity in the Spirit in the bond of peace” – Jesus saves us and adopts us into His family, which is an unbreakable bond and worthy of seeking peace over strife. This peace is won by His love (Colossians 3:14, 1 John 4:19-20).

WALK: A Quiet Time Guide for the 2024 CCC Youth Mission Trip

This year, our CCC kiddos and chaperones are going to be partnering with the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, AR again to help with work they need done, act as extras in the play, and to share the gospel with people who are visiting the Jesus statue and other attractions during the day.

This is a good opportunity for our kiddos and chaperones, not just to serve the Lord but to grow closer to Him as well. Each morning — just as we would if we were at camp, we will be walking through a specific study in our individual quiet times. We want to share that with our faith family back home as well. This allows for good conversations when we get back, but primarily, it gives people an opportunity to specifically pray for our kiddos, knowing what they are studying and praying about while on mission.

This mission trip is going to be a wonderful time of fellowshipping with one another, serving the Lord, and growing together in our individual walk with Christ. Let that last part sink in: growing together in our individual walk with Christ. Just like one of us could not pull this mission trip off by ourselves – and especially not without the Holy Spirit, we need each other. That sort of togetherness is called the Church!

This week, we are going to all be on the same page – not just united in our work but literally on the same page of the Bible together as we are studying the same passage each day for our quiet time. This will be time spent alone between each individual and God, essentially making time for Him and hearing from Him in His Word every day. This will bring us closer to Him and closer to one another! Our passage for each day, Monday-Saturday, will come from the book of Ephesians and teach us something about what it means to walk with Jesus (Colossians 2:6-7). You see, walking with Jesus comes out of believing in Him. It is active and daily. It is a term that means our lives reflect a relationship with Him and that we act increasingly like Him and continually progress in what we know about Him – how we know Him. Walking with Jesus is living in our relationship with Him. No relationship thrives without time spent together. Lord willing, by the time spent with Jesus in His Word and with His people, our walk with Christ – our relationship with Him – will become stronger.

Here are links to each day’s reading and devotion:

Free Water for Those Who are Thirsty

We are glad to get to offer free water, but we want to share something much better that will last much longer. We offer the good news that Jesus saves!

This might produce a few questions. Why Jesus? Saves from what? These are good, valid questions.

What It Means to Be Saved

Imagine someone swimming who has gone out over their head and is drowning. They cry out for a lifeguard to help. Thankfully, the lifeguard hears them and is able to rush to their rescue, pulling them to safety on the shore. That person has been saved from drowning.

This could also apply to someone who has been stuck in a burning building and fallen unconscious from inhaling all the smoke. Firefighters are called to the building and discover them. The firefighter picks up this totally helpless individual, carries them out of the building, and gets them to the paramedics. The firefighter and paramedics have saved this person from certain death.

In the same way, God provided Jesus to save or rescue every sinner who puts their trust in Him. No matter what we have done or who we are, Jesus can save us. Through Jesus, we find salvation by and eternal life by putting our faith and trust in Him.

The Bible describes this in John 3:16 –

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Why We NEED to Be Saved

You might be thinking: well, it makes sense for someone drowning or trapped in a burning building to need to be saved, but what about me?

The Bible teaches us that all of us have sinned. Sin is an archery term that describes missing the bullseye. The bullseye is perfection and goodness. We might try to do right and good, but we fail at that. God is right and good, and our missing the mark or failing in this way separates us from Him.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the “wages of sin is death”. This means that our sin has earned us death and that there is nothing we can do to earn our way out of it. Thankfully, that is not the end of Romans 6:23; check out the full verse: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God has made a way for us! Just as John 3:16 tells us above, Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. He died in our place and offers us life instead. That’s good news!

How You Can Be Saved

The only way for us to be saved is to turn from our sins (and the punishment we deserve because of them) to Jesus and put our faith and trust in Him. We turn from our sin because we realize that we are in trouble and deserve death because of them. We turn to Jesus because we realize that, just like the person who was drowning or trapped in the burning building, we cannot save ourselves. 

To put our faith and trust in Him means that we believe that Jesus fully paid the penalty for our sins and offers us forgiveness. The Bible teaches us that Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree (the cross)” (1 Peter 2:24). Here is how the Bible tells us we can be saved:

“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

This is what it means when we say put our faith and trust in Jesus; we confess Him as Lord and give our lives over to Him, trusting that He knows best and acknowledge He is God, asking Him to take charge of our lives. We tell Him that we believe He is who the Bible says He is: the Savior who died for our sins and rose again. If we do this, not just saying some magic words but genuinely believing and seeking Him, the Bible tells us that we are saved!

We would love to pray with you and help you if you have any questions, and especially to help you find a church where you live. If you would like to contact us, use the form below:

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Songs for Resurrection Sunday 2024 @ Christ Community Church

Tomorrow is Sunday — RESURRECTION SUNDAY, and I am excited.

Sometimes, there can be a temptation to try and make holiday Sundays bigger, brighter, and, well, just to try and make it seem special by pulling out all the stops. As John said last week, we celebrate Resurrection Sunday every Sunday because our hope comes from Jesus’s resurrection — dead Saviors can’t save!

Every god or holy man or people who put themselves out there to say they are saviors either has or will die. Muhammed is dead. Buddha is dead. All of the false prophets who have claimed to be the messiah, both before and after Jesus, have died or will die. This isn’t an attack on other religions; it’s a clarification that religion can’t save because their founders don’t last. Jesus is something else entirely.

No, at Christ Community tomorrow, we are going to do our best to do what we always strive do: point people to Jesus!

Look at how Paul pointed the church at Corinth to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 — a chapter that beautifully proclaims the gospel and the importance of Jesus’s resurrection:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures….

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Look at the language Paul used there to highlight the importance:

1. He wanted them to be reminded of the gospel (good news) that he had preached to them regarding Jesus and for them to hold fast to that truth (2 Timothy 1:13-14, Jude 3). Putting one’s faith in Jesus is not a one-time-thing but something that believers need to continually do. We trust in Him for salvation, but we continually trust in Him to continue to carry us (Hebrews 10:38-39). Those who believed were saved from the wrath of God toward sin, but as Paul says here, were “being saved” continually by their resurrected — their living — Savior who cares for them (Romans 5:9-10, 1 Corinthians 1:18)!

2. He made sure they knew that what he was preaching was “in accordance with the Scriptures” — something he says twice in v. 4. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not something that popped up new after he lived and died. His death, burial, and resurrection were foretold by the God’s prophets throughout the Old Testament (Luke 24:25-27). The gospel was not something new for someone like Paul who had studied it his whole life; no, it was the fulfillment of all he had studied (Acts 17:2-3).

2. He preached that gospel to them again: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, …He was buried, …He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”. The gospel he preached came from the Scriptures and was all about Jesus, who He is and all He had done and is doing (Acts 26:22-23).

3. He understood that the gospel is of “first importance” because that is what he “also received”. This is not a hypothetical gospel for Paul. Jesus is his hope as well (John 12:32, Romans 15:13, 1 Peter 1:3). His Ph.D. in Judaism wasn’t going to save him. The warrant given to him by when he was Saul of Tarsus the Jerusalem elite to arrest and imprison Christians wasn’t going to save him. His claims as a “Hebrew of Hebrews” and a “Pharisee” weren’t going to save him (Philippians 3:4). No, Paul knew that all of his hope was in Jesus, the same Jesus whom he had previously persecuted, and because Jesus had saved him, he understood that everything that came before was “rubbish” unable to be compared to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus” as Lord (Philippians 3:7-8).

Tomorrow, we have the privilege, just as we do every Sunday, to remind ourselves and others of the good news of Jesus Christ and get to share His gospel through preaching, reading the Word, and singing in praise and worship of our resurrected King (Colossians 3:16-17). We will lift Him up “as of first importance” because we know that if we had not “also received” Him, we would have no hope.

Dead saviors can’t save, but our God is not dead — “He is risen as He said” (Matthew 28:6).

Won’t you gather with us as we worship Him?

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

  • Song | Ain’t No Grave —
    Scripture Inspiration: John 8:34, Romans 6:6, 1 John 4:8, 1 Chronicles 28:20, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, John 8:44, 1 Peter 5:8, Revelation 12:9, Genesis 3:15, Ephesians 6:11-18, Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, 2 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 2:14, Revelation 5:5, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
  • Scripture | 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 —

50I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Song | Graves Into Gardens —
    Scripture Inspiration: Psalm 34:10, Isaiah 55:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Luke 15:11-24, Romans 6:23, John 6:26-35, Revelation 7:13-17, Matthew 11:28-30, 1 John 4:8, Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 12:2, Psalm 37:4, Exodus 8:10, Deuteronomy 3:24, Jeremiah 10:6, 1 Samuel 2:2, Isaiah 40:18, Romans 5:6-8, Psalm 138:8-9, 1 Kings 8:39, 1 John 3:20, John 15:15, Psalm 139:7-12, Hebrews 4:13, Psalm 30:11, Isaiah 62:2, Galatians 2:19-20, John 14:6, 1 Corinthians 15:20-49, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Exodus 14:1-31
  • Song | Thank You Jesus for the Blood —
    Scripture Inspiration: Deuteronomy 6:5, Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 64:8, Psalm 139:16, Deuteronomy 6:7, Psalm 113:3, 2 Timothy 2:13, Psalm 27:13, Psalm 31:19, Psalm 145:9, Psalm 150:6, Psalm 107:1, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Hebrews 1:3, Isaiah 43:1-3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, John 15:14-15, Psalm 23:6, Luke 9:23-24
  • Scripture | 1 Peter 1:3-5 —

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

  • Song | Living Hope —
    Scripture Inspiration: Acts 4:8-12, 1 Corinthians 15:3-11, 1 Peter 1:3, Philippians 2:5-8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 9:22, John 1:12-13, Hebrews 9:15, John 8:36, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, Galatians 5:1, Psalm 107:14-15, John 14:6, Acts 3:15, Revelation 5:5, 1 Peter 1:4-5
  • Song | Because He Lives —
    Scripture Inspiration: John 3:16, Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 2 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 2:14, Psalm 28:7-8, Isaiah 40:29-31, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, John 14:25-27, Romans 8:38-39, 1 Peter 5:6-7, Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 2:10, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 4:6-7, Revelation 21:4, 1 Corinthians 11:26
  • Invitation | In Christ Alone —
  • Offertory | Yet Not I But Christ in Me —
    Scripture Inspiration: Genesis 15:6, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 5:6-10, Ephesians 2:4-9, Titus 2:11, Isaiah 9:6, Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 1:18-255, John 3:15-16, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Psalm 119:45, Romans 8:1-4, Psalm 17:7, Psalm 36:5-7, Titus 3:4, 1 John 4:8, John 14:27, Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:14-15, Acts 4:10-12, John 14:6, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:9-11, Galatians 4:6, Psalm 107:10-16, Psalm 118:7, Hebrews 13:5-6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, John 10:11-18, 2 Samuel 22:3-4, Nahum 1:7, 1 John 5:18, Psalm 23:4, Matthew 20:28, John 1:29, Acts 20:28, Colossians 2:14, Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 John 2:1-2, Revelation 5:9-13, Acts 4:33, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, Hebrews 2:14, Revelation 21:3-4, Hebrews 13:6, Psalm 116:16, Romans 6:20, Galatians 5:1, Luke 21:33, Revelation 6:14, Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Philippians 1:9-11, John 10:30