Category Archives: Joy

“Light Momentary Afflictions, Eternal Weight of Glory” — a Refresh & Restore Bible Study

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

Philippians 4:10-13 –
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18 –
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.[1]

Greetings Sojourners!

It has been a while since I’ve gotten to write, and it’s long overdue. A friend asked me a few weeks back if he’d been removed from my list to send out Bible studies. I assured him that I hadn’t and that I had been working on so many different avenues. His response hit me pretty hard after I listed out the litany of said avenues; he said, “You’ve got to make time for things that are important to you.” Well, this ministry is important to me – not for the opportunity to write and publish but to share God’s Word and help people make sense of it and apply it in their lives. That has to begin with me, though.

It seems like this past year has been such a weight. Not to rehash or bore you with repetition, but the ordeal of losing the ability to walk, spending a month in the hospital, and working to be able to, well, be able to do everything again has been taxing – more taxing than either I’m willing to admit or than I even fully realize. I sat in counseling earlier today in the office of a friend who is trying to help me process the past year and its toll, reminding me that it’s not fragile or weak to struggle through things that are immensely difficult and that what I perceive as failure is sometimes just life. At the end of the session, I said, “This too shall pass”, and he said, “That sounds good to say, but it’s harder than that.” I knew as soon as I said it that I didn’t believe it. I understand it intellectually. I believe it fundamentally. But practically? No, that’s not how I am living.

I find myself living in the tension of the last line of one of my favorite novels, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past.”

The tension is that I have to row against the currents bearing me pastward while lifting my eyes “to the hills”, to where my help comes from – “from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2). The same Lord who held me through the past year – through the past forty years – is still my “keeper” (Psalm 121:5) and can surely “keep [me] from all evil”, “keep [my] going out and [my] coming in”, as He has kept my life (Psalm 121:7-8). The One who holds all of my tomorrows can hold me from being carried by the currents of life because He is the God who calms storms, both literal and figurative.

The reality is that difficulties happen. Ordeals overwhelm. Bodies fail. Plans fall apart. A year goes by, and it brings mixed emotions of pride at making it through and the recognition that there are some things one cannot make it through unscathed. So, here I sit in my office, hoping that these thoughts I have been struggling to put down will be helpful to you.

So, dear Sojourner, let’s walk through this bit together.

—

Do you ever feel that there just isn’t enough time in a day? Or a week, month, or year? Just me?

Of course, I’m not the only one to feel this pressure or tension, trying to fit all the things that must be done alongside the things that need to be done – and even fit a few select items on my to-do list that I merely want to do. I’m a husband, father, brother, son, uncle, teacher, pastor (and try to fit as much friendship/fellowship and writing as I can).

I try to be a good steward of my time and to use it as best I can to live the life I am called to live. This isn’t merely careful scheduling but growing to understand that I only have so much bandwidth to be the man I was born again to be. I am reminded constantly that I can only do what I can do, and I find I identify more with Paul in Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” – in context, of course. What I mean is that I am learning more and more that I “know how to be brought low” and “how to abound”, understanding that “plenty, hunger, abundance, and need” are just a part of life. So, in saying I can only do what I can do, I realize with each new limitation placed on my life that I can only do what the Spirit of Christ enables me to do – or moves things around to let me do.

Now, when I talk about limitations, let it be known that I am not a fan. However, limitations are the norm. We are limited by our humanity – our fallen-world flesh. Just as the fall of man into sin brought death into the world, we have been, in a sense, dying since we began living. That probably sounds morbid to you; rest assured, it does to me, too. But, then again, I am 40 years old in a body that is aging more rapidly than I would like, learning realities like arthritis and mysteriously crippling autoimmune responses. But as the song based on Job 1:20-22, “Blessed Be Your Name”, says, God is still good and life is still a blessing whether the “land is plentiful” and “the sun’s shining down on me” or if “I’m found in the desert place” or “the road marked with suffering; in all of life, any strength I have comes from the Lord – “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” – because the strength I have within myself is surely not enough.

Maybe you feel that you are not enough. Or you may feel that when everything you want to do and everything that is required is set before you, you just don’t stack up – you don’t measure up to the task(s) at hand. Just me?

Just like I’m not the only one to feel the pressure or tension of not being able to get all the things that need to be done or that I want to be done completed, I’m also not the only one who feels like he doesn’t measure up – that the task(s) at hand are too much for me. No matter how much my ability or knowledge grows, my mind and body age daily. Things that should be simple sometimes become hard. Sometimes, my get-up-and-go has simply gone-off-and-went, and I find myself identifying with the Preacher of Ecclesiastes:

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’…and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 7-8)

Well, maybe I don’t quite identify fully with the Preacher there, because, Lord willing, I’m not headed out to pasture or returning to dust and crossing over into glory just yet.

I realize that, as I said earlier, this likely sounds morbid – and probably depressing, but this ain’t that kind of Bible study.

The longer I live and the further I get into middle age, the more I see the beauty in life despite its troubles and the amazing grace found in the reality that this world is not all that there is. The farther we get from the Fall and the effects of sin and death reigning on the earth, things break down more and more, and it becomes especially important for us to remember that this world is not our home, we’re just passing through. We need to remember that our hope, if it’s founded only in this world, has an expiration date. Hope in Jesus has no expiration date because it’s fixed on Him and grows out of His grace to us – grace that carries us fully through suffering in such a way that endures, produces character, and builds that hope into our lives (Romans 5:2-5).

So, let’s look at a few passages in the New Testament that help fix our eyes on Jesus and the eternal hope that can be found only in Him.

There is a Race Set Before You (Hebrews 12:1-2)

At Christ Community and The Foundry, we’re currently walking through Hebrews 11 on Sunday mornings and looking at those men and women “who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39), the “people of old” whose faith in God saw “commendation” from God for being assured of “things hoped for”, being convicted “of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1-2). We have looked at the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses – with more in the coming weeks. Hebrews 12, obviously, comes out of that context as it talks about being “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).

Similarly to how I said earlier that the God who had faithfully carried me through my life thus far could surely carry me for the rest of my life, we are called to look at the faith this “cloud of witnesses” put in Jesus – how even though they were living in the Old Testament, they trusted God and held to His promises, knowing that “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23) without needing to see the fulfillment of the promise. We look to these witnesses, not to see how we stack up against these mighty heroes of old but to see that the same God who worked through Moses is the same God who works in His people today – realizing that Moses did not serve God because he was great but that the great God worked mightily in Moses (a testimony I am sure Moses would wholeheartedly agree with). Looking at the testimonies of faith in the lives of these men and women frees us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Let’s unpack that.

Our sin weighs on us and holds us back, that much is clear. What is less clear is how we fail, time and again, to realize that the sin we cherish is seeking to kill us. In church life, too often we act like we do not enjoy the sin that we constantly return to, and I believe that is our undoing. It would do us well to look to the wisdom of the Proverbs when we draw our sin up to us closely as if it were a blanket offering warmth, not realizing we are being burned:

“Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.” (Proverbs 6:27-29)

The sin that clings to us needs to be cast aside before we get burned. We need to fix our eyes on Christ and look to Him for comfort, peace, and rest, understanding that He knows best and has a plan for our lives that does not include the damage from sin that we refuse to see.

Now, I realize that even before last summer my athleticism was nothing to brag about, but if I were to have to run a race, even I know that I don’t need to do it with my backpack and heavy work boots on. I would need to cast all of that off. Believe it or not, I’ve actually run a race (and didn’t come in last place). I ran in the 5K portion of the races benefiting St. Jude a few years back. Those races take place in December, and it was cold. I tried running in a coat while practicing, and it was more than a little aggravating swish, swish, swishing along and eventually having to take it off and carry it before the end. I tried running in the old-fashioned long johns that I had grown up with, but the fabric was too thick and made it hard for my legs to move and bend as they should while literally chafing against me in the second and third miles. I had to cast those things aside and gird myself for the race at hand. So it is in “the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Saying God has a plan for your life is not something to take lightly. He has prepared a course for all those He has saved (Ephesians 2:10). It is for us to recognize what needs to be taken off so as not to be held back as we run to Him.

Too often, we are mournful about what has to be taken off, and that is because we are suffering from having our eyes on the wrong things. While the men and women of Hebrews 11 are truly a “great…cloud of witnesses”, looking to Jesus is the key for understanding this. Hebrews 12:2 says we are to look to Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” – don’t miss this: “for the joy that was set before Him”. We get caught up on the excruciating nature of the cross and the sin and shame He bore and hypothesize how He must have felt; this is because we are worldly and pain and suffering distract us from the joy set before us. The sin that we allow to cling to us pales in comparison to the joy set before us in Christ. He is to be our joy more than heaven is to be our finish line.

When I was in the rehab for physical and occupational therapy, no one could have prepared me for how hard it would be. But on day one, I asked them what I would have to do in order to be released and go home to Candice, Keri, and Xander; I had to be able to pass a test to get in and out of a car unassisted, be able to walk a certain distance, and be able to climb more steps than are at the entrance of my house. I had to be able to endure at least an hour and a half of physical therapy and then turn around and do at least another hour and a half of occupational therapy. It was grueling. I sweated. I cried. I had to endure the humiliation of being lapped by a 90-year-old man with a hip replacement and having to be watched in the shower to ensure I could care for myself. I had joy set before me, though. I wanted to go home; no, more than that, I wanted to walk up to Candice and the kiddos and wrap my arms around them while standing in our house. I ran the race that was set before me.

Now, I realize that was only one leg of the race God has set before me. I constantly have sin trying to cling to me and weigh me down, and I have to consistently look to Jesus as the joy set before me and tear the sin away and cast it aside. How about you? What sin is clinging to you and weighing you down? Where are you on the course God has set before you? Rest assured, dear Sojourner, and look to Jesus. He’s worth it all.

We are Clay in the Hands of the Potter (2 Corinthians 4:7-18)

All my life I have sought to be independent and resilient. I wanted to be a strong man who could carry the load of others. I wanted no one to have to help me or carry my burdens. Part of that is noble, but that last part was pure foolishness. That’s not how life works. Most importantly, that’s not how God intended for life to work for His people. He didn’t tell us only to bear the burdens of the weak but reminds us that we are all in need of burden-bearing when He said,

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Galatians 6:2-3)

I had deceived myself. Thankfully, God in His divine providence put me in a position to see just how foolish I was (and still reminds me on an as-needed basis when my view of burden-bearing gets out of whack).

We’ve already talked about how we get weighed down with sin when we take an earthly perspective instead of an eternal perspective, so we won’t rehash that here. The crux of 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 is that “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” – the treasure being “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” from 2 Corinthians 4:6. I’ll make this simple. I don’t want to be a jar of clay. I want to be something sturdier. I want to be, as I said, resilient. But remember, I also said I can be a fool.

There are many verses in the Bible that use the imagery of God being the potter and His people being His clay (Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah 18:1-6, Romans 9:20-21, 2 Timothy 2:20-21 and so on). The Bible also shows us the foolishness of the clay talking back to God in Romans 9:20b-21a: “Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay…?’” Suffice to say, I have talked back to the Potter more than I should and made my case for being more than a jar of clay, but in His grace and wisdom, His answer through His Word has been clear and reminds me that it is best to “be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21). It is better to be clay in the hands of the Potter than any other substance for any other purpose. In the same way the Lord has set a race before me, He has molded me for the purpose He has for my life – and the same with you.

The earthly perspective sees clay as weak and breakable. The eternal perspective reminds us that we jars of clay are “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” and that “death is at work” but “life” through Christ (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 12). The value of the jar of clay is not in its resilience or strength but in the Potter. Think of the McCarty and Peter’s pottery in Mississippi. To some it looks like brown containers, but to those who know the skill and talent of McCarty or Peter it has value beyond its use.

Over the past year, I have lamented the way that my body has seemingly betrayed me. I have lamented with other brothers and sisters whose mitosis went haywire in their bodies to create cancer cells instead of normal healthy cells. I have lamented with brothers and sisters whose brains and memories are degrading leaving seemingly less than they thought they were. Ultimately, that’s what I lament in my own life: being less than I thought I was. That’s an earthly perspective. The eternal perspective is that I was “bought with a price” and am not my own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) – that I have been ransomed from sin and death and the “futile ways inherited from [my] forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). The eternal perspective tears down the foolishly short-sighted earthly one in that I cannot see what His plans are fully at this time but I know that “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23) – I “know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 1:12) – and I know that it is useless to try and worry too much over this jar of clay when “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

This is the beauty of this passage. Look at the clarity of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, as God’s Word says it more clearly than I could hope to expound it:

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen as transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

This world is not all that there is. This body is not all that there is. The troubles we experience are not all that there is. No, all of the trials and sufferings this life can throw at us are light momentary afflictions that will be forgotten as easily as a mother forgets labor once her baby is laid in her arms. When I fall on my face at the feet of Jesus once this life is over, I won’t remember I was a jar of clay because I won’t shatter when I fall in front of Him. I won’t shatter because the nail-scarred hand that wipes the last tear from my eyes will lift me up because He cares for me (Revelation 21:4, 1 Peter 5:6-7). And here’s the beauty, dear Sojourner, it is that same strong hand that keeps us from shattering in our jars of clay in the present. How about you? Do you long to be more or are you satisfied with being His? Do you take an eternal perspective with your eyes lifted to the hills, looking for help and fixed on Jesus, or are you letting every weight of sin drag you down as if this world were all there was?

May we fix our eyes on Christ!

Wrapping Up

I don’t know if all this makes sense or if it’s just cathartic rambling on my part. That’s not for me to know. I reckon that’s above my pay grade.

My mind has been so frazzled and I’ve struggled to get my thoughts down for so long that this may not make a lick of sense. But praise God, His Word doesn’t return void. I hope some of this helps you. More than that, I hope something in here points you to the hope found in Jesus and lifts Him up as worthy of worship and worth living for.

All I know is that I am thankful that He has provided me brothers and sisters to help bear my burdens (and that they’re persistent even and especially when I’m too hardheaded or willfully ignorant to see that I need the help). I’m thankful that despite my failings and flaws He has set a race before me. And I’m thankful for this jar of clay because, without it, I may think that I could do this on my own, unable to realize that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

I think that’s my prayer for you, too, dear Sojourner – not that you’ll suffer or struggle but that you would set Jesus as joy before you so that whatever the world is throwing at you, it pales in comparison to the glory and worth of Jesus – that whatever light momentary affliction you face would be seen as such, and, as the hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”, says “the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Heb. 12:1-2, Phil. 4:10-13, 2 Cor, 4:7–18.

A Post of Gratitude and Thankfulness for 7 Years with Christ Community Church

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Philippians 1:3-5

July 19, 2015, I quit ministry for good.

I had fabricated a convincing lie about a sabbatical to recuperate from burn-out, planning to use my teaching license to make a living and work on being a better husband to Candice and father to Keri and Xander. I had poured all of my work ethic and human strength into ministry and lost sight of how I should have been relying on Jesus and the strength He provides through His Spirit. My identity had become wrapped up in my abilities and accomplishments rather than remembering that He had called me and equipped me. Everything was out of whack, and I needed time with God to straighten me out.

At the same time, I had no intention of ever pastoring or leading worship again. I felt that I had failed the Lord who had saved me. I didn’t doubt that He had saved me or that He would forgive me — maybe even restore me — but I knew my own weakness and how prone I am to take on more than I should. Jesus deserves better than that sort of repetitive failure.

Over the next several years, God began restoring what I had broken. He mended my marriage. Candice heard my claim that I wanted to be a better husband and father and held me to it. The workaholism that burned me out is tough on a marriage, but she was determined to find the man she married — or at least who he had promised and strived to be. Fatherhood was mended, too, much more quickly, as little kids are resilient and quick to forgive.

At the same time, though I didn’t fully realize it, God was gently drawing me back into ministry. Through faithful pastors like Dr. Tim Mims and Dr. Jerry Rankin, He used His Word, their prayers, and their investment in my life to remind me that calling isn’t something you walk away from. On his last day in Winona, Bro. Jerry met me in my classroom and challenged me to pray and tell the Lord that I was willing and open to return to ministry — and he wouldn’t leave until I did.

Not long after, God moved us to Grenada. We had been hearing about Christ Community Church for years — that they were different, that they loved people well, and that they welcomed any and everyone to come and pointed them to Jesus.

The first time we visited was on a Wednesday night, and all you-know-what was breaking loose. Some of the youth had gotten into trouble, and the adults were reacting. Candice asked if it was the best time to visit, and I told her it was — because we were about to see what this church was really about. We sent our kids to their classes and went to prayer meeting, sitting by the oldest folks there.

We knew we were home when one of the older ladies began saying we needed to pray for those kids — because they needed to be there — and that she was glad they were. It was just strange enough to feel like that saved kind of book-of-Acts weirdness we had been longing for.

A few months later, the last Sunday in December 2018, we made our way to Christ Community. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the prayer Bro. Jerry had basically forced me to pray was already being answered.

We met with the pastors and their families for a meal, and John asked me 1)how Christ Community could minister to our family, and 2)what I was looking for. I told him I wanted a place to come and serve Jesus and be just Keith. Then, I realized the church had a Taylor guitar, got to jam a bit, and Keisha Harrison asked if I’d like to “sit in” with the band the next Sunday. For some reason, I said “yes”.

I had no idea that the first Sunday we were there was the last Sunday of the praise team’s acoustic guitar player — and that they had been praying for God to send one. Our second Sunday, the lead guitarist filled in. Our third Sunday, I was “sitting in” with the band — and have almost every Sunday since.

One Sunday, someone finally asked if John was going to introduce the guy playing guitar. John looked back and said, “Oh, that’s just Keith.” (Which is the origin of Just Keith Harris and all related ministry.)

And somehow, that was exactly what I needed.

What I didn’t know was what God was doing behind the scenes.

If I had realized what was going on, I never would have come to Christ Community — not visited, not anything.

Kim Bell Carver had been leading the praise team, and she and Randy had been praying for God to send someone. At the same time, the pastors had been meeting — without Kim and Randy knowing — and were praying about asking me to come on as a pastor and lead the praise team. And the praise team had already been praying for a replacement acoustic guitar player.

Praise God, I was oblivious.

After a few months, Kim approached me one Wednesday night and asked if I’d pray about it. I remember wanting to run out the side door of the church and escape.

A few weeks later, John told me the pastors had been praying. I wanted to cry or throw up. I was freaking out.

I brought it up to Candice, thinking that would surely put a pin in it. She was fine with it and said we’d pray about it — which was not the answer I wanted.

After that, I decided to ask Keisha, knowing she’d set me straight and tell me it was all foolishness. Her response when I asked her was, “Are you stupid?”

I was so relieved to think I’d get to say “no.”

Then she explained how, in those first few months at Christ Community, I had already been serving — leading a Bible study, filling in with the band, even filling the pulpit — and hadn’t even realized it.

Her conclusion was that I must be stupid (which at least provided a pretty good laugh).

After a few more days of prayer, I accepted — on the condition that the praise team was on board. Their answer was to call me in, lay hands on me, and pray for me.

That was seven years ago — the Sunday after Easter 2019.

God has restored to me the joy of His salvation and the joy of serving Him — to get to preach and teach His Word and to lead in His worship.

When I think of Christ Community, I think of Philippians 1:3–5:

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

I am so thankful that God saw fit to give us the friends and faith family we have found at Christ Community.

In these seven years, Xander has come to know Jesus. Keri has found her place to serve. Candice — after years where ministry was hard on her in ways I didn’t fully understand — has found a church home where she can serve and belong with joy.

Even now, we’re seeing God continue to work — letting us serve together, grow together, and be part of what He is doing.

Do I know what the future holds? Nope.

But I know I’m thankful.

Thankful for how I’ve been ministered to. Thankful for the opportunities to minister. Thankful for a church family that loves Jesus and loves people — and loves the Harrises, too.

And I’m grateful to be part of Christ Community.

Songs for Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026 @ Christ Community Church

Sunday’s coming, and I’m excited. And on this Palm Sunday, we remember our King.

Psalm 118:19-29 gives us the language of a people longing for salvation and rejoicing in the One who brings it: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Psalm 118:26). It’s a song/psalm of victory, rescue, and the steadfast love of God that endures forever.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem the Sunday before His death and resurrection (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:29-38), the crowds picked up on how it fits with Psalm 118.

The people cried out “Hosanna!” to Jesus, which is the Hebrew word used in Psalm 118:25 that is translated, “Save us, we pray”. In the time between Psalm 118 being written and Jesus’s Triumphal Entry, “hosanna” had shifted from “Save us, we pray” to a cry of praise to the Lord who had saved them time and again and whose track record led them to believe He would and could save them in their time of need.

While they were crying out “Hosanna”, they also quoted Psalm 118:26: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” They laid down palm branches and their own cloaks as they cried out to Jesus with joy, welcoming Him as King. What Psalm 118 anticipated, Jesus was fulfilling right before their eyes (Luke 24:44).

But something even greater was happening.

Psalm 118 speaks of the festal sacrifice being bound with cords to the horns of the altar (Psalm 118:27). Yet when Jesus came, He wasn’t bound or forced. He came willingly, submitting to His Father’s redemptive plan. He is the true and better sacrifice — the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), the propitiation, atoning sacrifice, to bear the wrath of God on behalf of those He saves (1 John 2:1-2, Romans 3:25). The King they proclaimed was riding into Jerusalem to be the Savior they needed on the cross (Luke 19:10).

Essentially, this is why we gather in worship — not just to remember or commemorate a moment but to respond to Jesus (Romans 12:1). He came to seek and save the lost, to bear our sin, and to make a way for us who are far off to be brought near (1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 2:13). We get to fix our eyes on our King (Hebrews 12:2) and cry out “Hosanna!”, praising God for saving us by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9)! Palm Sunday is not a mere holiday (or holy day) but a reminder of who Jesus is, what He has done, and call us to faith in Him (John 20:31).

That’s also why these “Songs of Sunday” posts exist — to help us prepare our hearts to gather in worship. As we read, reflect, and sing ahead of time, we’re asking the Lord to ready our hearts to worship, to receive His Word, and to respond with faith and joy.

Sunday’s coming.

Jesus is coming again.

Let’s be ready to welcome our King, not just with our lips but with our lives, trusting, rejoicing, and worshiping.

Come and gather with us. Lift your voice and sing out to the Lord. Listen as John points us to Jesus in the Word. Let’s make much of Jesus together.

Won’t you gather with us?

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. 21 I thank you that You have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone. 23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save us, we pray, O LORD! O Lord, we pray, give us success!

26 Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. 27 The LORD is God, and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to You; You are my God; I will extol You. 29 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!

32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Christ Has Come: The Promised King & His Gift of JOY — a Refresh & Restore Bible Study

Luke 1:39-56 –

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. [1]

Merry Christmas, Sojourners!

As we move deeper into this Advent/Christmas season, I keep coming back to the way the Lord trains our hearts through the gifts He gives. He doesn’t just announce that His Son has come – He teaches us to receive Him.

In our first study in this series, we focused on hope – the kind of hope that doesn’t rest on circumstances but on the faithful God who keeps His promises, even through brokenness and waiting. In the second study, we turned to peace – not a thin calm or temporary quiet, but the steady peace Jesus secured by entering our darkness, reconciling us to God, and holding us fast through every season.

Now, we come to joy – and we pause. We need to know what it is – and what it isn’t.

Biblical joy is deeper than a mood or feeling. It’s not the fleeting and ever-changing “happiness” our world tries to chase and manufacture. In Scripture, joy is gladness rooted in God – gladness that can exist even when life is still hard, even when answers are still unfolding. The New Testament word often translated “joy” can describe the rejoicing God inspires, and it can even describe the occasion or grounds for joy – what joy is built on and rises out of (Luke 2:10, Romans 14:17).[2] That’s why biblical joy isn’t fragile. It isn’t dependent on a perfect day or easy circumstances. It grows where mercy takes root, where pride is lowered, where need is admitted, and where God is trusted.

We can miss it if we move too quickly through the Christmas story. In Luke’s Christmas narrative, joy arrives before the word shows up when the shepherds hear “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Months before Bethlehem, joy is already stirring in the hill country of Judea. A baby, filled with the Holy Spirit, leaps for joy in the womb (Luke 1:44). A woman, filled with the Holy Spirit, blesses the mother of her Lord (Luke 1:41-43). And that young mother, Mary – lowly, standing at the beginning of a road she doesn’t yet understand – rejoices in God her Savior (Luke 1:46-47). Joy was already breaking through the darkness, because Jesus was already there!

Luke 1:39-56, our passage for today, shows us that the joy of Christ is grounded in God’s unfolding mercy – mercy that humbles the proud, lifts the lowly, feeds the hungry, and keeps covenant promises stretching all the way back to Abraham (Luke 1:50-55; Genesis 12:1-3, 17:7; Micah 7:18-20). We see this joy in the song Mary sings. The song is deeply personal but not small. It echoes the hope of Hannah long before her (1 Samuel 2:1-10), and it reaches forward to the Kingdom her baby will grow and usher in – a Kingdom where God’s grace reverses what sin has marred, and where the Savior lifts those who put their faith in Him (Luke 4:18-19, 6:20-23; Isaiah 61:1-3).

In Luke 1:39-56, we’ll see that joy is not something Mary manufactures or inspires in others – it’s something God gives as His mercy begins to unfold. We’ll begin by looking at the original context and setting of Mary’s visit to her relative Elizabeth, where joy first breaks through the silence in unexpected ways. Then we’ll listen carefully to Mary’s song – known as the Magnificat, where joy rises from a heart overwhelmed not with herself, but with her God and His mercy. From there, we’ll see how this song points beyond Mary to Jesus Himself – the coming King who fulfills God’s promises and brings lasting joy. And finally, we’ll consider what this passage teaches us about the gift of joy God gives to the lowly and the lifted, to those who know their need of Him and trust His Word.

Original Context & Setting: Joy Breaks the Silence (vv. 39-45)

Luke tells us that “in those days” Mary rose and went “with haste” into the hill country of Judea to visit her relative Elizabeth (Luke 1:39). This small phrase links what follows directly to the angel’s announcement (Luke 1:26-38). Mary doesn’t linger in Nazareth to sort out the social consequences of her pregnancy or demand clarity about her and the baby’s future. Instead, she moves forward in faith (v. 38). She goes to see the sign God Himself had given her: her much older relative Elizabeth, once barren, is now six months pregnant by God’s grace and power (Luke 1:36-37).

Their meeting is inconsequential by worldly standards. No crowds gather. No rulers take notice. Yet this is one of the most theologically rich encounters in all of Scripture. Two miraculous pregnancies meet. Two stories of God’s mercy intersect. And joy erupts before a single word is spoken.

When Mary greets Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaps in his mother’s womb (v. 41). Luke – the physician – is careful to explain that this is no ordinary movement, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, interprets it for us: “the baby in my womb leaped for joy” (v. 44). Even before his birth, John fulfills his calling to prepare the way of the Lord as he recognizes and announces the presence of the Messiah in utero (Luke 1:17, 76; Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3). Joy breaks out not because circumstances are easy, but because Jesus is near.

Elizabeth is then filled with the Spirit herself and cries out in a loud voice, pronouncing Mary “blessed among women”, not for who she is but because of the Child she carries – “blessed is the fruit of your womb” (v. 42). Then, Elizabeth goes further calling Mary “the mother of my Lord” (v. 43). This is a staggering confession. Months before Bethlehem, months before angels sing to shepherd, Jesus is confessed as Lord by a Holy Spirit-filled woman and acknowledged by a Spirit-filled unborn child. The joy here is deeply Christ-centered, not found in Mary but magnifying the Son.

Finally, Elizabeth speaks a blessing that turns our attention to Mary’s response to God’s Word: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (v. 45). That emphasis on faith matters, especially when we remember that this moment follows a season of silence brought on by unbelief. The Spirit-inspired words spoken through Elizabeth stand in quiet contrast to her husband Zechariah’s earlier doubts, which left him unable to speak until God’s promise began to unfold just as He had said (Luke 1:18–20, 64).[3]

At this point in the Christmas narrative, Mary doesn’t yet see the full shape of God’s plan, but she trusts the God who spoke. And in a time when God had been silent for centuries, His Word breaking forth again was no small thing (Amos 8:11-12). Even though Mary didn’t know how all of this would work out, God was already showing her that He was with her on the journey (Matthew 1:23). We begin to see here that joy doesn’t wait for completion or a finish line. It doesn’t require resolution. It doesn’t depend on our full comprehension of what’s going on or how things will turn out. Joy springs up where God’s Word is believed (Psalm 119:111, Jeremiah 15:16).

Now, the word “joy” doesn’t appear here, but it is already present – present in the leaping child, the Spirit-filled confession of Jesus as Lord, and in Mary’s quiet faith in God’s promise. And it is out of this joy that Mary’s song will rise – not as a sudden emotional outburst, but as a thoughtful, Scripture-shaped response to the mercy of God at work in her life.

The Joy of God’s Mercy in the Magnificat (vv. 46-55)

When Mary finally speaks, she doesn’t begin with explanations, questions, or fear. She begins with worship. Luke tells us, “And Mary said…” (v. 46), and what follows is not a spontaneous emotional overflow but a carefully shaped song, steeped in Scripture and centered on God. This song, as I have mentioned, is known as the Magnificat, named after its opening word in Latin, drawn from Mary’s opening declaration: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” And that opening line sets the tone for everything that follows.

Mary’s joy in this song is not focused on herself. She’s not magnifying her experience, her obedience, or her unique role in human and redemptive history. She magnifies the Lord. Her joy is vertical before it’s personal. She magnifies her Lord and her “spirit rejoices in God [her] Savior” (vv. 46-47). In humility, she calls God her Savior, acknowledging her sin and need for God’s mercy. Joy grows where pride is lessened and God’s grace is welcomed.

She goes on to explain why her soul rejoices: God has looked upon her “humble estate” (v. 48). Mary wasn’t wealthy, powerful, or impressive by any worldly standards. She was young, obscure, and vulnerable. Yet God has seen her. The joy she experiences isn’t rooted in her being chosen because she was worthy, but in being shown mercy despite her lowliness.

From there, Mary’s song widens. What God has done for her personally reveals something true about His character universally. “Holy is His name,” she declares, and “His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation” (vv. 49-50, Exodus 34:6-7, Psalm 103:17). Joy, in Mary’s song, is never detached from who God is. It flows from His holiness, His power, and especially His mercy. This isn’t a one-time act of kindness but a continuation of what God has been unfolding throughout history and continues to unfold today.

As the song continues, Mary celebrates the great reversal God brings—scattering the proud, bringing down the mighty, exalting the humble, filling the hungry, and sending the rich away empty (vv. 51–53, 1 Samuel 2:6-8). These words are not political slogans or rhetoric but theological declarations. Mary rejoices in the way God’s mercy turns worldly values upside down (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). Joy comes not to those who trust in their own strength—because human strength fails and fades—but to those who know their need and look to God to strengthen and save.

Finally, Mary anchors her joy in God’s faithfulness to His promises. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering His mercy “as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever” (vv. 54-55; Genesis 12:1-3, 22:17-18). Her joy rests in God’s covenant faithfulness to His people (Deuteronomy 7:9). God was doing in Mary what He had promised long ago. The mercy unfolding in her womb is connected to promises stretching back generations, all the way to Genesis and Abraham. And she rejoices in the assurance that the God who spoke to her keeps His Word.

This is what makes the Magnificat so magnificent. Mary’s joy is deeply personal but not private. It’s shaped by Scripture, grounded in God’s mercy, and oriented toward His purposes and plan rather than her own. She doesn’t rejoice because she experienced an influx of health, wealth, and prosperity as some falsely promise; she rejoices because God is doing exactly what He said He’d do. And this kind of joy – joy rooted in mercy and tempered in humility and faith – prepares us to see the true significance of the Child she carries. Because Mary’s song does not end with her; it presses us forward to the work this Child has come to accomplish.

Fulfillment in Jesus, the Coming King

In the last two weeks, we’ve looked a lot at Old Testament references in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus and in the prophecy from Isaiah. It took some work to flesh out the promises of God and show their fulfillment in Jesus. Luke 1:39-56 is much easier because Jesus is already there in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:31-33, Galatians 4:4).

The promises Mary celebrates are no longer distant or abstract. They aren’t waiting centuries to be fulfilled. They are present, personal, and alive in the Child she carries. The mercy she sings about has taken on flesh (John 1:14). The King she rejoices in is not merely promised – He is already at work, even before He is born (Luke 1:35, Matthew 1:21).

This is what makes Mary’s joy so striking. She’s not rejoicing in who Jesus will one day become, but in who He already is. The reversals she proclaims – the proud scattered, the lowly lifted, the hungry filled – are not wishful thinking or poetic exaggeration but the certain outworking of God’s mercy now embodied in her Child. Luke has already told us who this Child is. The angel Gabriel announced that He would be given “the throne of His father David”, that He would reign forever, and that “of His Kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33, 2 Samuel 7:12-13, Isaiah 9:6-7). Those promises stand quietly behind every line of the Magnificat. When Mary sings of God helping His servant Israel and remembering His mercy (v. 54), she is rejoicing in the arrival of the long-awaited King who would finally do what no earthly ruler – even her ancestor King David – could: bring salvation, righteousness, and lasting joy (Jeremiah 23:5-6, Zechariah 9:9).

Jesus fulfills everything expressed in Mary’s song. The proud are scattered as human self-sufficiency is exposed by grace (Luke 18:9-14). The mighty are brought low as the true King enters the world unnoticed and lives a life culminating in the cross (Luke 19:38, 23:33; Philippians 2:6-8). The hungry are filled as Jesus offers Himself as the Bread of Life to those who know their need (Luke 6:20-21, John 6:35). And those who cling to wealth, status, and self-righteousness are sent away empty because they refuse to partake of the mercy He so freely gives (Luke 12:15, 18:24-25).

The mercy Mary rejoices in here reaches its fullest expression at the cross, a reality that would one day pierce her own heart (Luke 2:34-35). There, the lowly are lifted, sinners are forgiven, and the proud illusion of being able to earn righteousness collapses. Jesus is not a mere announcement of God’s mercy – He becomes its means, bearing sin and the wrath of God due for it, and reconciling sinners to God (Luke 22:19–20, Romans 5:8–11, Isaiah 53:4-6, 2 Corinthians 5:21). Mary’s joy isn’t sentimental; it’s anchored in the coming sacrifice of her Son.

Thankfully, the sacrifice she would later witness was not the end. The resurrection she would also witness confirms that her joy was well-founded (Luke 24:1-8, Acts 1:14). God keeps His promises (Hebrews 10:23). The King lives. Jesus rises, reigns, and continues to extend the mercy she sang about – gathering the lowly, forgiving the guilty, and bringing true joy to all who trust in Him. This means Mary’s song was not simply a celebration for what God had done for her, but a declaration of what God had begun to do for the world. The Child in her womb is the King who fulfills every promise, secures lasting joy, and proves once and for all that God’s mercy never fails.

Wrapping Up

We’ve talked a lot about joy today, and, if I’m honest, I find myself longing to feel more of that joy myself. Thankfully, biblical joy is more than a feeling. Feelings ebb and flow, changing with circumstances and surroundings. But joy, biblical joy, is found – just as it was with Elizabeth, John the Baptist, and Mary in Luke 1:39-56 – in the presence of Jesus. It is found fixing our eyes on Him and lifting our entire worldview toward Him, seeking what is above rather than being hijacked by all of the bad this fallen world has to offer (Colossians 3:1-4, Hebrews 12:2).

The joy found in Jesus is available today. He brings joy for the lowly and the lifted.

The lowly are those who know their need – who don’t pretend to have it all together, who feel the weight of weakness, guilt, grief, and sin. Like Mary, they may feel insignificant, overlooked, or uncertain about the road ahead. But as Mary taught us, God looks upon our humble estates. He fills the hungry. He draws near to those who fear Him and trust His Word. For the lowly, the joy of Christ isn’t ignoring or denying hardship or difficulty – it’s the assurance that God sees, God keeps His promises, and God is at work even when we can’t see the outcome.

If that’s you today – if you feel lowly, burdened, or aware of your need – Scripture holds out a clear and gracious invitation. The same Jesus who brought joy to Elizabeth and Mary calls you to confess him as Lord and believe that He is who God says He is in His Word. Romans 10:9 makes this clear: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It’s not complicated. It’s not earned. It’s trusting Him. It’s faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). And just as it was for them, Jesus is enough.

The lifted are those God raises up by grace. To be lifted by God is not the same thing as being elevated by the world. The lifted are not those who boast in strength, status, or success but those who have been brought low enough to receive mercy. They are forgiven, reconciled, redeemed – and they know that this status is a gift from God by grace through faith in Jesus (Titus 3:4-7, Colossians 1:13-14).

If you find yourself here today – resting in Christ, walking in forgiveness, knowing the mercy He has shown you – this passage invites you not to move on from joy but to return to it again and again – to ask the Lord to remind you of what He has done, to renew your wonder in worshiping Him, and to meet you each day with new mercies (Lamentations 3:23, Hebrews 4:16). Joy deepens as we remember what Jesus has done and entrust ourselves to Him daily.

Joy is not something we can manufacture. It’s something we receive. And it grows wherever Jesus is trusted. May the joy of God’s mercy – secured by Christ our King – take root in your heart and rise in praise, just as it did in Mary’s song.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 1:39–56.

[2] Chará (χαρά) is commonly used for “joy/rejoicing,” and can also mean the cause/occasion/ground of joy (e.g., Luke 2:10; Rom. 14:17). | Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).

[3] Zechariah questioned how he could be sure God would give him a son citing that he was “an old man” and Elizabeth was “advanced in years” (Luke 1:18). Because he didn’t believe the angel’s word, he was made mute until “the day that these things take place” (Luke 1:20), and his speech returned when John was named, just as God had promised (Luke 1:57-64). Although the text makes no reference to it, Zechariah would have been mute during the entirety of Mary’s visit to their home.

Songs for Sunday, December 14, 2025 @ Christ Community Church (Advent Week 3)

It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming — and that’s reason to rejoice!

As we move deeper into the Advent season, this week joy is our focus. This joy was first announced by the angels on the night of Jesus’s birth as “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). From the beginning, Christmas joy has never been about circumstances — it has always been about the Savior.

The book of Hebrews helps us see just how deep that joy runs. We are told in Hebrews 12:2 to fix our eyes on Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Advent joy is rooted in the finished work of Jesus — the King who came, suffered, and now reigns. It’s a joy that is stead and secure because it rests on what Jesus has already accomplished.

Earlier today, our pastor, John Goldwater, shared his excitement about preaching this Sunday and encouraged us to read Hebrews 10:1-18 to prepare our hearts. That passage reminds us that Jesus is the true and final sacrifice — the King whose once-for-all offering truly cleanses us and brings us near to God. So, let’s read it and meditate on it, preparing our hearts to gather and worship JESUS:

1For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
5Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’”
8Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
15But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

This sort of preparation gets at the heart of these “Songs for Sunday” posts. We share them to help Christ Community folks prepare — to read the Scriptures ahead of time, to become familiar with the songs we’ll sing, and to come ready to worship together. Lord willing, we’ll gather as a people prepared — full of joy, fixed on Christ, and eager to make much of Jesus the King, the One who has come and who is coming again!

We’d love for you to gather with us this Sunday at Christ Community as we sing, read God’s Word, hear God’s Word opened in preaching, and rejoice together in Jesus.

Won’t you come?

Here are our Scriptures, songs, and Advent readings:

  • Advent Reading | Joy —

The candle of joy reminds us of the angels’ announcement of “good news of great joy” at Jesus’s birth (Luke 2:10), and we see in Hebrews that the fullness of that joy is found in Jesus. We are told in Hebrews 12:2 to fix our eyes on Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame”, and who is now “seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. The joy of Christmas is rooted in the finished work of Jesus, the God who saves.
In a world of temporary happiness and shifting circumstances, the joy found in Jesus is steady and secure. His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection inspire and instill a joy that no situation can take away. As this candle shines, let us turn our eyes from things that fade and fix our eyes on Jesus and find joy in His salvation.

4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
8And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

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

“Whom Shall I Fear If the Lord is My Stronghold?” from Psalm 27 (#dailyPSALMSchallenge)

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:1

Psalm 27 reflects confident trust in the Lord, even in the face of fear, opposition, and uncertainty. David declares that God is his light, salvation, and stronghold, assuring him ultimate safety and peace. This psalm is a beautiful and powerful tapestry of praise, prayer, and hope.

David begins by proclaiming unshakable confidence in God (vv. 1-3). He asks twice, “whom shall I fear?” (v. 1). He describes God as his light and salvation but also as his stronghold – a fortress in whom he can find refuge when his enemies rise up against him. He trusts God to protect him as well as causing his enemies to stumble and fall. 

David’s heart’s desire is revealed in v. 4: “One thing I have asked of the Lord…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” He longs for uninterrupted communion with God – eternally dwelling with him rather than seeking temporary shelter. For him, being in God’s presence – gazing upon His beauty and inquiring of His temple – is the ultimate source of joy and security.

David rejoices in the protective care of God who hides him in His shelter and also lifts him high upon a rock (vv. 5-6). David’s response to God’s care is to praise Him with shouts of joy and songs. 

In vv. 7-12, the psalm takes an intimate turn as David cries out to God for continued grace and deliverance. He pleads with Him not to hide His face or abandon Him, expressing a deep dependence on God as his help and salvation. Even when forsaken by all others, David has confidence that “The Lord will take [him] in” (v. 10).

Psalm 27 concludes with a bold statement and encouragement to wait on the Lord: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!” (v. 13). The way the KJV translates v. 13 is helpful: “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”, meaning that David knew that he would have despaired and been hopeless without his belief and faith in God, faith that knew and trusted that he would see God’s goodness in the world and not as something he would have to wait on in heaven. Because of that he could encourage people to “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage” (v. 14).

Seeing Jesus in Psalm 27

Psalm 27 points to Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of David’s longing for light, salvation, and communion with God. Jesus declared that He was “the Light of the World” (John 8:12). He is the true light who dispels the darkness of sin and death, bringing salvation to all who believe in Him. Jesus is also our stronghold, the One who secures our place in the presence of God. Through His death and resurrection, He opened the way to His heavenly sanctuary, where we can dwell with God forever (Hebrews 10:19-22).

David’s desire to “dwell in the house of the Lord” (v. 4) finds its fulfillment in Jesus, who enables believers to experience God’s presence through His Holy Spirit. In eternity, we will gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and worship Him face-to-face (Revelation 22:4).

When David cries, “My father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in” (v. 10), we are reminded of Jesus’s promise to never leave or forsake His people (Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5). He is the faithful Savior who sustains us through every trial and assures us of eternal life in His presence. 

Reflection

Psalm 27 invites us to trust God in every circumstance, finding confidence, joy, and peace in His presence. Consider the following questions to help you reflect on what you’ve read.

How can you remind yourself of God’s light and salvation in times of fear and certainty?

Do you, like David, have a desire to dwell in the presence of God? What steps can you take to cultivate this desire?

In what ways has God demonstrated His faithfulness to you, even when others have let you down?

Take time today to praise God for being your light and salvation. Ask Him to increase your confidence in His care and help you wait patiently for His perfect will to unfold. Let the truth of this psalm strengthen your heart and encourage your soul as you continue to trust in Him!

The #dailyPSALMSchallenge gives us the opportunity to start 2025 in God’s Word by digging into a psalm a day. Each day will identify a key passage for us to meditate on as well as seeking to help us see Jesus in the psalm and reflect on what we have read.

Won’t you take the challenge?

Songs for Sunday, January 26, 2025 @ Christ Community Church

Sunday’s coming, and that’s good news!

Have y’all ever gotten something stuck in your mind that you just couldn’t get unstuck? Of course you have – everyone has experienced this at some point and time. For me, it is the key verse from John’s sermon last week, Romans 12:15:

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

It’s simple. Straightforward. Clear. As John explained to us, this verse is really only four words in the Greek, essentially “rejoice — rejoicers, weep — weepers”. We, those of us who are saved and have been adopted into God’s family and grafted into His church, are to be there for our brothers and sisters, hurting when they hurt. That’s what family does, right? It should especially be so in the family of God.

As I have pondered on that verse (really simmered or stewed like a crockpot), it has had me thinking on why it is to be this way. And essentially, I have arrived at the conclusion that it stems from us extending grace to others as Jesus has extended grace to us.

One Scripture that came to mind is from the Sermon on the Mount right after Jesus gave us what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”. Look at Matthew 6:14-15:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is not saying that we earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. If that were the case, we’d have no hope because humanity as a whole is not a forgiving people but rather quite selfish and self-serving. No, what Jesus is saying here is that the way we forgive is based on how we have been forgiven. If we understand that our sin put us at odds and enmity with Jesus and that He reconciled us to Himself and showed us love while we were still sinners, we will have an appreciation for that love and forgiveness that will show in how we forgive others.

This isn’t some theory on my part or some great epiphany. Jesus explained it similarly to Simon the Pharisee after the woman came in and washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with costly perfume. When Simon (and Jesus’s own disciples) were critical of the woman’s wastefulness with pouring out very expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet, Jesus told them that the woman’s sins “which are many” had been forgiven which was why she “loved much”, and He clarified that the one who has been “forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47).

If you are saved, you know that you have been forgiven MUCH because your sin — no matter how the world might view it — is a LOT, and definitely more than our sinless Savior should’ve had to bear on the cross. We deserve the cross, not Jesus. We deserve death, not Jesus. But because of His great love and richness in grace and mercy, He forgave much, loved much, and gave much. That kind of forgiveness, love, and grace changes folks’ lives. If you are saved, you have received this from Jesus and cannot help but extend it to others.

Simon didn’t get it. He thought he had some earthly status as a Pharisee. But when you look at the other gospels, you get, as Paul Harvey would’ve said, the rest of the story. Matthew 26:6 doesn’t call Simon a Pharisee; there he is referred to as “Simon the leper”. You don’t have to read a lot of the Bible to know that folks typically kept their distance from lepers. They were considered unclean. Folks would walk on the opposite side of the road to keep from touching one. They surely wouldn’t touch one, much less go to his house for supper. Long story short, Jesus wasn’t at Simon’s house to honor him but because Jesus had compassion on those no one else did. Jesus was a friend to sinners. He ate with tax collectors. He showed compassionate care to those the world had thrown away. No one was lining up at Simon’s door because Simon was unclean, untouchable, and unmistakably ostracized from society. Yet he looked at that poor woman weeping at Jesus’s feet and had the audacity to remark how pitiful it is that Jesus would let her touch Him (when anyone passing by could’ve remarked how pitiful it was for Jesus to go in Simon the leper’s house).

Simon didn’t get it.

Do we?

That woman had received a lot of grace because she’d committed a lot of sin.

That woman had experienced greater love from God who not only forgave her sin but would go on to die on the cross her sin deserved.

That woman had reason to weep sorrowfully over her sin against a holy God but had more reason to weep out of rejoicing that her sin was wholly forgiven by God and show love to Him in return.

What about us? Do we get it?

Look at how Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God.

God has shown us grace and comfort because He loves us. We have the opportunity to show that grace and comfort to others. And this is sorely needed in a world today that seems like the rejoicing is getting more seldom and weeping is ever increasing.

Thankfully, Sunday’s coming. There is a coming Day when Jesus will return and gather His people to Him. The last tears of sorrow will be cried and wiped away by His nail-pierced hand. Death will be abolished. The sad things of this earth will come untrue. As the old hymn says, “What a Day — glorious Day — that will be!”

Until that day, we will gather and read God’s Word, sing God’s Word, and hear God’s Word preached. That’s what we’re singing about this Sunday: telling what Jesus has done for us. And as we do so, we will have brothers and sisters who are rejoicing about this or that. Rejoice with them. Assuredly there will be those with much to weep about. Weep with them. You have been given much grace and love. Christ Community family, it’s time to extend that grace and love to others.

Won’t you gather with us?

Here are our Scriptures & songs:

  • Scripture | Titus 3:1-7 —

1Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 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.

  • Scripture | Galatians 6:14 —

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

  • Scripture | Revelation 1:17-18 —

17When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

“From Prayer to Praise: Celebrating Answered Prayer” from Psalm 21 (#dailyPSALMSchallenge)

For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved…. Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength! We will sing and praise Your power.

Psalm 21:7, 13

Psalm 21 is a song of thanksgiving for God’s victory and blessings on the king. It is paired with Psalm 20 as Israel’s response to God answering their prayer and celebration of His response as King David praises God for strength, salvation, and answered prayers (vv. 1-2).

The Lord’s blessings are described as rich and enduring, granting the king life, glory, and joy in God’s presence (vv. 3-7). In vv. 8-12, the psalm shifts to the defeat of the king’s enemies, emphasizing that their plans will fail because of God’s power, and it concludes with exaltation and praise: “Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise Your power” (v. 13).

At its heart, Psalm 21 reminds us that the victory and joy of the king reflect the faithfulness and power of God. David’s trust in the Lord is a model for us as he relies on God’s steadfast love for security and success rather than trusting in his kingly or military strength or prowess (v. 7).

Seeing Jesus in Psalm 21

Psalm 21 points beyond David to Jesus, the ultimate King who fulfills His promises. Jesus trusted His Father perfectly and was crowned with glory through His life, death, and resurrection (v. 3, Philippians 2:8-11). The “length of days forever and ever” (v. 4) finds its true meaning in Jesus, whose resurrection secured eternal life for all who trust in Him and solidifies His eternal victory because His enemies pose no threat to Him or His people.

For believers, the joy of Jesus’s victory is our joy. Just as God’s blessings made David glad, Christ’s followers are blessed with the joy of God’s presence forever (v. 6, Revelation 22:5).

Reflection

What desires of your heart are you bringing before the Lord?

Psalm 21 reminds us that God’s blessings exceed our requests when we trust Him. Consider how Jesus’s victory brings assurance and joy to your life today. Take time to praise Him, exalting His power and faithfulness with the words of v. 13: “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength! We will sing and praise Your power.”

The #dailyPSALMSchallenge gives us the opportunity to start 2025 in God’s Word by digging into a psalm a day. Each day will identify a key passage for us to meditate on as well as seeking to help us see Jesus in the psalm and reflect on what we have read.

Won’t you take the challenge?

Songs for Sunday, January 5, 2025 @ Christ Community Church

Sunday’s coming — Joy to the World!

I know, I know. Christmas was last week, really last year at this point. But it is still on my mind.

As I type this, Christmas break is coming to an end for me and my family. Candice is taking down the tree and putting away Christmas decorations. But there was one song that we just couldn’t get around to or get to work during our time of Christmas songs at Christ Community: “Joy to the World (Joyful, Joyful)”.

I know that we have sung other versions of “Joy to the World” which were lifted up with much enthusiasm and joy, but this other version that we will be singing this week gets to the heart of why Isaac Watts wrote it in the first place (which is even more fitting considering our #dailyPSALMSchallenge).

Watts originally published “Joy to the World” in a collection of poems and hymns called The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament and Applied to the Christian State and Worship. This was a publication taking the song/prayer book of the Psalms and translating it forward in light of Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. This tells us that “Joy to the World” points back to Jesus’s first coming (Christmas) in order to point us toward His imminent return!

That, in essence, is the substance of our weekly worship gatherings. We worship on the first day of the week in remembrance of Jesus raising from the dead on the first day of the week AND in recognizing and reminding that He is coming again!

We lift our voices in song not in memorial but in honor and directly to our resurrected King!

We read and preach and listen to God’s Word not as a holy book of a bygone era but as a representation of our living and active Savior who died, rose, and is coming again — who is actively at work in the world today!

So, while Christmas is over until, Lord willing, December 2025, we can and should still sing “Joy to the World”.

Joy! The Lord is coming. Let earth — and our own hearts — prepare to receive the King.

Joy! Lift your voice in song and repeat the joy in all areas of your life.

Joy! Sin and sorrow has an expiration date. Thorns and trials do, too. As far as the curse of sin reigns, Jesus has become curse for us to end it!

Joy! No matter the state of world affairs and terror of wicked rulers, Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords — fully in control and coming to crush the Serpent’s head under His heel!

Joy!

This Sunday, we will be singing “Joy to the World” in light of Jesus’s imminent return. We will be singing to and about what He has done for us on the cross and the beautiful hope that comes from His empty, borrowed tomb. We will be singing about the hope that comes from the surpassing worth of knowing Him and being His. John will open up God’s Word and share the gospel — the good news — of Jesus to us. May God prepare our hearts to listen and sing and look forward to Jesus’s return!

Won’t you join us?

Here are our Scriptures & songs:

  • Scripture | Psalm 150 —

1Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! 2Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

3Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp! 4Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe! 5Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals! 6Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

  • 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.

I’m Thankful for My Friends — Gratitude & Hope Challenge | November 11

Friendship is something that I hope I never take for granted. It is something that I cherish more than I can express with words because, for many years, I did not have friends – at least not many or any at all who match the quality of today’s passage.

The imagery in this verse makes me picture entering a room and smelling something that reminds me of someone. You know how that works. God created our senses so that they work together specially for different purposes. The sense of smell is linked to emotion and memory – hearing, too, to a lesser degree – in a special way that one whiff can bring on waves of nostalgia, jog a memory, take you to a certain place, or remind you of a specific person. 

The “oil and perfume” here produces an emotional response or memory that makes “the heart glad”, and immediately takes that emotional reverie and ties it to the “sweetness” of a specific aspect of friendship. That aspect is the “counsel” of a friend.

Most of the time, when we think of what makes friendship sweet, “counsel” probably isn’t it. It is often the camaraderie of friendship or company. That is the counterargument that came to my mind. But God in His wisdom tells us that there is something better. This let’s us know that there is more to friendship than meets the eye – something sweeter than just what we want. God’s wisdom points us to friends who are willing to give us earnest counsel.

Now, some folks just shove their opinions in any old way. This ain’t that. Earnest counsel is advice or counsel that comes from a sincere place of intense conviction. This is not run-of-the-mill stuff but rather a rare willingness to be with people in tough times as well as good and offer help that they may not want but definitely need. This is not friendship that runs from disagreement but thrives despite it. This is friendship that loves in a way that will risk their own feelings to help the other. It is sacrificial and special. 

But keep in mind that counsel is not all this sort of friendship has to offer because friendships are more than its parts. As I write this, I am still overwhelmed by a show of friendship I experienced earlier in the week. Some of my friends whom I love and cherish dearly came to surprise me at a revival service I was preaching. They all have a lot going on in their lives right now. They are all tired. They are all stretched. Yet they decided to show they care and support me – despite their tiredness and busyness. They are friends that will offer counsel when I need it because they love me. There is a sweetness there that I am not conveying in my words because it is so intangible and unexplainable. You just know it when you’ve got it. In the same way that smells or sounds jog emotions is so vivid yet often unexplainable, this sort of friendship is something you know if you’ve got it. 

I’m thankful I do and hope I am half the friend they are to me.

Lord, thank you for my friends. Thank you for seeing fit to put us together and to build a bond deep enough to give needed counsel and broad enough to cover the range of emotions that our lives contain. Bless them and keep them, and help me to be such a friend to them. Amen.

All through the month of November, our Christ Community Church family is focusing on what we are thankful for and expressing our thanks to our “great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us” (Titus 2:13-14).

This, like the #DailyWisdomChallenge we went through in October, is a challenge from our pastor John Goldwater — the #GRATITUDEandHOPEchallenge — where we have the opportunity to post Bible passages that move us to thanksgiving or in which we find hope. May this lead you to be grateful and find your hope in Jesus!