• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

A Joyous Celebration of the Resurrection!

Posted on April 3, 2021 by wtdavid

May this hymn of Isaac Watts refresh our hearts in the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection. He is risen!

Alas!  And did my Saviour bleed,

And did my Sovereign die!

Would he devote that sacred head

For such a worm as I!

Was it for crimes that I had done

He groaned upon the tree!

Amazing pity!  Grace unknown!

And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide,

And shut his glories in,

When Christ, the mighty Maker, died

For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face

While his dear cross appears;

Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,

And melt mine eyes in tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay

The debt of love I owe;

Here, Lord, I give myself away,

‘Tis all that I can do.

Filed under: Cross of Christ, Gospel, Grace, Resurrection | Leave a comment »

Easter Awakens Our Hearts to Hope

Posted on April 8, 2020 by wtdavid

An Easter meditation from Janet (WT Brazil):

My family and I serve with World Team in Manaus, Brasil. Like many missionaries right now, we were unable to return to the field because of flights and airports shutting down due to the COVID pandemic. So we are temporarily marooned in Massachusetts until circumstances allow us to return.

Here in New England, it is spring. As my children and I were taking our daily stroll around our home, we couldn’t help but notice the new green shoots emerging from the ground. Among them were yellow daffodils, one of the earliest signs of spring’s arrival. After a long cold winter, we welcome their vibrant color to the landscape. I shared with my children how as a child, I watched with great anticipation for their blooms to appear because it meant that a new season was coming.

This small moment with my children gave me pause to reflect on the higher truth mirrored in the creation around me. As winter passes, gray winter months give way to green as new buds emerge from tree branches and spring up from the ground. Bleakness gives way to beauty and slowly flowers push their way through the earth. Hard soil softens as the ground warms and gentle rain provides the sustenance for plants, flowers and trees to grow and bloom. All that seemed dead was really just asleep….waiting for the proper time to re-awaken and be birthed anew.

C.S. Lewis once wrote “Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.” As we prepare to remember Christ’s death and resurrection, maybe it’s time to ask ourselves, “What in me needs to die?” In other words, what things do we need to metaphorically lay down in the grave so that we can live an abundant, resurrected life? What is hindering you from walking in the fullness of your new life in Christ?

As I have been adapting to the new rhythm of life that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced most of us into, I have found myself at times just as easily distracted by many things that do not feed my soul. And I have discovered how times of crisis like this one reveal where my trust and hope really lies. I have felt convicted to put down my phone and stop getting caught up in things that I can’t control (that somehow make me feel like I’m in control?). Does anyone get that?!

What I have been learning lately from years on the mission field and now this COVID crisis is that times of crisis reveal where my hope lies. Our sense of security and control is lowered and this new vulnerability can create all kinds of emotions. Is something causing anxiety? Anger? Fear? Depression? There’s a reason I am having those emotions. Something is threatening my security or sense of control. I encourage you to take this time to reflect and do a soul-check, to spend time with Jesus and His Word and allow it to speak to your anxieties, worries, fears and frustrations.

And what better time to deny ourselves (whether intentionally or because we are being made to) than the Lenten season? Let’s not waste this precious time. May we look back one day and say to our children or family and friends, “Remember that time of quarantine? Remember how God moved in us? How He awakened His church to the things that really matter? How things changed not just for bad but for good?” After all, that is the Gospel message: Redeeming the time that we are given by living for the glory of God. In that you can guarantee, that nothing will ever be wasted.

As our hearts are reminded even more that we live in a broken world, let them also cry out with all creation for the Risen Lord to come like the sun rising on a glorious spring morning and once again make all things new.

Filed under: Cross of Christ, Easter, Resurrection | 2 Comments »

community: part 2 of 3

Posted on March 12, 2014 by wtdavid

In an earlier post, Bill (WT Canada) had written about his trip to Cameroon and sharing on the theme of community.  In this post, he challenges our thinking further on this issue of community:

“Matthew 4:16-17 says; “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The truth is we were all living in darkness without the Gospel.

The thing about the Gospel and community is that we are invited into something larger than ourselves, something that includes other people, different than us. Light does not dissolve what is in the darkness, it exposes it, it highlights it, it reveals what is there. We once lived our lives in the darkness without Jesus, in black and white, failing to see clearly we fumbled around bumping into things and others in conflict. The Gospel gives light and reveals others to us. The community to which we are called includes others, different than ourselves that compliment, challenge and encourage us. We have moved from darkness, black and white to living colour – diversity, difference, acceptance – all through the cross.community three people

It is through the cross that we are called into this new community of light and living colour. The world is full of hurting and lost people fumbling around in the dark. The invitation is to come to the cross, to be revealed, to be healed, forgiven and accepted into this new community of living colour where we see clearly. When we repent of ourselves and our sin we can boldly come to the cross and find acceptance in this new community of the redeemed. This is the message we carry as workers. This is the hope that we find in Scripture. Jesus came, as a great light shining on those who were already dead with the invitation to come to the light, to find new life in Him.

The community Jesus calls us to finds expression in different levels. Each is called to uphold, support, encourage and challenge one another. Our World Team family is like that. Leaders, workers, board members, support staff, donors, prayer warriors. All are part of that connecting chain that holds the whole community together focused on the light, Jesus, the cross.”

Filed under: Community, Cross of Christ, Gospel | Leave a comment »

the Feast

Posted on September 10, 2012 by wtdavid

Today’s post comes from Jan in France about chapter 14: The Feast

Have you ever had a defining meal? This is one that commemorated or celebrated a defining moment in your life or that of someone special to you.  What comes to mind?  Most likely the reason, the person or people commemorated, the venue, the food.  You might even remember what you wore.  And sometimes it will be a quirky thing that occurred which will stand out, because it was so unlikely.  We could probably all share some great stories… ʽand then the Prime Minister turned up’… ʽand then the waiter gobbled the after dinner mints’ (both true).

Defining meals often have special food and drink.  The central feature of the original Passover meal for the Israelites was a whole unblemished male lamb which was to be eaten in haste.  By killing a lamb and using its blood to mark the doors as a sign of their faith and then taking the lamb into themselves during the meal, the plague of death passed over them.  Keller says that in every home that night there was either a dead child or a dead lamb, and the Israelites needed to accept the shelter of the substitute – this blood of the lamb.  Therefore, no mention was made of wine.

Coming forward to the time of Jesus, the final meal our Lord ate before he died was the Passover meal.  The Passover took a distinct form and included four cups of wine representing the four promises made by God in Exodus 6:6-7: rescue, freedom from slavery, redemption and a renewed relationship with God.  Jesus departed from the usual script, telling his disciples that the bread was His body.  “Take it,” He said, because it needed to be received actively and incorporated into themselves.  He planned to rescue them from the way of the world, free them from slavery to sin, redeem them fully, thus paving the way for a renewed relationship with God.

The cup of wine, from which they all drank, was the Lamb’s blood of the covenant – a new covenant of Jesus’ unconditional commitment to us, pointing us to the kingdom of God.  Keller says Jesus often compared God’s kingdom to sitting at a big feast and that this Passover meal makes the ultimate feast possible.

Isaiah 25:6 describes an endtime feast being prepared by the Lord of hosts:  a lavish banquet with refined aged wine and choice pieces with marrow.  This is when He swallows up death for all time (v.8).

However, in the gospel accounts of the Last Supper, there is no mention of eating meat.  Instead, the Lamb of God was at the table, and Keller says Jesus was the main course.

My question is:  What does “Jesus, the main course” mean for you?

 

Next installment of the King’s Cross blog post will be September 17th, looking at Ch 15 “the Cup”

 

Filed under: Cross of Christ, King's Cross, Reflection | Leave a comment »

A beginning

Posted on April 30, 2012 by wtdavid

Today, the journey begins.  I have invited all of us as the World Team community to join me in reading and discovering together the message of the book, King’s Cross, by Tim Keller.

In his opening section, simply called “Before”, Keller summarizes the aim of his book: “It is an extended meditation on the historical Christian premise that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection form the central organizing principle of our own lives.  Said another way, the whole story of the world – and of how we fit into it – is most clearly understood through a careful, direct look at the story of Jesus.”  From the outset, Keller strives to focus our eyes on Jesus, rather than on our lives, work and ministries.  It is from that ‘look’ at Jesus that life, work and ministry flows.

The one statement that stood out for me in this section was when Keller described his own life-changing encounter with Jesus: “The best way I can put it is that, before the change, I pored over the Bible, questioning and analyzing it.  But after the change it was as if the Bible, or maybe Someone through the Bible, began poring over me, questioning and analyzing me.”  I guess I would have ordinarily used the first part of this phrase to describe the transformation that occurs when someone encounters Jesus. A new believer is someone who pores over the Bible, reading and studying it for themselves.

How many of us have watched with joy as a new believer takes a great delight in the Word?  But Keller is pointing to another indicator of that life-changing encounter with Jesus, namely that a new King now comes to reign in a person’s life.  Someone other than ourselves comes to pore over us, question us, analyze us, convict us, lift us up and restore value to us.

Here’s a question to ponder: what does that shift look like in my daily journey when God the Holy Spirit begins poring over me?

 

 

Filed under: Cross of Christ, Gospel, Reflection | 4 Comments »

Will you be joining in the discussion?

Posted on April 23, 2012 by wtdavid

Many of you are familiar with participating in a virtual conversation through Facebook, Twitter or Google+.  You’re now invited to a blog discussion, hosted here each Monday for the next several months, around the book, King’s Cross, by Tim Keller.

A number of colleagues from around the WT community have been asked to help facilitate this discussion.  So each week you’ll be hearing from someone different about their insights, along with questions to stimulate blog discussion.

We’ll officially start on Monday, May 7th, looking at chapter 1, “The Dance”.

If you have not been able to get a copy of the book up to this point, I can send you scanned copies of the first five chapters for your personal use until you receive a copy.

So, will you be joining the discussion?

 

 

Filed under: Cross of Christ, Reflection | 4 Comments »

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