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"This is my body...this is my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matt. 26:27-28) [The CD team, on summer hiatus, prays these June 2021 devotionals will prepare your hearts for communion this Sunday.] Strapping on crampons for a glacier hike in Alaska, I noticed the backpack of the woman next to me. Trim size. Attractive colors. North Face - a label ...
Keep ReadingOn the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked,"Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" (Matthew 26:17). [The CD team, on summer hiatus, prays these June 2021 devotionals will prepare your hearts for communion this Sunday.] Considering the contents of Scripture, God has chosen to communicate with u...
Keep ReadingMatthew 26:26-28 [The CD team, on summer hiatus, prays you'll be blessed by these June 2021 devotionals which aligned with a sermon series on Community, Purpose, Love.) We end our Community, Purpose, Love series on a high note by gathering on holy ground: The Lord's Table, which we will celebrate this Sunday. Jesus gave us a simple but deeply profound drama to reenact re...
Keep Reading"I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall andstand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it,but I found no one." (Ezekiel 22: 30) [The CD writers pray you'll be blessed by these June 2021 devotionals.] Ezekiel is a dark chapter in the Bible, and it's a difficult book to work through. But since it's summertime, let's ...
Keep Reading"I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city,to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn't have to destroy it.I couldn't find anyone. Not one. So I'll empty out my wrath on them, burn them to a crispwith my hot anger, serve them with the consequences of all they've done."Decree of God, the Ma...
Keep Reading"I looked for someone among them [to] stand before me in the gap on behalf of the landso I would not destroy it." Ezekiel 22:30 [The CD writers pray you'll be blessed by these June 2021 devotionals.] If you've traveled to London and ridden The Tube, you've heard that robotic voice warn, every time the doors open, Mind The Gap! It's a serious warning for our protection - ...
Keep Reading"I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city,to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land" (Ezekiel 22:30a). [The CD writers pray you'll be blessed by these June 2021 devotionals.] Are any of us under the illusion that the world is on track to achieve tranquility and human flourishing all by itself? In ...
Keep Reading"I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done," declares the Sovereign Lord (Ezekiel 22:30-31). [The CD writers pray you'll b...
Keep ReadingThe spiritual person makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subjectto any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15-16). [The CD team, on summer hiatus, prays you'll be blessed by these devotionals from April 2021. They aligned with the sermon series, "Influence."] ...
Keep Reading"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit (I Corinthians 2:9-10a). [The CD team, on summer hiatus, prays you'll be blessed by these devotionals from April 2021. They aligned with the sermon series, "Influence."] "Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something f...
Keep Reading"We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get yourfeet on firm spiritual ground, but it's not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom ofhigh-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. You don't find it lying aroundon the surface. It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest - what God determinedas the way to bring out his best i...
Keep Reading"We speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age" (1 Cor. 2:6). [The CD team, on summer hiatus, prays you'll be blessed by these devotionals from April 2021. They aligned with the sermon series, "Influence."] Motivational posters, t-shirt slogans, and Instagram quotations surround us, offering "wisdom" for living. Follow your heart. Don't ...
Keep ReadingNone of the rulers of this age understood the wisdom of God, for if they had,they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). [The CD team, on summer hiatus, prays you'll be blessed by these devotionals from April 2021. They aligned with the sermon series, "Influence."] This week, we're looking at the interplay of "wisdom" and "Spirit" and "the min...
Keep Reading"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes,or grapes from briers" (Luke 6:43, 44). (While the writing team is on hiatus, enjoy these devotionals from Feb. 2021. They aligned with the sermon series "Disagree Deeply, Love Deeper Still" when we were a year into Covid.)...
Keep Reading"No good tree bears bad fruit nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes,or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored upin his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks" (L...
Keep Reading"For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of" (Luke 6:45b). (While the writing team is on hiatus, enjoy these devotionals from Feb. 2021. They aligned with the sermon series "Disagree Deeply, Love Deeper Still" when we were a year into Covid.) Before Marie Kondo taught us to toss things that didn't "spark joy," I was already really good at throwing things out (or find...
Keep Reading"Out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45b). (While the writing team is on hiatus, enjoy these devotionals from Feb. 2021. They aligned with the sermon series "Disagree Deeply, Love Deeper Still" when we were a year into Covid.) We planted several fruit trees when we lived in Maryland, and it wasn't long before we realized getting delicious peaches, ...
Keep ReadingNo good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.Each tree is recognized by its own fruit (Luke 6:43-44). (While the writing team is on hiatus, enjoy these devotionals from Feb. 2021. They aligned with the sermon series "Disagree Deeply, Love Deeper Still" when we were a year into Covid.) We're working together in this next sermon series to better unders...
Keep ReadingFurthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table,as well as those who came to us from surrounding nations (Nehemiah 5:17). [With the writing team on summer break, this week's devotionals from Sept. 2020 continue last week's study of Nehemiah as he has returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.] My husband and I recently headed out with our kids a...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 5:1-12a [With the writing team on summer break, this week's devotionals from Sept. 2020 continue last week's study of Nehemiah as he has returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.] As disconcerting as the disturbance in Nehemiah 4 was, in Nehemiah 5, an even more troubling disturbance occurs. This time the actors causing the disturbance are not from outsid...
Keep Reading"Restore to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive grovesand their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wineand the oil that you are exacting from them" (Nehemiah 5:11). [With the writing team on summer break, this week's devotionals from Sept. 2020 continue last week's study of Nehemiah as he has returned to Jerusa...
Keep ReadingBut out of reverence for God I did not act like that (Nehemiah 5:15). [With the writing team on summer break, this week's devotionals from Sept. 2020 continue last week's study of Nehemiah as he has returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.] You might remember from Nehemiah 3, the "job assignments" chapter, that some nobles from Tekoa "would not put their shoulder...
Keep ReadingThe men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers"in order to eatand stay alive, we must get grainwe are mortgaging our fields and homes to get grain during the faminewe have to borrow money to pay the king's taxwe have to subject our sonsand daughters to slavery" When Nehemiah heard their outcry and charges, he was very angryand accused the noble...
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