One of the first names widely used to describe the followers of Jesus Christ was those belonging to The Way. It probably originated from Jesus himself when he referred to himself as “the way” (John 14:6).
You can see the term being used throughout the Book of Acts (Acts 9:2, 19:9, 19:23, 24:14 and 24:22) even though we see the term “Christian” being used as early as Acts 11:26. It is clear that early Christians identified with a “way” that was not the Jewish faith or the Roman culture in which they lived. It embraced a destination, a path, and a traveling companion that set them apart.
Starting in February we will launch a new sermon series at 970 Church entitled, “This is The Way”. It will take us all the way to Easter Sunday. As a companion to the series, I will be sharing a daily devotional that you can receive in your email inbox each day (signup below).
The devotional series will be divided into three-day sections each dealing with a similar theme/thought:
- Day One – Passage from Psalm 119 (8 verses)
- Day Two – Passages from the New Testament
- Day Three – Application to Your Life
Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible. It is arranged in an acrostic pattern, structured around the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and this psalm contains 22 stanzas of 8 verses, featuring one letter of the alphabet. Each line in each stanza begins with a word that begins with the same letter. For instance, each of the eight verses in the first stanza (Psalm 119:1-8) begins with the Hebrew letter “Aleph’.
The entire Psalm is devoted to glorifying God and His Word. The author (unspecified but some believe it was David) records his delight in God’s Word, drawing the reader’s attention to Scripture or the Torah in almost every verse. As followers of Jesus and members of The Way, we too should hold the Word of God in high esteem and pattern our lives after its commands and precepts.
I hope you will join me in this journey of delighting in God and His Word and then cooperating with the Holy Spirit in reordering our priorities, reorienting our pursuits, and redirecting our efforts – This is The Way.
– Pastor Steve
0 Comments